Blue Missouri: Elvis Lives
Smith: You do know Elvis is
dead?
Jones: He's not dead. He just went back home.
--Men in Black
Several years ago we landed in Memphis in late August. Death Week was over, that Elvis Easter period in which the believers observe the anniversary of E's demise.
Lounging in the pink motel across from Graceland, we ran into True Fan. She had overstayed her visit to Memphis, taking in the candlelight vigil, impersonator performances and other Elvents. The hoopla was over, but she remained.
She was not delusional, but she was quick to start up conversations with complete strangers, thinking that anyone staying at the pink motel was also ..a...true...fan.
"You've got to visit Vernon's house," she said. "That's free, ya know."
She apologized for her plain t-shirt, but she had overstayed her visit and that miscalculation had caught up with her laundry.
"I packed 14 Elvis t-shirts for this trip, but wore the last clean one yesterday."
We should have forgiven her for being out of uniform. It made no difference to us, but it was important to her that we acknowledged her wardrobe shortcoming was actually an act of faith. She just stayed too long.
Our family has always observed the Elvis Christmas -- Jan. 8 -- his birth. In a way, it completes the holiday season, always falling on the same day of the week as Christmas and New Year's. If Christmas is on a Wednesday, the next Wednesday is New Year's Day and the following Wednesday is Jan. 8. (Jan. 8 is also my brother's birthday, which is really why we always observed the day. But ever his 1977 it has grown in significance).
We couldn't make Memphis for Death Week, but we did the sixth or seventh next best thing. We visited the Elvis is Alive Museum in Wright City, Mo.
Bill Beeny, the owner and curator, was unfortunately not around during this, one of the two big cycles of Elvisdom. We later saw him on TV. Beeny is always in demand during Death Week, making numerous television appearances to explain his theories about why the King lives.
This year he has DNA evidence that the liver of the man buried in Elvis' grave was not the king's liver.
The Elvis is Alive
Museum is loaded
with other evidence that the king lives. There are tabloid clippings of Elvis
sightings and the FBI files that form Beeny's core conviction. He believes
Elvis was working undercover for the DEA in exposing a mob drug ring and
had to disappear because his damaging testimony in the case would put a price
on his head.
The museum's showpiece is the Tomb Room, where mourners can view the wax Elvis figure in an open casket.
Beeny has at times claimed that a wax figure was what was buried in Elvis' coffin back in 1977. This year he hinted that another body may have been buried instead, but that may just be his taped comments being taken out of context. Most of the evidence presented at the museum suggests a waxed figure burial.
It is easy to dismiss Beeny's enterprise except the museum and its adjacent 50's Cafe are obviously the efforts of true believers. There was no admission charge to enter the museum and the pictures and newspaper clippings that plaster the walls were certainly not assembled by a casual collector.
Beeny, a licensed minister, has performed a handful of weddings at the museum, sometimes bringing in an Elvis impersonator to serenade the couple with "Love Me Tender."
For cross country travelers who miss the cheesy attractions that made Route 66 so memorable, the Elvis is Alive Museum is an attempt to transplant that ambience onto an Interstate 70 road stop.