Spook Country is a 2007 novel by speculative fiction  author William Gibson. A political thriller set in contemporary North America, it followed on from the author's previous novel, Pattern Recognition (2003), and was succeeded in 2010 by Zero History, which featured much of the same core cast of characters. The plot comprises the intersecting tales of three protagonists: Hollis Henry, a musician-turned-journalist researching a story on locative art; Tito, a young Cuban-Chinese operative whose family is on occasion in the employ of a renegade ex-CIA agent; and Milgrim, a drug-addled translator held captive by Brown, a strangely authoritarian and secretive man. Themes explored include the ubiquity of locative technology, the eversion of cyberspace and the political climate of the United States in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Spook Country quickly reached mainstream North American bestseller lists and was nominated for British Science Fiction Association and Locus Awards.

Plot summary

The first strand of the novel follows Hollis Henry, a former member of the early 1990s cult band The Curfew and a freelance journalist. She is hired by advertising mogul Hubertus Bigend to write a story for his nascent magazine Node (described as a European Wired) about the use of locative technology in the art world. Helped by curator Odile Richard she investigates Los Angeles artist Alberto Corrales, who recreates virtually the deaths of celebrities such as River Phoenix. Corrales leads her to Bobby Chombo, an expert in geospatial technologies who handles Corrales' technical requirements. Chombo's background is troubleshooting navigation systems for the United States military. He is reclusive and paranoid, refusing to sleep in the same GPS grid square on consecutive nights, and only consents to talk to Hollis due to his admiration for The Curfew.

Tito is part of a Chinese Cuban family of freelance "illegal facilitators", as Brown describes them – forgers, smugglers, and associated support personnel based in New York City – and is assigned by his uncles to hand over a series of iPods to a mysterious old man. Tito is adept in a form of systema that encompasses tradecraft, a variant of free running, and the Santería religion. It is alluded that the old man may have connections to American intelligence circles and Tito hopes he can explain the mysterious death of his father. When the old man calls in a favour, his family dispatches Tito on a dangerous new assignment.

The identity of the old man remains unclear, though context implies that he may be Pattern Recognition's protagonist Cayce Pollard's father, having removed himself from the channels of normal life to focus on disrupting what he sees as criminal elements operating in the United States Government.

Tracking Tito's family is a man known as Brown, a brusque and obstinate lead covert operative for a shadowy organization of unclear connection to the U.S. government. Of neoconservative orientation, Brown appears to have a background in law enforcement, but little training in tradecraft. Brown and his team attempt to track the activities of the old man and Tito with the help of Brown's captive Milgrim, whom he has translate the volapuk-encoded Russian used by Tito's family to communicate. Milgrim is addicted to anti-anxiety drugs and is kept docile and compliant by Brown, who controls his supply of Rize. Brown believes that Tito and the old man are in possession of information that would, if revealed, undermine public confidence in the U.S.'s participation in the Iraq War. In his attempts to capture them and their data, however, Brown is instead fed disinformation through the old man's intricate schemes.

The three strands of the novel converge on a shipping container of unspecified cargo that is being transported via a circuitous route to an unknown destination. In Vancouver, the old man's team, with Hollis in tow, irradiate the shipping container, which is revealed to contain millions of U.S. dollars diverted from Iraq reconstruction funds.

Background and composition

Initial conception and development
The writing process for Spook Country began for Gibson with a desire to write a novel, but without any ideas or themes that he wished to explore. The impetus for the story grew out of the author's visual impressions of Lower Manhattan in winter, from which the character of Tito emerged. Little of the material in his original pitch of the novel (posted online as part of an early promotional campaign by the book's publishers) survived in the final draft. The original proposal focused on "Warchalker", an obscure Iraqi warblog which chronicles the story of a disappeared consignment of millions of Iraqi reconstruction money. The readers of the blog included a female networks theorist interested in locative technology, and a Manhattanite of mixed heritage who freelanced with his family for organized crime. The plot would have followed those readers' attempt to track a shipping container through Warchalker on behalf of an unnamed villain.

The characters from the proposal did appear in the final version, albeit in much-altered form. An early draft featuring the musician-turned-journalist Hollis and half-Cuban spy Tito as the two protagonists did not satisfy Gibson, and so he introduced the character of Milgrim, the drug-addled translator. The story of Tito's family of Chinese exiles in Cuba turning to crime was not based on historical events, though their role as "illegal facilitators" was inspired by real crime families specializing in smuggling, a phenomenon Gibson encountered in the course of his work with the futurist consulting entity Global Business Network. Although he had intended his 2003 novel Pattern Recognition to be a standalone work, elements of it manifested in the script of its eventual successor, including the character of amoral marketing guru Hubertus Bigend. As Gibson developed the plot, "it became apparent that Node, the shadowy magazine startup, was way Bigendian", and thus Spook Country came to inhabit the same fictional universe as its predecessor. In a January 2007 interview, the author revealed that the later novel was set in the spring of 2006, and described the shared world of the novels as "more or less the one we live in now".

Gibson was first introduced to locative media websites through links from a friend, and initially found the phenomenon to be "excessively nerdy and very conceptual". Despite his finding compelling the idea of a digital grid mapping the surface of the earth, Gibson saw little storytelling traction in geocaching and geohacking, and instead reworked the material into the locative art of the novel. "When I started, I thought that the 'locative art' stuff would work the way immersion technology did in my earlier fiction", he commented in a subsequent interview. "Then I started liking that it wasn't going to do that." The conception of the artworks in the novel was derived from the lowbrow art movement, and was inspired by the movement's talismanic Juxtapoz, the only art magazine Gibson was reading regularly at the time. The novel exhibits Gibson's characteristic brand awareness (a key plot element of Pattern Recognition), which he honed while poring over catalogues of products as part of his writing process. The author found the writing process unnerving, as the solution to the mystery of the container – the novel's MacGuffin – did not come to him until after he had written several hundred pages of manuscript.

Pre-release

Gibson announced the novel on October 6, 2006, on his blog, where fragments of the work were posted non-sequentially for some time, leading to much reader speculation on the content and plot of the novel. The following day, the blog featured an exploration of the mooted title by close friend and collaborator Jack Womack. In August 2007, Gibson made an appearance in the virtual world Second Life to give a reading of the novel; later reflecting on the experience, he remarked that the Second Life construct was "a lot more corporate" than he had imagined. A report in The Times described the event as "heavily freighted with meaning" in light of Gibson's role in shaping conceptions of cyberspace and virtual worlds.

In an interview to promote the release of the novel, Gibson revealed that one of the issues that had most affected his writing process since Pattern Recognition was the sense that everything in the text was potentially searchable online. "It's as though there is a sort of invisible hyperlink theoretical text that extends out of the narrative of my novel in every direction", he commented. A recipient of an advanced reading copy initiated Node Magazine, a literary project in the guise of the novel's fictional magazine, with the intent of annotating the novel. The author, under the nom de plume patternBoy, mobilised a cadre of volunteers to track the references and collate the cloud of data surrounding the work – those elements of the story with footprints on internet resources such as Google and Wikipedia. The project had precedent in Joe Clark's PR-Otaku, an attempt at logging and annotating Pattern Recognition, but whereas that took several years to develop, Node was complete before the novel was even published.

Themes

Spook Country explores themes relating to espionage, war profiteering and esoteric martial artistry, as well as familiar themes from the author's previous novels such as the unintended uses for which technology is employed (e.g. locative art) and the nature of celebrity. The author's preoccupation with semiotics and apophenia in Pattern Recognition is carried over in the sequel. In a review for The Guardian, Steven Poole observed that "This is a novel about, and also full of, ghost-signs, or signs that may not be signs, and about the difficulty of telling the difference. Gibson delights in saturating the pages with data that may or may not encode clues for the reader."

Eversion of cyberspace
Through its treatment of locative technology, the novel revisits notions of virtual reality and cyberspace prominent in Gibson's early cyberpunk fiction. One character proposes that cyberspace is everting; becoming an integral and indistinguishable element of the physical world rather than a domain to be visited. During the book tour for the novel, Gibson elaborated on this theme, proposing that the ubiquity of connectivity meant that what had been called "cyberspace" is no longer a discrete sphere of activity separate from and secondary to normal human activity, but that those increasingly less common parts of normal life free from connectivity were the exception. "If the book has a point to make where we are now with cyberspace", he commented, it was that cyberspace "has colonized our everyday life and continues to colonize everyday life."

Class divide
One of the elements of the novel that the author found most poignant was that of class division and how there is a subset of people who have access to a world of power and wealth that the vast majority will never experience, of which Gibson cited Brown and his evidently routine use of a private jet as an example. The author felt that at the time of writing, such social chasms were widening, and drew parallels to the Victorian era as well as to the world of his breakthrough novel Neuromancer (1984) in which there is no middle class, only the super-rich and a predominantly criminal underclass.

In an interview with The Telegraph promoting the novel, Gibson conjectured that the world was moving to a situation wherein social status is determined by "connectivity" – access to communications technology – rather than material wealth.

Political climate of the post-9/11 world

Sociocultural changes in post-September 11 America, including a resurgent tribalism and the "infantilization of society", first appeared as a prominent motif in Gibson's thought with Pattern Recognition. Gibson interpreted the attacks as a nodal point, "an experience out of culture" which irrevocably changed the course of history and marked "the true beginning of the 21st century." After crafting 100 pages of that novel, he was compelled to re-write the main character's backstory, which the attacks had suddenly rendered implausible; this he called "the strangest experience I've ever had with a piece of fiction." The result saw Gibson noted as one of the first novelists to use the attacks to inform their writing. Nathan Lee in The Village Voice advanced the notion that while Pattern Recognition  focused to an extent on "specifying the ambient sense of invasiveness in all aspects of life after the collapse of the towers", Spook Country accepted that anxiety as a premise, and was thus "the more reflective, less unnerving of the two novels".

Politics is present as an underlying theme in Spook Country to a greater extent than in any of the author's previous novels. The novel can be read as an exploration of the fear, uncertainty and pervasive paranoia of an America riven by the unending and divisive Iraq War. Although he had avoided overtly political themes in his previous work out of a distaste for didacticism, Gibson found that in the Bush era, politics had "jacked itself up to my level of weirdness". Of the climate in Washington, D.C. during that period, he disclosed in a 2007 interview that "I like the sheer sort of neo-Stalinist denial of reality. That's what makes it work. It's interesting." Mike Duffy in Scotland on Sunday characterized the novel as a "startling, effective guidebook to post-9/11 America"; Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times elaborated, proposing that it was "arguably the first example of the post-post-9/11 novel, whose characters are tired of being pushed around by forces larger than they are – bureaucracy, history and, always, technology – and are at long last ready to start pushing back".

Interpretation and reception
Spook Country appeared on bestseller charts by August 7, 2007 – five days after release. The novel entered The Washington Posts hardcover fiction bestseller list for the Washington D.C. area in late August at #4, and by September had reached #2 in San Francisco and Canada. It was listed at #6 on Publishers Weeklys hardcover fiction bestseller list for the U.S, as well as on The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction (where it lasted three weeks). It earned a nomination for the BSFA Awards for best novel of 2007, and finished second to Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union in the standings for the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel the following year. In August 2008, Rebecca Armstrong of The Independent named Spook Country as one of the "Ten Best Thrillers".

Mike Duffy felt that although the novel was less overtly science fiction than Gibson's earlier novels, it retained their "wit, virtuosity and insights", and had "the same giddy mix of techno-fetishism, nuanced edge and phraseological finesse which enlivened his previous work". "Spook Country, in essence," pronounced The Telegraphs Tim Martin, "is a classic paranoid quest narrative, but one that refashions the morbid surveillance tropes of the Cold War for a post-Iraq era". Ken Barnes of USA Today found that "[l]andscapes, events and points of view shift constantly, so that the reader never truly feels on solid ground", but judged the novel to be a "vivid, suspenseful and ultimately coherent tale". In a review for The Washington Post, Bill Sheahan hailed the novel's capture of the zeitgeist, and compared it to the acclaimed literary fiction of Don DeLillo:

Plot, prose, and character

Ed Park of the Los Angeles Times hailed the novel as a "puzzle palace of bewitching proportions and stubborn echoes", noting the fact that antihero Hubertus Bigend was the most prominent link to Pattern Recognition as "deliciously sinister". Tim Martin thought that the plot lacked direction at times. Although he conceded that the novel's main Henry/Bigend storyline felt lightweight, Matt Thorne writing in The Independent conjectured that it was part of Gibson's conscious design that that thread "plays out against a backdrop of hidden machinations that have a much darker, wider resonance". Thorne declared Spook Country a more substantial novel than its predecessor on this basis. John Casimir of The Sydney Morning Herald concurred, writing that despite the similarity in the plots of the novels, the narrative foundation of the later novel was firmer, its structure "more sophisticated" and its "seams less visible".

Ed Park singled out the author's prose for praise, proclaiming that "[s]entence for sentence, few authors equal Gibson's gift for the terse yet poetic description, the quotable simile – people and products are nailed down with a beautiful precision approximating the platonic ideal of the catalog". Matt Thorne noted that while he found Gibson's tendency towards hyper-specificity initially irritating, "there's hypnotic quality to the relentless cataloguing". The author's prose was also extolled by Clay Evans of the Daily Camera, and by Benjamin Lytal in The New York Sun, who declared that "the real news, in Spook Country, is that much of the flair that Mr. Gibson once brought to descriptions of cyberspace seems to fit perfectly, now, on all kinds of things." In The Seattle Times, Nisi Shawl gushed that "[e]ven without the high cool quotient of the novel's contents, the pleasure of Gibson's prose would be enough inducement for most of us to immerse ourselves in this book...." Simon Cooper of The Book Show agreed with the commendations of Gibson's prose, but felt the plot and characterization let the book down:

In a review for The Providence Journal, Andy Smith remarked that the author was "a master of atmosphere, if not character" – a sentiment echoed by The Post and Couriers Dan Conover, who, although praising the novel's intelligence and contemporary relevance, felt that Gibson's underlying political pre-occupation and detached narration came at the expense of character development. Neil Drumming, of Entertainment Weekly, in awarding the novel a "B" rating concurred, complaining that the protagonists "often just feel like higher-tech automatons with useful features" whose actions are the product of manipulation by "external forces and cagey operatives" rather than conscious decisions. In The Daily Telegraph, Roger Perkins was more blunt, remarking that the "relentless pace and breathless dislocation" of the plot hid "character development that's as deep as dental veneer but equally shiny". Matt Thorne summed up the issue in opining that "The problem with a thriller which begins with a technology journalist talking to an experimental artist is that, no matter how exciting the events later become, it's hard to care."

Conclusion

Reviewers were divided as to the merits of the novel's ending. Andy Smith lamented that the finale of the "mostly intriguing" novel was "distinctly anticlimactic". Tim Martin wrote that it seemed "somehow less than the sum of its parts". Clay Evans dismissed it as "not especially meaningful, but fun", whereas Matt Thorne found it lacking "a traditional thriller's excitement". San Francisco Chronicle reviewer Michael Berry called it "an ingenious reversal" which proved that despite its apparent cynicism, the novel was "oddly optimistic for a ghost story". Overall, Thorne judged the novel ultimately unsatisfactory on account of the underwhelming ending and because Gibson "hides the full complications of the plot so successfully that it feels as if everything important is happening offstage". Roger Perkins judged the novel to be "a triumph of style over substance – which is exactly the way you suspect that Gibson wants it." His colleague Martin mused that along with the regular Gibsonian tropes, there was "something new ... a dark and very contemporary surge of suspicion and bad faith" in the novel which suggested that the author might be approaching the apex of his writing. Dan Conover concluded that while the "darkly comic satire" was "a worthy addition to the Gibson canon and a significant cultural artifact", it would not rank among the author's best works.

References

External links
 Spook Country at WilliamGibsonBooks.com (author's official website)
 Spook Country promotional interview with the author at YouTube
 "The Art Pack meets William Gibson" – interview with the author with background on the novel at Vimeo
 node.tumblr.com – chapter summaries and background research from Node Magazine
 SpookCountry.co.uk – discussion and analysis of Spook Country from a United Kingdom perspective

2007 Canadian novels
Novels by William Gibson
Political thriller novels
Canadian satirical novels
Sequel novels
Canadian science fiction novels
Canadian spy novels
Techno-thriller novels
Novels set in Vancouver
Novels set in New York City
Canadian thriller novels

Spook Country


BioHome was a small facility created by NASA in the late 1980s that could support one person in a fully functional habitat.  One of the influences on the project was the results from data obtained on the 1973 Skylab 3 (SL-3), where a total of 107 VOCs were offgassed by synthetic materials that composed the SL-3.  However, the study of indoor air quality was not the only focus of the project, as it was a part of research into closed ecological life support systems.

The facility was still in use as of March 5, 2005, and has paved inroads into creating self-supporting life support systems.

Construction
Construction of the BioHome concluded in 1989 and construction materials included synthetics which gave off the aforementioned VOCs.  The BioHome itself resembles a mobile home in size where it contained a living area and treatment facilities for human waste and air.

While not completely air-tight, such as the Biosphere 2 structure, the structure was engineered for maximum air and energy confinement. This was unsurprising, given that the interior walls were composed of molded plastic panels with 30 cm of fiberglass insulation.

The BioHome had living facilities that could support one person and foliage plants were placed throughout the structure, aiding in air purification.  In addition to the plants, a prototype fan-assisted plant filter was installed; the filter had the removal capacity of 15 standard potted plants.

The BioHome was equipped with monitoring ports for the detection of VOCs, which were measured using mass spectrometer / gas chromatograph equipment.

In experiments regarding wastewater treatment, the facility was outfitted with PVC piping and ultraviolet equipment.

Usage
The BioHome was used for a variety of experiments into, and including:

Wastewater treatment
In its nascence, the BioHome focused on alternative, non-chemical sewage treatment methods utilizing non-edible plants of aquatic disposition.  The aquatic and semi-aquatic plants were chosen based on their previously known abilities for waste treatment.  Another usage for the plants used in the wastewater treatment included its implementation as compost, which was feasible as the plants grew as more sewage was introduced.

Means
All waste material, such as feces and urine, were routed through PVC pipes, punctured so that the root systems of aquatic / semi-aquatic plants could be inserted.  At different points of the flow, the water was studied (although those specific results are unavailable at this writing).

Ensuring total eradication of microorganisms, the processed water was subjected to ultraviolet radiation.

The processed water is subsequently used as toilet and plant water, though not directly for human consumption.

Plants used
Plants, or more accurately, the root systems of aquatic plants found to have a filtering effect include bulrush, reed, soft rush and water iris.  As explained by Wolverton:When sewage is slowly filtered through an aquatic plant root filter system, complex biological processes take place during wastewater treatment and purification. The symbiotic relationship that is normally established between the plant roots and microorganisms living on and around these roots is very complex and important in the wastewater treatment process... This process not only removes organic chemicals, but is also thought to contribute to the reduction of other polluting substances including pathogenic bacteria and viruses. It has been shown that roots of aquatic plants such as bulrush, reed, soft rush and water iris excrete substances that can either partially or completely kill pathogenic bacteria while not harming beneficial bacterial. The aerobic zone around the aquatic root system can also support, in addition to bacteria, the growth of large numbers of protozoa which feed on bacteria, viruses and particular organic matter.

Harvesting drinking water
Water suitable for human use was extracted from the condensate from three sources: dehumidifier units, air conditioning, and plant leaves.  In fact, plant leaves proved to be a major, consistently reliable source of water vapors.

The condensate was run through ultraviolet equipment to ensure its safety.

Crop growth
Crops were grown in the hydroponic sections of the BioHome, comprising edible plants (squash, corn, sorghum, tomatoes and other organics) and non-edible plants, which were an essential part of the air purification process.  Compost made from wastewater treatment plants was used effectively as a growth medium.

Air purification
The living areas of the BioHome were teeming with plant foliage, the purpose of which was to purify the air of carbon dioxide.  As a result of the experiment, it was also found that the plants purified the air of synthetic offgases, such as those emitted from formaldehyde, benzene, toluene and organics.  In essence, the plants established and maintained indoor air quality.

See also
Biosphere 2
BIOS-3
Eden Project
Anthroponics

Related links
PERMANENT - Space Colonies - NASA CELSS
Mars Base Zero - an Alaskan CELSS

Controlled ecological life support systems
Building biology
Ecological experiments
Hydroponics
Human analog missions

BioHome


Katrina Carlson is an American singer-songwriter. She currently resides in Santa Monica, California with her husband, Kenneth A. Carlson, and her three children, Mackenzie, Alexander and Ruby Rose.

Early life
Carlson was born and grew up in Paradise Valley, Arizona, the youngest of 11 children. By the age of 12, she was playing both piano and guitar, and composing songs. Carlson attended college at Brown University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors in International Relations, Foreign Policy and Diplomacy with a focus in Nuclear Arms Control. After graduating from college, Carlson moved to New York City and was admitted to the Manhattan School of Music and Brooklyn College's opera program.

Career

Early years
During her time in New York, she appeared in an Off-Broadway Cole Porter review, You Never Know. She also lived in Washington, D.C. where she performed in many plays and musicals at various theaters.

In 1993, Carlson moved to Santa Monica, California, where she continued to perform in local and regional theater. Carlson also garnered appearances in films and television shows including: In the Line of Fire, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a Bajoran Officer and Special Delivery. Carlson placed two of her songs, "I Never Believed" and "Bring it On" in Special Deliverys soundtrack.

Apples For Eve
In 1999, Carlson started her own record label, Kataphonic Records. Carlson released her debut record, Apples For Eve, in September 2001. The album was produced by Emmy Award-winning producer Ron Cohen. Three songs from Apples for Eve, "I Know You By Heart", "Friday Night" and "Winning's Everything", were featured in the documentary feature film Go Tigers!. "Winning's Everything" was used on NBC's Lost and the title track "Apples For Eve" was featured on the daytime drama Passions. Carlson's song "Friday Night" aired as the theme song for ABC's TGIF Friday Night line up in the fall/winter of 2003–2004.

Carlson was a finalist in the Rolling Stone/Jim Beam emerging Artist series in 2002, finishing second.

Untucked
Carlson's second album, Untucked, was released in May 2003. David Darling, best known as a member of the Boxing Gandhis and for his work with Meredith Brooks and Brian Setzer, produced the album. Special guests on the disc included Goo Goo Doll drummer Mike Malinin, Oingo Boingo bassist John Avila, hit singer-songwriter Benny Mardones and drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle, Guns N' Roses).

Four singles from the Untucked CD spent a combined 18 months in the Top 30 of the Billboard and R&R Adult Contemporary charts: "Suddenly Beautiful", "Drive", "Count On Me", and "I Know You By Heart". Carlson's success on the Billboard charts with these singles put Kataphonic Records in the Top #20 in Billboard's 2005 Adult Pop Power Players special issue (July 23, 2005) with Gregg Bell at the helm as general manager of the label. Other record labels on the Adult Pop Power Players list included Columbia, Epic, Universal, Island Def Jam, Warner Bros, Atlantic, Capitol, Interscope, and Lava.

The first single from Untucked was the pop ballad "I Know You By Heart", which featured Benny Mardones, best known for his 1980's hit single "Into The Night". Later in 2006, Carlson would perform the duet "This Time" with Mardones for his 2006 album Let's Hear It for Love. Nationally syndicated radio host Delilah was a big fan of the track and played it on her show, and Carlson also appeared on the Delilah show on several occasions. "Drive", a cover of the Cars' 1984 hit, was a bonus track on the Untucked CD and was recorded immediately following the album sessions. A mash up of Carlson's "Drive" and the original "Drive", featuring the Cars' Benjamin Orr, spent 3 weeks at No. 1 on Los Angeles radio station KBIG FM and also hit the Top 5 at sister station KOST FM. In their review of the "Suddenly Beautiful" single, Billboard magazine declared the song "beautiful, indeed".

Carlson had numerous songs from the Untucked album included on television shows. Dawson's Creek featured "I Know You By Heart" and "Blue Steak Cadillac", and "Dive" appeared on the Bravo reality show Blowout 3. In 2008, "Go-To Girl" and "Getaway Car" were also featured on the teen drama South Of Nowhere.

Carlson won two awards at the 2003 Los Angeles Music Awards. Untucked was selected as "Best Independent Pop Album", and "Dive" was selected as "Indie Single of the Year".

In 2005, "Suddenly Beautiful" was featured on the Music Is Hope compilation. The record was issued on Robby Takac's (Goo Goo Dolls) Good Charamel records and also included tracks by Goo Goo Dolls and Ani DiFranco.

Also in 2005, Carlson released the original song "You Are Christmas", produced by Tal Herzberg. Musicians on the track include Tim Pierce and John Beasley. In December 2005, the television show Extra! aired the song as well as an interview with Carlson.

In 2008, the track "Mother" was included on Stork Tunes: Songs for a Happy Birth Day, a compilation released by the March of Dimes foundation. Billy Joel, Kenny Loggins, Norah Jones, The Dixie Chicks and Celine Dion also appeared on the disc.

Here and Now
Here and Now, was released August 2007. Ron Aniello produced the record and played guitar, bass and keyboards. Matt Chamberlain played drums on the record.

Here and Now'''s first single was an updated take on the Howard Jones classic "No One Is to Blame", with a guest appearance by Jones himself on vocals and piano. The single reached No. 20 on the Billboard chart and hit No. 1 on the ACQB chart, making it Carlson's first No. 1 song. Billboard Magazine's review of the track described the song as "utterly charming".

Carlson's audience grew significantly in 2008 when "Feel For Me" was featured in two episodes of the N Network's 3rd season of the teen drama South of Nowhere. "Feel For Me" was eventually released as the third single from Here and Now.Here and Nows lead-off track, "Be The One", won first place in the Pop category at Indie International Songwriting Contest and "Be The One" music video won first place at the Indie Gathering. In September 2007, Extra! premiered the "Be The One" video on their show.

In 2008, Carlson played a show at the Briar Rose Winery in Temecula with special guest host Kate Linder of the daytime drama The Young and the Restless. Her performance inspired Briar Rose winery to name their 2007 Estate Zinfandel "Katrina".

Also in 2008, Carlson was selected to attend hit country songwriter Jeffrey Steele's Songwriting Bootcamp. Hundreds of people applied from the US and beyond, and only twelve people were selected. The bootcamp is a three-day, three night songwriting event where songwriters get one-on-one coaching and critiquing from Jeffrey Steele.

In her career, Carlson has performed with Lindsey Buckingham, Howard Jones, Chicago, Kenny Loggins, Rick Springfield, Eddie Money, Julie Roberts, Joan Jett, Tal Bachman, Richard Marx, and Kimberly Locke amongst others.

Katrina Carlson is endorsed by Fender Guitars, Taylor Guitars, Martin Guitars and Dean Markley Strings.

Discography
Albums
 Apples for Eve (2001)
 Untucked (2003)
 Drive (2003)
 You Are Christmas (2005)
 Here and Now (2007)
 Rock Your Beautiful (2009)

Compilation Appearances
 4th Annual NSAI Song Contest (2004) – New Shoes
 Women at Work (2005) – Underground
 Music Is Hope (2005) – Suddenly Beautiful
 Stork Tunes (2008) – Mother
 Los Angeles Women in Music – Best of the Best Soiree (2007–2008) – Here and Now
 Stomp Out Cancer (2008)'' – Count On Me

Awards
 2002 Finalist in the Rolling Stone/Jim Beam emerging Artist series
 2003 Untucked won "Best Independent Pop Album" at the Los Angeles Music Awards
 2003 "Dive" won "Indie Single of the Year" at the Los Angeles Music Awards
 2004 "New Shoes" was a Runner-up in the 4th Annual CMT song Contest
 2006 Finalist in the Billboard Songwriting Contest
 2007 Finalist in the Billboard Songwriting Contest
 2008 Finalist in the Billboard Songwriting Contest
 2008 "Be The One" music video won 1st place in The Indie Gathering contest
 2008 "Be The One" won 1st place in the Pop Category at the Indie International Songwriting Contest

Radio charts
Billboard/R&R AC (Nielsen BDS-based)

References

External links

American women guitarists
American women singer-songwriters
People from Paradise Valley, Arizona
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American women
Singer-songwriters from Arizona

Katrina Carlson


Friedrich Wilhelm Eckhardt (25 February 1892 – 9 April 1961) was a German engineer and head of the design office for the Berliner Maschinenbau Aktien Gesellschaft vormals L. Schwartzkopff.

Life

Friedrich Wilhelm Eckhardt was born on 25 February 1892 in Kassel and initially worked for Henschel & Sohn before switching to L. Schwartzkopff in 1916. In 1936 he became a senior engineer (Oberingenieur).

He played a decisive role in the designs of the DRG Class 41 and Class 84 steam locomotives. For the latter, he developed the Schwartzkopff-Eckhardt II bogie named after him, which was designed to improve the curve running of steam engines.

In addition he published several books on the construction and design of steam locomotives.
He died on 9 April 1961 in Niederlehme.

Works
Die Konstruktion der Dampflokomotive and ihre Berechnung, Verlag Technik 1952, Reprint: Transpress, Stuttgart 2008,
Lokomotivkunde. H. 5. Das Fahrgestell der Dampflokomotiven, Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, 1957
Einführung in die Theorie der Dampflokomotive für Praktiker zum Selbstunterricht, Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, 1952
Das Entwerfen von Dampflokomotiven, Siemens, 1948
Das Fahrgestell der Dampflokomotiven, Transpress, Berlin 1960

See also
 List of railway pioneers

Sources
 :de:Friedrich Wilhelm Eckhardt

1892 births
1961 deaths
Engineers from Kassel
People from Hesse-Nassau
German railway pioneers
German railway mechanical engineers

Friedrich Wilhelm Eckhardt


Height is the distance between the lowest end and highest end of an object.

For example, it is said the bottom of the foot is a person's lowest end, and the top of the head is a person's highest end. If the distance between the bottom of a person's foot and the top of that person's head is 64 inches, then that person's height is 64 inches.

Height is measured in 3D objects. 2D objects do not have height; they only have length and width.

Related pages
 Depth
 Elevation
 Volume

Physical quantity

Height


Discourse on Colonialism () is an essay by Aimé Césaire, a poet and politician from Martinique who helped found the négritude movement in Francophone literature. Césaire first published the essay in 1950 in Paris with Éditions Réclame, a small publisher associated with the French Communist Party. Five years later, he then edited and republished it with the anticolonial publisher Présence africaine (Paris and Dakar). The 1955 edition is the one with the widest circulation today and serves as a foundational text of postcolonial literature that discusses what Césaire described as the appalling affair of the European civilizing mission. Rather than elevating the non-Western world, the colonizers de-civilize the colonized.

Argument
Aimé Césaire's Discourse on Colonialism argues that colonialism has never been a benevolent movement whose goal was to improve the lives of the colonized; instead, colonists' motives were entirely self-centered, economic exploitation. According to Césaire, by establishing colonies and then exploiting them, the European colonial powers have created two main problems: the problem of the proletariat and the colonial problem. In describing the colonial problem that European civilization has created, he calls Europe "indefensible", whose colonizers cannot be misconstrued as positive. Césaire discusses the relationship between civilization and savagery and points out the hypocrisy of colonialism. He asserts that it is ironic that colonizers hoped to rid the countries they colonized of "savages", but in reality, by killing, raping, and destroying the land in which those "savages" lived on, they were themselves savages. His interpretation flips the common narrative to point out the autonomy that existed in colonizing foreign lands.

He bases his argument on the claim that "no one colonizes innocently, that no one colonizes with impunity either; that a nation which colonizes, that a civilization which justifies colonization—and therefore force—is already a sick civilization, a civilization which is morally diseased, which irresistibly, progressing from one consequence to another, one denial to another, calls for its Hitler, I mean its punishment". He labels the colonizers as barbaric for their treatment of those in the colonies. He defines the relationship as one limited to "forced labor, intimidation, pressure, the police, taxation, theft, rape, compulsory crops, contempt, mistrust, arrogance, self-complacency, swinishness, brainless elites, degraded masses".

In addition, Césaire also acknowledges the racial construction of the relationship. By identifying the colonial relationship as one based on race, he draws comparisons between his home of Martinique with the colonies in Africa. By equating racism, barbarism and colonialism, he claims colonization to be a form of dehumanization that results from Europe's racism against black populations in Africa and the Caribbean. He writes that Hitler differed in the eyes of the Europeans because he "applied to Europe colonialist procedures which until then had been reserved exclusively for the Arabs of Algeria, the 'coolies' of India and the 'niggers' of Africa'. He means that by persecuting white Europeans, Hitler produced violence most commonly reserved for non-white populations. Césaire argues, "they tolerated that Nazism before it was inflicted on them, they absolved it, shut their eyes to it, legitimized it, because, until then, it had been applied only to non-European peoples".

Marxist theory
Césaire criticizes the "humanist" interpretation of colonialism because it continues to deny the humanity of the colonized peoples, the very antithesis of humanism, which emphasizes the value and agency of human beings. Additionally, he referred to Marxist theory and criticized the "bourgeois, capitalistic European culture and said that capitalism would always disintegrate into Nazism". The most notable allusion to Marxism appears towards the end of the text when he writes, "it is a new society that we must create, with the help of all our brother slaves, a society rich with all the productive power of modern times, warm with all the fraternity of olden days. For some examples showing that this is possible, we can look to the Soviet Union".

Style
Césaire writes his book in a poetic style and discussed the negative effects of colonization on colonies. He writes in poetic prose as, "a method of achieving clairvoyance, of obtaining the knowledge we need to move forward". His unique style of writing sets him apart from other postcolonial academics who published works alongside him during the same era.

Reception
Its "harsh tone and radical statements" has made the essay been compared to "a declaration of war" on colonialism.

Discourse on Colonialism added to the themes developed in his 1939 poem Cahier d'un retour au pays natal ("Notebook of a Return to the Native Land"), which he wrote in response to leaving Metropolitan France and returning to Martinique. In , Césaire notes the relationship between Martinique and his African heritage and confirms bond between colonies in Africa and colonies elsewhere as one based on race. In identifying the racism problem associated with the colonial relationship, he claims that Hitler and the Nazi Party's persecution of Jews during the Second World War and the Holocaust was not an aberration but rather the norm in Europe.

See also
 Civilizing mission
 Eurocentrism

References

1955 non-fiction books
Works by Aimé Césaire
French non-fiction books
History books about colonialism
Marxist books
Philosophy books

Discourse on Colonialism


Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG was a German manufacturer of mass market audio equipment.

History
The origins of the company trace to 1889 in Türkheim, Swabia, Germany, when Felix Schneider founded a company manufacturing industrial woodworking tools. In 1965 the business entered the audio electronics market through the manufacture of radio cabinets

During the 1970s and 1980s the Schneider name became associated with audio systems; the company was unusual for a German audio systems manufacturer in that it focused on low cost products rather than the luxury sector.

In 1984 computers from the Amstrad company were marketed under the Schneider brand in Germany and central Europe. In 1987 the association with Amstrad ended, and the company produced PC compatible machines from 1988.

The Gebrüder Steidinger company (maker of the Dual turntable line) and brand were acquired from Thomson in 1988, in part to obtain a saleable brand name in France where the large and long established company Schneider SA was already present. In the 1990s the company's name was changed to Schneider Electronics

In 2002 the company was bankrupt. It was acquired by the TCL Corporation for €8.2 million in 2002.

See also
 Schneider Computer Division
 Schneider Euro PC

References

Consumer electronics brands
German brands
Electronics companies of Germany
Companies based in Bavaria
Electronics companies established in 1889
Electronics companies disestablished in 2002
2002 mergers and acquisitions
German companies disestablished in 2002
German companies established in 1889

Schneider Rundfunkwerke


Graceland is a mansion on a  estate in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, once owned by American singer Elvis Presley. Presley is buried there, as are his parents, paternal grandmother, grandson, and daughter.

Graceland is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the Whitehaven, Memphis neighborhood, about  south of central Memphis and fewer than  north of the Mississippi border. It  was opened to the public as a house museum on June 7, 1982, and attracts more than 650,000 visitors annually.

Graceland was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991, becoming the first site recognized for significance related to rock music. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006, also a first for such a site.

Presley's father Vernon Presley first inherited Graceland after the singers death on August 16, 1977, followed by his only child, Lisa Marie Presley once she turned 25 years old, according to document which name his ex-wife Priscilla Presley as trustee. Following Lisa Marie's death on January 12, 2023, her eldest daughter Riley Keough became the sole trustee and owner.

History
Graceland Farms was originally owned by Stephen C. Toof, founder of S.C. Toof & Co., the oldest commercial printing firm in Memphis. He worked previously as the pressroom foreman of the Memphis newspaper, the Memphis Daily Appeal. The site (before the mansion was built in 1939) was named after Toof's daughter, Grace. She inherited the property from her father in 1894. After her death, the property passed to her niece Ruth Moore, a Memphis socialite. Together with her husband, Thomas Moore, Ruth Moore commissioned construction of a  Colonial Revival style mansion in 1939. The house was designed by architects Furbringer and Ehrman.

After Elvis Presley began his musical career, he purchased a $40,000 home for himself and his family at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis. As his success and fame grew, especially after his appearances on television, the number of fans who would congregate outside the house increased. Presley's neighbors, although happy to have a celebrity living nearby, concluded that the constant gathering of fans and journalists was a nuisance.

In early 1957, Presley gave his parents, Vernon and Gladys Presley, a budget of $100,000 and asked them to find a "farmhouse"-like property to purchase, with buffer space around it. At the time, Graceland was located in southern Shelby County, several miles south of Memphis's main urban area. In later years, Memphis expanded with residential developments, resulting in Graceland being surrounded by other properties. Presley purchased Graceland on March 19, 1957, for a price of $102,500.

Later that year, Presley invited Richard Williams and singer Buzz Cason to the house. Cason said: "We proceeded to clown around on the front porch, striking our best rock 'n' roll poses and snapping pictures with the little camera. We peeked in the not-yet-curtained windows and got a kick out of the pastel colored walls in the front rooms with shades of bright reds and purples that Elvis most certainly had picked out." Presley was fond of claiming that the US government had mooted a visit to Graceland by Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, "to see how in America a fellow can start out with nothing and, you know, make good."

After Gladys died in 1958 aged 46, Presley's father Vernon married Dee Stanley in 1960, and the couple lived at Graceland for a time. There was some discord between Presley and his stepmother Dee at Graceland, however. Elaine Dundy, who wrote about Presley and his mother, said that
Vernon had settled down with Dee where Gladys had once reigned, while Dee herself – when Elvis was away – had taken over the role of mistress of Graceland so thoroughly as to rearrange the furniture and replace the very curtains that Gladys had approved of." This was too much for Presley, who still loved his late mother deeply. One afternoon, "a van arrived ... and all Dee's household's goods, clothes, 'improvements,' and her own menagerie of pets, were loaded on ... while Vernon, Dee and her three children went by car to a nearby house on Hermitage until they finally settled into a house on Dolan Drive which ran alongside Elvis's estate.

According to Mark Crispin Miller, Graceland became for Presley "the home of the organization that was himself, was tended by a large vague clan of Presleys and deputy Presleys, each squandering the vast gratuities which Elvis used to keep his whole world smiling." The author adds that Presley's father Vernon "had a swimming pool in his bedroom", that there "was a jukebox next to the swimming pool, containing Elvis's favorite records", and that, he "would spend hours in his bedroom, watching his property on a closed-circuit television". According to Presley's cousin, Billy Smith, Presley spent the night at Graceland with Smith and his wife Jo many times: "we were all three there talking for hours about everything in the world! Sometimes he would have a bad dream and come looking for me to talk to, and he would actually fall asleep in our bed with us."

Priscilla Presley lived at Graceland for five years before she and Elvis married in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 1, 1967. Their daughter Lisa Marie Presley was born on February 1, 1968, and spent the first years of her life on the estate. After her parents divorced in 1972, her mother moved with the girl to California. Every year around Christmas, Lisa Marie Presley and all her family would go to Graceland to celebrate Christmas together. Lisa Marie often returned to Graceland for visits.

When Elvis toured, staying in hotels, "the rooms would be remodeled in advance of his arrival, so as to make the same configurations of space as he had at home – the Graceland mansion. His furniture would arrive, and he could unwind after his performances in surroundings which were completely familiar and comforting." 'The Jungle Room' was described as being "an example of particularly lurid kitsch."

On August 16, 1977, Presley died aged 42 in his bathroom at Graceland. According to the biographer Peter Guralnick, he "had thrown up after being stricken, apparently while seated on the toilet. It looked to the medical investigator as if he had 'stumbled or crawled several feet before he died.'" Guralnick adds that "drug use was heavily implicated in this unanticipated death of a middle-aged man with no known history of heart disease." The official cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, although later  toxicology reports strongly suggested that polypharmacy was the primary cause of death; "fourteen drugs were found in Elvis's system, with several drugs such as codeine in significant quantities. Presley lay in repose in a , copper-lined coffin just inside the foyer; more than 3,500 of his mourning fans passed by to pay their respects. A private funeral with 200 mourners was held on August 18, 1977, in the house, with the casket placed in front of the stained glass doorway of the music room. Graceland continued to be occupied by members of the family until the death of Presley's aunt Delta in 1993, who had moved in at Elvis's invitation after her husband's death.
Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited the estate in 1993 when she turned 25, until her death 30 years later.

Presley's grave, along with those of his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, his grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, and his grandson Benjamin Keough are located in the Meditation Garden next to the mansion. They can be visited during the mansion tours or for free before the mansion tours begin. A memorial gravestone for Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon, is also at the site.

In 2019, the owners of Graceland threatened to leave Memphis unless the city provided tax incentives. The Memphis City Council subsequently voted on a deal to help fund a $100 million expansion of Graceland.

Architecture

Exterior
Constructed at the top of a hill and surrounded by rolling pastures and a grove of oak trees, Graceland is designed by the Memphis architectural firm, Furbringer and Erhmanis. It's a two-story, five-bay residence in the Colonial Revival style, with a side-facing gabled roof covered in asphalt shingles, a central two-story projecting pedimented portico, and two one-story wings on the north and south sides. Attached to the wing is an additional one-story stuccoed wing, which was originally a garage that houses up to four cars. The mansion has two chimneys; one on the north side's exterior wall, the second rising through the south side's roof ridge. The central block's front and side facades are veneered with tan Tishomingo limestone from Mississippi and its rear wall is stuccoed, as are the one-story wings. The front facade fenestration on the first floor includes 9x9 double-hung windows set in arched openings with wooden panels above, and 6x6 double-hung windows on the second floor.

Flanked by two marble lions, four stone steps ascend from the driveway to the two-story central projecting pedimented portico. The pediment has dentils and a small, leaded oval window in the center while the portico contains four Corinthian columns with capitals modeled after architect James Stuart's conjectural porticos for the "Tower of the Winds" in Athens, Greece. The portico's cornered columns are matched by pilasters on the front facade. The doorway has a broken arched pediment, full entablature, and engaged columns while its transom and sidelights contain elaborate and colorful stained glass. And above the main entrance is another rectangular window, completed with a shallow iron balcony.

Interior

First floor

Graceland is  and has a total of 23 rooms, including eight bedrooms and bathrooms. To the right of the Entrance Hall, through an elliptical-arched opening with classical details, is the Living Room. The Living Room contains a  white couch against the wall overlooking the front yard. To the left are two white sofas, a china cabinet and a fireplace with a mirrored wall. The painting that hangs in the room was Elvis's last Christmas present from his father, Vernon, and also displayed are photographs of Elvis's parents Vernon and Gladys, Elvis and Lisa Marie. Behind an adjoined doorway is the Music Room, framed by vivid large peacocks set in stained glass and contains a black baby grand piano and a 1950s style TV. And the third adjacent room is a bedroom that was occupied by Elvis's parents. The walls, carpet, dresser, and queen size bed are bright white with the bed draped in a velvet-looking dark purple bedspread along with an en-suite full bathroom done in pink.

To the left of the Entrance Hall, mirroring the Living Room, is the Dining Room, headlined by a massive crystal chandelier. It features six plush chairs in golden metal frames set around a marble table, all of which are placed on black marble flooring in the center with carpet around the perimeter. Connected to the Dining Room is the Kitchen, which was used by Elvis's aunt Delta until her death in 1993 before it was opened to the public two years later.

The original one-story wing on the north end of the residence includes a mechanical room, bedroom, and bath. In the mid-1960s, Presley enlarged the house to create a den known as the Jungle Room which features an indoor waterfall of cut field stone on the north wall. The room also contains items both related to and imported from the state of Hawaii because, after starring in the tropical film "Blue Hawaii" (1961), the musician wanted to bring some memorabilia from The Aloha State to his mansion, which gives visitors the same feeling. In 1976, the Jungle Room was converted into a recording studio, where he recorded the bulk of his final two albums, From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee (1976) and Moody Blue (1977); these were his final known recordings in a studio setting. During the mid-1960s expansion of the house, Presley constructed a large wing on the south side of the main house that was a sidewalk, between the music room in the original one-story wing and the swimming pool area, that connected to the house by a small enclosed gallery. The new wing initially housed a slot car track and to store his many items of appreciation, but was later remodeled to what is now known as the Trophy Building, which now features an exhibit about the Presley family, and includes Priscilla's wedding dress, Elvis's wedding tuxedo, Lisa Marie's toy chest and baby clothes and more.

Second floor
The Entrance Hall contains a white staircase leading to the house's second floor with a wall of mirrors. However, the second floor is not open to visitors, out of respect for the Presley family, and partially to avoid any improper focus on the bathroom which was the site of his death. Still, it features Elvis's bedroom at the southwest corner that connects to his dressing room and bathroom in the northwest. His daughter Lisa Marie's bedroom is in the northeast corner, and in the southeast is a bedroom that served as a private personal office for the musician. The floor has been untouched since the day Elvis died and is rarely seen by non-family members.

Basement

Downstairs in the basement is the TV room, where Elvis often watched three television sets at once, and was within close reach of a wet bar. The three TV sets are built into the room's south wall and there's a stereo, and cabinets for Elvis's record collection. Painted on the west wall is The King's 1970s logo of a lightning bolt and cloud with the initials TCB, both of which represent 'taking care of business in a flash'. And the last room in the mansion opposite of the TV room is the billiard room; an avid billiards player, Elvis bought the pool table in 1960 and had the walls and ceiling covered with 350–400 yards of pleated cotton fabric after the two basement rooms were remodeled in 1974. The pool balls are arranged just the way they were in the musician's final days, along with a sign that says "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH, THANK YOU." And in one corner of the pool table, there's a rip in the green felt, which was caused by one of Elvis's friends in a failed attempt of a trick shot.

Critical voices
Critics such as Albert Goldman write: "Though it cost a lot of money to fill up Graceland with the things that appealed to Elvis Presley, nothing in the house is worth a dime." In chapter 1 of his book, Elvis (1981), the author describes Graceland as looking like a brothel: "it appears to have been lifted from some turn-of-the-century bordello down in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Lulu White or the Countess Willie Piazza might have contrived this plushy parlor for the entertainment of Gyp the Blood. The room is a gaudy mélange of red velour and gilded tassels, Louis XV furniture and porcelain bric-a-brac..." And he dismisses the interior as "bizarre," "garish" and "phony," adding that "King Elvis's obsession with royal red reaches an intensity that makes you gag."

In similar terms, Greil Marcus writes that people who visited the inside of Graceland—"people who to a real degree shared Elvis Presley's class background, and whose lives were formed by his music—have returned with one word to describe what they saw: 'Tacky.' Tacky, garish, tasteless—words others translated as white trash."

According to Karal Ann Marling, Graceland is "a Technicolor illusion. The façade is Gone With the Wind all the way. The den in the back is Mogambo with a hint of Blue Hawaii. Living in Graceland was like living on a Hollywood backlot, where patches of tropical scenery alternated with the blackened ruins of antebellum Atlanta. It was like living in a Memphis movie theater... Diehard fans are sometimes disappointed by the formal rooms along the highway side of Graceland. They're beautiful, in a chilly blue-and-white way, but remote and overarranged." The Jungle Room's "overt bad taste" lets nonbelievers "recoil in horror and imagine themselves a notch or two higher than Elvis on the class scale."

Estate

After purchasing the property Presley spent in excess of $500,000 carrying out extensive modifications to suit his needs including a pink Alabama fieldstone wall surrounding the grounds that has several years' worth of graffiti (signatures and messages) from visitors, who simply refer to it as "the wall". Designed and built by Abe Sauer is the wrought-iron front gate shaped like a book of sheet music, along with green colored musical notes and two mirrored silhouettes of Elvis playing his guitar. Sauer also installed a kidney shaped swimming pool and a racquetball court, which is reminiscent of an old country club, furnished in dark leather and a functional bar. There is a sunken sitting area with the ever-present stereo system found throughout Graceland, as well as the dark brown upright piano upon which Elvis played for what were to be his last songs, Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and "Unchained Melody".

However, reports conflict about which one was the last song. The sitting area has a floor-to-ceiling shatterproof window designed to watch the many racquetball games that took place there when Elvis was alive. In the early hours of the morning on which Elvis died, he played a game of racquetball with his girlfriend Ginger Alden, his first cousin Billy Smith and Billy's wife Jo before ending the game with the song on the piano before walking into the main house to wash his hair and go to bed. Today the two story court has been restored to the way it was when Elvis used the building.

Elsewhere on the estate is a small white building that served as an office for Vernon, along with an old smokehouse that housed a shooting range and a fully functional stable of horses.

One of Presley's better known modifications was the addition of the Meditation Garden, designed and built by architect Bernard Grenadier. It was used by the musician to reflect on any problems or situations that arose during his life. It is also where his entire family is buried: himself (1935–1977), his parents Gladys (1912–1958) and Vernon (1916–1979), and grandmother Minnie Mae Hood (1890–1980) while a small stone memorializes his twin brother Jesse Garon, who died at birth thirty minutes before Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. In late 2020, Lisa Marie's son Benjamin Keough was laid to rest on the opposite end of the Meditation Garden after his death from suicide in July of that year. Lisa Marie Presley died from sudden cardiac arrest in January 2023 and is buried next to her son.

Tourist destination

After Elvis Presley's death in 1977, Vernon Presley served as executor of his estate. Upon his death in 1979, he chose Priscilla to serve as the estate executor for Elvis's only child, Lisa Marie, who was only 11. Graceland itself cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Elvis's and Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie's inheritance to only $1 million. Taxes were due on the property; those and other expenses due came to over $500,000. Faced with having to sell Graceland, Priscilla examined other famous houses/museums, and hired a CEO, Jack Soden, to turn Graceland into a moneymaker. Graceland was opened to the public on June 7, 1982. Priscilla's gamble paid off; after only a month of opening Graceland's doors the estate made back all the money it had invested. Priscilla Presley became the chairwoman and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises, or EPE, stating at that time she would do so until Lisa Marie reached 21 years of age. The enterprise's fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million.

An annual procession through the estate and past Elvis's grave is held on the anniversary of his death. Known as Elvis Week, it includes a full schedule of speakers and events, including the only Elvis Mass at St. Paul's Church, the highlight for many Elvis fans of all faiths. The 20th Anniversary in 1997 had several hundred media groups from around the world that were present resulting in the event gaining its greatest media publicity.

One of the largest gatherings assembled on the 25th anniversary in 2002 with one estimate of 40,000 people in attendance, despite the heavy rain. On the 38th anniversary of Elvis's death, an estimated 30,000 people attended the Candlelight Vigil during the night of August 15–16, 2015. On the 40th anniversary of Elvis's death, on August 15–16, 2017, at least 50,000 fans were expected to attend the Candlelight Vigil. No official figure seems to have been released, maybe because, for the first time, attendees had to pay at least the lowest tour fare, $28.75, to cover the extra security costs due to a larger than usual crowd.

For many of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Graceland each year, the visit takes on a quasi-religious perspective. They may plan for years to journey to the home of the 'King' of rock and roll. On site, headphones narrate the salient events of Elvis's life and introduce the relics that adorn the rooms and corridors. The rhetorical mode is hagiographic, celebrating the life of an extraordinary man, emphasizing his generosity, his kindness and good fellowship, how he was at once a poor boy who made good, an extraordinary musical talent, a sinner and substance abuser, and a religious man devoted to the Gospel and its music. At the meditation garden, containing Elvis's grave, some visitors pray, kneel, or quietly sing one of Elvis's favorite hymns. The brick wall that encloses the mansion's grounds is covered with graffiti that express an admiration for Presley as well as petitions for help and thanks for favors granted.

The Graceland grounds include a new exhibit complex, Elvis Presley's Memphis, which includes a new car museum, Presley Motors, which houses Elvis's Pink Cadillac. The complex features new exhibits and museums, as well as a studio for Sirius Satellite Radio's all-Elvis Presley channel. The service's subscribers all over North America can hear Presley's music from Graceland around the clock. Not far away on display are his two aircraft including Lisa Marie (a Convair 880 jetliner) and Hound Dog II (a Lockheed JetStar business jet). The jets are owned by Graceland and are on permanent static display.

In early August 2005, Lisa Marie Presley sold 85% of the business side of her father's estate. She kept the Graceland property itself, as well as the bulk of the possessions found therein, and she turned over the management of Graceland to CKX, Inc., an entertainment company (on whose board of directors Priscilla Presley sat) that also owns 19 Entertainment, creator of the American Idol TV show.

Graceland Holdings LLC, led by managing partner Joel Weinshanker, is the majority owner of EPE. Lisa Marie Presley's estate retains a 15% ownership in the company.

Lisa Marie Presley's estate, which is being held in trust for her daughters Riley Keough and Harper and Finley Lockwood, retain 100% sole personal ownership of Graceland Mansion itself and its over 13-acre original grounds as well as Elvis Presley's  personal effects – including costumes, wardrobe, awards, furniture, cars, etc. Prior to her death in 2023, Lisa Marie Presley had made the mansion property and her father's personal effects permanently available for tours of Graceland and for use in all of EPE's operations.

Notable visitors

According to Elvis Presley's Enterprises, staff at Graceland informally kept a list of celebrities who had visited in the first years following Elvis's death. This practice was not formalized for a decade. Muhammad Ali was an early celebrity visitor in 1978, as was singer Paul Simon. He toured Graceland in the early 80s and afterward wrote a song of the same name; it was the title track of his Grammy-winning album Graceland.

On June 30, 2006, then US President George W. Bush hosted Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for a tour of the mansion. It was one of the few private residences on United States soil to have been the site of an official joint-visit by a sitting US president and a serving head of a foreign government. On August 6, 2010, Prince Albert II, Head of State of the Principality of Monaco, and his fiancée (now Princess of Monaco) Charlene Wittstock, toured Graceland while vacationing in the US. On May 26, 2013, Paul McCartney of The Beatles visited Graceland. Prince William and Prince Harry, while in Memphis for a friend's wedding, visited Graceland on May 2, 2014.

The home has also been visited by former US President Jimmy Carter; the late Duchess of Devonshire, the sitting ambassadors of India, France, China, Korea and Israel to the United States; as well as several US governors, members of the US Congress, and at least two Nobel Prize winners, namely singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, a Literature Prize laureate, and the former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, a Peace Prize honoree, who visited it on October 10, 2001.

In May 2016, Graceland welcomed a newlywed couple as its 20 millionth visitor.

In June 2022, actors Austin Butler and Tom Hanks visited the mansion and were interviewed virtually by the Good Morning America news program from the Jungle Room to talk about their biographical film Elvis.

Graceland in pop culture
 Paul Simon named an album Graceland, as well as its title track. The song won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1987.
 The song "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn mentions Graceland; in the second verse, he refers to the mansion and the Jungle Room. This song was later covered by Cher and Lonestar, among others.
 The film 3000 Miles to Graceland is about a group of criminals who plan to rob a casino during an international Elvis week, disguised as Elvis impersonators. No scenes take place at or near the estate.
 The film Finding Graceland stars Harvey Keitel with Johnathon Schaech. Keitel is an impersonator who claims to be the real Elvis after Schaech picks him up as a hitch-hiker.
 In the rock music "mockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap, band members gather around Presley's grave at Graceland and attempt to sing a verse of "Heartbreak Hotel".
 Pop punk group Groovie Ghoulies have a song called "Graceland" on their 1997 album Re-Animation Festival.
 In the movie Zombieland: Double Tap, the protagonists venture to Graceland in hopes of shelter during a zombie apocalypse, but are distressed to find it in a ruined state.
 During the credits of Lilo & Stitch, there's a photograph of Lilo, Nani, David and Stitch visiting the front gates of Graceland. Almost 20 years later, the original painting of that shot was put on display as part of the traveling Walt Disney Archives exhibition at Graceland.
 In the season three episode of American Dad "The Vacation Goo", Steve Smith asks Stan Smith if they can go to Graceland for their next vacation and Stan says "Steve, if you want to pay your respects to a fat man who died on the toilet, we can visit your Aunt Mary's grave."
 Phoebe Bridgers has a song "Graceland Too" on her second studio album Punisher.
 In the third episode of National Treasure: Edge of History, "Graceland Gambit," the main protagonist, Jess (portrayed by Lisette Olivera) is on a treasure hunt that leads her and her friends to Graceland.
 Florence + The Machine reference Graceland and Elvis in their song "Morning Elvis" on their 2022 album Dance Fever.

Gallery

See also
 Graceland Too
 List of museums in Tennessee
 List of music museums
 List of National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee
 National Register of Historic Places listings in Shelby County, Tennessee
 Tourism in Memphis, Tennessee, including a special Graceland section, focused on the touristic aspects.

References

Citations

Works cited

Further reading
 Davidson, Linda Kay and David Gitlitz. Pilgrimage, from the Ganges to Graceland: An Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2002).
 Engel, Matthew. "Still Stuck on Elvis, Fans Exalt the King". The Guardian (London), August 17, 2002, p. 1.
 Marling, Karal Ann. Graceland: Going Home with Elvis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.
 Miksanek, Chris. From de Soto to Elvis: A Brief History of Graceland Farm. Bamber Books, 2012.

External links

 List of celebrities who visited Graceland
 History of Graceland With Home Movies and Pictures

1930s architecture in the United States
1939 establishments in Tennessee
1982 establishments in Tennessee
Presley, Elvis
Cemeteries in Tennessee
Colonial Revival architecture in Tennessee
Elvis Presley
Greek Revival houses in Tennessee
Historic house museums in Tennessee
Houses completed in 1939
Houses in Memphis, Tennessee
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee
Landmarks in Tennessee
Mass media museums in the United States
Museums established in 1982
Museums in Memphis, Tennessee
Music museums in Tennessee
National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee
National Register of Historic Places in Memphis, Tennessee
Historic Rock and Roll Landmarks

Graceland