mid August 2007
- Still The King: 30 Years After Elvis' Death, Pilgrims Brave Heat For Vigil
By Woody Baird
(nwaonline.net / Associated Press, August 15, 2007)
Temperatures hit 105 degrees as thousands of Elvis Presley fans held a graveside procession at his Graceland mansion Wednesday to remember the 30th anniversary of his death on Aug. 16, 1977.
The heat led to the death of a fan from New Jersey, a 67-year-old woman, and sent an 8-year-old boy to the hospital. At least five other fans were treated for heat exhaustion as they waited for the "candlelight vigil" to begin at 8:30 p.m., the Memphis Fire Department said. The elderly woman was found dead in a camping trailer at a Graceland campground. She had chronic health problems, but the Shelby County Medical Examiner's Office said the heat contributed to her death.
Despite the promise of the sixth furnace-like day in a row in Memphis, the more hardy fans began lining up for the vigil early in the morning, with the crowd building through the day until thousands filled four-lane Elvis Presley Boulevard in front of Graceland. The procession was expected to run through the night and into Thursday, the death anniversary.
The procession, with fans walking mostly single-file and holding candles, filed up Graceland's long winding driveway and past Presley's grave in a small garden beside the white-columned house. Many fans carried flowers, stuffed animals and other small gifts to leave at the grave.
Tom Vigil, 42, of Denver was determined not to let the heat stop him even though he was missing part of a lung from recent surgery. Decked out in a black Elvis-type jumpsuit, Vigil pulled an oxygen tank behind him with a breathing tube attached to his nose. "I'm not in the best of health, but I wanted to be out here and be part of this," he said. Vigil said the oxygen in the tank could last up to seven hours. "And I've got two more tanks in the car," he said.
Mary Powell, 62, of Salinas, Kan., said she took up her post at Graceland's front gates at 5 a.m. to be sure to get near the front of the line for the vigil. "A lot of people would say I'm crazy, but this has to do with my love for Elvis. He did so much for his fans," Powell said. Powell and dozens of other early arrivers set up folding chairs and yard umbrellas and took turns holding each other's places in line to allow periodic breaks to Graceland's air-conditioned visitors center and souvenir shops. "We're not stupid. We know we should take our time-outs and go cool down," she said before the vigil. "We take care of ourselves."
Temperatures in Memphis have topped 100 degrees for six days straight and the National Weather Service has advised residents to limit outdoor activities. Seven deaths in the Memphis area have been linked to the heat wave.
The vigil is the most popular and solemn anniversary event in a weeklong string of concerts, dances, tribute artist contests and other festivities put on by Graceland. No one keeps exact figures, but the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated the anniversary would bring up to 75,000 to town during the week. Graceland draws almost 600,000 visitors a year and up to 40,000 file through the three-story white-columned house during Elvis Tribute Week.
Fans preparing for the vigil filled the souvenir shops of Graceland's sprawling tourist complex. Elvis impersonators, with karaoke accompaniment, put on a daylong show for fans packed into a large tent in a shopping center parking lot.
Workers from a Memphis hospital passed out free bottles of water and fans lining up for the vigil could take breaks to stand for a few moments in a misting tent dubbed "Kentucky Rain" after one of Presley's songs.
When Presley died his finances were in sad shape. Led by ex-wife Priscilla Presley, the estate formed Elvis Presley Enterprises, opened Graceland to the public in 1982 and solidified the legal rights to make money on Elvis' name and image. Last year, Graceland took in $27 million in revenue, and the overall Elvis business brings in more than $40 million a year. That made him the second-highest grossing dead celebrity in 2006, behind only Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, according to Forbes magazine.
- Elvis Lives On, 30 Years
Later: Anniversary of The King's Death Brings Fans Back to Graceland
By Becca Bacon Martin
(MORNING NEWS, August 9, 2007)
"Before Elvis, there was nothing." -- John Lennon
Elvis Presley, the rock 'n' roll king who thrilled millions, died alone
yesterday aged 42. He was felled by a massive heart attack ... and died
in his mansion home before help could reach him. Elvis, who had been ill
for some time, was found by his road manager Joe Esposito. Mr. Esposito
sent for an ambulance and tried to revive Elvis. Then medical staff
massaged the superstar's heart as the ambulance sped from his home in
Memphis, Tenn., to the city's Baptist hospital ... Doctors then battled
for half an hour before announcing that he was dead.
-- The Sun, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 1977
From 18 to 80, fans will flock to Memphis, Tenn., this weekend to
remember Elvis Presley. The annual tribute dates back to the day after
he died in 1977, when thousands crowded the gates of Graceland to mourn.
But now, 30 years later, the commemoration has stretched to nine days,
and at least 50,000 faithful are expected at the mansion where Presley
lived the last two decades of his life. Even The King will be there: A
concert Thursday at the FedExForum will feature Presley in all his
videotaped glory, on stage with a full orchestra and a cast of his
original backup musicians. It will, organizers say, be the largest Elvis
celebration ever -- and those in attendance are just the tip of the cult
iceberg. Scores of Web sites remember The King, who remains intimately
entwined in the lives of his fans, old and new.
"Elvis may be gone in body but never in spirit," Carolyn
Wright, 54, of Des Moines writes at www.elvis.com. "His music will
live forever."
"Thanks for setting the bar and for laying a foundation for others
to follow," adds Aaren Kallsen, 20, of Greeley, Colo. "You are
always 'On My Mind' and are still sorely missed. We love you,
Elvis!"
GRACELAND
Not a disciple of The King? Visit Graceland, any day of the year. You
will leave a believer. Imagine arriving at the mansion in the summer of 2004,
uneducated, a skeptic about the phenomenon of Elvis. The first thing you
see as you pull in to the enormous parking lot is a fellow tourist, a
little boy 8 or so, in a white sequined jumpsuit -- a true fan or the
child of one. This, you think to yourself, is going to be a hoot. Inside
the ticket pavilion, you learn that you can pay your way in to the
mansion, the car museum, the airplane museum and "Sincerely
Elvis," a smaller version of the Trophy Building at Graceland. At
one of the myriad gift shops on the property, you also can buy
custom-made Elvis teddy bears -- dressed in your favorite Elvis fashions
-- or an Elvis bowling ball. You're still giggling to yourself --
quietly, because Elvis fans would not be a good bunch to rile up.
Then you don the headset for the taped Graceland tour and climb aboard
the shuttle bus for the short ride across Elvis Presley Boulevard to the
1939 Southern Colonial mansion. Elvis bought Graceland in 1957 -- when
he was just 22 years old -- paying $102,500 for the 14-acre estate. In
your ear, Elvis tells you his happiest times were spent with his family
there. Daughter Lisa Marie adds that "Graceland was always very
alive" and says her father "definitely permeated the
space."
The mansion's upper floor is not open to the public -- hasn't been since
Graceland became a museum in 1982 -- and it's easy to imagine that
perhaps Elvis really is still alive, just keeping to himself while other
people enjoy the home he redecorated shortly before his death. His
presence is still that pervasive: There's a baby grand piano waiting for
him, just on the other side of the stained glass windows at the far end
of the all-white living room; pool balls racked and ready on the pool
table in the fabric-lined game room; all three televisions tuned to the
news in the yellow and blue TV room downstairs.
However, the wood-paneled kitchen, Lisa Marie says on the tour tape, was
"Grand Central" for the house, which was busy 24 hours a day.
The TV was always on there too, she says, and someone was always cooking
-- always the Southern-style food that Elvis and his companions enjoyed
most.
Beyond the kitchen, Elvis created a family room that became infamous:
The Jungle Room. Decorated in 1974, it features a custom-designed
waterfall, lots of heavy, carved-wood furniture upholstered in fake fur,
green shag carpet on the floor and ceiling and lots of statues of
monkeys and big cats. It looks, in its own weird way, homey and
comfortable, just like the rest of Graceland.
Presley wasn't trying to be ostentatious; apparently he just liked what
was in style in the 1970s, whether that meant an all-black dining room
or a white fur, clam-shaped bed. Money let him collect and create; his
status as a legend preserves what he enjoyed, a time capsule of days gone
by.
THE MAN
Elvis Aaron Presley was born to Gladys and Vernon Love Presley on Jan.
8, 1935, in a two-room house in Tupelo, Miss. His twin, Jessie Garon,
was stillborn, and in 1948, Elvis moved to Memphis with his parents as
they sought a better life for their only child. Elvis' musical
influences were the pop and country tunes of the time, the gospel music
he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently
attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as
a Memphis teenager, his biography states. In 1954, he began his singing
career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis. In late 1955,
his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor, and by 1956, he was an
international sensation. With a sound and style that uniquely combined
his diverse musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and
racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American
music and popular culture.
Elvis says in the recorded Graceland tour that he was "proud of the
way I was brought up to believe and treat people," and that's the
overriding message of Graceland: Elvis gave back -- to charity, to his
friends, to his family, to strangers. A huge plaque from the city of
Memphis records all the organizations he helped. Checks to various
charities line the walls of the "Trophy Building." In 1970,
Elvis was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation by
the U.S. Jaycees -- and he called it his proudest moment because it
honored his philanthropy, not his singing or acting. He was, it seems, a
man who appreciated the success he achieved.
THE DREAM DIES
On the grounds of Graceland, just past the swimming pool where Elvis
played with his friends, Presley built a "Meditation Garden"
in 1965. In 1977, he joined his mother, already buried there, and his
father followed in 1979. Every day of the year, the graves are covered
with flowers, flags, stuffed hound dogs and teddy bears brought and sent
by fans who have not forgotten.
The central event of Elvis Week is the annual candlelight vigil, which
will begin when police start closing Elvis Presley Boulevard to traffic
at 6 p.m. Wednesday. At 8:30 p.m., torches from the eternal flame at
Presley's grave will be brought to the front gates, and fans will line
up and light their candles from the torches. Throughout the evening and
into the wee hours of the morning, the queue moves past Presley's grave
in Meditation Garden, until everyone in line has paid his respects.
Elvis, says a newspaper headline posted at Graceland, "came, he
sang and he conquered." As you stand at his grave, it's very easy
to forget any preconceptions you might have had and be swept away by
sadness that such a bright light burned out so soon.
Elvis Trivia
* Elvis was a Capricorn, born Jan. 8, 1935
* Elvis was named after his father, Vernon Elvis Presley
* Elvis went to Humes High School in Memphis and graduated in 1953
* Graceland, named for Grace Moore, was built in 1939 and purchased by
Elvis in 1957 for $100,000. Known as "The Tennessee Nightingale,"
Moore was born in Slabtown, Tenn., raised in Jellico, and was an opera
star of great renown in the early years of the 20th century
* Elvis also owned a small ranch in Mississippi, the Flying Circle G, in
the 1960s
* U.S. 51 south in Memphis was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard in 1971
* Graceland opened to the public in 1982 and is second only to the White
House as the most visited private residence in the country
-- Source: Staff Reports
Elvis Week 2007
Schedule
Today
* Sun Studio Allstars Concert, 8 p.m., Heartsong Church, 800 N. Houston
Levee Road, Cordova, Tenn. $15. (901) 755-6332. Saturday
* Tupelo Tour, 8 a.m., Graceland parking lot. $75. (901) 481-3877.
* Fan Appreciation Day at Elvis Presley Birthplace, 10:45 a.m., 306
Elvis Presley Dr., Tupelo, Miss. $6. (662) 841-1245.
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