Memphis -- The Elvis Concert

It's Thursday.

It continues to be hot in Memphis. On Wednesday, we stepped out of our Casita to find the police in the RV park. We thought someone had been overcome by the heat. But today we heard someone died. This is what the Memphis Commercial-Appeal newspaper said:

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The searing summer temperatures contributed to the deaths of seven other people, including a New Jersey woman in Memphis for Elvis Week who died Wednesday in a tent behind the Heartbreak Hotel.

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So someone did die! Perhaps it was an Elvis fan who ironically died on The Kings death day. The forecast is for milder temperatures on Friday.

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We got up late after coming in a 5 a.m. from the vigil. We ate breakfast/lunch and sat around listening to Sirius Satellite radio. At 5 p.m. we dressed and drove downtown for the Elvis Concert.

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We paid $93 for tickets and were seated on the ground floor. Not bad seats except for the lady in front of me who held her camera up over her head. I watched much of the concert through her viewfiender! Finally, a man got up and told her to put it down! She did for a short while. Another example of the entitlement generation and their self centered attitudes!

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The concert is at the FedExForum. It's a nice arena. The concert was a conbination of a large screen video of Elvis singing with live performers. The live performers for the most part of Elvis' old TCB Band or the combo that accompanied him in the early days.

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The show was a mix of 1970's, 1960's, and 1950's Elvis music. I enjoyed the 1950's music with old scenes from the Milton Berle Show and the Ed Sullivan Show.

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The best part of the concert (my opinion -- not Sandi's) was a section on Elvis' Gospel music. Four of Elvis' Gospel groups who sang mostly backup were on stage. They sang gospels by the Jordanaires, the Stamps Quartet, The Sweet Inspirations, and The Imperials. Then there as a wrap up song with all four groups.

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Sadly, some of the old gospel performers had passed on. One of the "missing" was J.D. Sumner, a Texas-born gospel singer who died a few years ago. They played his beautiful gospel song, Why Me Lord. This is a gospel song that brings tears to your eyes and won a Grammy Award for Elvis. The video screen featured Sumner and that deep, deep distinctive voice.

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Priscilla Presley opened the second half with a walk through the crowd shaking hands. I thought that was 30 years too late. She kept repeating, "Don't I know you?" It made her sound like she was in a senile, drug-induced haze. Wow! Someone tell that lady to just SHUT UP!

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Then little, thrice-divorced Lisa Marie sang a video "duet" with Elvis to the song, In the Ghetto. To refresh your memory, this is the theme song of the entitlement generation. It's a Mac Davis written tune about a Chicago-born youth who grows up, buys a gun, robs a store and gets shot in the head. (It's like we are susposed to care?) It's been written that Elvis did not want to record this song. He thought it was too political. Not so for Little Lisa Marie!

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I like Paul Shanklin's version re-titled In a Yugo about a liberal guy and a liberal girl who wants to save the environment. They buy a Yugo, and get squished by a 18-wheeler hauling chickens on a LA freeway. That's a song with a REAL message!

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Lisa was really terrible! When I see the over-weight Lisa Marie I think "Jacko's woman". She's so, shallow, transparent, and superficial it's ridiculious! She came on stage after the video performance and announced the tune was available for downloading on iTunes. Gag me with a spoon!

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The remainder of the performance was very nice. Priscilla said that is the last performance of the show that has run worldwide for 10 years.

The audience stood up for the most memoriable American Trilogy. It's still one of Elvis' best songs.

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Beale Street this year was a BIG disappointment! We tried to get in at the Kings Palace Restaurant, but found that it had turned into a smoking restaurant. Apparently, the smoking laws in Memphis has changed. We walked out. No way am I going to "smoke" someone else's smoke. We tried several other restaurants and found the same situation.

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We walked to the west end and found Elvis Presley's Memphis Restaurant had re-opened as EP Delta Kitchen. Five years ago it was really nice. This time, it was a big, big, big disappointment. Not only had renovations not been completed, but the service was slow. They promised but served no bread with the meal. After we dined, they handed us a bill that attempted to over charge us by $18! We had to get them to correct the bill. If you are in Memphis, don't go to that restaurant.

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We didn't bother to walk around Beale Street after that bad experience.

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Sorry for the "dots" between paragraphs. That's the only way I could get elevation between paragraphs.