Larry Johnston's Always Learning: Trip through Elvis' towns worth making
It took me about two hours to go the 104 miles from Tupelo, Miss., to Memphis. Elvis Presley needed, from 1935 until 1977, 42 years to do the same.
Unfortunately, it was a lifetime for him, for these places are where the home of his birth and the home of his death are located.
Elvis' first home was modest in every regard. His father built the 450-square-foot house by hand in 1934. It only has two rooms, a kitchen and an everything-else room. Elvis was born there with his twin, Jesse, who did not survive the birth. Elvis was not an only child, but he was unique.
It was in Tupelo his mother bought him his first guitar, and it was in the small church nearby that he sang and acquired his love of gospel music.
In 1948, Elvis' father needed to find a better job. He packed up the family and had to leave Tupelo. Symbolic of Elvis' departure is a statue of him at age thirteen, walking alone, carrying a guitar.
Few family moves have been so auspicious for a transplanted teenager. The family moved to Memphis, where music was an emerging enterprise. Memphis is where he could record his music and begin another journey of fame and fortune unimaginable to a young boy in Tupelo.
Ahead of him would be the Memphis home in which he would die, a home named after an Aunt Grace of one of the original owners. They called it Graceland.
Elvis bought Graceland for his parents in 1957 for just more than $100,000. It sits on more than 13 acres and has more than 17,550 square feet of living space.
Stepping in through the front door of Graceland is like stepping into a 1977 time capsule. It is a place where white shag carpet meets shag lampshades. Emblazoned peacocks seem curiously bland amid the explosion of colors in this 23-room house.
But, despite this, the home is warm. It has many comfortable places where large numbers of people could sit and talk with or wait for Elvis. The small kitchen is the axis of the home. The backyard is a millionaire's playground. A multicar garage leads to a stable where horses still graze, and there is gun range converted from a smokehouse.
Visitors only can look up to the second floor where he died, but they can pass by where he is buried. His journey ended here only 104 miles from where it began. It was too short. It was too tragic.
Elvis left only one child behind, Lisa Marie. Notwithstanding her inexplicable marriage to Michael Jackson, she did do one thing right: In 1982, she spent $500,000 refurbishing Graceland and opened it to the public. She recouped her investment in 38 days.
Photos Of Lisa Marie Presley - News
This photo is Johnston's wife's favorite. Her name also is Lisa Marie. / Photo courtesy of Larry Johnston It took me about two hours to go the 104 miles from Tupelo, Miss., to Memphis. Elvis Presley needed, from 1935 until 1977, 42 years to do the same
Singer songwriter Lisa Marie, 43, was joined by her mother Priscilla, 66 and grandmother Anna Lillian, 85. Her daughter Riley,21, and her son Ben, 19 were also in attendance. And the older women in the family have certainly appeared to defy the ageing
Just ask Drew Barrymore, Lisa Marie Presley, Jennifer Aniston and the host of Extra. We've been creating wonderful images for our community for a collabortive 16 years. We'd love to help direct these young girls to the best look that is both
owns the American Idol TV series and has substantial interests in the rights to the names, images and likenesses of Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. Apollo's offer of $509 million for the business was backed by Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis's only child.
It is unlikely a rival bid will emerge as Apollo said it has not only the support of the CKX board, but also of Sillerman, who holds 20.6% of the company's stock, and the Promenade Trust, the trust of Presley daughter Lisa Marie and CKX's partner in
Lisa Marie Presley Photos & Pics | Is Lisa Marie Presley Preggers ...
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Photos Of Lisa Marie Presley - Bookshelf
Heritage Music and Entertainmwnt Auction #7026
Estimate: $1000-up Starting Bid: $500 46090 Lisa Marie Presley Rare Photos with Priscilla Presley Signed Items. From the personal collection of Elvis ...Elvis the #1 Hits, The Secret History of the Classics
As proof that the Lisa Marie Presley that the world recognises - the one who ... in comparison with acknowledged photos of Lisa Marie Presley as a child. ...Weekly World News
Stern claims to have gotten the picture of Presley and his grandson from one ... The source refused to say whether Elvis stopped in to see Lisa Marie at the ...Elvis, his life from A to Z
In July of 1988, Lisa Marie obtained a court order Lisa Marie Presley's first photo— February 5, 1968. (Photo courtesy Wide World Photos) to keep Elvis's ...CMJ New Music Monthly
A rather more passionate Lisa Marie site has been assembled by author Lisa Johansen, who believes she should be better known as Lisa Marie Presley ...Casual Report Directory
Lisa Marie Presley
Official site of Lisa Marie Presley, the American singer and daughter of Elvis Presley.
Lisa Marie Presley - MySpace
Lisa Marie Presley's official MySpace page with photos, music downloads, blog entires, and a chance for fans to post messages to the singer-songwriter.
Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa's Web Portfolio contains fifteen galleries with over a hundred photos, in which ... shoots of her done for various publications, newspaper/magazine ...
Lisa Marie Presley - IMDb
Lisa Marie Presley, Soundtrack: Elvis by the Presleys.
Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley. In the early 1960's and again in 1972, I commissioned an artist here in Los Angeles to create two oil paintings of Elvis Presley. ...