Have you ever met a hero? I haven’t met many, but I have had my heroes. The first one that I can think of was a little older than me, but he was for sure my hero. I can even remember the first time I ever saw him. He was the star of a black-and-white movie called “Love Me Tender.”
As I write this, I remember going to the Wasco Theater and watching that movie. I was a little let down because I was about 12 years old and I wanted to see him singing a few of his songs. After all, he was named the “King of Rock and Roll” before anybody else had been named that. Oh sure, Pat Boone had been the singer that most kids listened to, but he was left in the dust as soon as Elvis let go with his first big song, “Love Me Tender.” As a 12-year-old kid, I couldn’t buy any of his songs, so going to the movies to see him wiggle around was about all I could afford. I stayed for the second showing of that movie and walked out of the theater thinking I could do what he does, if I was just a little older and had his money.
I remember walking out of the movie right behind a few young ladies singing all the words to that song. I didn’t get a date or even a “hello,” but the girls did talk to me and that was enough for me. Elvis was like me—poor. He had a hole in his roof where the rain came in and another where it ran right out again. Even as I write these few words, I still think he was about the coolest guy I had ever seen. Later in life he did something else that just placed him in the pile of heroes I had. He went into the Army when the Draft Boards called. He was so popular that the government powers at be told him he could just keep on singing because he was so clean cut and loved his mom more than anything.
I never stopped thinking he was the guy I wanted to be, so when he went to Germany like almost every soldier did in those days, I decided I wouldn’t follow my two older brothers and joined the Army, just like Elvis. The crazy part is I ended up in Germany too. Anyway, I never stopped thinking he was my hero. Shoot! He was so famous and clean cut that even the Germans loved him.
So I can almost hear you dear readers: “What does that have to do with how old I was back in those days?” Did you read that he built a house for his mother? He truly loved his mother, I loved my mother too. I wanted to buy her a house, but it wasn’t in the cards for me. He was so clean cut that another member of the military allowed Elvis to date his daughter. That raised some eyebrows back in the United States, but he was so attentive to his mom and dad that no one thought much about it. But we all know that today that wouldn’t be accepted.
Why am I telling you all the things he did? I think it is because he was the beginning of Rock and Roll. After all the years have passed, I finally get to pay homage to him. My wonderful, sweet wife who knows my infatuation with Elvis has made it possible for me to walk the grounds of his Memphis Estate. She along with a few friends will soon be leaving on a jet plane starting in Nashville and ending in Memphis. I can’t imagine anything greater that she could have done to make this trip possible. I’m going to think back to my younger years and maybe she will join me singing some of the songs that made my younger years so wonderful. We are going to Memphis, Tenn., and walk through the mansion that he gave his mother. I have to tell you that I am like a kid knowing that the prettiest girl will be with me.
Elvis has been gone for a long time. He has done things that some honored and some that thought he was just an overweight singer that thrilled the ladies in the Special Room in Las Vegas that was built specifically for him. I just happen to remember the wonderful things he did while he was alive. He was generous to a fault. Those that knew him said that he would give you the shirt off his back. Unfortunately, he had a manager that took advantage of him and wouldn’t allow him to grow in the way he wanted. I always felt he would have been a great actor. In fact some of you may or may not know that he was Barbra Streisand’s first choice for the movie “A Star is Born.” But his manager would not allow it. Looking back on his first movie, “Love Me Tender,” I can’t help but be sad.
Elvis was my first hero. Oh sure, there have been others, but none that even came close to his life. On this trip we will be meeting an old friend of mine, Jeff Fox, and his wife Brenda. Jeff and I served in the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, N.C. On many Friday and Saturday nights, he and I used to dance with all the pretty girls from Fayetteville, which was a nearby town. They would come on the post to dance with the soldiers and maybe find a future husband. But they sure loved to dance. It has been many years since I have spent time with Jeff, but we talk a lot. He lives in Maine, so they will meet us in Nashville. I look forward to sharing this experience with all of you. So stay tuned.
God Bless.
