BluesRocker
Senior Member
Thought i would start a thread about music when on your travels, would love to hear from others too with their stories..,I am going back 35 years ago to 1991, my one and only time over in the States, when i spent 6 months travelling all across the USA..i travelled alone for the most part, mainly by Greyhound bus but did a few shared car hire trips with a few other backpackers i had met on my travels..i flew into New York from UK, spent about 5 days in the Big Apple seeing all the sights and then started on my travels..one of my first stops was in Cleveland, Ohio to see a British pal of mine that was working there, he had a good job working for a chemical company..visited him over a long weekend when he wasn't working, so we were able to go out on the beer big time, lol...he took me to an entertainment district in Cleveland called 'The Flats' where there were some very good bars and live music venues..i am a big fan of the blues, especially 50s Chicago blues, so there was no way i was gonna miss out on the Windy City, visited a few blues bars around the city and thoroughly enjoyed it, but the bars i visited were geared up for tourists, i really wanted to see some of those traditional old Chicago blues joints..Memphis was another stop for me, to see Elvis's Graceland, paid a visit to the motel where Martin Luther was assassinated and of course Beale Street with all its blues history, paid a visit to BB King's club/bar whilst there...New Orleans was another port of call, really enjoyed it there..The jazz and blues bars around The French Quarter were cool and pretty quaint..what really impressed me when going around the bars was that when you walked into them you could just sit down and listen to the bands playing without being hassled immediately to buy a drink..i found that in most bars you would be allowed to sit in there for a good 10 to 15 minutes before a friendly waiter would approach you and say 'Do you like the music?' and if you said 'yes' he would then ask if you wanted a drink,,but you were under no obligation to buy a drink, you could just leave if you wished...My one regret was that i travelled from Memphis to New Orleans in one hit, travelled overnight without stopping..really wished i had made a stop or two at some of those legendary blues hangouts throughout the Mississippi Delta.. I never bothered with Nashville coz i don't really like country music..Later during my travels i had a one night stay in Albuquerque, and lo and behold Buddy Guy was in town that night playing at a theatre in the city ( cannot recall the name of the theatre ) i managed to get a ticket and was so glad that i did, he was fantastic playing some great blues..at one stage during one of his songs he left the stage playing his guitar and walked around amongst the audience, he even wandered into the ladies toilets playing his guitar and the crowd went wild, brilliant..Another place i visited was up in South Dakota, to The Badlands National Park, spectacular place to see,,whilst in South Dakota i went to a place called Sturgis, they had a huge motorcycle rally/convention there..i have never seen so many Harley's in all my life , lol...thousands of bikers from all over the USA had descendecd on the place, i am not a biker myself but nevertheless it was good noisy fun,,they had a couple of rock bands on at the rally but no big names from what i can remember...San Francisco was cool ( my fave American city ) loved it there..spent an afternoon in the Haight Street area for all that 60s flower power hippy stuff and the music that went with it...Favourite cities that i visited would be San Fran, Boston and New Orleans, and fave places of natural beauty for me were The Badlands in South Dakota, The Everglades in Florida but the absolute highlight of my whole trip was spending a few days visiting The Canyonlands National Park in Southern Utah, AMAZING, TRULY SPECTACULAR, it was like being on another planet...Never had any trouble or grief during my 6 months there, a few shady characters now and then but common sense and having your wits about you solves that problem..i loved that 6 months, the only thing i never liked was having to tip all the time in the diners and eateries, sometimes it would just be a quick 5 minute burger but you still had to leave a bloody tip,lol...Would love to get back over there one day again before i croak it, but i can imagine a lot has changed from 35 years ago...would love to hear from others about their travels and music along the way.
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