Special guest post by The Annoying Elvis Tourist
Note from Paul: Last night I was in the Silly Goose about 6:30. This guy came in asking how to get to Graceland, saying how excited he was to be in the home of the King, Elvis Presley, and the birthplace of rock and roll. He had on a pink bedazzled Elvis hat, an “Elvis 35th” T-shirt (even though this is the 36th), and was accessorized with Elvis arm band and coin purse. He had his camera around his neck, so I told him there was an Elvis Pub crawl happening next door and asked if he’d like to cover it for my blog. He was very excited and said yes immediately. I got a photo of him (above, with Katie Mac) before he took off.
Last night was so exciting! There were Elvises, Elvises everywhere congregating at the Flying Saucer. Here are a few photos I took:
After the Flying Saucer, the Elvises stumbled to the Blind Bear. Did you know what Elvis likes Mason jars full of PBR?
Then we made our way to the Peabody to walk through the lobby. On the way, this happened.
It seemed like the Elvises got stopped every 10 feet by tourists wanting a photo. That’s part of the fun of the pub crawl though.
In the past the Peabody wasn’t very happy to have us there. This year things were different. They let us take all the photos that we wanted with tourists and even the staff. One of the security guys in a dark suit came over and told us we were welcome to be there and they were happy to have us. I really appreciated that.
Beale Street. More tourists, more photos. My friends who were in costume told me it took them 45 minutes to walk from Third to Second, which is about par for the course for the pub crawl.
Meanwhile, back at the Saucer, we dressed Alissa up in Blue Hawaii scarves and leis.
Even the door guy got in on the fun.
Full album (25 photos) here. We even got media coverage, with a local TV station sending a reporter to interview the organizers and the Elvises. If I can find a link to the story I will post it. (Edit: Found it. View it here.)
The highlight of the evening for me was discussing Stumblin’ Elvis with Nate, a new manager at the Saucer who got handed the project at the very last minute. Nate sees a lot of potential in the event for future years and hopes to grow it. He told me, “You have to start planning for Stumblin’ Elvis 2014 the day after the 2013 one is over.” YES! I’m glad to see people are thinking that way. This event could get huge if planned far enough in advance.
Fun times. The Annoying Elvis Tourist will be back for 2014.