USA THE ROAD TRIP OF A LIFETIME IN 2014 - Travel Blog
Please
Photobook
Derek Cooke and Michael Ives departed Heathrow for Chicago on Friday 18th April 2014 to set off on a 6 week music trail road trip, following the history and roots of American music - highlighting the Blues along the Mississippi Delta and nine other US states offering diverse genres such as R&B, St Louis blues, soul, funk, cajun, rockabilly, rock 'n roll, swamp blues (zydeco), jazz and country music. Hotels were only pre-booked on our arrival and depatures from Nashville & New York.
The Trail Begins
We arrived in Chicago O'Hare International Airport after a smooth 8hr flight with United Airlines, they are a mean lot charging for gin & tonics, wine and beer.
CHICAGO for four nights: A taxi whisked us away smartish from the airport to The Palmer House Hilton in the Loop of mid-town Chicago, after a swift G&T we strolled a few blocks up the road to Buddy Guy's Legends Club and enjoyed a massive meal and the opening band, Aaron Williams & The Hoodoo. I chat with Aaron and he listened with interest to our 6 week music trail adventure, he nipped outside for fresh air I thought, he came back into the club and gave me his recent CD and signed it too. Lovely chap! - he will go far. This was to be my first CD in what was to be quite a collection over the coming weeks. Next day we take the Wendella river cruise which passed through the Chicago lock and on to Lake Michigan, then collected a few magnets and gifts in the afternoon. In the evening we take the train to Halstead north of the river to the famous Kingston Mines Blues Club and have a cracking evening. Next morning we do the open top bus tour stopping off at various vantage points on the way round. This evening we take in Blues Chicago a great intimate Blues Club just on the northside and enjoy the atmosphere and great music with the Mike Wheeler Band. Best grub on our four nights in Chicago was at Mike Ditkas on the northside, brilliant ribs and steak with quality service and wine. Worst venue for lack of atmosphere and average band was at the House of Blues, they did however have the best gift shop.
DAY 5: We pick up our brand new Mustang hire car and head off towards St Louis, sadly the sat nav only kicks in out of the Chicago loop and city, so at the second attempt and 40 minutes later we finally find the freeway heading south west on Route 66. The 296 mile trip is negotiated well with Michael enjoying the first day behind the wheel. I pre-booked our one night stay at Ramada Inn hotel in St Louis the day before and the sat nav got us there in 5 hours including a break for lunch on the way. After a quick freshen up and sundowners at the Inn, we walk down main street St Louis passing the Gateway Arch and the St Louis Cardinals BUSCH stadium, home of Major League Baseball. We have a BBQ pit supper in BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups and listen to the local blues trio.
DAY 6 to 12: I take the wheel and drive the 284 miles in 4.5 hrs to Memphis, Tennessee for it's Wednesday and it's bike night and not to be missed with mostly Harley Davidson’s of all shapes and colours converging from all over to show off their gleaming machines on Beale Street. At the Vista Inn we are ideally located just a 5 minute walk from Beale Street and across the road from AutoZone Park home of the Memphis Redbirds baseball team. My planning skills had triumphed here as the downtown Vista Inn was bloody cheap too and just a 100 yards from the famous Peabody Hotel. We get news that Clapton is in town and performing at Mud Island, we are nevertheless amazed with Beale Street, the first walk up and down made us realise we will have to extend our 3 night stay to six and our hotel were happy to accommodate us. Great bikes filled both sides of the street, a sight never to be forgotten with every bar blasting out blues & rock music accompanied by magnificent street buskers, we loved Beale Street. Music highlights on Beale Street were the Jason James Trio at the Jerry Lee Lewis' Cafe Honky Tonk, at Club 152 meeting Rodd Bland a drummer & son of Bobby Bland (he played with Elvis for some years and was in the hall of fame too), The Memphis 3, BB Kings Blues Club, Rum Boogie Cafe and at Blues City Cafe with Brad Birkedahl. Pictured below, Derek, Rodd Bland and Michael
During our six days we managed to take in Sun Studios the birthplace of Rock 'N' Roll, we took over the microphone from the spot Elvis recorded many hit songs, drove past the apartment where Johnny Cash lived, we passed the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated in April 1968, we toured the STAX Museum of American Soul Music which was fantastic from the Gold Cadillac owned by Isaac Hayes, to the afternoon concert in the Stax car park, the platinum tour of Graceland the home of Elvis Presley with Backbeat Tours was indeed an eye opener with car and aircraft museums opposite the mansion house, the Mississippi river boat trip we thought would be cancelled due to a terrific storm and The Peabody Hotel lobby parade of ducks around the fountain. So far, so good weather wise with only one day with rain on the Mississippi river cruise.
DAY 12 to 18: We set off on a short 76 mile drive to Clarksdale, Mississippi the start of our Blues Highway adventure. We arrive at the Uptown Motor Inn which is located in the middle of downtown, we soon realise our 3 night stay has to be extended to 6 as we arrive at the Ground Zero Blues Club owned by Morgan Freeman and Bill Luckett mayor of Clarksdale, the bar manager informs us that Morgan Freeman is in town on the Saturday and will be singing in a UK Childline Rocks Charity event at his club along with some bands from the UK touring the US music trail on bikes with the group known as the Sons of Royalty, it had to be done, we booked the extra 3 days on our return to the hotel late that afternoon. We popped in the Delta Blues Museum and the Delta Amusement Cafe to wet our whistle on a hot day, the owner was a friendly chap who sent out a guy to fetch a bottle of wine from a local store, after a few tipples he showed us his arsenal of firearms and bullets - an interesting two hours we spent for sure. For evening meals we found the Stony Pony the best place in town, nice staff and excellent food and wine. Best juke joint was REDS and the electric atmosphere gave you a real sense of how Blues music had been appreciated over the years. Ground Zero was the best Blues Club venue in town and we spent four out of six nights there. Clarksdale is the home of blues and is being put on the worldwide map with the help of the Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman and his partner Bill Luckett through promoting the 'Blues' at their Ground Zero Club. The famous devil's Crossroads junction where highway 61 and 49 meet in Clarksdale has 3 electric guitars on a landmark pole where it is believed musician Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. Johnson died in Greenwood at the ripe old age of 27, this seems to have set an amazing trend in musicians dying at this age, the 27 club figure now stands at 50 and includes Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones and Amy Winehouse (SCARY). Even scarier, we took our washing to the Laundromat by the said ‘Crossroads’ and decided to walk around the local shops while we waited for our clothes, we popped in to a Pawn Shop next to the famous Abe’s BBQ restaurant and when we spotted weapons behind the counter, the owner bought out a pump action shotgun and offered it to Michael for a bargain $350, we had no licence of course and wondered how on earth they are allowed to sell such gear without proof and a licence, we politely declined stating airport security may object and we could not afford the excess baggage costs.
Clarksdale in Coahoma County is destined to be a major attraction to blues music fans in future years, annual festivals continue to grow and local downtown attractions are a delight. Along with the Delta Blues Museum, worth a visit is the Hambone Art and Music and Rock & Blues Museum on 2nd Street, Deak Harp's big city blues and harmonica & sax shop, Larry's Hot Tomales on Sunflower Ave, The Riverside Hotel, Yazoo Pass for nice coffee and breakfast and just out of town The Shack Up Inn at the Hopson Plantation. Local art and gift shops offer unique local hand made items to purchase. Cat Head Delta Blues Folk & Art is the place to visit for local gig info, owner Roger Stolle will let you have all the up to date live gig news. The music history in the area is all around and just a 20 minute drive south takes you to Parchment Farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary where 'Parchman Farm Blues' by Bukka White an inmate made the blues song famous (later to be recorded by Mose Allison & John Mayall to name a few) and the prison was believed to be the birthplace of blues music, Michael and I were lucky enough to find it and take a sneaky photo of the entrance. After a late session on our second night we ambled home just after midnight and a local policeman in his 4 x 4 pulls up alongside us, I walk over towards him and ask if I can take photos of him and his vehicle (as I do), he kindly obliges and chats to us for 15 minutes, he then informs us that he is also a blues singer as well as a cop and offered us his CD at a discount price of $10, he then gives us signed photos of him in action on the stage. Both Michael and I are so stunned we immediately accept his offer for a CD, he asks which hotel we are in and then arrives 10 minutes later outside our doors with the CD's. He chats a bit more and offers to take us next day on a tour around the area at midday, we accept of course and offer him lunch on the trip. He arrives spot on time so off we set and he drives us to his recording studio at home and also shows us inside his tour bus. His name is Otis TCB Taylor and he was a delightful host, we stop at Larry's Hot Tomales for lunch and try out tomales for the first time and thay were great, the lunch including a can of lemonade came to just $4, we then continued the guided tour to the Hopson Plantation, we check out the rooms at The Shack Up Inn, we drove past the house where Sam Cooke was born and lived in his younger days (which is not generally open to visitors) - Otis was very entertaining and we have a great and surreal afternoon, when he dropped us back at our hotel, as we both get out of the vehicle neither of us were sure if we should tip him. After listening to his CD in his car we both must have thought, well the CD purchase was enough. We both felt bad and reflected maybe we should have offered a him tip, but in his day job as a cop would be earning big bucks. During the week we enjoyed other great gigs with Leo Bud Welch and Steve Kolbus at Ground Zero ( I got Leo's signed t shirt and the Kolbus CD next evening), Watermelon Slim was good at Hambone, at Ground Zero and we were cornered outside Hambone by Josh Razorblade Stewart to buy his CD too, a $5 disc this time. The band at REDS were fantastic too, a great young guitarist whose name escaped me.
During weekdays we took the Mustang out to different locations, one day to Greenville (home of Jim Henson of Muppet fame) crossing the Mississippi river and state line into Arkansas, then doubling back to Indianola (home of the BB King Blues Museum) and back via Greenwood where on the banks of the Yazoo river we take a stroll after lunch where a 24 hour pit BBQ competition was about to start. We chatted to the competitors who appeared very organised and well set for this marathon pig roast. The weather since day one in Clarksdale was getting warmer each day, averaging 85deg.
Our last night in Clarksdale was the reason we added an extra 3 days - the Childline Rocks benefit concert at Ground Zero. Saturday 3rd May was the highlight of the trip and Blues UK magazine editor Ed Mitchell was in attendance too. Morgan Freeman duly took centre stage upon his arrival when he was honoured with the Freedom of The City of London for his services for acting and for his sterling fund raising efforts for Charities. He will receive this honour at the Guild Hall when he is next in London. I was lucky enough to video this presentation which included an earlier gift given to both Bill Luckett and Morgan Freeman a Sons of Royalty motorcycle waistcoat each. I also recorded Morgan singing the Al Green classic (let’s stay together) with the Morganaires backing. We were entertained by the Barnes Blues Band from London, famous musicians from the UK included Bobby Tench, Papa George, Pete Rees, Tim Hinckley and Darby Todd who all enjoyed this great evening. Worst part of the night was when Bill Luckett introduced the first warm up act, a USA Elton John lookalike who failed miserably to hit a right note all through his set.
Next we head for Louisiana driving through the historic Mississipi Delta crossing the mighty Mississippi river three times enroute to Lafayette, our two night stay was highlighted by a great evening music extravaganga on a Mexican holiday evening with Zydeco style foot tapping swamp music. Next day we take a superb boat ride through the swamps catching all the amazing wildlife including alligators. Next we head to New Orleans passing through Baton Rouge before arriving at our city hotel in downtown, just a few blocks from the Frenchman Quarter. Famed for being the birthplace of jazz we take a trip on the Natchez Paddle Boat Steamer along the Mississippi, have lunch a listen to traditional jazz for a few hours. The famous Bourbon Street was a bit seedy with touts trying to drag you in to clip joints and did not appeal at all. We found Mulates a brilliant restaurant with cajun fayre and zydeco music. We loved it so much we returned the following evening to witness the old sqeeze box and dancing. A tour around the city included the levee's, musicians village that helped restore homes after the 2005 Hurricane Katrina and the main cemetary where everyone is buried above ground due to the city being built on a swamp. We caught good local music in Frenchman Street then decided to cut our stay to just 3 nights and head to Panama City Beach in Florida next day 9th May.
We arrived in the Gulf of Mexico and checked in at a superb Condo called The Summerhouse right on Panama City Beach, this proved tp be a smart move relaxing in a very nice two bed apartment overlooking a swimming pool and the beach. We once again found great music at two local beach clubs, Schooners was our first find with great food and rocking R&B music, we found Pineapple Willys on the pier on our final evening where the owner presented us a shot glass each to take home. Tonights act were Jacobs & Brock two excellent blokes playing guitar and singing the hell out it. This 3 night stay on one of Florida's finest beaches left us relaxed and looking forward to our journey north through three more US States.
Our next destination was Chattanooga in Tennessee where we planned a 3 night stay, enroute we drove on excellent roads through Alabama splitting the journey with a one night stopover in LaGrange just south of Atlanta in Georgia, this town was a dump indeed and it turned out to be the only evening on the entire trip we did not listen to live music. We also encountered a foul mouthed red-neck taxi driver who took us from our crap motel to the Longhorn steakhouse for supper. He wanted out of the USA, stating the terrorists from Pakistan were out to get him, this experience sort of set a scene of the area and we were glad to move on to Chattanooga next morning.
Our first morning we visit the famous steam train (The Chattanooga Choo Choo), over lunch at The Big River Grill we plan our activities for the next few days and during a stroll around town we spot an interesting music venue called Mocha Restaurant and Music Lounge a lady pulls up alongside us in her car while we were looking at the menu and says we are closed for two nights, we chatted for a while and she invites us to a special function occuring on our last evening on the Thursday. Our day trips out on the Wednesday and Thursday were great taking in the sights of Lookout Mountain and the steepest Incline Railway in the world, we also visit Rock City with its magnificent Ruby Falls and stroll out to Lovers Leap where a vista of seven US States can be seen. Our final evening here we visit the Mocha music lounge and enjoy local hospitality at a private function, strangely we are the only two white people in the venue. The food and music was superb and we thanked the hosts for their generous invitation.
Next morning we set off for Franklin situated just south of Nashville, it was a place suggested to us for it's music variety by the manager of the Clarksdale Delta Blues Museum. Our two night stay was most enjoyable taking in a Rodeo, a visit to Lanes Motor Museum and Leipers Fork a village set amongst the most scenic and exclusive ranch estates in the US. By the entrance sign into the village parked on the grass sits the Dukes of Hazzard General Lee police Highway patrol car and the 1969 orange Dodge Charger driven by Bo and Luke. We pull into Pucketts Grocery shop where they are serving pulled pork from the BBQ pit and nice beer, so lunch is accompanied by live music from the Lacks Family Band who played brilliantly for over two hours, it was a great way to spend a Saturday lunchtime. On the evening are lucky to purchase last minute tickets at The Franklin Theatre for a show raising funds for under priveleged children, four top Country & Western male singer/musicians made it another special evening. Next morning we set off for Nashville stopping at the Loveless Cafe famed for it's biscuits and ham.
We split our 7 nights in Nashville to 3 nights in the Downtown Comfort Inn and 4 in Opryland near the Airport. Our first taste of Nashville was a walk on a very hot morning from our hotel to Broadway and at 10am on Sunday in Tootsies the live music is already playing with a full bar enjoying a traditional Country band. We visited the birthplace of Bluegrass and Country music the Ryman Theatre the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. In the evening we took in the brilliant Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar in Printers Alley and then on to the rocking Whiskey Bent Saloon. Just opposite our hotel were nice bars and at last a curry house the Tamarind Indian Bistro run by an Indian lady originating from Sussex. Downtown was good fun with pedal taverns up and down main street on Broadway, the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, BBQ Jacks for famous ribs and a special treat for Michael a visit to Coyote Ugly the bar with girls dancing on the bar, all in the best possible taste of course. Musical museums a plenty with the Music City Walk of Fame alongside the Country & Western and Johnny Cash venues, great evenings were spent in Legends Corner, BB Kings Blues Bar and Benchmark where we caught Alicia and Lindsay of Smoke & Guns. We moved on to Opryland and our hotel near the airport for our final four evenings in Nashville. We handed back our Mustang Coupe after completing 2723 miles during our road trip. We took the courtesy bus back to our Red Roof Motel, from this base a taxi ride to Opryland was just 20 USD each way and enabled us to visit many fun venues over the coming four evenings. At The Opryland Backstage Grill we were entertained by Billy Yates, then moved on to Nashville Palace for the real bluegrass experience with cheaper drinks a food too. On 23rd May we had tickets already purchased in the UK for the Friday Night Opry, this was truly enlightening with great Country stars on view from George Hamilton IV, Stonewall Jackson and star of the night Charles Esten currently acting in the local hit TV show Nashville. The Opry is recorded for radio each week and each of the 30 minute slots is sponsored by a different company and hosted by a star turn. My good friend Richard Harrington was in town for a wedding and his flight from Gatwick coincided with his only free night and our last night, so we met up for a great evening catching up over dinner and a few beers in the Backstage Grill and Nashville Palace. The Willie Nelson museum was adjacent to the Nashville Palace alongside the Dukes Of Hazzard Museum, yes the Dukes and General Lee were here again too and so were the cars.
Goodbye Nashville this morning as we fly to Newark airport in New Jersey for our final four days in New York. We take a train right into Penn Station next to Madison Square Garden and check into our hotel opposite. This evening we celebrate Michael's birthday at a Times Square restaurant. For the next few days we do the tourist trail, taking the open top bus tour over Brooklyn Bridge, walk the 9/11 Memorial site at Ground Zero, take a Circle Line boat trip around Manhattan Island, walk around Wall Street Stock Exchange, Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Statue of Liberty and Central Park.
We had tickets once again pre-booked at home for our second evening to see The Jersey Boys on Broadway and finished a wonderful evening off in a Mexican restaurant for late supper with more live music. Next evening we arrived at the scene of John Lennon's murder by the Dakota building next to Central Park and Michael bumped in to his daughter Lucy's great friends who just happened to be around New York on holiday the same evening. We stroll around the Quiet Zone of Strawberry Fields where lies the beautiful IMAGINE memorial laid in a large circle on the ground of the park walkway. We leave Lucy's friends and take a cab to Harlem where we are lucky enough to get a table for a 25USD cover charge at THE COTTON CLUB, what ensued became another magnificent memory on this amazing trip, from the Cotton Club house band with a brilliant young guitarist Solomon Hicks, followed by lady singers, extraordinary tap dancing and a fabulous insight to this legendary club by the compare giving us all a run down on it's historic beginning, the clubs operation through America's Prohibition Era and the Cab Calloway days. The early days the big names including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Jimmy Durante, George Gershwin, Paul Robeson, Al Jolson, Mae West, Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin and Judy Garland played the club.
We could not end our trip without an evening visit to Grenwich Village and take in some local Blues music and Italian food, we checked into Terra Blues on Bleecker Street and listened to Dr Mack's soulful interpretation of the blues. Captivating stuff to end our extraordinary trip.
The End ............... to my first travel blog that took me over two years to eventually write down. My scrapbook proved useful to recall these events. Michael and I revisited Chicago in September 2015 for the 3rd time and have now visited every BLUES club in this great city.