Photos

We got to visit Graceland, Elvis Presley's overstatement of 1970's decor, last week while visiting Memphis, Tennessee. There are quite a few photographs of this place posted all over the place, you could probably paste them all together and create a fairly good rendition of Graceland in a virtual way. I took quite a few shots - there is no flash photography, they do not allow tripods or monopods and every tour dumps a bunch of tourists at the doorway, clogging the mansion's roped off corridors with tourists. Really hard to get a shot without some other photographer standing in front of you. Not that that is so important, I like the addition of people in my photographs most of the time, but sometimes I just need to represent a place, a feeling or a scene without them.

This is one of those photographs. Graceland is a shrine to many people. It is Mecca for Elvis Presley fans, of which there continue to be more than anyone will ever be able to count. It is interesting to say the least, and somewhat portrays the boyish innocence Elvis managed to exude throughout his life. It is a time warp, as well - you are transported to the mid-1970's when you step inside of Graceland - they have changed very little since his death on August 16, 1977. I remember that date, I remember where I was the particular moment I heard about it, and I am not a big Elvis fan. I mean, I liked his singing and his kitschy movies - there are not many Americans who don't or didn't, at least in some small way. We were all captivated by Elvis at least once - I remember seeing him on TV and mostly at the Osage Cinema in downtown Kirkwood, Missouri back in the 1960's. For 35 cents you could see a bunch of cartoons and at least one feature film, quite often an Elvis show, an Audie Murphy western, or Frankie and Annette in some Beach Blanket Bingo farce every Saturday morning. I used to take my little sister with me and we would stop at the Corner Store for penny candy before we went. We rarely spent over a buck and were entertained by Elvis on several occasions. Our dentist was quite happy, as well!

Anyway, here I go telling stories again. This was an oddly moving tour, interesting and amazing at times. I didn't know until I took that tour that Elvis raised a significant amount of money towards the USS Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and that he was named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970 by the United States Jaycees. He was extremely philanthropic and most of his good deeds went unnoticed.

This particular photograph was taken in the Meditation Garden, a few steps away from Elvis' grave. It was beginning to rain a little, the sky was darkening, as was the mood. Several tourists reverently bent over at Elvis' grave, some had tears on their cheeks. Interesting how Elvis can affect people, even so many years after he died.

I thought I would upload this one today, being Sunday, and continue on with the Blues and such tomorrow. I'll probably sneak in a couple more Graceland shots from time to time. I'll be uploading another on TL that would get booted from TE today.

Have a great week!