ELVIS PRESLEY: 40 YEARS LATER! – Where did the time go? It seemed like only yesterday when it was June 22, 1977 and I was fighting my way to the front of the stage to try and get one of the silk scarves Elvis was throwing out to the Sioux Falls, South Dakota crowd. The King of Rock and Roll made his way along the front of the stage, negotiating his way along the sea of blue-haired ladies reaching out for a sweaty scarf. But he paused for a second when he spotted a pimply-faced 16 year old kid with an afro reaching for a scarf. He paused for a brief second, looked at me with a puzzled look, and continued throwing out scarves to the blue-haired ladies; completely passing me by! That was my favorite memory from seeing him in concert a two short months before his death. Today marked 40 years since his passing and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was busy puttering around our house at 1516 S. 6th Street in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and my distant cousin Mark Langston called around 3 in the afternoon to give me the horrible news; Elvis had died. I turned on the TV and saw Geraldo Rivera live from Memphis interviewing the mourners who were holding vigil at Graceland. This meant that the Elvis act my pals and I were working on for next year’s high school talent show in February would have to be scrapped. Or would it? (We later decided to upgrade it from a mere Elvis parody to a serious tribute) This also meant that I would scrap the normal rock music on my radio show that night in favor of dedicating the evening’s programming completely to Elvis and his music. I sped down to the station, pulled some news stories off the wire, and composed an evening-long tribute to Elvis. I already knew his story and already had a hefty collection of Elvis records, so my show that night scooped the other radio station in town by almost a full 24 hours! This also meant that I would be among a small percentage of the population who got to see him in concert during his final months of life. I had begged my mom (a life-long Elvis fan) to go to the concert with me. I was working at the local radio station full-time and had lots of spendable cash, but only being 16 I wasn’t comfortable yet with driving the 200 miles to Sioux Falls where Elvis would be performing. My proposition to her was if she would make the drive, I would pay for the tickets and motel room as an early birthday gift. But she said (and I’ll never EVER let her live this down), “Naw, I’ll see him next year.” She’s regretted those words ever since, sadly. Undeterred, I bought the tickets anyway and my pal Greg Cutler and I took the Greyhound the 200 mile distance to Sioux Falls. The bus depot in Sioux Falls is right by the downtown Holiday Inn; at the time the nicest hotel in Sioux Falls. Which meant that it was where Elvis was staying. We walked across the street and met one of his bandmembers, saw his Aztec sundial jumpsuit hanging on a rack in the lobby unattended (back in those days nobody even DREAMED of stealing it! But nowadays…) and rode in the elevator with Ed Parker, one of Elvis’ bodyguards. Ironically enough, I’m sure I must’ve seen Elvis’ road manager Joe Esposito in his red Elvis in Concert jacket on stage ushering Elvis to the exit. Little did I know then that I would someday own that very jacket, which is even SIGNED by Joe on the inside! It’s funny how life works. While Greg and I hung out in the lobby we spotted the clothes rack once again, but this time the freshly laundered jumpsuit was missing. On the bottom of the rack lay a crumpled wad of dry-cleaner’s plastic; obviously it had just been taken off the jumpsuit and discarded there. I grabbed it as a souvenir, figuring it was going to be tossed in the trash anyway. I kept it for years, though I no longer have it. I remember it specifically because it was two pieces of plastic Scotch taped together, because the cleaner didn’t have plastic long enough to cover the entire jumpsuit. It’s funny how you remember those little things. I still have the souvenirs I got from the concert, and the poster I bought there (as wrinkled and folded as it is) is framed on my wall above my Elvis robot and the framed concert ticket from that amazing day. As Elvis would sing, “Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind.” I’ve always let that day be a lesson to me; don’t be deterred because there are always alternatives. When I got up at 11 I checked e-mails, walked Roxy, got cleaned up and drove over in the Mustang to West Hollywood to have lunch with a few old friends; Wes and Tom from the Vox agency. I used to be with them about 15 years ago before I moved over to my current agency. They were Adam West’s agents up until passing, so we had a lot of fun telling Adam stories and catching up. When lunch was finished I drove over to Regenix for a follow-up appointment and to get some more supplies. During the drive home I phone my folks and talked with them. It was fun re-living the stories about our activities on “The Day That Elvis Died.” Whenever I remind my mom about her fateful decision not to see Elvis in concert when she had the chance, she plugs her ears and says, “LA LA LA LA LA LA.” Funny. I got home and put on some comfy clothes and did some work around the house. I fed the pets and then napped for a bit on the couch. When I got up later I did a ton of auditions, fed the pets again and took Roxy on our late night stroll through the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous night, and a perfect night to enjoy a cigar during our walk. I came back inside and made a Tombstone pizza and watched another “Barnaby Jones” episode. At the top of every episode the narrator mentions the names of the Special Guest Stars who will appear in the episode. It’s assumed that these actors were popular during the day and worthy of note. However, once I got into the episode, two of the actors NOT mentioned “pre-show” would become two of the biggest stars of all; WAY bigger than anyone who was mentioned in the opening! Ray Wise played a talent agent injured in a freak accident at a theater, and Jonathan Frakes played a young stage actor who gets murdered in a swimming pool. I love seeing actors in these old shows before they became famous.
Elvis had the entire floor of the Holiday Inn, and the curtains were drawn in every single room!
The jumpsuit waiting to be delivered to Elvis’ room!
Source:
http://www.wallyontheweb.com/wallysweek/august-14-august-20/
Very good shots taken by a 16 year old. 
The fact that it's not Elvis' finest hour notwithstanding.
