My Pilgrimage to Elvis’ Graceland — and Why Every Music Fan Should Go

Except for the White House, few American residences match Graceland for sheer fame. Purchased by Elvis Presley in 1957, the 13-acre spread with the Neoclassical Colonial-style home nine miles away from Memphis’ urban center was intended to shield neighbors from the onslaught of fans, media and curiosity-seekers. According to Graceland Holdings managing partner Joel Weinshanker, over 600,000 people tour the house, grounds, and museum annually.

A time capsule of 1960s and 1970s excess and style, the rooms are maintained exactly as Presley lived in them, Graceland stands as the epitome of style’n’class for a poor boy with little education making the American dream his own. For fans from the flyover, it also represents hard-wired traditional values as members of Presley’s family lived there, too; not only his parents, but his Aunt Delta lived in the home after her husband died – at Elvis’ invitation — until she passed away in 1993.

Those are the facts, then there’s the reality. For hardcore fans, this is where the King lived, breathed, played and recorded his From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee and Moody Blue in the Jungle Room. Before there was reality television, Architectural Digest celebrity home spreads or “MTV Cribs,” there was the pilgrimage to Elvis’ home.

Those curious about the man in the rhinestone jumpsuits with the high collars and back-bracing belts find a church of kitsch and extreme design. Whether the French dynasty-inspired Billiards Room with its tuck-and-draped ceiling made of 350 yards of heavy brocade fabric; the lemon yellow and bright blue TV Room with three televisions, each turned to a separate network and the TCB Lightning Bolt logo on one wall; or the tropical rain forest-evoking Jungle Room with stone walls, carved heavy wood Polynesian furniture and an actual waterfall, Presley’s extravagance is on full display.

As the man who became an instant national sensation on “Ed Sullivan,” and was the biggest record seller in the world until the Beatles changed everything, nothing speaks to his unrestrained desires quite as vividly as what’s behind the doors at the brick house with the Corinthian columns. A poor boy looking for legitimacy, the façade is classic; as a rock star with taste beyond convention, the rooms give license to fantasy, personal proclivity and living on one’s own terms.

My first trip to Graceland – on a cross-country move from Florida – found a mix of tourists, obsessives, a church group from Oklahoma and an Elvis impersonator with his mother. When we moved through the Trophy Building, formerly a garage, I swear the impersonator began speaking in tongues.

Walking through the rooms, a mixture of aw, stunned silence and cracks about the tackiness of the decorative choices. My companion, a fellow industry insider, dryly whispered in my ear as we peaked into the lemon and blinding blue TV Room, “If I designed some of these horrible rooms, I’d pay good money to not be identified.”

But that’s not the point. They were picked. By Elvis. Creating his living space. Creating an aesthetic for the man many called “The King.”

Years later, my friend, “Tonight Show” music producer Bill Royce, wanted to get his kitsch on. He called someone who worked for Priscilla Presley, and we swept through the gates, up the curving driveway and around to the back. Like part of the Memphis Mafia, we emerged from the car at the back door, looked around and whistled.

The VIP treatment in full effect, we were going to be ushered into the kitchen, where Elvis consumed his weight in peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches. Across the linoleum floor, we trekked out towards the front hall to join the next tour through the all-white formal living room.

For one moment, though, we were swept up in the illusion of how it was — part of an inner sanctum with its own rules, taste aesthetics be damned. There was a racquetball court, and a meditation garden, and, once upon a time, the Sweet Inspirations or Jordanaires might be sitting around, singing Elvis’ favorites.

Today, Graceland stands as so much more than just a famous person’s home. Beyond the rooms, each with its own vivid personality, Elvis’ final resting place – yes, he and his family are all buried there — represents the freedom to live as one pleases. Whether through luck, looks, talent, or hard work, one’s achievements can deliver them to a place like this – designed wholly to your whims.

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but like William Randolph Hearst’s San Simeon, it represents an era and an icon, and offers insight into what was deemed desirable to one of the biggest stars in the world. With an entrance fee that starts at $38.75 (without the planes, gold records or tour memorabilia), it’s the last access to the man who sang “Hound Dog,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” and “Don’t Be Cruel,” forced Ed Sullivan to shoot him from the waist up, starred in “Blue Hawaii,” “Viva Las Vegas” and “Jailhouse Rock,” made the legendary “’68 Comeback Special” for NBC, and colonized Las Vegas for aging rockers needing a new place to play.

For a career that spanned only 20 years, Elvis’ legacy lives on in Graceland — both for posterity and for eternity.

Holly Gleason is a Nashville-based writer and artist development consultant. 

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Daniel Craig is Returning as James Bond, But What His Career Needs is More ‘Logan Lucky’

After nearly two years of side-stepping the question of whether he’d return as James Bond, Daniel Craig finally confirmed on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” that he would don the tuxedo one last time for Bond 25. The news came after reports from The New York Times that Craig’s return was a “done deal,” but the actor hadn’t publicly confirmed his involvement until now.

So the news is out, and it’s business as usual for a franchise that has relied on the same face to define its iconic character for a decade. However, the headline has come out just days before the release of “Logan Lucky,” in which Craig delivers an exciting performance unlike anything we’ve seen him do before. That raises an essential question: We know Craig can play Bond in his sleep, but is that the best use of his skill?

Craig’s future in the Bond franchise had been up in the air ever since before the release of “Spectre” in November 2015. Shortly after production wrapped on the Sam Mendes-directed entry, an exhausted Craig told press he would no longer play Bond and that he would “rather break this glass and slash [his] wrists” than portray cinema’s most famous spy again.

“Instead of saying something with style and grace, I said something really stupid,” Craig told Colbert about his comments. “I think this is it. I just want to go out on a high note. I can’t wait.”

It would be foolish to characterize the move as a bad decision on Craig’s part, given how lucrative the franchise has become under his run and the healthy paychecks he has received as a result. Craig’s four Bond movies are the highest grossing entries in the long-running series, with “Skyfall” managing to crack the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office in 2012. “Spectre” was even able to gross $888 million worldwide despite being less favorable among critics and fans.

Daniel Craig as James Bond

Sony

However, while another Bond movie isn’t a bad financial decision for Craig, it no longer seems to be the best creative choice for him.

Simply put, Craig’s Bond has become stagnant. When the actor made his debut in 2006’s “Casino Royale,” it was a Bond the movies had never really seen before. Craig successfully relaunched the character in the post-9/11 era, making him more psychologically complex and emotionally damaged (traits that were heightened tenfold following the death of Vesper Lynd). His grueling missions actually seemed to take a toll on his psyche; he was less enviable hero than broken soul.

Read More: ‘Logan Lucky’ Review: Steven Soderbergh Returns From Retirement with a Silly Heist Movie That Has Real Soul

Craig’s Bond was cut from the same cloth of troubled masculinity as Jason Bourne and Christopher Nolan’s Bruce Wayne. He couldn’t have been more different from the suave and dashing super spy audiences knew well from previous entries. Yet even as the radical character shift was refreshing in “Casino Royale,” by the time “Spectre” came around, it had become something of a one-note bore. With each edition of brooding Bond, the character lost some of his intrigue. Craig is still a great Bond, but the character stopped surprising us.

These qualms only become more clear in the wake of “Logan Lucky,” Steven Soderbergh’s delightful new heist comedy starring Craig opposite Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Riley Keough. A running bit in the film’s marketing has been the phrase, “and introducing Daniel Craig as Joe Bang,” which for a time just seemed to be a funny joke Soderbergh was playing. But after you see the movie, you realize just how appropriate that wording is.

“Logan Lucky”

Craig, with his gonzo southern drawl and half-creepy, half-charming demeanor, is so far and away removed from the troubled Bond he’s been playing for the last decade that watching him in “Logan Lucky” really feels like discovering the actor for the first time. He’s a freewheeling comic force, carefully walking the line between ex-con sleazeball and lovable goon (just wait until you see him make a homemade bomb with gummy bears). There’s no action set pieces to rely on or daring stunts to pull off. Craig only has Soderbergh’s lines and a twisted sense of the oddball character in his arsenal, and he absolutely delivers.

Joe Bang is the antithesis of all the dark and serious men Craig has been playing for over 10 years — from Bond to Mikael Blomkvist in “The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo” — and it finally gives him a chance to catch viewers off-guard, just like he did that first time as Bond in “Casino Royale.” It’s a reminder of a muscle he should exercise more often.

The good news is that Bond 25 will be Craig’s last go-around as 007. Not only does he now have one last chance to redefine the character, but once he’s done, he’ll finally have the opportunity to give us a lot more Joe Bangs.

Bond 25 hits theaters November 8, 2019. “Logan Lucky” opens nationwide this Friday, August 18.

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