Where were you when you heard Elvis Died

[BOSSHOG]

29 years ago today, Elvis Presley died at his mansion in Memphis. I heard it on the radio as I was driving east on Dickson Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas from the UA. I was headed to Jose's for an ice cold draft and nachos as me and my fellow rocket scientists were trying to figure out how we were going to make it through Chemisty Class the next year since none of us were Chemistry Majors. We were also atwitter about the upcoming basketball season with the "triplets," Marvin Delph, Ron Brewer and Sidney Moncrief. We toasted the King with a few Pitchers. Ole for Jose's. Still a great place to eat and greet.

[hippiechick]

1. vacuuming the living room before my sister's wedding party ...

.... i was 11 and it was her second wedding, so we were having a small gathering with both families and some friends at my parents house.

[Goblinmonger]

9. How'd you like turning 40 this year?

Were you a disco lover during the 70s?

[hippiechick]

43. 40 was just last Sunday, and I'm still miserable.

:cry: I did like disco 'cause I loved to roller skate :) but I also liked folk-y stuff ... basically a music junkie. Still am.


:hi:

[InternalDialogue]

45. hippiechick, I was just a year younger than you...

...hanging out in a treehouse in the neighborhood in Santa Maria, CA, when I heard Elvis died. It happened the same year as my grandma's death, and it was the first time I was aware of death as a real thing for the first time.

Off-topic:
By the way, glad to see the new pic of Ray in your sig line. I presume you're all cued up for the new album?

And, I had a friend in Indy last week for the Midwest Music festival. I turned down a ride out there in his band's van -- too old to be hanging out with 22-year-old musicians.

[hippiechick]

57. You should have come, MMS was insane, as always!

:applause: It's become tradition for my pal Janie and I to troll Broad Ripple Avenue at least one evening during MMS and get our fill of liquor and flirt with young musicians! :evilgrin:

I'm not sure about "Until The Sun Turns Black" ... I'm not particularly fond of the trumping up of "Three More Days" and "Can I Stay" ... the other tunes I've heard either live last year or thru bootlegs, and I just like him pared down to near-bare acoustics so much more than what this is sounding like. Shame about the Guster-tour-fiasco, too, eh? Sigh.

:hi:

[Goblinmonger]

46. I was just listening to a Bad Company CD

the other day and has flashbacks to skating with the little red haired girl that was the object of my crush as the time. Good times.

I hated disco. The Sex Pistols and The Ramones got me through that time. I still have a fantastic fondness for them and punk in general.

My 40 was July 15th. I could give a crap about 40, really. The fact that my daughter turned 13 this year was much more traumatic.

[hippiechick]

58. Did you grow up in Oshkosh?

I grew up in Green Bay ! :hi:

[Goblinmonger]

65. No, I'm a transplant Viking fan

from North Dakota. I've been in Oshkosh for 13 years.

[hippiechick]

66. That's ok, we'll keep you anyway !

:hi: :toast:

[Warpy]

2. Probably pushing health foods and vitamins

I dimly remember hearing it on the evening news when I was cooking supper.

I was not surprised. He'd looked puffy and unwell for a long time.

[auntAgonist]

3. I was at home ...

in my apartment. I was in shock. My boyfriend called and said he was taking me out to dinner. He proposed that night. We were married in October that year.

I've since moved on and remarried. But that's what that day had in store for me.

aA

[Goblinmonger]

4. I was 11,

I was playing basketball in my yard with a shitty old AM radio on when I heard the press release. The Elvis I knew was the fat, old Vegas singer in the sparkly white jumpsuit. Once I was in my teens and realized the impact of Elvis, I was also immediately aware that he ripped off his style and his songs from African-Americans that weren't getting play time.

[SteppingRazor]

5. I was too busy crying and pooping to care n/t

[Goblinmonger]

10. Sounds a lot like Elvis' condition at the time, too n/t

[Mabus]

24. LOL

:rofl:

[SteppingRazor]

30. Hey-o!

:rimshot:

[datadiva]

6. In the kitchen doing dishes

I had to wipe my hands and run to the living room where my 11 year old son was crying hysterically. Elvis was his hero. He had all his albums.

[Goblinmonger]

11. Mommy?

Isn't it weird that there are 3 references already to 11 year olds?

[tcfrogs]

7. In my living room after going to pre-school

or something like that. I had no earthly idea who he was at the time.

[shanti]

8. i was

living in olympia, washington, having just given birth to my first child. we lived next to the nisqually river, and i spent a lot of time picking wild blackberries with babe in the stroller.

[BooScout]

12. Working the counter at MickyDs

My best friend was standing beside me when a customer told us.....she burst into tears and had to leave work....she still is an Elvis Fan. .....God this makes me feel old.

[caligirl]

13. College library.

[TomInTib]

14. I was standing in the offices of Gerland's Food Fair in Houston

I cannot remember why I was there, but there I was.

Ron Stone's (local new anchor) voice came on the radio and said that Elvis had died.

Went back to my house with some friends, got really loaded and played Elvis' Music for maybe a few days.

Damn, we used to have us some fun.

[Virginia Dare]

15. Travelling across country...

in the family station wagon. We went through Tennessee a couple of days after it happened and saw many mourners travelling to Graceland.

[marylanddem]

16. I don't remember - but since I DO remember

where I was when Marilyn Monroe died, and JFK died, and of course John Lennon. But I guess Elvis's death just didn't have the emotional impact on me. Though I do think he was a terrific singer & gave us rock and roll as we know it...

edit to add: "gave us rock and roll" in the sense of bringing it to white audiences - his debt to black performers and that of rock and roll as a whole to blacks is immeasurable...

[JeffR]

17. Lounging around the Sigma Chi chapter house

The news of Marc Bolan's death on September 16 affected me a lot more.

[TahitiNut]

18. Huh? Elvis died? When?

Elvis who? :dunce:

(Sheesh!) I haven't the foggiest idea where I was. Whaddya think he was? JFK?
Where were you when Marilyn Monroe died?
Where were you when Malcom X was killed?

:eyes:

[Jokerman]

19. Elvis is NOT dead...

He just went home. - Men in Black.

[sui generis]

20. scoping out fellow underage bootay in Mrs. Kritz first period

at Augsburg American Highschool in Augsburg, Germany. We'd just gotten back from a two week field trip to Barcelona. I think. Maybe it was Hinterbran. Many brain cells have passed beneath that bridge. . . .:shrug:

[BOSSHOG]

27. I was a Freshmen

at Lakenheath High in 69. Military brat grows up to join Navy. Go figure.

[Arkansas Granny]

21. I was at home and my sister came by to tell me. She had just

heard it on the news. What a sad day. I remember watching him the first time he appeared on Ed Sullivan.

[AndyA]

22. I was at home in my Brother's bedroom watching TV.

The news came on and reported that Elvis had died. I always liked Elvis, but I wouldn't call myself a big fan. I've learned to appreciate him more over the years, but I wasn't terribly torn up over the news of his death at the time.

I remember I was big into Abba and Olivia Newton-John at the time.

[mentalsolstice]

23. Did He Really Leave the Building?

I was in high school, and heard it over the car radio while riding around with some friends. When I heard it, I told them I'd better get on home to be with my mom who was/is a big Elvis fan...I knew she was going to be really upset.

[newyawker99]

72. Hi mentalsolstice!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[damntexdem]

25. Oh, is he dead?

But I just saw him on the street in Peoria. ;-)

[jdadd]

26. I was at work

Spraying porcelain enamel on washer tubs at Westinghouse Electric, my relief operator told me.

[loyalsister]

28. Funny you should ask

The Mike Douglas show was on and there was a news break to inform us.
I was seven, and a budding fan. I was truly stunned.

[electron_blue]

29. delivering newspapers. I read the headline as I tossed a paper

[WePurrsevere]

31. Working on an OB floor as a young nursing student... a few of us shed

a few tears and soda/coffee in the break room... although in our late teens we all had liked him and were saddened by what we had seen him become and his death. I remember sharing how my late mother had dearly loved his voice and that I hoped she'd get to hear him sing in heaven as she never was physically able to while on earth.

Looks and personality aside... man oh man could that man sing.

[Bjornsdotter]

32. I was in Sweden

.....I was 15, my friends and I had just left the beach. I remember trying to explain why it was such a big deal that he died. As I recall it didn't make that much of an impression, but I do remember Radio Luxembourg playing a lot of Elvis songs.

Cheers

[MadHound]

33. A family get together at my aunt's place

And they always had the TV on as background noise. I wasn't a big Elvis fan at the time, like some of his stuff, but had gotten tired of the overplay on others. So it really didn't hit me hard like Lennon's death did.

But as time has gone on, I've come to appreciate Elvis more as the years have progressed. Exploring his music also led me to explore the music of the people he was heavily influenced by, the old school blues players and old school country players.

[Connie_Corleone]

34. Can't remember. I was 5. I don't think I knew he was dead

until a few years later. I knew who he was though. I remember seeing some concert of his on TV or something. Maybe it was a rerun.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

35. Elvis is Dead????!!!?? Don't tell the tabloids.

[Forrest Greene]

36. I Was In The Bathroom

...sitting on the toilet. Felt really woozy. Those goofers can bind you up. Thought I'd make me a sandwich.

[Dervill Crow]

37. I was in the cafeteria at work eating lunch with my husband.

He told me, "Elvis died." I asked, "Elvis who?" It didn't occur to me that Elvis Presley could die; he seemed immortal to me.

[MrSlayer]

38. I was only 7 at the time.

And I wondered what the big deal was. I'm still wondering today.

[obreaslan]

39. I was just done celebrating my 5th birthday, and thinking about ...

My first day of school, which was at that time only a few weeks away. I heard the news and was shocked. I sat down, had a shot of bourbon and a smoke, and asked myself why the fuck this world is so cruel. What's the use of it all? :hangover:

I was a morbid pre-schooler. :D

[Turbineguy]

40. Aug 1977 sweating in the Indian Ocean

doing my bit for the Cold War. Sorry for the pun.

[sueh]

41. At work...

Dad told me when I got home. I told him to stop joking, but it turned out he wasn't. Hmmm...maybe he was??

[wicket]

42. I was conceived 3 days before

:D

[Dob Bole]

44. I was -5 years old at the time...

so I likely found out about 15 years later.

[sinkingfeeling]

47. Have no idea. For some reason, Elvis' death didn't make much of an

impression on me. I know where I was and what I was doing when JFK, RFK, Dr. King, and John Lennon were killed, but can only recall where I lived in Aug. 1977.

[Sydnie]

52. me too

It just didn't "rock my world" as it did for many others around me. I was in college and probably stoned or drunk somewhere myself. :shrug:

[leftchick]

48. holy shit I was 21 when he died?

god I am so old. :(

Anyway, I was at Keuka Lake in upstate NY with the worst boyfriend in the world.

[trackfan]

49. I wrote a poem commemorating the occasion:

Albin's Drugs

This I recall from a day in
August of 'seventy-seven:
Hollywood Way and Magnolia
Boulevard meet a few blocks from
here, in the city of Burbank.
Now there's a Thrifty, but once the
name of the store on the southeast
corner - a drugstore - was Albin's.
Then, long ago, in the summer,
Danny O'Heron had many
flyers he needed delivered.
Placing the flyers on people's
cars, homes and lawns was my job. I
stopped to get lunch at the in-store
counter at Albin's. I heard a
customer taunting the waitress,
"Elvis, your hero, your lover's
dead." I cared little, as rock for
me had begun with the Beatles.
Elvis had seemed like an old-time
idol, not unlike Sinatra.
That I recall from a day in
August of 'seventy-seven.

[Nicole]

50. I was home

doing laundry when a friend called me with the news.

[lonestarnot]

51. I think I was walking a picket line against AT & T.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

53. Waiting in the car for my GF shopping in a thrift store.

Heard it in the radio. Went in and told her.
She said, "Oh," then, "Look at this," meaning the
shirt she was holding.
Knew it was over.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

54. I was busy not giving a shit.

Sorry.

[enough]

55. Strange, I have no memory of that, but I remember EXACTLY where I was

when I heard that John Lennon had been killed.

I'm 62 years old, maybe that explains something. I loved Elvis when I was a child, but lost "touch" with him in later years.

Nice thread, BOSSHOG.

[Cygnusx2112]

56. I was with my family on vacation in Wildwood, NJ...

I was 5 or so at the time, and I remember someone on the street saying it to us as we were walking to the beach.

[soothsayer]

59. Elvis is DEAD??

say it ain't so!

[Kadie]

60. Sitting at my grandmother's dining room table.

My mom was a huge Elvis fan. I remember wondering how she was going to take the news.

[ecstatic]

61. I was an egg at the time

I think... :shrug:

[Nutmegger]

62. Elvis is working on the farm down the street.

Don't you dare say he's dead....

...I have proof!

[B Calm]

63. ELVIS IS NOT DEAD! He drives a Peterbilt 18 wheeler with the word

ELVIS in neon light on his grill. The last company I know he worked for was Burlington Motor Freight.

[B Calm]

67. I parked my rig next to his in Amarillo Texas. We bob-tailed his

tractor to a wonderful steak house and he treated me to a meal. Elvis is a nice guy!

[Jamastiene]

64. My family had gone to Charlotte, NC to go

shopping. It was raining on the way back and we were listening to the radio when they announced the news. My aunt pulled the car over. I distinctly remember the car was a red 1964 and a half Mustang. I used to stand up in the back sorta holding on to the seats while I was riding in it. I am not normally a car buff, but I love Mustangs.

Back to the answer to your question: My aunt pulled the car over and my mother was crying like a baby. Then my aunt started crying and they both sat there crying like that for about an hour. I didn't know what was going on.

They didn't normally react to news of famous people any more than saying, "Oh that's so sad." Usually, that would be all that they would do and then go back to what they were previously doing before they heard the news. It was the only time I ever saw them react to a famous person dying in quite that way. I was about 7 years old at the time. It wasn't until later that I understood the impact that he had on rock and roll and an entire generation (and subsequent generations) of people.

[shadowknows69]

68. A sandbox

I was five.

[Mr_Spock]

69. Who's Elvis?

:rofl:

I was too young to be an Elvis fan.

[Saphire]

70. some shithole town in southern LA.....just driving thru.

[theanarch]

71. let's see...

...i remember where i was when JFK was shot (Miss Capozzi's 7th Grade English class); i remember where i was when MLK was shot (canvassing the hometown for Eugene McCarthy); i remember where i was when RFK was shot (local McCarthy HQ watching the NJ/CA primary returns). Elvis? He wasn't of the same stature, and didn't consider it worth noting.