MEMPHIS, United States of America – Fans of Elvis Presley are flocking to his Graceland estate for Thursday’s 35th anniversary of his death. Their enthusiasm for the king of rock ‘n’ roll is undiminished by the years.
Organizers of the annual Elvis Week expect this year’s edition to be the largest ever. Presley’s widow Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie Presley are participating.
The celebration shifted into high gear on Tuesday, August 14.
“Elvis is fan-driven,” Joe Guercio, Presley’s musical director from 1970 until the star’s death at the age of 42, told AFP, “and there are not a lot of people (in show business) who are fan-driven.”
Nine days long, Elvis Week got off the ground in Memphis last Friday, August 10, centered around a 1,200-seat air-conditioned tent across the street from Presley’s Graceland home and next to the preserved remains of his private jet.
Highlights include an all-night candlelight vigil Wednesday, August 15, at Graceland’s gates, where fans this year will have the option of lighting either real candles or switching on virtual candles on a special Elvis Week smartphone app.
On Thursday, August 16, a concert at a downtown stadium will review the king of rock ‘n’ roll’s roots in blues, gospel and country music. Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley as well as surviving members of Presley’s band will take the stage.
Tuesday saw hundreds of Elvis Presley fan club presidents get the lowdown from Elvis Presley Enterprises. The company closely oversees the rights to Presley’s posthumous image, in his enduring legacy in film, commercials and merchandising.
Good-humored boos filled the Elvis Week Main Stage tent when Carol Butler, vice president for international licensing, revealed a Mr. Potato Head character resembling Presley in his “Aloha from Hawaii” period.
Greeted with cheers was a Canadian-made suitcase emblazoned with an airbrushed portrait of Presley.
“It’s really nice,” said Butler, who named its price at US$100.
In a cross-cultural fusion of pop culture icons, Butler lifted the wraps off a forthcoming Elvis version of Japan’s Hello Kitty doll.
“We just love it,” she said. “She’s just cute in her little Elvis duds.”
In another part of Memphis, unconnected with Graceland, several lots of Presley artifacts went under the hammer, including a hand-painted concert poster from 1954 with an estimated price of US$30,000.
It had been created for a show that Presley gave at a nightclub on a highway outside Memphis. It was only a few months before that show that Elvis released his first commercial single, “That’s All Right.”
Other memorabilia at the sale organized by Heritage Auctions included the only known autographed program from a 1955 show in Dallas, Texas; a signed motion picture contract from 1956; and a Colt revolver that Presley used for target practice in Graceland’s backyard.
The pistol was going on the block with an estimated price of US$14,000.
Elvis Presley died suddenly at the age of 42 on August 16, 1977. – Robert MacPherson, Agence France-Presse
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