How to Celebrate Elvis Week

MSNBC: Elvis may have left the building — 34 years ago next week — but the King remains forever in the hearts of millions of loyal fans. Join them during Elvis Week (Aug. 10-16) and you, too, can join in the toe-tapping, hip-swiveling fun.

 

Elvis Week, Memphis, Tenn.: The tribute-artist contest and other signature events are sold out, but the faithful can still get their Elvis fix at several events around Memphis over the next week. Take a Graceland trivia tour on Friday; work up a sweat with a 5K run/walk on Saturday morning, and grab a candle for the annual vigil at the King’s gravesite on Aug. 15.

The Elvis Presley Birthplace, Tupelo, Miss.: Elvis may have left town as a teenager, but his spirit lives on in the family homestead in Tupelo. On Wednesday, the museum will hold its annual fan appreciation day with live entertainment, door prizes and stories from native Tupeloans who knew Elvis when he was still just Vernon and Gladys’ boy.

The Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Ariz.: Celebrating the reopening of its Artist Gallery, this year-old museum debuted a new Elvis exhibit on Aug. 6 featuring items on loan from Graceland. Highlights include jumpsuits, gold records and the recently restored Martin D-28 guitar from Elvis’ last tour.

The Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, Little Rock, Ark.: Elvis may be more closely linked to Richard Nixon (who made him an honorary DEA agent) than Bill Clinton, but it’s at the latter’s library that you’ll find “Elvis at 21: The Photographs of Al Wertheimer.” The exhibit, which captures Elvis in 1956, just as he was poised on the brink of superstardom, runs through Aug. 21.

Las Vegas, Nev.: Alas, the first Las Vegas Elvis Fest (July 28-30) has come and gone, but hey, this is Las Vegas so you’re never far from an Elvis sighting or experience. Catch one of the many Elvis impersonators or Cirque du Soleil’s “Viva Elvis” show and, if the mood strikes, get married by the man himself or at least a well-accoutered facsimile thereof at any of several local chapels.

After all, Elvis Week or not, there’s no denying the enduring appeal of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Come Aug. 16, he’ll have been dead for 34 years, but until then, all we can say is “Long live the King!”