Friday, October 27, 2006

Travels with Fluff: Vacation Photos Starring a Tub of Fluff (Part IV: Fluffy in Memphis)

Fluffy in Memphis


Welcome Back to Travels with Fluff!

New to Travels with Fluff? Check out the previous posts.
Introduction
London and the Opal Coast of France (for one day, to get some wine)
Dispatch from the What the Fluff? Festival in Union Square, Somerville
New York City

Don’t forget to take the Fluff Quiz at the bottom of this post. Answers to the previous Fluff Quiz posted too!

One of my oldest and dearest friends lives in Memphis, Tennessee. She works at St. Jude’s Hospital, the world’s best hospital for pediatric oncology (yes, one of my best friends is a saint). For ten years, she nagged me to come and visit her, and until last winter, I never did. The good Yankee I am, I assumed that any non-coastal state was a backwater and kept trying to convince her to meet me someplace else for a mini-break. She finally wore me down.

I am happy to say that I was wrong. In one liver-straining weekend, I took in the sights and vibe of Memphis, and I have to say that Midtown Memphis is actually a very funky little enclave in what is otherwise a backwater (I did go to Mississippi and Arkansas for about five minutes apiece, and I wasn’t impressed).

Sadly, we didn’t go to Graceland. I’m not a big Elvis fan (except Fat Elvis—some of that stuff slays me), and the cheapest tour was somewhere around $50. Plus, it was out of the way of all the drinking establishments we needed to hit.

Please note that any and all daylight pictures were taken by someone with a mind-bending hangover and that the evening shots were taken by someone who should not have been operating a camera (traumatic photos have been edited out).



Fluff at Boscos

Fluff at Boscos, a regional brewery

Fluff at Joe's Liquors

Fluff at Joe’s Liquors, aka Sputnik


Fluff on Beale Street

Fluff on Beale Street


Bad picture of Fluff on Beale Street

Bad photo of the lights on Beale Street


Fluff at Naughty Place

This place used to be a brothel

Fluff Sun Studio II

Fluff at Sun Studio

Fluff Sun Studio

Fluff on the side of the Sun Studio building


Fluffernutter

Fluffernutter

Fluff Trolley Car

Fluff and the Memphis Trolley

Fluff and Elvis on Velvet

Fuzzy picture of Fluff and Elvis on velvet

Fluff's True Love

Fluff found true love


Fluff on Bench and the Mississippi

Fluff on a bench along the banks of the mighty Mississippi

Fluff Quiz the Third!
Oh dear, I know so very little about Memphis. This one might be a bit short.

Remember, if you cheat, you are only cheating yourself. Not knowing squat about Fluff is nothing to be ashamed of.

1. What is the shelf life of Fluff?
2. Dusty Springfield is best known for “Son of a Preacher Man,” recorded with the Memphis Sound. The song, however, was originally written for someone else. Who turned “Preacher Man” down? Huge-ass hint: She later recorded it.
3. Name two people who recorded at Sun Studio. I don’t want anyone telling me that my quizzes are too hard.
4. Fluffy fell in love with Aqua Net in Memphis and has been heartbroken ever since. Have you ever felt this way? Discuss.

Answers to Fluff Quiz the Second!
Dive wins this round, however, because Dive also disrespected baseball, James gets to share billing. Kudos for creativity go to Super C, whose answer to the OMFUG extra credit nearly made me wee.

1. Is Fluff kosher?
Yes, Fluff is kosher. I don’t understand this, as I don’t believe it’s really food, but according to the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, it fits the bill.
2. Is Fluff a Boston Red Sox fan or a New York Yankees fan? Why?
Fluff is a Red Sox fan because Fluff is from Massachusetts (it’s made in Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin and was invented in Somerville). Fluff is therefore constinutionally incapable of having anything but disgust for all things New York Yankees.
3. Which Monty Python member is responsible for Spamalot?
Eric Idle, bless his twisted heart.
4. Ian McDiarmid played Teddy in the Broadway revival of Brian Friel’s Faith Healer. Who did he play in Return of the Jedi?
He played the Emperor. This was a bit of a trick question, as he was also Palpatine in the newer movies. But those movies were crap, and so I am sticking to the original three.
5. Alas, it appears as though the legendary rock club CBGB’s really is headed for memory lane this time. What does CBGB stand for?
Ironically enough, CBGB stands for Country Bluegrass, and Blues. the club closed earlier this month.
Extra Credit: What does OMFUG stand for? Hint: It ain’t dirty.
OMFUG stands for Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers. Music as food, I like that. RIP, CBGB OMFUG.


In the next installment, Fluff goes to Italia.

Previous Posts
Introduction
London and the Opal Coast of France (for one day, to get some wine
Dispatch from the What the Fluff? Festival in Union Square, Somerville
New York City

12 comments:

Sassy Sundry said...

Note: Blogger hates me, because Blogger doesn't like people with country-song lives. I kept trying to fix the code here, but I was thwarted. So, this is the best Blogger could do. Still hope you like it.

Anonymous said...

Woah, Nellie!

Beale Street!
Sun Studios!
Dusty In Memphis!

and Fluff!

Wow! What a post! Happy am I.

I'll email the answers to 1, 2 and 3, but the answer to 4 is "All my life" … and maybe I'll discuss it on my blog sometime, but not now as I'm filled with the radiant joy of my Fluff fix.

I love the old bench pic. but where are the "traumatic" photos? Your public is prurient and invasive and we need to see them.

And perhaps it's time to bite the bullet and upgrade to Blogger Beta. It's not such a pain in the arse as you might think, and it's a lot more stable. Sorry for sounding like an ad …

Sassy Sundry said...

Woah. Where did Dive's name go? I switched to beta, and things got even funkier.

Very nice answers, by the way. The rest of you have some competition.

I have taken a solemn vow never to release the traumatic photos.

Scout said...

I keep trying to email my answers to 1-3, but something's funky. I'll try later, but as for 4: I was heartbroken in 7th grade after "going out with" Marty Belowski for two solid weeks, sneaking phone calls everyday after school because neither one of us was allowed to talk on the phone with people of the opposite sex. Then I learned that he only asked me to "go out" with him because he lost a basketball shot to Dave Annable. I was dejected, downtrodden, humiliated, the boy-jerks! But as for being "heartbroken ever since," I eventually recovered. They were still boy-jerks.

Sassy Sundry said...

Robyn, your e-mail came through just fine (I replied). Very nicely done. I do believe that you have a bit of an edge over Dive. Some boys can really stink. I find it rather frustrating that my junior high school crush showed more consideration for my feelings than my last boyfriend, but what can I do?

Scout said...

Yea! I'm beating Dive! When do you post the winner?

Sassy Sundry said...

Next Fluff post. One of his answers was more complete, but you did get one more right than he did.

dive said...

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth, maybe even some rending of garments over here in Blighty.

Not that I mind being beaten by a girl … (and not in the way Old K would think).

Oh, the curse of being non Fluff-literate …

Sassy Sundry said...

Hey, Dive---It worked. You can post as you. Must have just been a glitch. Glad to hear that you are taking this so well.

Scout said...

Dive, I'm a little sorry to have the edge here, but being Fluff literate isn't the key. I don't know that I've seen the stuff. Maybe it's being able to make things up on the fly.

Thanks for keeping your chin up.

james said...

I got nothin' on this quiz . . .

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