Grandma Reminisces and Tanner Likes Elvis!

The gap between my 7 year old grandson and I has been lessened. The other day while in Sam’s Club with my two grandsons, we mosied over to the dvd section. Tyler, the nine year old, picked up “High School Musical” saying he wanted it. Tanner picked up an Elvis dvd and said that it would be his choice. I looked at him skeptically and thought he was just fooling around. He wanted that dvd. I asked him why he wanted that particular dvd, and he said … ready for this? Because Elvis was the King of Rock ‘n Roll. Wow.

With all the Elvis 30th anniversary shows that were on – Elvis was introduced to an entirely new generation. I’m fascinated at the thought.

Now I’m going to sound like a real old-timey grandma, but I remember the first time I heard the name “Elvis Presley”. I hadn’t seen him perform yet. I had just heard the buzz about how disgusting this new singer was. And he had the ability to make girls faint. I was still in grade school so I wasn’t really interested. But, my friend Louise Babine came over one night with a fan magazine – Photoplay or one of those. It had pictures of Elvis and Louise was hugging that magazine as tightly as possible.

It annoyed my dad just to hear us giggling so we went outside where we could discuss it more. I thought he was a handsome guy but I was crazy about Frankie Avalon with no room to fit Elvis into my crazed mind. We did watch Elvis’ first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.

It wasn’t until later after Elvis had returned home from Germany that I actually swooned when I heard him sing and watched him perform. I wasn’t crazy about his movies, but the older, more mature Elvis was my favorite.

During the early 70’s when Elvis was at the Hilton, I begged my husband to please let us go see The King. I can’t remember when I’ve ever been so excited. I wanted to cut loose and scream my head off, but I stifled it so I didn’t upset my husband. It was a dream come true. The feeling I had then watching Elvis perform and hearing him sing has never left. I still swoon when I hear him or see him. There are a few songs – usually the soundtracks from his movies, that I’m not crazy about – but there is no way I could choose a favorite.

And now my grandson knows who Elvis is and likes him too. That’s pretty cool.