Whilst waves marked time.
'Appear, O Truth!' thou sang'st with tone of thunder,
'And shine sublime!'"
-Victor Hugo
Its been a genteel week on the road, with some very scenic stops. We left you last in Memphis on our day off, which was an awesome stop, however brief. Erin had worked extensively in Memphis, and would be returning there in January to stage manage another show, so she knew the ins and outs of the blues capitol. While I roamed the downtown area, Meg, Nate, Brent and Erin spent the day at Graceland, home of Elvis Presley. After three hours, many pictures taken, wonders surveyed and a number of grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches later, they took their leave of the King's humble home.
That night we ate at Gus' Fried Chicken, heralded as the world's best. And our experience certainly proved it. We started off with fried pickles and fried green tomatoes as an appetizer (welcome to the south), and followed it up with absurd amounts of the best fried chicken I have ever encountered. Ever. The best. I'm sure Brent and I both ate more than a whole chicken apiece. It was an awe-inspiring night of country dining.
We played Memphis the following morning, in a beautiful new theater downtown that was only a few years old. The performance went well and afterwards we packed up and headed back to Nashville.
Its the country music capitol of the world, and we were staying right in the middle of it, at the Comfort Inn in Opryland. Our first morning in we played at the Nashville War Memorial Auditorium downtown. This was a stunning little theater, with a wrap around balcony and a very tight stage. The ceiling was comprised of particolored ceiling panels in gold and powder blue, and the rest of the space was similarly adorned with elegant, soft blue colors and gold trim. One of the stagehands regaled us with stories of all the greats who had performed on that stage, from Elvis Costello to Bob Dylan. He even said there was a ticket stub on file from a Rolling Stones concert many moons ago. The entry price: two dollars.
Behind the theater was the memorial itself, a collection of statues and plaques honoring Tennessee's armed services. The performance was frenzied, since the audience was so close and those in the forward balcony could see backstage. But we gave it our all and thoroughly enjoyed the penny-seat appeal of the morning.
The following day we finished the week with a sold-out show at the Acuff theater, next door to the Grand Ole Opry. After load-out we lunched at the Opry Mills mall next door, overwhelmed by the droves of shoppers, flashing lights and endless wares. Meg was going crazy for the mall, as she is a serious shopper, and it was all we could do to keep her from buying three of everything. Dazed and bedazzled we mounted up and shot down the highway to Montgomery, AL where we passed the night.
The following morning, after a lavish hotel breakfast (thanks to our producer's frequent travel bonus we had stayed in a Fairfield Inn--upgrade!) we journeyed down through the wilds of Alabama to sunny Niceville, FL.
Immediately upon our arrival at the hotel we checked in, changed clothes and headed directly for the beach. The hotel itself was situated on the coast, a stone's throw from the water, but the public beach was a bit further off. We piled into the van, crossed an enormously long bridge and rolled up to the waterfront, at the Henderson Beach State Park. While Erin took Matilda in for some much-needed maintenance, the rest of us frolicked in the gulf and caught what little sunshine we could before five o'clock. The beach was a brilliant white, the water pure azure, and we had the entire place to ourselves. After a delightful two hours Erin picked us up and carted us back to the hotel.
But the real fun came the following day, when we hit the beach for real. We stocked up on water, towels and reading material, and headed back to spend the whole day as beach bums. Brent and Nate chased what little waves there were and practiced bellyflop surfing while Meg soaked up some rays and Erin built a sand camel. There was a local arts festival going on and we checked it out later in the afternoon.
It was a gloriously lazy day, relaxing and fun and exactly what we were needing. As the sun went down, we all counted ourselves lucky to be so far south so late in the season. This is the type of fall job we could all get used to . . .
After the beach we headed over to get some coffee and peruse the local bookstore. We found a Panera Bread and scrounged up a light dinner, while watching the spectacular sunset behind a row of palm trees. The sky looked like pink cotton candy run through with turquoise stripes, and it was full of color from the horizon to the heights. A gorgeous end to a great day.
Monday morning we played at Okaloosa-Walton College (I just love writing that name), in a state-of-the-art facility with an extremely competent crew. After the performance, we rocked out to Biloxi, MS where a night in the Isle of Capri Casino hotel awaited us . . .
You can look forward to those adventures and more as we continue storming a barn near you.
-ICHABOD
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