Memphis

The next day I finally got to visit Graceland's, which was pretty much the whole reason for me visiting Memphis in the first place. My mother has been a huge Elvis fan her whole life and I grew up listening to his music. I know my mother would love to visit Memphis, but I don't know if she ever will. Neither of my parents have passports and I am the only member of my family to have done any serious travelling. My brother did go on holiday with me once but it was just a week after 09/11 and the plane was 3/4's empty and he now says that he doesn't like flying. Like most cities Memphis is a bit of a sprawl and everyone says that you can't get around on public transport. I guess that's true if you're trying to get to work and have a schedule to stick to, but as I don't have a schedule I didn't find it a problem. Despite this I spent some time on the internet trying to work out how to get to Graceland's which is about ten miles from downtown. I had been told by Collette (the woman I hung out with in Chicago) that there was a free shuttle from Sun Studios. If this is true, and I couldn't confirm it, this is not a good deal as you have to get to the studios first and it's a bit of a walk from the town centre. As I couldn't find any info about the shuttle I decided that I would just have to chance it on the local buses. I bought a day pass for $3.50 and it was no problem, the buses were straight forward and I got to exactly where I wanted to go to.
The house is on what is now called "Elvis Presley Boulevard". The surrounding area is a bit sad really, it's one long four lane street lined with car dealerships and sad motels. I wonder what it was like when he bought the house. Across the street from the house is the visitors centre and inevitable gift shops. There is even a "Heartbreak Hotel", they play Elvis music in the lobby 24 hours a day and have Elvis movies constantly playing on the room t.v.'s. It's probably way overpriced, not that I would have stayed there even if it wasn't. I bought my ticket, had the obligatory green screen photo taken and waited for the shuttle to take me up to the house. I was excited about being there and not just because of what it would mean to my mother.
The house itself is beautiful from the outside, very simple and elegant, surrounded by a gently rolling lawn and mature trees. Some people will unkindly say that's because Elvis didn't build it but bought it as is. I wouldn't agree with that. O.K. so there is one room in the house that is a bit over the top, The Jungle Room, but the rest of the ground floor is very tastefully decorated, if a bit dated. The house has been left as it was the day Elvis died. You can't go upstairs as apparently guests were not allowed to when Elvis was alive so they haven't opened it to the public now. There are lots of personal photos on the walls and cabinets and it looks fairly ordinary. Not what you would expect of an international superstars home. There is an audio tour and some of it is narrated by Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley, it adds a very personal dimension to the whole thing. After the house you go through the garage and racquet ball court which have been turned into exhibition spaces for his music awards and stage costumes. I did enjoy seeing some of the costumes he wore during his Vegas shows, for me that's what I most remember as I haven't seen many of his earliest performances. Then after all that you go outside and see his grave,the graves of his parents, his twin brother and his grandmother. His grandmother outlived all of them. I can't imagine how that felt.
Once you leave the grounds of the house you go back to the visitor centre and can tour three or four other exhibitions. You can see his planes, cars, stage clothes and in a new exhibition items from his two years in the U.S. Army. It felt strange seeing the car he drove on the day he died. Everything else seemed a bit impersonal. All of this is accompanied by videos, tape recordings and photos. Everything the Elvis fan could want. Overall I was left feeling infinitely sad. Here is a really talented person, beloved by millions and he's still not happy, it's not enough. The old problems are still there and the answer was sought in drugs and alcohol leading to his death. It's almost as if there is a price to be paid for being given such an amazing talent.
My next stop was in a slightly happier note, I went to the STAX Museum. The STAX Studios was another music studio in Memphis and home of artists such as Ike & Tina Turner, Issac Hayes and many others. I pretty much had the museum to myself and despite being told not to take photos I did. It would have been foolish not to, there was so much information and so many things to see. I wouldn't have remembered anything if I hadn't taken photos. I got to see Issac Hayes's Cadillac with the gold bumpers, beside which is note from Hayes about the car. It finishes with a comment "it was the 70's", I guess that means that he wouldn't have the same car made now and that's why it's in a museum instead of being driven.
My evening was a bit of a downer. I had only asked Aaron if I could stay two nights and as that I was up I had decided to move to another CS house. In all fairness Aaron had said that I could stay another night if I wanted to but I didn't feel comfortable so I moved. It was nothing that Aaron did that made me feel uncomfortable, it was just a me thing. When I finally got to my new CS house I was freezing and not in the best of moods. It didn't help that the house was obviously in a bad neighbourhood, through which I had to walk a few blocks. My host Chris and his friend Matty were lovely. I was fed and given wine, which always soothes the savage beast in me. I went to bed early as I had another early bus to catch. I was going to spend a day or so in Jackson, Mississippi. There was nothing I wanted to do there, it is just a convenient point between Memphis and New Orleans and since there was nothing to do I could just chill at my host's house. I wanted a sight seeing break before I got to New Orleans as I knew that it would be crazy there for Mardi Gras.