Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Remembering Elvis and 1977

I remember 1977.
August 16, 1977 to be exact.
Elvis was dead.
We were on our way to Boston to see my oldest brother get married.
The two events are connected forever in my mind - being in Boston in 1977 and Elvis being dead.
Now I was never a fan of Elvis' music but you couldn't help reading about it in the papers as they dissected the death of a legend...of the King!
Back then my taste in music ran more to Z Z Top, the Stones, Alice Cooper and The Beatles.
I've always been eclectic to say the least -- I even used to sing along with Mitch Miller!
But not to Elvis.
I didn't really appreciate the music of Elvis and it just wasn't cool to say you liked him. At least not in my town, and not if you were me.
His movies, on the other hand, I adored.
Viva Las Vegas anyone?
But I still didn't really talk about it.
Watching Elvis movies was something that you did on quiet Sunday afternoons back in the day when we had only 3 television stations, monster movies every Saturday afternoon and Hee Haw on Saturday night.
But now that I am older I can appreciate the magic of Elvis and realize the sadness surrounding how he lived...and died.
So here we are 30 years later remembering Elvis, remembering 1977, and for me at least, thinking about Boston.
Take a listen to my favorite Elvis tune and let a legend (with a little remix) help you get your day started.





Ken - Pass on a Big Hello to everyone in Boston!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I was shocked to hear he was only 42! That is so young!

My biggest association with that time is the death of Groucho Marx. I've always been a fan of Marx Brothers movies, and I was furious that Groucho's death didn't get the same amount of attention.

Caroline said...

You were not remiss in not telling me that you had gotten your books the minute you got it:) And I do love getting snail mail too. I need to write to people more often. It's getting to be a lost skill.

I had forgotten that Elvis was so young. I remember being a young teenager when he died and thinking a least he was pretty old when he died. Ha Ha

Kat said...

I was 10 and at Camp Mogisca (girl scout camp). I remember walking down a dirt road on the way to somewhere (mess hall maybe?) and listening to my contraband lavendar AM radio with two of my bunkmates and getting the news.