Graceland

Eddie KISLINGER's story "While at Graceland, All Shook Up" [Traveler's Journal, Jan. 2], brought back memories of a recent visit. In early December while on a business trip, I spent an afternoon at Graceland. Kislinger describes Graceland to a T, from getting off Interstate 40, boarding the tour bus, Graceland and the audio tape, even the stop at the gift shop, where I wound up with an Elvis coffee mug. Jerry Backstrom Temple City

On USA network, nothing on "Graceland" is what it seems. For the network that boasts an open-door policy for characters, the larger-than-life persona of the King of Rock and Roll (Elvis Presley) will not be one of its new recruits when the network's new drama premieres this summer -- and there's no Vegas backdrop or the Memphis mansion either. The drama, which comes from Jeff Eastin (the man behind the network's mainstay "White Collar"), centers on a group of agents from the FBI, DEA and Customs who are shacked up in a drug dealer's Manhattan Beach mansion that has been seized by the government (in the show, the drug dealer is a fan of the King -- hence the house's moniker and the show's title)

Super Tuesday primary voters and caucus members are busy weighing their picks for the presidential nomination. I'm more interested in what there is to see in Super Tuesday states. Here are my picks for the top tourist stops. What are yours? Go ahead and "vote" by leaving me a comment. Alaska (caucus): Totem poles, some authentic, some replicas, stand tall along the Totem Trail that snakes through two miles of lush forest in Sitka National Historical Park in downtown Sitka. It's the oldest federal park in Alaska.

SERIES Sun Studio Sessions: Shannon McNally and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are featured (8 p.m. KLCS). Need to Know: The weekly current-affairs program begins a new season (8:30 p.m. KOCE). Bering Sea Gold: The dredging-themed docu-series sets sail for another season (10 p.m. Discovery). Portlandia: The sweet and satirical series from Carrie Brownstein and "SNL's" Fred Armisen is back (10 and 10:30 p.m. IFC). Merlin: The fantasy drama set in the days of Arthurian legend launches a new season (10 p.m. Syfy)

Elvis Presley and Barbra Streisand sit like king and queen atop the list of the best-selling solo recording artists. Both have starred in numerous movies and both have devoted cult followings. From there, though, the way they are splits like a couple at Heartbreak Hotel. Babs: "Funny Girl." Elvis: "Girls! Girls! Girls!" Babs: black evening gowns. Elvis: tiger suit. Babs: alive. Elvis: dead (maybe). Then there are the places they called home.

Does anyone remember that it was not cool to be Elvis-addicted in the late 1950s? Elvis fans were oddballs, weirdos, rebels following the siren song of a sideburned, hip-swiveling yokel from Tennessee who probably was just a flash-in-the-pan anyway. In New Jersey, where my youth was spent, swing music had yet to give way to anything resembling rock 'n' roll. And requests at the record store for something by Elvis usually brought raised eyebrows and looks of consternation. What was an Elvis anyway?

Memphis braced as the rain-swollen Mississippi River reached its highest level in more than 70 years early Tuesday, marking what officials hope will be a turning point in the fight against a slow-motion disaster that has flooded low-lying homes and farmland and sent hundreds of residents to emergency shelters. The Tennessee city's musical landmarks — including Beale Street, Sun Studio and Graceland — should be spared, officials said. Farther downstream, officials were worried too. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a key spillway near New Orleans on Monday, allowing river water to flow into Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico.

Memphis braced for the rain-swollen Mississippi River to reach its highest level in more than 70 years by Tuesday, marking what officials hope will be a turning point in the fight against a slow-motion disaster that has flooded low-lying homes and farmland and sent hundreds of residents to emergency shelters. The Tennessee city's musical landmarks — including Beale Street, Sun Studio and Graceland — should be spared, officials said. Farther downstream, officials were worried too. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a key spillway near New Orleans on Monday, allowing river water to flow into Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico.

WASHINGTON -- With lawmakers singing the blues about the looming "fiscal cliff," why not a resolution to show their support for designating Jan. 8 as Elvis Presley Day? Ten members of Congress have signed onto the resolution to show they have a big hunk o' love for the King of rock 'n' roll. Presley, born Jan. 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Miss., died at age 42 on Aug. 16, 1977, at Graceland in Memphis, Tenn. He "remains one of the most famous American entertainers of all time whose influence on music and whose cultural impact continues today," according to the resolution.

As the public relations representative for the estate of Elvis Presley and Graceland, I would like to point out inaccuracies in your article on El Vez ("Into the Night," March 16). Over the 10 years I've worked with the estate, the junk the media continues to disseminate about Elvis and Graceland never ceases to amaze me. We do not and never have sold "vials of purportedly authentic Elvis sweat." That "product" was yet one more unlicensed item the estate successfully shut down years ago. Furthermore, our visitors don't "scream, swoon and throw hotel keys and undergarments."

Elvis fans, there'll be a whole lotta jumpsuit viewing goin' on in 2013. Graceland will roll out two new travel-themed exhibits at Elvis Presley's Memphis,  Tenn., home this year, one about his movies and concerts in Hawaii and another about the King's Las Vegas years. Each promises artifacts that haven't been displayed before. "Elvis' Hawaii: Concerts, Movies and More!" opens Jan. 8 on what would have been his 78th birthday. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the concert "Aloha From Hawaii" that was broadcast on TV by satellite from Honolulu.

WASHINGTON -- With lawmakers singing the blues about the looming "fiscal cliff," why not a resolution to show their support for designating Jan. 8 as Elvis Presley Day? Ten members of Congress have signed onto the resolution to show they have a big hunk o' love for the King of rock 'n' roll. Presley, born Jan. 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Miss., died at age 42 on Aug. 16, 1977, at Graceland in Memphis, Tenn. He "remains one of the most famous American entertainers of all time whose influence on music and whose cultural impact continues today," according to the resolution.

Bernard Lansky, the Memphis retailer who helped a young Elvis Presley establish his signature clothing style of pegged pants, two-toned shoes and other flashy duds in the 1950s, has died. He was 85. Julie Lansky, the clothier's granddaughter, said he died Thursday at his Memphis home. He had Alzheimer's disease. Bernard Lansky and his brother Guy started a retail business in Memphis in 1946, with help from a $125 loan from their father, Samuel. After World War II, the store started selling Army surplus goods on Beale Street.

Elvis Presley fans numbering in the thousands outside Graceland to mark the 35th anniversary of his death got quite the surprise Wednesday evening when the King's former wife and daughter -- Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley -- showed up for the annual candlelight vigil at the cultural icon's estate in Memphis, Tenn. Mother and daughter have largely avoided the hoopla surrounding the Aug. 16, 1977, death that has turned into an annual celebration of all things Elvis but remains a personal time of pain for them.

When Paul Simon's seminal album "Graceland" landed in 1986 with its intoxicating African rhythms and critical acclaim, it also came tainted by the apartheid controversy already swirling around it. The excellent new documentary "Under African Skies" comes along like a bridge over those troubled waters, following Simon back to South Africa last summer for a 25-year reunion concert with the musicians who made the album and a sit-down with one of his...

Super Tuesday primary voters and caucus members are busy weighing their picks for the presidential nomination. I'm more interested in what there is to see in Super Tuesday states. Here are my picks for the top tourist stops. What are yours? Go ahead and "vote" by leaving me a comment. Alaska (caucus): Totem poles, some authentic, some replicas, stand tall along the Totem Trail that snakes through two miles of lush forest in Sitka National Historical Park in downtown Sitka. It's the oldest federal park in Alaska.

Bernard Lansky, the Memphis retailer who helped a young Elvis Presley establish his signature clothing style of pegged pants, two-toned shoes and other flashy duds in the 1950s, has died. He was 85. Julie Lansky, the clothier's granddaughter, said he died Thursday at his Memphis home. He had Alzheimer's disease. Bernard Lansky and his brother Guy started a retail business in Memphis in 1946, with help from a $125 loan from their father, Samuel. After World War II, the store started selling Army surplus goods on Beale Street.

For Elvis fans who thought they'd seen it all, now there's the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum. The museum, which opened this week, has more than 20 vehicles once owned by the king of rock 'n' roll and it's the newest attraction at Graceland, Presley's former Memphis residence.

Memphis braced as the rain-swollen Mississippi River reached its highest level in more than 70 years early Tuesday, marking what officials hope will be a turning point in the fight against a slow-motion disaster that has flooded low-lying homes and farmland and sent hundreds of residents to emergency shelters. The Tennessee city's musical landmarks — including Beale Street, Sun Studio and Graceland — should be spared, officials said. Farther downstream, officials were worried too. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a key spillway near New Orleans on Monday, allowing river water to flow into Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico.

Memphis braced for the rain-swollen Mississippi River to reach its highest level in more than 70 years by Tuesday, marking what officials hope will be a turning point in the fight against a slow-motion disaster that has flooded low-lying homes and farmland and sent hundreds of residents to emergency shelters. The Tennessee city's musical landmarks — including Beale Street, Sun Studio and Graceland — should be spared, officials said. Farther downstream, officials were worried too. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened a key spillway near New Orleans on Monday, allowing river water to flow into Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico.