Music and Stories from Art Wheeler
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. …
Continue reading “Elvis Week 2017 – Chaos and Confusion at Graceland”
Most of you probably know that the little boy in the picture on the cover of the Elvis Week album is my son, James. This picture was taken at the candlelight vigil in 2003. It was my second year to go to Graceland for Elvis Week and the first year to take my son. When I went …
Continue reading “The Little Boy on the Cover of Elvis Week”
The rain started falling on us as we got to the edge of Memphis. By the time we pulled into the parking lot at Graceland, the rain had stopped but there was rain and threats of rain all day. When we were getting out of the car, I suggested to Tina that we take the …
August 15, 1978 marked the eve of the first anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. This would be the first time I would visit Memphis on August 15 that I remember but this first trip was not to attend an Elvis Candlelight Vigil. I’m sure the Elvis fans gathered there that year just as …
“Excuse me, can I get a picture of your backsides?” I have to admit that this was an unusual request, even for Elvis week. You might expect that the reaction would be to call for the cops or at least a good slap in the face. But the four women to whom I made the …
It has been almost two weeks since my latest visit to Graceland and less than a week since I posted the essay for this year’s trip. Earlier this week, I was going through the channel guide on my television and saw that the movie “This is Elvis” was on. This documentary was released in 1981. …
Continue reading “Watching “This Is Elvis” After Elvis Week 2014″
A few days before my yearly trip to Graceland for the Candlelight Vigil, I ran into a friend who had read some of my posts about visiting Graceland. He told me that he was one of the few people ever kicked out of Graceland. Earlier in his life, he was involved in a comedy club …
Continue reading “Elvis Week 2014: Hanging out with Insiders”
Earlier this week, I went to eat lunch at one of the local Chinese/Japanese restaurants. This restaurant is close to where I work. It is also my family’s favorite place to get sushi so I am there often. Because of the threat of an ice storm, I was wearing a heavy coat. I was also …
This year has been one of the hardest years for me to come up with a way of approaching my annual trip to Graceland. In recent years, I have had some idea of an approach that I wanted to take before I even left home. This year has been full of distractions. Other things seemed …
Before I left town, I stopped off at the bank. I thought I recognized the teller as a lady that had gone to Lambuth when I was there. I decided that it was not her and that it could possibly be her mom or a much older sister. Definitely not someone my age. When she …