Austin’s Trip to Visit the Home of the King - Part 1
 
Before I tell the tale of my visit I would like to say to all my friends in this wonderful Mark Degree of ours that during these hard times of this National Emergency and lockdown please stick with the instructions to stay safe by staying in whenever possible. Our own PGM sends you and your families his very best wishes and looks forward to being in your company once again when this dreadful crisis is over. At team meetings he always lets us in on everyone’s hobbies but never his own well I can let you into a little secret about one of his, he is a great baker and cook, he never usually has much spare time on his hands as you can imagine but in the present situation we find ourselves in he has been given permission by June to get his hands in to the flour jar again so long as he tidies up afterwards. I saw a picture of some of my favourites which he had baked a few days ago “Hot Cross Buns” they looked absolutely perfect, if only they could be sent down the broadband connection I think I would happily ignore my diet. (I’m afraid the diets on hold anyway, due to what’s called comfort eating, Eccles cakes, Easter Eggs, Jam tarts and the odd one or two Hot Cross Buns)
At the Graveside
All Graves
Back of Graceland
Austin at the Front Door
Now then back to the story, as some of you may know I have been a singer in various bands since the age of 15 years, now that’s a long time ago, I’ve sung all over the country in small halls, Large Halls, Town Halls, Miners Clubs, Night clubs, Masonic Halls, cricket pitches, middle of Debenhams Store all sorts of weird and wonderful places in fact I will tell a few tales and the places we played in, it may be worth another story in the future. Being a singer for all those years I did have a favourite and I always sing some of his songs and at the end of the night, my closing song is “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” that’s a clue to the man who could sing anything and was known the whole world over by just one name.  Elvis of course.
Beautiful Graceland
Beale Street
Blackhawk
Chicago Airport
Drive To House
Dining Room
We talked about going to Memphis for many years to visit Graceland and finally decided to go on what became the first of many visits. Well the day finally arrived and off we set in a taxi, very excited, great, got inside the terminal building heading for the American Airlines desk to check in for the flight to Chicago, now you know my stories usually include a few what shall we say “cock ups” I thought I’ll take my trendy denim jacket off while were waiting but must take my glasses out of the pocket so I don’t damage them, ah disaster they weren’t there, how can I go without them, blind as a Bat for reading !! Now as Corporal Jones would say “Don’t Panic” now would I Panic, yes indeed, but with my razor-sharp logic I thought what about my Brother in Law who lives just down the road from Ringway. Tried the phone, held my breath and yes he was in and said he would come along and nip me home, whew, raced back to Urmston jumped out of the car, I didn’t even have to go inside,  they were sat there on top of the gate pillar!! Got back in good time, checked in and went through into the departure area and took a big breath. To get to Memphis you have to fly to Chicago first which is a very big airport, ongoing through security the guard went behind a screen to look at his computer display on seeing what my job was when he came back he said “Austin if you have any problems or need any help whilst your visiting with us, do not hesitate to contact me, here is my card”  I thought how good is that.
El's Grave Stone
El's Lincoln
El's Roller
Elvis Birthplace Gunshack
Elvis Sang His Last Song at this Piano, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
On arrival at Memphis a big guy was waiting for us (he looked just like B B King) in a Sun Studio’s mini bus to take us to the Heartbreak Hotel at the end of Lonely Street where we were staying as we neared Graceland which is opposite the hotel he asked if we had visited before, of course we said no, it was dark but he said I’ll pull up alongside so you can take a look over the wall. What a great site all the pathways are lit by small coloured lights leading to the house which is lit up the same, a great start to the holiday.
Famous Gates
Graceland at Night
Graceland Nice
Gunshack
His Car Museum
We checked in and the bags were taken to our room, inside was a King size bed, a small kitchen and a lounge area complete with TV, sofa and easy chairs, we settled down and chilled out for the rest of the evening, the TV besides normal viewing had several channels which showed nothing but Elvis films none stop, well what did you expect. Bright and early the next morning at 7am we were up, excited and looking forward to the day ahead, on looking out of the windows we kept seeing small numbers of people passing by, tried to see where they were going but all we could see in the distance was the tail fin on the “Lisa Marie” Elvis’s plane. Well we thought let’s go and see, they must be going somewhere, outside it was a wee bit chilly but the sun was shining in a crystal blue, (which I have never forgotten) before too long a couple went bye so yes we followed, over a little bridge across a small car park and in about five minutes we were on Elvis Presley Boulevard opposite the World Famous Musical Notes Gates of Graceland, wow.  
It's A Tradition
Jungle Room
Jungle Room
Kitchen
Left Hand Side of Lounge
Right Hand Side of Lounge
After carefully crossing the road we went through the gates just inside was a gatehouse complete with a guard, we asked what was happening, he told us that in the early hours each day the fans are allowed to pay their respects at the graveside, just follow the road to the right and you will come to the meditation garden where the graves can be found. We walked slowly up the winding road and were greeted by a wonderful site, lots of colourful flower tributes, pictures and mementoes which had been left by fans from all over the world. It was truly moving, then in the silence suddenly I could hear Elvis singing, his voice was being carried on the breeze from the Heartbreak Hotel across the road, it was really spooky. Eventually we made or way back to the hotel and went into the dining room for breakfast, lots of food was laid out continental style including lots of fresh fruit I did notice however that lots of visitors were eating waffles, now where did they get them from?  On looking around I spotted a machine which was obviously where you made your own, never done that before but it didn’t take too long to work it, now were talking, fill up the squares with honey and off you go.
Linda Happy at Graceland
Linda's Quick Snack
Lisa Marie
Small Trophy Passage
More Trophys
A little while later we got ready and made our way to the check in point for a tour of Graceland, you climb aboard a small mini bus and given a set of headphones then you are taken across the boulevard and in through the gates, the sound of Elvis is playing in your ears singing “Welcome To My World”, you drive right up to the front door of the house and invited to take as much time as you want to take photographs.  Once you have your photo’s you are invited inside and first shown the lounge area with the special seating ordered from Memphis, the Peacock stained glass panels and at the far end the Grand Piano where Elvis spent many hours playing. On the right in the hallway alongside the impressive stairway is his mother Glady’s bedroom it can be seen exactly as it was when she was alive.  The general public are still not allowed in the upstairs area where Elvis died,  turning left in the hallway is the dining room which again is set up just as it was when the King was there, it was a tradition that he, Priscilla, Lisa Maria his father Vernon and a few close members of his staff would always sit around the table for evening meals. Next door on the left is the kitchen where everything was prepared by Mary Langston who had been with Elvis for many years, over a 14 year period he bought her four cars and a three bedroomed house amongst other things and would be on call quite often for twenty-four hours a day!! Elvis began to eat in King-size portions over the years, cheeseburgers, chicken-fried steaks, hamburgers, caramel cakes, banana pudding and fried peanut and banana sandwiches. For breakfast he’d have homemade biscuits fried in butter, sausage patties, four scrambled eggs and fried bacon. Whenever he had a stay in hospital and on a strict diet she would sneak in bags of Hot Dogs and sauerkraut, not really a help to his health of course. A little further on and down a few steps on the right you are faced with a black and yellow television room (décor of the time the 70’s), complete with a small bar (nothing alcoholic) and four television sets, just like me he could watch a few programmes at the same time and know exactly what was going on in each of them.
Mums First Car
My Birthday
Our Names On Wall
Phil and Austin
Opposite the TV room is a plush room which contains a pool table, all the walls and ceiling are covered with yards and yards of folded fabric, most unusual to say the least. I think the pictures will give you more idea as to what Graceland was really like but I must mention one more room which is just off the pool table room and that is the famous “Jungle Room” where in his later years when the studio had trouble getting him to go and record they would bring a big mobile recording studio to Graceland (known as the Big Red Truck) and park it at the back of the house next to the Jungle Room with all the cables going through the window, I have some recordings done at the time where they are running through songs and a dog starts barking, on others a phone starts to ring, you hear Elvis say “shoot the yellow dog” (it was called Getlow) on another he says “shoot the phone off the wall”. The room contains a water fall at one end running down an uneven stone wall, the furniture is very strange, apparently Elvis father Vernon came back from a visit to Memphis and said to his son “man I’ve just seen the weirdest furniture”, that was all it took, it all arrived the next day!     
 
Considering that Elvis was known the world over you could say that Graceland is quite a modest building and as for the land it stands on you can see all the white fences which completely surround it at the back so really it’s not that big, there is a swimming pool but there again it’s quite small.
Racket Ball Court
Racket Ball Court
Sign Tupelo
Small Pool
Staircase
The next day was my Birthday so we were VIP guests to the estate and taken to places not usually seen, that was brilliant, in another episode I will tell you about our visits to Tupelo Mississippi where Elvis was born in a one room gun shack, the grave where his twin brother is buried, the store Tupelo Hardware where his mother bought his first guitar, (instead of the bicycle he wanted) the café where he used to hang out and Humes High school where he sang his first song in public it was a competition, that song was “Old Sheep”!!  Our many visits to the Sun Studio in Memphis on Union Avenue where it all started, I recorded a couple of songs there.  
Solitude
The Gatehouse
Tail Fin
Tupelo Chapel
Tupelo Hardware Shop
Nashville Adventures If anyone is still awake I will write another chapter about singing on the famous stage at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, known as the home of country music where Johnny Cash, Slim Whitman, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks and virtually every other country singer has appeared. Visits to the Gibson Guitar factory, sailing on the Mississippi (Big Muddy) in a Paddle steamer. Walks down Broadway visiting the “Honky Tonks” and Boot Shops of course. The Country Music Hall of Fame and being present at a recording of the Grand Ole Opry,
TV Room
Tupelo Hardware Sign
Tupelo Sign
More Memphis Adventures, Beale Street home of the Delta Blues and being lucky enough to see B. B. King in his own night club, our many visits to the Sun Studio in Memphis on Union Avenue where it all started and recording a couple of songs there. our visits to Tupelo Mississippi where Elvis was born in a one room gun shack, the grave where his twin brother is buried, the store Tupelo Hardware where his mother bought his first guitar, (instead of the bicycle he wanted) the café where he used to hang out and Humes High school where he sang his first song in public it was a competition, that song was “Old Shep”!! 
I hope this report will be of interest to some of you, now just let the pictures transport you to Graceland the home off Elvis Presley. 
 
To All The Members of the Friendly Degree, their Families and Friends.
Keep Safe, Stay In, Make Some Phone Calls, Keep In Touch.
It Will Be Over Soon. (Well Before Christmas Maybe)
Words and pictures by Austin N Fletcher. PGStwd.  Mark Well.
Flixton Shepherd Eastwood Mark Masons Lodge.  No. 1173