Arrived in Memphis. Sun finally shining after 6 hours of mid-to-blinding rain on Interstate 40 yesterday as I drove east across Arkansas and into Tennessee. I am overwhelmed and saddened at what I see here. Whoever said the economy had taken a bite out of Memphis is totally right. So many, many empty buildings. In the upcoming book, I'll have no trouble placing slums where I need them. I've been here many times, but this is the worst.
Had a quick sandwich at the Front Street Diner that appeared in Grisham's The Firm, across from the Cotton Exchange.
But it's the National Civil Rights Museum that distresses me. From the outside it's a sooty bruick building sandwiched beween the even-more sooty Lorraine Hotel and the motel, a tired sign over the door and a ratty once-white wreath hanging on the balcony to mark the spot where Martin Luther King died. No landscaping, just cramped space. I knew the Lorraine to be rundown, even in the 60s. King stayed there for the first time (the night he was shot) to support the sanitation workers.
I understand they have fantastic collections. For a national museum/site, the outside is a pathetic site. The inside is put together Disneyland-waiting-line style, but hopes to be improved and modernized "soon". This town which sky-highs Elvis Presley and the blues, cannot devote decent space to Martin Luther King and the entire Civil Rights movement. God help us. In my travels I have visited historic places all guarded and guided by uniformed members of the Forest Rangers. Instead, this museum is run by lovely black people -- God, I wonder what they think of us whites? -- and no state or federal attention at all. I am so pissed off. How ashamed we should be!
Terrific things: I think I see the perfect alley for a blues club, which is featured in the upcoming book. I took excellent black and white shots.
More when I calm down.
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