First an update: it turns out that the white pride radio billboard Mariah and I photographed and posted yesterday had already attracted quite a bit of national attention. The website address provided on the billboard links viewers to a KKK website as they are the billboard’s acknowledged sponsor. Enough said. Last night, we stopped for dinner at a restaurant and then slept in a hotel which were both marketed heavily to bikers. This was a new experience for both of us. (Mariah read a flyer in our hotel room which announced that hotel guests could bring their bikes out back for a free wash and towel dry. She asked me how many people I thought would be traveling with bicycles and need the amenity. She was serious; which is one of an infinite number of reasons why I love her). The teachable moment for us, other than the lesson about the flyer’s intended audience, was that everyone was genuinely nice to us despite our looking as if we were extras from a recent Woody Allen film accidentally sent back in time to the 1953 closed set of Marlon Brando’s, The Wild One. Ultimately, on balance, Arkansas didn’t appeal to either one of us very much. From the confines of our car, we were turned-off  by the billboards and stores which lined the roadways selling everything from confederate flags, rice bran and night crawlers, fireworks, firearms, lingerie night at the local […]

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The New York Times does not have the market penetration in the South that it enjoys in the North. This is a shame. As a result, it fell to the local newspaper that was placed by our hotel room door yesterday to inform us that Graceland was just voted the top musical attraction in the country. Thus proving yet again – that there is no accounting for taste. Our first stop in Little Rock this morning was Little Rock Central High School, the storied site of the Little Rock Nine. It astounded us that students Mariah’s age and younger, received such unconscionable treatment after the Brown vs. The Board of Education decision. We then traveled to the The Clinton Presidential Library because it was the second most interesting thing we thought we could see in Little Rock. As anticipated, Al Gore received only a courteous but brief mention from time to time, and Hillary was credited with having contributed significantly to the administration’s accomplishments over the years. Naturally, the well-designed, LEED certified Library fulfills its purpose by presenting the Clinton years in the very best possible light. What surprised and impressed me most, however, was the matter-off-fact inclusion of the unsuccessful impeachment hearings and the events concerning Ken Starr and Monica Lewinsky. The presence of these embarrassing matters compared favorably to Graceland where Elvis was depicted as never having divorced Priscilla or having gained a pound from the day he […]

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If you ever find yourself in Memphis you’re going to go to Graceland. Just as Mariah and I did today, you will undoubtedly play a classic Elvis song and Paul Simon’s Graceland en route. Just know that from the moment you pull up to the gate and incur the ten dollar expense to park your car in the designated parking area (followed soon thereafter by the payment of an exorbitant admission fee); your return on your investment will decline steadily. The anticipation of your visit will far exceed the actual experience. The best of Elvis has most certainly left the building. It has also left the minimally maintained grounds, the tired exhibits, the long guest lines, the overpriced mediocre food, the revisionist presentation of his life and the inefficiently managed and indifferent staff. Time spent with any of the multitude of Elvis biographies or retrospectives readily available on Amazon would have been a better investment. Memphis is also home to The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel. I am certain that at any time, this museum would take your breath away. Visiting while the media reports 24/7 on the recent carnage in a Charleston, South Carolina church and describes yet another in an endless stream of horrific racially motivated attacks was sickening. The museum presents the United States history of discrimination in a clear, factual, well-documented, interactive and profound manner. For example, visitors may board a bus and […]

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We slept in and started our day by running several blocks through sheets and sheets of drenching rain to watch a few ordinary mallards waddle ten yards on a red carpet in a hotel lobby. This twice a day “march of the ducks” has been a tradition at The Peabody Hotel since 1933. Motorcoaches from far and wide show up and crowd their lobby to give their passengers a glimpse. Major credit to The Peabody for effective and wildly innovative tourism marketing. We followed that penetrating glimpse into the absurd with barbecued ribs and beans & rice for breakfast at the legendary Charles Vargo’s Rendezvous Charcoal Ribs Restaurant. Despite the sound of of it, they were a perfect start to Mariah’s Memphis Birthday.   Our next stop was a behind-the-scenes tour of the Gibson Guitar Factory. This sort of thing totally floats my boat. While wearing safety goggles we were invited to observe close-up the processes and the artisans who create these fine instruments using predominantly old school methodology (think string, glue, razor blades, sand paper and rubber bands). It was fascinating. Mariah plays an aqua and white Fender Stratocaster which she will undoubtedly value even more as a result of learning about the nearly one hundred hours of workmanship that is required to create a similar product.   We then visited Sun Studios to continue our immersion into all things musical. Their tour provided a fascinating perspective on both early […]

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Mariah was born on this day 15 years ago, our millennium edition bachelorette.  I so love this face.           

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At Wyncote Elementary School, in the suburbs of Philadelphia, all of the grades gathered in the gym in the 1960’s to watch the the takeoffs and landings from Cape Canaveral of the United States’ nascent space program on a small black-and-white television.  Mariah and I visited the Huntsville US Space and Rocket Center and the Marshall Space Flight Center today and were able to see, and in most cases touch, the actual rockets, modules and other equipment that I last saw as grainy black-and-white television images in my elementary school gym.   We were even permitted to observe personnel while they communicated with astronauts on the International Space Station. As I looked around the exhibits halls and watched the other people on our tour, I sensed that the other adults that appeared  to be my age or older we’re also viewing everything on display through the same prism of nostalgia. I wanted to drink a glass of Tang again because that is what the astronauts drank.  From Huntsville we drove through Mississippi to Memphis. Let me just say this about Mississippi. We passed a sign which indicated that we could turn left for a “Coon Dog Cemetery”.  We continue driving and didn’t stop until we were in Tennessee. We are staying in an outrageously decadent, recently opened resort for the next two nights in Memphis called Big Cypress Lodge to celebrate Mariah’s birthday. It is housed in a giant pyramid structure built by Bass Pro […]

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We began our morning at the Atlanta Aquarium.  I should say upfront that I feel about aquariums and zoos the same way I feel about Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone. That is, I know everyone else thinks they are beyond wonderful, and yet just being around them always make me uncomfortable and wishing I had chosen to be anywhere else.  My problem with the Georgia Atlanta aquarium was twofold. First, I fundamentally am troubled by animals in captivity, as even this state-of-the-art facility places their animals in confined, unnatural, and cramped habitats.  Second, as a long time proponent of partnerships between nonprofits and philanthropic community stakeholders, I recognize the importance of recognizing sponsors in a meaningful way. The aquarium, however, handled this responsibility so ineffectively,  that visitors are utterly overwhelmed, distracted and bombarded by the logos, messaging, signage, commercials, and branding of their sponsors.   After being enticed by iconic yellow signs with black lettering throughout the southern states that are placed high up on poles in the sky, we finally stopped at a small Waffle House that time had forgotten.  The waffles we were served may have been the best waffles ever made. Their waitresses had just stepped off the set of the old TV sitcom called “Alice” starring Linda Lavin.  The Waffle House and its inhabitants were infinitely more interesting and comfortable in their natural habitat than anything we encountered at the aquarium.  We next drove to Birmingham to visit the […]

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We drove to Atlanta intending to visit the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and my brother and his family.  With temperatures forecasted in the high 90’s, Mariah and I decided to bail on our visiting the gardens plan. Instead, we spent the afternoon with Greg (my brother/Mariah’s Uncle), Suzy (my sister-in-law/Mariah’s Aunt), Alex (my nephew/Mariah’s cousin) and Steve (who seemed relieved not to be related to any of us).  Suzy surprised Mariah at lunch with an incredibly thoughtful and delicious early birthday cupcake.  As the outside temperature reached 100 degrees, we forced Steve to take a great many photographs of the rest of us until we all remembered to open our eyes and smile in unison. This took us quite awhile, but at least was an indoor air-conditioned activity. After Alex and Steve made their getaway – Mariah and I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and evening with Suzy and Greg.  Tomorrow, we are heading out early to see Atlanta’s Aquarium and then drive to Birmingham, Alabama. The heat wave is projected to continue until the end of the week, so we have our fingers crossed that we are greeted by A/C as we travel.         

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Neither Mariah nor I have ever watched a NASCAR race.  Mariah does not yet have the faintest clue how to drive a car. Notwithstanding our obvious knowledge gap, we jumped in with both feet and spent the morning visiting the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.  We had a terrific time.  Mariah and I drove in simulated races at high speeds, learned a great deal about the genesis of racing in America (it began with moonshine runs to outrun law enforcement), and were introduced to a hugely popular American cultural phenomenon about which we had no prior knowledge.  We felt like strangers in a strange land – relieved to discover that the natives were gracious, warm and welcoming.  We then drove (at normal speeds) under sunny skies and white fluffy clouds to Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville is hip and cool and trendy in the genuine way that cities all over America try to emulate unsuccessfully. It is a fascinating, vibrant place.  We wish we had scheduled a longer stay here.  We were joined at dinner by the exceedingly lovely Maddy Friedman (Peter and Abby’s eldest daughter) who is now living and working here.  She was eleven only yesterday and yet she appeared at dinner, poised, beautiful and in her mid-twenties.  It was wonderful to share a meal with her.       

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