We were sitting in a meeting the other day, and one of our young digital marketing coordinators had been to Las Vegas for a family wedding. I asked her if she saw any “Elvis Presleys.” The whole room laughed, and to our surprise, she said she didn’t see a single one! My sister, Janice, the eternal Elvis fan, chimed in and informed us he was not dead but has been spotted.
In the middle of several little side conversations about The King of Rock and Roll, I thought to myself, “These young girls have never had an Elvis moment.” Janice and I, however, have had several.
My first recollection of Elvis is when I was a little girl and he came on The Ed Sullivan Show, which my mom and dad watched religiously. Oh, my goodness, how heads turned when he danced and presented a new stage ensemble (shall we say).
The second was when my sister and brother were in college at The University of Alabama. Elvis was coming to Tuscaloosa, and Janice wasn’t about to miss it. She faithfully stood in line for hours to buy tickets. And you better believe she got those tickets and counted the days until his appearance!
Finally, the day came, and she took her seat proudly. Then she spotted him! Keith, that is—our brother. Keith, who had volunteered to be an usher. Keith, who not only got in, but had a free front row seat! She was furious the entire show, and to this day, this is a sore subject.
The final Elvis moment in my life was a day in August when Janice and I were on a cruise with two of our friends who also adored Elvis. There were no TVs on ships, or CNN or smartphones—only newspapers. In the middle of Puerto Rico when we went ashore, Janice spied a newspaper with Elvis’s photo on the front page. She knew he had died. The four of us girls stood there trying to translate enough information to find out what happened to her Elvis. Word by word, she found out it was true.
I have never seen so many Elvis look-alikes as there are today. But try as hard as you like, the real one can’t be copied.
I wonder how Elvis sliced bananas for his famed favorite sandwich? (If you read my post on PB + Banana Sandwiches, you know what I’m talking about!)
Comments 23
I actually went to an Elvis concert in Lakeland, FL when I was 11 yrs old…too young to appreciate it, but at least I can say “I breathed the same air as Elvis.”
It was 2003, and I was baking for Christmas while my then 5 year old daughter happened upon the classic b&w Elvis movie:Jailhouse Rock. I thought to myself…a movie without color will hold her attention maybe 5 minutes. Wrong. She had an Elvis moment that led to an ongoing fascination to this day in 2018. He was her first rock and movie star crush to our amazement. Her request at age 7 was to have a Blue Hawaii birthday party and cake featuring her request to have a picture of her face over Priscilla’s iconic bride pix beside Elvis. Done. Just yesterday, at age 20, she poured over Elvis fan stuff at a local antique store. 1950’s Elvis-is her favorite. The man’s attraction is timeless.
Though this may sound a little strange, this is my Elvis story. I had always liked Elvis’ singing but I wasn’t a screaming teenage girl like some girls were back then. However, sometime in 1974, I began to have a ‘burden’ for Elvis and since this burden weighed on me heavily, I began to pray for him. I felt the Lord was telling me there wasn’t much time but I didn’t understand what all that meant and certainly didn’t really think about that meaning Elvis could die. Finally, I told my parents and my older brother about this heavy burden that I had to pray for Elvis. They didn’t think that was crazy and since they understood about ‘prayer burdens’, they encouraged me to keep praying. As time went along, I continued to pray for Elvis whenever the Lord would bring him to my mind. Then at work one day, one of the girls in my department told me that she and her husband were going to go to Kansas City (about 3 hours from where we lived) to see Elvis in concert. I thought it would be great to get to go but didn’t think that would be possible but when I shared with my family at the dinner table that evening, my brother told me that he thought that I should go and he would take me. So when the time came, he and I took off…country kids going to the big city…but we just knew that we were supposed to be there so we were trusting the Lord to be with us. What an adventure we had just getting there…we ended up in the train yard with trains coming and going all around us. Somehow, PTL, we got out of there and got to where we were going and made it up to the ‘nose bleed section’ to watch the concert…a miracle! The concert was quite an experience but I will never forget how my brother reached over during the concert and took my hand and we prayed for Elvis. After the concert, we left and went back home…and life went on. A few months later Elvis was gone and I realized that though I had prayed for Elvis from time to time after the concert, I hadn’t had that heavy burden for Elvis after that concert. I still don’t understand what that was all about to this day but it wasn’t and still isn’t my job to understand but just to trust God and to do His will the best I can. I am thankful that my family understood and were supportive back then…especially my older brother who didn’t make fun of me but helped me to do the best that I could to fulfill what God had laid on my heart to do. I believe that if I hadn’t have prayed for Elvis, I would have really regretted it when he died…and that sure would have ‘laid heavily on me’. Whenever I hear Elvis singing my favorite Elvis song, “You Saw Me Crying in the Chapel’, my mind goes back to that time and I still remember that ‘burden of prayer’. I have come to understand that the Holy Spirit will lay on someone’s heart…even clear around the world if necessary…a burden to pray for someone in need…even if they don’t know who God has called them to pray for…yet they know God knows…and because they understand that God loves everyone and ‘is not willing that any should perish’…great or small, male or female, young or old, famous or not…they pray…and trust God…knowing prayer changes things…even today. And today…well, I am burdened to pray for our President and all of the leaders of our nation…as we are all encouraged to do…first of all…in I Timothy 2:1-4. I know that many of you are praying for our nation’s leaders, also. God bless you!
Love Elvis! Always have- do not care for impersonators. Was lucky enough to see him live twice in the 70’s. Took my mom too. So many Elvis moments! As a teenager, we lived to buy the next new “45”record. And today at 73, still love that voice! We listen to oldies and Elvis from our recorded music on our phones- anywhere and anytime. But very little movie music- just don’t care for that. Will only watch a couple of movies over and over but have seen all of them.
Thanks for the wonderful memories! Enjoyed reading the comments.
I don’t care for Elvis impersonators at all. They are always a disappointment.
My husbands aunt that lived in Memphis, worked in a restaurant that Elvis would come into after hours.She said he was always such a kind and generous person. She knew my husband was an Elvis fan, so she asked to autograph a record she had , and he did. We still have that record.
My cousin and I were big fans of Elvis and he was coming to Long Beach CA and my sweet Dad waited in line on his lunch hour to buy our tickets. He got to the ticket booth and the lady said I have good news and bad news. The bad news was the first concert was sold out and they had just gotten permission to add another night and my Dad got us really good seats!!
I watched all of Elvis’s movies over and over and have many books about Elvis.
I have a picture of me in front of Elvis’s gates at Graceland when my family was traveling thru Memphis when Elvis was still alive and living at Graceland. I am going with a bunch of my cousins this November to tour Graceland and tour the museum and Sun Studios!! We are all very excited and our moms loved Elvis too.
Elvis had a voice that was magnificent. It is a shame that Elvis is not played on the radio too much these days.
Joan
I love Elvis and his singing. I have most of his records and I never get tired of listening to his golden voice. I enjoy his movies,too.
Marilyn
I love Elvis. When his movie came out my mother took my sister and I and a friend. When the “Be My Teddy Bear came up my friend jumped on his seat and started to sing and dance.
Marion
I grew up in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada. I too loved Elvis, especially in Blue Hawaii! I remember so clearly the year he came to the Empire Stadium to perform in Vancouver. He came by train through White Rock, it ran right next to the beach. I was down at the train right next to the track, like many other fans. I was lucky enough to be standing right next to the window where Elvis was sitting. WOW only a few feet between us. A lot of the girls behind me were screaming, so he got out his comb and made like he was combing his hair. They screamed even louder. I just stood there in complete awe of seeing him so close up. What a marvelous memory. How lucky I was.
What girl did not love Elvis! Saw all his movies,played a tennis racquet to his songs, what fun! I remember when he died,my aunt went to bed for 3 days! Beside herself at the thought of a world without Elvis!
My daughter was a fan of Elvis movies at the age of 7. I promised to take her to an Elvis concert if he ever came to Philadelphia. Lo and behold, he did, and we went to the concert. Our seats were in the 8th row from the stage, close enough to see the blue of his eyes. It was a great concert and I’ve never gone to an Elvis impersonator concert, having seen the real thing. The following day it was announced that three of the Beetles had also attended the same concert as my daughter and I.
In 1959-61 my Navy dad was given orders for us to be stationed in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor. I was a freshman in high school (and went to Radford High with Bette Miller but that’s another story). Elvis was doing a fundraising concert at the Bloch Arena for the USS Arizona Memorial and all my friends got tickets but I didn’t really care about going. But the day of the concert there was no one to hang out with so I walked to the arena about 2 blocks from my house and bought a ticket. It was considered a bad seat because it wrapped to the side of the stage and faced the crowd like Elvis did so part of the time we saw his back but I was 3 seats from the stage and at one point he came over and leaned down and sang to us! My friends in the nosebleed section were so jealous that I saw him so up close. He was thin and gorgeous back then and his hair looked like blue black velvet. I was able to watch the performance again on PBS about 10 years ago. It just dawned on me that it may be on YouTube now. I’ll have to check and see if I can see him singing to me.
In 1959-60 my Navy dad was given orders for us to be stationed in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor. I was a freshman in high school (and went to Radford High with Bette Miller but that’s another story). Elvis was doing a fundraising concert at the Bloch Arena for the USS Arizona Memorial and all my friends got tickets but I didn’t really care about going. But the day of the concert there was no one to hang out with so I walked to the arena about 2 blocks from my house and bought a ticket. It was considered a bad seat because it wrapped to the side of the stage and faced the crowd like Elvis did so part of the time we saw his back but I was 3 seats from the stage and at one point he came over and leaned down and sang to us! My friends in the nosebleed section were so jealous that I saw him so up close. He was thin and gorgeous back then and his hair looked like blue black velvet. I was able to watch the performance again on PBS about 10 years ago. It just dawned on me that it may be on YouTube now. I’ll have to check and see if I can see him singing to me.
I am an Elvis fan! Have been all of my life except for a brief period of time after the hit song, “You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog”. First of all I was only three or four when I became a fan of Elvis. Mom worked at a diner and the jukebox had Elvis records. My grandparents ran the diner and I spent a lot of time there. That is the setting….the rest of the story goes that all of the sudden when I heard an Elvis song I would leave the room and cry. Mom finally got it out of me that I didn’t like Elvis anymore because he called me a hound dog. I guess she explained it well enough to me at the age of three or four that I understood and went right back to being a forever fan. Fast forward to August 1977….I was getting married on August 27th and was in the midst of all that last minute stuff plus trying to find an apartment in St. Louis. No one wanted to tell me that Elvis died because they were afraid of how it would affect me. While I knew he would be missed I was way to busy to morn days and days. Bless my sister she lived away and called to check up on me because she knew how much I loved Elvis. His music makes me smile and I love hearing any song that is played. My boys and grand kids get a kick out of me when I swoon listening to the King of music! Thank you for a wonderful article that brought back some good memories.
My sister-in-law was a true Elvis devotee. She was in attendance at his last concert here in Indianapolis. She passed away last year. As the eulogies were being read & the memories were shared, her beloved Elvis sang softly in the background.
When we owned and operated an Active Retirement Community in San Diego area we
celebrated “Elvis Birthday” with a party in Elvis honor and we served PB and banana sandwiches to all our seniors and played Elvis Rock and Roll songs and many of the couples danced and entertained us….I saved Elvis wigs and got some of the men to wear them to our party and everyone had a good laugh which created lots of kodak moments to put on our photo poster board days later….. If Elvis only knew how he is still loved and honored!
California Carmel
My mother is the biggest Elvis fan I know! She never saw him in person but she loved him all the same. My dad is said to be an Elvis doppelgänger.
My uncle worked for RCA and got tickets for my mom and sister to see Elvis in the 70s . Better than that, my sister-in-law had a seat so close that Elvis wrapped one of his silk scarves around her neck and kissed her at that same performance! She still has the scarf.
In the 1970s or 80s, my brother and sister saw a live performance of Elvis in San Bernardino, Ca. At the end of the performance, Elvis removed his neck scarf and threw it into the audience and my sister caught it. Someone nearby tried to snatch it out of her hands, but she held onto it even though it broke her finger in doing so.
I have loved Elvis since I was a teenager. I never was able to see him live but enjoyed listening to him and watching him on TV. However, at one of my class reunions about 10 years ago, we had an Elvis impersonator. He was extremely good and even sounded like Elvis. Low and behold – he walked down the middle of the table and stopped in front of me to sing. (My husband did not really like that – but I did.) 🙂
My friends on the other side of the table took pictures of me as he sang to me.
I listen to Elvis on Sirius Channel 19 almost everyday. He has such an special voice. Love to hear him sing gospel music.
Yes Wanda….you are a true fan also! I listen to Elvis everyday on Sirius Channel 19!