Where were you?

While I was in Nashville, I was able to unveil the Elvis bust my publisher, B&H Publishing Group, purchased. They found a place in Ohio that actually makes these and paints them to your specifications. The shape of the bust is identical to the one I based mine on. But B&H had the scarf painted red to go with the red Cadillac on the cover.

Did you know trunks of scarves were purchased for Elvis’ tours? That way he could toss them to his screaming fans!

All things being Elvis, I was having a discussion this week with some friends about where we were when Elvis died. It’s been almost 30 years since his death. Thirty years! But everyone remembered what they were doing. Obviously, we’d all been born by 1977!

The summer before Elvis died, my big brother came back from his first year in college. He had an album of Elvis’ greatest hits and kept playing it over and over. That was my first introduction to Elvis. And it was love at first note. But as the summer was winding down, I was outside cleaning our pool (boy, I hated that job!). I had the radio on. It was announced that Elvis had died. At the age of 42. It was unbelievable. I remember crying, feeling so bad for him and his family and his little girl Lisa Marie. Later that afternoon, I had band practice at school. All the kids my age seemed oblivious to the importance of that day, to the impact Elvis had, to the loss of such an amazing artist.

Do you remember where you were, what you were doing, the day Elvis died?