a day with Elvis!

I had meant to go see the exhibit on my birthday.
That has been my habit these past few years, you know. Go downtown, spend part of a day at the Jepson Center, right?
Except last year, when I had the ball game on my birthday - that was most excellent!
This year, I had hynms from a hat and then an under-the-sea adventure on my actual birthday! I guess I could have tried to squeeze in a quick trip to the Jepson... but I knew that would not be satisfactory.
After looking forward to the exhibit for so long, I did not want to feel rushed.
It's been two months since I participated in the lecture...
and tomorrow will mark the 60th anniversary since his first concert in Savannah.
Sixty years.
Sixty years since Elvis was just another nearly-anonymous young man hoping to hit it big in that summer of 1956.

As I would learn in the exhibit, there were other young men looking to make their mark on the world in that special year.
Johnny Cash would release his first record later that year.
He was only 24 years old.
Dick Clark would become the host for "American Bandstand" later that year.
He was not yet 27 years old.
Charlton Heston was 32 years old when he made "The Ten Commandments", which opened a month after his 33rd birthday in 1956.

And here are two more little fun facts for you!
WSAV, one of the big local television stations in this neck of the woods, first began broadcasting that same year.
And these interstate highways that we all take for granted? Those did not exist until President Eisenhower granted that it be so.
That was all amazing stuff to me, y'all!

I took my time with the twenty-six photographs that the 26-year-old photographer had snapped. Many had been taken on the spur of the moment, totally candid shots of one young man by another. Because of that non-posed quality, and thanks to the remembrances noted beside each photo, the "Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer" exhibit allows us to share private moments of a life not yet made famous, of a young man not yet become the King of Rock and Roll, of a world not yet launched into Elvis-mania.
I highly recommend that you plan a visit there.

And when you do, be sure to pose with Elvis, will you?
There were three nearly life-sized cutouts to choose from, all different from the Elvis who shares my home.
(smile)
Why choose this one, you ask?
Because the Lucas Theatre was showing "Jailhouse Rock" tonight!
Woohoo!!!
Of course, this Elvis is 22 years old.
(smile)

And this Elvis is probably another decade past that!
I was an usher tonight and as soon as I saw that we had the guest of honor present, I made it my priority to make sure folks in the streets knew!
"Elvis is IN THE HOUSE!"
I chanted from Kevin Spacey's brick.
"Jailhouse Rock
at eight o'clock!"
Such fun for me! Such fun for all!
Such an enthusiastic crowd we had!

Happy birthday:58 for me!
i thank You, God!