Joe Ashbrook Nickell

It’s not clear that advertisers have developed an appreciation for sponsoring such subtle celebrity, however. So far, the site boasts an ad for the Sync, which describes its offerings as “video for the Net Generation” — but no big corporate sponsors.

Log in to watch and there might be a party, one of the housemates watching television or nothing at all.

“This is real life. We’re not here to entertain people,” says Vidal, who — believe it or not — says he’s not interested in emulating MTV’s “The Real World.” And apparently there is an audience for this: Vidal claims an average of 1,000 people are tuned into HereandNow at any given time.

Perhaps predictably, the female roommates get the most attention. “I get people who are obsessed, absolutely in love with me,” said Lisa Batey, a 20-year old econ major. Some aren’t so kind. In response to a “win a date with Lisa” contest, Batey was barraged with hundreds of e-mail messages — not from suitors, but from women who accused her of perpetuating shallow values in relationships. “I guess it got interpreted wrong,” sighed Batey. “I just thought it would be fun to actually meet some of the people who are watching us. I guess I’m not very celebrity-minded.”

The HereandNow participants all seem to be learning a few real-world lessons from the project. Even as Vidal explains that the site’s “traffic could justify advertising, and we’ll need some kind of sponsorship to keep paying for the bandwidth,” he admits that his project may not find the funding it’s after. “This idea of uncensored life, where at any time anybody could do anything, that’s proving to be an extremely racy idea for conservative American companies … I tell you, my view of quite a few things has been darkened considerably by this project.”

“I think it’s quite fair to believe there’ll be quite a few items offered as bargains,” said Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey’s Auction, which announced the auction together with icollector, an online art and collectibles auction site. Icollector will host the catalog online and collect presale bids via e-mail.

While the auction will take place live — appropriately enough, at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Hotel — wanna-haves from around the world will be able to watch the auction via streaming video and bid online for items that include clothes worn by Elvis in concert, furniture and an array of seemingly tossed-off items such as original recording contracts signed by Elvis and correspondence from Colonel Parker.

“That sort of thing has never been offered to collectors,” said Ettinger. “It’s not an elitist sale; the person who has little money to spend still has a fighting chance here.” Of course, those folks might have to fight with not a few professional collectors of Elvis memorabilia.

“Personally, I think the contracts are some of the coolest items coming up for auction,” said Cindy Hazen, co-owner of Elvistyle, a Memphis, Tenn., tour company that owns and is attempting to restore Elvis’ second-to-last home to the state in which the King left it. “We will be looking for memorabilia related to our house.”

Proceeds from the auction will be used to establish a building fund for the creation of Presley Place, a transitional housing development in Memphis. And for those scheduling trips to Graceland after October, no need to worry. Nothing currently on display at the shrine to the King will be sold off.