Elvis has left the building...

But you can buy the t-shirt, or lunchbox, or ash tray, or fake sideburns, or wedding, or... well you get the picture.

Day One.

Memphis, TN.

Memphis is the largest city in Tennessee, though we couldn't really tell it today.  We started out with the Historic Peabody Hotel.  The Peabody is magnificent in its grandeur, but it is famous for its... ducks.  The hotel was built in 1925 for a mere $5 million dollars.  Let that sink in... ($5 million in 1925) then perhaps you can begin to imagine the beauty of the marble columns and ornate woodwork that runs throughout the hotel. 

What does this have to do with ducks?

Well at 11 a.m. every day, 5 ducks walk across the roof, ride down the elevator, then walk the red carpet from the  elevator to the fountain.  Today we saw roughly 300-400 people crowding the lobby to watch the duck parade.  

Oddly, this was more people than we saw on and around Beale Street.  Granted it was around 1:00 in the afternoon, but I still anticipated seeing more people populating the downtown area. However it was fairly calm.  

As we looked out from the rooftop of the Peabody Hotel, I couldn't help but notice that the effects of the economy seem to be taking it's toll on Memphis.  I scanned the parking garages and parking lots... empty.  I looked for the pedestrians on the streets... empty.  I looked in Peabody Place (the Mall downtown)... empty.  Even the restaurant that we had lunch at was pretty much a ghost town.  

Beale Street is one of Memphis' pre-packaged identities.   It is where the 'outsider' can go to get the authentic Memphis blues experience.  Though, it occurred to me that what really separates Memphis from Nashville is that, Memphis has invested all of its creative stock in what is potentially a dying art form.  You rarely hear of schools teaching the blues.  Certainly not in junior high or high school, and sometimes not even in college.  So as an "artistic" city, that desperately needs to recreate itself to survive in a creative based economy, I fear that they are fighting an uphill battle.  At least from what we saw mid day on Saturday. 

To put it into perspective, we did a walking tour of Lower Broadway in Nashville on Friday. Stores were packed with people, bus loads filled the Ryman from the Tootsies Tour Bus, and their were a number of street musicians playing to a fairly large amount of foot traffic. 

Anyway, my thought is that Nashville has been able to capitalize on the historic identity of country music, but it also offers the average tourist hope of running into Keith Urban or KennyChesney.  Because Blues, as an art form, doesn't really offer a contemporary artist that is in the public eye, the community seems to suffer... at least economically. 

However, Graceland is alive and kicking.  People lined up like cattle to be shuffled from point to point.  Let me start by saying that I am not really an Elvis fan.  I am not really even interested in him, but I do not deny that he is a cultural phenomenon and icon.  He has provided the soundtrack to many a persons life.  

Graceland...   was pretty impressive, if for no other reason than the hyper-commercialized andMcDonaldized nature of the tour.  At every stop you can purchase a photo, or an extended tour to see the planes, or the cars... There are plenty of gift shops to outfit your wardrobe or house in Elvis memorabilia.  Graceland was decadent, as you would expect, but not quite as over the top as I secretly hoped it would be.  Instead, it seemed rather modest.  I mean, Elvis sold over 1 billion records.  I see the rock stars today that sell a few million and they have closets just for their shoes.  While, we were not allowed upstairs, the house didn't have that feeling.  Sure the jungle room seemed like it was ripped from his one of his movies, it still didn't seem out of place. The tourists that flocked to his palace seemed to soak it all up, even if they were politely being persuaded to soak it up a little faster.   My guess is that the Graceland security wanted to give the tourists ample time to purchase a vast array of Elvis goodies as they were leaving the building.

The unexpected highlight came from Germantown, where our group was treated to traditional Indian cuisine at Rashina's parents home.  They fed us multiple courses till we were stuffed... then they broke out the desserts.  The conversations at dinner provided an excellent beginning to our discussions of what it means to be an American.  Being multicultural in the land that claims freedoms for all of its people, they have fully embraced the potential that this country promises and have pushed their children to do the same.  And really, that was the common theme today.  Everyone was more than happy to help us out, people wanted to talk, and seemed to have hope for the future.    Even in a town, that seems on the brink of economic collapse, they talked about hope.  

Perhaps we have stumbled upon a common thread of what it means to be an American in our very first stop.  Maybe it is all about hope.  That is what the American dream offers, even if numerous studies suggest that the hope is really a fabrication.  It still gives us something to look forward to.

As for me... I am looking forward to Little Rock.