Candlelight Vigil

 

It's been 35 years since the world lost Elvis Presley.

For 35 years people have been visiting Graceland on the day of his death to pay their respects.

People come from all over the world.

As soon as the sun goes down, candles are lit and the procession begins.

Elvis is buried, alongside his mother, father, and grandmother, on the grounds of Graceland. 

Thousands of people visit this site every year on this day.

We went. After processing for four hours, we decided to head home. It was about 1:30 am. We had to work the next day unlike majority of the others who were from out of town. 

Even though we didn't get to the actual grave-site, I'm glad we went. We got to pay our respects and see the love and passion people still have for Elvis Presley. It's pretty amazing the lengths people will go to be there on that night.

The vigil is more than the sideburns, is more than the pink cadillacs, is more than the jumpsuits. It's a tribute to the person and artist Elvis was and how loved he was and still is and always will be.

Born 35

Died 77

Gone 35

Age 77

Elvis On Tour

If you don't know much about Elvis, or even if you do, I have a movie recommendation for you. Elvis On Tour. We were lucky enough to see this concert film at the Levitt Shell. It was playing as part of their concert series and it was free. Does it get much better than that?

Back to the film. It sucked me in. I literally didn't want it to end. It was full of behind scenes footage and live performances by Elvis. I thought it really captured his spirit and what a concert must have been like.

What made seeing this film even more special is that Elvis had actually performed at the shell back in the day. It was a glimpse at what it must have been like. 

I highly highly recommend it. If you aren't an Elvis fan, I'm sure this will make you one, and even if you are, you will love Elvis even more. I promise!

Elvis Week Kickoff 2012

We have been looking forward to Elvis week for quite some time. Like I mentioned on Friday, it's a pretty big deal around here. We decided to kickoff Elvis week by heading to the Redbird's game for their Elvis Night. They were giving away special Elvis bobble heads so we were there bright and early!

Now, I'm not going to get too much into it, but if you follow me on Twitter you might have noticed that I was pretty disappointed in the Redbirds organization on Friday night. We are big supporters of sports in Memphis, especially the Redbirds. We have been to countless games and have always had a wonderful time. Friday night, however, we were met with unfriendly, unprofessional, and downright rude staff that really left a bad taste in our mouths. There's no reason for poor customer service. I really hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

Anyways.. back to the good stuff! The ballpark has veggie dogs that I look forward to getting every time we go to a game. They are delicious!! Really tastes like a real ballpark frank.

So, since it's Elvis Week, of course we had to go down Beale Street. We ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe for an Elvis Tribute Artist Contest. This was probably one of the most fun things I've done in Memphis. Between the people watching, tons of Elvi (plural for Elvis) walking around, and the live entertaining, it was an amazingly fun night.

It was also incredibly impressive the amount of talent these men have. When some of them were performing it actually felt like I was watching Elvis, the mannerisms, their voices, the overall stage presence was so entertaining and extremely Elvis-like. We didn't stay to see who won, but my vote was for this young Elvis! Oh man, he was so good!