Rock 'n' roll homages
Memorials to rock legends may not always be in the best of taste and can be found in some surprising places. But death has not withered the adulation of these elite superstars of rock 'n' roll.
Elvis Presley
You've probably been to Graceland to see the King's elaborate mansion, but what you really want is something a little, well, let's face it, tackier. And where else would you expect tack but in Las Vegas? Squeezed between strip clubs, the Elvis-A-Rama Museum welcomes you by way of a talking mural. Subjects of the King begin their tour in a blackened room with Elvis written on the walls in 19 languages. Past this spooky introduction, about US$5 million worth of memorabilia awaits, from Elvis' blue suede shoes and his first limousine to his karate outfit and a lava lamp he once owned.
Jimi Hendrix
For 32 years the burial place of guitarist sublime Jimi Hendrix was marked by a simple tombstone in Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton, Washington. No more: Hendrix is being transformed into a tourist attraction. A life-sized bronze sculpture has been placed over a new grave (his body was moved to a plot nearby a couple of years ago) and a 10-metre granite dome cover has been years in the making. Plans are afoot for Hendrix tours, taking in his new resting place plus the Hendrix statue on Capitol Hill, Seattle, and the Woodland Park Zoo with its Hendrix memorial mosaic (which doubles as a viewing platform for the African savannah enclosure).
Frank Zappa
There is no reason why the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, should be the site of a Frank Zappa monument. Zappa, perhaps the only guitarist ever to eclipse the luminous talent of Hendrix, never visited Lithuania and had no connection with the country except an especially ardent fan club. After his death in 1993 the club petitioned parliament for a memorial like all those other grand monuments of Lithuanian patriots and poets around the city. So, there it stands, in central Vilnius, a ponytailed bust on a four-metre stainless-steel column surrounded by a Zappa mural, all of which was unveiled to the accompaniment of a military band and fireworks. Rock 'n' roll is supposed to be surreal, right?
Jim Morrison
If Jim Morrison, charismatic, controversial frontman of The Doors, had hoped to rest in peace, he failed. In Paris' star-studded Pere Lachaise cemetery, his grave is the site of a swarming pilgrimage. Morrison lookalikes (of both sexes) sit and ponder his genius in an aromatic cloud suggesting that 'keep off the grass' has a whole different meaning at this celebrated sanctuary. Morrison dominates a literary and artistic Who's Who of the deceased at Pere Lachaise; but if rock 'n' roll isn't your thing, try Chopin's grave nearby.
