Vandrea Does America: Days 255 - 260 (Tue 4/2/13

Leaving Albuquerque in shorts and worrying about sunburns we were astonished when the weather dropped 30 degrees within an hour. Spending a few days driving through Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas we were chased by a hail/rain storm all the way into Tennessee.

Having high hopes for Memphis you can say we were a little disappointed. After visiting the Lorraine Motel (the site where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated), Sun Studios where legends like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash got their start and walking along the riverfront we had only spent a few hours when we had initially planned to stay a few days.

There was still Beale street and this, as expected, was a highlight. In just a few small city blocks we heard an extraordinary amount of music. In the early evening we found several artists playing on patios, street corners and at a tiny city park. There were enough bands, in fact, that it was a little hard to hear at times. Young kids and teens did back flips in the street as hundreds of tourists looked on, some tipsy girls broke into a spontaneous dance routine and one night the area was littered with film students. The street was alive and dense with good times.

Though the music was solid, my favorite part of Beale street might have been a small photo gallery tucked away on an unpopulated block, where we found a collection of photos from the Civil Rights movement, many of Martin Luther King and all extremely moving.

Isaiah got barbecue that was top billing despite, or maybe because it nearly burned his face off.

We also spent the weekend anxious for Sunday when we planned to attend a special church service. There was some trepidation as online reviews claimed that the Reverend would publicly shame you if you tithed less than $20, that services lasted 4 hours and that the congregation broke into tongues. Thankfully only one of those things happened.

Having turned away from his addictions and to the lord in the late 70's Bishop Al Green has a baptist church tucked away in a residential Memphis neighborhood. Bishop Green has a surprisingly small congregation of about 60 (with an additional 20 or so tourists each week). Isaiah thought it might be the best concert he has ever been to.

Hard to say how much Al Green is a rock star and how much rock and r&b have stolen from the church. Rev did the whole James Brown thing where he claimed he was just too tired/emotional to go on anymore, like he was going to collapse or give up and then, only after our encouragement, bam, he's up singing, louder than ever. Regardless of who influenced the other, more bands should pattern their shows on the dynamics of this church. Not to mention more churches should have the enthusiasm, energy and joy of this place. I can see now how Ray Charles just had to change "God" to "girl" and make church songs rollicking and racy.

About a third of the congregation are gifted singers and almost all of them had their chance to impress us, before the Bishop had said even a word. Though talented as they all were, hearing Mr. Al Green himself was untouchable.

His sermon consisted mostly of words of praise (where in response the congregation said strange but encouraging words like "preach it master") inter spliced with his unbelievable, goose bump inducing singing. I've heard some singers described as being so good that they could sing the phone book and still be captivating, imagine them singing the Bible. At one point Al mentioned a song he had heard on the radio and the congregation spontaneously broke into the song with several people (including the reverend) speaking in tongues. After two hours (that somehow felt too short) the service ended leaving us with our feet a tappin' and glad to not have to have had a math lesson with Al Green--"Well, you see Reverend, 10 percent of nothing is nothing."