Elvis

[Dodgergirl]

Where were you when you heard Elvis had died? I can't believe it's been 30 years,,,. wow.

I was actually on my way thru Topanga Canyon with a friend to pick up my car which had been parked along PCH (after the sheriff of Malibu told me he "didn't want to see me driving the coast highway again... until I was old enough and licensed to drive..., oh and go get someone to get the car...")

I couldn't believe he actually let us hitchhike back home to the valley to get someone... (we wouldn't be paranoid of the hillside strangler until the following year)

I've always loved Elvis, loved his cheesy movies and will watch them over and over, my favorite? Gotta be Viva Las Vegas...

[Lacey]

I'm a huge Elvis fan, also. They are playing his movies all day today on TCM. Right now it's Harum Scarum...which has to be my most UNfavorite! LOL I think my favorite would be one of his old ones...like Love Me Tender or Jailhouse Rock. I think he had a real acting talent that they wasted in his later movies...but, of course, I love anything Elvis, so I think I just may have to own all of them. I see TCM has them for sale in sets.

Where was I? Home, making dolls. My brother called to ask if I had heard he was dead and I totally laughed and told him those kinds of rumors are always going around. Then I turned on the TV and found out it was true. What a shock that was.

[SheilaMae]

I just had this discussion with someone last night -

Can it really be 30 years???? Like you said, Dodge - WOW!

We had just spent the entire day at Kings' Island (Kinda like 6 Flags) outside of Cincinnatti and never heard a word that afternoon/evening in the park 'til we got on the bus to go home 'round 11pm. As we got on the bus the driver, with tears in his eyes, asked us to please be quiet for the ride home out of respect - The King had died.

[Mysteefied]

I was 9 yrs old, at my friends house and we were playing on the lawn when her mother came out of the house screaming and crying that Elvis was dead. She was hysterical, she LOVED Elvis.

[Yosemite_Wolf]

I was just shy of turning 15 and just about to embark on my first trip to NYC. When Elvis died, I don't remember exactly what I was doing... but was prolly packing or swimming in the ocean.

[Kahlua Kid]

I wanted to celebrate my birthday - I was just a little girl - but instead had very sad parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Elvis has been a part of every one of my birthdays since. His music on the radio, shows on TV, news reports, shots of Graceland.

Boy he was a looker when he was younger. And his voice - WOW!

[Summer]

I may be weird, but I never really understood the great sorrow and devastation associated with celebrities who have died. Of course you can feel a sense of loss but these people are not really connected to you. I think you're just feeling a loss of something they represented at a certain period of your life. I really really liked Elvis but I really really liked the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, etc. What is the point of saying "where were you when you heard they had passed"?

[Dodgergirl]

It's kinda a rite of passage. The people I grew up around all had these great Kennedy stories, but I was a baby, so I didn't have a response. Plus I really don't have any sort of connection with the man...

There are all sorts of connections in the world, but we are all to often wrapped up in ourselves to realize other people are going thru stuff, too... It's interesting to realize and put a face, so to speak on the others in the world who were experiencing the same feelings.

I can tell you where I was when John Lennon died, and my husband got all pissy when tears welled up in my eyes at the news. He said something like you never knew him, what the he** are you upset about? No, I didn't know him personally, but I did grow up with him. That will make sense to some of you...

Maybe some of us just have the gene to feel compassion at the loss of life, a loss not connected to our own existence... Kinda like I cry when I hear of mothers killing their babies... soldiers dying for a reason fueled by the ever powerful dollar... young ladies disappearing... I can't say I was ever filled with great sorrow over a celebrity death, but I have been filled with anger a few times... Johnny's death at the Marmont was inexcusable. Oh, and yeah, I knew him, but I wasn't devastated, I was pissed...

So, anyway, the losses of artists in their prime can be an interesting topic, anyone remember Hutchins? Hendrix? Nowell? Williams? Cobain? Morrison? Joplin? Marley? (that one was tragic, because it was preventable) Jones? Aaliyah? (I loved her), Tupac? (wrote a thesis paper in his poetry in a Lit class at CSUN), Rhoads? The list could go on forever....

In response to your statement "I think you're just feeling a loss of something they represented at a certain period of your life." Yes, that is true, because we mostly remember what we were doing, who we were with or how the people around us were reacting, then secondarily, we add the circumstances of why the reactions were as they were. BUT is there anything wrong with that?

An old friend once told me that one could win a million dollars one day and later that night lose a leg in an accident, the day will always be remembered as the day he lost the leg. Thats just how it goes...

And lastly, there is no point to the question, just conversation amongst friends, which, by the way is how most conversations with friends are, no point, no motive, just happy babbling....

[Summer]

Dodgergirl, very good and detailed explanation. You put a lot of thought into this reply. Thanks.

[Kahlua Kid]

I will say for the record, I am tired of Elvis every birthday. I got to the point when in my late teens, that I refused to watch TV or listen to the radio on my birthday because you couldn't turn them on without Elvis being there.

[Dodgergirl]

I can see your point, one of my best friends mom was born on December 7, 1941, She said her childhood birthdays were usually a somber ones. (how many of you had to look up that date?) ;)

[CatdaBrat]

I will admit that I have no idea whatsoever where I was or what I was doing when I heard that Elvis died. Until this recent anniversary stuff, I couldn't have even said how long ago that event was. But, I have never been one for marking dates or remembering people's birthdays, etc.

[BGW]

I will say for the record, I am tired of Elvis every birthday. I got to the point when in my late teens, that I refused to watch TV or listen to the radio on my birthday because you couldn't turn them on without Elvis being there.

KK-
I can kind of empathize with you. The Oklahoma Bombing took place the day before my birthday in 1995 and The Columbine Shootings happened on my birthday in 1999. I am sure my birthday will forever be connected with those two horrible incidents.

As for where I was when Elivis died...I was grounded sitting in my room watching TV. To be honest, I remember more about being grounded.

My Mom was pregnant with me when Kennedy was shot and many women miscarried for some odd reason. So my Mom was sent to bed for a few days.

I think we time-line our lives by tragic incidents and music. I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing when the space shuttle blew up just like we all know exactly what we were doing that early morning on 9-11.

I was sitting in front of the TV waiting anxiously when MTV aired it's very first video..."Video Killed the Radio Star" and yet, oddly enough, I can't tell you the dates my Grandparents passed away...just the time of year.

But then again...their deaths were not clearly and carefully documented and then plastered all over the airwaves by the media each year either.

[CatdaBrat]

Oh yeah, 9/11.....I can remember THAT date because that's the name of the whole episode! I do remember that morning. I got to work and everybody knew about it way before they arrived, except for me. They were all totally amazed that I had strolled in completely unaware.

I was just as amazed that so many people include watching or listening to television as part of their daily before-work routine. All I ever did was get up, get washed up and dressed, and maybe grab something to eat, grab my purse, get in my car and drive to work. I was already getting up at 6 a.m. I didn't want to get up any earlier, especially for something like watching the telly. I figure if anything really important happens, I'm sure everybody else will tell me about it and the TV news will show it over and over again, so there's nothing I really missed.