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!)