We also encountered two couples visiting from Iceland. I offered to take a picture for them at the visitors’ center. They were unaware that the candlelight vigil or Elvis Week was a thing. I let our first meeting with them go by without me getting a picture with them, but we would see them several other times. The next time we met them, they had green armbands that allow people into the vigil. I also helped a couple from Oklahoma get a picture. They didn’t know about the Elvis Week activities either. They would also stay for the vigil.
We made several trips throughout the day to the tent with the Elvis performers. It was too hot to stay there very long. During the first trip, we saw our friend Jim with the Elvis cape. He was dancing around in his seat to the music. I also noticed that his Elvis cap still had the plastic hook in the top where it had been hanging in the store who knows how long ago. The first performer we saw was a man who appeared to be my age. He had Elvis hair and sunglasses. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt that matches one that I have. He was also wearing denim shorts and white sneakers. He brought a younger performed named Josh on stage to sing Ray Charles What’d I Say. Josh had Elvis hair, a black TCB shirt and khaki shorts. They were encouraging the women to get up and dance asking, “Do we have an Ann Margret in the house?!” During this song, we noticed the next performer named Richard walking by. My wife said that it looked like he had been crying. I thought if he hadn’t been crying, he was having a bad allergy attack. As he walked by, I noticed a woman in the crowd looking him over. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and white shorts. It appears that Hawaiian shirts and knee length shorts are the official uniform of the B list Elvis tribute artists. We left the tent as he struggled to hit the high notes on the song C’mon Everybody.
“More disturbing images from Graceland: The guy in the men’s room with his shirt off bathing in the sink”.
Facebook post from 5:47 PM
My wife was afraid she was getting too hot in the tent. The air doesn’t flow because they have sides up to prevent people without the wristbands from seeing what’s going on. We made frequent trips to our car where we had a cooler of bottled waters. We would also go to the ticket area to sit and cool off and use the restroom. The half-naked man bathing in the sink wasn’t the only interesting thing that happened in the restroom. During one restroom visit, all the stalls were occupied, and I was at a urinal. I broke wind and a voice from a stall said “bless you!”
We were walking through the ticket area on our way to get food when I noticed an older man with white Elvis hair sitting on a bench. His outfit was more elaborate with a scarf, a fringe belt and a shirt that looked like something that Elvis might actually wear. I found out that Jerry was from Louisiana. He told us that his shirt came from B&K Enterprises, a company that specializes in “recreations of costumes worn by the King of Rock and Roll.” Based on the clothes that Jerry was wearing, I think they do a really good job. I asked if he performed and he said at one time he did but doesn’t anymore. He told us about his wife being sick and on oxygen during a big flood in 2016. He went to a trailer across from theirs to try to get people to help move her. They wouldn’t help. He got her out of their trailer by wading through knee-deep water. He said they lived in a hotel for about 6 months. Last year, he was at Elvis Week when his family let him know they had taken his wife to the hospital. He left Memphis on Thursday and his wife died on Saturday. I could tell that his story wasn’t going to have a happy ending. I was thankful that he didn’t cry. He was compelled to move on with his life. He said for this year he called B&K Enterprises and got a new outfit for the trip. I complemented him on how he looked. He talked about a lady that he met a few years ago who was convinced that he was really Elvis. They asked if he was from Memphis and where he lived. He told her that he lived across the street, referring to the Graceland mansion. He told us another story about talking to some security guards there once and telling them that he was ready to go back across the street to his house. He liked to talk to people and had fun pretending to be “real Elvis”.