August 16. 1977

[AVB]

I was stationed at NAS Memphis, which is really in Millington TN, at the time and had some time off so I took my '76 Trans Am, popped in Rod Stewart's Greatest Hits in the cassette player and headed off to McKeller Park to see what was going on. It got to be about 3 and I decided to run down Elvis Presley Blvd to one of the fast food joints that that feed the Elvis fans and get get some BBQ. I no sooner make the turn onto EPB when traffic stops dead. Far more traffic then the normal sightseers cause so I figured it had to be an accident. After crawling along for about 30-40 minutes my tape ended and I switched on the radio. The top story on the radio was that Elvis had died at 2:30. Here I am probably 2-300 yards from Graceland on the day Elvis Presley died when all of Memphis it seemed wanted to be where I was and I wanted to be someplace else. It took almost another hour to get to the highway (only a mile away) so I could get out of there.

 

[MadMonk]

For those of us who lived through this, I think this is one of those events that you will always remember what you were doing when you heard the news. I was helping my cousin deliver fuel oil in Brooklyn.
Half of the women on the route had been crying. I'll never forget this.

 

[jcritt]

I was 9 yrs old and riding my bicycle down the street. All the women were coming out of their houses crying and hugging eachother. I found out when I got home that Elvis died. I shed a tear as well. At the time Elvis was the coolest guy on earth.

 

[sack]

Damn shame it wasn't me in your place, Elvis was my hero as a young boy, first Rock and Roll in my life. Loved the King!

 

[beyond the band]

I was only ten but I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. My mother had a ceramic shop and it was full of older ladies painting their do dads and such. I walked to the store in the same little strip mall to get some sort of sugary treat. When I approached the counter the clerk had the TV on and he was watching the news. I ran back to my Moms shop and told all the ladies that the king had passed. They all started to gasp and cry.
The day was very overcast and gray as well. Sad day indeed.

Funny, My Brother was born in 78 and he is a huge Elvis fan. He has the hair and the chops. Think 68 comeback special Elvis.
That's what my Brother looks like.

 

[AVB]

Quite true. out of all the music I own none is by Elvis. Never did like him.

Damn shame it wasn't me in your place, Elvis was my hero as a young boy, first Rock and Roll in my life. Loved the King!

 

[Kingantz]

That's pretty cool/interesting AVB. I was eleven, and have no idea what I was doing when he died. Only thing I remember was visiting an Aunt and my teen cousin crying when it was mentioned.

 

[NullSmurf]

I remember reading it off the teletype almost 2 weeks later. Never was much of an Elvis fan. In retrospect, I think he was too much of an icon for the then lovely ladies in my life, and I was jealous. Nevertheless, I didn't give it much thought at the time. I was kind of busy anyway.

 

[lovetheleaf]

wow, I doubt I was even a thought at that time. Crazy though.

 

[gtadroptop]

I was traveling to Florida for my freshman year at the University of Miami. Heard about it on the car radio somewhere on I-95.