Fans remember Elvis Presley

Memphis - Silent mourners with heads bowed and candles in hand paid their respects to Elvis Presley at his grave at Graceland, his longtime Memphis home, to remember the 34th anniversary of his sudden death.

Thousands of Elvis devotees walked in the humid night to the graves of Elvis and his relatives, some wiping away tears as they filed past. Flower arrangements and heart-shaped wreaths decorated the burial site as "If I Can Dream" and other songs played softly in the background.

The vigil was to extend past midnight and into Tuesday morning, marking the anniversary of the King's death on August 16, 1977. The vigil is the main draw of "Elvis Week," and some waited hours outside the stately mansion for the procession to start.

Paula Penna came with her family from Campinas, Brazil, for her sixth vigil. Penna, who met her Brazilian husband in an Elvis fan club, cried and hugged him, her sister and aunt after paying her respects.

She said Elvis songs have helped her family though good and bad. All four have Elvis tattoos.



Vigils

Fans like 60-year-old Joe Makowski — who claims he saw Elvis in concert 81 times — and his girlfriend, Pamela Hembree, were among the first in line and waited for hours along Graceland's outer brick wall. A New Jersey native who owns four of Elvis' concert-worn scarves and has attended several vigils, he said it was time to introduce Hembree to the Elvis Week experience honouring the life and career of the rock 'n' roll star.


Visitors came from Japan, England, Germany and other countries. Some wore full Elvis outfits, others just his trademark sunglasses or sideburns.

Patrick Lucas sported sideburns and a pompadour as he walked to the vigil with the rest of the Elvis Presley Fans of Alabama, a club he joined on the Internet. Hunter, 22, came from Ehlange-sur-Mess, Luxembourg, for the vigil.

"I try to be like him, in the ways that he was nice to people and how he treated people," Lucas said. "He was a giving person."

Idol

The annual vigil began when some Elvis fans traveled to Graceland the year their idol died. It grew into an organized event in 1982.

This year, fans have something else to commemorate. It was 55 years ago — 1956 — when the first two Elvis albums were released. That year alone, Elvis sold 10 million singles and 800 000 albums.

Glenys Sites said she still remembers watching Elvis perform "Love Me Tender" for the first time.

"He's got everything — stage presence, charisma; he was sexy, great voice," Sites said. "There's never been anybody like him. I don't think he'll ever die."



Dead

Many still remember where they were when they found out the singer was dead.

Debbie Moller says she was seated on her couch when her sister called that August day in 1977. She didn't believe her sister at first, so she turned on the radio.

"I was bawling non-stop," said Moller, who makes Elvis T-shirts and is now attending her 15th vigil.

Like many who make the walk up the hill and see the Elvis gravesite and those of his parents, Moller expected to get emotional.

"I cry," said Moller, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. "The songs they play make you think back to what you were doing they day he died."