Olympic hopeful Jamie Mitchell, Memphis BBQ and redemption.

So I’m sitting here at B.B. King’s Blues Club in Memphis, on a Saturday night, and I’ve got it all.

I’ve got thick gumbo and saucy chicken wings and a crisp Made in Memphis lager. I’ve got B.B. King’s Blues Club All Star Band unpeeling “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” onstage to my right. On closed-off Beale Street to my left, I’ve got a block full of Halloweening locals and tourists.

I’ve got a payload of leftovers from Central BBQ Memphis waiting at home that I’ve been grazing on for two days – dry-rub low-and-slow-smoked ribs, 24-hour marinated pulled pork, tender beef brisket, sweet rolls, smoked sausage, baked beans and stewed greens.

That’s back in Midtown, where I’ve got new pals: a toothless dog named Turbo, his fellow old-timer Trotsky and the cat that ring-leads the menagerie, Marble. They run with my deeply Southern-hospitable hosts Bruce VanWyngarden and Tatine Darker.

You may have heard of Bruce’s son Andrew, or his band, MGMT, who blew away the Monterey County Fairgrounds at First City Festival in 2013.

But VanWyngarden and Darker are the real rock stars, him for editorial vision and voice at Weekly cousin paper Memphis Flyer, her for angelic work as an immigration attorney.

Speaking of rock stars, I’ve got Elvis Presley in my head after a visit to Graceland.

Sure the shag green carpet on the ceiling of his Jungle Room and the sequined tiger jumpsuit in his racquetball court (now a huge platinum-record pavilion), are cool, but the best part would be the words from the peanut butter-banana-bacon-sandwich King himself: “I learned very early in life that without a song the day would never end. Without a song a man ain’t got a friend. Without a song the road would never bend.”

I’ve got memories of riding horse-drawn carriages, of hugging a transgender Elvis impersonator (“Thank you very much”), and the art of smoked sausage sandwiches served with sauce and slaw by the main man behind Smurfey’s Smokehouse food truck.

I’ve got stylish swamp-friendly meals I won’t soon forget: fried alligator at King’s Palace Cafe, cheesy chorizo hush puppies and cornbread-dusted oysters at Alchemy and a fried green tomato BLT at Next Door. (Alchemy was also where a bartender named Curtis, wearing a cheetah bone necklace, turned me onto a sublime W.L. Weller whiskey from a barrel he hand picked.)

I’ve got love for the Cooper-Young Midtown district, what with the sweet Made in Memphis brewery-pub and accompanying 4 Dumplings food truck, Muddy’s Bakery boy pies and Sweet Grass’ “low country” shrimp and grits.

I’ve got a sore heart from seeing where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot, and how poorly a nation treats the African Americans whose backs it was built on. The National Civil Rights Museum, embedded in the Lorraine Motel where MLK was staying when shot – and the boarding house across the street where his killer took aim – should be required viewing for all Americans.

One of the most riveting exhibits belongs to the Memphis sanitation workers whose “I AM A MAN” strikes in 1968 wrestled respect and fairness in pioneering ways that echo loudly and proudly today.

I’ve got an optimism, carried by the same feeling of rising Southern vitality you feel in Dallas and Nashville, something a city of warmth, grit, charisma and culture well deserves.

Chris Murdock, bar manager at brand-new Agave Maria Cantina downtown, which enjoys snakeskin walls in the bathroom, hot pink upholstered stools in the bar, scores of fine tequila on its shelves and salmon sashimi-jalapeño-truffle tostadas on the plate, summarized it nicely.

“Memphis is coming up,” he said. “It’s nice to see things getting better.”

In fact, ace real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield just reported the top markets offering “the right live/work/play environment” for millennials are Nashville, Brooklyn, Portland and Memphis.”

As VanWyngarden writes in a recent column: “That’s pretty heady company. All that craft beer and music cred and affordable downtown housing is starting to pay off, apparently.”

So I’ve got it all: fried gator and fried oyster, beer and whiskey, heartache and hope, the very stuff of Memphis blues.

Everything, that is, except what I came for.

I headed to Memphis for the Olympic women’s boxing trials, to see an unlikely and inspiring story continue upward.

The story belongs to 30-year-old single mom Jamie Mitchell, who calls Pacific Grove home and boxing her lifeblood.

She went through more tragedy before she was 6 than most do in several lifetimes, being whipped and starved by her first foster mom until Mitchell’s broken arm tipped off a teacher.

Not that it let up from there. In group homes and juvenile halls she was housed with bullies who beat her and guards who abused her, until she learned to fight back.

She was here for a final swing at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after winning a qualifying tournament in Baltimore this September. Only she lost a tightly fought decision and didn’t advance.

“I was catching her with a lot of punches,” Mitchell says. “But didn’t have my legs.”

After the finals Saturday, I asked Mitchell what’s next.

She seemed unsure.

I’m not.

She’ll keep fighting, getting up from getting knocked down, just like a certain Southern city with a lot of heart.

QUICKBITES

• Trailside Cafe and Beer Garden in Carmel Valley (298-7453) hosts a local beer festival of sorts starting today (Thursday, Nov. 5). More at www.mcweekly.com/edible.

• Tickets now on sale for Jan. 15-17 Big Sur Foragers Festival (667-4210, www.bigsurforagersfestival.org).

• The launch of Dungeness crab rec (Nov. 7) and commercial seasons (Nov. 15) could be pushed back because of a naturally occurring toxin, domoic acid, found in algae bottom feeders love.

• Flavors of Pacific Grove happens at Spanish Bay Nov. 7. See p. 27.

• Captain Cooper Elementary does a neat drawing ($25) to benefit the school garden and, also, foodies who win the chance at multiple courses in said garden done by master chef Paul Corsentino (Ventana), among other lush prizes. More on the blog.

• Friends of Hopkins host a rare public event at the Boat Works lecture hall honoring two of my heroes, sustainability pioneers Ted and Cindy Walter of Passionfish. 7:30 Tuesday, Nov. 10, call for a free seat: 655-6200.

• #DIYpie workshop ($65) with MEarth 1-4pm Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Hilton Bialek Habitat. Tax deductible, with Post Ranch pastry whiz Yulanda Santos, recipes, two take-and-bake pies and Tanja Helen Roos as organic emcee (RSVP 624-1032, www.MEarthCarmel.org).

• Ag Against Hunger is “fielding” nominations for 2016 Agricultural Woman of the Year. Nomination forms and instructions at www.agagainsthunger.org

• Even creative-swanky sensation Aubergine (624-8578) rarely gets as precise and zesty as it does Thursday, Nov. 12, with a 10-course tasting menu and party ($150; $135 wine pairing) with handpicked seafood-centric chefs from around the blue-and-green globe.

• Congratulations for single-season Miramonte High rushing record holder David Schmalz, for doing something far harder: Surviving 2 years as a full-time beat reporter at the Weekly. And welcome to the team, Nick Rahaim. PS Ana Ceballos keep coming up aces. And while I’m at it, big congrats on well-deserved promotion Sara Rubin.

• Immanuel Kant: “To be is to do.”