Pinkie is ready to roll!

T-Minus 2 Days

As it's getting closer to our departure date (that would be Thursday, Aug. 2), we're feeling the time crunch - going over all of the last minute details, packing lists, supply lists, confirming and reconfirming interviews and reservations...But we're also feeling pretty well prepared for this great adventure, thanks in no small part to the friendly strangers we've arranged to meet along the way. People like Bill Kinard in Tupelo.

Bill and his wife, Linda, have not only agreed to spend the entire day of Aug. 11 with us, showing us the Elvis Fans Memorial Wall and Cemetary and introducing us to numerous Elvis relatives and "connections", they also are going to have a mobile mini-Graceland traveling museum at their property the day of our visit!

Granted, the mini-Graceland is not being installed just because we're coming through (Aug. 11 if Fan Appreciation Day in Tupelo), but still! Bill also hinted that we'll be meeting someone who recently discovered he's an "Elvis Son" (Bill's quotes, not mine)...stay tuned for more on that one.

Dallas we love you!

A special concert has been arranged the evening of August 7th at Hot Rodds and Hogs in Dallas, TX. Many thanks to Doug Olvey for putting the whole thing together and giving us some much needed free publicity. JR would be proud!

San Diego Comicon, the Elvis Bus and a Pink Cadillac

A Friday night blog post? Think anyone's reading?
WELL! We have had QUITE a last couple of days. First to SD Comicon to hang with our buddy Elvis Trooper (Kenny T. the BMAC, Big Man at Comicon) then onto the Elvis Bus with Kenny and bunch more Elvis'. AND THEN, today we picked up Pinkie, our brand new pink Cadillac (see sexy pix above). We're so proud. We're off in 6 days and my parents just reminded me how much it rains in the south. Better get a car cover!
Anyone who comments gets a quarter!

Just Above Sunset Blog

Many thanks to Alan Pavlik again for putting up details about our project on his blog. Check out the coverage at:
http://www.justabovesunset.com/photography/html/elvis_right_here_.html

what a difference a car made

Ed Chalfa, our trusty scout and driver of our cargo trailer/getaway car showed up in LA ready to go with his Mercedes Sprinter looking a little different then when he bought it.
Parked on Selma and Laurel in the 3-2-3, Ed's steed got a look from our neighbor and blogger Alan Pavlik, who helms the website www.justabovesunset.com.
He took some pics, perhaps they are up now...
We also took the caddy in to Earl Schieb today to be pained pink and white. Our fingers are crossed...are yours?

I Won!

The Honk if You ♥ Elvis team is pleased to announce that Erica, our very own co-producer/director, has been named the winner of Elvis International Fan Club's recent new membership challenge! Erica brought the most new members to Elvis International over the past few weeks and the Fan Club is mailing her a mystery prize in recognition!

The thing is, after all of the kindness we've been shown by the Elvis International family - invitations to parties and tours, happily granted interviews - we don't want the new membership push to stop! This is one cool fan club and it celebrates Elvis in the best way. So family and friends, readers of this blog, if you haven't already followed the link at right to the Elvis International site and joined, please do so now! (It's free, too!)

Many of the things we will be doing and filming during Elvis Week are through Elvis International - check 'em out!

The Windy City comes to Memphis...

Yet another Bruin will be joining the crew. MEGAN LARMER, actress, director, waitress, will leave Chicago and meet us down in Memphis for Elvis week. Good times. Lots of chicks. Girls, girls, girls...he'd be proud.

Hey, Hey its Kozue!

We got sound! Our new gal Kozue is on the job and bringing an Eastern flair to our Western crew. Stay tuned...

We ♥ Broadway Photo NYC!

Many thanks to the good people of Broadway Photo for their great deals and patience when it comes to me giving them the worng credit card number! Want great deals on pro digital stuff and more? check out http://www.bwayphoto.com/. A deal fit for a king!

Busy Day!

So, lots of little things have been happening here in Honk if You Heart Elvis land.

Most exciting, perhaps, is the fact that we finally worked out a way to paint the Cadillac pink! Thanks to a hot tip about buying our own car paint, we were able to pick out just the right shade of bubblegum pink from El Monte Auto Paint. The guys at EMAP were very friendly, helpful and enthusiastic about our project and understood we're working this with a tight budget. We picked up the pink today (and white vinyl paint for the top - this is going to be a two-tone job!) and will be taking the car in to Earl Scheib early Monday morning...fingers crossed the guys at Earl Scheib are as professional and considerate at the gang at El Monte!

We also went to pick up our swanky new business cards at Charlie Chan Printers in Hollywood. They had the best price and quickest service for 1000 cards - unfortunately, though, the cards say "Honk if Your Elvis". Undoubtedly that phrase would get a reaction, too, but since we're not looking for those rare birds that think they are Elvis, Bubba-Ho Tep like, we asked Charlie Chan to reprint. They promised to have the right cards ready for us tomorrow afternoon.

Elvis Fans Forever in Tupelo

We're so excited to announce the latest update to our travel plans en route to Memphis: on Saturday, Aug. 11, we will be spending the day in Tupelo with Bill and Linda Kinard, the masterminds behind the Elvis Fans Memorial Wall and Meditation Gardens! The Kindards live in one of Elvis' boyhood homes and they are true blue fans (just check http://www.elvispresleyfansforever.com/ to see why!).

Jenny Parry, owner of Gracepines (where we are staying during Elvis Week) introduced us to her friends Bill and Linda via email. (And, of course, we were originally introduced to Jenny by a mutual friend in LA.) One of the most amazing things in planning this trip has been the tremendous support we've received from Elvis fans around the country...So many people have reached out to us and helped us and put us in touch with yet more people. As a result, this trip keeps getting better - more details, more behind-the-scenes, more intimate...It's truly touching.

But enough of the gushy-mushiness!

Because the truth is, we're just plain psyched! No doubt we're going to be getting a most special, insiders peek at Tupelo and what must be it's very unique Elvis fan community...

Thank goodness for digital cameras because we could never afford the quantity of film necessary for all of the still photos we're going to be taking on this trip! (Yes, there's going to be a movie camera there, but documentary is all about interweaving images from different media and what's a road trip without snapshots anyway?!?)

Elvis International Fan Club tour of Graceland - We're on it!

We'd been contemplating whether or not we should take the time to tour Graceland while we're in Memphis...Not that we didn't want to, but we knew it would take at least a couple of hours and we need to be filming fans 24/7. I didn't want to say it, but I was a little bit bummed at the prospect of traveling all the way to Memphis and not going inside The Home.

Lucky for me/us, Jason Edge and Elvis International Fan Club have come to our rescue (or something like that): Jason, as the head of EI, is the president of one of the big EP fan clubs and so we asked him for an interview during Elvis Week...He graciously said yes, then invited us to join his Fan Club on a special group tour of Graceland on August 16. (Full disclosure: Erica is a member of Elvis International.)

Suddenly, visiting Graceland doesn't seem like a personal indulgence! Now it will be another vignette in the documentary - can't wait to see who we meet!

BECOME A MEMBER AT: http://www.elvisinternational.com/

MySpace

We were previously not big fans of MySpace. Nothing personal. Just not our thing.

However, we've been getting such an awesome, enthusiastic response over the past few days from friends and strangers alike to the "Honk if You Heart Elvis" (see link on right) MySpace site, it's kind of warmed our hearts...

Maybe there is something after all to social networking over the internets!

Where we'll stay when we're not in Memphis...

Serious trip-planning is in full swing now; Helen and I (Erica) are going over our trip dates again and again, reviewing possible stops and definite stops on the road to Graceland, how many miles we'll drive on average each day, people and places we'd like to visit en route, etc., etc.

So far our definite stops are Phoenix, Austin, Dallas, Tupelo and Memphis. We'll be camping at Gracepines B&B (www.gracepines.com) just outside of Memphis, staying at the funky Austin Motel (www.austinmotel.com) in (duh) Austin, and the blah Travelodge in Tupelo. In Phoenix we'll be staying at a standard hotel near the Casino Arizona, where we'll be seeing Metal Elvis.

Everywhere in between we're planning on camping.

When we first began planning the movie and the trip we considered camping as an affordable back-up option. But then we realized that staying at a campground was much more than a budget-friendly alternative: campgrounds are ideal places to meet and interact with people of all ages and backgrounds from all across the country (and probably beyond) - the exact kind of people we want to interview for the film.

So, now we're planning to camp for at least 50% of our trip, in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. KOA (Kampgrounds of America, www.koa.com) became our first corporate sponsor in April, and that support certainly influenced our decision. We're glad it did!

We'll be posting updates and images from every KOA venue we stay at - if you can recommend any particular locations across the southwest, please do! (We're also looking for advice on tents, bug repellent - do you know anyone who reps Avon Skin So Soft? - and sleeping pads, fyi.) Any suggestions for fun, funky motels in Tupelo, Phoenix-Scottsdale, Dallas or places in between? Pass those along too!

Our Digs on Elvisnews.com....

We'll be among the first guests at Gracepines this summer, when we stay there during Elvis Week. Owners Jenny and Glen have been so gracious to us, so we were thrilled to see them mentioned on a major Elvis site:

http://www.elvisnews.com/Presentation/Functional/Page/news.aspx?item=9363&command=show

Good Times in San Francisco...

This past Saturday evening, Helen, Dagmar and Erica were treated to a very special dinner by the one and only Susan Lowe, corporate lawyer and Elvis fan extraordinaire!

We drove up to San Francisco just for this event and the trip was well worth it. Not only did Susan spend a lot of quality time in front of the camera, describing her relationship with Elvis and giving us lots of great clips, she also prepared a full Southern feast: collard greens, mashed potatoes, gravy, black-eyed peas, chicken, cornbread, pie, and the most delicious deviled eggs...We ate a lot and drank a lot and had a marvelous time watching videos and listening to EP with Susan and her niece, Jaime (also a life-long El fan, thanks to her Aunt Sue). There was singing and dancing and gifts exchanged - Thank you Susan for the terrific presents! We can't wait to put them on the car and use them on the trip! - if only every Saturday night were so much fun...

Helen's little sister, Katharine, was also on hand for the dinner and fun, and to help us sort through some legal stuff (ick) the next day. She was a fabulous host during our whirlwind weekend and we wish that she could join us in Memphis this August!

Last but not least, we made friends with an SF cabbie, Manuel Trejo. He gave us a ride, sang some songs and promised to send us (actually, Dagmar) some special Elvis stuff...Wonder what it could be???

Back from the Bay

And what a weekend it was...an emotional vigil dinner with #1 Fan Susan Lowe in San Fran and then down to Merced to talk with Ken, the Stormtrooper Elvis...more blogging on this to come...I have to go to work and get the pics from the whole thing...
-helen

UPDATE: SEE NEAT PHOTOS BELOW!