Last Seen All Shook Up with the Duck Master...Memphis

Memphis=Graceland

Ever since I was little I have wanted to go to Graceland because my older brother told me it was "da bomb." Yes, this was when that was cool to say. Thus, the only part of Memphis I knew anything about was Graceland. Finally after a long awaited ten or so years, I made it.

I made it to see plush crushed velveteen apparel, the mutton chops, mirror madness, bedazzled jumpsuits, and all the extravagance one Memphis mansion can ever hoped to produce. My brother was....right. "Da bomb" is exactly what I would describe it as. Moving from room-to-room with my guided tour in my hand and my head I imagined myself being around Elvis and his family during these times. What could it have been like to be around Elvis who had to look the part with dangling chains and finally moussed hair all the time. After our excursion Jenni asked the group if we would rather be Priscilla or Lisa Marie. Consensus said we would rather be Priscilla because she doesn't have to live in Elvis' musical footsteps or marry Michael Jackson.

As I continued my journey through the infamous Graceland, I had de ja vu from earlier today to our first event to the Peabody Hotel to see the ducks. I flashed back to 11 AM when the quackers wobbled out of the elevator following their goofy captain a.k.a. the Duckmaster. Leading them toward a fountain with his golden ducked cane, I realized somehow along the Graceland way I mysteriously morphed into being like one of those ducks and nostalgia or my brother was guiding me towards a dinky fountain instead of a lake or pond. Was I lured in with a hunger and thirst to see the King and his glitter and glam. Did I follow the golden duck down the red carpet into a tourist trap?

Epiphany always hits in unexpected places and mine just happened to be in front of the "Jungle Room" filled with green carpet, monstrous woodcarvings of antlers and raccoon and fur upholstered furniture. I was wrong Memphis did not equal Graceland! But what is the real Memphis if it is not Graceland or Peabody ducks?

Let me make this clear, I enjoyed the nostalgia and that I can say I have seen where Elvis cultivated his uniquely gaudy style, but in discovering our America, the purpose of the trip, I did not find it within the traps of the money-maker mansion.

Instead I found parts of America after gumbo on Beale Street from some fellow strangers and travelers to Memphis.










Later on we went to Rashina's house for some true Indian cuisine. I found this spirit of America and Memphis in its differences of race, culture, and religion as we connected with her family and each other. Looking around the room at our group I realize, now, how different we are in backgrounds and opinions, but we still have come together for this trip and opportunity.
Until the next city.....