Lisa Marie Presley, herself a singer, said: “I’ve always avoided this
because I felt that it would be too emotional, but I really felt it was
important to come down here tonight,” the singer’s daughter, , told the
crowd. “I love you very, very, very much.”
More than 70,000 fans have flocked to Graceland this week to commemorate the
death of the man known as ‘The King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll’.
The candlelight ceremony was followed by a special concert with surviving
members of Presley’s band, including Bobby Wood, in a 1,200-seat air
conditioned tent. There was video footage of Elvis singing.
In line with the digital age, fans in his Memphis home lit real wax candles
and some switched on virtual candles on a special Elvis Week smartphone app.
Songwriter Mike Stoller who, with the late Jerry Leiber, wrote some of
Presley’s greatest songs, including Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock, has
been a guest at Elvis Week. He recalled that the singer made 26 takes of Jailhouse
Rock before deciding they had nailed it on the ninth take. Stoller
recalled: “He kept saying, ‘I think I can do it better.’ Finally he
said, ‘Where’s that one that you liked?’ We went back and played it and he
said, ‘Yeah, that’s it, that’s cool.’
The memorial gathering has also been attended by thousands of Elvis tribute
artists (they don’t like to be called Elvis Impersonators), many of whom
have been taking part in the sixth annual Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist
Contest. Most – including the women – will be sporting Elvis’s famous 1970s
sideburns (below, one group in Memphis this week).
Also at Graceland were most presidents of Elvis Presley fan clubs from all
over the world – the youngest of whom is 13-year-old Isabella Scott, born 22
years after the singer’s death.
The anniversary has also been the excuse for a new flood of memorabilia and
merchandise. Carol Butler, vice president for international licensing,
revealed a Mr Potato Head character resembling Presley in his ‘Aloha from
Hawaii’ period this week.
There has also been an auction this week in Memphis of Presley artifacts,
including a gold Longines watch, a gift from his manager Colonel Tom Parker,
which sold for £10,380 and a Colt Python double-action revolver Presley used
for target practice in the backyard of Graceland, which went for £8775. The
extent of the Presley mania was demonstrated in the fact that an empty
plastic bottle of tetracycline, an antibiotic, prescribed to Presley in
1974, sold for £3510.
Perhaps it’s just better to put on some of those wonderful Elvis Sun Session
recordings and remember the musician with such a lovely voice. As Joe
Guercio, Presley’s musical director from 1970 until the star’s death, said: “Elvis
is fan-driven and there are not a lot of people in show business who are
fan-driven.”
Source:
http://ibytes.net/elvis-presley-would-have-been-amazed-by-tributes-says-priscilla-telegraph-co-uk/