Dead Elvis Week

For those of you who are unaware, Elvis died 30 years ago today. And Memphis is having a party. Thousands of people from all over the world (we're talking like almost 100,00o people) come here to celebrate Elvis. It's kind of ridiculous. All of these people refer to it as "Elvis Week". Memphians call it "Dead Elvis Week". An important distinction really. If you don't know the story about how he died, you should Google it. It's funny.

Usually, I miss all of this craziness because I'm back at school, but not this time. The only sad part of this week will happen tonight when there's a candlelight vigil. The rest of the week consists of lots of parties, a 5k race, movies galore, fireworks, tribute concerts, an art show, and even more stuff (Dale Earnhart, Jr. even made an appearance). Oh, and a TON of people who aren't from the States. One couple from Scotland even got married at Graceland. Whoa.

Now, if you "ain't from 'round here", the 105+ degree heat can cause a problem. Today, a lady actually died celebrating Elvis' death. I know it's not funny and heat is a serious problem and all, but this lady was so determined to celebrate Elvis that she didn't take a second to drink some water and sit down. Seriously?

The best part of my week was that we went to the baseball game on Saturday, where the kickoff for Elvis week was held. The game was really, really good. And then there was a really cool fireworks show set to Elvis songs. Some of them I hadn't heard before, so I got a bit of Elvis education and appreciation.

So that's enough of my Elvis stuff. That all sounded very not nice...I do love Elvis, but find this level of worship to be a bit out of control. I'm excited to come to VANDY in 5 days!!