r.i.p. elvis

thirty-one years ago today, i went to open the rekkid store where i worked on lawn guyland and was greeted by a line of weeping elvis fans. honestly, i'd always thought of him as kind of a joke. when i was little, i thought he was italian because everyone i knew who looked/acted that way was italian. thought he had something to do with my uncle frank, because they were both in the army in germany around the same time. my lead singer in college had an annoying habit of playing elvis tapes in his car, and doing elvis impersonations. when i read greil marcus' mystery train chapter (and extensive footnotes) on the el, his music started sounding like something i might be interested in, but i never really "got it" until about 10 yrs ago, when i was stuck in my apartment for a coupla days with a bad respiratory infection, a lot of nyquil, and the sun sessions. his version of "blue moon" was otherworldly, like some fever dream.