Oot & Aboot: Elvis IS the king

What a big day today was! Today was my only full day in Memphis so I was going to cram all that I could in. I hit up the complimentary breakfast, where I had another breakfast of scones. Scones for breakky seem to be a thing in the south.

I had bought a ticket yesterday for Graceland to avoid the line up today so I headed to Graceland in time for my 9am tour of Elvis’s house. It was super hot already as I walked to Graceland, so I’m looking forward to just getting into the air conditioning. Graceland the enterprise is amazing. The house is really only a small part. You have to include 3 museums, about 6 shops offering items on every aspect of Elvis’s life from GI Elvis to Blue Hawaii Elvis; and food outlets. Memphis IS Elvis. I think this as I walk along Elvis Presley Blvd, after leaving Heartbreak Hotel, and heading to Graceland. I’m glad I got the early tour as it’s not nearly as busy as it looked late yesterday evening. The house itself is across the road.

So we are given our audio tours and ordered into a bus that will cross the street and head up to the front door of Graceland. The front wall along the property has been written all over for years now, so it’s completely covered in ‘blah blah was here’ kind of comment and ‘I love Elvis’ everywhere. Again, another place where no flash photography is allowed; so I take some blurry shots of the bottom rooms of Graceland. I’m told once inside that the upstairs is off limits in respect for Elvis and as Lisa Marie’s wishes. I think it’s more because if they displayed the rooms as is, you’d be finding a bit of a mess and a hell of a lot of drugs. Graceland screams 70’s, and ‘I have a lot of money, let’s spend it’ They jungle room was a trip, a lounge room styled in jungle furniture, and the pool room in the basement with walls of fabric. I check out the backyard, including Elvis’s racquetball room, his trophy room (there were A LOT of awards), his costume exhibit, and finally, his Dad’s office where they handled the fan mail. Elvis’s parents lived with him. Lastly, I visited the most packed part of the property, Elvis’s resting place. Elvis and his parents are buried in the meditation garden at the side of the house. It’s incredible how many people leave gifts etc. 31 years later.

After checking out Graceland, I visited the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum where about a dozen of Elvis’s vehicles, including his favourite pink Cadillac were on show. He had a great MG and purple convertible too. One more museum to go to end my tour, and it took my to Elvis’s airplanes. He had two airplanes, one called the Lisa Marie. I go inside the Lisa Marie, admire his gold plated washroom sink and Elvis’s velour bedroom. This guy had a lot of money. Time to leave the Memphis that is Elvis and see what else is on offer. I take advantage of Sun Studio free shuttle which goes around to most of the Memphis attraction. This is fantastic because Graceland is about 15 minutes from downtown Memphis, so I’d be in a bit of a pickle if I had to get to these places by taxis. There isn’t any buses!

A shot time later I get to Sun Studios. I cant help but think of Johnny Cash. I head in and buy my tour ticket and wait til the tour starts. I learn whilst waiting about the Million Dollar Quartet. Elvis, Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis all happened to be at Sun Studios on the same day and they recorded together. What a group! We head into the tour which takes us through the history as Sun Studios and its owner, Sam Phillips. What was interesting to learn was that Sam Phillips almost went broke many times and sold Elvis’s contract to keep Sun Studios going. It was pretty awesome to stand in the actual studio so many great artists have once stood. The studio is still used today after dark by local bands.

It was heading towards lunch time so I stopped in at Pig: Pork with an Attitude and had myself a BBQ pork burger. Not good, but I was so hungry I would have eaten anything at this stage.

Next stop on my big Memphis day was the Rock and Soul Museum. The museum is a Smithsonian so I knew it was going to be good. The museum looks at rock n roll from it’s roots in the cotton fields where people like Cark Perkins were inspired by the gospel signing of the African Americans, to the Million Dollar Quartet. You could sound some music along the way such as Chuck Berry, BB King, and Roy Orbison. Many artists had their costumes on display, including the very flamboyant costumes of Isaac Hayes. After an hour and a half at the museum, I got back into the heat of the day and walked to the National Civil Rights Museum. To get there you walk along Main St. It was a Sunday afternoon as I was the ONLY person in sight. It was so bizarre. I couldn’t believe in the main area of Memphis I might be the only one around. Memphis is not a big place. I got to the Civil Rights Museum a short time later. The museum is housed within the old Lorraine Motel, which is the sight of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination. It’s a neat idea and there is also a plaque commemorating the spot where he was assassinated out the front. The tour starts with a brief movie on the background to Civil Rights from the past until today. The museum is filled mainly with written information on the walls from such events as the sit ins, bus boycotts, and Kings history.

There is an exhibit that is a bus you go into and learn about Rosa Parks. The museum finishes up with King’s assassination and they have re-created the rooms of the hotel that King and his entourage were staying in at the time of the assassination, the actual rooms have not changed at all except for one cube of concrete on the ground that was removed because King’s blood was on it. There is another museum across the street that goes further into the assassination, including the autopsy, the investigation and the weapon used. However, I’m not real keen to see all that and I want to get back to the stop I can get the free shuttle from to get back to my hotel.

Luckily I just get onto the shuttle and head back to the hotel. It was a mammoth day, but I can say I got to do everything I wanted too. Instead of heading out again, I decide to get an early night. I have a 6am train the next day so it might be wise!

What I learnt in Memphis today:

Elvis is king
Memphis isn’t a big place. If you took the tourists out, it would be tiny.
How annoying it is you can’t take photos in a lot of places. It makes it hard to remember everything you see!