Elvis Presley

[CarolinaGirl]

I was not an Elvis fan until I went to Memphis and Graceland. I walked in and promptly burst into tears. I cried a couple of times. Lisa Marie says on the tour tape that she never feels like it is really Christmas until she goes to Memphis and sees Graceland all decorated. I left Graceland with his Gospel CD and his greatest hits CD.

It makes me so sad. He was so beautiful and so talented. Singers now, you don't know if they have talent or if they have so much help from the studio to make them sound good. He had a twin brother who died at birth or shortly after. Can you imagine if Elvis had been part of a duo? Or if the twin had grown up to be dumpy and bookish?

There is so much to do in Memphis (and Lord help the food is yummy), -- Graceland, the Peabody Ducks (cutest things ever), the National Civil Rights Museum (I hyperventilated from crying), the zoo, Sun Records, Beale Street. Everybody should go to Memphis at least once.

[snarkblossom]

I went to Graceland twice, both times in the late 1980s. They had quite a bit more than the house open then, there was a separate building with all the gold records, costumes, guns, medals, sherriff's badges (he collected them) etc.; his indoor racketball court/shooting gallery; one building with all his cars/other vehicles and some furniture (a big fuzzy white round bed that revolved!); and both airplanes, a 727 jet and a smaller plane. The Lisa Marie jet had a big seat belt across the bed, which I thought was funny. It also had solid gold bathroom fixtures, very gaudy. The first time I went to Graceland I was with snarky art director friends and we were stoned. Some little 13 year old docents took us around and recited the scripts for each room and I thought we were going to pee our pants, we laughed so hard. The Jungle room was particularly funny, with all that shag on the ceiling and walls, that big neanderthal chair and the rock wall fountain. There were two ceramic monkeys in the room and the docent said that Elvis had two live monkeys as pets that he called Chimp and Chump. That just got us laughing even harder. We were total assholes on that visit. We asked which TV he shot out and stuff like that, really were brats. Elvis's aunt still lived upstairs so we were not allowed to go into the kitchen or upstairs in the house. There was a little shrine outside someone had brought, and a sign asking people not to throw coins in the pool. I took a pic of me sitting lotus style in front of the big Presley cross.

The next time I went though I felt completely different. I felt very sorry for him and I think it was at that moment I started to become really interested in the price of fame, particularly early fame. It's something that has fascinated me ever since. I spent a lot of time alone there and walked around very slowly looking at everything. By this time they'd closed off several of the buildings so you could not go in them. You still weren't allowed upstairs or in the kitchen. I was totally fascinated by the wall outside Graceland where people wrote messages to him. Every once in a while, they'd sandblast all the messages off and let people start over. I was very impressed to see how moving a lot of the messages were. And some very stupid, too. One laconic one read, "Elvis: You were fat. Now you're dead." The gates outside the mansion were also very cool.

One other thing I was surprised about was the location of Graceland, on this big busy commercial road. It just seemed so out of place.

I read both Guralnick books and they are outstanding. I strongly recommend them. Guralnick is an amazing music writer so the scope of the books is primarily aimed at the music. Generally speaking, the first book is the ascent and the second is the descent. Elvis was hottest during the time he went into the army, and he also looked great for the comeback tour. The black leather suit still looked contemporary and gorgeous when I saw it at Graceland. I was a little older when he died than some of you guys but I still thought 42 was "old." Now I see how incredibly young he was (chronologically, not physically) and really how tragic most of his life was.

My favorite Elvis songs are Blue Hawaii, Can't Help Falling in Love With You, and Love Me Tender.

Thanks for starting this thread, it's fun to read what others' experiences and thoughts were about him and Graceland.

[Deleted]

There is so much to do in Memphis (and Lord help the food is yummy)

They got catfish on the table
They got gospel in the air
The Reverend Green be glad to see you
When you haven't got a prayer . . .
Boy, you got a prayer in Memphis

[minky]

He had a hot ass. Graceland was fun. I too became a fan after I visited. Seeing him in candid videos really did it. Riding his horses, swimming, talking about nothing in particular. He wasn't someone who was always "on."

Unfortunately, I also discovered what a dumb shit he was. It makes me sad to know he was a person who was always looking for validation and meaning, BUT..."taking care of business in a flash" has become quite the punchline in my house.

[berrybearie]

After college 3 friends and I drove from Chicago to New Orleans for a few days. On our way back we were in Memphis around 6am on the day before the death anniversary. We figured we'd miss a chance to go look around because we were there so early and didn't want to spend too long hanging around because we still had several hours back to Chicago and had been driving all night, but the gates opened at 6 or 6:30 and there were people waiting. We went in and looked around the grounds including the graves. Then on our way out one of my friends wanted to sneak up the front walkway just far enough to get a good picture. She and I had walked a few steps up the walkway when someone started yelling, swearing and threatening us. A staffer or security guard? No, a fan. We hightailed it out of there because she looked like she meant business, so my memory of Graceland involves a wild-eyed woman threatening to kick my ass.

I have an uncle who's a huge fan and wore his hair and sideburns like Elvis for a long time (a bit embarassing on occasion) so I don't want to make fun of the superfans, but it felt odd to see people sobbing at the gravesite. I guess I've never had the feeling of such intense fandom.

My favorite Elvis songs are "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Suspicious Minds." With all the tributes this past week, I saw a few clips from his early career and he really exuded charisma. He seemed so likeable and charming (at least when he was young and wasn't strung out and shooting TVs).

For some reason in my family, Elvis, during the later chubbier years, is referred to as "Elvi" - I forget how that got started, but a framed picture of my younger brother during a chubby phase in preschool is still referred to as his "Elvi period."

My Sicilian grandmother's father Elvis song was "It's Now or Never" because it was to the tune of "O Sole Mio."

[footballerswife]

jdkwfan4ever said:

Him and Ann Margret were a gorgeous couple.

I know, it makes me so sad that he didn't marry her.

[berrybearie]

footballerswife said:

jdkwfan4ever said:

Him and Ann Margret were a gorgeous couple.

I know, it makes me so sad that he didn't marry her.

They did make a great couple.

I'm just glad that among all these rememberances this past week, I haven't seen Cybill Shepherd interviewed. They dated relatively briefly and not even exclusively at that time in Elvis' life, IIRC, but she seems to milk it every chance she gets.

[jdkwfan4ever]

Everybody should go to Memphis at least once.

I know. It's totally great.

[JDub]

I haven't seen Cybill Shepherd interviewed. They dated relatively briefly and not even exclusively at that time in Elvis' life, IIRC, but she seems to milk it every chance she gets.

She sure does. I thought it was funny the first time I saw her on Oprah talking about how "there was just one thing he didn't eat", but it really grates that she keeps telling that story.

I became an Elvis fan after reading a copy of Elvis and Me that my mom had laying around. I was 9. I must have read that book about 5 times in a row, for reasons I don't even know. I was totally into celeb biographies after that. I was also into acting out books with my Barbies, and I did it with Elvis and Me too. I need to read that book again as an adult. When I was in 6th grade, I lived in Hawaii and TBS would have Elvis movies come on at like 4 in the morning during summer, and I would set my alarm so I could get up and watch every Elvis movie that came on. My parents thought I was so weird. I was just really into Elvis, I don't even know why. I'm not a fanatic like I was as a kid, but I still like Elvis, will still watch a lot of his movies, and still love the music. My favorite songs of his are "Always on My Mind" "Love Me" and the version of "One Night" from the comeback special.

My mom sent me some of those special Reese's, and I have to say I took two bites and threw it out--I thought it tasted so gross. That might be because we'd been eating this bomb diggidy banana bread I'd made, so going from all that freshness to the processed banana flavor was quite a difference.

When is Graceland supposed to be revamped? I have been saying I want to go to Graceland since I was 10 years old, so I better get cracking before any big changes are made. I don't care how tacky it is, I've got to go! I'll be fulfilling a childhood dream! I was looking at pictures of it online a few months back, and that's the first time it really struck me how small Graceland is compared to the celeb mansions we see these days. But as a kid I was impressed.

Oh, and I also really love when he performs "Baby I Don't Care" in Jailhouse Rock. Damn he looked hot!

[footballerswife]

Yeah, he was hot in Jailhouse Rock. God, I love Elvis movies, I don't care how cheesy they are. My favorites are King Creole (he's very unbearably hot in that one as well) and Girl Happy because it has one of my favorite movie songs of his, "Puppet on a String." I thought he and Shelley Fabares were always really cute together (not as cute as him and Ann-Margret, but still).

I love how in Elvis movies, whenever he pisses off a girl, all he has to do is sing a song, and she's over it. "You slept with my sister?! Oh, but you're serenading me now... all right, I forgive you." Sadly, it would work on me.