Nashville to Memphis and on to Oxford
We had a wonderful time in Nashville. Hung out with some old friends and met some new ones while reading at the Books-a-Million. After the event, we went and had dinner with NASCAR legend and certifiably hilarious story-teller, Kyle Petty, his wife Pattie, and daughter Montgomery Lee. Wonderful time hanging out with these old family friends.
From dinner it was on to Memphis for the next morning’s CBS-TV interview. The producers and co-hosts of the show were all wonderfully welcoming and gracious, one of the best interview experiences I’ve ever had.
That night we did a signing at Davis-Kidd booksellers: one of the most prestigious independent bookstores in the country. Had a fantastic evening, met some neat people, sold and signed some books, and spent the evening trying to stop marveling at how cool this banner was:
Later that night we went down and spent a little time on Beale street. We hit a couple spots and listened to some great music. The highlight was when the bouncer at one of the spots came onstage to sing “Change is Gonna Come” and straight blew it out of the BOX. I’m telling you, my man had some pipes.
So, all this to say, Memphis was treating us very well…. until we woke up the next morning to find our car had been robbed. A couple clowns jacked Ryan’s navigational system and dvd player, ripping the whole dash out in the process.
We were planning to stay one more night in Memphis, however, after getting a bad taste in our mouths, we kicked it on down to Oxford, where we watched Crazy Heart and I remembered all over again why Jeff Bridges has always been one of my favorite actors.
Today I lecture at Ole Miss and then sign at Off Square Books.
Thus far Oxford has been amazing… quite possibly the coolest college town I’ve ever been to.
Okay, enough for now… More to come soon…
Austin, Sounds like you are habing a great time. Keep up the good work. Can’t wait until April to meet you.