a braille playboy, tom waits and a missing monkey

Back from a lovely whirlwind trip to Nashville Tennessee to see Tom Waits perform at the historical (and extremely cool - I can't believe I finally got there) Ryman Auditorium. The show was what you'd expect... genius.


Before the show we wandered around near the Ryman. Had some BBQ, souvenir shopped (Ernest Tubb matchbooks were a nice find), and window shopped outside the Hatch Show Print shop where they had posted a 'NO TOM WAITS POSTERS' on the door. There was a guy right outside the Hatch Show Print shop, charging folks $5.00 to take a picture with his shirt & diaper clad monkey. It was a pretty large monkey - like baboon size. I had left my camera at the hotel since the tickets stated explicitly 'NO CAMERAS OR RECORDING DEVICES'. I sure didn't want to get turned out, a taxi ride away from our hotel - stuck w/a camera escort that was banned admittance. Turns out the security personnel didn't even check my pocketbook so camera could have come along. We figured that we'd see the monkey the next day & could have our picture taken with the dapper monkey then...


The Ryman was beautiful and I felt good sitting in the wooden pews. It was easy to imagine folks sitting there decades ago, watching Hank Williams perform...


The next day we headed over to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was a great museum. Honestly, I kind of expected it would be configured like this: puny bit of the old country music I like, and then a gargantuan amount on the new pop country crap that clogs the airways. You know: add a fiddle (electric) and you can call that song country! Gratefully, I was wrong. The focus of the museum was actually THE history of country music. Brilliant curators. Very tasteful.

Below are just a few of the many photos I took. There are some more photos from the Nashville trip on my Flickr site.


No death date yet on the Buck Owens plaque.


Joe Maphis' double neck.


Johnny Horton's shirt.


Rose Maddox's boots.


Nudie Cohen's sewing machine. Just imagine the suits it has sewn. There was a nude pin-up shelacked on his sewing table.


Gram Parson's suit - yes that suit! Right before my eyes. Crazy! (no flash allowed in the museum, so photos are dark).


I had to show another picture of that suit.


The main exhibit was: I Can't Stop Loving You: Ray Charles & Country Music. I really dig Ray Charles & thankfully saw him perform at the Hollywood Bowl back in 1996; so this exhibit was a real treat for me. Something about Mr. Ray Charles Braille Playboy really tickled me...



A very quick trip jammed full with all sorts of goodness. I guess if there was one thing I was disappointed in, it was that we never found the monkey. My advice, when you have the chance to take your photo with a monkey, try to be ready.