blog archive

Saturday 8 January 2011

Chilean miner Edison Pena visits Elvis Presley's home

Edison Pena at Graceland Mr Pena said the best part of the tour was the display of Presley's jumpsuits

One of the Chilean miners rescued in October after 69 days underground has fulfilled a dream: visiting Graceland, home of Elvis Presley.

Edison Pena posed for the cameras after touring Presley's house in Memphis, in the state of Tennessee.

He was on a six-day US visit sponsored by business and tourism groups.

Mr Pena, a devoted fan of the King of Rock and Roll, is said to have crooned Presley songs to his fellow miners to cheer them through their ordeal.

"His music was a message to me, that I could get out," Pena said in Spanish. "We were living in death. It could have come at any time."

During a private tour of the rock and roll legend's house on Friday, Mr Pena took photographs with a mobile phone.

Later Mr Pena, who speaks little English, sang for reporters short versions of his favourite Presley hits, including Blue Suede Shoes, Heartbreak Hotel and Suspicious Minds.

He also treated the audience to some of Presley's signature karate-inspired stage moves, the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper reported.

On Saturday, Mr Pena is to visit Presley's hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi, to observe the singer's 75th birthday.

During the miners' long ordeal, Mr Pena kept in shape by running laps of open tunnels in the copper and gold mine. In November, he ran the New York City marathon.

Mr Pena and 32 other miners, mostly Chileans, were trapped in August when a mine shaft collapsed around them. They were rescued in relatively good health in October.

No comments:

Post a Comment