Winner
of the Katherine Ann Porter Prize for Fiction in 2004, Alison
Moore's short story "Miniature Graceland" has been transformed
into a multi-media performance combining original fiction, music,
and video images. Alison performs a reading of the story with
the Likely Stories band: Phil Lancaster, Stan d'Aubin, John Johnston,
and Clinton Lancaster.
An actual Miniature Graceland in Roanoke, Virginia provides the
inspiration for Alison Moore's fictional short story that explores
the inner workings of an obsessive/devotional mind. A yard in
West Fork, Arkansas is transformed into a shrine for a lost king
of Mississippi as a hedge against age, time, and loss of beauty.
This multimedia performance combines a reading of an award-winning
short story with sounds and video images that set the stage for
an experience about bringing an American icon down to manageable
size.
Excerpt
from MINIATURE GRACELAND:
"It
started with an ordinary doll-sized house. Things just escalated
from there: the meditation garden, the pond, the gold record museum,
the concert hall. After a while I couldn't stop. Graceland grabbed
hold of me and wouldn't let go until I had recreated all of it.
It's not a public attraction; it's a private obsession and everybody
stares at me when I go to the library. Well, let them look. Every
village needs an idiot and in Arkansas, the competition is fierce.
At least I don't do anybody any harm."
