Food Feature: The King and I

Every great culture erects monuments to its royalty. Egypt has the Great Pyramids, India has the Taj Mahal. In the United States, we have GracelandToo, a shrine to our king, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Located at an almost mystical axis between Tupelo, Miss., (Elvis Presley’s birthplace), and Memphis, Tenn., (the place where Elvis died), GracelandToo is the private residence of Paul Macleod, and the home of one of the largest collections of Elvis Presley memorabilia in the world. We didn’t have reservations to tour GracelandToo but Macleod came to the door a few minutes after we knocked. “Give me a minute to get ready,” he said, ears wet and shaving cream on his chin. When Paul and his son emerged, they were fully clad in Elvis outfits, complete with slicked back hair and robust muck chops. These guys were not impersonating Elvis. They were living him.

Stepping into GracelandToo is like stepping into a Chevy van from the 1970s. Hanging beads, not doors, separate rooms. The floors are covered with a red, velvety carpet (some of which was used to cover the walls in the entry way), and everywhere you look is kitsch. Macleod beamed with pride as our eyes struggled to take it all in — Elvis dolls, record album covers, busts of the King’s head, bubble gum cards and concert T-shirts. Every inch of the house is covered.

The memorabilia is complemented by an archive, which the Macleods have been compiling since 1977. Located in the living room, the collection is massive — 59,500 newspaper clippings, 12,000 magazines and 7,000 newspapers making reference to the King. Twenty-four hours a day, father and son monitor a massive bank of old television sets and VCRs, ready to catalog anything Elvis. “We make a record of every time Elvis’ name is mentioned on national TV,” Macleod said, opening a spiral-bound notebook with handwritten logs of dates, times and stations on which references to the King have been made. “If the announcers state any inaccuracies about Elvis, we call and correct ‘em,” he said, before putting the notebook back on a bookshelf stacked with at least 300 other notebooks bearing similar testimony.

“All of this equipment is Y2K compliant,” Macleod said, pointing to the old TVs and VCRs. “So we’re takin’ care of Elvis, hi-tech.”

Next we went into the kitchen, which is the least decorated room in the house. The residual smell of TV dinners and greasy Southern cooking filled the air. Apparently the Macleods honor their King not only in their choice of hairstyle and clothing — they are faithful to his diet as well.

A hallway leading from the kitchen has the theme of “Elvis’ Death.” An unplugged refrigerator is stacked with magazines commemorating the sad event. Photographs of Elvis’ gravesite mark the wall, as do Ziploc bags containing petals from the first flowers placed on Elvis’ grave. Macleod stopped to point out a couple of the pictures. One is of Elvis’ gravestone, on which his middle name is mysteriously misspelled. “This is a clue that he’s still alive,” Macleod said. Moments later, he showed us a blurry photograph of the King leaving Graceland on his motorcycle. In the picture Elvis is very small, his head poking above the throngs of tourists standing outside the gates of Graceland. “That photo was taken the day before his death,” he said. “So, I have one of the last photographs of Elvis before he died.” Macleod then showed us a lens flare in the corner of a picture he took on a tour of Elvis’ mansion and claimed it is a holographic representation of the King’s soul.

The last room we visit is a bedroom where the walls are covered with all of Elvis’ albums — GI Blues, 50,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong, Aloha From Hawaii, etc. I got all shook having the King stare down at me from every corner of the room. 50,000 Elvis fans may not be wrong, but 100 Elvis eyes staring at you can be very creepy.

This is the room where Macleod keeps his real treasures — a church bulletin in which Elvis’ name is listed with other kids who sang for the congregation (“One of his first performances,” Macleod noted). Another treasure is a report card, which shows the King with low marks in music.

The next day, we toured the real Graceland in Memphis (GracelandOne?) and found the themed rooms and shag carpets amusing, but my traveling companions and I agreed that it was nothing compared to GracelandToo where Elvis and the real spirit of rock’n’roll is alive and kicking.

GracelandToo is located at 200 E. Gholson Ave. in Holly Springs, Miss. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Admission is $7. For more information, contact Paul and Elvis Aaron Presley Macleod at 662-252-7954 or pay a virtual visit at www.GracelandToo.com.