America, Countries

Take it Easy with Amtrak in the Deep South

And the news we’ve all been waiting for, that we can now take it Easy with Amtrak in the Deep South.

With the launch of a new rail service, for the first time in 20 years.

Linking the Deep South’s two great Mardi Gras towns of New Orleans and Mobile.

With our friends welcoming us to their new service in good ole Deep South fashion.

With a Y’allllllll aboard cry!

Take me to the Mardi Gras

In the pink: Mardi Gras cities

The Amtrak Mardi Gras Service connects the jewel of Louisiana, New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama.

With stops along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

And with Amtrak’s guarantee of a super affordable price point.

You are, of course, only a short walk in New Orleans to the Superdome and Smoothie King Center.

On game days and for concerts.

While it is only a quick taxi or rideshare to the French Quarter.

While you can hop aboard the streetcar, which picks up right across from the entrance. 

Coast with the most

On the road again: Your Amtrak trail

This scenic 3hr 45mins coastal journey includes stops in Mississippi‘s Gulf Coast destinations.

And includes Pascagoula, Biloxi, Gulfport, and Bay Saint Louis.

Now what can we tell you about your stop-offs?

Well, Pascagoula, MS boasts historic architecture or the chance to relax at Beach Park with views of the Mississippi Sound. 

While Off the Hook Seafood and Cajun Grille serves up local specialties like po-boys and hushpuppies.

The Gulfport, MS is home to beautiful beaches and the Mississippi Aquarium.

Head to the marina for fishing or dig into Gulf shrimp at spots like Half Shell Oyster House.

A safe bet

Gulf time: The Mississippi Coast

You can even win back your fare at the Biloxi, MS casino, although at from $15 each-way that won’t break the bank.

Eat at Mary Mahoney’s Old French House, or check out the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum for artsy vibes.

In the artsy fishing village of Bay Saint. Louis, MS you’ll be won over by the seafood joints.

And the famous County Beach.

The final stop features charming architecture, the Historic Mobile Bay, and renowned Southern cuisine.

And our insiders recommend the Mobile Museum of Art or a stroll through the historic districts.

So take it easy with Amtrak in the Deep South.

And having let the train take the strain through New England I’d say it is the most relaxing way to travel.

Easy then just like New Orleans.

 

Countries, Flying

Holidos and Don’ts – no more boarding passes

And the answer to all our prayers, yes the return of an old favourite feature on this site and the end of another, Holidos and Don’ts – no more boarding passes.

Boarding passes can, of course, be the bane of our lives as we pad our pockets a hundred times on the day of our departure.

And still doubt ourselves that they haven’t dropped out of our pockets or we’ve left them behind.

A lifetime of passes

Answer to our prayers: Facial recognition

Here’s a thing though, since uploading the passes to our phones and Rynair are planning on getting rid of all paper passes I’ve been getting nostalgic.

But for the Scary One and her constant spring cleaning of my War Room (I put pins in the destinations of a wall atlas) I’d still have a pile of my old passes.

With markers from everywhere from the Maldives, South Africa and Jordan to Morocco, the Caribbean and all across the States.

All of which act as mementoes which let you daydream and drift off to exotic climes.

On cold, wet, dark days of which there are many in Scotland.

And when you’ve got a list of chores around the house which you need to avoid.

Face values

Find your gate: It may be further than you think

Now we have the International Civil Aviation Organisation to thank.

For this new revolution in aviation travel.

The UN body wants to create a new ‘digital travel credential’ within ‘two to three years’.

Allowing passport information stored on devices and used for travel.

Ja beauty: Friendly German air crew

And meaning that you will be able to download ‘a journey pass’ where your face will be your key.

Of course, if you’re one of those accidental tourists, of which I can count myself a paid-up member.

You’d forget your head

Good to go: The old way

Then there will be other challenges.

Such as not leaving your mobile phone behind.

As I did on my MLK50 odyssey through the Deep South.

And had to have a courier chase our coach 100 miles up country to reunite man with mobile.

Or misreading my airline and going to the wrong Lufthansa gate in Munich airport.

And despite breaking the speed record across terminals.

Pocket rocket: But don’t lose your pass

Having to lean on the stern but generous Bertha at the counter to move my flight.

So that I could hook up with my party in Athens.

But that’s another story.

I need now to readjust for the future, it’s all part of the ever-changing landscape that is, Holidos and Don’ts – no more boarding passes.

 

America, Countries, Music

Let’s all go peanuts for Elvis’s 90th birthday

On a velvet cloud The King will be sitting down for his favourite snack today so let’s all go peanuts for Elvis’s 90th birthday.

Elvis being a good ol’ Southern Country Boy loved his soul food.

And anyone walking in his footsteps in Memphis will naturally want to drop in on his favourite diner Downtown at The Arcade Diner.

Where you can sink your teeth into Elvis’s famed ‘Fried Peanut Butter N’Banana’ with an extra of bacon just to pile on the carbs.

As is the way with Elvis folklore there are competing stories as to its provenance.

The birth of the Elvis sandwich

Spread it on: The Elvis sandwich

Some accounts have it that Elvis and his bodyguards refuelled as was their way after a gig in 1976, a year before his death.

And they hit the now-closed Colorado Mine Company restaurant for a bite to eat.

There, he is said to have ordered a Fool’s Gold Loaf.

A sandwich made with a loaf of sourdough bread, a pound of bacon, a jar of peanut butter, weighing in at a not unsubstantial 8,000 calories.

If though you prefer the more elaborate tale more in keeping with Elvis excess then how’s about this one for curing the munchies.

That’s all right Mama: At Sun Studios

With Elvis returning to Graceland and getting hangry and jumping on his private jet with a couple of friends to fly to Denver.

Where the owners of the restaurant met him at the hangar .

With a pile of the enormous sandwiches (some say they brought 22, others say 30).

And he never left the hangar, washing the scran down with Perrier and Champagne and heading back to Memphis.

Elvis’s people

Jungle rock: The Jungle room

The more prosaic explanation is that the Zepatos family who knew Elvis well would give him his own favourite food.

At his own booth when he’d park his golf buggy up.

And just chew the fat with him and ask him about dad Vernon and mum Gladys.

Now the Arcade Diner, Memphis, Tennessee‘s oldest, is still in the hands of the Zepatoses, the fourth generation.

Because for all the spotlight Elvis brings Memphis they like to keep things in the family.

And as they’ve always been around here.

The Graceland business

The King and I: Elvis, Priscilla and Lisa Marie

Graceland, of course, is still a family business under the tutelage of the formidable Priscilla.

With the family still rolling in and embracing the greater family, the fans.

This week is poignant of course with the passing of Lisa Marie.

And the tributes and performances and retrospection on Elvis.

Nine decades on from his birth in Tupelo, Mississippi.

A host of events are taking place through Graceland.

Nigella’s nutty sandwich

Tasty: Nigella

For us, of course, we will watch his films, listen to his music and perhaps even dress up too.

And here with the help of one of our most celebrated chefs Nigella Lawson.

We give you the recipe for his peanut butter and banana sandwich.

From the cookbook Love Me Hunger…

So let’s all go peanuts for Elvis’s 90th birthday and make our own King’s sandwich.

 

 

America

My version of a really solid Tennessee excursion

Step aside, partner, it’s my day, bend an ear and listen to my version of a really solid Tennessee excursion.

And I won’t play hard and fast with the route which never went actually through Carolina…

It was western Virginia, although we’re sure that their ham and eggs is mighty fine.

The lovesick sap on the train from Pennsylvania Station in New York to Chattanooga may well have enjoyed his magazine and Baltimore.

But he would have missed the views along the way.

You won’t make that mistake when you visit Chattanooga, which not surprisingly makes the most of its railway heritage.

Tennessee is not very far

Full steam ahead: A Chattanooga choo-choo

With the Tennessee Valley Railroad  putting on year-ride vintage rides for fans of the Volunteer State, of which we are signed-up members.

Now naturally at this time of year the emphasis is on Christmas.

And the Tennesseans don’t let the small matter of being in the Deep South of the US to stop them celebrating the North Pole.

Tennessee Rail Road Valley puts on a Magical Journey with North Pole Limited Christmas Train, a Christmas Tea and Christmas Daylight Express.

You can also enjoy a picturesque round-trip train ride through the Hiwassee River Gorge.

Your carriage awaits: Fine dining

Write a letter and meet Santa and enjoy a delicious gingerbread cookie and chocolate milk on the train.

And just so the big people don’t feel left Santa’s Hiwassee Holiday is just for you over-21s.

With a nightcap with St. Nick, a one-hour train ride with all the bright trimmings of the season.

Where you’ll get two drinks, a sweet and savoury treat box, a souvenir bell, keepsake boarding pass, and a visit from Santa, all for $140 a table for two.

Loop the loop

Santennessee: And it’s looking a lot like Christmas

And because Tennessee isn’t just for Christmas then why not plan ahead for May-late November and the Hiwassee Loop?

You’ll be whisked away on a five-hour journey through the lower Hiwassee River gorge, featuring that loop.

This 50-mile round trip starts at 1:30 p.m. and ends at 5:30 p.m, showcasing the natural beauty and railway marvels of Tennessee ($56pp).

The high point of which is at Farner, where the tracks intriguingly cross over themselves.

As they spiral up the mountain, the only example east of the Mississippi.

The one I call Funny Face

Festive fun: And I’m beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It looks like the Tennessee Valley Railroad has taken care of everything.

Well, maybe not a certain party at the station, satin and lace, I used to call funny face.

Guess, I’ll take her with me this time and maybe branch out to those familiar and memorable destinations from my MLK 50 trip.

And start a whole new my version of a really solid Tennessee excursion

Fly London Heathrow to Nashville with hotel stay at the Hayes Street Hotel with British Airways from December 11-16 from £1,633pp.

Chattanooga is just two hours drive, and the whole of the Volunteer State awaits.

America, Countries, Music

King for the day in Memphis

For Dutchie it was his first paying gig and few better places than BB’s Blues Club, he was what he‘d always wanted to be… King for the day in Memphis.

You don’t, of course, have to possess the guitar-playing abilities of Dutchie to fulfil your musical dreams in Memphis.

Or be asked by Muriel to do a little number at ‘the Hollywood’ to be rockin’ in Memphis.

You just ideally need the services of insiders who know the town.

Like, say our friends at Irish travel providers Cassidy.

Anyone for Tennessee

King’s way: On Beale

Memphis, and Tennessee as a whole, has indeed been richly blessed for music.

Maybe that’s down to the gospel choirs or their antithesis, the devil’s drinking dens that spawned the likes of Robert Johnson.

Who famously sold his soul to the Devil so he could play perfect Blues guitar.

But Memphis, adopted home of WC Handy, BB, Elvis Presley, Isaac Hayes and actual birthplace of JT, Justin Timberlake, is the gift that keeps on giving.

I got rhythm

Sing like a King: Sun Studio

As are Cassidy’s, who again bring us another package ‘Rhythms of the South, which is music to our ears, a four-nighter from €1,529 with flights from Dublin.

You’ll travel out on December 2 and get to stay four nights at the 3* Holiday Inn Nashville.

And three nights at the 4* Doubletree Hotel Memphis.

A night at the Opry

Music City: Nashville

Now in a state so richly blessed for music as Tennessee there’s naturally a friendly rivalry.

As to which is considered the most musical city.

Of course, you can always settle that debate by just claiming it, as has Nashville.

By putting it in your marketing… Nashville Music City.

Because Nashville, home of the Grand Ole Opry and country music has become more, much more than that.

Nashville boasts 150 live venues, many of them Honky Tonk bars.

Where you can hear the best With more country, rock’n’roll, jazz, bluegrass, folk, and Americana.

Tale of two Southern cities

Ten feet off of Beale: Walkin’ in Memphis

Now should you be curious to know the difference between Memphis and Nashville and that’s the journalist in me.

Then my old friend Tennessean Heather, from our unforgettable Tennessee and Mississippi trip to trace Martin Luther King’s last days, helpfully explained.

If you want to meet someone in music in Memphis you just go up and introduce yourself.

In Tennessee you get your people to talk to their people and then you’re up and running.

Heather, is, of course a Memphian, and the best representative a city could want.

I was lucky enough to be introduced to their people, the Nashville delegation.

The King and I: With Elvis

When they visited Dublin and partied with us.

And yes, they offered to introduce me to their people and come out to their city.

Which doggone I couldn’t at that time because I was jet setting off somewhere else.

Of course good ole Southern folk never forget y’all so we will get over.

Made of New Orleans

So whether you want to be King for the day in Memphis or Cash in in Nashville then just put yourself forward (Dutchie did) and let Cassidy do the rest.

And if you’ve the time complete your Southern musical odyssey down in ole New Orleans, home of jazz.

Cassidy offers aUSA Food Tour of Nashville, Memphis & New Orleans

Tastes and Sounds of the South is a ten-days/ five cities/nine nights/nine breakfasts/four dinners bonanza.

They promise jazz, soul food, country music, and a whole lot of rock’n’roll.

Showcasing the rich culture of Memphis, Nashville, Natchez, and New Orleans, plus a trip to Graceland.

From €3,000pps, flights not included.

And when you do get to New Orleans say hi to me to jazz great Kermit Ruffles.

And remind him of how we rocked the San Antonio River Walk.

 

Countries

What’s in a name Tennessee Williams?

He hailed from Mississippi, set his most famous play in New Orleans and settled in the Florida Keys, so what’s in a name Tennessee Williams?

It’ll be 40 years later this month since the great Deep South playwright got off the Streetcar for the last time.

And for those who want to retrace his steps in The Big Easy Williams helpfully pointed us in the direction of Desire.

‘No 632 Elysian Fields Avenue, “running between the L & N [railroad] tracks and the [Mississippi] River,” adjacent to the French Quarter.

The Big Tennesseasy

Anyone for Tennessee: His fave Big Easy eaterie

While Galatoire’s, a Parisian brasserie which specialises in French/Creole food is where Williams would dine out.

It probably helped Williams’ career being the only man on Earth called Tennessee.

Although by rights he should have been called Mississippi… or maybe not.

Desire and higher: Streetcar

The fact is Thomas Williams only became Tennessee when he was 28.

Given the name by a student friend who loosely identified as a Southerner, hence Tennessee.

And because his father hailed from The Volunteer State.

All of which adds up to Williams being a well-travelled Man of the South.

Miss is a hit

Home dining: His Columbus home

Hailing from Columbus, Mississippi Williams, the town naturally celebrates its favourite son.

At the Tennessee Williams House Museum & Welcome Center.

This home was the rectory of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where grandfather, the Reverend Walter Dakin, served.

And it could have been lost to the developers when 30 years ago it was set to be torn down to make room for a church expansion.

So, in typical Southern fashion (think WC Handy in Beale Street, Mississippi) the home was loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to its new site on Main Street.

If Columbus, Mississippi, was the start point then the Florida Keys was where Williams made his later life.

Key to Williams

Florida flavour: Williams in Florida

He spent three decades in the Keys which this year marks its bicentenary (who knew?).

And Williams certainly made his mark alongside another literary heavyweight and peer Ernest Hemingway.

The Keys are marking Williams’ imprint on their corner of Florida with next month set aside to him.

Festivities include a fundraising garden party on 5 March, at the Key West home of Dennis Beaver and Bert Whitt.

Just Williams

Write on: Williams at his writing desk

Yes, only the founders of the exhibit that became the Tennessee Williams Museum.

Guests can get exclusive tours on 10 March, highlighting Williams’ The Rose Tattoo and 24 March, highlighting The Glass Menagerie.

Museum exhibits include personal photographs, rare memorabilia, a scale model of Williams’ Key West home.

And other items that chronicle his years on the island.

March of history

Push the button: Williams’ typewriter

The celebration concludes with a ‘birthday party’ on 26 March — the 112th anniversary of Williams’ birth.

At the Tennessee Williams Museum.

So get on board, it’s the Florida Keys but hey, what’s in a name Tennessee Williams?

 

America, Countries, Music

Grammys boomers

They must have seen something in my re-recording of John Lee Hooker to reach out to me for my Grammys boomers.

And ask me for my vote… although I dare say the judges have made up their minds already about who they will be rewarding this Monday, February 6.

Now if you don’t get an invite out to LA for the big prize-giving or miss the broadcasts fear not.

Because the Grammy Museum themselves will give you everything any music fan will ever need.

Disney sound bad

Grammy Museum, Cleveland, Mississippi

The Grammy Museum (no, there are three) are the Disney of musical exhibitions.

And helpfully like Walt’s wonderlands they are spread around to be near you.

If you live in the States.

Or travelling, and believe me if you are near Los Angeles, Newark, Nashville or Cleveland, Mississippi, then tick off a Grammy before you head home.

Hooker by crook

Boom boom: John Lee Hooker

 

Yes, you’ll get a chance to make your own re-record of Blues legend Hooker.

At the end of your odyssey around the history of music.

But be sure to leave yourself enough time.

Because you’ll find yourself dwelling at all the other boards and exhibitions along the way.

And your party, or the staff, will have to remind you that they have places to go.

The exhibits, of course, are being currently updated alongside the staples.

I want my Mississippi

Screen test: And MTV passed it big time

And so we can look forward to celebrating MTV turning 40 from May 13-February 19.

With the tagline the memorable refrain from Dire Straits ‘I want my MTV’.

While the Deep South, the cradle of the Blues, Soul, Jazz and Rock’n’roll obviously runs right through the Cleveland museum.

And you’d do well too to run right through the Blues trail which covers Tennessee and Mississippi.

Rock it

Sweet home: Skynyrd

Here at the Grammy Museum Cleveland they are in the middle of a year of celebrating the Sounds of Southern Rock too until September 3.

And among the exhibits are Duane Allman’s and Dickey Betts’ Gibson guitars.

And that namecheck just allows me to show off, with me rocking Prince‘s guitars with a colleague strumming BB King‘s guitar Lucille.

Guitar men: In Mississippi

They were all called after her which all BB fans will know but I still like to remind everyone anyway.

And that as they say is a wrap for today.

So enjoy the awards next week and do get along to the museums and take in the Grammys Boomers.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

 

America, Countries, Music, UK

Hank Williams in Alabama

As with so much in life where my great hero Billy Connolly goes I will follow which means to Hank Williams in Alabama.

Billy oft tells the story of how he first got into the banjo, his great musical love.

And the start point of his legendary entertainment career.

The Barras street market in Glasgow might seem an unlikely place to discover a Country legend.

But then many of the best people (Billy and Bandanaman) grew up in these streets.

And it was on one such stall that Billy’s dad bought Hank’s I’m So Lonely I Could Cry which prompted Billy to buy a banjo.

Hank’s for the memories

Music man: Billy Connolly

Billy, whose television travelogues are among the best anywhere, takes us to Hank’s gravestone in his Tracks Across America.

And texts his children and gets a photograph to tell him he’s there. 

This year is a very special year for Hankophiles.

Hiram ‘Hank’ Williams was born on September 17 in Mount Olive, Alabama.

And Alabama naturally makes a big deal of their favourite son with a Hank Williams Trail.

It kicks off with a visit to his childhood home preserved as a museum in Georgiana, where he learned to play guitar from Black street musician Rufus “Tee-Tot” Payne. T

Then drive an hour north to Montgomery, where Hank moved in his teens, and pick up lunch as he did at Chris’s Hot Dogs.

Alabamaversary

Poster boy: Hank Williams

Visit Montgomery’s Hank Williams Museum to see his stage costumes, guitars, and the 1952 blue Cadillac in which he died, aged just 29.

You can pay your respects at his grave, like Billy did in homage to Hank Williams in Alabama.

In nearby Oakwood Cemetery, marked by a marble cowboy hat.

Of course, in a state where music is in the very air, there is always an anniversary.

Muscle memory

Memorial: Hank’s graveside

And April 23, 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of Rick Hall’s FAME studios in Muscle Shoals.

The studios have attracted artists from Alabamian Wilson Pickett, who recorded “Mustang Sally”, Aretha Franklin and Etta James to Alicia Keys.

A new behind-the-scenes tour takes visitors into Hall’s personal office and showcases his collection of instruments.

Respect: Aretha Franklin

Of course this being the Deep South then music is all around you so why not make an odyssey of it in neighbouring states.

And take in Tennessee and the best that Nashville, Memphis and Dollywood have to offer.

And Mississippi and its Blues trail and its Grammy Museum.

 

 

 

Africa, America, Countries, UK

Get Black History Month

He’s a bit of a forgotten Commander in Chief but he is the US President who did get Black History Month… he brought it to the masses

Gerald Ford officially recognised the programme in 1976, the bicentenary of the USA.

When he called on the public to: ‘seize the opportunity to honour the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavour throughout our history.’

Of course theirs is February to mark the birthday months of the Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Frederick the Great: Douglass

Ours in Britain is October and dates back to 1987 to mark 150 years of emancipation in the Caribbean.

Of course black history isn’t and shouldn’t be restricted to either February or October.

And while I’ve had to seek out black history myself around the world thankfully it is taught now in schools.

And, of course, it isn’t a black and white issue, these black icons should be everyone’s icons.

We share your dream

March on: Selma

Dr Martin Luther King: A leader for the ages and how we could do with his like today.

You can follow in Dr King’s footsteps throughout the Deep South from his birthplace of Atlanta, Georgia.

Through the bridge protest in Selma, Alabama to his final days in Memphis, Tennessee.

And his memorial in the unfinished statue in Washington DC, unfinished because it can’t be completed until the struggle is.

Sweet Harriet

I’ll be back: Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman: And even before the film of her life Harriet was immortalised in song in Swing Low, Sweet Harriet.

And you thought it was an England rugby song…

No, she was coming for to carry me home (the black slaves of the Civil War era, that is).

And you can see how she did it at the Slave Haven in Memphis.

Rightly now she stands proud on pedestals in the modern-day Oo Es of Eh, and most poignantly in her home state of Maryland.

The long march

Song in our heart: Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela: Mandela’s status and reach marks him out as the only statesman icon of our age.

With nearly 300 locations named after the first post-Apartheid President of South Africa.

Of course there were those, take a bow Glasgow who would rename the street on which the SA embassy was after Mandela.

So correspondence would be delivered to Nelson Mandela Place.

Mandela rests for eternity in his native Eastern Cape in inland in Qunu where they still speak his gullet-clicking Xhosa language.

Redemption Song

One love: Bob Marley

Bob Marley: And while there are other deserving black legends of music none pioneered black political empowerment quite like the King of Reggae.

Marley emboldened black people through his musical message at a time when racism was institutionalised throughout the UK and the world.

Of course pilgrims pay homage to Bob in his native Caribbean at mases (concerts) like the One Love gog I attended at Barbados Crop Over.

But most especially in his native and much-referenced Kingston in Jamaica.

Sweet Mary

Angel: Mary Seacole

Mary Seacole: Much though still needs to be done to level up with those we put on a pedestal.

And it is instructive that when the British government set up their emergency hospitals during Covid they called them Nightingales.

After Florence, whose harsh matronly rule of the hospitals out in Crimea are now being revisited by historians.

While Jamaican-born Mary is only recently being studied in schools.

Flo, we should remember, also turned Mary away, probably on account of her race, but she went on to set up her own hospital.

But Flo gets her own museum and gentle Mary must make do with a reference in the London Museum.

All something then to explore as we get Black History Month.

 

America, Countries, Flying

Aer Lingus oh-high-oh to Cleveland

An old ‘un but a good ‘un, what’s hi in the middle and the same on either side, a riddle that came to mind as Ireland’s national airline announced Aer Lingus oh-high-oh to Cleveland.

Yes Cleveland on Lake Erie, and another word jumble here…

Rearrange the letters and you’ll get Eire.

It was meant to be then that Ireland and Cleveland should come together.

And Aer Lingus make the port its 13th direct American route and 15th North American stop.

So if you judge a city by its most famous citizens then Cleveland (population 383,331) punches way above its weight.

Cleveland roll call

Cleveland of the free: Ohio’s finest

Try this for a roll call of just some of its luminaries…

Paul Newman, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, LeBron James, Joel Grey (the MC in Cabaret), Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West), Debra Winger and Boz Scaggs among others.

Very rock’n’roll which is not surprising when you consider that Cleveland DJ Alan Freed popularised rock’n’roll in the early 50s which is why Ohio claims to be its birthplace.

King James: LeBron James

And, of course, you can’t visit without checking out their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which is 40 years old next year.

And you know that that’s when life begins…

So it will too for those that are added to the 351 inductees from A-Z (Abba to ZZ Top). The Killers anyone?

Hall of Fame

The King and I: In Sun Studio, Memphis

Cleveland was chosen as the permanent home for the Hall of Fame three years later.

Leaving that great music city of the South Memphis smarting.

Although as home to the King they soon got over it.

Generally, the number of inductees each year ranges from about a half-dozen to a dozen.

Aer guitars

Berry good: Initial inductee Chuck Berry

The first inductees were:

Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and the Everly Brothers.

While you’ll need to leave time too.

For the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Cleveland Orchestra and Playhouse Square.

Of course doubling back on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame again.

It’s informative to see that Joan Jett and Jefferson Airplane are both in it.

Aer Lingus oh-high-oh to Cleveland… they’re right at home.