Unchained Melody
09-29-2008, 07:35 PM
Elvis Presley is once again a star on Las Vegas Boulevard.
In a ceremony Friday that featured three of his old pals, the Las Vegas Walk of Stars honored The King with a celebrity star that will go in front of the Riviera near those of fellow icons Liberace and Sammy Davis Jr.
"Elvis has come home to stay," Elvis fan club president Sue Laurenz told a cheering crowd. Her group, the Viva Las Vegas Club, raised most of the $15,000 needed for the star, the 27th to go on The Strip.
With that mission accomplished, the next step should be getting a street named after Elvis, said Joe Esposito, one of the three members of Elvis' Memphis Mafia who attended the ceremony in the Riviera's Le Bistro Lounge.
"I don't understand why there isn't a street named after Elvis," said Esposito, Elvis' road manager and best man at Presley's wedding to Priscilla. That brought down the house, too.
It's become a sore point to Elvis fans, after seeing a half dozen other entertainers get streets named in their honor.
Elvis, said Riviera president Bob Vannucci, didn't just fill the showroom, "he filled the city."
Also attending was Sammy Shore, Elvis' opening act for years during his long run at The International (now the Las Vegas Hilton), and Sonny West, Presley's bodyguard and close friend, and Pete "Big Elvis" Valle, who played a big part in getting Elvis his star.
In a ceremony Friday that featured three of his old pals, the Las Vegas Walk of Stars honored The King with a celebrity star that will go in front of the Riviera near those of fellow icons Liberace and Sammy Davis Jr.
"Elvis has come home to stay," Elvis fan club president Sue Laurenz told a cheering crowd. Her group, the Viva Las Vegas Club, raised most of the $15,000 needed for the star, the 27th to go on The Strip.
With that mission accomplished, the next step should be getting a street named after Elvis, said Joe Esposito, one of the three members of Elvis' Memphis Mafia who attended the ceremony in the Riviera's Le Bistro Lounge.
"I don't understand why there isn't a street named after Elvis," said Esposito, Elvis' road manager and best man at Presley's wedding to Priscilla. That brought down the house, too.
It's become a sore point to Elvis fans, after seeing a half dozen other entertainers get streets named in their honor.
Elvis, said Riviera president Bob Vannucci, didn't just fill the showroom, "he filled the city."
Also attending was Sammy Shore, Elvis' opening act for years during his long run at The International (now the Las Vegas Hilton), and Sonny West, Presley's bodyguard and close friend, and Pete "Big Elvis" Valle, who played a big part in getting Elvis his star.