Be my guide: Following Elvis Presley’s ghost around Memphis

Responding to reader demand, I added Memphis to my two-week, music-inspired road trip. No one objected to nixing Montgomery, Ala., from my travels — except for Janis Ian, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter I wrote about after seeing her perform at Bluebird Cafe on Saturday night in Nashville.

Ian, who e-mailed travel suggestions after seeing my blog post, said Alabama had good food and music. Following a slight berating for the itinerary change, she recommended B.B. King’s Blues Club in downtown Memphis for ribs and live music.

Sadly, I missed out on what seems like all the choice places to eat. By 8:30 on a Sunday, B.B. King’s kitchen was closed (except for burgers). Interstate Bar-B-Cue, which was recommended by Neal Kaskel and Karen Sheeler, isn’t open on Sundays, and Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous, also recommended by Sheeler as well as Adam Stue and @larasweetworld, fell victim to the dreaded “private party.” I discovered, though, that Pigs on Beale has some pretty good ribs, making me realize why Elvis Presley loved Memphis so much. Great food!

Just as I was driving into the city on Sunday, the teeth-grinding country ditty “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn started playing on the radio. The song basically references the titles of Elvis songs along with places around Memphis to create an overarching story that doesn’t make much sense. For example, Cohn says he “saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue / Followed him up to the gates of Graceland.” OK, that’s a two-hour walk, dude.

But Cohn did touch on what it is to be a tourist in Memphis. The King might be dead, but he stills rules this town. The city has designated landmarks for what seems like every other building, statue, street corner and hole in the wall (seriously, see the photo above) left. As long as Elvis somehow came in contact with it at one time, it’s historic.

The holy grail is, of course, Graceland. The home of one of America’s biggest music exports sits behind a metal gate and a long, winding driveway. Graffiti scrawled on the ground in front of the stone fence that wraps around the estate describes the place perfectly: the Rock and Roll White House.

Tourists snap photos in front of its gates (see mine at the top), and many go just to get a glimpse of the white mansion, despite its being mostly obscured by trees. (During the day, you can pay to tour the inside, but I arrived after hours.) Elvis shrines eat up an entire block of real estate. There’s the Heartbreak Hotel across the street, three souvenir shops and an amusement park-style parking and museum area across from the house.

Memphis loves its history, and the Elvis obsession goes well beyond Graceland. I went by Sun Studio (photo above left), where Elvis and other Memphis favorites like Johnny Cash and B.B. King recorded at times in their careers. The studio does tours during the day and records bands at night. “A lot of bands come here just to say they recorded here,” said a Sun clerk.

I hit some of the other music landmarks — classic studios that have all been converted into museums — that were recommended by readers Sheeler, Chris Ridenhour and John Scruggs. I saw parts of Stax Museum of American Soul Music and Shangri-La Records, which was closed by the time I got there.

Maybe it was the fact that just about everything had shut down on a Sunday night, but I wasn’t very impressed with Memphis. Readers hyped it up as a cornerstone of American music, but it felt more like a history class field trip. Then again, I might just be bitter about missing some of the classic barbecue joints.

I’ve got the long drive to New Orleans today and inevitable debauchery in the Big Easy tonight. To provide travel tips for my two-week road trip, inspired by music, send your e-mails to mark.milian@latimes.com, leave comments on the Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal Blog or, for those on Twitter, send tweets to @mmilian. To follow my road trip status live, visit http://twitter.com/mmilian. For the trip schedule and cities, check out earlier posts.

— Mark Milian, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo at the top: Mark at the gates of Graceland. Credit: Jeff Jennings. Photos: Hole in the Wall plaque and Sun Studio. Credit: Mark Milian / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 10:18 am by Mark Milian and is filed under Arts & Culture, Be My Guide, Celebrity, New Orleans & Louisiana, News, Tips & Advice, Restaurants, Southern States, Summer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.