While the crowds are bigger, Graceland has issues with staffing like every other business in the world. They need more people and the people that they have don’t care as much. There are usually rules around who gets to go where during Elvis Week. You need this ticket or that arm band to get into certain activities. I didn’t get an arm band that was supposedly required to get into the room with non-stop impersonators. I was able to get into the room easily because no one was checking arm bands or tickets. At one point, I was trying to get into an area with my ticket and the lady couldn’t get it to scan. I was waived into the area anyway.
During my first trip through the museums, I heard an announcement that said, “If you are parked along the stone wall at Graceland the police are making preparations to close the street down.“ I have never heard this type announcement before. I had also never heard a lady exclaim “My big ass is beat!” but that was more typical of the thing I usually see. I saw a lady pushing her friend around in a wheelchair. They had matching custom shirts that said on the back “We love our ETAs”. It included a list of names of Elvis Tribute Artists (ETA). If you hang around long enough, you will notice that there is as much love for the tribute artists as there is for Elvis in the crowd. These young men get a lot of attention, sometimes with very little talent or effort. Good looks along with a willingness to fix your hair in an Elvis style, learn some songs and dance and you will have women, young and old, clamoring to get a hug, a kiss and a picture with you. You don’t have to sing or dance that good or even try to sound like Elvis. A fat old man that looked like Santa sat on the edge of the stage to sing. He didn’t get the attention that someone like Riley Jacobs. Riley was a good looking, young man that the organizers declared to be one of the “children of the tent”, referring to when these performers were outside under a tent next to Elvis Presley Boulevard. Riley had the audience doing a conga line around the room with his energetic performance of Viva Las Vegas. Riley had the energy, youth and looks. He was followed by Collin Paul, a professional ETA from England. Collin was older and very low energy. He brought the crowd down with less familiar songs and a performance style more like Conway Twitty during the Hee Haw years. Collin made it easier to go in search of more interesting people to watch.
