The Rogue Marketer

When traveling on business you get to visit cities that wouldn't always be included on your list of vacation hot spots.  This week I was in

Memphis

and instead of kicking myself for failing to visit

Graceland

, I decided to pay the "king" a visit.

With expectations of Polyester, bad gift shops, poorly crafted exhibits and the song "Love Me Tender" in my ear, I made my way to the

Graceland

visitor center which is across the street from Graceland.  You buy your ticket and enter a shuttle bus that takes you to the mansion.  You are given headphones and a device that lets you take a self guided tour through the grounds.

With low expectations in hand, I began my journey through the land of Elvis.   The first three stops are the living room, dining room and kitchen.  Nothing extraordinary.  From there you move to the basement recreation areas and start to experience the times he lived in, and his transformation to stardom.

You begin to feel that what you are seeing is a bit more profound than what you expected. 

Graceland

is a time capsule of life in the 50's and early 60's.  The birth of Rock and Roll.  The evolution of television from black and white to color and satellite.   Eight track tape players giving way to cassettes and compact disks.

You are sent back in time to a place when rock and roll was being discovered.  He was one of the first to have television and movies turn him into a legend.  You have to be impressed as you walk down a long hall filled with gold and platinum records.  Testament to his staying power are the many sales awards he received in the past several years.  The tour of his home ends at the family grave site and a tasteful tribute to his life.

If the records don't get you, then Elvis's car museum will.  The cars represent the height of the American auto industry with chrome covered fenders and big powerful engines.  What I'd give to drive any one of them. 

Elvis the brand lives on today as strong as it did forty years ago.  It's a testament to the man and his music.  I  listened to the CD of his greatest hits all the way home.