May 10 - Elvis and Graceland

May 10

Graceland

Graceland! The King of Rock and Roll! We bought the VIP Tour that included everything: Graceland Mansion, Elvis’ Car Museum, The Lisa Marie and Hound Dog Jets, Elvis on Tour, ‘68 Special Exhibit, Elvis Lives: The King and Pop Culture, plus two new exhibits, Icon and Through His Daughter‘s Eyes Exhibit. We started out with the tour of the mansion. By getting the VIP Tour we didn’t have to wait in line and went through the home in a small group. The audio tour was nice with Lisa Marie and Priscilla doing much of the speaking. Elvis was singing in the background. It was very well done. I loved hearing all the stories bring him to life right here at Graceland. The tour took us through the entire downstairs beginning with the living room, dining, kitchen-family room, jungle room with a waterfall, pool room, and his parents bedroom. The last renovations and decorating was very 70’s. It was so easy to picture Elvis and his family enjoying this house. They had some family movies playing to help you get into what life was like here during the good years. He loved people and had friends in and out all the time.

Living Room

Jungle Room

Lisa Marie shared her life with her dad until she was eleven and he passed away in the Through His Daughter‘s Eyes Exhibit. The tour took us outside to Vernon’s office and the racquetball room that had a full racquetball court, a piano and an exercise area. We followed the path and looked across the green fields where horse would have been grazing, walked over to the pool and finally to his meditation garden where he and his family are now buried.

Vernon's office

One of Many Walls Covered with Awards

Meditation Garden

We saw so much of his memorabilia with awards, his jumpsuits, guitars, gold records and on and on. It was all displayed so well. They had a section dedicated to his philanthropy. He quietly gave to anyone he came across who was in need plus many large scale projects. To say that he was an amazing talent doesn‘t begin to cover it. ICON is all about Elvis’ influence in the music world. We read quote after quote from entertainers up to today’s top people in the industry paying tribute to The King. Paul McCartney said they never would have made it if he hadn’t paved the way. That was the essence of all the quotes. It was pretty amazing! We traveled through his life with his discovery, going in the Army, getting married, his hot years, time in Hollywood making over 30 movies, and finally his comeback in the late 60’s and 70’s to his death. He certainly never felt that Hollywood allowed him to be the serious actor he wanted to be. He was immediately cast in the soft romance movie and never really moved out of that image. By the time he was done with Hollywood his self image was poor and he was really doubting his ability to get back to his music. The exhibits and films, ‘68 Special and Elvis on Tour, dealt with this time in his life. It was actually a kind of emotional day. I was in my early teens when he had his debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. By his third performance with Ed, Ed wanted the audience to know Elvis was a really nice kid. My favorite Elvis years were the 50’s. I will always be a fan! The day was “over the top.” Everything Elvis was for sale in the souvenir shops. The 1950’s diner offered his favorite grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich!

Stutz Blackhawk - the last car Elvis drove.

Lisa Marie Jet