Anyone know the Memphis area well?

[michchick98]

I'm currently working on a story based on a song and I want to get my facts straight before I go too far into it. I haven't had any luck finding anything through Google.

If anyone knows a lot about Memphis and the surrounding areas, please send me a PM. I have a few questions.

Thanks.

 

[Kiwibeavergrowler]

What was the song?

 

[michchick98]

What was the song?

I Want a Man Who Stands Beside Me by JoDee Messina

She makes a reference to a city named Riverside, just outside Memphis in the song. I can't seem to find anything on the internet about such a city existing.

 

[Kiwibeavergrowler]

Well I'm doing nothing more than keeping your thread alive, can't really help with Memphis, sorry, neither have I heard the song.

Should you decide to write a story on kiwiland I'll be more than happy to help.

 

[xssve]

I was stationed in Millington, but never heard of Riverside either.

If you have a specific context, it would be easier than describing an entire geographic/cultural zone.

The Mississippi river runs through there, so a city called Riverside would not be unusual, though it might be made up, or swallowed into a larger incorporated zone.

Basically a lot of strip malls and Honkey Tonks from what I remember (every strip mall has a little bar, which is one thing that stood out to me, never seen that anywhere else, and they all have a shuffleboard at minimum, if a little bigger a couple of pinball machines, a few are large enough to sport a pool table), I didn't explore the city extensively, I spent most of my time going through drive through in the hood, before heading for the Antennae Club or one of the larger Discotheques like Television.

Of course, what gives the region it's character, from a geographic standpoint, is the River and the trains.

Much of the surrounding area is basically jungle, you have to stick to the tracks to go into it very far, it's gently hilly, heavily overgrown, with lots of little feeder creeks, swamps, and pools, too small to call lakes, but because of this there are numerous bridges and trestles along the rail lines.

 

[xssve]

Culturally, I would say it's more Old South than New South, or was when I was there, lots of redneck gambler/desperado types, and their Hood Rat counterparts, although Beale Street and the historic district is fully modernized, closed to vehicle traffic, lot's of Haberdasheries and Tailor shops, street musicians, etc.

You get out in the burbs, and it's a little sketchier, but a lot of the little surrounding towns are your basic small Baptist towns where the Churches are center of activity, and that goes for the Black sections too, the ones that aren't dominated by hood rats.

 

[xssve]

Actually, I think Cloudy lives there, or around there.

 

[michchick98]

Culturally, I would say it's more Old South than New South, or was when I was there, lots of redneck gambler/desperado types, and their Hood Rat counterparts, although Beale Street and the historic district is fully modernized, closed to vehicle traffic, lot's of Haberdasheries and Tailor shops, street musicians, etc.

You get out in the burbs, and it's a little sketchier, but a lot of the little surrounding towns are your basic small Baptist towns where the Churches are center of activity, and that goes for the Black sections too, the ones that aren't dominated by hood rats.

I've gotten a couple of replies here and in PMs and I'm beginning to believe that the Riverside mentioned in the song is made up or a really small, small unknown town.

In any case, I don't need tons of info. Like I said, the story is based on the song and Riverside is mentioned in the song. I'll just put in a disclaimer about it possibly being a fictional city and was only used in the story to stay in line with the song. Makes it easier because then Riverside can be anything I want it to be.

Thanks, though for the replies.

 

[Tyro999]

I was stationed in Millington, but never heard of Riverside either.
{Snip rest}

Ahhh. The beautiful NAS Memphis????? Did a year there in 1962-63, for a 6-week "C" school, then got tagged for a one-year tour as schools support as part of the Marine det there.

Given that it has been 48 years, anything I could say about Memphis is liable to be suspect.

 

[estragon]

Mich, try this: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

As near as I can tell, Riverside is a town in Shelby County, TN, which looks like a suburb of Memphis, near where West McLemore meets the Jack Carley Causeway, just west of I55. As for anything more about the place, I can't tell you.

 

[cloudy]

Actually, I think Cloudy lives there, or around there.

Not really....I went to college in Tennessee, but it was a good 4 hours from Memphis.

Right now I'm in Northern Alabama....again, a good four or five hours from there. Spent a good amount of time, there, though - I might can help with some things.

 

[sr71plt]

If you google "Memphis Riverside," you'll come up with a neighborhood in south Memphis.

 

[1sickbastard]

I'm currently working on a story based on a song and I want to get my facts straight before I go too far into it. I haven't had any luck finding anything through Google.

If anyone knows a lot about Memphis and the surrounding areas, please send me a PM. I have a few questions.

Thanks.

PM a Litster called candicame. He lives in Memphis. He usually hangs on the GB