Remembering exactly when and where I learned that Elvis had died is easy. I was a radio disc jockey at a small AM station, making a very modest living but livin’ the dream. All alone in the building, sort of like Wolfman Jack at the end of American Graffiti, I was on the air when I heard the AP teletype alarm bell ringing in the hall. Whatever the news was, it was obviously big, so I ran out to see what it was while a record was playing.
I read the terse announcement, went back to the console, turned on the mic, and did a stunned “rip and read.” Giving the news all of the gravity that I could muster, putting some emotion in my voice, I announced the news from Memphis, Tennessee, that Elvis Presley was dead, at age 42.
Immediately I cued up “Heartbreak Hotel,” then I ran to a closet where the BBC History of Rock and Roll set on reel-to-reel tape was stored. I grabbed the Elvis tape then ran to the production studio. After that I was frantically jumping between the on-air studio, the AP machine, and the production studio. Soon, I had a bunch of carts (cartridges, sort of like 8-track tapes but much better and very rugged) with sound clips from various artists like Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, talking about Elvis. I played these in between Elvis songs while reading the updates as they came across the wire. I thought my impromptu Elvis tribute came off pretty well. The next day the program manager said he “liked it and thought it was really good.”
(An aside for Cactus Lizzie, who worked with me at the station: Can you believe that Mike Dion actually said that? It was the only time he ever praised me.)
OK, so let’s hear some Elvis Presley. This is Elvis live at the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, May 6, 1956, taken from a black piece of plastic with grooves that I own. The classic Elvis line-up is Scotty Moore — guitar; Bill Black — bass; D. J. Fontana — drums. Thirteen minutes of Elvis in his prime, playing it loose for an audience that must have thought the kid was from Mars. Note the celebrities that Elvis points out.
