The Borghi Diaries

Back home again. I have to thank Bob and all of the great folks from the Baltimore Blues Society for giving me (and the band) the opportunity to have one of the greatest experiences of my life. Even though we didn't win, I think we did well and represented the BBS the best we possibly could. I also have to thank all of our friends, new and old, who came down to support us. They made it seem like we were playing at home only hickory smoked and dripping with BBQ sauce. Like I said, this was one of the coolest things I've ever done. Last year at this time was…well it sucked. This year at this time it didn't. Memphis all weekend then come home to watch the Super Bowl. This is the best weekend ever!

We played our set for the consolation prize at Alfred's and ripped it up. The house band asked us to autograph his drum head. We didn't win. Our new friends from the Blues Society of Central PA , The Krypton City Blues Band won. I was really glad to see that they won. My new buddy Mitch is a great guy and musician as are the rest of the band. All of the competition is over so now it's Miller time. Going back to the Peabody for Martinis.

Just got back from the Stax Museum. This Memphis place is blowing me away! So much musical heritage. This is my Mecca and this trip my Haj. The driver of the van who took us out there told us about this place called Gus' near our hotel that had "the best fried chicken you ever put in your mouf". I figured I would eat there but I walked all over the place and couldn't find it. Instead I went to the Carpaccio Grill in the Peabody Hotel for dinner. I now have to take out a second mortgage on my house to pay for dinner. The glass of wine cost as much as last night's dinner. It was damn good though and hell I'm worth it. There was guy sitting behind me telling the person on the other end of his cell phone every bit of minutia of his trip to Memphis. I now know what he had for breakfast (country fried steak and eggs) and the misery the problems he's having in the bathroom are causing him (we won't go into that).

Again I'm the first one up and out. A little hungover but not too bad. Going to head out to the Stax Museum of American Soul today but right now I'm looking for breakfast and a 7-11 to rob. I think I've been over tipping or something because my dough is getting low. Oh well, easy come easy go.

We went on at 9:00 tonight. We had to follow the guy who's zipper was down last night (Ike & Val). They were really hot and his zipper remained in the full upright position tonight. Duct tape. We went on and had a great set! The crowd was with us and went crazy. The judges did too. We thought we had surely won the room then came on the dreaded French band, Malted Milk (probably means something else in French). They had a rhythm section like a machine. Truly incredible and for my money, the best band I've heard down here. Really nice guys too. The harp player thanked us from the stage and called us the Bweeks. I guess that's how you say Buick in French. They won the room and proceed to the finals. We've got a shot at the consolation prize which is $500 and an hour set on Saturday night at Alfred's. Mikey Jr's room was won by a band called Homemade Jamz. Dig this, the drummer was a 9 year old girl with pigtails. The bass player & guitar player were her brothers and were 12 & 14 respectively. They were great! I wanna be like them when I grow up.

Took the Sun Studio tour. It was unbelievable! You could almost smell Elvis' peanut butter and bacon breath. I stood on the spot where he sang That's Alright Mama. Since that spot has such pop culture historic significance they have appropriately marked it with and X made out of electrical tape. Kingly!

I'm standing in the middle of Beale St. Everything is closed and I'm the only human in sight. This is so cool!!! We had a great time last night. All of the bands were really good. There was a band that was just incredible and I would have bet that they would win the room except the lead guitar player's zipper was down for his whole set. I don't know if they deduct points for that. I guess it depends on the judge.

I punked out last night. Today I'm glad I did. Got a pretty good night sleep though. I'm the first one up and out. Everybody that went to hang with Mikey is in pain. Now to get some breakfast. God help you if you're a vegetarian down here. I mean as soon as you get off the plane you're greeted with the good smell of bacon frying. They deep fry everything here, even ravioli (my Italian blood is curdling). Everything is either deep fried or meat or deep fried meat. That sounds like what I'm gonna have for breakfast.

We got our playing assignment. We are playing at a VERY cool joint called Alfred's on 3rd & Beale. The place is saturated with soul! We're the first band on at 5:30 which is very good in the Buicks' world. That way we have less time to get hammered before we play and more time to get hammered after we play. Win/win! Mikey Jr. goes on at 6:00 in a different club so we'll probably miss his set tonight. The band that is representing the Blues Society of Central PA, The Krypton City Blues Revue is playing in our same venue. We'll have to hook up and say Hi. Per the rules of the competition, we're in the same club tomorrow night but we start at 9:00 which could present a problem ( refer to the 5th sentence in this paragraph). I gotta go to orientation now so I can be oriented (I think I'm turning Japanese I really think so). Later.

At airport carrying too many bags. Guitar attracts some attention. Was asked if it was a firearm 3 times even though it had The Buicks stenciled on the case. Maybe they thought I was going to be picking off cars in Memphis. Met from the Chesapeake Inn and his girlfriend. They were heading down there too and told me Roger Girke said, "Hi". We'll hook up more when we hit town.

Flight was fairly uneventful (thank heavens) except for the inevitable bathroom scene. That's always an adventure and always follows a defined three step course of events. First, after waiting in line I always end up following the guy with the digestive problems. Then of course the gymnastic moves involved in trying to lift the seat with your foot in a confined space. It should be an Olympic sport with a degree of difficulty somewhere around a 7. Next comes the turbulence. It never starts until I start peeing. What follows is not unlike a fire department boat welcoming the royal yacht into the harbor. All I can say is that I pity the fool who had to follow me.

I always liked the little divider between 1st class and coach. I guess the rich folks don't want the likes of us looking at them. I kind of don't blame them in a way because I see the people sitting around me and I don't want them looking at me either. Someday I'll be up there with the beautiful people but I'm gonna make sure that everybody in the back of the plane can see that I AM IN 1 ST CLASS.

24hrs till Memphis. Actually it's a little longer than that as it's 1:00 in the morning and I'm too excited to sleep. I wish I could say I was cool about this, but I'm not (hell, I just wish I could say I was cool, period). I mean, I don't even leave until tomorrow and here I am waiting in the car (it's freaking cold!). Actually today is a pivotal day in the trip. Today is the day I do laundry and make all of the major decisions; Do I go with the bowling shirts or the cowboy shirts (I think I'm going cowboy since every blues band and overweight middle aged man in the world wears bowling shirts nowadays and I want to try to differentiate myself from Jim Belushi)? Should I bring my good tothbrush? Should I bring shampoo or will it be one of the fancy hotels that give you free shampoo in those little bottles (I love those. Did you know you can take them home with you? How cool is that?)? What about mints? Will there be one waiting on my pillow or should I bring my own freaking mints? And the most important decison of all, what about my lucky socks and underwear? Do I wear them on the first day of the contest or the second. I have decided to wear the lucky socks on the first day and my lucky underwear on the second. This is called "strategy". In preparation for the competition I've been watching The Apprentice, Top Chef, and The Biggest Loser (or Big Fat Loser as I've heard it called). Apparently they use this "strategy" thing and there's always a winner. I think we'll do just fine in Memphis!