i'm off to georgia and memphis!

well, my grandmother is dying (she's in her mid-90s) in thomasville, georgia (she's not exactly a nice person though--she likes to hit people, she drank for 40 years and smoked her whole life (helped to kill her husband with second hand smoke) and had a really rotten attitude--definitely has longevity though)...so i'm going there with my dad in a few hours today. thomasville, georgia is nowheresville btw.

and i'm not very excited about seeing my dad's brothers. tom the bomb who eats catfood and spouts off about mormon stuff and makes racist comments, and then mike--whom i guess is ok, but he married someone who is like 2 years older than one of his daughters. my dad's sister is kinda frugal.

when it comes to florence (my dad's mom--it's a long running joke that when you are really b*tchy you get called FLORENCE! in a really whiney voice in my family), my mom, me and most of the people that know her aren't really losing sleep over her going. she hates her kids. 3 of the 4 kids were left out of the will.

you'd have to know her. but apparently the nursing home she's at can't stand her.

sorry for the heartless outburst.

anyway...

after that trip is over, my dad is letting us take a layover in memphis, tennessee where i will get to visit graceland and sun studios!!!

i'll be taking my digital camera. the only way my dad got me to go with him on this trip was to promise to take me to memphis (yeah, that's how excited people get about visiting florence--last time she slapped me when i was giving her a hug--i've met her a total of 3 times and one of them was when i was a baby and apparently my mom was so pissed with her she hasn't visited since).

memphis, baby, here i come! and nothingsville.

i do love airplane rides though.

oh, god, the south in the summer.

Last edited by Elvis' Babe on Sat Jul 23, 2005 1:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

WOW! I don't know what to say after that! I hope you have a good trip anyways! Your uncle eats cat food and is a mormon!?!?! LOLOL

JEFF d
Elvis fan

the good thing is, at least you're going to memphis! i hope you have a good trip

WOW! I don't know what to say after that! I hope you have a good trip anyways! Your uncle eats cat food and is a mormon!?!?! LOLOL

JEFF d
Elvis fan

C'mon Jeff - doesn't every family have someone like that??!!??



Rich

EB...

If you are true to your heart and feelings for EP..ie respect him...DON"T write on the wall...it drives me mad this love and what have you...and people writing on the guys wall...the place he loved most...and now it looks like a place in a GHETTO

Sad.

I read that he didn't like people leaving notes on his cars / tour bus.
In Germany he even had his white BMW painted red, because of all the messages and telephone numbers written with lipstick. But that was probably to shock the sellers, because those people made him believe he signs a sales contract.

He probably loved that wall, because of the protection effect. Anyway I guess it's okay to leave a message on the wall, because last time I heard the surrounding areas of Graceland are some sort of ghetto, especially at night, so why not blend in?

How sad...

well, my grandmother is dying (she's in her mid-90s) in thomasville, georgia (she's not exactly a nice person though--she likes to hit people, she drank for 40 years and smoked her whole life (helped to kill her husband with second hand smoke) and had a really rotten attitude--definitely has longevity though)...so i'm going there with my dad in a few hours today. thomasville, georgia is nowheresville btw.

and i'm not very excited about seeing my dad's brothers. tom the bomb who eats catfood and spouts off about mormon stuff and makes racist comments, and then mike--whom i guess is ok, but he married someone who is like 2 years older than one of his daughters. my dad's sister is kinda frugal.

when it comes to florence (my dad's mom--it's a long running joke that when you are really b*tchy you get called FLORENCE! in a really whiney voice in my family), my mom, me and most of the people that know her aren't really losing sleep over her going. she hates her kids. 2 of the 4 kids were left out of the will.

you'd have to know her. but apparently the nursing home she's at can't stand her.

sorry for the heartless outburst.

anyway...

after that trip is over, my dad is letting us take a layover in memphis, tennessee where i will get to visit graceland and sun studios!!!

i'll be taking my digital camera. the only way my dad got me to go with him on this trip was to promise to take me to memphis (yeah, that's how excited people get about visiting florence--last time she slapped me when i was giving her a hug--i've met her a total of 3 times and one of them was when i was a baby and apparently my mom was so pissed with her she hasn't visited since).

memphis, baby, here i come! and nothingsville.

i do love airplane rides though.

oh, god, the south in the summer.

Ahhh....makes the heart warm to read a loving tale such as this. I am sure grandmama is looking forward to your visit.

I've never written on the wall, but it's a tradition EPE has come to embrace, if somewhat grudgingly.

In a perfect world no one would write on the wall, but in a world where people do, you have to see it as what it is: a well-intentioned, longstanding, ever-changing tribute.

I'll be more worried when people no longer write on the wall than when they do.

(Also, reading the scrawlings is a good way to pass the time on the first leg of the wait for vigil. )

Bad excuse there.

What's wrong with writing on the wall? 50,000 years ago people were already writing on (cave)walls!
It does not make Memphis a ghetto. That is achieved by the Memphians. They allowed the area or city go down the drain.

EB...

If you are true to your heart and feelings for EP..ie respect him...DON"T write on the wall...it drives me mad this love and what have you...and people writing on the guys wall...the place he loved most...and now it looks like a place in a GHETTO

Sad.

I was there last month. I crossed over to get some pictures of the gates. I thought about writing something on the wall, then realised I didn't have a pen. Also, as you've indicated, I would have felt a bit wierd graffiti-ing Elvis' wall. I will point out though, if i did have a pen and went to write something, I don't think I could have. No room. I literally couldn't see a spare centimere anywhere on the wall on which to write..

K.

Kevin...

My aunt and uncle was there last month and they said they were writing on the drive way and out side of the gates to...sad

And yes,you are right not to do that...

Thanks for the warning Elvis Babe - I'll be sure to lock my doors and hide my liquor

No, just kidding...hope you enjoy your trip here to the hot south!

oh god! yes, the georgia part is over. sittin' here in free internet at the tallahasse airport (WHOOHOO!).

my relatives were dorks as expected. apparently even my dad has said this is the last time he ever plans to see his sister, as she said a couple things that were really rotten about my mother (my dad's second wife that she doesn't like).

i won't even go into the other side of my family, but they aren't much better. my parents are truly the only ones of their families that made it out with a few brain cells.

anyway...

leavin' for memphis as we speak. we are at the ticket counter. yay.

i'll check in to talk as soon as i get to another place with free internet (lol).

i won't write on the wall. but i will take lots of digital pics that i will share.

---

aha, an hour until boarding.

i don't have an id with me so i get the uber-security check-down. i think tallahassee airport is saving on money by having no airconditioning--ay!!!

apparently san diego is in the middle of a heat-wave at over 100 degrees, and georgia/florida is a little under that but also like that much humidity, so i'm not sure which hell is better. the dry one of the wet one? instead of my skin turning to beef jerky and getting nosebleeds it's getting a steam bath.

i can't wait for memphis? i plan to go to graceland and sun studios definitely. i'll be there for either 1 1/2 days or 2 days, depending on my dad getting flights. i'll be getting in tonight.

any recommendations on places to visit in that much time...the essentials?

---

memphis--
the people are nice, but service everywhere is soooo slooooow. we spent more than an hour waiting for the rent-a-car people.
the 99(+?) degree weather is killing me out here. though san diego is also 100. the humidity is the killer though.

today:

graceland platinum tour...took lots of pics/bought tour book/tshirt
--wow! i loved looking at the costumes especially. the house really does look smaller than it looks in the pics. magnificent though.

beale street
--awesome, if it weren't for the fact that i was cooking

internet in the clarion hotel lobby (neato).

tomorrow:

sun studios

is the rock 'n soul museum any good?

sun studios--
did the tour
dad spent 2 hours on the phone to yacht club crap in san diego, while i sat in the gift shop/cafe and talked to the kids running the tours.
bought the million dollar quartet cd (!!!)
my last night in memphis

a few things i spotted from elvislore--the peabody, the orpheum, krystal burger...

next time i visit memphis i'll search out audubon dr., lauderdale courts, stax, the drive to tupelo, etc...

well, my grandmother is dying (she's in her mid-90s) in thomasville, georgia (she's not exactly a nice person though--she likes to hit people, she drank for 40 years and smoked her whole life (helped to kill her husband with second hand smoke) and had a really rotten attitude--definitely has longevity though)...so i'm going there with my dad in a few hours today. thomasville, georgia is nowheresville btw.

and i'm not very excited about seeing my dad's brothers. tom the bomb who eats catfood and spouts off about mormon stuff and makes racist comments, and then mike--whom i guess is ok, but he married someone who is like 2 years older than one of his daughters. my dad's sister is kinda frugal.

when it comes to florence (my dad's mom--it's a long running joke that when you are really b*tchy you get called FLORENCE! in a really whiney voice in my family), my mom, me and most of the people that know her aren't really losing sleep over her going. she hates her kids. 3 of the 4 kids were left out of the will.

you'd have to know her. but apparently the nursing home she's at can't stand her.

Reunions in your family must be a blast.

Present company excluded, have any of them ever met Jerry Springer?

sun studios--
did the tour
dad spent 2 hours on the phone to yacht club crap in san diego, while i sat in the gift shop/cafe and talked to the kids running the tours.
bought the million dollar quartet cd (!!!)
my last night in memphis

a few things i spotted from elvislore--the peabody, the orpheum, krystal burger...

next time i visit memphis i'll search out audubon dr., lauderdale courts, stax, the drive to tupelo, etc...

Sounds like fun! I'm glad this part of the trip for you made it all worth while! Got a question.... what is the Elvis connection with krystal burger? I forget, was that his favorite hamburger stop or something? Thanks.

JEFF d
Elvis fan

I'm getting all emotional here reading about Memphis. I've only just returned from there and I'd love to go back.
Since you didn't get to see Audobon drive, I've uploaded a few pictures I took while I was there..

i think i read somewhere of elvis sending his guys to pick up some krystal burgers...could be wrong.

on this trip so far i have been in san diego, ca; charlotte, nc; tallahassee, fl; thomasville, ga; memphis, tn; houston, tx; & las vegas, nv. 7 states in 7 days. haha.

a little blabbering:

compared to a lot of pics i've seen of elvis' clothes on display (i have a thing for his wardrobe...possibly because unlike a lot of other things, it's just so personal and a visual piece of history with him...):
currently they have these vest-looking things on the fuzzy white bed instead of his blue pjs.

the tiger man and concha suits are out right now.

i gotta say how much i love elvis' 70s casual wear--the patterned shirts with the clinched arms etc...oh and the red pea coat lined with black was out...and i saw the periwinkle jacket with the black crisscross that you see elvis in, in eot during the i, john bit.

they have 3 pieces of clothing in the upstairs of sun studios, his guitar case, his report card and a few other items. i really want to see elvis' grades. darnit--they have it closed.

you'll see when i post my picture collection my fascination with his wardrobe, lol. i went nuts on taking pictures of his clothes.

something i noticed is how SKINNY he really was. even the aztec sundial suit wasn't very big. really. he was never "fat". he might have been more than he was in '68, but he was never as big as people think. if they'd only see his actual clothes, i think they'd be shocked--because i doubt many 42 year old men who are 6 feet tall could fit into even the aztec sundial suit, and that's one of the larger ones he had. as far as the other jumpsuits, they are amazingly slender.

first thing i noticed about priscilla's wedding dress was just how short and tiny she really is. it's so petite.

i was very tempted to yank a piece of green shag fiber from the carpet on the wall, but i didn't. damnit. lol. there was definitely a little temptation, though.

the meditation garden is really nice. i like that spot. the graves are eerie. i think the eerie part is the empty plot there for lisa marie. there's hardly anybody left of the presleys. yet all the beaulieus seem to be around.

i think more than anything it made me think that elvis is only supposed to be 70 years old and the average age for a guy to die is even more than that! it really makes elvis' 42 short years really stand out. so sad. if life were fair, the colonel and all his detractors would have died early and he'd live forever looking the way he did in the 50s or even better the early 70s. he was truly the most beautiful, prettiest (and of course handsome) guy around.

this trip definitely resparked my love.

(if only my dad was actually paying attention. next time i'm taking my mom--though she'd go nuts in the gift shops for sure.)

something i noticed about memphis is that outside of a few musical historical parts of the town, the town is really going downhill. the whole area around graceland is looking like the ghetto. and in the middle of it is this huge piece of history. the city seems oddly run down in parts. the tourism aspect is about the only thing that really seems to be keeping the city going. the city has a lot of crime doesn't it? there's bars on nearly all the windows of various buildings. the memphians need to be taking more pride in their city. was the city nicer before?

graceland looks much smaller in person than you think it would. my dad noticed that right off the bat. he also noticed just how humble the house really was. the kitchen being the prime example. it's very middle-class 70s. proof that you can put the fame on the country boy, but he's still just a country boy...with very eccentric tastes. lol. i personally am a fan of weird furniture and 50s-70s retro, so it was really up my alley. i think shag is great. lol. heck, why not have shag on the walls and ceiling. better than being normal. and yes, i know it's for acoustics. the mirrors on the ceiling were nifty too.

personally i like elvis' red scheme more than priscilla's blue re-decoration. i don't think she should have done redecorating after his death. that kinda annoys me.

tupelo, stax, audubon dr., lauderdale courts, more pictures, etc...are all in order for my next trip.

----------------

p.s. my mom's cat, willy just died yesterday and my grandmother just died today. which one did i cry over? willy. i've been bawling for 2 days straight. both my parents have been crying a lot too. none of us have yet to cry over florence's death, sorry to say. willy was only 10 years old. poor baby. my dad had to take him to put him down yesterday. he's been sick and turning into a bag of bones for a few months now. but yesterday he came down the stairs when my mom called for him, in pain. but he still came to her. and he could hardly lift his head up. so my dad had to take him in because my mom wouldn't have been able to do it. and he was purring when my mom said goodbye. and apparently my dad was petting him all the way to the pet cemetary. we are going to cremate him and put him in a canopic jar (long story). that was my mom's favorite cat ever. he was really small and hyper, so i guess he burned out faster than the other two cats that are lazy and big. poor baby.

oh, god, i'm crying again.

Elvis' Babe - Get those pictures online post-haste! When I visited Graceland, my hands must have been shaking more than I realised.. a lot of my pictures came out blurry!

Re Memphis - It was my first time there, but I actually thought it was lovely, and anyone I spoke to said it was getting a lot better than it was. What lets it down somewhat is the Panhandlers looking for money everywhere you go.
Did you go up the north end of Main St, or ride the Trolley?

Kev.

my digital camera sucks, so half my pictures came out looking blurry too. it sucks, but i got about half my pics. grr.

and amazingly enough, i had lost weight, so i look remotely flattering in the ones taken of me (in front of sun, the lisa marie, and graceland)...so...yay.

i have to raid the downstairs computer and get the pics off of it. yes, be aware half the pictures or more that i took were of clothes, and most of the pictures my dad took are of cars or me. lol

grr. ::grumbles about having to go downstairs::

i'll have them later today when i get off my tush to get food. my legs are jelly from all the walking. still!

i think the reason my view of memphis got skewed a bit was how negative my dad was about EVERYTHING. he really didn't want to be there and only went because my mom kinda made him follow through with taking me. all he kept talking about was stupid things like crime in the area, how the food was southern and fattening (whatever), how we were one of the only white couples in this one chinese restaurant (i didn't care and hardly noticed, but he made a big deal about it), he complained about service being slow, the cleanliness of the hotel (even though it was the same as every day's inn that we've ever stayed at--we never stay at nice hotels) etc... my stay in memphis was with a whining person that didn't enjoy a single thing because he didn't want to be there. funny how he wasn't complaining about the even SLOWER thomasville, georgia which didn't even have the musical mecca history to make it interesting.

so it's getting better? we mostly were a few miles around the graceland area and over by beale street. we didn't get very far the other way, because my dad wasn't interested in looking for other things. poplar was another street i wanted to drive down. yeah, my trip got jacked. though i got a half a day at graceland out of it--which my dad only wanted to spend like an hour at, but we ended up staying most of the day. hehe. i actually went through most of the exhibits twice by sneaking through the exits.

everytime i wanted to do something i had to pretty much call my mother to have her chew into my dad about not taking me places. she actually wanted us to stay the night in vegas (lay over) so we could visit some of the casinos and take pictures--but alas, he wanted to get home to his yacht club crap as soon as possible. i wanted to smash his phone.

i won't bug you all with my family issues anymore, but let's just say i actually liked memphis. i actually liked the people there a lot more than people in california. california people are pushy and frequently quite rude. the people in memphis were very nice. i really enjoyed that. the businesses seem to be a touch rundown around the graceland area, which was kind of surprising, since i'm sure they get a lot of business from elvis fans (restaurants and such)...or it could be an off assessment used to the newness of everything in california.

yeah, i'd have to go again with some people who actually enjoy elvis and memphis-made music as much as i do. i was with a real nincompoop.

Last edited by Elvis' Babe on Thu Jul 28, 2005 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It must be the Memphis heat.. I lost weight aswell, and I can't afford to be losing weight. I didn't actually notice 'till I came home and my friends pointed it out.

What did you think of Beale St? There were only a couple of bars I actually liked. I found the whole street to be a bit messy and smelly. The whole Memphis experience blew me away though, bigtime. Just being there, walking the same streets Elvis walked. I can't tell you the amount of times I got shivers down my spine...

Looking forward to seeing those photos!

Kev.

actually i gained back about 2 pounds. i had lost 5+ previous to my visit. my complexion nearly completely cleared up because i have dry skin. it was nice not always having to use lipgloss and having nosebleeds all the time like i do in california.

man, just for that i'd move to memphis, much less seeing elvis memorabilia everywhere (haha). you definitely have to have air conditioning down there.

i actually really liked beale street. we ate in some sports bar. i had a really yummy sauteed mushrooms and swiss cheeseburger loaded with mayo and mustard (probably where i gained the weight). and there was a lot of live entertainment and such.

ay. i just realized i'm about to have to go to a psychiatrist to tell him that i have aspergers and i can get money for my disorder because it makes it hard to be a contributing member of society. ::pulls out elvis tshirt::

btw, i got a 1970 vegas tshirt. it was the best one there. i wanted to get another but i couldn't find another one that i liked as much. i found the gift shops specialized in sort of the not-so-blatant elvis fans that don't like big huge pics on their shirts. and i kind of like dark shirts in particular. lol. i just can't do the pink thing or the hound dog themed women's shirts...but the one i got was very nice.

the elvis for dogs and elvis children's wear was SOOOO tacky. ugh.

my mom wanted the video of the house but my dad wouldn't shell out the bucks. (and you wonder why i have the worst elvis collection of the people on this website).