elvis presley

Peter Mars Featured at Clinton Presidential Library /  by Taylor Wade

On Friday, June 3, an anthology of original new Elvis artwork by Peter Mars was launched to the American public for the first time via ELVIS, an exhibit that will run throughout the summer of 2011 at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. Coming on the heels of a successful show this spring at the Pop International Gallery in New York’s Soho neighborhood, 2011 is shaping up to be an incredible year for Peter Mars! “I like to think I’m a big dreamer, but to go straight from Soho to a presidential library is just way more than even I ever dreamed,” he said.

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Walking With Elvis /  by Taylor Wade

Throughout these visits to Memphis and in the paintings I’m making, I literally feel that Elvis is walking with me, taking me down the side streets down Monroe Street. He shows me the old Wonder Bread Bakery, and Walker’s Radiator Works, and tells me stories as we stop and watch the trolleys pass Orleans Station. At 706 Union Ave. we come to the door of a very modest little building. This little storefront is the legendary Sun Studio, the original office of the “Memphis Recording Service.”

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Home of the King /  by Taylor Wade

I love Memphis but the cab ride is cold, and I’m headed for a two-star hotel downtown, so I keep my fingers crossed. I’m back in town to do an exhibit at Graceland Mansion, another at Jay Etkin Gallery downtown, and a second Sirius Satellite Radio interview.

The lobby is low frills. It has the feel of an airport rental-car counter. A uniformed valet sleeps in an armchair near the door, pretending to read a magazine that now flops on his knee. Across the courtyard I notice a rib joint all glassed in with big windows all steamy and inviting looking. Is it just a mirage? The vision of a real Memphis Bar-b-que joint, right in the carport of my hotel really looks too good to be true.

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