Memphis; Lets Get Drunk - Page 3

photoLith · #41 Posted **Dec 7, 2010, 4:25 AM**

^
It has a very dirty feel but its an amazing city that everyone should visit just once or maybe more.

Chef · #42 Posted **Dec 7, 2010, 5:33 AM**

The "dirty feel" is part of it's charm.

BnaBreaker · #43 Posted **Dec 7, 2010, 9:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chef

The "dirty feel" is part of it's charm.

Agreed. It's not as if it's literally DIRTY, with open trash bags lying all over the place or something...I personally think "grimy" or "gritty" describes it better. haha

sguil1 · #44 Posted **Dec 9, 2010, 8:49 PM**

Awesome shots. Would love to see some of New Orleans over on the New Orleans thread if you do make a trip down here. Bourbon st. is like Beale street on roids jam-packed with people.

Nightsky · #45 Posted **Dec 10, 2010, 4:36 PM**

Very nice photos of Memphis!
Beale Street reminds a bit of South Street in Philadelphia.

photoLith · #46 Posted **Dec 11, 2010, 5:52 PM**

Beale St. is only about two blocks long though, how big is S. St. in Philly? Beale St. being pretty small still packs a big punch, theres so much to do down there and the music overall was pretty sweet.

childsplay04 · #47 Posted **Dec 15, 2010, 6:59 AM**

Nice pics of Memphis....hate the fact that this thread turned into a panhandlers hate group....but i digress....

ALSO..Memphis is by far not "dirty" nor "dirty feeling" at all...Memphis ACTUALLY is URBAN and have a REAL URBAN FEEL to it...unlike most of the New South and Sunbelt cities...dirty is not the word to use...

photoLith · #48 Posted **Dec 15, 2010, 7:28 AM**

Yes, Memphis does have an urban feel, much different from other southern cities, I mean, other than New Orleans and Savannah GA. But Little Rock, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Nashville, etc dont even compare to how awesome Memphis is, urban wise. But, I still think it has a dirty grunge feel to it, which I do love.

LSyd · #49 Posted **Dec 15, 2010, 12:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photolitherland

Yes, Memphis does have an urban feel, much different from other southern cities, I mean, other than New Orleans and Savannah GA. But Little Rock, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Nashville, etc dont even compare to how awesome Memphis is, urban wise. But, I still think it has a dirty grunge feel to it, which I do love.

you're forgetting Birmingham, Charleston and Richmond, all of which are nicely "grungy."

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ShadowMaster · #50 Posted **Apr 3, 2011, 6:29 PM**

I am enjoying your thread man!

djlx2 · #51 Posted **Apr 3, 2011, 8:14 PM**

awesome photos! I was going to try to make it down south last fall. Now, I really wish I'd done it. Your commentary makes it seem as if it might have been quite a trip.

MPK · #52 Posted **Apr 3, 2011, 8:55 PM**

Thanks for the great thread!

A question, if you don't mind. I'm planning to visit Tennessee in the next few months/summer. I'll be visiting both cities, but would it be worth spending more time in Memphis or Nashville? I know each city probably has its strengths, but, overall, which would you rather spend more time in?

djlx2 · #53 Posted **Apr 3, 2011, 10:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MPK

Thanks for the great thread!

A question, if you don't mind. I'm planning to visit Tennessee in the next few months/summer. I'll be visiting both cities, but would it be worth spending more time in Memphis or Nashville? I know each city probably has its strengths, but, overall, which would you rather spend more time in?

That one's tricky to answer, because I probably know less about the strengths of these two cities than you do. What, in your opinion, would be the main distinction?

xzmattzx · #54 Posted **Apr 3, 2011, 11:36 PM**

Nice pictures. I missed this the first time. I might be in Memphis in a few months and I am hoping it works out. Beale Street looks pretty cool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by photolitherland

Almost every black guy that I came across was like, yo man, give me money, so that was pretty ridiculous. But I never really felt unsafe. I got suckered in to buying some "groceries" for some black guy at a corner store and the douche got 20 dollars worth of crap and expected me to pay for all of it. I was like, wtf man, Im not an ATM machine. He eventually took most of it back but I still paid for 5 bucks of it, and I then had 15 bucks left over and he came really close to me, and was like just slip it into my pocket. He expected me to just give him the rest of my money. I cant stand people like that, they are pretty much the worthless scum of the Earth.
Not to be racist or anything, but only black guys do that, rarely if ever has a homeless looking white guy just asked me for my money in rude ways like the black guys do. Whenever I go back home to Houston and I walk around at night, almost every black dude I come across downtown also just pretty much tells me to give him my money for no good reason too. I'm sure I'll get accosted now on this forum for not being politically correct.

This has happened to me several times, but now I know that they are frauds. One time at work a White woman was telling me about her experiences like this. A Black woman at work told her "Girl, they're just playing you." This Black woman then went on to say that these guys only ask for money or help from Whites because Whites are gullible. Blacks know that they are conning people.

My worst story was from maybe 5 years ago now. Around here, the sad story is always the same: someone needs money to get to Philadelphia, or sometimes Camden or some place outside of Delaware. Nevermind that buses don't run from Philadelphia to Delaware and vice versa. So this guy outside of where I had to coach says he needs money to get to Philly. He has gold teeth and a winter coat lined with fake leopard skin, both surely not inexpensive. I give him $2 or $3 and he says more would help, but I'm running late and want to get started with my practice on time. I finish coaching 2 hours later and come out and the guy is out there again and he starts asking for money. I look down as he goes through his same story and he's trying to hide a soda bottle behind his leg. This guy used my money to buy himself a bottle of Pepsi and then had the balls to ask me for more money again and say that he was still looking for money for the bus. That was the end for me, now I only give money to beggars who are physically impaired. If an able-bodied person truly needs help and asks me, he will unfortunately lose out because of the con artists that ruined it.

I have also had a White guy be pretty brazen, though. He asked me for money because he needed money for food. But the guy was wearing a brand new NASCAR hat that wasn't more than a month old. He also had something else expensive; I think it was Ray-Ban sunglasses, but it might have been an iPod. Meanwhile I was wearing an old faded hat and didn't have sunglasses or an iPod.

Anyway, sorry to go on about that rather than the pictures, but you're not the only one that gets that treatment.

Centropolis · #55 Posted **Apr 3, 2011, 11:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MPK

Thanks for the great thread!

A question, if you don't mind. I'm planning to visit Tennessee in the next few months/summer. I'll be visiting both cities, but would it be worth spending more time in Memphis or Nashville? I know each city probably has its strengths, but, overall, which would you rather spend more time in?

The question wasn't posited for me, but as someone who spends a little time in Tennessee, I prefer Memphis as a city, and it's culinary charms (yum) and i'm always going to be biased in favor of a deep river city. Nashville is fairly random, however (and also on an ornery river, in any case), with a diverse music scene and is more of a magnet. I love Laylas Bluegrass Inn on Broadway. I would split your time equally between both, both pack a decent (interesting) cultural punch, and it's worth feeling both out equally upon a cold call.

TinnitusClock · #56 Posted **Apr 4, 2011, 5:31 AM**

I am deep river, so I would agree with the posting above me.
On a cold call, I would likely not know how or if I should give an opinion.
I am not familiar with Layla's Bluegrass Inn, though the location sounds good. Can I identify its exact location elsewhere?

photoLith · #57 Posted **Apr 4, 2011, 5:40 AM**

Ive never been to Nashville, never really had any interest to go there. If I were you, Id go to Memphis, its the dirtiest most awesome city in the south imo. Tons and tons of history, much more than Nashville. A really cool thing I like about Memphis is the old riverfront port that still has most of the original cobblestone that go into the water where they used to load and unload cotton and what not. I think a lot of the stonework and bricks on the riverfront date from the early 1800s. I dont even think STL has any of its original brickwork along the river left. New Orleans might, but Memphis has basically all the port fronts preserved.

Expat · #58 Posted **Apr 4, 2011, 11:09 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photolitherland

............. A really cool thing I like about Memphis is the old riverfront port that still has most of the original cobblestone that go into the water where they used to load and unload cotton and what not.......... I dont even think STL has any of its original brickwork along the river left. New Orleans might, but Memphis has basically all the port fronts preserved.

Photolitherland, when you were in St. Louis, did you see the cobblestone waterfront in front of the arch and in Laclede's Landing? I wonder if it is similar to what you are talking about? I haven't been to Memphis, so I don't know. I didn't see anything like that along the river in New Orleans, just a big berm. But, I didn't see the entire river in NO, so maybe it exists someplace.

photoLith · #59 Posted **Jun 13, 2011, 7:34 PM**

^
No, I missed that unfortunately. I wish I had known, I would have for sure gone to see it in STL. Oh well, maybe next time.

Austinlee · #60 Posted **Jun 14, 2011, 12:26 AM**

Awesome photos man!

This one is so wonderful:

Memphis was the first place I ever flew to, when I was 4 yrs old in 1985 to go to my grandfathers funeral & burial in his hometown of Blue Mountain, Mississippi where my father's side grandparents came from.

I also would like to weigh in on the story you told: When I was younger and knew less I would get so mad at people asking me for money on the streets. But as I've grown older and I learn more history about our country and the world, I become a little bit more understanding.
I know it's super annoying to get hit up for money, especially if the person asking has a bullshit story to try to get it out of you. But think about where that person is coming from; Probably a broken family with more than likely NO positive role model and/or father figure. A history of their family not being able to get honest work is more than likely.
My point being, if you really are honest with yourself and think about that person's life and realize that even in this age, 150 yrs after the civil war with the end of slavery and even decades after the civil rights era, MANY black men still have no REAL opportunities for real work. I think about how hard it's been for me at various points in my adult life to get even a complete shit job (McDonalds, selling produce on the side of the road, landscaping) and i'm white from a middle class family; then I think how much more difficult it would be if society still had a stigma for me subconsciously.... You can start to scratch the surface of why people do whatever they can to survive.
I'm not saying it's not super annoying but you CAN understand how our incredibly racist history of a country has produced these situations. Ignorant, racist people from 200 yrs ago created the society we have now.

I'm sure some of what I said you already know and agree with but in my opinion the only way to overcome our racist history is try so hard at all times to relate to other people and be understanding; And always make decisions in your life that will help you be the change you want to see in the world.