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A gift for Japan's prime minister -- locks of Elvis' hair
By BARTHOLOMEW SULLIVAN
June 27, 2006
Fans of Elvis Presley are lining up to present Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi with memorabilia during his visit to Memphis, including
locks of .the king of rock 'n' roll's jet-black hair.
Tom Morgan Jr., a retired sheriff's deputy who handled security for
Presley's funeral in 1977, said he's willing to hand over several locks of
hair from a baseball-sized stash that the singer's barber gave him.
I have this hair and I don't know if there's any way of getting it to him,
or whatever, but I would be willing to give him several locks of that hair,
if he's so inclined," Morgan said.
The prime minister - who shares Presley's Jan. 8 birthday and describes
himself as an Elvis "maniac" - will pay his respects at Graceland Friday,
accompanied by President Bush and first lady Laura Bush. They're spending
less than two hours at Graceland but will get a unique perspective on the
Jungle Room with guides Priscilla Presley, Elvis' one-time wife, and Lisa
Marie, his daughter.
The prime minister and the Bushes will have lunch at the Rendezvous,
Memphis' most famous barbecue restaurant. The owner, Nick Vergos, said he
will serve ribs, barbecued chicken and pork shoulder.
"Who'd 'a thought that almost 60 years after my father started this little
restaurant that we'd be honored with the prime minister of Japan, the
president of the United States and his lovely wife, the first lady?" Vergos
said. The restaurant will be closed to the public for lunch on Friday but
will reopen as soon as the presidential party departs, he said.
William Speer, 89, took the first pictures of Elvis and his parents at his
studio in 1955 and said he would like to present a calendar of them to
Koizumi.
Chris Thomas, the Shelby County probate court clerk, would like Koizumi to
drop by the vault where he keeps Presley's last will. Others have offered
canceled commemorative postage stamps and posters of the Mississippi River.
The staff at the Elvis Presley Trauma Center at the Regional Medical Center
at Memphis hope Koizumi will drop by to have his picture taken.
The Japanese press attache suggests sending such gifts to the Japanese
consulate in New Orleans, but none of the gift-givers reached so far appears
to like the idea. They're hoping someone on Koizumi's staff will show some
initiative and get them delivered while he's still in the moment, in
Memphis.
Morgan has auctioned some of the Elvis hair that Presley's barber, Homer
Gilland, gave him but has enough to offer Koizumi. Morgan said the barber
traveled everywhere with Elvis, cutting and dying his light brown hair its
iconic black.
"Over a 20-year period, or better, he'd put a towel around Elvis' neck and
every time he cut his hair, the clippings that stayed on his towel, he'd
just roll it up and carried it with him," Morgan said.
(
...I didn't watch it on tv, but I'm sure it was interesting...
