Nashville (part 2)

Well. my trip is basically over. I’m on the first of 3 flights home (Orlando – LA). Let’s see how much of this I can bring up to date before I actually get home!

Friday was the big day, Country Music Hall of Fame and then as Rayna calls it ‘The Mecca’, the Bluebird Cafe. It looked like parking was going to be complex is some of these places so I made use of some Uber’s today.

The Country Music Hall of Fames was excellent. It was interesting and there was a lot of stuff to see. I did spend about the two hours recommended there. I think the main stand outs were how long country music has been around and how when it’s struggled they’ve changed it up a bit and it keeps on going. Lots of very big names have had at least some hits on country charts as well as others. If you’re in Nashville, I would definitely recommend spending some time there.

I bundled the RCA Studio B tour with my Country Music Hall of Fame tour. This is the studio on music row where Dolly Parton recorded Jolene, Elvis recorded 20+ of his songs and many more. It was interesting and informative and cool to see the piano Elvis played, the spot he stood on to hear recorded songs and the like.

(Location Update: Well, I’m currently on the plane from LA to Melbourne, less that an hour out now, but that does mean I’m writing this offline. Ugh. Bring internet onto international flights already!)

So without the benefit of past entries I’ll have to remember where I’m up to. I think I just finished writing about the Country Music Hall of Fame and was about to post some pictures. I decided to save some money and take public transport back to my hotel. I had to walk about a km to the bus stop which wasn’t that far, but it was about 33 degrees so I was starting to regret it. But I got back without any incident, though as I have done in the past I put too much money on the travel app system they use.

I had the best intentions to pack when I got back so I would be organised for my earlyish flight in the morning and wouldn’t have to do it when I got back from the Bluebird. However, what I ended up doing was going for a swim and lying out by the pool before I got ready to leave!

Then it was the Bluebird. I once again took an Uber there, as apparently parking is very difficult and I was hoping to have a drink or two. When I got there the lady at the door said she was hoping to give me a better seat than the pews, so she moved me to the bar which was great. The bluebird was setup slightly differently to the way you usually see it in the show – the stage was there, but it just had tables on it – the four muso’s were sitting in a circle in the middle of the room. 

As a side note, I did a bit of research in the early days of the show Nashville, they shot at the real Bluebird but as they did more there they built a replica on a sound stage so they had more freedom. The musicians did mention that it’s a great place to play and mentioned its fame from the show. They also joked that people will often come in and ask when Deacon is playing next! I think they did say Charles has played there once or twice.

The musos prefaced their set by saying that it was their own music they were playing. The show went for about 90 minutes, and they did about 4 songs each though a few of them were groups or duets. It was definitely my favourite show. It was original, acoustic country music and I really enjoyed it. I would definitely love to go back! I couldn’t resist the time that Maddie ordered chicken fingers on the show, I didn’t get root beer, but I had a couple of Corona’s and the bluebird basket which was chicken fingers and fries!

After that it was an Uber back to the hotel and then packing. This is always the hardest part of these trips when I move from having a car to flying so I have to get rid of all of my extra stuff. This time I think I had more than ever after the almost 3 weeks I’d had my car for. The Ale 8 was way heavier than expected but I tried to distribute things across my bags, my best estimate was that I should just sneak it under the weight allowance. (AA is limited to 23kg, not the 32kg I get on Qantas). Then bed – I knew I wasn’t going to get enough sleep… My ears tell me we’re starting to descend and this was a long post, so I’ll finish there and pickup in a new post.

Edit:- there’s something I just remembered that I forgot to put in this post. Once I got back from The Bluebird I headed off to a carwash place. Primarily because after all the driving my car was pretty dirty on the outside. I’m not sure you’re required to clean them, but I felt like I should. It also let me use the change machine to get 40 quarters! (that what $10 gives you) Not only did I need them for the car wash, but I knew I’d need there for the washing machine in Fort Lauderdale and my quarter for the trolley if I shopped at Aldi (thanks It’s R Life!)