"I'm going to Graceland, Graceland
Memphis Tennessee,
I'm going to Graceland
Poorboys and Pilgrims with families,
And we are going to Graceland..."
So Matt and I woke up by the lake in Pawnee and decided to drive 9 hours or so, through Little Rock, Arkansas, where we watched a Steelers pre-season game, and Amarillo Texas, where we stopped at a Barnes & Noble to blog one of the entries yo may have read many weeks ago, and ended up at the lovely "Relax Inn" in West Memphis, Arkansas. We crashed after such a drive, but fortunately "Man on Fire" was on TV, so we let Denzel take over from there. It was a roller coaster ride of a night.
Anyway, the next day we dedided to visit Graceland, the country's favorite musical pilgrimage site, and although admittedly I don't know a ton about Elvis, it was a worth the trip, I guess.
"Yeah, dis place is aight...."
"Nice, portico, I guess..."
Now in Elvis's house, you get to see all sorts of things, like Elvis's reading stack, which includes two notable religious texts: the Bible and "Gods From Outer Space," by Erich Von Daniken.
You see evidence of the background of the Bush-Amenidijad conflict...
A gold record... ("Don't Be Cruel")
A collection of sweet Elvis buttons...
And this curious one in Yiddish...
Which was weird, but not as weird as this jewish jewelry from Elvis's "personal collection"...
Elvis' shag love-bed...
His Pat Boone records...
And a whole mess of rooms. Now, Graceland is only worth the $18 that two combined discounts (AAA and student) gets you, because you get to see a lot of poorly-decorated rooms. The joke is, Elvis had all the money in the world, but all he ate was like, meatloaf. Likewise, he decorated his house with the kind of furniture and adornments that would seem classy to the type of person who thinks that you can find really good art in the second-tier galleries of Santa Fe or Hilton Hean, NC. Here are a few examples...
The square-y, mirror-covered entertainment room...
the tiki pool room...
the famous "jungle room," which has a sweet fountain...
and these awesome dragon chairs...
Some other tacky room...
The peacock piano room, where the Presley family used to sing hymns...
There are, in Graceland, also a bunch of Elvis's suits, which are quite impressive. We're not sure which suit the japanese prime minister got to try on, but here are some cool ones...
bathrobe-style...
Tiger... the ultimate catsuit...
rhinestone cowboy...
baby blue...
This wall, on the outside of Graceland with lots of graffiti, was pretty sweet...
And most importantly, Matt and I took a series of photos highlighting where Elvis got drunk, site by site, in Graceland.
In his office... (drinky-drinky)
The bar... (drinky-drinky)
the pool (drinky-drinky)...
the racquetball courts (drinky-drinky)...
His airplane (drinky-drinky)....
His own tombstone (drinky-drinky)...
Oh, wait. that's not a place where Elvis drank. However, it was the site of the most pleasant surprise of our Graceland visit. See if you can notice what someone left on the King's grave...
Yeah, that's right, a turrble tahl.
By the way, Stillers just annihalated the Dolphins. How ya like me now, Vegas odds-makers? Suck it!
Peace,
Robbie
1 comment:
"...decorated his house with the kind of furniture and adornments that would seem classy to the type of person who thinks that you can find really good art in the second-tier galleries of Santa Fe..."
LOL. Brilliant.
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