Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Maybe It Was Memphis


Last week my wife and I spent four days in Memphis TN at the first annual Memphis Quartet Show.  This event is focused on Southern Gospel Quartet Music.  There were matinee concerts on Thursday and Saturday as well as four hour concert events each evening.  That doesn't leave much time to explore the other attractions around town.  We did manage to tour Graceland.  That was a very interesting adventure.
Back to the Quartet Show.  Two of our favorite groups provided the matinee concerts.  On Thursday afternoon the Booth Brothers added Gene McDonald to their trio to make up an awesome quartet.  I expect that they will do this again.  Since this was the first time this group preformed as a quartet I don't have a good video to share, so here is the Booth Brothers as a traditional trio.



Ernie Haase and Signature Sound have been a quartet for eleven years now and make some to the best Southern Gospel music available today.  Here they are.

Other groups appearing during evening were Old Paths Quartet, Triumphant, Brian Free & Assurance, Dixie Echos, Gold City, and others. All in all, it was a wonderful four days of great music.
I did manage to do a couple of photo walks downtown during the early morning hours and I'll share some of those images later.
Like I said, we did tour Graceland.  The only home that is annually visited my more tourists than Graceland is the White House.  It is a trip back in time to the late 60's and early 70's.  By today's standards, it really is pretty quaint.  Graceland is set on 13.8 acres.  It was originally built by a local doctor in 1938.  At the age of 22 Elvis bought the property for $100,000 and kept the name Graceland.
The main entrance to the Graceland attraction is actually across the street from the house.  This area provides parking, gift shops,  Elvis' automobile collection, the two private jets, and other attractions.  There is a shuttle service up to the main house.  Let's go see what the living room looks like.

Elvis' favorite colors were blue and yellow.  I can't really say much for Elvis' or his interior designer's taste in furniture and color coordination, but to each his own.

This would be the "Man Cave"  with all of his stereo gear and three televisions.  Remember, in 1961 there were only three networks, so Elvis could watch all of the news at the same time, with only three TV's.

The collection of gold and platinum records is staggering.

Then, there are the outfits... 

And the cars.  Loved the cars.
Well that's it for Graceland.  I have a few other photos I'll share later, including my photo walk downtown.
Thank you, thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.


3 comments:

  1. Did you see Elvis...I think he is still alive! Lol

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  2. Well you know, sometimes I think Elvis is bigger now than way back then.

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  3. What a fun trip. The southern gospel music is so wonderful. I haven't been to Memphis for years but remember that it was a fun place.

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