Phoenix museum pays tribute to Elvis

Elvis Presley fans looking for a place to cool off should head to north Phoenix this week where Elvis is on display at the Musical Instrument Museum.

"We're really excited," said the museum's Laura Diekema. "We're revving up for Elvis week."The celebration of the king of rock runs Aug. 10-16.Diekeman said Elvis guitars and memorabilia will be there. Much of the exhibit features Elvis's Valley connection. It includes jumpsuits that Elvis wore during two concerts at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix in the 1970s."One of the fringe jumpsuits was worn here in his performance in 1970," said Diekema. "That was a significant performance because his manager wanted Elvis to try touring again. So, they did a short, eight-concert tour, with Phoenix being the first stop, to see if Elvis still had it and he definitely did."The other is known as the "Flower Jumpsuit," which Elvis wore during a second concert at the Coliseum in 1973. The 50-pound suit with red jewels was the heaviest one Elvis ever wore.Elvis' movie career is also featured in the exhibit."He filmed the movie Charro here in Apache Junction," said Diekema. "So we have the costume from that film, and the original working script that he had himself." There will be four showings of the movie, two on Saturday and two on Aug. 16.Even the museum's cafe is getting into the act. It's adding "Jailhouse Rock" Shrimp Slaw to the menu in honor of the exhibit.

By Bob McClay

Source: http://ktar.com