RIVER CITY JOURNAL: MEMPHIS: CITY OF KINGS AND SOUTHERN LIFE

Growing up in the Ozarks foothills of Southeast Missouri, you're never quite sure if you're a southerner or not. In grade school you learn (or at least you used to) that Missouri was both a confederate state and a union state in the Civil War. At least parts of the state were loyal to the South and the other parts were loyal to the North. And there were plenty of battles and loss of life to attest to the strong feelings on both sides.

The farther south you go in the Bootheel, the more it feels like the South. And it certainly starts sounding like the South somewhere around Benton. By the time you get to New Madrid you can still taste the breakfast grits.

Over the years, you have lived and traveled in much of the United States. Kansas City, Dallas, New York, Idaho (the whole state) and Topeka have been the main stops, along with sojourns in several smaller Missouri towns.

Having moved so often, one thing you notice is how people talk. Their speech patterns both identify natives of a particular place and magnify interlopers who have, in our mobile society, moved to that particular locale.

You're no Henry Higgins, but you like to see how specific you can get in identifying the home state or even the home town of the people you meet.

For example, there is a tiny town of Fairview in northeastern Kansas where one of your best college friends is from. As you moved around the country and met folks with that distinctive Kansas speech pattern, you have been able to amaze some folks with your keen ear. "You must be from northeastern Kansas," you would say. "Possibly Fairview or Sabetha." The wide-eyed looks acknowledge the identity your speech gives you, much like fingerprints or hereditary cowlicks.

For all of your travels, your visits to the South -- those states clearly identified as southern -- have been limited: a couple of vacations in Florida, a few weekend trips to northern Louisiana. Some of you might include Texas. Don't mention that to any Texans. They are, after all, Texans, not southerners.

Since moving to Cape Girardeau last July, you have discovered Memphis, a city that is within easy driving range but far enough south to be really southern. There is something about Memphis that says -- and sounds like -- Old South.

Any first visit to Memphis, however, requires a pilgrimage to the home and cash-producing empire of the king: Elvis Presley. The Graceland tour is a visit to another time preserved like insects encased in amber for a few million years. At Graceland, the past is pickled in 1960s clothing styles and home furnishings. It's authentic, because that's the way you remember it.

Most visitors to Graceland are there for a spiritual reunion with Elvis at the shrine he built for himself. Your wife discovered how serious the visitors are when she saw the billiard room in the basement of Graceland and burst out laughing. Cult followers of all ages glared.

At the other end of the cultural spectrum in Memphis is the current exhibit from the People's Republic of China called "The Imperial Tombs of China." It is at the convention center in downtown Memphis, and it is a dazzling display of priceless artifacts from archaeological sites in a mysterious land. Anyone with an interest in the art and history of China needs to set aside a day or a weekend for a Memphis visit before the exhibit leaves.

Dead Chinese emperors and a dead rock 'n' roll king. Throw in King Cotton and B.B. King too. Memphis is a royal place to go. While you're there, listen to people talk. You will soak up the South.

~R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.