Mourning for Presley

Press, 17 August 1979, Page 6

Mourning for Presley

NZPA-Reuter Memphis

Elvis Presley fans have flocked to the gates Of his mansion and filled local motels on the eve of the second anniversary of their idol’s death. “We’re filled to the brim,” said a desk clerk at a motel near Graceland, the mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, where Presley suffered his fatal heart attack on August 16, 1977, “Presley people have had us booked for months.” Memphis, where Presley rose to fame as the hipswivelling king of rock’n’roll in the 19505, is host this week to people from as far away as Belgium, England, and Germany. Enough Presley-related events are going on in Memphis to keep even the most fervent Elvis fan busy for most of the week. At Libertyland Theme Park, a twice-daily, 45minute show features most of Presley’s biggest hits in a performance by a 20-piece band and 11 singers and dancers. A 3m-high model of a proposed statue of Presley is on display at the Orpheum Theatre near an area which Mayor Wyeth Chandler said was under consideration as a site for an Elvis Presley memorial park. Other programmes include non-stop showings of Elvis films and a daylong seminar on the singer and his music at Memphis State University.