The Van Blog

Two weeks ago when I arrived in New Orleans, a friend of a friend of mine heard that I planned to see Graceland on my way through Tennessee and told me to pay attention to its size.  She said the size of it surprised her, but she wouldn’t explain how; she said I would have to see for myself.

Well, I’m not going to give away the surprise either, dear readers.  You’ll have to use Wikipedia or visit Tennessee some time.  The house is quite surprising though—in part because hip interior decorating from 1974 is downright weird by today’s standards.  There was pleated, paisley fabric on the ceiling, and mirrored fireplaces.  My camera and laptop are partially on the fritz right now, so check back here in a week or two.  There should be some lovely pictures posted by then.

Of all the things a million dollars could buy, why did you put this in your rec room Elvis? Why?

I tried really hard to wrap my brain around the Elvis factor while walking through his house.  (It was full of other tourists though, and any traveler knows that the biggest flaw in most tourist attractions is sharing them with so many other tourists.  Ironic, but terribly true).  Staring at his first pink Cadillac, looking at his mega-sequined jumpsuits, and walking around inside his giant plane (The Lisa Marie) were awesome Elvis-infused moments, but it wasn’t until I was in his father’s little backyard office watching a video of him doing a press conference inside the same office that it finally hit me where I was standing.  But don’t worry, I didn’t get all King-crazy like those cute old ladies with the big, big hair—I’m saving my raving fan phase for the old Cavern Club in Liverpool some day…

I had jumpsuit overload at Graceland...

However, I do have to rave about how Tennessee was such a rad state—right up there on my faves list next to Louisiana.  The state sign I drove past looked like a vinyl album, and I drove into Memphis in the dark one night on Elvis Presley Boulevard.  Ten minutes straight down the road and I was rolling past the white gates of Graceland anyway.  (Graffiti-covered white gates, at that.  How many times does one really need to write “Tina and Elvis 4ever”?).

Even the garbage is Elvis'd!

But the morning after Graceland was the terrifically exciting part of Memphis for me.  I dragged J.T. to Sun Studios with me, which one can tour for about ten bucks.  Sun Studios is the place where Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee-Lewis (among many other awesome others!) recorded music way back in the day.  The amount of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia packed into that (original!) tiny building is ridiculously awesome, and listening to original outtakes from artists like Elvis and Howlin’ Wolf is part of taking the tour.

Same microphone! I'm touching it! Squeal!

I have seen some great tourist attractions in my life, but the Sun Studio tour actually made me a little misty-eyed.  My tour guide played a recording of an 18-year old Elvis recording one of his very first songs ever—the one for his mother’s birthday that a canny secretary named Marion made studio owner Sam Phillips listen to.  Even the floor tiles inside Sun are original, and there’s an “X” marking the spot where Elvis stood to record his first single.  I heard that Bob Dylan once took the same Sun tour, and kissed the X before leaving.  I stood on those old tiles too, and then I touched Elvis’ microphone…  I’m never washing my right hand again!  Ha!

After finishing the tour, I heard from my tour guide that some other Canadians had also been part of my tour group.  Turns out, the band Big John Bates and the Voodoo Dollz were with J.T. and I inside Sun.  I can now recall seeing some other traveling folks pull into the studio parking lot in a big old red Dodge van.  Small world!  What other Canadians are touring the U.S. in old Dodge vans right now?  Not a clue,  but I’ll let you know if I find them!