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Fan Club Presidents event and Sonny West speaking

Location: Blogs Live from Graceland
Posted by: Susan Smiley-Height	8/12/2007 4:29 PM
We hear from EPE staffers during the annual Fan Club Presidents Event (used to be a meal, now just T-shirt and ad bag); and listen to Sonny West speak during Bill Burk's luncheon at Marlowes. Sunday, Aug. 12 A good night's sleep - thank goodness. Breakfast at the Heartbreak Hotel, but only if you're outfitted with the cool black and gold wristband issued to guests. A continental breakfast bar with sausage patties, sausage gravy and biscuits. Ah yes, a Southern welcome to Elvis fans one and all. They're here from all corners of the world. At the hotel, we have co-guests from Japan, Australia, England, Brazil, Ireland and other far-away lands; and friends from Oklahoma, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Colorado and lots of other states. Our first stop today was for gas -- $2.47 a gallon. Yes! Then is was downtown to the Cook Convention Center, hard by the mighty Mississippi. The downtown streets are empty of traffic and pedestrians at this early hour on a sunny Sunday. We're here for the Fan Club President's Event, an annual favorite. In year's past, we've had friends who got us tickets, but this year, we formed our own fan club, with Sarah as president. As a tip of the hat to Elvis' generosity, each person attending is supposed to bring a donation for Presley Place, a Memphis Interfaith Alliance housing community to help the needy with a hand up on the way to securing decent housing. Before we left Florida, Tiger bought a folding laundry hamper and we filled it with the requested items, such as personal toiletries, kitchen and bathroom supplies and things for babies. It takes both of us to lug the filled bag from the parking lot, up the escalator and down a long hallway to the drop off point. There's a long line of fans waiting to enter the center. But we finally make our way to the door, where we're given a lanyard and special guest badge, a T-shirt and goodie bag filled with advertising promos. This is the event where members of Elvis Presley Enterprises staff talk about their various jobs and what has happened since last year, and is yet to come. We see clips of the many times Elvis has been featured on national news shows, snippets of Boyd Coddington touring Graceland (he designed the spiffy Cadillac that is the reward in the Reese's giveaway) and Elvis' performance on American Idol with Celine Dion. The best clip was from Disney, promoting their new movie, "Game Plan," starring The Rock, who is an Elvis fan and who incorporated lots of Elvis into the new movie -- and we're the first to see this clip! It's going to be a fun movie and the fans were whooping and hollering in approval. PR guy Todd Morgan told us about all the media attention this year. More than 50 television crews are set to film the Candlelight Vigil; Good Morning America will feature Elvis this week and Larry King Live will air from inside Graceland on Wednesday night. Representatives from Presley Place, the University of Memphis and the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center spoke about their initiatives, scholarships and life-saving operations respectively. We saw a clip of a woman whose life was saved at the trauma center. As usual, again in tribute to Elvis philanthropic nature, fan club presidents lined up to present donations. Here's a list of the organizations supported just today, with the total of donations easily topping more than $100,000: Little Kids Rock Presley Place Elvis Presley Veterans of Foreign Wars Post, Memphis Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center The Cancer Society and the Heart Society of the UK The American Heart Assosciation Elvis Presley American Legion Post 249 Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation Special Olympics Boys & Girls Club of Memphis Save America's Veterans St. Judes Children's Hospital St. Judes Center for Abused Children Shriners Hospitals Memphis Humane Society United Cerebral Palsy Charities in Glasglow, Scotland ($12,000) Alzheimer's Association Memorial chapel where Charo was filmed (damaaged by fire) Teddy bear donations to two hospitals After we stuck around for the door prizes -- no luck -- we hightailed it to the famous Marlowe's restaurant close to Graceland. That's where Bill Burk hosts his annual luncheons. Bill was a longtime journalist with the "Commercial Appeal" newspaper, is the 21-year publisher of "Elvis World" magazine, was the only journalist allowed on the train when Elvis returned to Memphis from Army service and was a personal friend of the entertainer. He sells books, and the guests at his luncheons often are authors. Today's guest was Sonny West, a longtime member of the Memphis Mafia, the group of guys who surrounded Elvis, and his bodyguard and head of security for many years. After enjoying some of Memphis' delicious BBQ or an Elvis burger, we settled in to listen to Sonny speak for about an hour. He was very entertaining and told inside stories about Elvis exploits, including his penchant for buying his friends new Cadilacs. But Sonny also said that one day, after reading in the "Commercial Appeal" about a black woman who was missing her limbs from the waist down, and who was raising a number of family members, Elvis bought her an electric wheelchair. When they delivered the chair, Elvis spoke with the woman and told her someone would come out that day to help her learn how to operate it. Sonny said when they left, the woman had never referred to Elvis by name, so he said to him, "I don't think she knows who you are." He said Elvis replied, "It doesn't matter. She knows someone cares." And that, my friends, is one more reason we fans are here today. More tomorrow...

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Re: Fan Club Presidents event and Sonny West speaking	By Diva on 8/13/2007 8:47 AM
Susan,<br>Thanks for sharing that side of Elvis. Sometimes you only hear the bad and it's nice to know he really did have a heart for people. Enjoy all the fun!

Re: Fan Club Presidents event and Sonny West speaking	By Another Fan on 8/13/2007 8:03 PM
Elvis is everywhere, and it seems if so people from all corners of the earth and so many charities from all around the world recognize the impact he made on society, more people would support the causes dedicated to Elvis week. Keep up your devotion and have fun walking us through the week. Another fan.

Re: Fan Club Presidents event and Sonny West speaking	By Kerry on 8/15/2007 2:29 PM
Wasn't Sonny West one of the Memphis Mafia who betrayed Elvis?

Re: Fan Club Presidents event and Sonny West speaking

By Susan Smiley-Height on 8/15/2007 6:13 PM

Hey Another Fan and Kerry, Thanks for checking the blog and writing. One of the TCB Band members said yesterday during the Insiders COnference that he had been in Turkey and asked someone about ELvis. He said they not only understood and said yes, they knew, but there is a fan club in Turkey that has more than 5,000 members! It's like Elvis is his own universal language. Sonny and Red West both say, including in an interview in this week's special Elvis Week section in the "Commerical Appeal," that they wrote their book about Elvis is hopes of shaking him out of his drug dependency, sort of a tough love approach. Sonny admits it failed. Having dealt with similar situations within my own family, I know it's both hard to try those tactics, and hard to not do anything. None of us will ever know except those inside that long-ago circle what really happened. But having just heard Sonny speak this week, I can tell you that he loved Elvis then, and still does today. Thanks! Susan

Re: Fan Club Presidents event and Sonny West speaking	By kjell johansson on 9/13/2007 6:46 PM
There is no doubt that Sonny loved Elvis from his heart. Everybody who has followed Elvis and the boys over the years knows that Sonny was a pretty rough dude.But Ive seen him in tears more than once in different documentaries talking about very sensitve moments and finally the death of the person so many people loved.Thanks!

Re: Fan Club Presidents event and Sonny West speaking

By steve Carlson on 12/20/2007 1:54 PM

Hi. As Elvis fans, with Christmas and Elvis’ 73 birthday coming up on Jan. 8th, I thought you might be interested in this. I am Steve Carlson, the author of a new book I think you’ll enjoy, which you might have heard about. It’s entitled ALMOST GRACELAND. When I first heard that Elvis was born a twin but that poor Jesse Garon was still born, I couldn’t help but wonder… what if he’d lived? How would Elvis’ life have been different? Would we have had the Presley Brothers like the Everly Brothers? Or, what if they didn’t know about each other? What if they found out in the later part of Elvis’ life? How would Elvis feel about that? What would he think? What would the press think… the fans? It’s a fun ‘what if?’ look into one of the most interesting lives ever. I’m very pleased with how the book came out and am sure you and, perhaps your other club members will enjoy it, too. Below, you will find the ‘flyer’ link that will tell you more about the book. The other link is to my web site that will tell you more about me as well as my books. I wish you all the best and… please enjoy! Steve Carlson http://www.stevecarlson.tv/flyer/ http://www.stevecarlson.tv/

Re: Fan Club Presidents event and Sonny West speaking

By gene maib on 1/19/2008 12:46 AM

this is for sonny. if possible please see that he sees it or at least receives it. its been alongtime since gallatin. i'vetried to catch up with you several time but i assume that you moved out of tn. i live in lawrenceburg. tn. now. donnie is coaching at texas. if you receive this give me a call or email me at gene_maib@yahoo.com. it's been a long time since gallatin, even a longer time since memphis. if possible lets get together or call me, i am listed in the lawrenceburg phone book. hope you are doing well. gene

Re: Fan Club Presidents event and Sonny West speaking	By lerma on 2/3/2008 7:37 AM
check out the new release book of elvis "Elvis Lives On"

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