Eye on Elvis Week: Fans meet and mingle at Marlowe's : Elvis : GoMemphis.comEye on Elvis Week: Fans meet and mingle at Marlowe's
The annual Elvis Meet Up at Marlowe’s this afternoon packed the already popular restaurant on Elvis Presley Blvd.
Fans were there to mingle and find some Elvis celebrities to pose with, but the main thing was the auction benefiting the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County.
Will 'Bardahl' McDaniel holds a framed poster of an Elvis stamp being auctioned by Sharon Parker, organizer of the annual Elvis Meet Up at Marlowe's benefit for the Memphis Humane Society.
Door prizes were given out, including photos of the induction of Elvis sideman, the late Bill Black, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Black’s children Louis and Nancy were at Marlowe’s to speak about Black, who played upright bass in that first legendary recording of “That’s All Right Mama” at Sun Studio.
Later, Jimmy Velvet (who loves to rescue animals) dropped by and met the Blacks, regaling them with stories about their father. “I loved your Dad — I knew him for years.” Velvet, a performer and photographer, has a book, “Inside the Dream”, about his years of touring with the era’s top acts.
As items of Elvisiana were being auctioned — everything from one-of-a-kind Elvis jackets to portraits to teddy bears dressed in Jailhouse Rock garb — fans sought out celebrities for chat and photos.
They were even auctioning off small bags of sand from the beach where Elvis filmed “Follow That Dream.”
There was a constant crowd at the table of Suzanna Leigh, co-star with Elvis in “Paradise, Hawaiian Style” and another devoted rescuer of animals, who was there to exhort buyers to bid high to help the Humane Society.
Even Dr. George Nichopoulos showed up, generating interest in a T-shirt being auctioned that bore his book cover on the front: “The King and Dr. Nick: What Really Happened to Elvis and Me.”
And the fans just ate it up, Marlowe’s ribs and all.
