It's July eighteenth, and on this day in 1969, Elvis began rehearsals for his upcoming opening night in Las Vegas, marking a key moment as he prepared to return to live performance after years away from the stage. Looking back to July seventeenth, 1958, Elvis was in army training at Fort Hood, Texas. During a weekend visit to Dallas with his friend Eddie Fadal, a local disc jockey, Elvis and his group were turned away from the Dallas Sheraton Hotel because they “had no luggage.” They instead rented an entire floor of another hotel hosting a hairdresser’s convention. Elvis was so upset by the Sheraton incident that Colonel Parker contacted the hotel chain’s president, who offered a formal apology and free lodging at any Sheraton Inn, but Elvis refused the offer and avoided Sheraton hotels whenever touring in the Dallas area thereafter. In 1975, Elvis performed at the Cleveland Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio.
