1 for the money, 2 for the show

First published in Sunday Times, August 2023

Memphis, Tennessee. It has its own rhythm. Mem-phis. Ten-nes-see.

Once we decided on Memphis the rest fell into place. As if by itself. Chasing music in the south of America.

Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans. Clarksdale, Lafayette. And Graceland. Of course. How could you not, if you’re going to Memphis? Whether you’re an ardent Elvis fan or not. And, here’s the confession: I’m not.

Graceland, the home of Elvis.

You know someone is famous, very famous, if they are known by a mononym. The King of Rock and Roll needs no introduction.

Pulling into Memphis

Driving into Memphis felt like a Monopoly game. “Do not pass Go. Do not collect R200. Go straight to… Graceland”.

As if the ticket wasn’t eye-wateringly expensive enough, we had to fork out another $10 for parking. Discounts are available for “AAA members, military personnel, adults 65 and over, youth ages 5-10 and Graceland Insiders”, but not for South Africans out of sympathy for the rand-dollar exchange rate.

Walking up to the huge entertainment complex called Elvis Presley’s Memphis where the Graceland experience begins – Graceland Mansion is actually across the road – I felt my heart beating faster. You don’t need to be an Elvis fan to know this is a must-see destination in anyone’s book.

Welcome to Graceland

Had it not been for the billboard proclaiming “Welcome to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley” and the yellowish gold lettering repeating the welcome, you could think you are entering a train station somewhere in Europe. “Ticketing”, large letters shout above the double doors.

Advance ticket purchase is encouraged, it said on the website, and for good reason because the queues are long and the staff rude. A UK visitor commented on Tripadvisor, “All the staff look so fed up, bored and miserable”. I could have nodded in agreement.

I was hoping to see some wacky Elvis impersonators but everyone around me were middle-aged, if not older, on a day out to rekindle their youth for a short while.

The Elvis Experience starts with a short 7-minute video of Elvis’s career. It’s informative, it’s fun and seems to set the tone for what is about to follow. I was All Shook Up!

Our group filed out whilst the next bunch was already entering the movie theatre. Graceland is the second most visited house in America (the first is the White House), with over 500 000 visitors each year.

Tours are self-guided and shuttles provided but you need patience as you will be queueing a lot. The first queue was when everyone gets their photograph taken in front of a variety of fun backgrounds. At the end of your tour you’re presented with your photos but not obligated to buy them. At about $35 they don’t come cheap.

I spent about 20 minutes in the second queue, with shuttles coming and going, but not picking up anyone. Fellow-queuers mumbled and grumbled.

Then we were off, crossing Elvis Presley Boulevard to get to Graceland Mansion.

I hardly noticed the Music Gates, festooned with musical notes and two guitar-playing Elvis figures, when we passed through; I was too excited to get to the mansion.

Mine is bigger than yours

Standing in the queue in front of Graceland Mansion I was more than a trifle disappointed.

On their website (graceland.com) they declare, “Graceland is so much more than a Mansion”. Except, it’s not. It’s more like a fancy schmancy middle-class home. For a while I thought there’s a real mansion, somewhere else on the property.

Upon entering, the Music or Living Room is the first you see. It’s opulent. Outrageous. I loved it. Mainly because of two floor-to-ceiling stained-glass panels featuring identical peacocks amid a sea of white  ̶ white display cabinet, white couch, white arm chairs, white carpet, white grand piano. I rechristened it the Peacock Room.

The drama queen in me also quite fancied the purple and white bedroom, where Elvis’s parents slept, with its purple velvet bed and gold-fringed purple drapes.

As we shuffled cheek by jowl to the next room, while being admonished by staff to get a move on, I caught a brief glimpse of the staircase. The upstairs is off limits. Reportedly, this secluded sanctuary has remained unchanged since the day Elvis died.

Wall mirrors in the Dining Room give it a larger feel. Under a twinkly crystal chandelier the table is laid with the Presleys’ wedding china as if they’re about to sit down for supper.

The adjacent kitchen is hideous, to say the least. The mid-1970s wasn’t kind to kitchens overall but the mottled carpet and “harvest gold and avocado green that was popular at the time” do not make for a pretty picture. Like every other room in Graceland, this one has a television set too.

The TV-room and the staircase leading there left me slightly dizzy. Mirrors mounted on the walls and ceiling, every object reflected a myriad times. A lightning bolt on another wall, dozens of white and yellow scatter cushions balanced precariously on lopsided corners.

A rumble in the jungle

The Jungle Room, as it was dubbed by the media – Elvis called it The Den – is the most idiosyncratic. It has a built-in rock waterfall, log furniture, a green shag carpet and a faux grass ceiling. I continued the tour, then sneaked back to make sure I’d seen what I thought I’d seen.

The Billiard Room also left me gobsmacked. The walls and ceilings are covered in thinly pleated multi-coloured cotton fabric – more than 320 metres in total – it reminded me of the inside of a home-sewn hot air balloon. More than anything else, this made me feel like Elvis has never left the building!

Shuffle, shuffle. On to museum-like displays of a scale model of the two-roomed shotgun shack (so-called because a bullet shot through the front door could supposedly exit the back door without hitting anything) where Elvis was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Also Elvis’s birth certificate and junior high school testimonial; his dad Vernon’s pay stub; a family tree painted on the wall; a remote control from Elvis’s bedroom; and bizarrely, loads of receipts detailing what Elvis spent on Graceland.

May his soul rest in peace

For many visitors to Graceland the highlight happens to be Elvis’s grave, in the Meditation Garden. I was intrigued to see that many seemed to find it difficult to tear themselves away from here.

Elvis is buried alongside his parents, Vernon and Gladys, and his grandmother Minnie Mae. The graves of his daughter, Lisa Marie, and her son/his grandson Benjamin Keough and a small memorial stone to Elvis’s twin brother who died at birth can also be seen. 

Elvis Presley’s Memphis

Back at the warehouse-like main building I marvelled at Elvis’s Pink Cadillac in the Presley Motors Automobile Museum but I waltzed through the Icons Exhibit on the influence of Elvis (“a giant display of Elvis’s jumpsuits” as someone remarked, worn by famous people like Elton John and Bruce Springsteen) and I didn’t even feign interest in “Private Presley: Elvis in the Army Exhibit with “special artifacts” such as his “Army fatigues and army foot locker”.

There was also far too much on Lisa Presley, I felt. I never made it to “Graceland of the Skies”, with Elvis’s airplanes. By now I was Elvis-ed out.

More in Memphis

With Graceland ticked off, we happily fell into Memphis, named after the capital of ancient Egypt, but you’d never guess it walking Beale Street with its frenetic energy, in-your-face police presence and dudes with guns strapped to their thighs.

When I was walking in Memphis, there was – as Marc Cohn sings – gospel in the air, but also jazz, blues, soul, and rockabilly.  Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale, I window shopped at A. Schwab’s Store (a-schwab.com), the only remaining original business on the street, I listened to James Brown imitators, drank absinthe cocktails and weaved in and out of music bars.

I went to watch a real live duck parade, dating from the 1930s in the grand foyer of the Peabody Hotel Memphis (peabodymemphis.com/peabody-ducks). The resident ducks live in their own penthouse on the roof but spend their days in the fountain in the foyer. Daily at 11am or 5pm they waddle along a red carpet to the elevator with a duck master urging them on.

The shop belonging to the Lansky Brothers, still known as the Clothier to the King, is now located at the Peabody Hotel Memphis.

I didn’t stoop to buying a touristy placard that reads: “Warning – May spontaneously start talking about Memphis”. Nevertheless, be warned.

Back home I bought blue suede shoes. For the bragging rights of having been to Graceland. And in memory of Elvis.

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Elvis Week 2023

In the words of Graceland, Elvis Week is a celebration of the music, movies and legacy of Elvis Presley.

At Graceland, from Aug, 9-17, there are a slew of activities such as Elvis Music Salute performances and tribute artist contests. A highlight will undoubtedly be “Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii”, his 1973-concert, seen in about 40 countries, by more than one billion people, shown on the big screen.

If you can’t make it to Memphis for Elvis Week this year, you don’t need to miss a thing. There’s also Virtual Elvis Week (virtualelvisweek.com) where you can watch all the events at Graceland online. 

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Tickets for Graceland

• Memphis Ticket + Planes Tour R900 (Does not include Graceland Mansion)
• Elvis Experience Tour R1 435 (Graceland Mansion & Elvis Presley’s Memphis Entertainment Complex)
• Elvis Entourage VIP R2 420 (Add-ons VIP shuttle & exclusive exhibit)