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Published: June 25th 2017
Geo: 35.1496, -90.0489
Now that we were Walking Tall and Carrying A Little Stick we were ready to head to Memphis for Xmas. The concept of spending Christmas with Elvis seemed like a good one but unbeknownst to us, Memphis can be a dangerous city to hang out in (recently ranked as the second most dangerous city in the U.S. after the perennial champ of Detroit- there's a stat of 1,009 violent crimes per 100,000 residents). That just seems so wrong for the hometown of Elvis, the King of Rock & Roll- even his saddest songs give you a happy feeling and his movies were about as popcorn puff as you can get.
If we had any doubts about going, we were pushed along by tornado's and storm warnings popping up in behind us, flooding happening south of us, and cold weather to the north. A Memphis Xmas was looking pretty good.
Apparently we were among of very small group of people who thought that Christmas with Elvis was a good idea (and that included locals). Granted, most cities slow down a bit around the holidays as people spend time with families and such, but Memphis didn't slow down- it stopped. We were only
a few blocks away from the famed Beale St but as we walked back and forth it seemed like we were the only ones not to get the Emergency Evacuation Order. The aimless wanderings of heavily intoxicated street people only added to the Zombie Apocalypse feel of the place. It did pick up a little toward the back end of our stay, particularly at night, but we never did find out what everyone was doing during the day.
When there are people in Memphis, the number one destination for them has to be Graceland, the world famous home of Elvis Presley during the peak of his popularity. Graceland Farms was originally named after a printing Baron's daughter, Grace, who inherited the farm in 1894. Presley purchased Graceland in 1957 near the peak of his popularity for the amount of $102,500 (and decorated it to his taste which is a bit outlandish- described as "lurid kitsch"😉. Elvis Presley died at the estate on August 16, 1977 (the Graceland tour suggests natural causes but officially the pharmacopoeia he ingested daily was implicated. Presley, along with his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, and his grandmother, are buried there in what is called the Meditation
Garden.
Since his death, there have been numerous alleged sightings of Presley. A long-standing theory among some fans is that he faked his death so he could retire in peace. Not too sure about that but DH claims that the surveillance skills she picked up in her policing days will be put to good use as we travel through the rest of the U.S.- if he's out there, he will be found.
We followed up our Graceland with a visit to the Lorraine Hotel, site of the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King. Talk about completing the emotional spectrum in one day; from the light hearted and uplifting Graceland visit to the somber review of the struggle that Martin Luther King led for so many years before his death. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience- King helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. In 1964 King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence but all of that was cut short at 6:01 p.m., April 4, 1968.
The assassination led to a nationwide wave of race riots
in many U.S. cities. Two months after King's death, escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured at London Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on a false Canadian passport (why do bad guys use Canadian passports so often??) in the name of Ramon George Sneyd on his way to white-ruled Rhodesia.
Witnesses near King at the moment of his death said that the shot came from another location. They said that it came from behind thick shrubbery near the boarding house—which had been cut away in the days following the assassination—and not from the boarding house window. However, Ray's fingerprints were found on various objects and an examination of the rifle containing Ray's fingerprints also determined that at least one shot was fired from the firearm at the time of the assassination. Government conspiracy theories live on.
We also took in the Sun Recording Studio for another helping of Elvis stories but perhaps our most unexpected Memphis highlight was a huge Bass Pro Store. It occupies a former pyramid-shaped stadium and now houses a swamp and pond complete with live gators (shoplift at your peril), a huge aquarium, along with the tallest free standing elevator in America. DH
only got out of the car to use the store restroom but she was glad she did. PFC would lose his mind in this store.
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Kevin & Art (Havana)
non-member comment
Been there many times...Saw Elvis last two concerts he performed here in the Twin Cities.