I've been to Memphis a few times, and have stayed in a hotel with a close view of the pyramid. I have some pictures I took around somewhere, including one of the pyramid in a lightning storm, if only I could locate it.This building brings to mind the hotel called "the Pyramid of Gizeh", which is found in the latter "Sookie Stackhouse" novels. The author Charlaine Harris located the pyramid-shaped vampire hotel in the city of Rhodes, which is a fictionalized version of either Chicago or one of its very large suburbs. The last time I recall an author making a fictional version of Chicago was Scott Turow, who created Kindle County for his legal thriller novels. Last time I checked, his Kindle County novels are indeed available on the Amazon Kindle. Charlaine Harris attended Rhodes College in Memphis, which is probably why she gave a fictional city the name of Rhodes.
There is a pyramid near Chicago, but I've not seen it. It's not very big. Certainly not as big as the Sears Pyramid found in this blog post. The actual pyramid is called the Gold Pyramid. Click here for tour information.
The one pyramid I have been in actually is a hotel. It's the Luxor in Las Vegas. While it doesn't house vampires, it does house another undead species: the folks you see in casinos at all hours of the morning. Click here for a great view of it.
The pyramid in Memphis is actually a sports stadium, not a hotel. At one time it houses the Memphis Grizzlies basketball team, but at the time of this 1991 postcard, it was the home stadium of the University of Memphis Tigers basketball team.
How many pyramids have you seen? The ones in Egypt count. The ones on the TV show "Lost" do not.
Addendum: When I first thought of this post a few weeks ago, I was going to include a video clip with the song "Memphis" by Joe Jackson. I forgot yesterday, so here it is now:
This video contains two songs. "Memphis" starts at about 3:02. The video should start there when you play. It was said to be based somewhat on the old "Batman" TV show theme song. There are a lot of other songs that mention Memphis.
Memphis - where the hell is Memphis?
Memphis - where the hell is Memphis?
I got to get away, study my geography
I’m just a shadow of the boy I used to be
I used to see the light, now it’s all a mystery
I used to feel the beat, now I feel a million miles from...
Memphis - where the hell is Memphis?
Memphis - where the hell is Memphis?...
25 comments:
What fun! Great card! Happy PFF!
It looks prettier than a domed stadium.
Very cool! It's nice that you can post a little bit of history about some great writers along with your card, thanks so much!
Pyramids hold a certain fascination, that's for sure. There is a home near my dad that is pyramid shaped. I got to go inside once and it was cool and interesting, but sort of impractical :-)
What a neat looking building! Happy PFF
nice picture.
I had no idea there were so many pyramids in the US of A. Hum.
Crazy: And here is what looks like someone's pyramid-shaped garden shed in their yard.
i remember that post.
Didn't know there was a pyramid in Memphis!
I have been to a place in Galveston called Moody Gardens. There are mostly plants and such in the pyramids, though they did add a pyramids hotel, but I have not stayed in one.
I did a painting of it for my mosaic piece in my second ceramics class.
The only pyramid I've seen is the relatively small one at the entrance to the Louvre. I'd love to see the ones in Egypt some day.
Laughing: Thanks. I'd never heard of those pyramids before. So I looked them up now, and found this truly awesome picture.
I'll probably do more on pyramids sometime, and find the one on Indiana I've heard of.
Sheila: I found the Louvre one when looking around for more pyramid photos when making the post. But no, I've not been there.
I'm afraid the pyramids in lost are the only ones I've seen. Great card. Happy PFF
Thanks for visiting, Irene. With that new pyramid in "Lost", the island takes a turn in the Gilligan's Island direction, with ancient large installations on it that none of the castaways, Others, tailies, Dharma folks, or anyone else had stumbled upon before.
Snap: Thanks for visiting!
Posty: Yes, but a little creepy too, as I've always thought of huge pyramids as tombs. And yes, there have been jokes in Memphis about teams going to die in this sports arena.
Day: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the rambling connections.
Laura: Cool. I don't think those are very common.
Shuanna: Happy PFF!
Mike: Thanks as always for coming by.
dmark - i'm pretty into lost but i don't know who the tailies are. who are they?
Crazy: About the "Lost" tailies:
From Wikipedia:
"In the end, when the tail-end and the middle section survivors were reunited, only four tailies remained: Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko, Libby, and Bernard. After the murders of Ana Lucia and Libby, and Eko's death in "The Cost of Living"
Except for Bernard, these characters are dead and pretty much forgotten, and I doubt we'll see them in new resurrected, flashback, or alternate reality footage.
The Ana Lucia actress has new fame from her role in "Avatar".
I saw the ones in egypt when I was a kid, but I think I was more impressed by riding the camel to get there.
when my bedroom used to be in a second-floor dormer space, the sloped wall/ceiling combo often felt like living in a pyramid.
J William: I could imagine little kids might be a lot more impressed riding big smelly noisy animals than they would be by a really huge pile of blocks.
This is on Mud Island along the Mississippi River. It's a very lively place - not only for sports but also for concerts and so forth. There's a beautiful park, restaurants, hotels, etc. A great place to visit.
Laughing: "I have been to a place in Galveston called Moody Gardens."
I wonder if they are still there after the hurricane. Most of the island was destroyed. Used to be a neat place to hang out as well.
tn: I always wanted to go to Mud Island since I was a kid (long story). But when I got to Memphis, I never had a car and couldn't get to the actual Mud Island. But I could see the bridge to the island from the hotel.
I was able to walk to the pyramid, and checking Google Maps just now, it's on the main city side of a channel that separates it from Mud Island.
Thanks for the comment. I hope to get back there some day.
dmarks - thanks! i knew about them, but did not know ther "names"
Crazy: I had to look up the tailies too. I remembered Mr. Eko completely and specifically as a "tailie". I remembered what Ana-Lucia looked like, but had forgotten half her name. I had entirely forgotten about Libby, and had forgotten that Bernard was a tailie, even though I remembered the character.
I don't think I have ever seen one. There was a miniature somewhere that I saw but..
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