Took it easy a bit this morning, then off and running after breakfast. Nashville is known as the country music capital, and justly so. Our Best Western hotel is on 'Music Row', about 1 mile from the heart of the city, so we set out to find what music was on the row. We hit the jackpot, as we have been so lucky to do repeatedly on this trip. In the area of our hotel, bounded by a 45 minute walk of up one street and down another (eg Chet Atkins Road, Music Circle, etc) we counted every record label I knew of, plus ASCAP and CMA (Country Music Association, not Certified Management Accountant or Canadian Medical Association), plus countless CD producers, some that still advertise cassette tape production, plus recording studios, talent agencies, lawyers supporting artists and writers and producers, and other services I've forgotten already. Spend a couple of weeks with us to see the pictures and you will see them all then. Its like going to New York and seeing all the financial giants on their home turf, that's what Nashville is to music. It is easy to imagine the young struggling talent coming to town for a start in the business and having to confront the array of buildings and signs just to get started. Shania Twain for example, according to a story I read. And for every one like her that makes it there must be a hundred who don't.
We walked downtown from there, past and through streets that looked like any others that we passed through in any city on our trip, nothing remarkable in Nashville between Music Row and the performance venues of downtown except a few clubs near our hotel on Music Row. We didn't know what to expect, but we were still surprised by what we found. The country music venues seem to be crowded into an area of Broadway Street about 3 and a half blocks long from 2nd avenue to just short of 6th avenue. That area is jammed with clubs. A block off Broadway is a club called 'Coyote Ugly', made famous by the movie, and we went there for drinks.
A little known fact is that the bartenders (all female - and not just female, but FEMALE) will, for a price, do body shots with patrons, male and female. Then, to raucus applause, everybody gets up and goes about their business. Just thought you would like to know. Its all about showmanship, just like the girl's undergarments hanging from a handrail that runs the length of the bar, overhead but within reach of the women dancing on the bar. And patrons get up there too, as we saw. Funny, in the movie everybody was movie-star attractive. In real life everybody looks not quite like that. Am I surprised? I Shouldn't be.
Went to BB King's and had ribs for dinner, and listened to live music. Great. Before BB's and Coyote's we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. It was wonderful, we loved it, and we are not even country music fans. But you have to admire the committment and dedication these people, they are artists even if I don't understand their art. Below, inside the Hall of Fame, Randy Travis was signing autographs for those who purchased his latest CD.
Then after the dinner at BB's we went to the Grand Ole Opry. I can hardly believe it but we did. It is the same venue, the Ryman Auditorium, where the radio performances of the Grand Ole Opry were produced for so many years, way before television and Hee Haw. The two hour show was broadcast live on radio, so we were encouraged to make a lot of noice after each act. There were about 15 acts or performances, mostly singing, some instrumental, all fascinating. I wouldn't take this up on a regular basis, but it sure is fun to do occaisionally. I will stop short of dropping the 'g' of my words, pickin and grinnin and lookin and bein, you know the style, but it is infectious and fun to be part of for a while. And everybody has so much energy and totally lives the style, rhinestone suits and all, just like you imagine. So much more to say but out of room.
