MEMPHIS - Are you lonesome tonight?

The answer is definitely not if you're an Elvis Presley fan walking in Memphis around the grounds of his fabled Graceland mansion.

Die-hard Decatur Elvis aficionados Fred Whobrey and Greg Spain made the trip Friday night so they would be there in plenty of time to get all shook up about the hoopla surrounding the King of Rock n' Roll's 71st birthday on Sunday.

Whobrey, a former president of the International Foundation of Elvis Presley Fan Clubs, said you could hardly move without someone stepping on you blue suede shoes at fan-packed parties and tributes to Presley. There were events featuring special guests who knew and worked with the singer and displays of rarely seen memorabilia associated with his tumultuous life, cut tragically short at the age of 42 in 1977.

Why can't we stop loving Elvis? Whobrey, 65, says the baby boomers who grew up mesmerized by his songs can never forget the impact he had on their lives. "It's just the voice, for one thing - he still sounds like no one else," added Whobrey, now retired from the Herald & Review where he was major national accounts advertising sales manager.

"And Elvis speaks to the individual when he sings - he makes you feel like 'I've been through this or I've been through that,' he always hits it right on the head; he's just got that much charisma in his voice."

Presley's sexually charged on-stage performances were once another sensation, prompting outraged baby boomer parents to accuse him of being the devil in disguise. One Catholic priest slammed Ed Sullivan for inflicting a "moral injury" on the nation after Presley smoldered through his 1956 performance on the TV show.

Today, when such criticism can only muster a wry smile, Elvis is still always on our minds and even on the minds of kids who weren't born when he was alive. "You see a lot of younger fans down here," said Spain, 44. "Kids who are 12, 13, 14 years old and who really appreciate the music and just the whole atmosphere of being here and being part of all this."

Spain, a Decatur police sergeant who never got to see Presley live as did Whobrey, makes an "annual pilgrimage" for the birthday festivities, where he looks forward to meeting close friends from Britain he's made through their shared appreciation of the man and his music.

Spain and Whobrey stress that nobody is left crying in the chapel, either, as the mood of the Graceland birthday events focuses on the celebration of the life and continuing legacy of the superstar. "Even in death as he did in life, Elvis is still bringing hundreds of thousands of people together," said Whobrey.

"You know, some 650,000 visitors come to Graceland every year - that is second only to the White House."

Tony Reid can be reached at treid@;herald-review.com or 421-7977.