The Elvis beat lives on

 It was an overcast, rainy day on Aug. 16, 1977, in Longmont, Colorado, and I was browsing through racks of records at the Record City record store at the Horizon Park Mall when news broke on the radio station they were playing about the death of Elvis Presley.

It was shocking but I really didn’t care. At the time I wasn’t much of an Elvis fan. Yet I couldn’t help but notice the sudden migration of shoppers to the rack with his albums. Radio stations played his music and television stations ran special coverage ad nauseam.

I was 12 years old when Elvis cacked on his crapper. At the time I was enamored with “Star Wars” and preferred listening to the likes of Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, etc. I did like some of Evis’s songs, but mostly I thought they were corny. He was a buffoon in those glitzy jumpsuits, albeit a really cool looking buffoon.

There was no way at the time that I could remotely imagine that I would become a fan and write so much about him. His music grew on me over the years and even the corny stuff about hound dogs, catching rabbits and blue suede shoes became kind of retro cool.

The first time I wrote about the King of Rock ’n’ Roll was in 1992 when the U.S. Postal Service held a contest to vote for a likeness for a postage stamp. You could choose between the young Elvis in the leather jacket or the old Elvis in the jumpsuit.

I was working in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, at the time and two guys at the local post office dressed up as versions of each. The young Elvis won the nationwide contest, and the stamp made its debut on Jan. 8, 1993.

The next time I wrote about Elvis was in 2007, the 30th anniversary of his death, while I was working in Amarillo. A local woman recalled the story of how she kissed the King not once, but on two occasions. Not long after that I wrote a story about an Elvis impersonator (or tribute artist, as they prefer to be called). He was good and was gearing up to enter a statewide Elvis tribute contest. He didn’t win.

A few years ago while I was working in Sealy, the chamber of commerce held its annual banquet with an Elvis impersonator as the night’s entertainment. He was awful! The event was fun and I got a good story out of him, but he just couldn’t sing worth squat.

In 2022 I wrote a column for the Wharton newspaper about seeing “Elvis,” the movie starring Austin Butler as Elvis and Tom Hanks as Col. Tom Parker. Sandy and I went to see it in the theater and really loved it. Both men shined in their performances.

Fast-forward to yesterday’s paper and I wrote a feature story about the 70th anniversary of Elvis’s concert in College Station at the G. Rollie White Coliseum. I interviewed Ernie Fulton of Franklin for the story. He is the only person alive who attended the show that I could contact. He was very kind and gracious and had good memories of the event. I enjoyed getting to meet him, his wife and their three daughters.

Now, here I am again writing about Elvis. As I’ve been focusing my attention on Elvis this week I’ve been listening to a lot of his music. I have about a dozen favorites on my iPhone. I suppose I’m heading for an Elvis Presley burnout, but not yet.

I know I have written other things about Elvis over the years, but these are the stories that stand out in my mind. Sometimes it feels like I’ve become an Elvis beat writer and he’s been dead 48 years.

I was in Memphis in 2008 to participate in the Memphis Film Festival where we were celebrating the anniversaries of The Lone Ranger and Superman. While I was there, I wanted to tour Graceland. Once I saw the admission price, I decided I had better things to do with my time. I think general admission was $50, which is outrageous. Still, touring Graceland remains a tiny drop on my bucket list. Maybe the next time I’m in town I’ll check it out.

In the meantime, I think I might cue up “Elvis” on TV and get my fix that way. After that, I’ll give him a rest and wait for the next comeback opportunity to write about him again. The 50th anniversary of his death is in two years. Who knows, maybe it will be an overcast, rainy day and I can pull out some Elvis records and relive a moment forever frozen in time from my childhood.