Walking In Memphis…& Meeting “The King”

Walking In Memphis…& Meeting “The King”

About a week and a half ago, I received an email from one of the hosts at WREG.TV in Memphis that said they would love to interview me and help promote my book signing at Booksellers at Laurelwood.

I had planned to just take a quick trip to Memphis (can ten hours on the road ever be “quick”?), but when this opportunity arose, I knew I had to take it. I contacted one of my writing friends, Susan Cushman, who lives in Memphis and asked if she knew which hotels were safe, since the city is known for its crime rate.

Susan later said that she thought about a country girl coming to Memphis and knew that I had to stay with her, which was unbelievably gracious, since she’s recovering from a severe car accident.

I left East Tennessee on Thursday afternoon, arrived in Memphis around 9:30, visited with Susan and her husband and then slept in their cozy guest room like I was right back home.

The next morning, I had my interview with WREG.TV. I arrived about an hour early since I wanted to play it safe, so I spent the majority of that time freezing in the lobby and tapping on my laptop.

A man came in about thirty minutes later: mid to late fifties, I guessed, biker shirt, tan skin, cropped dyed hair. He sat a chair over from mine. Now, I have a really hard time being around strangers and not getting their story. It’s all research, you know.

But when I asked what his story was, the guy just laughed! He told me that he is a wrestler (I am sure my eyebrow went up), and that he is getting back into the game after one year off. He was kind and affable, so we chatted some more and he asked about my book. He had released his autobiography in 2000, he said, and traveled all over, signing copies for thousands of people. (Both eyebrows went up.)

A group of singers came in then, and I started talking to them as well.

Then the guy in the biker shirt was called back. It was surreal (and terrifying) to watch Jerry “The King” Lawler’s interview from the lobby while aware that I would be going on the set soon. I didn’t realize it until my friend mentioned about Jerry later, but apparently he is something of a Memphis legend, with a museum in his honor and his very own batmobile (?!). I do not follow wrestling, so I did not know this.

Probably a good thing…because I was nervous already.

But, once the hosts came to sit beside me, I thought to myself: We’re just talking; I can always talk!

So that’s just what I did and had a lot of fun.