City was perfect place to hang with model, rap group

	Tori Praver and Three 6 Mafia Walter Chin/SI

As swimsuit locations go, Memphis rocked.

It's the not the things we do in this life that we regret, but the things we don't do. The trip I took to Memphis last September for SI's Swimsuit Issue would be a perfect example.

It was fun and all, but what might have been...

This edition of the Swimsuit Issue has a music theme, and the Memphis trip included a shoot with the Three 6 Mafia. I was looking forward to it -- and not just because Three 6 Mafia was "so hot right now," with their Oscar-winning It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp. I just don't meet that many top crunk artists in my normal rounds.

The shoot with Three 6 Mafia was by a pair of old railroad bridges. DJ Paul and Juicy J arrived with a decent- sized entourage, which included a man who had a badge around his neck ("Special Officer," it read) and a gun in his holster. "Are you a police officer?" asked a woman in our crew. "Break a law and find out," he answered. The guys went up on the bridge with model Tori Praver. DJ Paul gave hard looks for the camera, and Juicy J flashed his full grill. The whole thing took maybe 30 minutes, tops.

Then, as we headed to our separate caravans, parked a ways apart, DJ Paul called out, "Hey, we got a pool at our place, if you want to come over and do some shots there."

Paul sounded half-joking when he said this, and the offer was not seriously considered. But I think he really wanted us to come -- though I may be using the word "us" a bit liberally there -- as we walked away I wished I had spoken up and pushed for turning the rest of the afternoon into a pool party at the Three 6 Mafia house. Because really, how often do invitations like that come my way? Unless I'm in the traveling party of a 19-year-old swimsuit model, not very often.

Ah well.

That lost opportunity aside, Memphis still rocked. No, it wasn't Hawaii or Brazil or some other classic destination with windswept ocean vistas. But we had a blast all the same.