BackinMemphis

Rich Consola of Amherst saw Elvis Presley in concert twice at Memorial Auditorium, in 1957 and in 1976. That was it. And yet “The King” has been Consola’s focus for decades. “I’ve studied Elvis Presley’s autograph every day of my life for the past 25 years,” Consola said. Through sheer will, untold hours of study, and the gift of being “kind of OCD,” Consola has become an internationally respected authenticator of Elvis’ signature, assessing the loops and swoops to pick out the genuine from the counterfeit. Not that Elvis has made that easy. “He signed a lot of autographs, but the thing about Elvis is that he almost never signed his name twice the same way,” said Consola, a trim, gray-haired man who has two Elvis tattoos on his right arm, one the image of a famous photo from the 1957 Aud concert by former Buffalo News photographer Robert L. Smith, the other Elvis’ own “TCB” design, which stands for “taking care of business.” Consola loves to talk about Elvis, and ...

Opportunity Village is a Las Vegas nonprofit organization which back in the day, made those scarves that Elvis would pass out during his shows. Opportunity Village continues to make similar scarves today, both as a tribute to its long association with Elvis and to raise money for its programs that assist Southern Nevadans with intellectual disabilities. And even if today’s scarves haven’t been kissed by The King, they still can evoke a bit of Las Vegas’ colorful past. Each of the 100 percent silk scarves is designed and hand-painted by a client of Opportunity Village, whose name and bio appears on each one. The scarves can be online (www.opportunityvillage.org/collections/scarves-ties) or in the gift shop at Opportunity Village’s Engelstad campus, 6050 S. Buffalo Drive. The scarves begin at $20, are of various widths and lengths, and, for most people, are indistinguishable from scarves that shoppers would find in department stores. The story behind them is just as color...