Saturday, August 1, 2015

Elvis! Elvis! Elvis!

He had me at hello You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog.

Since childhood I have been fascinated with Elvis Presley: The King of Rock n' Roll.

I started my fascination by watching all of his movies. Then his concert specials and then listening to his music albums. Naturally, I would want to visit Graceland his home located in Memphis, Tennessee. I've made it to Graceland a few times and it never disappoints. Then of course there's the mother ship calling every Elvis fan... Elvis Week. It's thousands of Elvis fans converging on Memphis for a week of non stop activities that all revolve around Elvis. Strangers come together to celebrate his life, his music and pay tribute to his legend and memory. It culminates on the anniversary of his death with a candlelight vigil at Graceland (where he is buried). A steady stream of fans, old friends and family walk up thru the gates of Graceland and around his burial site in the Meditation Garden holding their white candles. Why do people do this? Because Elvis continues to touch people's lives.

This month I've decided to dedicate it to Elvis. Every day will be dedicated to the king. So if you don't know much about Elvis let me start your education...

Elvis Aaron Presley was born January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi where his family lived in a two room home. Elvis had a twin that was delivered still born 35 minutes before him. At the age of three, Elvis' parents lost their home and Vernon was jailed for 8 months for check fraud. Elvis and his mother moved in with relatives and survived on government assistance. When Elvis was 13 years old, his family consisting of his mother Gladys and father Vernon moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Once he graduated from high school and was working as a truck driver for an electric company, Elvis decided to gift his mother a record of him singing. So in August of 1953 he walked into Sun Records and paid to record a song for his mother.
 

It wasn't until 1954 that Elvis got the attention of Sam Phillips the owner of Sun Studio. From them on out the rest is history! Elvis would go on to win a Grammy award, have multi platinum records and star in over 20 movies. He broke attendance records for live performances, he started a new kind of fashion and brought rock and roll music into every household. He mad millions of dollars and would give the shirt of his back to help someone out. He donated to charities, help get the U.S.S. Arizona completed, he gave out jewelry, cars, vacations, horses... etc. You name it and Elvis did it.

Elvis was a remarkable man and the world lost him too soon. His legend lives on and this month we will honor it.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Suspicious Minds will forever be my favorite song. Have you seen the movie Elvis and Me? I loooooooooooved that one! Great post! Elvis was and still is king!