THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506020095
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STEPHEN HARRIMAN
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
IF YOU HAVEN'T had enough Elvis by the end of the Elvis Festival in Virginia Beach today, add this to your cultural enlightenment calendar:
Scholars, music lovers and Elvis Presley fans will get a chance to seriously study the King of Rock 'n' Roll during an international conference at the University of Mississippi at Oxford this summer.
The five-day event Aug. 6-11 is called - what else? - ``In Search of Elvis'' and is hosted by the university's Center for the Study of Southern Culture.
William Ferris, the center's director, calls it the first effort to ``take a scholarly look at the effect Elvis has had on our culture.''
Elvis - the man, the myth, his music, his Southern roots, his career, his influence in this country and the world - will be the subject of lectures, panel discussions, films, slide presentations, readings, oral histories and two field trips, one to Graceland, Beale Street and Sun Studios in Memphis and another to his birthplace and boyhood home in Tupelo, Miss. There you can visit the hardware store where he bought his first guitar.
Note to Epicureans: When in Oxford, ask the locals about Taylor Store and That Catfish Place. It's a little store where they also prepare and serve, arguably, the best catfish in the whole wide world.
It's in the hamlet of Taylor, about a half hour south of Oxford. You'll need directions to get there, and you'll never forget the experience once you've been.
Cost of the conference is $350; lodging is extra. Info: (601) 232-7282. FROM HERE TO THERE
Norfolk's Episcopal Church of the Epiphany is sponsoring a four-day, three-night motorcoach trip to Atlanta July 17-20 to view the touring Russian Art Objects of the Romanovs. Also included: a visit to the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and a private tour of CNN headquarters. Cost is $365 per person, double occupancy ($465 single, $325 triple) and includes transportation, tour guide, hotel, some meals and sightseeing admissions. Registration deadline June 16. Info: Cissy Irby (804) 588-4883.
The Chrysler Museum is sponsoring a trip to Rome Nov. 2-10, including a private showing of the recently refurbished Sistine Chapel and other Vatican landmarks. Also included: the city's major sights and a countryside visit to wineries in the Alban Hills. Cost is $2,965 per person, double occupancy and includes airfare from Norfolk, five-star hotel, all breakfasts, some other meals, lecturers and guides, and entrance fees. Info: (804) 664-6287. SALUTE TO POCAHONTAS
The sixth annual Virginia Indian Heritage Festival from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 17 at Jamestown Settlement, will be dedicated to Pocahontas, the 17th century Indian girl who helped bridge the cultural gap between Powhatan Indians and English colonists.
Members of the eight recognized Virginia Indian tribes - Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Monacan, Nansemond, Pamunkey, United Rappahannock and Upper Mattaponi - will serve as hosts of the event.
Admission is $9 for adults, $4.25 ages 6-12. The museum is located on Va. Route 31 just southwest of Williamsburg. For more info, call (804) 229-1607. READING LIST
Two pocket-size guidebooks on Virginia subjects have recently been released by Virginia Heritage Publications: ``Virginia Ghosts: Haunted Historic House Tours'' by L.B. Taylor Jr. of Williamsburg, and ``Virginia's Civil War Battlefields'' by Peter Lockwood, a retired British military officer.
The latter is particularly well done. Each is $7.95 plus tax. They are available at selected bookstores or from the publisher at P.O. Box 19714, Alexandria, Va. 22320. STRESS IS ILLEGAL
The mayor of Skaneateles, N.Y., Donald Price, has issued an ordinance banning stress, declaring the entire village in the heart of the Finger Lakes Region a stress-free zone. The villagers would like you to come and take a break from day-to-day hassle with them.
And while you're there, if you should forget about the parking meter . . . well, relax. The village donates a nickel to expired meters for 15 minutes of free parking. Offending cars receive an envelope, not a ticket on their windshields. In lieu of a $4 parking fine, the motorist is asked to make a donation to the Courtesy Fund so the village can continue to provide the service.
Want to know more about this place? Get a calendar of events. Write Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 199, Skaneateles, N.Y. 13152-0199 or call (315) 685-0552. GREEN SLEEPS
Hotels and motels are jumping on the environmentally responsible wagon in various ways. For instance, two downtown Washington hotels, The Embassy Inn, 1627 16th St. N.W., and The Windsor Inn, 1842 16th St. N.W., are both offering a ``Green Rate'' starting at $50 a night, double, to guests who agree to reuse their sheets and towels for up to three nights. The usual rate is $69-$79 per night, for which towels are changed daily and sheets every other day. There's no minimum stay for the green rate, and it includes breakfast, evening sherry and daily newspaper. Info: (800) 423-9111 for both hotels. ADVENTURE, ANYONE?
Wilderness Inquiry, a nonprofit group dedicated to providing adventure travel for people of all ages and abilities, including the disabled, offers more than 130 camping, canoeing, kayaking and horsepacking trips from May to December to wilderness areas along the Moose River in Maine, the Boundary Waters in Minnesota and in the Colorado High Country, among others.
The group aims to keep costs affordable and provides financial aid for those who qualify. The six-night Maine camping and canoeing trip, no experience necessary, begins and ends in Bangor, July 9-14 and July 18-23. Cost is $565 per person, including staff services, instruction, meals and equipment. Info: (800) 728-0719. BUT SHE'S NOT HOME
For the third consecutive year, the state rooms at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II's London home, will be open for public tours between Aug. 7 and Sept. 30 - while she's out of town. Tickets can be bought daily at a booth set up in St. James' Park, just across from the palace. Prices are about $14 for adults, $7 for under-17. MEMO: Travel-wise is compiled from wire-service reports, news releases, trade
journals, books, magazines and the deepest recesses of the writer's
mind. Send comments and questions to Travel-wise, The
Virginian-Pilot/The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, Va. 23501-0449; phone (804)
446-2904, fax 446-2963. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
BRUDE SILVERS
An official ordinance has declared Skaneateles, N.Y. a haven from
stress. Signs throughout the village mark ``stress free zones.''
by CNB