Tag: Graceland

Categories
News News Feature

Avoiding the Crutch

Anyone who knows anything about my life and beliefs knows the term “racist” has no application at all to me. But, in the wake of negative reactions to a story I reported on Fox 13 News last week in which I was trying to put historical perspective on the West Memphis police shooting of 12-year-old DeAunta Farrow seven years ago, I was reminded of how much a common and destructive crutch the words racism, racist, or race-baiter have become. There are so many of us who use those words as a replacement for constructive thought — for everything from societal problems to governmental blunders. So, I’ve devised a set of multiple choice questions about current issues to see if you believe “racism” is the correct answer to any of them.

The Memphis City Council has voted to use $125 million in tax breaks to fund a proposed 450-room upscale hotel, theater, restaurant, and exhibit hall in cooperation with Elvis Presley Enterprises. It’s a deal all agree wouldn’t happen if the city wasn’t fronting the major bulk of the cost. It is one of the cushiest economic development agreements in the country, considering it will also allow the controlling Presley Enterprises company, Authentic Brands Group, to seek to incorporate a tax surcharge that will be the highest in the state in return for a promise to create 280 jobs. What do you think?

a) Somewhere Elvis’ former manager, Colonel Tom Parker, is laughing his ass off.

b) This is a great deal for the city to keep EP Enterprises from announcing one day they’re moving their entire operation to Tupelo.

c) This is a racist decision, made just to help struggling black businesses in the name of a man who exploited black music.

d) None of the above.

More often than not, we wake up on Mondays to the news of a handful of people being shot or murdered over the weekend on the mean streets of Memphis. What do you think could be done to stop it?

a) Do more city sponsored gun-collection drives.

b) Educate our youth about the danger of guns and ways to solve problems without resorting to violent actions.

c) Hire more police officers and put them in high-crime areas.

d) Provide more guns to more black people so they can use them to kill each other off, because that’s what they’re going to do anyway.

How can we begin to handle the current distrust, sparked by recent cases in Ferguson and elsewhere, between police and the people they have sworn to serve and protect?

a) Instead of constantly reporting on police officers gone bad, there should be more media stories on the proactive accomplishments of the 99 percent who are dedicated to what they do.

b) Assume all white MPD officers will shoot black people in a second and ask questions later.

c) Insist on more neighborhood policing and change residency requirements so those wearing the badge will be seen as a vital force in the communities in which they themselves live.

d) Equip MPD with dashboard cameras and body cams and have them rolling at all times, so the data collected can be used if questions about their actions arise.

If you think I’ve purposely set up this questionnaire to be slanted toward sensible answers instead of those with a racial slant, then you are right. Those people, black and white, who seek conspiracy theories behind the plethora of problems Memphis and the nation faces, are not helping. That strategy only distracts us and keeps us from working together to find answers to difficult questions.

We can blame the media for ratings-inspired exploitation of racial issues. We can blame our ignorance of history for not seeing the direction we should take in order to heal the old wounds of race, class, and sexual gender. To discover the cure for the disease of racism, we must be willing to open our hearts and minds to all people, including those who may not adhere to our value system, those who may not agree with us, and even those who don’t understand there are peaceful methods to avoid violent confrontations. When we cut off dialogue and retreat into the cocoon of our own prejudices, then we only have the crutch of labeling each other to fall back on.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Graceland Economic Impact Plan Outlines Improvements For the Iconic Home

Elvis Presley once sang “There’s No Place Like Home,” and if developers are able to continue with proposed improvements to Graceland, that home and the surrounding area will get major improvements for residents and tourists.

James McLaren, a partner at Adams and Reese which represents Elvis Presley Enterprises, said the Graceland Economic Impact Plan will modernize the experience for Elvis fans visiting the home, improving the property as well as the nearby tourist shopping center.

An economic impact plan outlines construction and design plans, how they will be funded, and what benefit they’ll bring to the city and county.

One of the biggest planned improvements is construction of the Guest House at Graceland, a 450-room hotel with two restaurants and a 500-seat theater. It’s expected to open in the fall of 2015.

Artist rendering of the Guest House hotel

In addition to the hotel, retail and dining experiences on the property will be refreshed and modernized. A new focus on entertainment outside of the home itself may be “experiential or archive — other entertainment-type venues,” McLaren said, as the plan aims to appeal to not only current Elvis fans but a younger demographic as well.

One new development is a 200-seat theater presentation dubbed the Graceland Archives Studio, which focuses on Elvis archives that may be used as an educational tool. Others include a new entryway, a “discovery center” (a high-tech way to experience Elvis in concert), and new options for dining and retail.

The three-phase plan, which will cost between $121 and $132 million, focuses on the development of Graceland’s 120-acre property. But the improvements will offer 500 jobs, which is expected to further economic development in Whitehaven.

“There have been lots of people in the neighborhood who are very supportive of this project,” said McLaren. “What I think, and what Elvis Presley Enterprises thinks will happen, is that the redevelopment that they’re doing of the Graceland campus will be catalytic in redeveloping Whitehaven, particularly along Elvis Presley Boulevard.”

The Graceland Economic Impact Plan comes alongside the city and county’s own planned improvements to beautify the area over the next five years.

“The city and county are putting $4.3 million into Elvis Presley Boulevard, between Brooks Road and Shelby Drive,” McLaren said. “Between those two projects, there’s going to be such a large investment in the Whitehaven neighborhood, it can’t have but a catalytic impact.

“We have more than 600,000 visitors a year,” McLaren added. “They don’t just go to Graceland. They go to other things in the city. So improving [attendance] at Graceland means that you improve the whole economic environment in the city of Memphis.”

The plan would be funded in a few ways, including a “site-specific TIF,” or tax increment financing. That allows Elvis Presley Enterprises to pay off the debt quicker instead of paying the entirety of the new property tax, which after construction is completed, will be approximately $2.8 million. Currently, the company pays $689,000 in property taxes, which would continue after development until either 20 years or the debt is paid off.

Other sources of funding will come from Elvis Presley Enterprises as well as Tourism Development Zone sales tax and tourism surcharge funding tools.

Planners believe the impact of the new Graceland developments would provide more than $50 million in tax revenue over the next 15 years, including $5 million allotted to education in the area and $1 billion in economic impact for the city.

Categories
We Recommend We Recommend

Elvis A Cappella: A Tribute to the King

“Joel Weinshanker [managing partner of Graceland, LLC] was thinking about how a cappella and Pitch Perfect have broken into the mainstream. He thought it would be a fun way to introduce Elvis’ music to a younger generation,” says Kelsey Kirkpatrick, explaining the genesis of the Elvis A Cappella: A Tribute to the King shows.

And so, Kirkpatrick was charged with making it happen. First things first was finding the best a cappella groups. To that end, she listened to a cappella albums and checked out the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella, which she describes as the March Madness of a cappella.

In the end, she went with five groups: Kentucky’s Acoustikats, Florida State University’s All-Night Yahtzee, James Madison University’s BluesTones, the Vanderbilt Melodores, and, from Memphis, OneVoice from Briarcrest.

Each group was given five songs, and each will perform three during two different shows to be held at Graceland’s Elvis Week main stage Thursday through Saturday.

“Each song is totally different,” Kirkpatrick says. “For some of the songs, the groups are keeping it true to the original. For some of the songs, some of the groups have reinvented it in a way — throwing in styles like blues and reggae. Or, they slow it down in parts in songs that were originally fast-paced.”

The groups will come together at the end to perform “Sweet Sweet Spirit.” The song was the closer to many Elvis concerts and was performed by his quartet.

“We thought that would be a really nice way to bring everybody together and have this nice moment at the end of the show that would speak to Elvis’ biggest fans,” Kirkpatrick says.

Categories
Book Features Books

Bucket List, Memphis Style

Graceland? Been there, done that, you say. Beale Street? Ditto.

But how about Graceland on the cheap? If you’re budget-minded, Samantha Crespo knows how to do it. Beale not by night but by day? Crespo says try it, whether you’re a tourist in town or a Memphian born and bred. Crespo has plenty of other ideas as well, and besides Graceland and Beale Street, check out the 98 additional entries in her bucket list of all things Bluff City: 100 Things To Do in Memphis Before You Die (Reedy Press).

Some of those sights to see — Sun and Stax, the Brooks and the Dixon, Overton Square and Overton Park — are no-brainers, but Crespo gives them a fresh spin. Some, however, may come as a surprise. Crespo recommends the “sonic massage” at the Memphis Drum Shop on South Cooper. Or the book club and speaker series at Elmwood Cemetery. Or an impromptu visit with the ranger at Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park. Or a hands-on tour of the St. Blues Guitar Workshop on Marshall. Or, see what’s in season and there for the picking at Jones Orchard in Millington.

Crespo’s also had some fresh ideas when it comes to promoting her book. Her signing at Burke’s earlier this month may have taken the traditional route, but she’s also had a recent reading at the Center for Southern Folklore and set up shop at the Cooper-Young and Botanic Garden farmers markets. On Saturday, June 21st, at 1 p.m., she’ll be at South Main Book Juggler (548 S. Main) as part of the store’s “After-Market” series of guest authors.

That series is timed to follow the weekly Downtown Farmers Market, and Crespo has timed her book to appear during the summer tourist season, tourism being Crespo’s specialty. She’s a former managing editor for a tourism publishing firm in her home state of Florida. She’s written for the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau. She’s been a blogger for the federal government’s “Discover America” tourist program. And she’s written for Tennessee’s Department of Tourist Development, with a focus on Memphis and West

Tennessee.

Crespo, who moved to Memphis four years ago when her husband took a job at Medtronic, wrote Things To Do in Memphis Before You Die with local readers, in addition to out-of-towners, in mind.

“That’s the true test for this book,” Crespo said by phone. “For Memphians to pick it up and say to themselves, ‘You know, I’ve always wanted to do that.’ So, I want people to understand that I very much wrote the book for locals. Yes, it’s a travel guide and I didn’t want to ignore the obvious, but I wanted to dig a little deeper. People who simply read the book jacket … they may think, I’ve done that. Or, I’ve lived here my entire life. I don’t need to do that. But the book is a celebration of the city and especially its creativity.”

Crespo doesn’t want any excuses. She talked to one Memphian who had never heard of the Four Way restaurant, another who had never been to the National Civil Rights Museum, and another confused by the location of Stax. You too? Doesn’t mean you’re a lesser person, Crespo, whose enthusiasm for the city is downright infectious, said. Just means you’re busy, she understands, and maybe you just need to break out of your routine. You have a bored child on your hands this summer? Take it from Crespo: “I’m going to have my own son open my book, and whatever he turns to, that’s what we’re going to do.”

It could very well be a visit to Overton Park. Crespo said it’s her number-one place in town to pass the time, and it’s not far from her Midtown home:

“When my husband and I moved to Memphis, we had one weekend to find a house. And when we saw Overton Park, we fell in love with it. We chose our house to be near Overton Park. It’s why the park gets five of the 100 things to do in Memphis — so many ways to enjoy it, whatever your budget, your age, or your interests.”

And whatever you do, don’t sell Memphis short on things to do. Crespo doesn’t. She’s got a running list already in mind for a future edition of Things To Do in Memphis Before You Die. Last count, she said, that list was up to 70.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Elvis Presley Enterprises Presents Plans for Upscale Hotel

Whitehaven is getting all shook up with news that a hotel will be built next to Graceland if everything goes according to plan.

According to a presentation by Elvis Presley Enterprises last week, the 450-room hotel would be built next to Graceland at the corner of Elvis Presley Boulevard and Old Hickory Road. The Guest House at Graceland, as it will be called, would create 75 to 100 new jobs.

The $70 million hotel plans are the first major development since the organization was acquired by Authentic Brands Group in New York City in November of last year. If everything goes as planned, construction could begin in August.

At the public meeting detailing the plans for the hotel last week, City Councilman Harold Collins said building the Guest House at Graceland would help attract more higher-end businesses to the Whitehaven area. He was responding to a question from a young woman suggesting there are too many fast food chains along Elvis Presley.

“When the Guest House goes up, when the lounge goes up, we will be able to recruit businesses that you all have been wanting,” he said.

Homer Branan, the attorney representing Elvis Presley Enterprises, said the organization is eager to begin building the Guest House. Demolition has already started at the site.

Plans for The Guest House at Graceland, a 450-room upscale hotel, are in the works for Whitehaven.

“The biggest challenge right now is time. They want to be under construction now,” Branan said. “We’ve got to get this through the Land Use Control Board and the City Council as quickly as possible. The engineers are already doing the plans — the drainage plans, the grating plans. The architects are doing the plans to get a building permit. We’ve got to get a building permit as quickly as possible.”

When it is ready, the hotel won’t just be for Elvis fans.

“We’re not far from the airport,” Branan said. “They think they will get a lot of people coming to the Guest House from the airport area.”

He said the Whitehaven community’s needs have been a focus since they began designing the hotel.

“[The hotel] is important to the city of Memphis, and especially Whitehaven, because it shows a real investment in the community,” Branan said. “Whitehaven needs a really nice hotel — there are none out here. We’re always very concerned about the neighborhood to be sure that what we do, they appreciate. That’s the reason that [Elvis Presley Enterprises] has spent all this time and money in designing this thing. It’s going to be absolutely fabulous.”

Categories
News News Blog

Westboro Baptist Church Plans To Picket Graceland

God hates Elvis?

  • God hates Elvis?

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, best known for their “God Hates Fags” protests and picketing at the funeral services of soldiers, are planning to demonstrate in front of Graceland on Friday, May 17th at 4:45 p.m.

According to their website, Westboro members view Elvis Prelsey as a false idol and a drug addict. Here’s their bizarre explanation:

God hates your Idols, so Westboro Baptist Church will picket one of the many major idols of Doomed USA, to wit: Graceland. Former home of Elvis Presley. ALL the evidence suggests that his present home is HELL.

Ask the Question: How did Elvis die? The Internet gives this: Elvis died on August 16, 1977 in the bathroom at Graceland. After being found on the bathroom floor, Elvis was rushed to the hospital where he was officially pronounced dead.

The coroner recorded the cause of death as cardiac arrhythmia. While true in the strictest sense (cardiac arrhythmia means that the heart was beating irregularly), the attending physicians deliberately omitted the fact that what had apparently caused Elvis’ heart to beat irregularly and then stop was an overdose of prescription drugs. These drugs included codeine, Valium, morphine, and Demerol, to name a few.

Some people believe that Elvis Presley is still alive. It is an interesting idea to explore. (WHAT?! You people need something to do with your time!!)

Assuming you do believe that Elvis died, you can visit his grave at Graceland. (YES, gotta worship the rotting carcass of that lecherous, adulterous, pervert and drug addict!) I did NOT ask the Question: What happened in the Jungle Room! My stomach is only so strong.

Oh, and of course they have to work homophobia in somehow. After a listing a few Bible verses, this little nugget is thrown in at the end of the post:

GOD killed your idol, Elvis.

For ALL this, God has cursed you with Same Sex Marriage, a thing that will be your final undoing! Praise God!

Westboro is also planning to protest Ole Miss on May 18th. Though we can’t quite make out the reason by reading the ranting post, it appears to have something to do with their football team as a false idol and something to do with the movie, The Blind Side.

Categories
News

Holiday Stuff to Do in Memphis

There’s plenty going on around town to bring out the holiday cheer in even the most Scroogely Memphians this holiday season.

Stop by the Pink Palace Museum for the Enchanted Forest Festival of Trees, an annual display of decorated trees, animated elves, and model trains. Proceeds benefit Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center.

Have a “Blue Christmas” at Graceland where Elvis’ life-sized nativity set and blue lights shine in the night. Also on display are original Presley family Christmas artifacts.

More than 100 nativity figures surround a 16-foot holiday tree at The Dixon Gallery and Gardens‘ Younger Foundation Creche Collection and Bethlehem Tree.

Or check out school and church group holiday choirs performing classic carols in The Peabody Hotel lobby daily from 11 a.m. to noon.

For more holiday listings, check out the Flyer‘s searchable calendar.

Categories
News

Puddle of Mudd in Graceland Pool

How the hell did we miss THIS? Seems a couple a weeks back the group Puddle of Mudd took a tour of Graceland and lead singer Wes Scantlin took that opportunity to go for a dip in The King’s pool.

Scantlin got himself banned from Graceland for life for executing this picture-perfect cannon ball. (Yes, we know the picture’s tiny, but what do you expect, CNN?)

“I just wanted to go for a swim,” said the offender, matter-of-factly.

Categories
Opinion

The ABCs of TDZs

What do condos and a golf course in Pigeon Forge in the Smokies, a Bible-story theme park in Middle Tennessee, and Graceland have in common? They’re all proposed Tourism Development Zones, the latest craze in public finance in Tennessee.

Last week, the state legislature approved TDZs, as they’re called, for Graceland and the Mid-South Fairgrounds.

The government jargon is confusing, but the idea is fairly straightforward and not really new: A hot tourist destination generates additional property and sales taxes that fund public improvements that generate more private development, and so on.

Although it isn’t called a TDZ, Tunica is an obvious example of a big tourism windfall. A county with 10,000 residents lays a 4 percent tax on the casinos, netting over $50 million a year. Many of the customers come from afar. The taxes fund new schools, roads, law enforcement, fitness centers, a downtown mall, and an arena. City and county leaders have to work hard just to think up ways to spend all the money. Property taxes in Tunica were cut to zero. Now that’s tourism-driven development.

TDZs were originally supposed to help pay for convention centers and “qualified public use facilities.” The definition has been stretched to include privately owned tourist attractions and “qualified associated development” a mile and a half away. Tennessee lawmakers, apparently fearing a cascade of “me-too” requests from small-scale TDZ projects across the state, set a threshold of at least $200 million of investment. But when wishful thinking is the ante, players will always be drawn to the table, including the developer of the proposed Bible Park USA near Murfreesboro.

In Memphis, Graceland is a tourist attraction with worldwide recognition. But it counts visitors in hundreds of thousands, while Gatlinburg and Tunica count them in millions. Investor Robert S.X. Sillerman, whose company, CKX Inc., owns the marketing rights to Elvis Presley, says it will spend over $100 million on two hotels, an expanded visitors center, and retail shops if the public sector does about $60 million. According to CKX filings, this will “grow the Graceland experience as the centerpiece of the Whitehaven section of Memphis.” Having sold records, movies, and memorabilia, the King of Rock-and-Roll is now selling buried power lines, blight removal, and clean streets.

The Mid-South Fairgrounds as a TDZ is another stretch. Tourism was the driving force of the fairgrounds when Libertyland opened on July 4th, 1976, the American bicentennial. The Mid-South Fair was a regional draw, and there were major concerts at the Mid-South Coliseum. Thirty-one years later, Libertyland and the Coliseum are closed, the cattle barns are an eyesore, and the fair will soon be moving, The only “qualified public use facility” that can lap up state TDZ funds is the stadium.

Whatever happens at the fairgrounds in its next incarnation will primarily be for the patronage and benefit of Memphians, not tourists. Say there is some combination of a renovated or new football stadium, a minimally renovated Coliseum, the Salvation Army/Kroc recreational center, the Children’s Museum, playing fields, a school, new housing in the Beltline neighborhood east of the fairgrounds, and one or more big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart or Target. Where’s the tourism tax windfall?

A typical University of Memphis in-conference football game crowd is about 30,000. Unless the Tigers get into a Bowl Championship Series conference, that isn’t likely to change. If the retailers and restaurants, aka “qualified associated development,” fail or don’t come, everything else is either publicly owned or nonprofit, and that means no tax revenue, and taxpayers are left holding the bag.

Improving the fairgrounds and Elvis Presley Boulevard with ordinary taxes may be hard politically. But twisting the meaning of plain words to collar state or federal funding is a dangerous game. Look at the FedExForum parking garage and its phantom MATA station. Some of the most extravagant follies in Memphis — the trolley, The Pyramid, Mud Island, Beale Street Landing — have been or will be built in the name of tourism, which is one reason many Memphians regard them with apathy or resentment. Anyone who proposes to develop Graceland or the Mid-South Fairgrounds (including Henry Turley, who is a board member of the parent company of this newspaper) has their work cut out for them, even with TDZ approval from Nashville.

Categories
Opinion

Are You Wasting Words?

It’s a long road for big public projects. The ones that make it to the finish line — Mud Island, expansion of Liberty Bowl Stadium and skyboxes, The Pyramid, FedExForum, AutoZone Park — have a prime mover, state and private-sector support, and good timing. Getting built, of course, is no guarantee of success, but that’s another story.

Four multimillion-dollar proposed projects are in various stages of development as Mayor Willie Herenton and members of the City Council enter the home stretch of their four-year terms. They include Beale Street Landing, turning The Pyramid over to Bass Pro Shops, expansion in and around Graceland, and a new football stadium.

How likely are those things to happen, given a possible changing of the guard at City Hall? And what are the key factors that will make or break them? I asked four former Memphis politicians with combined experience of more than 40 years in local government — former mayor Dick Hackett and former council members TaJuan Stout Mitchell, John Vergos, and Jerome Rubin. Mitchell now works full-time for city government. Hackett is director of the Children’s Museum. Rubin works for the Center City Commission. And Vergos is in private business.

The odds are that one or more projects will falter in Memphis or Nashville. All of them except Beale Street Landing require hefty state tax rebates. The total cost of all four projects, based on published estimates, could easily exceed $200 million.

“On the council, there is collective memory loss about prior projects,” Vergos said. “Each one is a new project with no relevance to fiscal responsibility.”

Beale Street Landing. The $29 million Tom Lee Park riverfront project, financed with federal and local funds, has been in, out, then back in the budget. City Council members were expected to vote Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s on go,” said Mitchell. “The council made it clear it wants to see that project.” (At least three members have opposed it.) Hackett agreed it is likely to get built because it complements other downtown investments. “The riverfront has to always be one of the significant priorities, whoever is in office,” he said. Rubin agreed the project is “very likely,” in part because so much money has already been spent on it. Vergos called it “somewhat likely” if backers can show that tour boats would otherwise bypass Memphis.

Bass Pro in The Pyramid. The hype and the local private-sector involvement faded last year. Mitchell remained bullish that “we will see a happy conclusion of that project sooner than we think.” Vergos rated it highly likely, if Bass Pro assumes the debt on the building. Hackett, who was mayor when The Pyramid was built, called the marriage “somewhat unlikely” because “from the outside looking in, there appears to be lukewarm interest on Bass Pro’s part, although I would love to see it happen.” Rubin rated it somewhat likely that Bass Pro will fulfill its end of the tentative deal.

Graceland expansion. Elvis Presley’s name and home were in the news last week when investor Robert S.X. Sillerman announced his plan to take Graceland operator CKX Inc. private. In an interview with The Commercial Appeal, Sillerman said the plans for a new hotel, visitors center, and other improvements depends on public investment.

Mitchell, who represented Whitehaven for eight years, called that scenario “somewhat likely” but only “if Tourist Development Zone legislation gets passed so we get resources from the state.” Rubin, a self-described “big fan” of Whitehaven, called it “not very likely” and said the key issue is “What is the connection between [CKX’s] interest and the public assistance?” Hackett, who grew up in Whitehaven, called it somewhat likely “if the city and Graceland can document some payback to the city.” Vergos rated it highly likely because “cleaning up Elvis Presley Boulevard is a city obligation.”

New $150 million stadium. Mayor Herenton unveiled the idea on New Year’s Day, but five months later, nobody of much influence has seconded the motion. Hackett, Vergos, and Rubin said it is unlikely to happen. “It’s strictly a question of affordability versus other priorities,” Hackett said. “State funding is key.” Rubin said the limited usage of the stadium, which hosts nine or 10 events a year, is the problem. Vergos said the key is an independent estimate of making the existing stadium compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Mitchell, the city’s administrator of intergovernmental relations, discreetly said, “It’s too early to call.”