Another One Bites the Dust

Saturday night was spent mourning the loss of yet another single girlfriend. Well. Not mourning, I guess - that's a tad melodramatic, eh? Still, I spent an evening in Memphis celebrating Kelly's symbolic "last night of freedom". Our merry band of 8 romped up and down Beale Street (see footnote) where hi-jinks and hilarity ensued. Kelly's mom (yes, her mom) fashioned the requisite "suck for a buck" t-shirt that all bachelorettes are required by law to wear, except that it was a variation on the traditional attire in that it was covered with gummy worms instead of lifesavers and advertised "bite for a buck". Highly amusing to witness drunk men paying to pull gummy worms off a t-shirt with their teeth. There were also the long-standing bachelorette "challenges" including finding a guy to give her a lap dance, finding a guy to try on her bra, and finding a guy to show her his "tighty whities" (yes, all of these challenges were met... and we have the photos to prove it). It was a regular hootinanny (a whole lotta hoot...and a little bit o' nanny). Needless to say, a fun time was had by all in our quest to capture and preserve one last night of singular fun for the bride-to-be.

Footnote: This was my first trip to Memphis and thus to Beale Street, both of which I had heard plenty of from my Memphis-born co-workers. Memphis itself seemed to be kind of sad in the way that reminds me of the sadness of Cleveland. It used to be a really great thriving city and then went through a massive urban exodus and then a half-hearted attempt at urban renewal which resulted in a vibrant but limited downtown nightlife and left the rest of the city-scape depressed and dumpy. Which is a shame.

But, Beale Street with it's pedestrian friendly atmosphere (and by pedestrian friendly I mean not only the absence of vehicles but the offering of alcoholic beverages to be purchased and consumed outside on the street!), rows of cool blues bars and night clubs, and seriously talented street musicians (I actually got to see, in person, Richard Johnston! oh. my. god. that guy is amazing), was a sensory delight and definitely a place I'd like to visit again.