On Sat 28 Mar 2009 05:52:04a, jmcquown told us...
> "Becca" > wrote in message
> ...
>> jmcquown wrote:
>>>
>>> As someone who grew up (well, teen and up) in Memphis, I can't stand
>>> Memphis style BBQ. I don't like Elvis, either 
I do like your
>>> recipe for corn chowder but I can't eat corn anymore 
>>>
>>> Jill
>>
>>
>> Maybe Elvis was before our time? I watched his movies when I was a
>> kid and I enjoyed those.
>>
>>
>> Becca
>
>
> Technically he was before my time, too. But when you live in Memphis
> you cannot escape him. I was 17 when he died. The city still hasn't
> gotten over it.
>
> As for the barbeque in Memphis, Corky's does serve chicken. They don't
> do pizza... well, they didn't used to. Who knows what they're doing
> now. If I were going to make sauce it would be tomato/vinegar based and
> spicy.
>
> Jill
Jill,
My parents' families are from in and around Tupelo, MS, Elvis' birthplace,
and where he lived in his early youth. Technically, he was born and lived
in East Tupelo which, at the time, was several miles from the Tupelo city
limits. If you think it's hard to escape Elvis in Memphis, it's even more
difficult to escape him in Tupelo. There are many local "legends"
surrounding the Presley family, most of which people outside of Tupelo have
never heard and wouldn't believe. At the time, East Tupelo was nothing
more than an olden day ghetto of the poorest of the poor, filled mainly
with unpainted and dilapidated two-room shotgun shacks. The front rooms
were for living/sleeping and the back rooms were kitchens. No bathrooms.
Presley's father, Vernon, rarely worked, and when he did he was usually
fired after a brief time. At least back in those early days Vernon was an
alcoholic who was jailed numerous times for theft, only one of which was
for stealing food. (That one time has occasionally been mentioned in
print, outside of the local area.) His mother, Gladys, occasionally took
in laundry, but otherwise never worked. That part of the family history
you will almost never hear unless you talk to some very old people in the
area.
More people are aware that when the Presley's moved to Memphis, Vernon did
find reasonably steady work and they lived in the "projects" until Elvis
began cutting records. When Elvis graduated from East High School, one of
his teachers bought him a suit to graduate in, as the family couldn't
afford it. The first home he bought was an average ranch-style house in a
typical suburban neighborhood. It wasn't too far from the area where we
lived back in 1956-57. What set it apart was the swimming pool and giant
mature trees he added to the property. The Presleys lived there until
Elvis bought Graceland. At the time he bought Graceland, the home was just
short of being condemned and had to be fully restored. It probably cost a
mint to fully renovate the place.
Back to Tupelo... Some years after his fame, Elvis bought a large plot of
land on a hill outside of East Tupelo and dubbed it Elvis Presley Park. It
sat virtually empty for a number of years before any development was done.
It was considered an eyesore by most local residents. Finally, for the
most part it was the City of Tupelo that began work on the park, realizing
the benefit of having a "local boy made good" celebrity. Some help with
this came from Elvis, but most of it was done by the city. The original
house he was born and raised in was moved from its spot on a dirt road in
East Tupelo to a place of prominance in the park. That house, too, was
fully renovated to look like a "decent" place to grow up in. The house was
painted gleaming white, both rooms were wallpapered, the floors freshly
finished, the rooms furnished with furniture and artifacts of the period,
but few, if any, of the furnishings were pieces that actually belonged to
the Presleys. Later, the city built a small chapel and a small museum on
the property. I don't know what else is there now. However, the entire
park has become a shrine to Elvis Presley. Many people make pilgrimages
there as they do to Graceland, but they only see and hear what the park
guides are told to share, lest they tarnish any part of his image.
I was 11 years old when we lived in Memphis, and just as caught up in his
early music and films as anyone. I really liked the "old" Elvis and still
do. It was when he began entertaining in Las Vegas that I totally lost
interest in anything he did.
In his early days I think he was sincere and caring, generous and giving.
I don't like what the industry did to him and what he did to himself.
--
Wayne Boatwright
"One man's meat is another man's poison"
- Oswald Dykes, English writer, 1709.