2019 - End of the Decade Honky Tonk Tour - Day 5 - Home - NYE

Sorry I am late in blogging. Nashville was wonderful but also exhausting. 

Final day in Nashville. I fly home at 6 PM. We went to a café to have a cuppa coffee, work on blogs and organize photographs. 

I finally came up with a name for our rented Dodge Charger: Spare Rib

Next, we went for one final barbecue meal at a place called Mission BBQ. It was OK. In retrospect, the best barbecue I had was the first at Martin’s.  The flavor and texture of the ribs was more to my liking. I don’t need to eat barbecue for quite a while. 

Mission BBQ has a law enforcement theme. Badges ands stuff everywhere. It reminded Thomas of an Alabama state trooper story. He was in college at Cal, but not of legal drinking age. Home for the holidays. He had to drive to Tennessee, drinking age 19, to buy a keg for a party in his backyard. He got pulled over driving 85 MPH by an Alabama State Trooper. He got out his California Drivers License showing his address as International House. He handed it to the officer. Thinking quickly, he spoke to the officer in German and pretended not to understand English. The exasperated Trooper handed him back his license and sent him on his way. 

We finally made it to the Willie Nelson and Friends museum.  I thought it was overrated. They were just a bunch of photos, old costumes and memorabilia. I don’t know what I expected , Other than that.  Thomas liked it a lot more than me. He wanted to keep taking pictures. I was really tired of photographs. 

After that, it was time to go to the airport. Thomas got disappointing news that his daughter Kate was sick. She had planned to meet him in Nashville in a few days. It was his only opportunity in quite a while to spend time with her. It worked out that she will come after all a few days late. Phew. 

After Thomas left me, he rented a car and drove to Huntsville Alabama, where he grew up. He is going to have dinner with an old friend and spend a couple of days in Huntsville. Knowing him, he will send me some photos from dinner to put in the blog.

I made it home. Beth kindly picked me up at the airport. Back to my routine today: spin class and shopping for NYE dinner.

Great NYE dinner with Mark and Helen. Seafood extravaganza. Good champagne and wine. An early evening.

Is that a napkin or are you passing notes again?

2019 End of the Decade Honky Tonk Tour - Day 4

Sorry for the late blog. We were up late last night. 

I did another spin class yesterday morning, while Thomas went to the farmers market. I noticed that they had barf bags in the spin studio. It cracked me up because my old spin instructor Mark Cutone used to say it was his goal to work us so hard that someone would throw up. I sent him a photo.

I met up with Thomas at a Barista Parlor. I got in line for coffee but gave up.  Too slow. Thomas had a coffee. We sat and ate boiled peanuts from the farmers market. Delicious. Thomas is ready to move on from his marriage. He notices women everywhere. 

From there, we tried one more time to go to the Willie Nelson and Friends museum over by Opryland. Before the museum we had lunch at Scoreboard. A good sports bar but otherwise I give them a zero on my scoreboard. Mediocre barbecue and hot chicken. Horrible service. 

Note our friends in the Christmas cowboy hats in the background, celebrating a "merry" birthday.

We had a 2 PM appointment for a distillery tour. No time to see the museum. Off to the Nelson Greenbrier distillery, where they make the Belle Meade bourbon we discovered. We started off with a hot cider spiked with Belle Meade. Very satisfying on a cold rainy day. We enjoyed the tour. Our guide Kyle was knowledgable and entertaining. We learned The ABCs of bourbon whiskey: American, Aged in charred Barrel, made from 51% or more Corn. To be Tennessee whiskey it has to be made in Tennessee and filtered thru special charcoal. We did our tour duty and drank a bunch of whiskey at the end.

As you can appreciate, it was then time for a siesta. I slept. Thomas played on his computer. I have developed good napping skills over the last year. A necessity for retirement.

Comments about the trip: 

(1) a lot of discussion about mule skinners. Mule Skinner Blues was a seminal country song by Jimmie Rodgers. Many artists covered it including Dolly Parton. Neither of us knew that a mule skinner was a mule team driver. Thomas wants to make a playlist of different versions of Mule Skinner Blues.

(2) take ten pictures! Everywhere we go, we ask strangers to take pictures of us. Thomas always tells them to take ten pictures. He says, "pro tip - take ten and keep one". The problem for me is that ALL of the pictures are taken on MY phone, the iPhone 11. I laughed every time he said it. At first,  I nervously told the photographer they did not need to take ten shots. However, I realized that we would upload all the photos to the cloud every night and delete them off the phone. By the end of the trip, I did not care how many photos we took on my phone.

(3) Get an iPhone 11! The camera is amazing. It does everything, zoom, wide angle, etc. It is designed to take better photos. It has programs that improve your photos automatically. Stuff that professional photographers would do in the darkroom. The battery life is very good. Supposedly, I have 20 hours of usage. Thomas is getting one ASAP. 

(4) I love Nashville. 

         There is great live music EVERYWHERE. If you love countryish music you will love Nashville. Most of the music we heard around town was not what you would call traditional country music. It varied from bluegrass to blues to rock and roll. We did find more traditional country music at the Nashville Palace, near Opryland. There were numerous other venues playing varied music in the same vicinity.

         Food: barbecue, barbecue, barbecue! Beans, okra, fried everything. What's not to like.

         The city is not too big. It is easy to get around by car. I can't speak to public transportation. We did not explore it or 

         All the coffee places have Oat milk. I am writing this sitting at Ugly Mugs drinking a decaf, oat milk, extra hot latte.

         Nashville feels very open and inclusive. It seems to have all the good qualities of a southern city and none of the negative. This was just my impression from a short visit. 

Back to yesterdays activities and experiences. After siesta/computer playtime, we drove to the Ryman auditorium to see Robert Earl Keen. I was worried about whether we would like the show. I knew and liked a handful of his songs. Thomas only knew what I played for him the last two days.

The show started. We were both disappointed. Robert Earl Keen was very overweight and the music seemed kinda New Orleans jazzy. After a few songs, I figured out that this was just the opening act, Not REK. A guy named Shiny Ribs. I liked him better after I knew his role in the show.

After intermission, REK came on stage and started out with a song that is very significant for me: Feelin' Good Again. About twenty years ago, Beth and I had a big fight before she left for a trip to New York. We were barely speaking. I discovered this song and played it for her when she got home. It is about a man who returns to his home town, goes into his local bar, sees all his friends, finally, he sees his old lover across the room and she "breaks into a grin".  Fight over - Feelin' Good Again. It has remained a very special song between us.

The rest of the show was wonderful. REK played many of his hits that I knew. So it seemed, did everyone else at the Ryman. It is a great experience to have the crowd singing along with the lyrics the whole show. There was enjoyment all around. REK threw in some covers of songs about the moon and space, in line with the theme of the show: REM Man on the Moon, Elton John Rocket Man; David Bowie Space Oddity, etc. There was general glee by the end of the show. It was significant that the show was at the Ryman. Great accoustics. History.

After the show, we poked our heads in the Wild Beaver Saloon, which had been recommended. Stupid. Off to the Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar, which my brother Joe suggested. We  saw a great Blues band: Stacey Mitchhart. I had a few Hurricanes. Sweet and satisfying. We laughed and took lots of photos and video. They closed around midnight. We would have stayed longer.

We got back to the house near one pm. Feeling great. I had already decided not to blog. I had a midnight snack of all my leftover barbecue. So ended another excellent day.

2019 End of the Decade Honky Tonk Tour - Day 3

Thomas gave me some photo editing lessons this morning. I just tried out his basic tricks. Rule one - hit the magic wand; Rule two crop the photo; Rule three - the rule of thirds. I wish I could explain all this in detail but I can't. The magic wand is the auto enhance button - top right next to done. The crop button puts a graph over the photo in thirds. I am trying to put the people on the vertical lines. How did I do here:

We left the house after a light breakfast for me and a heavy breakfast for Thomas. Off to Cyclebar for a spin class. I loved it. Thomas not so much except that he had a crush on our instructor. The place was fresh and clean; good locker and shower facilities; great bikes and a beautiful studio. I had a good strong performance. First in the class. I am going back tomorrow.

From Cyclebar decided to go to Noshville. We had no idea if it was good. We just loved the name. We stopped for a quick tour of the Vanderbilt Campus where my brother Joe went for nursing school.

On the way to Noshville, we saw a surplus store and decided to stop in. It seemed like a good store until I happened upon the gun section. I averted my eyes and made my way to the fishing section which calmed me down. Thomas wanted me to take pictures of the guns but I just wanted to get the hell out of there. He got a few photos.

We made it to Noshville. I had low expectations for a Jewish deli in Nashville. It was close to a bookstore we wanted to visit. What the hell. The ambience was good. The food was good enough.

We then stopped at Parnassus Bookstore, owned and run by the author, Ann Patchett. Very well designed and organized. Spacious. Welcoming. A very good locally owned bookstore. You wanted to spend time there and buy books. 

We passed an Aldi store. Thomas said this is a German big box store that owns Trader Joes. I had never been in one. I wanted to take a look. Unimpressive. Not somewhere I would shop. Good prices. Off brand schlock. Be afraid. This company has 10,000 stores in 20 countries. Coming to you soon. They are underpricing the competition. In a few years we might all be shopping at Aldi and Dollar stores.

Back to the casa for a siesta. No sleep to be had. We listened to country music. I finished the crossword puzzle. Thomas edited all our photos.

We had a fifteen minute panic when Thomas could not find his iPad. It was in the car. He is leaving it home in the future.

At Thomas' request, I need to make a comment for the record. He is in between hairstyles and insecure about how his hair looks. [I think it looks fine]. He thinks he is losing his boyish curl [jeez Thomas you're sixty!]. 

8:30 p.m. time to go out for dinner and some music. Thomas wants to go to Nashville Palace for some traditional country music. Seems Okay. Off we go. Pretty crowded. Lots of people dancing. Lots of cowboy boots. Great band playing: Natasha Neeley. Ode to Billy Joe. D-I-V-O-R-C-E. We get ourselves a table. Beer for Thomas. I had a music city mule. Fried pickles. Burger for me. Thomas ordered

a fried bologna sandwich. I think it sounded pretty cool til it arrived at the table. He pulled it open and looked at me sadly. 

Before I describe the next thing that happened, A month ago, Thomas said he was 100% for Mayor Pete and 200% behind the Democratic nominee. Another friend said, “there's one thing which would keep him from winning a national election: the image of the inaugural ball.” Would President Pete dancing with his husband sell in middle America?

So, here we are at a pretty honky tonkin bar in Nashville. And Thomas was really curious: “Has-or could-a gay couple dance on this dance floor?”  The singer Natasha Neeley comes around with a tip jar for the band. We tipped them generously. She asks Thomas, "Where y'all from?" Thomas says, (knowing the effect the image below will have on Natasha), "We're from San Francisco." He then asks her, "Has a gay couple ever danced at the Nashville Palace?"

She says she is not sure, but "Y'all should get out there and dance!" I was aghast. What in the hell was he thinking!  I think it was a question better not asked in that circumstance/environment. 

He would not quit. My embarrassment continued when Thomas asked our waitress whether any gay couple had ever danced there. She said it happened several times. 

It turned out Natasha's mom was at the next table and photobombed some of our photos.

We finished out Natasha's set at 10:30. 

Then, Thomas wanted a few photos at Waffle House for his old high school friend Greg Sisco. They must have eaten many 2AM meals there. 

Back home to blog and edit photos. Spin class tomorrow.

2019 End of the Decade Honky Tonk Tour - Day 2 [Noshville]

I had a good nights sleep. We had a leisurely morning. Ate a simple breakfast in.

We went to a coffee place not far away: Barista Parlor. Pretty hipster. It was like something on Valencia street, in the Mission district in SF.  I found it a little too fussy. Thestaff a "baristas" were way too clean-cut. Slow service. The coffee tasted good.

We next drove toward downtown and stopped at the Union Hotel so Thomas could make a reservation for next week with Kate. Beautiful place. It used to be the train station.

The museum was next to the hotel. We saw a scent that illustrates the difference between San Francisco and Nashville. A homeless guy sat out in front of the museum here. Three police cars converged on him.

Time for lunch. Thomas wanted ribs so we navigated ourselves to the Peg Leg Porker. Long line but it was worth it. We tried everything: pulled pork, chicken, ribs, wings, green beans baked beans, Mac and Cheese, fries. It may not be healthy but it sure was delicious.

I decided we should call this our Noshville tour. Great name for a deli right? Sure enough, I googled it and there is a Jewish deli called Noshville.

Best part of the day - a visit to the Ryman Auditorium. The mother church of country music. The home of the Grand Ole Opry for many years. I had always heard about it and wanted to see it. I learned a lot about it recently from the Ken Burn Country Music documentary. I was a bit awestruck to look around the place. We did a self guided tour, starting with a ten minute documentary. Very well done. The number of famous and popular musicians who performed there is surprising. Not all country stars. Bob Dylan, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, and on and on. It is in an old BIG converted church. Wooden benches for seating. It looks old but also majestic. 

We got tickets for Robert Earl Keen on Sunday. Looking forward to it.

Next stop Broadway. Just down the block from the Ryman. DowntownNashville. Their version of Bourbon Street. Block after block of Honky Tonk bars playing loud live music on both sides of the street. Musical tributes and museums. Fun to walk thru and around - once. We looked around the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. Very nostalgic.

We made a bet about whether or not Jenny Schwartz new what the Grand Ole Opry was. Of course she did. We called her up. I won the bet. Thomas had to buy me a whiskey. We had a drink near Vanderbilt University at a Kimpton Hotel. Single barrel bourbon, Belle Meade. Pretty good stuff. We may go tour the distillery.

Dinner time. Off to the Loveless Cafe. My dad liked the place. Fried chicken, biscuits and way too many desserts.

Final stop at Dino's, a dive bar, for a shot and a beer.

I really like Nashville. The cost of living is low. The food is yummy. The town has a good vibe. Not too big. Not too much traffic. Easy to get around. A river runs through it. A very good balance between urban on the edge of rural. All I would need to do, to fit in, is grow a long beard.