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© St. Petersburg Times, published August 4, 2002
Elvis is not only a legend, even in death he is trademarked. The Web site www.elvis.com home page reads:
"Welcome to Elvis Presley's official Web site, home of the undisputed King of Rock 'n' Roll and his beloved Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee!
"Check out Elvis.com's newest features, including new flash e-postcards featuring some of your favorite Elvis songs and images, new interactive trivia, and IPIX tours of Graceland's expanded exhibits."
(By the way, if you are even only a little bit of an Elvis fan, go to that Web site for all its moving images and sound bites.)
Graceland is near Interstate 55 in southern Memphis, at 3734 Elvis Presley Blvd. Visitors are shuttled from the parking lot/ticket sales/gift shop/restaurants across the street and later returned.
"Marketing research consistently shows more than half (of those buying the tours) are 35 or under; it's amazing," Graceland spokesman Bobby Davis says.
Allow at least 60 minutes for the tour, longer if there are crowds or if you choose to listen to the various detailed sections of the audio tape that comes with the admission ticket.
The audio tour is presented in English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Japanese, Portuguese and Dutch.
Admission to just the mansion is $16 for adults, $14.40 for those 62 and older and for students, $6 for children 7 to 12; children 6 and younger are free.
The Platinum Tour includes Graceland, tours of Elvis' two airplanes, the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum and Sincerely Elvis memorabilia museum. Prices for this tour are $25, $22.50 and $12.
Tours are offered from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, March through October, and shorter hours the rest of the year.
Call toll-free 1-800-238-2000; tour information is also available at www.elvis.com.
You can be admitted free for 90 minutes to Graceland's Meditation Garden, where Elvis, his parents and grandmother are buried, most mornings until 30 minutes before the first regular tour begins. Additional walk-up times are open during Elvis' Birthday Week and Elvis Week.
ELVIS WEEK: This period commemorating his death typically draws several thousand fans, but this year the events, from Aug. 10-18, are expected to attract up to 100,000 people.
Nightspots on the short but rocking club segment of downtown Beale Street (about 20 minutes from Graceland) will emphasize Elvis records and impersonators. There will be a parade, a stadium-style outdoor screen showing videos of the performances. Gospel choirs will perform his religious songs at a three-seating brunch at Elvis Presley's Memphis Restaurant, just off Beale.
There will be fashion shows, parties, a Hawaiian-themed dance and a convention of presidents from many of the 600-plus fan clubs worldwide. Continuing a series of serious discussions on the man's impact, there will be a seven-hour seminar titled, "Is Elvis History? 2002 and Beyond." Your $100 ticket includes breakfast and lunch.
The two major events are expected to be the annual candlelight vigil, from the evening of Aug. 15 into Aug. 16 -- the day Elvis died -- and a special show, Elvis: The 25th Anniversary Concert, later that day. Tickets are $20 to $75 and several thousand have been sold. In addition to videos of Elvis, Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, a number of entertainers who performed with him are scheduled to appear at the concert.
For details on the events scheduled for Elvis Week, click on that listing at www.elvis.com.
ELSEWHERE IN MEMPHIS: This city is the crossroads where the spirituals of slaves, the gospel of churches, the blues of the Delta and the rockabilly country of the honky tonks meshed into a sound that for decades defined rock 'n' roll. Like no other place in the world, Memphis has soul.
To learn some of its history, head to Sun Studio, a short drive from the downtown business district.
Founded in 1952 as the Memphis Recording Service, this unpretentious shop, with its ridged, acoustic-tile ceiling in the studio and a few period pieces of recording hardware, is where Elvis, B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison made music that changed the world.
Tour guides such as University of Florida graduate Mic Walker play snippets of the early recordings and point out the famous black-and-white photo of four young white guys gathered around a piano: Elvis, Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins (who had Sun's first million-seller, Blue Suede Shoes) and Johnny Cash.
Cash, who recorded hits such as Folsom Prison Blues here, proved to be Sun Studio's best-selling artist, because Sun owner Sam Phillips sold Elvis' contract to RCA (for $40,000) after the teenager had made just five recordings at Sun.
Sun moved from the original two-story building, at 706 Union Ave., to more modern facilities, and the studio was vacant from 1960-85. Then it was opened in the daytime for tours, and contemporary musicians were lured by its history. Artists who have since recorded here include U2, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt and Matchbox 20.
Tours at Sun Studio, 706 Union St., are $10 and are offered from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; (901) 521-0664; www.sunstudio.com.
Popular Tunes is the record shop where Elvis bought his first record. Inside walls are covered with Elvis stuff. Popular tunes, 308 Poplar St., is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday to Saturday.
Back downtown near Beale Street is Memphis' newest musical attraction, the Smithsonian's Rock 'N Soul Museum. It puts Memphis, Elvis, the blues and rock 'n' roll into the context of the larger history of popular music.
It begins with an 8-minute film about the influence of music on Memphis, then a self-guided tour through various music exhibits, along with recorded interviews and song clips. Artifacts include Ike Turner's piano, B.B. King's original "Lucille" guitar and a gold-sequined jacket and turban worn by Domingo Samudio -- Sam the Sham.
Tours are $8.50 for adults, $7.50 for those 60 and older, $5 for ages 5-17. Tours are offered from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., daily. Call (901) 543-0800; www.memphisrocknsoul.org.
The museum is on second floor of the Gibson Guitar Building, at 145 Lt. George W. Lee Ave., half a block south of Beale. The Gibson factory's $10 tour lets you watch craftsmen create the models preferred by performers from Les Paul to B.B. King.
If you are in Memphis on Sunday, drive south to the Full Gospel Tabernacle, 787 Hale Road (this is about a mile west of Elvis Presley Boulevard), and wait for the Rev. Al Green to take over the service. Green preaches, tells stories and sings -- he sings with that sweet falsetto that made him a top-selling soul artist in the 1970s, before he turned to the church. He has been a pastor here since the late 1970s; he was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. (901) 396-9192.
ELVIS WAS HERE: Young Elvis spent most of his growing up years at the Lauderdale Courts housing projects, 185 Winchester Ave. He went to Humes High School (now Humes Junior High School), 659 N Manassas St., where he was a member of the class of 1953.
STAYING IN MEMPHIS: Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel. Like Graceland, owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises, a block north on Elvis Presley Boulevard. Rooms begin at $89.95 for two persons. Themed suites, decorated a la Elvis, start at $469.90. Call toll-free 1-877-777-0606; www.elvis.com.
EATING THERE: Barbecue and catfish are the staples here, often served to live music. Recommended are:
Rendezvous, 52 Second St. S.
Blues City Cafe, 138 Beale St.
Arcade, 540 Main St. S.
Huey's, 77 Second St. S.
Automatic Slim's Tonga Club, 83 Second St. S, for Caribbean/Southwestern fusion.
Piccadilly Cafeteria, 3968 Elvis Presley Blvd.
Gridiron Restaurant, 4101 Elvis Presley Blvd.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: On Elvis' Memphis, go to www.intromemphis.com/entertainment/att.elv.html.
For general tourism: contact the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, toll-free 1-800-873-6282; www.memphistravel.com. The Web site includes a calendar of events, information on attractions, a hotel-reservations option and much more.
Graceland Too, 200 Gholson Ave. E, Holly Springs, MS 38635. Paul MacLeod says his museum is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for his $5 tour. He does not have a telephone, but the staff in the Holly Springs Tourism and Recreational Bureau may have time to carry a message down the street to him; call the bureau at (662) 252-2515.
Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum, 306 Elvis Presley Drive, Tupelo, MS 38802; (662) 841-1245. Admission to the cabin and adjacent museum is $5. The museum has hundreds of personal items: clothing, mementos, family photos. Of note:
A photo of Elvis with his infant daughter, Lisa Marie, lying on his chest -- the only picture I saw of them together at any of the museums.
An autographed copy of Leon Jaworski's The Right and the Power/the Prosecution of Watergate.
A letter from former President Jimmy Carter, written upon Elvis' death, terming him "unique" and stating, "His death deprives our country of a part of itself."
An explanation from designer Bill Belew of the origination of the famed jumpsuit stage costume: He created them to eliminate the problem of Elvis' shirt slipping out of his pants during his animated performances.
-- Information from Knight Ridder Newspapers was used in this report.