Le roi est mort, vive le roi

Since today (August 16) is the 30th anniversary of the death of The King, Elvis Presley, I figured it was appropriate to post some pictures of our pilgrimage to his home in Memphis, Tennessee - Graceland.

We hit Graceland in late July while driving back east from New Mexico along I-40. Karen was a bit bummed we missed out on Elvis Week (held every year around August 16th). Although it might have been fun to see some of the die-hard Elvis fanatics (some of whom still can't believe he's actually dead), I was more than happy to avoid the big crowds.

Graceland was interesting to see and worth a visit if you're in the area, but probably not worth a special trip to Memphis. We also walked around downtown a bit, but Memphis seemed fairly poor to us, with a lot of beggars around Beale Street, the spiritual home of the blues. You might know Beale Street from Marc Cohn's song, "Walking in Memphis" (and for our Belgian readers, you might be familiar with Belgian Idol 2004 runner-up Wouter De Clerck's version). Some Marc Cohn trivia: he won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist of 1991, he was shot in the head during an attempted carjacking in 2005, and he's married to Emmy Award winning television journalist Elizabeth Vargas (Andre Agassi introduced them). And Elizabeth Vargas spent part of her childhood with her army dad in Belgium. I'm thinking of catering to our audience and making this a blog about Belgium.

I thought this street sign in Memphis was great:



A few pictures from Beale Street:







Unfortunately the mechanical bull wasn't operating during the daytime or else we might have taken it for a ride.



And we knew we were in a foreign country when one of the establishments on Beale Street had rules stating that "pant legs must be worn correctly".



We missed the twice-daily march of the ducks at the famous Peabody Hotel but we did see the ducks frolicking in this beautiful fountain in the ornate hotel lobby.



After finishing our visit to downtown, it was onto Graceland, which is actually in a rundown part of the city.



A mural of the gates:



The front of the mansion:



Proving that our trip is full of places of historical significance:



Now, onto the interior.

Living room:



The kitchen (as you can see, like the rest of the house it is stuck in a 1970s time warp from when Elvis died):



The famous "jungle room":



A bed that everyone should have in their home:



Karen in front of some of Elvis' numerous gold records:



Another room full of gold records and other memorabilia:



Two of Elvis' famous outfits. You can buy some top-end replicas for about $2,000 in one of the numerous gift shops on site.



Some more of his outfits:



Elvis was actually a twin, but his twin brother was stillborn.



Elvis' grave in the Meditation Garden, a pilgrimage site for many devotees, especially on August 16th.



As for the debate about the correct spelling of Elvis' middle name (Elvis was his dad's middle name), here's an entry from wikipedia:

Presley's genuine birth certificate does actually say "Elvis Aaron Presley" (as written by a doctor). There is also a souvenir birth certificate that reads "Elvis Aron Presley." When Presley did sign his middle name, he used Aron. It says 'Aron' on his marriage certificate and on his army duffel bag. Aron was apparently the spelling the Presleys used to make it similar to the middle name of Elvis's stillborn twin, Jesse Garon. Elvis later sought to change the name's spelling to the traditional and biblical Aaron. In the process he learned that official state records had always listed it as Aaron. Therefore, he always was, officially, Elvis Aaron Presley. Knowing Presley's plans for his middle name, Aaron is the spelling his father chose for Elvis' tombstone, and it is the spelling his estate has designated as the official spelling whenever the middle name is used today. Interestingly, his death certificate says "Elvis Aron Presley". This quirk has helped inflame the "Elvis is not dead" conspiracy theories. Elvis' stillborn brother's first name is given as Jesse in many sources. However, according to a memorial marker in the grounds of "Graceland", the correct spelling is Jessie.

That clears that right up, eh?

You can see some of Elvis' many cars on site. In 1971, Memphis changed the name of road where Graceland is to Elvis Presley Boulevard, so on some of the car registration certificates you see in the museum, that is his address. Pretty cool to have the street you live on named after you while you're still alive.





You can also visit two of Elvis' private planes.



Elvis' personal symbol was a lightning bolt with the letters TCB, which means "taking care of business (in a flash)".

Elvis is the only musician to be inducted into 4 different music Hall of Fames (Rock and Roll, Rockabilly, Country Music and Gospel Music). Elvis only won 3 Grammy Awards in his lifetime, all for gospel performances. In 1993, the US Postal Service introduced an Elvis stamp which to this day is far and away the best selling postal stamp in US history. From 2001 to 2005, Elvis was the top-grossing dead celebrity, until the top spot was taken over by Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.