Fans flock for Elvis -
Record-breaking heat couldn't keep them from the King


MEMPHIS - Elvis.
The mention of this name is all that's needed to transport masses of rock 'n' roll fans back to a time when they were first captivated by the man, the moves and the music.


Elvis Presley started with Sun Records in 1954 in Memphis. Before his death on Aug. 16, 1977, he made history with his success in films, record sales and faithful fans.

"Globally, he sold over one billion records," according to the Elvis homepage.
Thousands of fans from all over the world withstood record-breaking heat in Memphis on Wednesday night to keep vigil and held their candles high at Presley's Graceland mansion in Memphis in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of his death.

"On behalf of Elvis' family and friends, welcome! We've been waiting a year for you to get here," said Todd Morgan, Elvis Presley Enterprises spokesman, outside Graceland.

"It's official. It's the biggest Elvis week and the biggest candlelight vigil ever ... It's all about Elvis' magic and the loyalty of his fans," Morgan announced after 8 p.m. to the excited crowd.

Morgan said Lisa Marie Presley called a few days ago to request that the lights in the upstairs and downstairs windows mansion be lit this year so it would give the fans a feeling that Elvis was home.

An estimated 100,000 visitors are in town for Elvis Week, tourism officials said.

Marty Marbry, West Tennessee regional manager for the state of Tennessee's Department of Tourist Development, confirmed Wednesday afternoon that Larry King would be broadcasting live Wednesday night from the Graceland mansion in a living room interview with Priscilla Presley.

"I taped it before I left so I can see it," said Elvis fan Joyce Ripley of Memphis, who was waiting for the candlelight vigil to start Wednesday at Graceland.

"Being in Memphis, we had Elvis before everyone else did. I saw him for the first time when I was 11 years old," Ripley said. "I grew up on bluegrass and country music. We had never heard rock 'n roll and we'd never seen anyone like him. I discovered Elvis and rock 'n' roll."

Pushing back her long, auburn hair, Ripley showed off an Elvis T-shirt. She was also wearing an Elvis watch, carrying an Elvis purse and holding a cell phone covered in Elvis.

"You've got to be decked out" for Elvis Week, she said while cooling off in the '50s-style Chrome Restaurant across the street from the Graceland mansion. "It's like a reunion," she said.

Elvis fan Allan Zachary of Jackson didn't make the trek Wednesday to Graceland, but his thoughts were on Elvis this week. On Tuesday, Zachary shared a special memory.

In 1973 or 1974, he had a girlfriend from Ohio. She wanted to go to Graceland. When they got there, they found themselves toward the back of a long line of cars. Then, they saw him.

"We seen this guy come out with real black hair. He was huge. My girlfriend said, 'That's not Elvis." But it was him. He came out with a woman in a nurse's uniform and got in a custom -built car that looked like a Stutz.

"I had a gun-metal gray Corvette," Zachary said. "We got in traffic and followed him."

"We ended up going down I-55 on a four-lane. We pulled up beside him. He threw up his hand and looked over and waved."

Then, he gestured with his hand and motioned "let's run 'em." They slowed up together and took off. A drag race with Elvis on I-55.

"Of course, the Corvette beat his car."

Then, Elvis said, "Let's do it again."

After a second time, he waved and they went on, Zachary said.

"I hope they still can't arrest me for that," he quipped.

But Zachary said the memory always stuck with him. "I had never been a real big Elvis fan," but after the friendly drag race, that all changed. Zachary thought, "That man's got all that money and he's got time to be friendly."

Jackson native C. Barry Ward worked as general counsel for Elvis' estate from 1983 to 1993. Ward said he is honored to have a hand in winning the lawsuit that turned the licensing around for rights to Elvis' estate.

In a phone interview Wednesday from his Memphis law office, Ward shared a favorite Elvis story as told by Elvis' manager Colonel Tom Parker.

Ward said Elvis was appearing at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. He was set to do two shows. The first show really wowed the crowd. People were anxiously filing in for the second show.

After the first show, Elvis was very tired and he told Parker, 'I'm beat. Go out and tell the crowd I'm going home to Graceland. I'm not going to do a second show."

Parker peeked back through the curtains and saw the excited crowd and turned back. Parker went to Elvis' father, Vernon, and told him what Elvis had said and told Vernon to tell the crowd that Elvis wasn't coming out.

"Then, Vernon goes and peeps through the curtain," Ward said. "He goes straight to Elvis and said, 'Son, you're going to do one more show.' And he did."

Many Elvis fans, including several Elvis impersonators, were taking shelter Wednesday from the record-breaking heat while waiting on the vigil to get under way.

One fan in town to commemorate the singer's death was found dead Wednesday afternoon inside a tent at an RV park near Graceland, the Associated Press reported. The 67-year-old woman had some chronic health problems, but the Shelby County Medical Examiner's Office said heat was a contributing factor.

Her death was one of eight heat-related deaths in the state reported by the AP in a little more than a week. Memphis set a record for Wednesday's date with a high temperature of 106.

The Pawlaczyk family from Kenosha, Wis., endured the heat. Graceland and Elvis are special in their family. Richard Pawlaczyk Jr.'s 2-year-old daughter, Gracelyn, was born on Elvis' birthday, he said. She also got her namesake from Graceland.

"You don't say Grace-land. It's Grace-lin," he said.

Barbara McLean and her friend, Lynda Barkley, drove 22 hours from Canada to participate in the Elvis Week activities. McLean said she has been coming every year since 1991.

She hadn't decided whether she would be staying for the vigil if temperatures outside remained high.

"We're Elvis fans, but we're not silly," McLean said. They said Elvis wouldn't want them to put themselves in danger. But they were going to sweat it out as long as they could.

"We all have an incredible respect for the man. That's what keeps everybody coming," McLean said.

Carol Evans Burkhead is one of the few people who can say she was there at the end.

Burkhead, a Jackson native who now lives in Scotts Hill, worked as a nurse at the then Baptist Central Hospital in Memphis in the intensive care unit when Elvis died.

"We were to get Elvis in intensive care. It was 1977. The word was out that he was coming to one of our hospital beds. We had him down as John Doe. Of course, we were all excited."

Then, they got the news that "when he got to the emergency room, he was already dead. We were all in such shock. The doctors were just as devastated as any of us. We all grew up loving Elvis."