Through the Mirror to Graceland

I’ve made no secret my entire life of the fact that I liked early rock and roll. My musical heroes were Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Bill Haley and the Comets, Fats Domino, Chubby Checker, Jerry Lee Lewis and many others, but there was one young man that made the largest impact of anyone in music history on me and eventually on my life.  He came from the same area in Mississippi that my parents came from and there were even rumblings from my late relatives that we were kin to the Smith family on my mother’s mother’s side, just like everyone else that I grew up with.  His background was from sharecroppers, just like my family’s background from Mississippi was. What else can I say. I was always looking up to my greatest American dream, Elvis Aaron Presley.  He grew up in the same city that I grew up in, Memphis, Tennessee, and when he became famous, his home was just five miles from my house.

Being from Memphis, I had seen Elvis from time to time at Graceland, in concert and riding Star, his horse, at Graceland.  I even saw him once in his wife Priscilla’s white Stutz Bearcat pulling in to the gates of Graceland. I know that most of you might not understand the thrill of this poor little Memphis boy seeing his idol up close.

When I was in my teens, around 1974, I worked for a glass company part time and, one time, I was helping deliver mirrors that had been cut in some strange shapes and I didn’t understand why. Most mirrors that we cut were square or rectangular but all of these mirrors were cut at an angle on the top and the bottom and I could not figure out why until we arrived in front of his house on Highway 51, aka, 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard.  I was starting to get excited as I realized that, just maybe, we would get to see him. Believe it or not, when we started to pull the mirrors off the truck, the older gentleman with me asked someone where they wanted the mirrors delivered and a small wiry gentleman said “wait just a minute”, and sure enough, dressed in a sweat suit with a towel around his neck, with his hair disheveled, he said “OK, you can just put them over there in that building” which I knew to be his Fan Club office.  Wow, Elvis had actually spoken too us! At least that’s how I perceived it. I believe these were the mirrors that ended up on the main staircase of Graceland.

I used to say that that was my only claim to fame, but I have had many more encounters with greatness since that day. One of the biggest thrills of my life was seeing a beautiful young woman on the hillside beside the driveway, under one of those very tall trees, just up from the gates of Graceland in August of 1979. We met because of Elvis. She was a fan and came to see where he had lived and wanted to walk where he walked. I know that y’all may think I’m crazy, but I think very possibly being drawn to Graceland was what led me to meet the love of my life.  So nowadays, I am more than grateful to Elvis for his wonderful effect on my life. If it weren’t for Elvis, I would never have met my wife. Our 35^th anniversary of the day we met is coming up this August. Thanks Elvis!