{"id":22254,"date":"2014-08-16T17:32:05","date_gmt":"2014-08-16T09:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=22254"},"modified":"2014-08-16T17:32:05","modified_gmt":"2014-08-16T09:32:05","slug":"candlelight-vigil-marks-elvis-death-in-memphis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/08\/16\/candlelight-vigil-marks-elvis-death-in-memphis\/","title":{"rendered":"Candlelight vigil marks Elvis’ death in Memphis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"King<\/a>
King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley (Facebook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Holding flickering candles, fans of Elvis Presley made a slow, nighttime walk past his gravesite at Graceland on Friday, marking the anniversary of his death 37 years ago.<\/p>\n

Fans strolled quietly through the Mediation Garden at Graceland, Presley’s longtime Memphis, Tennessee, home. Presley’s grave is in the garden, and his mother, father and grandmother are buried there.<\/p>\n

The home is now a museum and a centerpiece of the Graceland tourist attraction that draws about 500,000 fans each year from around the world.<\/p>\n

People began arriving early in the day to get a spot in line outside Graceland’s gates. Tourists also watched Elvis tribute artists sing and dance, and visited gift shops and Elvis-related exhibits across the street from the home.<\/p>\n

The scene is repeated each year on the anniversary of the death of the King of Rock `n’ Roll. Presley died at age 42 on Aug. 16, 1977, of a heart attack, shocking and saddening his fans worldwide.<\/p>\n

Mark Summers, 31, said it was his first time attending the vigil. Summers, of Birmingham, England, is an Elvis tribute artist who performs theater shows across Europe.<\/p>\n

Summers wore a black shirt, black pants and a hairstyle shaped like a pompadour, just like his idol. He said no other performer “could touch the charisma he had on stage.”<\/p>\n

Summers said he admired Presley not only for his music and his act, but also for his good qualities as a person. Presley was known for giving money to charities and cars to fans.<\/p>\n

“So generous, caring, loving, spiritual, all those kinds of things,” Summers said. “Tonight is going to be really emotional.”<\/p>\n

The vigil is a highlight of Elvis Week, an annual celebration of Presley’s career and his life. This year, other Elvis Week events have included an auction of authenticated Presley artifacts – which included a 1977 Cadillac Seville used by Presley – and the groundbreaking of a planned 450-room hotel at the Graceland tourist attraction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Holding flickering candles, fans of Elvis Presley made a slow, nighttime walk past his gravesite at Graceland …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":22360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-hollywood","mauthors-adrian-sainz","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}