Walking in Memphis

We spent the last three days in Memphis performing at the historic Orpheum Theatre. It was a gorgeous space, and it had gold stars in the pavement outside listing all the stars who have performed there – Bill Cosby, Louis Armstrong, Helen Keller, Harry Houdini. All the greats were there, and we followed in their footsteps across those stage boards. The band Death Cab for Cutie will play the space in late November, and some members of the company are very excited by that.

We also spent Saturday night on Beale Street, the popular street in downtown Memphis with blues clubs, restaurants, bars, etc. We ate at the famous Blues City Café, home of the best ribs in Memphis, and then got a drink at a bar down the street where we saw an Elvis impersonator. He did some things really well, but there were other elements of the King that he completely missed. Then on Sunday afternoon, three of us went to the Memphis Zoo to see the pandas. They had a fantastic cat country, as well as a “animals of the night” house where we all saw a lot of animals that we had never seen.

After a nice long dinner break, we went out for some mini golf and Laser Tag. It was a really fun night, and I came in second overall for mini golf and third for laser tag. Running around in a dark room, lit with black light, while firing laser blasts at each other was a lot of fun, and dare I say it, a wonderful form of therapy. We’ve been on the road for quite some time now, and we’re about to head into a very long stretch of time in Florida. We’ll be very busy down there, and then we’ll be home in a few weeks for Thanksgiving. It’s going well, but that break will be just what we will need.