Category: Elvis Week

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.

“Wow! What a rip-off!” I heard this early during this year’s trip to Elvis Week. The lady that said it was having issues with the lockers located outside of the ticket office at the visitors’ center at Graceland.  From what I heard them say, part of her issue was trying to use Canadian quarters to pay for a locker.  Some of her Canadian quarters had become lodged in the locker.  She was also complaining that you had to put more money in it every time you opened it.  I don’t have any idea how much the lockers cost or how much change they had fed into them already. But their complaints were small compared to the ones from the lady I heard call it a rip-off last year.  Losing some change to a locker was small compared to the complaints last year about the price of the tours and parking.  But complaining about Graceland has become the number one spectator sport in Memphis during August. 

I would like to start by apologizing for personally causing the COVID-19 virus.  Let me explain.  I have been looking for a sign to tell me when I need to stop going to Elvis Week. I still get to meet new, interesting people each year.  I enjoy seeing the changes to Graceland and the celebration. I enjoy documenting my feelings about the Elvis phenomenon and where it is heading.  I am also a creature of habit. It’s easier to continue going that breaking with tradition.  So, what might happen to make me consider staying at home?  Maybe an international pandemic is a sign from God that I should stay home this year.  If this is his way of sending this message, I apologize for my stubborn ways.  I will happily remain in my house to avoid getting the virus. I hope I didn’t miss any lesser signs from God where this could be avoided.

Shortly after we arrived at Graceland, I saw a lady talking to three Elvis Tribute Artists. She caught my eye because of the picture of Elvis on the back of her dress ran from the shoulders down to the bottom of the otherwise black, floor length dress.  While getting my picture with her I found out that she was from Shreveport, Louisiana.  She said this was her 19th straight Candlelight Vigil because she started coming in 2000.  A quick check of her math says that this was actually her 20th trip but I didn’t argue.  She that during one of the trips, she traveled in a black limousine with an ETA (Elvis Tribute Artist).  She said they had two blowouts on the interstate.  Her husband, who was taking our picture, said “And you know a limo only has ONE spare.”  As the lady continued telling her story, I noticed a slight lisp that I couldn’t help noticing when she said, “We were stranded on the side of the road until some sweet soul in an SUV stopped and saved us.” Go back and read that last line out loud with a lisp.  

I’m going to go with you to Elvis Week this year.”  This is what my wife told me moments after I let her know that my jury duty wasn’t going to interfere with my annual trip to Elvis Week at Graceland. She had never expressed much interest in going on this trip until this year.  Our visit to Graceland last year during one of her education conferences had gotten her interested.  Her conference was held at The Guesthouse at Graceland, the hotel next door to the mansion. We did the tours and she got a small taste of what Elvis Week could be like.  But it pales in comparison to the experience you get during Elvis Week.

I was walking back to the entertainment tent at Graceland when I saw 4 people from Brazil.  I was in my Elvis Week element when I started talking to them and asking them about their visit. Only one of them had ever been to Graceland before.  One of the men did most of the talking.  He grabbed at the blue wristband on his arm and said, “I don’t like this.”  I said I didn’t like it either.  The wristband was a “Graceland Property Pass” that gave you access to various areas during Elvis Week.  It was also the only way you could get to the Candlelight Vigil this year. The only way to get this pass was to purchase one of the tour packages. The minimum cost of one of these packages was nearly $30.  This was a significant change for an event that has always been free. It didn’t affect us because we were already planning to tour the house and the new visitor’s center exhibits.  But it was affecting our Brazilian friends because they were spending the week in Memphis for Elvis Week.  They had done the tours and exhibits earlier in the week and had no reason to revisit them.  Each of them purchased an additional $30 ticket just to do the candlelight vigil and they didn’t like it.  These changes came up early in our conversations with most people and without me asking. Change has come to Graceland and the fans don’t like it.