Let me paint a picture for you through a little girl’s eyes.
There’s a little girl, the best movies EVER, the best singer EVER, the cutest singer EVER, and thrills beyond your imagination! When you add all these together it can only mean one thing.
Ok, I never had a dog like that but if I had, oh yeah…he would have been dressed up just like the King himself.
It began early on, probably 2 weeks in advance; so much anticipation. It was hard to control my excitement building up for 8:00pm on the Saturday night of all Saturday nights. It wasn’t the usual Saturday night for me; it was very, very special. There was an Elvis Presley movie coming on. I didn’t care which one, it just didn’t matter; it was Mr. Elvis Presley! However, the fact it was “Viva Las Vegas” did matter and added to my excitement! This was such a treat for me and one of the most out of this world thrilling things for me that I can remember happening for me as a child. I remember preparing for the movie. I would help my mom; we would pop Jiffy Pop popcorn and put the cokes on ice. It was a special occasion, so I was allowed to drink a Coke after 6:00pm.
Credit: Frenkieb (Flickr)
There I would lay; my belly on the floor and smack dab in front of the TV, of course I had scooted up as close to that TV as my dad would let me. I had my chin sitting in my hands and I laid there so filled with excitement I thought for sure I would bust!
I placed my hands completely up the sides of my face; no one could see just how overjoyed I was. After all, I was a tomboy and felt so silly I was so thrilled about a silly movie. It was embarrassing to let anyone know I was so happy, no one could know I had the “hugest crush on the old guy named Elvis!” So there I was, stretched out in front of the TV and doing a terrible job hiding my obvious excitement.
Cut to, June 30, 1973, at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia; there he was to my amazement. He started out wearing a white thunderbird costume and ended with a blue nail studded costume. I can still remember all those women with their teased up hair sitting so tall on their heads. We had nose bleed seats but it didn’t matter none. I was in the same room as the BEST singer EVER! Besides, we had binoculars so I got to see my idol up close. This was different than watching him on TV, he was there, right in front of me; there was NO WAY to hide my excitement for this one!
Cut to the summer of 1975, me, my dad’s HiFi, and the Viva Las Vegas album my dad had bought me. I spent hours listening to that album; I wore that vinyl out!
Cut to August 16, 1977. This was a very traumatic day for me. The King of Rock was dead. My idol…gone…just like that. How could this be? I cried for days, like a silly girl whose puppy had just up and died. Another thing I had to hide; after all, I was still a tomboy and couldn’t let anyone know I loved such an old guy.
So, like I said before, all this can only mean one thing; Elvis was in the house. No one else has ever had such an effect on me. No one has made such an impression, at least not yet.
When you were a kid, did anything like this happen to you? Do you have favorite memories of Elvis?