thirties, she knew exactly where the motel was. "They're going to raze it, though, and build a museum," she added.
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I went to Graceland first. If it was a bust, I'd have the rest of the day free. No lack of signs directed me how to get there most efficiently, and I parked in the crowded lot next to the Lisa Marie , the King's private jet, named after his daughterthe same name with which my friend Danica had been temporarily christened. I walked down to the main ticket hall, dodging most of the souvenir shops (okay, a coffee mug) and waited for the tram with my ticket group to ferry us across the road to The Mansion.
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Too much has been written and sung about Graceland to add anything, but at the end of the tour, I understood the purpose of my visit. I had come not to see how Elvis was praised, but the manner in which he was buried. To see him as egun. Perhaps it was the virulent Elvis cult, the "sightings," the semi-serious denials of his death, like Jim Morrison's, whose Paris grave had more offerings than Marie Laveau's. Perhaps it was the occasional celeb-speak, like a black reggae singer saying, "I always wanted to be like Elvis," or the white Florida rock 'n roller, Tom Petty, describing his boyhood idol: "Elvis didn't look like the people I'd known. He had a real glow about him, like a full-body halo. He looked like a god to me." In my head had formed a notion, and because it had formed, couldn't be ignored: that Elvis, the poor white boy with the black music, might have been some unawareor whimsically disguisedavatar of Elegba, or Shango. Over the top, maybe, but compared to what?
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A sidewalk path and black wrought-iron fence curves around the graves, so tourists can walk up pretty close. The flat tombstone is capped with an eternal flame enclosed in protective glass. All day every day, mostly white Americans amble slowly past the grave. Some pray, some leave flowers, some take pictures, some say blessings. Some cry, some talk to him.
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For white people to worship the dead, create gods of them, is not considered evil. Odd, perhaps, even camp, but not sacrile-
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