Biggest ever exhibition of Elvis artefacts comes to London

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/03/biggest-ever-exhibition-of-elvis-artefacts-comes-london

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There will be Elvis’s luridly pink Cadillac, which he used on tours and gave to his mum, his American Eagle jumpsuit worn during the epic Aloha from Hawaii concert and then the modest bongos which a young Priscilla gave him for Christmas.

“He loved them, I mean he obviously kept them,” she told the Guardian. “It still puts a smile on my face when I see them because it brings back so many happy memories.

“This was the gift that, oh my gosh, I was so nervous about it because I was only 14 years old and what do I give Elvis Presley for Christmas? It was in Wiesbaden and I would go from store to store looking for things I could possibly give him and I chose the bongos because he played music every night that he was there.”

The bongos are among 300 artefacts being brought from Graceland to London for the biggest ever Elvis show staged in Europe.

Details were announced on Monday of a nine-month exhibition of all things Elvis at the 02 showing many items which have never left the Presley mansion in Memphis, Tennessee. As well as cars and costumes and guitars there will be recreations of the home’s dazzling interiors with lots of white, blue and, naturally, mirrors.

There will also be the pool table that Elvis and the Beatles played on in 1965 when they dropped by for what was supposed to be a low key, private visit.

“There were fans everywhere going crazy, it was a night I think that whole street will always remember,” said Presley. “They don’t know what hit them I’m sure.”

“I remember them [the Beatles] all being very shy and not quite knowing what to say and of course they idolised Elvis … I remember John just staring at him and looking at him and it made Elvis feel uncomfortable. Then Elvis picked up his guitar and started playing – they were just fascinated with him. It was endearing.”

As well as the jewelled jumpsuit for Aloha from Hawaii, the 1973 concert that was beamed to the world via satellite, there will be the gold lamé suit he wore on stage in 1957 and the black leather one for the Comeback Special in 1968.

Cars coming over will include the red 1960 MG Roadster from the film Blue Hawaii, in which he sang “Almost Always True” to Joan Blackman as she drove it. Elvis loved the car so much he bought it and it is leaving Graceland for the first time.

Presley and her daughter Lisa Marie are still actively involved in Graceland and Elvis’s legacy, Priscilla said. “This [exhibition] is huge for us; we’ve been waiting to do what will be the first in Europe for a long time. We’re ecstatic over this and I think the fans will be too.

“We’ve tried to pick things that would of course have human interest, not just well known items from the music side, the movie side but we have things from his personal side. Who the man was behind the scenes, who the man was at play, who the man was at Graceland, what he liked … his rings, his jewellery, his guitars.”

The Presleys divorced in 1973 but there were many happy memories, she said. “You never really knew what a night in was going to be like. Our hours weren’t normal. We slept in the day because we played all night.”

Presley said they would regularly watch Johnny Carson’s monologue and then go the movie theatre Elvis had rented out to see them first before anyone else. “We’d sometimes see two or three movies and stay until 7am. Our breakfast was at 5 in the afternoon – we were nocturnal.”

On the days they weren’t sleeping they would ride horses or motorcycles. “You know what it was, it was his down time, it was time that he could relax and not have to worry about being in the critical eye. He didn’t have the tabloids there – it was his playground, his safety net, his sanctuary.”

The 02 show will include artefacts only on display for a shorter time, perhaps to encourage diehard Elvis fans to keep coming back.

Angie Marchese, Graceland’s director of archives, said: “This is not a collection amassed from auctions; they are personal items from Graceland, where Elvis lived most of his life.

“The exhibition will tell the story of a music revolution that began when Elvis first stepped into a recording studio in 1954 and the lasting impact of his incredible legacy.”

As well as the show there will be the shop – the “largest Elvis-themed retail ever assembled in Europe”, promise organisers.

The exhibition’s coordinator, Nic Wastell, said: “What we will be presenting is as much of Graceland as will fit into the O2. There has never been anything like this for Elvis before. No exhibition mounted previously has ever been so revealing of the man and the star. For people who can’t get to Graceland, Graceland is coming to them.”

There will be a lot of the Presleys in the UK this Christmas. Daughter Lisa Marie lives in East Sussex while Priscilla will be in panto in Manchester. Elvis, though, is definitely dead.

• Elvis at the O2: The Exhibition of his Life – Direct from Graceland runs 12 December to 31 August. Tickets go on sale at 9am Friday 7 November