If it isn't too morbid to think that cemeteries can accumulate any sort of "fame," then perhaps buying your future grave plot in one of them is.
France may have Pere Lachaise, which is home to the likes of Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison and myriad others, but New York City plays home to Woodlawn Cemetery, the furthest stop on the subway and a small plot at the city's northern edge.
Woodlawn has some greats, too, and a nice little hangout called "Jazz Corner" where all the greats are catching some sleep for, well, ever.
But is this a grand marketing ploy for the to-be-deceased? Maybe, but who wouldn't want to sleep next to Miles Davis? Or Duke Ellington and Celia Cruz? (Speaking of, Davis has his own gravestone with the honorific "Sir" etching, given to him by the Knights of Malta, which is quite an attraction in and of itself.)
Not only jazz heavyweights sit in the sod: Pulitzer, Woolworth, Vanderbilt, Clark, Meade, White and McKim all fall into the ranks of the buried.
Barbara Selesky, marketing director for the cemetery--with thanks to the Independent (UK)--says that June's concert, which was put on by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, was particularly helpful.
"It gave people a whole education about jazz at Woodlawn," she says.
So, if you're in for it, there are a few spots open. But land is being bought up fast! And we all know how the saying goes...
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