Time for a quickie!

So, on a super quick trip to Little Rock, AR. Usually, trips this far are a minimum of five days (three days recording, two days traveling), but this time we have a three day turn around: Katie M. and I flew into Memphis today. I took a snap to remind myself of the part that I won't be missing when I stop doing this job: the middle seat.

Before making the drive to Little Rock, we stopped by one of the Neely's BBQ restaurants.

I went for my favorite, Brisket Sandwich.

Although it was good, I wasn't bowled over.
After, Katie M. drove us to Little Rock. I tried driving out of the Memphis airport, but there really were too many trucks and highway closings for me (or Katie) to be comfortable.

So now, I chillax in my Little Rock room. I keep thinking of my previous visit here, almost three years ago. It doesn't feel like time has changed at all. I am tired - I flew in from Miami yesterday only to wake up today and make the flight and drive to here - but there's a pool downstairs and I have a bathing suit, and it's hot as good hell here. So, not too bad.

Nashville, Day Three

Our last recording day went by quickly enough, although by the end of it we certainly felt like it would never end. We didn't eat lunch and instead sat on some nearby grass to enjoy some time of not-listening.

We left for Nashville quickly though, and decided to find food that would allow for Veggie eating. Enter Woodlands Indian Vegetarian Cuisine. The decor was nice, but generic Indian restaurant. The staff was pretty nice, though, the kind that do not write the orders down. We began by sharing an appetizer sampler.

It was tasty, what with Samosas, Cutlets, Idlys, Vadas and Vegetable Pakoras. The winner of the platter was the soup-like concoction that was intended to cleanse the palate between different meals.
As a main meal I opted for Aloo Baingan

Aloo Baingan is fresh eggplant and potato cooked with onion and tomatoes. I added to that some rice and garlic naan. I ate til I couldn't eat any more.

Since we had to change hotels after dinner, and we were both pretty tired, we both decided to not go out after dinner and instead had an early night. It was good - in my room I caught the premiere of Modern Family and Happy Endings, and after a quick phone call to Mi Cariño, had me a good night's sleep.

Nashville, Day 2

Despite the yummy Thai food we ate the day before, at the end of the second recording day in Murfreesboro, we were ready to head out of town. However, we began the "after work hours" by stopping by the Agriculture department of Middle Tennessee State University, thanks to the recommendation of a participant. There we tracked down the Head of the Department's secretary, who hooked us up with the one thing MTSU "Ag Department" is apparently well known for: Chocolate Milk.

The Ag Department students at MTSU take care of their own cows, milk them everyday, pasteurize it, then take it through the process of making it all chocolaty. We were lucky in that we were able to get a batch that was very much freshly made - so fresh the bottle still didn't have a label on yet.

Despite my lactose intolerance, I had me two delicious cups of chocolate milk. I admit it's been a long time since I actually drank milk, much less chocolate milk, so maybe my system was just doing the happy dance at flavors it thought it'd never taste again.

We chatted with our southern host about hospitality and oral history and archival work before finally beginning to make our way out of Murfreesboro. We decided to go with the recommendation made by Gaspar's friend, and headed to Monell's Dining and Catering in Nashville.

The restaurant is in the middle of a residential block, definitely the kind of place one only goes to when looking for it, and essentially it's a house/manor that's been emptied out and filled with long family size tables. You see, Monell's is a family-style restaurant, which we learned meant that you sat on a table with a bunch of people you don't know - and you share the food. That is, the restaurant has the food they've cooked for the day, and they bring you plates, which you pass to your left. The special of the night was Spinach Lasagna and Pot Roast.

We sat on a table where only two people were sitting, two very friendly men from D.C. turns out that they were U.S. Navy musicians, in town thanks to the Bluegrass Convention that was going on. One of them had even served in Iraq and Afghanistan a couple of times. We shared stories as we shared our meal, which ended up being more than just the special.

I wish I had taken better notes about the food but then I was very busy eating and having a great conversation. Besides what you see on the plate (biscuits, corn bread, mashed potatoes, skilled fried chicken, turnip greens, white beans, pot roast, spinach lasagna, something sweet and mashed I can't remember the name of) there were peas in mayo, and some other veggie in mayo. There was sweet lemonade before we ended the meal with peach cobbler.

The bill came in the cute form of a card, since everyone gets charged the same

Before they left, however, our table mates told us of the best way to listen to some live Bluegrass music: Go to the Renaissance Hotel downtown, and essentially walk up and down the 21st floor, where we could wander in and out of hotel rooms. Gaspar and I decided to take them at their word, and after paying our bill and admiring the outside garden of Monell's, found our way to the downtown area.

Mind you, neither Gaspar nor I can be considered real Bluegrass fans, but live music is live music, not to mention the opportunity to experience something that we'd otherwise never get to experience. We made our way to the 21st floor and were still too early to see any "shows" and so walked around. We heard some really fun music coming through partially open hotel room doors, but didn't have the guts to just open up and walk in. Eventually though, we ran into a show in room 2114, Acoustic Trail's room. We listened to Brittany Haas and Lauren Riouxe, who were pretty impressive.

I can't remember the names of the songs they played, but some were originals, and some were well known. The "Show" was great - there was free beer to be had, and even some spicy soup to wake up the system. After they were done we made our way to the basement showdown floor, where several bands and groups were performing. They were okay, but I liked these two the best.

Eventually we made our way back to Murfreesboro, listening to a Radio Lab podcast about parasites, which of course, sparked an energetic conversation between Gaspar and I about the little suckers, evolution, and perception.

Not what I thought I'd be doing with my Tuesday evening, that's for sure. But the whole thing was great, tasty and a lot of fun.

Go Blue Raiders!

Our first full day recording in Murfreesboro, TN went by without a hitch, except for the fact that we didn't have much time to eat lunch. Thankfully both Gaspar and I had brought some food from the Hotel with us, and so we had a little something to snack on. However, by the end of the workday we were ready to eat and so we searched for something close by. Our only searching caveat: after the meat fiasco that had been the day before, we wanted vegetarian. Enter Thai Spice, which was quite near our recording location. We shared appetizers of Spring Rolls and Summer Rolls

I followed with my Thai staple: Tofu Pad Thai

The meal was good, although not mind blowing. I did wish I had gone with my second choice, but after the fiasco that was Sunday, this meal was awesome.

Afterwards, we decided that we sill needed to do a little something to shake the day off, and so we went to a run/walk right outside of Murfreesboro's Stones River National Battlefield, were several run loops surrounded a man made lake. It was pretty neat, the sound of sneakers on concrete as I walked. I recorded it for you:

All in all, not a bad way to end the day.

Nashville, Day One

So, work sends Gaspar and I to Tennessee. We stopped in Nashville on our way to Murfreesboro, a town about an hour away. There's no way you can stop by Nashville, TN without stopping by... you guessed it! The Parthenon!

What?! Yes, that's what I asked myself upon entering Nashville Airport, searching for "things to do" and finding "The Parthenon" hidden in between entries about Country Music and the Ole Opry. Apparently Nashville was once known as "Athens of the South" and so, in the 1897 fair they built a full scale replica of the original Parthenon. Apparently a bunch of other ancient buildings were replicated for the fair, but The Parthenon is the only one that still stands, made entirely of concrete.

I don't know if "full scale replica" means that it's exactly the same size, but the thing is pretty big. It functions as an art museum now, but Gaspar and I didn't have the time or the money to go inside. However, thanks to Gaspar eye, I did take a pretty picture:

The Parthenon is smack in the middle of The Centennial Park, which was holding a flea market type thing. We stopped there long enough to have some sweet, sweet lemonade

and to meet "Princess, [who] loves to ride."

This did not quell our desire to sightsee, and so we made our next stop de place de rigueur when in Nashville: The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. 

Mind you, we didn't have the stomach (or the money) to see the whole thing. Instead we stopped by a free Banjo Demonstration by Blake Williams who is apparently a big name in the Banjo world - or rather someone who's played with lots of big names. A bit of his prowess: 

Although it was pretty impressive and fun to hear him play, he spent most of his time talking about the people he's played with and what they had written and how awesome they were, and so Gaspar and I were ready to depart about 30 minutes in. 

After all the sightseeing we were ready to have some food, and had several recommendations from a friend of Gaspar's. However, we were determined to have some BBQ - after all, Tennessee is in the South, right? Isn't the South supposed to be chock full of good BBQ everywhere? Well, after several yelp and urbanspoon searches, we decided on having a bite to eat at Jack's. Although it was a chain, we decided it sounded local enough to have been just a good restaurant that did well. We had high hopes, since we got to see a nice little piggy with wings as their drive thru image.

Once in at Jack's, you go over the counter and ask for your heart's content. I went with their combo plate, which lets you pair up three meats and two sides. I was content with trying their Texas Brisket and Sausage, with turnip greens and mac and cheese. Pair that with cornbread, icy water, and a taste of three sauces: Original Tennessee BBQ Sauce, (Tangy Vinegar based), Texas Sweet Hot BBQ Sauce (Tomato based), and Kansas City BBQ Sauce (Sweet and Smoky.) 

I'll say this: Nashville doesn't show up on the list of places known for BBQ because... it's not known for BBQ. We should've accepted that and gone with the local flavors. What is there to say? The greens were too sweet, the mac and cheese was powdery, the sausage was sweet and passably okay, and the brisket was a shame, specially compared with the still deliciously in my memory North Carolina Brisket I had in August. Let us not talk of the corn bread. 

We ate our food because we paid for it, but neither Gaspar nor I were really happy with it, which was highly disappointing. Afterwards, we got on the road to Murfreesboro, not really excited after that bad encounter with what should've been really good. It was hard to try to remember that until then Nashville had been fun, but we tried our best.