Graceland: witness the power of the 1970s Southern rock-star dollar.

This is Elvis Presley's official big-time tourist magnet in Memphis, TN. (According to Forbes, his estate rakes in $42 million a year...pretty good for a dead guy.) Anyway, he had raucous parties with fans and friends and golf carts and fireworks. Shag carpets, poodle wall paper, mirrored hallways, and lots of meatloaf. Expensive cars, a pair of airplanes, and more employees than you can shake a Frito-encrusted chicken fried steak at.

We got there pretty late, but luckily, PSQ put her persuasive crown on, and got us in as the last two admissions of the day!





The Pole has some awesome photos here

On the way to Memphis, we stopped by Brownsville, Tennessee to see a local road side attraction, known as Billy Trip's Mindfield.



The large steel structure seems to come at you, out of nowhere past downtown Brownsville, as it grows out tall in between local motel and a rental store. At first glance it looks like an old abandon electrical transformer station that's been decorated by bunch of colorful junk. But at closer look you start noticing beautiful and elaborate elements that make the 'Mindfield memorial'.

There are all steel typographic phrases, icons and symbols, all beautifully crafted and suspended in the metallic massive sculpture. Weirdly enough the structure seems well engineered and safe. You can actually sneak in, and walk along tall metal pillars and not fear that you'll be crushed and killed by a falling metal debris.





if you like the place, leave a note in the comment box, and you might just find a free copy of Billy Trip's autobiography.



if you want to find out more about Billy Trip's Mindfield, check out this website.

to see more photos, see 2 chops or my flickr