Elvis Lives

I remember being on vacation on the day that Elvis died. My family gathered around the motel television in disbelief. For the record, I think Elvis "left the building" permanently.  But in our family, he has lived on in memories and various events.  For example, I can remember cramming into a two door car for vacation and in those days, instead of having our heads stuck in an I-pad or watching videos in the car, we would play "car" games or sing songs. One of our favorites songs to sing was Little Egypt and our favorite verse was:

"She's got a ruby on her finger and a diamond as big a Texas on her toe.
She let her hair down and she did the hootchy-cootchy real slow
When she did her special number on the zebra skin I thought that she would stop the show
Singing, ying-ying, ying-ying, ying-ying, ying-ying"

Also, I will never forget the time we visited Graceland and my mom fainted.  Everyone around us thought that she was distraught over Elvis' death.  In fact, she simply had low-blood sugar levels that day.
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Elvis also was part of my life when I was the after-dinner entertainment for my company's international yearly conference in Las Vegas.  Yes, I performed as Elvis.  Live. Actually singing.  What a memory!

And who could ever forget the Elvis Christmas album playing over and over and over at our home throughout the entire Christmas season.  We played Blue Christmas until I heard the song in my sleep.

Call me "old-fashioned". Tell me how he was a drug addict in the end and how he was fat.  I don't care.  I still think he was cool.  He had an incredible voice.  And he was the ultimate performer who cared about and connected with his audience like no other entertainer before or since.

Happy 76th Birthday Elvis!  Long live the King of Rock and Roll.