Yep, that's Elvis. Did you know that Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi? I didn't realize it until we stayed there. Here are some more interesting tidbits that I learned about Elvis's younger years.
- He had an identical twin brother who was stillborn. (My imagination goes wild thinking about how the Elvis story might have been different had his brother survived. That would be a great plot for a novel!)
- His music was inspired by the gospel music he heard at church.
- He was ten when he made his first public broadcast at the Tupelo Fairgrounds.
- When he was eleven his mom suggested that he buy a guitar instead of a rifle at the hardware store.
- He lived in Tupelo until his family moved to Memphis when he was thirteen.
This is the two-room house that Elvis's dad built with $180 of borrowed money. Elvis was born in this house, but his family had to move before he was three years old because his dad couldn't repay the loan. It costs $4 to take a tour of the house.
The docent inside told us more about her life than Elvis's. I still can't get used to all the extraneous chatting that goes on here in the South, especially when I'm a paying customer. Sometimes it's charming and sometimes it's annoying. This time it was both. I have to admit, she had one really good story. Beware, I'm about to go off topic - just the thing that annoys me.
The docent lady had a friend. Let's call her Mabel. So, Mabel's son told her that when she died, he was going to dig a big hole and bulldoze her house into the hole. Apparently she collected a LOT of stuff, especially porcelain dolls. (Eeew, porcelain dolls. I loathe them!) Her son resented the dolls and all the stuff that Mabel collected because she seemed to care more about her stuff than her own children. Anyway, Mabel died and that's exactly what her son did. He dug a big hole and bulldozed her house into it. But, before he did the deed, the docent lady rescued a violin that Mabel had told her about. Mabel claimed it was a Stradivarius. And guess what!? It was! That story proved to be more interesting to me than the tour. That's why I had to mention it. Anyway, here are a couple of good pictures of Elvis's first home, here's the official Elvis Presley Birthplace website, and here are some interesting facts about Elvis's younger years.
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