29 Years Ago Today

Oh, man, that's terrible. I mean, she took so long to make it, took so long to bake it, and she probably never got that recipe again.

But, at least she didn't leave it out in the rain.

 

Groucho died a couple of days later.

 

Roughly 33 years ago today, Elvis' career as a mainline artist died. And Burnin' Love wasn't the greatest swan song ...

 

I was 7.
I remember knowing who Elvis was and that he died.
I don't remember anything specific about the day.

 

I was 7, and all I remember is that we were sitting in the waiting room at Story Olds-Datsun in Lansing, Mich., waiting for the mechanics to finish service on our rockin' 1976 B210. I knew it was a big deal because my parents had both grown up in the Elvis era, and had some records at home. But they didn't cry or drop my cake or anything.

Records? Sheesh, I'm starting to sound like spnited.

 

I was about to head off for my freshman year at college, and I was working at a restaurant where everyone but the owner and her husband was about my age. The owner's husband was an Elvis fanatic. I know every song Elvis ever recorded because he played nothing but Elvis in the 8-track, like some kind of Third World torture technique. His hairstyle was somewhat Elvis-like, too. He was a tough guy, a former construction worker, uneducated but not stupid.

Anyway, us kids chipped in to buy him a birthday gift, two tickets to an Elvis concert that was scheduled for a few weeks later a couple hours away. We sent one stoner to the nearest mall a half-hour away on the man's birthday to buy the tickets. Stoner dude did not listen to the radio on the way down, he had Pink Floyd on the 8-track. He goes to the ticket vendor, asks for two tickets to the Elvis show, and the vendor says, "What are ya, sick?" Elvis had died on his biggest fan's birthday.

The man was too ill to work for several days. None of us failed to appreciate the sick humor in this, but it's still one of the cruelest things I've seen up-close. I can't remember what we bought him instead, although his wife told him what we tried to buy him, and the tough guy broke down and cried.

 

Hey, I like Burning Love, and Suspicious Minds, for that matter. But even today, Elvis is everywhere.

 

Captain Elvis, Commordore Elvis it is....

 

I was raised listening to Elvis, she said, sheepishly admitting she really enjoyed A Little Less Conversation a few years ago.