Nikki MurrayNikki Murray | Tag Archive | elvis http://buttershug.com Words and photographs from a Buttershug Sat, 07 Apr 2012 13:23:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 The visit to Graceland http://buttershug.com/photoblog/the-visit-to-graceland/ http://buttershug.com/photoblog/the-visit-to-graceland/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:36:20 +0000 Nikki Murray http://buttershug.com/?p=459 I don’t know what I was expecting, but Graceland didn’t really fit it. The house was beautiful on the outside and very gaudy 70s on the outside. The tourist ticket booth and shops are totally run down. They charge a small fortune to get in, so I’m not really sure where that money’s going but it certainly isn’t going into maintaining anything outside of Elvis’ actual property grounds. It definitely wasn’t a religious experience, just an experience.

the entry sign to Graceland looks a lot like the sign for a funeral home the view Elvis would have seen walking out his front door getting the front shot of the house (mine was full of ugly tourists, so I dumped it) the formal living room, with music room attached the formal dining room (still looks pretty normal, right?) the kitchen, complete with mustard appliances and... carpet? the jungle room - totally not what I was expecting Elvis enjoyed the mirrors (maybe he was claustrophobic?) do not touch the clowns behind the bar but you may press #32 to find out about Elvis' creepy monkey every wall was completely covered with mirrors, paneling, or textiles another view of the furry jungle room Elvis had a lot of gold records Priscilla's mercedes his momma's pink Cadillac stopping in one of the many tacky eateries at Graceland for ice cream I had my first banana split ever and discovered I hate chocolate and bananas Terry likes it we left with a little swag and a lot of tacky visuals

Everyone should make this pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. Though I’m not a huge Elvis fan, I live less than a day’s drive and there’s really no excuse for me not to go. Tacky as it was, I’m glad I made the visit.

]]> http://buttershug.com/photoblog/the-visit-to-graceland/feed/ 0 A stop through Nashville http://buttershug.com/photoblog/a-stop-through-nashville/ http://buttershug.com/photoblog/a-stop-through-nashville/#comments Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:08:04 +0000 Nikki Murray http://buttershug.com/?p=403 Not really having any defined itinerary on our way to Memphis, we figured we’d stop in Nashville because it was there. The thought was that if we really liked Nashville, we’d stay there longer. Turned out that one day in Nashville was enough. I’m not a fan of country music and aside from the parthenon, Nashville really didn’t have anything I hadn’t already seen in dozens of other southern towns.

on the road travel dorkness hello, Nashville! crossing the bridge in hearse at the car wash: a first for my eyes Nashville's millennium park pink roses goddamn geese like candy A temple of Athena... in Nashville. Weird. the anti-tourist pose the Opry Ryman Auditorium not John Wayne in a dress (even though that's what this looks like, to me) they DO exist! not cheesy at all, nope. and I ate almost all of it Elvis is naughty

After our one day stop, we packed up our things and moved on…

Bye, Nashville!

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