Midnight Ramblers

Today is Allman Brothers Day. We went to The Big House which is where the band lived in the late sixties and the early seventies. It is a lovely house and I know that, in no way, did this house look back then, the way it looks now. I may be wrong but based on the old days and the way people with alternative life styles lived, it seems a little far fetched that the walls are in beautiful shape, there are no burn marks in the floors. It was still fun to walk through the rooms.


Front of The Big House

 

Back of the Big House - this place is huge

The rooms were filled to the brim with band paraphernalia – guitars and other instruments that the band used, clothes that they wore. There was one Allman Brothers' t-shirt that was rumored to be shared by all the members of the band because they could only afford the one t-shirt. Gold records, concert posters, royalty checks and other types of checks – there was a check made out to the Chelsea Hotel for $285 for lodging.

 

The Gold Records

 

Duane Allman's Room - tell me this isn't a citified room

Berry Oakley's Room

 

I was a little disappointed in the place. Yes, it was really cool to be in the same place where so much musical history had happened, but I would have really liked to see more information on how they lived in this house and perhaps a little less paraphernalia.

At The Big House, we were given a map on Allman Brothers' Historical Sites around Macon. Interesting to note that the motorcycle crashes that killed Duane and Berry where only a year apart and only a couple of blocks away from each other. One of the sites listed was the Rose Hill Cemetery where Duane and Berry were buried.

 

Duane and Berry side by side - the little angels have their respective daughters' names on them

 



The Graves

A lovely old terraced cemetery. The roads were very very narrow and very steep. It was a good thing that there were not too many people running around the cemetery. It would have been fun to spend a little bit more time in the cemetery. Lots of unique markers and a very old cemetery. There was a large Soldiers Square which contains the remains of many confederate soldiers

All this cemetery wandering produced an appetite so it was off to The Rookery, known for it's shakes and burgers. Dave had the Jimmy Carter Shake which was banana, peanut butter and bacon. Lou went for the James Brown Black and Bleu Burger. I had the Ray Charles Burger – I almost went for the Little Richard Pennimelt (patty melt). As we are sitting outside dining, there is a big crunch on the street behind us. A big pickup truck had run into a parked car. The guy gets out of the truck, walks around the pickup truck to see what damage had been caused, comes back around the truck, looks over at the five tables of diners watching him, gives us a thumbs up, gets in his truck and drives off. Everybody is scrambling to write down his license plate number. The little car that he hit has it's whole front driver's side smashed in. Amazing that he would drive away with all those witnesses there.

The guy who owns the damaged vehicle comes out, sees the damage and calls the Macon-Bibb County Sheriff. The car owner ends up with a ticket for parking in front of a hydrant and having no identification. He said that the truck owner was only going to get a ticket for leaving the scene of an accident. Evidently because the car was parked illegally in front of the hydrant, the truck driver was not at fault for hitting the car. Go figure.

Back to our lakefront property where we sat sipping wine and watching the sunset. It was just like sitting on the shore of a lake in northern Minnesota, except it is March and it was warm. And NO mosquitos.    Nice ending to the day.