I was about to leave the visitor’s center at Graceland, and I held the door open for a group of four women to exit before me. They all said thank you or said other words of appreciation. The last lady in the group was using one of those walkers with the wheels on the front and a place that can be used as a seat. It took her a little longer than the rest of the women. As she passed by me, she looked me in the face and said, “Elvis would be proud of you.”
This would not be the only interesting thing that I heard during this year’s visit to the Candlelight Vigil. A young woman in the parking lot was having trouble keeping up with her mother as they approached the complex known as Elvis Presley’s Memphis. The mom was encouraging her daughter to pick up the speed to which she replied, “If Elvis was alive, he wouldn’t pick up the speed.”
These two stories show the difference in the types of encounters I have each year at Graceland. Sometimes you get a story by talking to someone, other times you get a story by just listening to others.
When I asked the lady from Portland, Oregon how many times she had been to Graceland, she said that this was her third time this year. Her daughter started college this year in Sewanee, Tennessee. While this is nearly a 5-hour trip from Memphis, she uses trips to see her daughter as an excuse to come to Graceland. She told me that she went to an Elvis Week concert the previous night night and cried all the way through. When I asked her if she was going to the Vigil she said she couldn’t emotionally bring herself to go. I think she might be enough of an Elvis fan that she’s just coming to Graceland as much as she can with side trips to see her daughter.
Francis, Linda, and their son Wesley had come from Boston to take in the whole Elvis Week experience for their first trip ever to Memphis. Wesley plays guitar and is the main reason they made the trip. Their trip started in Nashville and they enjoyed the Johnny Cash Museum. Their itinerary would take them back to Nashville to the Grand Ole Opry after they spend some time in Memphis.
I met a man from Barcelona, Spain was wearing a 2013 Elvis Week shirt. I took their picture in front of the in front of the Graceland “Thank You For Visiting” sign that has been a staple of everyone’s pictures from this trip. I also got a picture of me with them. The 2013 trip was their first to Graceland and this was their first time back I joked about seeing them in 10 more years. He said I could meet them in front of this sign at noon on that day.
While I was in the ’68 Comeback Special exhibit saw a lady who was dancing and singing to the music. Walking away from that exhibit I found out she was originally from Michigan but lives close to Nashville now. Later I saw her with her group of people in an exhibit/theater showing clips from the film Elvis on Tour. The clip they were showing was of Elvis opening a show with C. C. Rider. This lady and her entourage were clapping and singing along with the music. I noticed they joined in with the Sweet Inspirations when they sang “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!”. I had not seen this kind of enthusiasm from Elvis fans during Elvis Week since my first trip in 2002. Later I found out that one of the people in her group was her daughter. Her daughter had an on-again-off-again relationship with a young man in their group with Elvis hair. It was for good reason because was also one of the better tribute artists that I saw. A standout performance was a faithful rendition of Elvis’ version of I Can Help. These were really nice people that I enjoyed running into at various points during the day.
I also appreciate that this young man was as dedicated to being a tribute artist to wear sideburns and Elvis hair. Some of the performers at the Music Pavilion don’t make much of an effort to do anything but try and sing like Elvis. Elvis Hair is appreciated and some attempt at a costume helps too. Jumpsuits seem to be out of fashion on Candlelight Vigil these days. I don’t think I saw anyone in a jumpsuit anywhere this year. Gone are the days when people were milling around the performer tent outside the gift shops. At that time, there was more of a carnival atmosphere to the festivities. A community that had come together from all corners of the world to have fun and celebrate. The environment allowed you to enjoy the crowd as much as you did the performers. Even though some people still call the Pavilion the “Tent”, the focus is now just on those performers. When you started having to have a wrist band to get into the Tent, things changed. It felt like the organic fan-based celebration was being taken over by the corporation. Elvis Presley Enterprises was looking at more ways to make money from Elvis Week and it has taken some of the fun out of the celebration.
“Elvis Would Be Proud of You”
Elvis Fan with Walker