Elvis Blog – Post #24

DATELINE: Memphis, Tennessee
Remembering Sunday 19 August 2012
Elvis Week

ELVIS QUOTE:
“I never took any singing lessons and the only practicing I ever did was on a broom stick.”(He pretended it was a guitar)

ELVIS TRIVIA:
What childhood illness did Elvis endure?

ELVIS HISTORY:
Thursday 19 August 1954
Changes for Elvis were coming fast during this time, but he was not an overnight success. Just a year before he had graduated Humes High, and worked menial jobs—as a busboy while singing at the Eagle’s Nest. He worked at Crown Electric, part time at M.B. Parker Machinist Shop, and part time at Precision Tool. In December he was rejected by the Songfellows, and in January Lois Brown turned down the offer to have Elvis sing for $150.00 a night. In February he was booked with Jack Clement for ten bucks a night into the Eagle’s Nest on Highway 78 at Lamar Avenue. Elvis was called a hillbilly by white friends and the Hillbilly Cat by black friends. But on July 5th and 6th he recorded That’s All Right (Mama). At 9:30 on July 7th Dewey Phillips played the acetate of That’s All Right (Mama) on WHBQ (Red Hot and Blue). Now at last, Elvis was an overnight success.

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE:
Sunday 19 August 2012
Elvis Week
Driving home, trying to get ahead of the predicted storms. We left at 6:30 AM and arrived in Jacksonville at 7:15 PM.

Even with the time-crunch, we had to stop by Tupelo and see the new statue of Elvis at the fairgrounds, peak through the windows of the hardware store, go to the birth house, and drive by Johnnies, Tupelo’s oldest drive-In (and Elvis’s favorite). I love Tupelo. Unfortunately the tickets for Tupelo’s Elvis Fest (first weekend in June 2013) won’t go on sale until January 15th. Can’t wait. The dog show is my favorite of all the other-than-music events. Every dog wins in some category (I suspect they are made up on the spot). If you’ve never seen a dog with Elvis glasses and sideburns, it’s worth the trip. I’m taking Brunne-Hilde next year.

TRIVIA ANSWER:
Asthma