I Love Memphis

Behold the Space Marine, another found Memphis Scavenger Hunt item.
The Space Marine stands proudly on a pedestal outside of a Games Workshop in an office park in an industrial part of Memphis. He looms large over the parking lot, his tiny body and giant gun ready for action.
The Space Marine was created by Games Workshop [...]

Apparently, the diner near the University of Memphis commonly known as the Chinese Sub Shop is actually called the Super Submarine Sandwich Shop. My mom (who used to eat there while she was a student at the U of M in the 1970s) calls it the Sub Wash Pub. No matter what you call it, the tiny, dimly lit diner is worth a visit.

Memphis is a big fan of the “Be Nice or Leave” sentiment. There are signs like this hanging in restaurants, shops and offices all over the city, warning people that they need to get polite or get out. Most of the signs are handmade and hand painted and of a very specific Southern folk art style.

I reached into the muddy water with a mason jar in order to meet one of the requirements of the Memphis scavenger hunt. The easiest place to collect was on the cobblestones just West of Riverside Dr. Be careful, though – the Mississippi is the 7th strongest river in the world, and it’s currents are wicked.

One of the suggested items on the great Memphis Scavenger Hunt list was “old school Memphis State stuff”.  There was no stipulation as to what kind of “stuff” it was to be. But thanks to my mom (a Memphis State graduate) and a family friend, I’ve found something that will do.
My mom’s friend Jim reached [...]

Here’s another one for the Memphis scavenger hunt.
For several years, there’s been a giant mural covering the side and front walls of Whatever at the corner of Highland and Southern. The mural is painted legally by local graffiti artists (one of the artists, LeakOne, works at the shop) and changes annually.
Until a few months ago, [...]

I found another item from the scavenger hunt – a meal at Gus’s Fried Chicken (with the greasy receipt to prove it).
I’m not sure what I can say about Gus’s that hasn’t already been said. It’s a fairly simple place, and there’s a definite fried theme throughout the menu. Gus’s has a handful of appetizers [...]

Mark another item off of the Memphis scavenger hunt list, everybody – I made it to a show at the Orpheum last Saturday night.
The Orpheum’s marketing coordinator, Thomas, hooked me up with tickets to see Rain, a Beatles tribute band that’s been described as the closest thing to seeing the real Beatles.
For a tribute band, [...]

Before it became the Levitt Shell, the ampitheatre in Overton Park was adorned with a rainbow mural.  I dug around in my archives to find a photo of it with its original mural for the scavenger hunt. That’s me, standing on the stage in the fall of 2004.
Plenty of people way more famous than I [...]

One of my favorite places to pick up to-go sushi is at the BP station at the corner of Poplar and Ridgeway in East Memphis.
Yes  – you read that right. There’s a gas station in East Memphis that sells sushi. Technically, the food operation at this particular gas station is called Lee’s Fresh Sushi and [...]