Rip-off Britain lives

Waking up too late in The Times.

Starbucks coffee: £2 in the UK. $2 including tax in Canada for a medium (18 oz). Half the price. Considered a treat here in Hogtown, coffee can be obtained for far less elsewhere in Toronto. Tip: If you are on a budget at Starbucks ask for a short.
Update: we checked out the coffee prices at Tim Hortons: small (10 oz) $1.07; med (12 oz) $1.17 ; large $1.35; xlarge $1.44. These prices plus 14% tax; prices may vary locally.
Coffee controversy in the Toronto Sun.

Barrow boy far from home

Last week-end we were sampling Chilean empanadas in Kensington market here in Hogtown. I stopped at a street stall which had two railway books. The guy asked six dollars so I offered him five - he said toss a coin for it and I lost! He said: "My dad was a 'barrow boy' in Manchester" and we shook hands. I hadn't heard that expression for a while - nor 'knocker boy' for that matter - a 'wide boy' who'd knock the front door and offer to buy household antiques on the cheap.
The books I got are "Canadian Pacific" by J. Lorne McDougall and "Then Came the Railroads" by Ira G. Clark. Annette bought a Carlton Ware Foxglove jug for $2 - deal.

Porsche Carrera countdown

I am blogging for Matthew Marsh here.

The ego has landed at the Ryman

To the Lane Motor Museum in south Nashville - the best damn car museum you never heard of. A European flavour with a bias toward microcars, this museum is a cracker, with no barriers around the vehicles. I have longed to own a Liege and there was a beautiful yellow example on display.
Back into town to Rippy's Smokin' Bar & Grill at the corner of 5th and Broadway for a lunch BBQ, fries and 'slaw special. Live music nightly - a mixing desk hangs on the wall and the microphone stands have cup holders. We head to the Ryman Auditorium, an old church, for a tour - the ancient home of the Grand Ol Opry - Van Morrison's band is setting up on the stage and we are informed rather sheepishly that Van has decreed that no photos of the stage are allowed; as if he owned the place. We paid good money to take the tour so here is a picture of the stage:

When we are leaving a tout, or scalper, offers me tickets for the evening show. I said "I wouldn't go see that SOB if you paid me." He said "Well that is a definite no then." On to the Musicians Hall of Fame, a fairly recent development, that honours the session musicians and sidemen who have made the music of America. Excellent displays but no definitive list of who is in the Hall of Fame - a strange omission.
In the evening we head to the Bluebird Cafe, a home to songwriters, in a strip mall in the 'burbs. This is the serious side of songwriting and in Nashville this is serious business. Consequently artsy folk are taking themselves terribly seriously - "I wrote this song on a Greyhound bus with a ukelele" - everything in Nashville starts with a song. Everybody is carrying a guitar case hurrying to the next gig. They all want to mix with the celebrities and collect the royalties. It was fun sitting at the bar at the 'Bird, with tray orders being made up at my elbow, but you need to be a hardcore poet to take this. We head home via the lights of Broadway stopping to watch a sternwheel river boat coming into view on the Cumberland River.

Notes from Hazzard County

Up on a lovely sunny day in Nashville and we rented a car and headed south to the Lane Car Museum - not open but worth returning today. A Tatra was parked outside. The out-of-town motels were advertising $30 per night, $150 per week. We drove on to Opryland where we stopped at Opry Mills for the shops - Barnes & Noble bookstore being largely empty so we supped a large tea while discussing our purchases. I bought "How Nashville became Music City USA" by Michael Kosser which has a CD included of some rare cuts. Annette was thrilled to find a book by Alexander McCall Smith at $13, which would be $20 for sure back in Hogtown.
We flunked a trip to the Opryland proper, a huge building complex, as there were signs saying $16 just to park the car. We had lunch at Bob Evans, a chain familiar to us from a previous tour. Nearby was Cooter's Dukes of Hazzard Museum with the General Lee parked out front.
Heading back into town we stopped at the Piggly Wiggly to stock up on grits - hard to find outside the south. This small supermarket was full of Piggly Wiggliness! Can't beat a good groceteria.
Back in the city we stopped at the Tennessee State Museum. $9 to park the car for an hour and the inevitable rushed visit. I focused on the Civil War exhibits. After a time out we were back at Christopher Pizza in time to catch the set of Damien Horne, a singer recently in Africa with Kenny Alphin of Big & Rich - can't get away from those guys. His sidekick was Chris Patterson who proved an able rhythm section with a drumbox, which he sat on, and a few handheld gizmos.
Back at the hotel a no-name comedy band with a touch of Skynyrd played to an audience of two - us - with such gems as "How you look naked in the waterbed", "I'm in love with my blind, blind date", and "It might be cheaper to keep her." From the sublime to the ridiculous. Reminded me of "I've got friends in low places."

Mad it up to Music Row

Monday night I was watching John Rich, of country act Big & Rich, on CMT, the guy that reminds me of Deputy Dawg. He has a new 'reality' TV show which proved to be quite the worst since the belly-flopping fatties back in Houlton, Maine. Same channel - see PunchBuggy Passim.
Up early blogging then down to breakfast where Niels C Abild of the Kansas City Stompers, a Danish jazz band of some renown and a historic race car driver, chats to us. He is on a musical pilgrimage round the USA with his son - "We've got to catch a plane to Las Vegas."
We walk to the Frist Center, an old Post office building from the thirties, now an art gallery. This buiding has an exquisite art deco interior and we talk to Mancil Ezell, the docent, who is a fierce Nashville partisan. Knoxville: "They ain't nothing but a bunch of hicks." Memphis: "A river town. I don't care to go there." He did put in good word for Chattanooga, a rail town with a commendable aquarium. We take lunch at the restaurant which is both very good and cheap - Salibury Steak special $8. Don't miss this depression era gem with its black Georgia marble and stainless steel mouldings. There used to be an overhead walkway connecting the Post Office to the station: "In those days you could consign cattle at the Post Office."
Walk on to Country Music Hall of Fame which has a special Marty Robbins exhibit. He was a cool guy - singer, songwriter, movie actor and race car driver: "I drive for the fun of it. I try to stay out of the way of those other fellows who are out there to make a living. I just love to be on the track with them." Although he never won a NASCAR race, Robbins finished in the Top Ten six times. The HoF is full of Nudie Cohen stage suits including the Gram Parsons jacket embroidered with marijuana leaves, the Hatch Show Print posters add colour including gigs by Brits Chad Stewart & Jeremy Clyde. Also don't miss Elvis Presley's Barris Custom 1960 Cadillac 75. The whole show is a tour de force, except close to the exit there is a display featuring Big & Rich - surely they are watering the brandy.
We take the tour bus to Studio 'B' at the RCA studio on Music Row. Much of Elvis Presley's catalogue was recorded here but also Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison, Jim Reeves and many others made records here. The Steinway piano that Floyd Cramer played is here.
In the evening we head down to The Station Inn - live Bluegrass music since 1974 - $8 on the door. Get there before redevelopment nixes the venue. The band is a pickup ensemble based on the band Mashville Brigade, with an 'M' - a request for 'Rocky Top' is declined, the equivalent of 'No Stairway' or 'No Mustang Sally' in other genres. The front line consisted of Ashby Frank, on mandolin and vocals, Josh Williams, guitar and vocals, and Jeneé Fleenor on fiddle and vocals. Outstanding. Jeneé is from Springdale, Arkansas and tours with Canadian country singer Terri Clark. They have just been out on tour with Big & Rich. Argh!

The twang's the thang

Flew down to Nashville via Cincinnati yesterday. Snowy on departure and still snowy changing planes in Ohio, but no snow here although the bus driver, who brought us from the airport to Best Western Music Row, said they had some last Saturday. Road testing Boothill - my ancient Dell laptop rebuild - fascinating watching all the road warriors at the airports with their wifi rigs and wireless mice. Arrived in time for late lunch at Christopher Music Row Pizza, 1524A Demonbruen Street [rhymes with Columbian] - "No we are not part of a chain; you are at Christopher Pizza World HQ. We reserve the right to refuse service to mean people."
We walk across the bridge over I-40, the interstate that I hitchhiked on to Memphis in the early seventies - it looks eerily familiar running in a rocky trench and I have a faint memory of hitching from the side of the road. We walk on to the Union Station Hotel - it is worth coming to Nashville for this alone - a wonderful relic of the gilded age - we would have stayed there if we had got our act together. We check out the old station and some derelict VIA rail cars - wonder how they got here from Canada? The bridge by the hotel is a great vantage point for watching the freight trains.
Nashville is a work-in-progress. There has obviously been a massive effort to clean up the town with a lack of litter and no graffiti, but as you work your way down Broadway the derelict shops put in an appearance like broken teeth in a smiling face. We reach the bottom which hosts the tackiest souvenir stores and a Hard Rock Cafe. Beyond we come to the Riverside Station, next to the Cumberland River, where the Music City Star commuter train is ready to depart eastbound for Lebanon, TN. The train seems well patronised despite early anxieties that Americans would not take to commuting by train.
There is live music all day on Broadway at the many bars - we check out the Bluegrass Inn where a five-piece hat act are playing "Guitars, Cadillacs and Hillbilly Music," "The Okie from Muskogee" etc. You get the picture - the singer is dancing around like a demented donkey - no talent scout required - 12oz Heineken $4. A few doors up and the singer is so pregnant that she looks like she will have the baby on stage.
We walk back to The Station Inn, the very picture of a blockhouse roadhouse, which we'll try later in the week. Supper at The Tin Roof back on Demonbruen - Heineken and iced tea $4!
George Bush is in town today at the national convention of religious broadcasters - they don't call it the buckle of the bible belt for nothing.

Nashville here we come!

We are off to Nashville for a few days tomorrow - the weather is not too hot - but better than in Hogtown!
Check out Delbert McClinton, and his smart car in Nashville, on SCOOT. Like Buddy Holly, he's from Lubbock, Texas.
Check out the Toronto ethnic eats challenge here.

Photo funk

I'm playing around with Windows Live Writer but also showcasing a photo fad of mine - taking pictures of video screens. This is the new Jaguar XF on screen at the recent Canadian Int'l Autoshow. Has to be a whole new genre - photographing films. Also trying to get the text to bleed round the photo. Reminds me of "How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen."

Boothill express

On Fri night the 'Geek whisperer' came round and we rebuilt the Dell CPi R400GT portable. Reformatted the hard drive and reloaded the operating system, Win 98SE - took 2½ hours from saving data to surfing the web with Firefox. I still need to fix the USB port somehow - needs driver - but the machine performs like new. I christened the machine Boothill - long hill to get it to boot - gedit?
The Geek is going to set up my network later - he gets where I am coming from - "it is like working on a Model T." Some folk have suggested I buy a Mac and forget about crappy old computers but they have all the appeal of old cars for me. I wish I had my old 8-bit Amstrad, with its daisy wheel printer, that served me so well. And the Canon Bubblejet come to think of it.
Update: USB now fixed!

Lamborghini Theatre

This is the "Lamborghini Theatre" from the recent Canadian International Autoshow. This slideshow took about ten minutes to produce - I haven't bothered with fancy captions but you get the idea. Large version here.