Elvis left the building forever on today's date in 1977 and there's been an increase in Elvis documentaries and movies in the last week. That has me thinking about all of my Elvis memories.

I remember back in the 70's when my sister and I would stay up late on the weekends and watch the Friday or Saturday night late movies. In those days there were only 3 major TV stations and no VCR's or DVD players. Ultimately there would always be an Elvis movie rerun. As bad as the acting was, they still remind me of my youth and I get a kick out seeing them from time to time.

I actually remember the day Elvis died 31 years ago. We lived in a rent house on south Johnson street in Enid and my mom's best friend called. She told me to tell my mom that Elvis had died. I don't think I really thought that much of it because by that time Elvis had faded from the spotlight.

Later in life I made a trek to Graceland on my way to the Atlanta Summer Olympics. For some reason I felt the need to find a tiny memento of the King. On the tour there were signs posted and cameras watching every step so it wasn't like I could just nab a book or something from his library. I would have taken a light bulb from a lamp if I could have reached one. Everything was kept pretty much out of arms reach.

As the tour began to wind down I knew my chances were running out to leave with a part of Elvis history. That's about when I saw a glimmer of hope. It was the grooviest, greenest, lushest shag carpet I had ever seen! It was like there was a mile of it covering the famous jungle room. I'll have you know that green is my favorite color and I wanted some of that green shag carpet!

Although there was a rope keeping me away from my lush, green pasture I quickly noticed that the carpet actually went all the way up the walls! Wow! What luck. As the tour exited the jungle room area, I plucked one single strand of green shag carpet from one of the jungle room walls.

I still have that strand today and if you feel the need to be close to Elvis, just give me a call and we'll break it out and watch Jail House Rock together.

Labels: 70's, Curtis Tucker, funny moment, Memories, Olympics