Photo Spotlight: Priscilla Presley and "The Elvis Experience" Crew

[Elvis.com]

This week's photo spotlight features the opening of "The Elvis Experience" Exhibition in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The exhibition staff and Priscilla Presley took this group photo during the opening event.Priscilla Presley greeted Elvis fans at the new exhibition last week and spent time talking with g...

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[vivaelvis]

I have heard nothing but great reviews from both the Brazilians and the national media on this amazing and expensive exhibition. Core and the Brazilian backers put out $5 million dollars to make this a reality! However, it didn't turn out quite as elaborate as expected. Probably due to the high cost to put it together. The entrance doesn't have the gorgeous facade as seen in the rendering. Instead it's just a big based portable building with a bubbled roof over it. But it's still very nice of an exhibit. Much, much nicer than anything EPE has ever put together at Graceland (and no this is not a cheap shot at them, just a fact).



Below is a view videos from the exhibit. The first is a presentation that guests see as they enter. Very creative.



Check out the movie years section in the below video at the 3:00 mark Wow! Those are HD monitors showing all of his movies above head while you walk through the exhibit.


This is a very nice clip showing all the clothes and costumes inside of the exhibit. There's ALOT!!

[King Of The Whole World]

I know Graceland isn't empty after loaning all of these items to them but it just shows how much stuff they have in storage. I can't imagine how many millions of dollars these people had to spend on insurance before EPE would loan this stuff out.

[King Of The Whole World]

It's a shame he never was able to tour the world. This is just an example of what he could have done, sold out shows in every corner of the world. So many fans missed out not being able to see him in concert.

[vivaelvis]

It's a shame he never was able to tour the world. This is just an example of what he could have done, sold out shows in every corner of the world. So many fans missed out not being able to see him in concert.

The Colonel can be solely blamed for that. Elvis had mentioned in numerous interviews of wanting to tour Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. But the Colonel would not allow it due to his fear of him (Tom Parker) not being allowed back into the US because of him being an illegal immigrant.

[King Of The Whole World]

The Colonel can be solely blamed for that. Elvis had mentioned in numerous interviews of wanting to tour Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. But the Colonel would not allow it due to his fear of him (Tom Parker) not being allowed back into the US because of him being an illegal immigrant.

You are right! Elvis outgrew the Colonel after about 65'. If he would have another manager at that point he could have been even a bigger star, which is scary to think about. There would have been world tours, better choice of songs and dramatic movie roles.

[vivaelvis]

You are right! Elvis outgrew the Colonel after about 65'. If he would have another manager at that point he could have been even a bigger star, which is scary to think about. There would have been world tours, better choice of songs and dramatic movie roles.

It makes you wonder if the good ole boys Memphis Mafia really had Elvis' best interest at heart as they have claimed, then why didn't they convince him to make managerial changes? They knew good and well what was happening in his daily life and career.

[KPM]

Well Brazil is a huge country with lots of space-and its a beautiful exhibit that is doing very well. I knew it would.
But as beautiful as it is-Graceland is Graceland, to compare the exhibit to it and wonder why EPE did not do it at Graceland is obvious-"Graceland is the Exhibit in total"
Nothing that travels the globe can replace that "total feel of Elvis lived loved laughed and yes died here"
That is also a fact that is sometimes downplayed-but Graceland is special because it was special to Elvis.
Hopefully the Brazil Exhibit and others like it in the future will inspire fans and tourists to go see the "Total Exhibit"

[KPM]

It makes you wonder if the good ole boys Memphis Mafia really had Elvis' best interest at heart as they have claimed, then why didn't they convince him to make managerial changes? They knew good and well what was happening in his daily life and career.

I would say quite frankly that they could not convince Elvis because Elvis felt loyalty-and actual need of the Colonel in his mind.
He had insecurities about business and career decisions and he was convinced Parker was the master-by the time he began to see thru the Snowman it was to late. Pure and simple.

[vivaelvis]

Well Brazil is a huge country with lots of space-and its a beautiful exhibit that is doing very well. I knew it would.
But as beautiful as it is-Graceland is Graceland, to compare the exhibit to it and wonder why EPE did not do it at Graceland is obvious-"Graceland is the Exhibit in total"
Nothing that travels the globe can replace that "total feel of Elvis lived loved laughed and yes died here"
That is also a fact that is sometimes downplayed-but Graceland is special because it was special to Elvis.
Hopefully the Brazil Exhibit and others like it in the future will inspire fans and tourists to go see the "Total Exhibit"

I was referring to the technology and video presentations on large HD video boards shown on the video clips that I posted. Sure they want to have all that stuff at their NEW visitor's center. But that's down the road. Let's be real. It's been opened since 1982 and never once have they attempted to upgrade until now. And it'll still be another 2-3 years at best before they can ever have anything near what they presented in Brazil. It's a crying shame that he still gets little respect even from his own estate.

[vivaelvis]

I would say quite frankly that they could not convince Elvis because Elvis felt loyalty-and actual need of the Colonel in his mind.
He had insecurities about business and career decisions and he was convinced Parker was the master-by the time he began to see thru the Snowman it was to late. Pure and simple.

Elvis did not feel loyalty to the Colonel. He even made comments during shows in Vegas at how Parker was out in the casinos gambling away his money. He even got into a heated argument and almost an altercation with Parker and told him then he was fired. But Parker used his conniving ways to control Elvis by making him see that he would have to repay Parker for damages which led Elvis to back down. The Mafia should have had Elvis' back immediately and bullied Parker to just leave or else, they would take care of him. If there was ever a time for them to be thugs, that was it.

[Brian]

It's nice to see an Elvis exhibit doing well in a foreign country.

Regarding the Memphis mafia some of them talk bad about Parker now but not all of them.

I know Joe Esposito, Sonny West, Charlie Hodge and Dick Grob have spoken well of the Colonel's management of Elvis.

Maybe they felt the Colonel was doing an okay job and it wasn't their place to get in the middle of any squabble.

You have to remember not everyone hated the Colonel and they didn't necessarily want him to go.

[KPM]

I was referring to the technology and video presentations on large HD video boards shown on the video clips that I posted. Sure they want to have all that stuff at their NEW visitor's center. But that's down the road. Let's be real. It's been opened since 1982 and never once have they attempted to upgrade until now. And it'll still be another 2-3 years at best before they can ever have anything near what they presented in Brazil. It's a crying shame that he still gets little respect even from his own estate.

Once again we disagree-Graceland has continually upgraded-buying the planes, buying the cars, building the raquetball court into the Wall of Gold, buying up jewelry, cloths, and personal items that Elvis gave away during his life, changing the tours, changing the exhibits, organizing the special year celebrations, working for years to totally own outright all the TV specials on and on-they have not just sat and the Graceland experience of 1982-is a far far cry from the experience of the last 15 years. I have pointed this out before, what you call "upgrading" and what others call "upgrading" are 2 very differing things. All the things I just mentioned are hard copy proof of upgrading the experience of visiting Graceland by the fans of Elvis. Now they may not meet your personal criteria for upgrades or should I say "UPGRADES!!!!"
Your idea of "upgrading" has always been about huge gigantic projects.......projects which you hoped would upgrade the City of Memphis itself and improving the quality of life for those who live near Graceland.(the city you have admitted living in) I can not blame you for wanting Memphis to improve the quality of life for its citizens-Graceland and EPE have been good for the city of Memphis (as is time and time again mentioned by public officials who "appreciate" the tax dollars, tourist dollars and good will that the home of Elvis Presley brings to the city of Memphis from literally the world.
But to deny upgrading has not happened since 1982 because you feel it has not been, big enough, bold enough.... SUPER enough is just incorrect.
Also your shot at the respect he gets by his own estate is way off base-I will point out again they have done "exactly what the will called for"
and they have done so with no direct guidance from Elvis himself on how to do this....he left them carte blanche authority as to what to do to "grow the estate for Lisa"
They have succeeded a million times over the expectations of 1982.
Lets be real......they stumbled when they brought in Sillerman who was to take them to the level that you seem to insist upon as proof of respect-(Sillerman savior... as he was almost christened by some at the time DEEP POCKETS, great financial attributes etc.....) and we see the results..... and now Apollo is holding the bag and the jury is out on them until we see what exactly comes of their involvement.
They were very active and vocal in the contract with Digital Domain-and now they have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy which puts some pause in my mind about Apollo (who must have checked into Digital Domain and found no hint of this move coming it seems) now as I pointed out Chapter 11 does not mean going out of business-but it does not exactly also give you confidence in what the company can or will be able to do since they will be focused developing a plan to stay in business.
Lets be real my friend.... I agree with you on that.

[KPM]

Elvis did not feel loyalty to the Colonel. He even made comments during shows in Vegas at how Parker was out in the casinos gambling away his money. He even got into a heated argument and almost an altercation with Parker and told him then he was fired. But Parker used his conniving ways to control Elvis by making him see that he would have to repay Parker for damages which led Elvis to back down. The Mafia should have had Elvis' back immediately and bullied Parker to just leave or else, they would take care of him. If there was ever a time for them to be thugs, that was it.

Sure he felt loyalty to Parker up until he began to see thru the Snowman as my post pointed out.....IE in the 70s....did not think I would have to spell out the time period since we all know when that awakening finally came to Elvis.......but during the Vegas years........ around the time that he fired Parker and Parker spent a couple weeks constructing a bill fors services rendered that Elvis could not pay and Parker knew Elvis could not disprove (because Parker kept the business records) check out my post:
....by the time he began to see thru the Snowman it was to late.......that happened during the 70s and the problems Elvis was facing, divorce, health, prescription meds addictions, had taken there toll on him..... and he just did not have the confidence to fight and finally rid himself of Parker.
But from 1955 until the mid 70s I think Elvis did feel loyalty to Parker....there was a love between them...problem was Parker loved something much more and that was money.

[KPM]

I can't believe I am going to say this but.......Parker had his own problems, his own fears and I think money was the solution to his inner demons that gave him security to feel he was safe and untouchable.
So in essence as Elvis dealt with sleep problems, insecurities and health issues by thinking "a pill for every ill"
Parker dealt with his issues by wanting to control everything/everyone so he could maximise the money that made him feel safe and untouchable by anyone or thing.

[vivaelvis]

Once again we disagree-Graceland has continually upgraded-buying the planes, buying the cars, building the raquetball court into the Wall of Gold, buying up jewelry, cloths, and personal items that Elvis gave away during his life, changing the tours, changing the exhibits, organizing the special year celebrations, working for years to totally own outright all the TV specials on and on-they have not just sat and the Graceland experience of 1982-is a far far cry from the experience of the last 15 years. I have pointed this out before, what you call "upgrading" and what others call "upgrading" are 2 very differing things. All the things I just mentioned are hard copy proof of upgrading the experience of visiting Graceland by the fans of Elvis. Now they may not meet your personal criteria for upgrades or should I say "UPGRADES!!!!"
Your idea of "upgrading" has always been about huge gigantic projects.......projects which you hoped would upgrade the City of Memphis itself and improving the quality of life for those who live near Graceland.(the city you have admitted living in) I can not blame you for wanting Memphis to improve the quality of life for its citizens-Graceland and EPE have been good for the city of Memphis (as is time and time again mentioned by public officials who "appreciate" the tax dollars, tourist dollars and good will that the home of Elvis Presley brings to the city of Memphis from literally the world.
But to deny upgrading has not happened since 1982 because you feel it has not been, big enough, bold enough.... SUPER enough is just incorrect.
Also your shot at the respect he gets by his own estate is way off base-I will point out again they have done "exactly what the will called for"
and they have done so with no direct guidance from Elvis himself on how to do this....he left them carte blanche authority as to what to do to "grow the estate for Lisa"
They have succeeded a million times over the expectations of 1982.
Lets be real......they stumbled when they brought in Sillerman who was to take them to the level that you seem to insist upon as proof of respect-(Sillerman savior... as he was almost christened by some at the time DEEP POCKETS, great financial attributes etc.....) and we see the results..... and now Apollo is holding the bag and the jury is out on them until we see what exactly comes of their involvement.
They were very active and vocal in the contract with Digital Domain-and now they have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy which puts some pause in my mind about Apollo (who must have checked into Digital Domain and found no hint of this move coming it seems) now as I pointed out Chapter 11 does not mean going out of business-but it does not exactly also give you confidence in what the company can or will be able to do since they will be focused developing a plan to stay in business.
Lets be real my friend.... I agree with you on that.

What you're describing as "upgrades" is actually just expanding INVENTORY. That isn't the type of upgrading that I am referring to and have pointed it out many, many times on here. When I say that EPE has not upgraded since the mid 90's, I am specifically referring to them failing to building newer and better equipped facilities to hold the large crowds that they get and to be able to handle the types of exhibits (like the Brazil experience exhibit), or even failing to improve their current facilities. You can sugarcoat it all you want. The fact is they have NOT upgraded in that aspect. No debating about it.

And you're always pointing at my posts as some type of one and only. FYI, I am NOT the only who has been critical of EPE and their lack of redevelopment improvements. The media has criticized them. Fans have criticized them. Even first timers who have gone to Graceland have said that they need MORE, such as a new hotel and nightlight for people to have things to do AFTER the gates are closed. Sure, they have been planning this for a several years now. But it shouldn't have come to this delay. Planning and actually building/upgrading are two totally different animals. EPE should have been investing all those millions they make yearly many years ago into upgrading Graceland. Truth is, they sat back, collected cash, and didn't plan for the future. Soden has even alluded to such a thing when he said they expected it to last a few years at best, but were overwhelmed to see it get even bigger throughout the years. In other words, they underestimated Elvis' popularity and longevity. Now they're struggling to keep people interested enough to keep coming back with what they have NOW. This is the whole reason for their expansion plans. To keep it going and to bring in more.

[Joe Car]

From all accounts, this exhibit is doing very well in Brazil. Always good to hear!!

[KPM]

What you're describing as "upgrades" is actually just expanding INVENTORY. That isn't the type of upgrading that I am referring to and have pointed it out many, many times on here. When I say that EPE has not upgraded since the mid 90's, I am specifically referring to them failing to building newer and better equipped facilities to hold the large crowds that they get and to be able to handle the types of exhibits (like the Brazil experience exhibit), or even failing to improve their current facilities. You can sugarcoat it all you want. The fact is they have NOT upgraded in that aspect. No debating about it.

And you're always pointing at my posts as some type of one and only. FYI, I am NOT the only who has been critical of EPE and their lack of redevelopment improvements. The media has criticized them. Fans have criticized them. Even first timers who have gone to Graceland have said that they need MORE, such as a new hotel and nightlight for people to have things to do AFTER the gates are closed. Sure, they have been planning this for a several years now. But it shouldn't have come to this delay. Planning and actually building/upgrading are two totally different animals. EPE should have been investing all those millions they make yearly many years ago into upgrading Graceland. Truth is, they sat back, collected cash, and didn't plan for the future. Soden has even alluded to such a thing when he said they expected it to last a few years at best, but were overwhelmed to see it get even bigger throughout the years. In other words, they underestimated Elvis' popularity and longevity. Now they're struggling to keep people interested enough to keep coming back with what they have NOW. This is the whole reason for their expansion plans. To keep it going and to bring in more.

No my friend-you are not the final say in what is debateable...... nor am I or anyone else.
Expanding inventory is not upgrading??? You bring in new attractions that change the tours but thats not upgrading?
Expanding inventory is upgrading your attraction, you have Elvis planes to see, after the planes were bought.......those planes had to have a location to view them, the cars had to be refurbished where needed (as did the planes) and the cars added to the "inventory" added to the attraction of Graceland.
You can downplay all the upgrades made since 1982 all you want-but they are still upgrades that have added considerably to the fans viewing pleasure when they get to Graceland.
As far as after hours-come on lets be real, you have a historic city:

http://www.planetware.com/tourist-at...is-us-tn-m.htm
Beale Street, Sun Studios, BB Kings bar etc........my daughter and her friends enjoyed exploring Beale Street greatly and listening to local bands. Once again Graceland and Elvis in your mind should pull the total weight for your city.....hardly fair when the city and its citizens should step up themselves to make their historic city more tourist friendly.
No you are not the only one to be critical of EPE-but you are certainly on this board the most vocal-you continually post any item that may be seen as detrimental to EPE/Lisa and play up any announcement since Sillermans involvement began the "great rush to UPGRADE"
I see little middle ground in your thinking-EPE baaad.........horrid.......have never made a good decision or accomplished anything that in your mind has been correct. Sorry that is incorrect thinking IMO it seems to show some ax to grind with EPE, Gracelands staff, the expansion not cleaning up your area of crime-not sure what but sorry thats the way it looks.
I have not agreed with everything EPE has done, check my past 10 years of posts-but they have succeeded, they have done great things, and accomplished much to keep the legacy of Elvis alive-to deny that is to just be blind.
You speak of planning for several years 2005, 7 years ago, Savoir Sillerman was brought in to accomplish the building.......I say no more.
The 85% stockholder will always run the company........pound your keys about his lack of success during the 6-7 years he was in charge, today if something good comes about-you tout Apollo as the reason-but if its bad-it was EPE??? That is where I see some type of bias.
Come on EPE has not made major decisions since 2005-that is handled by the 85% stockholders who control the ball of wax-fact.
EPE had been hearing for years people complain about "going to the next level with some major expansion" they make the move to do just that by admitting they need outside help-they make the Sillerman deal-and still EPE is to blame.......not Sillerman CKX, Apollo or the new CORE still the venom is left to EPE.......
EPE who succeeded for years.....who built a couple hundred million dollar empire for Lisa, who got her over $100 million cash in the Sillerman deal plus stock and kept Gracelands deed in her hands.....yet you never admit that they have done so in real terms......you gloss over it......you want them to be the villain to target......Why?