VADOULOU

After a leisurely breakfast served by an Englishman we went out to the Johnny Cash museum. This is a relatively new venue here in Nashville but like all the similar things we have been to, it is very well done. There is a lot of interactive material, the story is well told from birth to death & the music of Cash & others of the era is great. Whilst I wouldn’t claim to be a huge fan of Cash I can now appreciate his life & music much more. Doug was in his element remembering concerts of his youth. I certainly remember seeing Cash in Belfast on the Highwaymen tour, & having a great night. The bit I really enjoyed was the tribute to Sun studios & old footage of Carl Perkins, Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison & Elvis Presley.

The weather here is very warm & humid but a little overcast. When the sun does come out it is very hot. Rain has been forecast but so far so good. There are plenty of tourists around but I suspect that Sunday is less busy than Saturday. When we came back last night from the Grand Ole Opry, Broadway (the happening street) was jumping. No doubt we will venture downtown tonight to eat.

          

Off we go on the big adventure. The Opry is no longer situated downtown & was resited in the 70s to an out of town location. A taxi ride later (fixed fare of 25€) & there we were. Also on site is a shopping mall & this being Sat it was quite busy. We got our tickets & then went looking for something to eat. The choice was huge but the best! on offer was TGI Friday. 

The concert start time was 19h so we wandered in & found our seats—-actually they were long bench type seats, well upholstered & roomy holding 10 people each. Someone had obviously looked at the general body profile of the average American & designed the seats with them in mind. The theatre holds 4500 people & tonight’s show was a sell out. There was a warm up man & groups from abroad, birthdays & anniversaries etc. got special mention. They also told the story of a flood & subsequent restoration in 2010 when the whole place was under 4 ft of water after torrential rains.

The concert was being broadcast on national radio & in many ways it was like stepping back in time. We have a tape at home of 1950’s American radio & it was just like listening to that. The sponsors had their adverts & we could see the guy reading the set pieces. The night was divided into 4 sections & each section had a host who sang & then introduced other guests. Some were great & others not to our taste but in all cases the musicianship was amazing. The only bit that I struggled with were the Opry square dancers & I didn’t see how they were appropriate for a radio show!!!

The whole thing finished at 21h15 & we were back downtown in no time at all. There was just an enormous queue of taxis all still operating the same fixed fare. Doug can’t make his mind up about the whole thing but I thought it was a hoot. We have been & we will never go again & it was just so American on one level!

Just to say that the gents toilets were to be seen to be believed, very Art Deco so couldn’t resist photos. 

   

  

  

  

  

 We had to wait a little while for our room, these are photos of the lobby area. It is a very different style of hotel—very swags & drapes, but obviously a Nashville institution. We went downtown to the visitors centre to redeem our vouchers for ‘passports’ &
tonight we are off to the Grand Ol Opry. yiha!