Friday, August 15, 2008

EW-DAY 5

Yesterday was day 2 of the Insiders Conference. I was not all that impressed at the first day as a whole even though a few of the guests really stood out as people I would want to see. Day 2 was so much better. I thought the whole day was pretty good from start to finish. Robert Sillerman was answering some question via video. It was interesting to hear his thoughts and plans of the future of EPE. I have never had a problem though some fans seem to really question where the company is going since he took over. I thought he presented himself well and should have put some people minds to ease. Jerry Schilling and Joe Guercio was on hand to talk about Vegas and touring with Elvis. Susan Henning took the stage next to talk about the 68 special and her time on the set of Live A Little, Love A Little. I had never heard her speak, just bits on paper from Interviews. She has just now started to speak of her time with Elvis. It was interesting but I really have mixed feeling on her. Larry Hamby from Sony BMG was on hand to talk about the Elvis Christmas Duets Albums. I might have changed my mind a little about that, but I will save that rant for later. Ed Faulkenr(GI Blues, Tickle Me), Celesta Yarnall(Live A Little), and Francine York(Tickle Me) were on hand to talk about Elvis and making movies with him. I was excited to see Ed because he also played in many John Wayne movies which I am also a big fan of. I enjoyed hearing from all of them as they had nice things to say about Elvis and many wonderful stories. Celesta was a real treat because I have always been a big fan of her and she really was close to Elvis during the time they spent together working.
Also the last two days we have went to the Elvis Expo that was being held at the convention center as well. We had free access to it with our tickets to the conference. Vendors, authors, and the conference guest had booths set up. Many of the guests at the conference were there to sell pictures and autographs and such. I would have loved to get some of them but I was not going to fork over $20 to get one. One lady that was willing to pay for was Chris Noel. She played in Girl Happy with Elvis. She is famous for many film and TV roles as well as her work with the solider during the Vietnam War. I have always been a big fan of her and was more than willing to pay for something from her. Plus all her money goes to her charity. I decided on getting a Girl Happy script. She was nice enough to also give me a picture with it and she signed both. She was a super nice lady and if it is possible I am an even bigger fan of hers now. Darlene Tompkins was also there. She appeared In Blue Hawaii and Fun In Acapulco. She is a cool lady and I would like to have had her signature but I had left all my money in the room and was not about to pass up getting Chris to sign something. So my only money went for that. Today was really one of the best days this week. I am really happy I decided to go to the conference despite the first day being pretty slow and dull. We did not really do anything last night except eat and come back to the room to watch swimming. We have not decided what to do today yet. Most importantly tonight is the Vigil. So we will be up all night. We will be back sometime tomorrow to post about today.
Also I do not have my camera on me at the moment. I will be posting some pictures from yesterday at some point though.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Mike,

Tell me...............have you been wearing anything from Lansky's? Do you plan to purchase some new threads while there like "E" wore? I really love the blue and white stripe jacket Elvis wore on the cover of a Christmas Album Blue Christmas. What's the most ridiculous thing or attendee's you've seen while there?

Mike Edwards said...

I hope to get a chance to go to Lansky's. I usually stop everytime I am in town and pick up something new. We have not got to do a lot of what we wanted to do though this week because we have been so busy. So I don't know. That jacket you are talking about is key, I have wanted one for a long time. He looked so cool in the movie Speedway in that. We have seen too many ridiculous things to count. One was some crazy guy at the Elvis expo singing( and butchering) an Elvis song. He was dressed in some awful jumpsuit. I wish I had a picture it looked and sounded terrible.