Life Is Awesome

This seems so familiar.

In October my Kiwi fiance and his mom are coming to Memphis for two weeks. 7 of his best friends will also be here for 4 days too. Having a bunch of people in town from a foreign country makes me want to show off the best of the city to them. Well, my favorite parts at least. And since they will be here for a wedding it’s perfect excuse to eat all our favorite things and do fun stuff.

I’ve been thinking a bit about where I want to take them during their stay here. Here’s a list of Memphis places we will hit up with some or all of the group when they are here.

Pre-Wedding List:

• Graceland (I’ve never even been)
• Beale Street
• Memphis Zoo
• Gus’s Fried Chicken
• Las Tortugas (Deli Mexicana)
• Soul Fish Cafe
• Huey’s
• The Flying Saucer
• Kooky Canuck
• Arcade Restaurant

I know I’m forgetting stuff and of course they all want to go to fast food places. But I’m going to force them to eat at least some of the above since most will also have a chance to eat whatever when they go on a roadtrip after Memphis. Regardless, they might leave weighing 10 pounds more than when they came.

Wedding:

• Central BBQ
• Muddy’s Bakeshop

That’s a pretty good roundup of my favorite Memphis stuff that I think I can work in to their visit in between/with wedding events going on. It’s going to be awesome! I love showing off the city to people!

This guy started out as a talking clock radio. Some of the guys at RocketFuel seem determined to see his eventual destruction.

He seems to have the worst Fridays. So far he has lost his body, lost an eye, had his heart cut out then speared, had his head taken apart… when will it end? Poor Mr. Clock Radio suffers on to live another day.

There are a lot of things that I like about downtown Memphis. This mural is one of my favorites.

I remember watching that mural as it was created. Perhaps the fact that I watched it’s creation is why I’m so attached to it. Or maybe it’s just because it’s an amazing splash of color in an otherwise boring and bland block of buildings that makes up the downtown area.

I think Memphis is ugly. It is. It’s an ugly city.

There are some bright spots in the city. Certain arts districts and parks that are bright and fun. But the majority of Memphis is ugly and feels rundown – a sea of gray and brown. It’s an overwhelmingly bland neutral palette that can bring down even the happiest of people.

When I think about Memphis I think of a charming city with great music and delicious food. Sure it’s got it’s problems, but overall it’s a pretty great place. However, what I know about the city and what I often see are two different things. I wish the exterior matched the true heart of the city.

Something that will never happen but I wish it would every time I walk past another boring building – some of the buildings downtown should paint themselves various bright shades. The city itself could become an art project (and a tourist destination) in one swift move. Since that won’t be happening we could at the very least keep supporting Urban Art so more large scale art projects will be created downtown and elsewhere in the city. It’s so exciting to see new projects happening all the time. I’m super excited about all the I love Memphis murals that will be done this summer.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if Memphis was known as an arts city? If people came to the city to explore the numerous and spectacular art projects all across the city? Wouldn’t it be awesome is Memphis was beautiful on the outside too? Is art alive in Memphis?

I might not live in Memphis forever (yeah, I won’t) but I want good things for this city. There is something about it that grew on me over the years and made me fall in love with it – good and bad. I wish I had a magic wand to wave away all the bad and accentuate all the good…. and more importantly to make the city a prettier place full of color and wonder. Memphis deserves that.

If you haven’t checked out Urban Art Commission’s new website you definitely should do that. I was checking it out today at work (because Rocket Fuel built it!) and that’ part of what inspired this post. They are doing some really great things with art in the city.