Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette Visitors file past the grave of Elvis Presley, his parents and grandmother in the meditation garden of Graceland. The 30th anniversary of Presley's death will be Aug. 16. Click photo for larger image. If you go: Memphis Rock n Soul Museum -- Where: 191 Beale St., Memphis, TN 38103 -- Information: 1-901-205-2533; memphisrocknsoul.org. -- Hours: Open daily except holidays, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; final museum admission at 6:15 p.m. -- Admission: $10 for adults, $7 for ages 5-17; discounts available to AARP, AAA and military members. Sun Studio -- Where: 706 Union Ave., Memphis, TN 38103 -- Information: 1-800-441-6249 or 1-901-521-0664; sunstudio.com. -- Hours: Open daily 10 a.m.-6 p.m. -- Admission: $9.50 adults, free for children under 12 accompanied by parent. Backbeat Tours -- Where: Kiosk outside Blues City Cafe at Beale and Second streets. -- Information: 1-866-392-2328; www.backbeattours.com. -- Hours for Mojo Tour: 2:30 p.m. Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays. -- Admission: adults $25; seniors $23; children $14. Graceland Mansion -- Where: 3734 Elvis Presley Blvd., Memphis, TN 38116 -- Information: 1-901-332-3322; elvis.com. -- Hours: March through October -- 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays; November -- 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Sundays; December through February -- 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays-Sundays. Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and sometimes on New Year's Day. Call for other holiday hours. -- Admission: There are three levels of tours at Graceland: The Elvis Entourage VIP Tour, Graceland Platinum Tour and Graceland Mansion Tour. The cost, respectively: adults: $68, $30, $25; seniors 62 and older: $68, $27, $22.50; youth/students/college ID: $68, $27, $22.50; children 7-12: $68, $15, $10. Children 6 and under, free. Related coverage Civil Rights Museum preserves struggle for justice

MEMPHIS -- It's after midnight during a lull in Memphis in May -- it's Mother's Day weekend, the few days between the annual music and barbecue festivals -- and the heart of the city, Beale Street, is just getting revved up for another late-night, early-morning of live blues, soul and rock 'n' roll.

This is a city with its own soundtrack. All you have to do is turn off your iPod and listen, especially along Beale Street.

Traveling to Memphis, a city tucked into the far southwest corner of the rectangular state of Tennessee, was the choice of my best friend, Regina Levin, a social worker now living in Philadelphia. She had picked the city as a place to celebrate each of us turning 50 this year and decided we would concentrate on several attractions: the birthplace of rock 'n' roll, Beale Street, and down the road apiece, Sun Studios -- and, of course, Graceland. The only other mandatory destination was the National Civil Rights Museum.

W.C. Handy Park, named for the songwriter known as "the father of the blues," is the first site we see: a patch of green beside our hotel room at the Hampton Inn & Suites. The park has a small tent for musicians, and we soon discover it isn't the only outdoor venue that holds a tiny bandstand with a big sound. Music spills out from every opening along Beale Street, from B.B. King's club at the corner of Beale and Third to Pat O'Brien's, just a few steps from the W.C. Handy house, now a small museum. At Rum Boogie Cafe, we enjoy the band Delta Highway. And Sunday, slowing down for Silky O'Sullivan's late-night dueling pianos, we listen to the talented Craig Schuster, who asks where people in the sparse crowd are from. Turns out he's marrying a Pittsburgher and gives me a "Go Steelers!" before launching into my request, "Thunder Road."

The streets are closed to traffic, with police aplenty at night and revelers partaking in the rite to bear beer or daiquiris as they walk from one musical or dining experience to the next.

At one point, we wander into a club that has an Elvis impersonator performing for a tour group. It's one of many reminders that Graceland isn't far away.

Rock and Soul and Mojo

Beale Street is the best starting point to enjoy the city and not just because of the booze, the blues, et al. The Rock n Soul Museum is here, adjacent to the FedEx Forum, home of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies.

Jack White of The White Stripes, in a recent interview in the magazine Black Book, said, "You have to start blues-based if you're going to play rock 'n' roll, otherwise you've got a shaky foundation."

Here, then, is the foundation.

The self-guided tour in Rock n Soul, an arm of the Smithsonian Institution, uses a short film, exhibits and a lot of music to provide a music history that starts in Tennessee cotton fields and takes visitors from Ike Turner's groundbreaking "Rocket 88" through the big-name musicians still recording in Memphis today. Directly across the street from the museum is the Gibson guitar factory, with a shop, tours and a live-music showcase.

An important note about the museum: The free shuttle that originates from there seven days a week takes visitors to Sun Studios and Memphis' No. 1 attraction: Graceland.

But before we hit Graceland, my friend has found another great way to get to know the city, musically speaking, along Beale Street. That's where the Backbeat Tour's "vintage" bus picks us up, along with five other tourists. A Pittsburgher in the ticket booth accepted our $25 each for the Memphis Mojo Tour, then handed us over to guide/guitarist/singer Memphis ("that's the name my father gave me") Jones.

Mr. Jones, guitar in hand and song at the ready, guided us from downtown landmarks to sites such as the Presley family's first apartment in Memphis, in a modest low-rise complex, and accompanied each site with a story and a song. The bus was airy but not air-conditioned, the mood was light and breezy, and it was an enjoyable and informative 80-minute tour.

Sun Studio

Although the Mojo Tour had a quick pit stop at Sun Studio, we chose to take the national landmark at our own pace, using the free shuttle for the short ride to 706 Union Ave., where the original studio building announces itself with a sign in the shape of a giant guitar.

I'm sure the $9.50 tour is a blast with whichever guide happens to lead the way, but we got lucky with an amusing fellow whose dry humor and evident veneration of the studio (he's a musician and sound engineer at the still operating studio) were almost as impressive as the "X" on the floor where Elvis first recorded "That's All Right Mama." Not far from the "X" is a giant black-and-white image of the Million Dollar Quartet -- Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley -- hanging near the spot where they had a one-time-only impromptu jam session.

Another photo, much smaller, shows Bono recording just a few years ago in the same small studio.

Graceland

We save the visit to Elvis Presley's Graceland for last, on a Monday, and are glad of it. The crowd is sparser than expected, and we can take the self-guided tour at a leisurely pace.

The approach via the free shuttle gives little indication that we are entering a royal neighborhood -- until we notice the plane parked off to the side of the entry. The shuttle deposits us into the visitor's center, where we can choose from several gift shops, restaurants and self-guided tours. We decide on the $25 tour of the house and grounds, and that's plenty.

As we enter the Graceland shuttle that takes us across Elvis Presley Boulevard to the main house, we are given electronic guides that instruct us at very turn. At times, we hear Lisa Marie Presley talking about her father and his presence at Graceland -- is there a daughter in the world, I think, who can imagine themselves in this girl's shoes?

The house is surprisingly small -- Presley bought it and its nearly 14 acres in 1957 and never had it expanded, though he added buildings, including an office for his father and a racquetball court that now holds memorabilia. The King evidently did all the decorating himself, and some of it makes me cringe to think that this was what lots of money could buy in the '60s -- including a furry white monstrosity that turns out to be a bed. Despite what I consider to be his questionable taste, there is a casualness that lends the place a more dignified air than I had expected.

We learn that his three Grammy wins were for gospel albums and he showed up in person to accept only one of the many awards that came his way -- from the Jaycees. His troubles with prescription drugs and other struggles are glossed over but not ignored, and I wasn't sure that would be the case.

It seems odd to see tourists mingle and snap pictures outside in the meditation garden, where Presley, his parents and grandmother are buried and his twin brother, who died at birth, is honored with a plaque. But then the tour recorder tells us that Vernon Presley, worried about vandals, had his son's grave moved here from a public cemetery. The folks snapping pictures here are at least quiet and respectful.

Walking between buildings, you can see the modest neighboring houses beyond Graceland's fences. It will be interesting to see how long that will last.

A partnership that includes Simon Fuller, a co-creator of "American Idol," has paid Lisa Marie millions for the rights to use Elvis' and Graceland's names and likenesses. Although she still owns the house, they are buying up land around Graceland, and there's fear, some locals told us, that the quiet neighborhood could become more of an amusement park or worse -- if hotels blossom here, people might stay just in this area and miss the whole history of blues, soul and rock as told along Beale Street and at Sun and Stax studios.

I hope that's not the case. Sports fans can enjoy AutoZone Park, downtown home of the Triple A Redbirds. Main Street's vintage trolley line and funky arts district are in the midst of a resurgence, and there's even talk of extending Beale's club scene the couple of blocks down to the Mississippi River's edge.

On this visit, we missed the 32-story stainless-steel Pyramid Arena and the Memphis Pink Palace Museum. Maybe next time.

Graceland is a must-see, but Memphis has so much more that should not be missed.