By Scott Shephard
I said yesterday that I would show you the Jungle Room and more. So here goes. But first a couple verses from two songs that have been rattling around in my head this morning:
“There’s a pretty little thing waiting for the king down in the Jungle Room” Marc Cohn (“Walking in Memphis”)
And
“The Mississippi delta was shining like a National guitar/I am following the river down the highway through the cradle of the Civil War/I’m going to Graceland, Graceland - Memphis Tennessee” Paul Simon (“Graceland”)
Today’s featured photo is the “Jungle Room,” which got its name after Elvis died and the house was opened to the public. Elvis simple called this room the “den.” It was a favorite room of his and was decorated in a way that reminded him of his time in Hawaii. The room was eventually used to record Elvis’ last two albums. The acoustics were great - largely because of all of the shag carpet on the floors and walls.
Graceland is now the name of this whole area, though originally it was the name of the house and farmland that accompanied the home. In 2017 a vast complex was opened across Elvis Presley Boulevard, which is where two of Elvis’ airplanes, and many of his cars are housed. For those of you who might be interested, the estimated value of the Graceland complex is $500,000,000. After legal proceedings, the estate is now in the hands of Riley Keough following the death last year of Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie. Riley is Lisa Marie’s daughter and Elvis’ granddaughter. Elvis’ former wife, Priscilla, is 78 years old and received $1 million in the settlement. Such is life. (Side note: As far as we could tell, there was not one mention of Colonel Parker, Elvis’ manager, or of Elvis’ untimely death - he was 42 when he died. Places like this, as do Presidential libraries, concentrate on hagiography. For example, we could find no mention “Watergate” or “resignation” when Deb and I visited the Nixon library several years ago.)
Anway, what follows is an album of too many photos with no annotation whatsoever. Yes, it would be nice to know what these photos show but Deb and I are about to leave Kansas City to head home on the last leg of our month-long road trip. Our cats miss us.
