Rock and Soul Museum

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May 26, 2008 by Sara
Overall Rating: 4

• Resting feet in an air-conditioned building while watching the 10 minute film.
• The boring self guided audio tour, the lack of focus, being rushed out early.

“Of all the exhibits I visited in Memphis this was the blandest. It should perhaps be titled the Rock and Soul-less Museum. First of all it was hard to find as the address is listed on Beale Street and it is actually a half a block off Beale Street. I should have known to leave when we entered a deserted lobby and a life less gift shop. We took the tour anyway on the chance that maybe it would end up being good; since it is affiliated with the Smithsonian I hoped it would be alright. The best part was at the beginning, you sit in a small theater and watch a short film on the birth of rock and soul in Memphis and how the black and white cultures came together to break down racial and musical barriers. After the film you are left to go on the most lifeless self guided audio tour I have ever been on. The tour takes you through the birth of rock and soul, but by the time you have gotten through the first room focusing on sharecropping and poverty in the south you have forgotten why you are there. The audio track is dull and geared towards the lowest common denominator. You begin to feel as if you are at a lecture rather than on vacation. The best part of the audio tour is being able to listen to your choice of many tracks on jukeboxes throughout the exhibit. We found by stopping and listening to them though we were only drawing out the excruciating experience of being there. We started picking only select audio tracks to listen to, which ended up being a good thing, because even though we entered the museum before their recommended last tour time, they actually began to flash the lights on and off to get us out of the museum, making it obvious that even the people that work there don't want to be there! In short, do not go to this museum, if you want to learn about Rock and Soul, go to Sun Studios and the Souls Ville Stax Museum.”

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