the next day we headed to graceland, which was less 10 minutes from our hotel. it was so exciting to see elvis's mansion and all his fancy stuff, while learning a bit more about him. i learned he had a twin that died at birth. i also learned that he had a really interesting sense of style. well i guess it was the 70's. he had all these crazy outfits and such perfect hair. and tons of hits, he is the king.
it was a great experience, stepping back into time and trying to imagine what life was like with elvis. or just imagining how crazy i would be about elvis if it was my time, i'd be fanatic for sure! my mom said she was a little too young, just a teenager when he came to hawaii so she missed that. she was amazingly moved by graceland, it was like her mecca. when it came to the end of the tour at elvis's grave her eyes welled up with tears. it was sad. then i thought of my own dead musical heroes like kurt cobain and bradley nowell. if i visited their graves would i be so moved? maybe but probably not. while they have made their impact on music history, not at the same level as elvis.
besides his mansion and grave we also saw a car collection and private airplane, the lisa marie. it was all pretty neat and kinda eerie to occupy the same space as he once did. we had lunch there at graceland, i had meatloaf, which was one of elvis's favorites. :) it was yummy. after that we went to the peabody hotel which features 5 ducks that sit in a fountain all day then march out at the end of the day to music. odd. my mom really wanted to go see that though and it was kinda cute but didn't really excite me. for dinner we went to central BBQ and got more ribs which had a better flavor but was less meaty. it was also half dry and half wet, i didn't really like the dry. i got sides of mac & cheese and greens, which were excellent. unfortunately no food pics.
the next day we set out to this area which was very deserted. it wasn't very far but was a different part of town for sure. we went to see the STAX record museum, which was the place where soul was born. the STAX label featured artists like otis redding and booker t & mg's. i didn't know many of these artists but once i heard clips they were familiar. otis redding was only 26 (same as me) when he died in a plane crash. sitting on the dock of the bay is such a great song!! after that we headed to sun records, which is where elvis first recorded music. johnny cash also recorded a lot of his early work, he is awesome. it was a short but informative tour and i got to hold the same mic that they used to record songs many years ago! that was cool. i also sat at the same drum set that u2 used on rattle & hum.
we did check out famous beale street at both night and day, both times were pretty deserted. that was kind of weird because it thought for sure it would be more crowded. we didn't get to hear much music but stepped into bb king's restaurant for a minute. it was a very fun but short trip to memphis and i really wanted to continue on and go to nashville as well but it wasn't in the plan. my mom said you have to leave some stones unturned, and i left many. i will be back, tennessee!!
the people in the south were just so great, very nice and friendly. true southern hospitality. i thoroughly enjoyed myself in both memphis and new orleans, especially while eating! i will definitely be back, perhaps around mardi gras time in n.o. i would say at least 4 days there not including partying days, and probably 2 more in memphis and 5 in nashville (it's the heart of country music!). there is just so much to see and hear. that would be a nice little trip for someday down the road.
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