After Graceland, it's Rendezvous for Bush, guests

The Commercial Appeal ^ | June 27, 2006 | Bartholomew Sullivan

[RDTF]

President Bush, the first lady and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi are going whole hog on their visit to Memphis Friday. They've selected the Rendezvous for lunch after less than two hours at Graceland.

According to an abbreviated schedule subject to revision, the White House says Bush and Koizumi will tour Graceland Friday morning before heading Downtown for lunch at the landmark barbecue joint. There are no details yet on who will be guests at the luncheon gathering in the Bluff City institution in the alley behind South Second Street. The restaurant was closed Monday, as usual, and owner Charles Vergos could not be reached about what he'll serve.

Bush heads for an Ohio fund-raiser after his Memphis visit.

[xsmommy]

2 weeks ago, my 2 daughters and i did the very same thing. ate at Rendevouz the same day for dinner that we did Graceland. PRESIDENT BUSH AND THE JAPANESE GUY COPIED US! ; )

[xsmommy]

too bad they will likely not have any elvis impersonators on their tour!

[SelmaLee]

Go to hogsfly.com and order up some!

[capt. norm]

PRESIDENT BUSH AND THE JAPANESE GUY COPIED US! ; )

That's because Bush had the NSA monitor your vacation/weekend plans (and everyone else's). He knows whether or not you're going to use genuine Kingsford charcoal or will be using Hank Hill-approved propane for your barbecue.

This will all come out in a big expose' in the New York Times on the eve of the 4th of July.

Gotta' go...I'm out of Reynolds Wrap.

[ChinaThreat]

I can deal with Collierville. Germantown and even the Southwind area is slipping. The places you mention are fine during the day, but you slip a block off of Poplar or off Beale and you may end up dead. Sorry. The place is run by King Willie and is about as well run as DC. I couldn't take it anymore and had to leave. Good luck and be careful if you live there.

[RDTF]

lol!

[ChinaThreat]

The commisary has the best BBQ in memphis. I wasn't really that impressed with Corky's or Rendezvous. But then again, I'm not a big pork BBQ fan anyway.

[Phsstpok]

I live in Germantown and work at a facility in the Southwind area. I agree with your assessment but... I moved here from New York, where I grew up, some 20 years ago, so there's dangerous and then there's dangerous. Oh, and before we moved we lived in New Jersey. There's corrupt and then there's corrupt...

[RDTF]

lol - just the opposite - I grew up in Memphis and moved to NJ.

[Phsstpok]

I grew up in Memphis and moved to NJ.

You got Pizza!!!!! I'm so jealous!

The scariest thing, when we moved here, was when we asked our realtor where we might find good Italian. With a thick southern accent she replied "well, there's a Pizza Hut right over there."

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where in Jersey? We were in Old Bridge, Ocean Township (Asbury Park) and East Windsor before my company moved. I grew up in Scarsdale, NY. There are things I miss about the NY area, but I'm very glad that I raised my kids down here. Of course, there's nothing holding me here, either.

Except a job, of course...

[RDTF]

I lived in Somerset county...I was there for about 15 years. OMG Asbury Park - I still visit Belmar and probably would never admit to many a thing during those crazy summers! Now I am in northern VA (DC), and it's really hard to find good pizza here!! But Memphis - oh you poor thing. Although it has my heart the truth is I couldn't wait to leave. My mom is still there.

[Eagle9]

Source: Reuters
Spirit of Elvis still lives in Japan fans' hearts
June 28, 2006
By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - The "King" never came to Japan, but Japan's prime minister is making a pilgrimage to Graceland.

Elvis fan Billy Morokawa says Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will likely feel the power of Presley's enduring energy when he tours the rock-and-roll legend's home in Memphis, Tennessee, Friday with President Bush.

"I don't feel that he's still alive, but his spirit still lives," said Morokawa, vice president of the Elvis Presley Fan Club-Tokyo, who has visited Graceland four times.

"The energy he gave out when he was alive even now isn't disappearing, it's expanding. Maybe Koizumi can feel that energy when he goes to Graceland."

Koizumi, 64, is an Elvis devotee who not only shares a January 8 birthday with his idol, but picked out his songs for a 2001 charity album, "Junichiro Koizumi Presents My Favorite Elvis Songs." The prime minister appears on the album's cover standing next to Elvis outside Graceland in a composite picture.

Back in 1987 when Koizumi was a mere lawmaker, he and his brother Masaya, now a senior adviser to the Tokyo fan club, helped raise funds to erect a status of Elvis in the Japanese capital to commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death.

Three years ago the prime minister, an eclectic music lover whose favorites also include German composer Richard Wagner, sang his favorite Elvis hit -- "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" -- with actor Tom Cruise, then in Tokyo to promote his movie "The Last Samurai."

Koizumi, a maverick politician who sprang to power in 2001 promising to breathe fresh life into Japan's stale politics and stalled economy, is hardly the only Elvis fan in Japan.

(Excerpted)

Fourty-eight-year-old Billy Morokawa of Japan, vice-president of Elvis Presley Fan Club of Tokyo,
speaks in front of a television screen showing Presley's concert during an interview with Reuters at
his home in Yokohama, South of Tokyo June 27, 2006. REUTERS/Kiyoshi Ota

 

[RDTF]

that's hilarious! Thanks for sharing that

[Recall]

I finally went there last week after 9 months living here..trouble is, it was a Monday and closed so we went to Corky's instead.


Tell me does the Rendezvous have a dry rub?

[Sybeck1]

I find the Rendezvous ribs to dry. I work two blocks from the Rendezvous, ugh, ugh! I guess I'm stuck in the office for lunch!!

[Non-Sequitur]

Why would the media give the public the President's itinerary? They are insane...

Why would the White House release the ininerary if they didn't want the media to print it?

[Non-Sequitur]

mine too! I bet it will be hilarious to see how the Japanese guy reacts to Graceland

He'll probably cry. Koizumi is supposed to be a big Elvis fan.

[Non-Sequitur]

Then again, Platinum Plus is kind of nice.

I've got one of those credit cards, too.

[Atlantian]

Koizumi should also go to Tupelo and see Elvis' birthplace, the shotgun house his father built. To me that's the real Elvis.

[ChinaThreat]

Lol. That wouldn't suprise me. I havent been back since i left a few years ago.