I don’t have an appropriate Elvis pic for his birthday however, a quick story. I was shopping Wed. for my mum’s birthday this month at a specialty card shop in the west village that was closing down. Apparently calendars and cards don’t pay the rent any more in Bloomberg’s Manhattan, so they were closing shop and moving to Brooklyn.
I was going through all the unique stationary: embroidered, unicorns, and special typewriter fonts for the 60 year old news paper reporter. There was 20-50% off everything but even at those discounts it was really all crap. I hate to buy something superficial and just couldn’t find anything with a persona connection.
Some would say a spiritual sign, others would say the laws of gravity, but as I accidentally kicked the bottom shelf of the calendars, a stack of black and white photos fell on my Timberlands. The twenty or so photos were all of Elvis Presley in his prime, staring up at me with blue discount stickers. I’m a fan since my college days but since I was on my mission to shop for someone else, not myself, I passed on the purchase. I realize now that Thursday is Elvis’s birthday so I’ve put a few of my favorite quotes of his together and a tribute to him as well:
Elvis Presley – My Way
[audio:https://austinvegas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/18-My-Way.mp3]
“I knew by heart all the dialogue of James Dean’s films; I could watch Rebel Without a Cause a hundred times over. ”
“I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.”
“I was training to be an electrician. I suppose I got wired the wrong way round somewhere along the line. ”
“Man, I really like Vegas.”
“Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it, you have it all over. ”
“The closest I ever came to getting married was just before I started singing. In fact, my first record saved my neck. ”
“The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I’m doin’ now, man, for more years than I know. I got it from them. ”
“Those movies sure got me into a rut. ”
“When I was a boy, I always saw myself as a hero in comic books and in movies. I grew up believing this dream.”
