Red Door East and 3 Crows, Nashville

Seeking to get off the beaten path, we headed out to East Nashville to the Red Door Saloon.

No air conditioning :( But we met a lovely couple who are also deep into photography - Sarah and her hubby:

We walked about silver photography, getting it right in camera and how Photoshop is for suxx0r! Long live film, and, err digital.

Having sweated enough, we moved on the the 3 Crow Bar.

Hard to see above is some magical fan that filters out smoke (yes, smoking in bars is still legal! woo-hoo!)

Obligatory.

The chick to guy ratio was kinda in our favor , but I couldn't have another beer and Zoo was yawning. Too bad, both places looked fairly chill.

Station Inn - Not on Bluegrass Night

I have a very fond memory of visiting Nashville about 12 years ago. A friend of mine took me to this trashy area of Nashville to this basement of a place called the Station Inn. i heard heart-wrenchingly-beautiful bluegrass from family bands I had not listened to before, ate simple food and really just plain enjoyed the experience. I'm not dissing the Station Inn, but things have changed a bit.

Tuesday nights now belong to a hilarious country/western comedy group called Doyle and Debbie. We went without checking it out first - our cabbie let us know it was not what we were expecting, but we were in for a treat.

Ummm, and not only was it my first comedy show ever, but we were also the most junior people in the room possibly by 30 years. Nonetheless, it was pretty damn funny and they can sing their hearts out.

Hoping that next time I get to hear more bluegrass :)

Nashville - cleaned up and open for business

In  the wake of the flood Nashville experienced in May, it's apparent that they are back on their feet and ready to move on.

Speaking of which, Zoo was looking a bit haggard and stopped into a fancy man-cleaning establishment called a barber.

It's called Red's Classic Barber Shop. If you are manly and in Nashville, stop in here to make yourself look presentable before going out. Nashville is a well-dressed town.

Cleans up good, don't he?

BBQ 6: Cozy Corner, Memphis

We had to boogie outta town to get to Nashville, but despite our BBQ overindulgence we stopped at the local-recommended Cozy Corner on the way to the interstate.

It's everyone's favorite!

The sliced pork was already gone, so we opted for baloney (hot-spicy!)

and sliced beef (hot-spicy!) sandwiches.

Great road food, for sure. It was topped off by sweet tea and a slice of pumpkin pie that was to die for.

Flying Saucer

After pool it was time to nosh ... but my intestines couldn't handle any more smoked meat. I'm pretty sure I have colon cancer right now. So ... we went with the healthy option of bratwurst.

We sat next to the nicest inter-island couple ... Aimee from England (Arsenal fan, booooo) and Barry from Ireland (Liverpool fan, yaaaaay!). Super great kids who just got engaged whilst on a road trip of their own all around the states.

After we chowed down dinner, I went for the fake happy birthday for the fourth time, also a success. This time, it was Angela's birthday too (urrr) ...

After we revealed that it wasn't really Matt's birthday to Angela, I wasn't her favorite person in the world, so Barry and I went off to shoot some billiards.

I did okay, but was no match for Barry, who had a sweet short throw.

After I returned to the table, I met Jenzi, Angela's sister, a gorgeous, statuesque and devestatingly charming belle. This is me trying to equal her statue-worthy demeanor.

I just HAD to see how long those legs were, and Jenzi was nice enough to oblige ... boy would I like to climb her tree.

I'm not sure if she realized that by throwing her leg up in my arms that she was giving me masturbation material for the month of July.

And now I can officially say I got picked up in a bar by a beautiful woman on the road trip.

I know what it looks like, but I am not feeling Jenzi up. Not even a little bit.

We had a little dance, but, sadly, my people were not made for salsa, despite what Jules might say. Thanks to Mara and Kevin for inspiring the spin into sitting on my knee move.

All in all a pretty great night. Sorry for games, Angela ... we've got waaaaay more pictures if you want us to send some.

Beale Street Absinthe Room

Beale Street in Memphis is pretty annoying .. total tourist trap. We checked it out for a minute or two before finding a nearly dead pool hall on the second floor. I love pool halls that you can smoke in, but it's a little strange they didn't have even one draft beer. What they did have was Absynthe. Absynthe and billiards seems like a strange combination, but Matt made it work. We were both rusty, we had one legit win in the first 6 games. I'm gonna go ahead and blame sobriety on that.

While were playing we met the nice folks at the table next to us. We got their names, but we only remember Megan, mostly because she was hot. Megan, if you're out there, remember, we'll totally spy on your boyfriend if necessary tonight.

Gibson Factory, Memphis

You may not know it, but I've been playing guitar since I was 17. I couldn't pass up a chance to visit the Gibson factory since it was right across the street from our hotel in Memphis. I skipped the tour, since we had to boogie, but upon entering the store, I saw a shit-ton of guitars... droool. I'm a Martin and Fender guy - Gibson was always the grass on the other side. So I sat and played through a bunch of them.

I gotta say I am disappointed they play the MSRP vs. street price game in the store, but I guess you have to support your sales network. Outside of that, they tune and check all the guitars, so even if you get one made in Indonesia (like I did), it comes all set up as if you went to a shop and had a local pro tune it for you.

This one is my new honey. Solid, bright, loud and shiny. Low action up the fretboard, built-in tuner and some serious electronics should I dare plug it in...

BBQ 7: Drifters, Nashville

Drifters: As Zoo puts it, this was technically not BBQ since they add stock to the meat after cooking it, but it was nonethless delicious. Plus they also had some tasty BBQ sauces of their own concoction.

I had my first fried pickles. These had the bonus of being hot (spicy). D-Lish.

Pulled pork and beef combo sandwich,

..aaaand some more pulled pork.

Zoo liked the mustard sauce so much they put some in a container for him and divulged some of it's ingrediential secrets.

And 2-for-1 beers wasn't a bad deal, either :)