Blue Suede Shoes

Today was our rock 'n' roll day, so we hit the streets of Memphis and headed straight for the Rock and Soul Museum to find out more about the birthplace of rock and roll. Unfortunately we were a little eager at 9.15 in the morning and the museum didn't open until 10, so we went to find coffee while we waited.

The journey in the museum started with watching a short film about how rock and roll has it's roots in the blues and country music developed by the workers in the countryside surrounding Memphis. Some of these people flocked to Memphis to find their fortune in music in the early 20th century.

Our tickets to the museum included free shuttles to the late Elvis Presley's home, Graceland, and Sun Studios, the recording studio where numerous music stars were discovered, so we got on the shuttle to Graceland to check out the mansion where Elvis lived. A whole complex has been developed across the road from the mansion to cater for the tourists coming to see Graceland, so tickets are bought and audio guides collected across the street before another shuttle took us across to the Graceland mansion.

Elvis bought the mansion when he was 22 years old, he loved Memphis which is where he grew up and never wanted to leave. This house was his home until he died when he was 42 years old and it has been left exactly the way it was at the time of his death. The audio guide explained that he made renovations and extensions over the years, and some of his decor was a little unusual, like the room that his friends referred to as the Jungle room.

We were allowed to walk around the ground floor and basement floor, which had the living room, dining room, kitchen, his parents bedroom, a conservatory and the music studio/entertainment room. The upstairs rooms are not open to the public to view as they were always Elvis' private rooms when he was alive, he didn't let visitors up, so this tradition is maintained for respect to him. Some of the other buildings that we toured are his racquet ball court that that been turned into a display of all of his music awards and achievements. I think it was the garage that had been turned into an exhibit as a tribute to his movie career. We walked passed the stables where he kept horses, and finally got to the meditation garden where Elvis is buried. His gravesite is next to his mothers, fathers, and grandmothers.

Once we'd have pictures taken out front, we headed back over the road to see the exhibition where Elvis' cars and planes are displayed. We got back on the shuttle to Sun Studios to see the place where music artists were discovered by Sam Philips, such as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Louis and Johnny Cash. We had a tour of the studios which included the history of the studios, the people that were discovered, and finally we got to the room where all the music had been recorded. A large print of the famous photo of the million dollar quartet was on the wall, Fraser and I found this story interesting because we had been to see the show Million Dollar Quartet in the West end of London.

After having our photo with a microphone that Elvis would have used, it was back on the shuttle to have a rest in our hotel room. Dinner was a difficult decision, as our time in Memphis had shown us that the city is not exactly prospering, but on the decline. This was evident in the quiet downtown area, the old buildings and the non existent decent restaurants to eat at. We used the reliable source, Tripadvisor to give us the number one restaurant in Memphis, and it turned out to be a fried chicken shop called Gus' world famous fried chicken. It wasn't far, so we decided to continue to abuse our bodies by eating more fried chicken. We ordered the family size pack and waited for our chicken and sides.

We all agreed that the fried chicken really was the best fried chicken that we had ever tasted, the coating was spicy and there was hardly any grease left behind on the plate. It ended up being a tasty dinner, but was quite depressing to think that this place was the best place to eat in Memphis.