Under the auspices of Senior College, Neil Harkness presented an all day program on Elvis-- I was troubled lest I feel drowsy as I so often do at lectures but I needn't have worried this time-- between the songs, video clips and photos, I was riveted. I was about 9 years old in 1956 when Elvis came into focus for me-- I often stopped at "Bunny" and "Ginger" Knight's home on South Hill on my way home from school, and there I could watch American Bandstand. It was through bandstand that I learned his birthday-- January 8th-- and I thought of it every year thereafter, most particularly the year that my daughter Margaret was born on that same date-- Nothing that I planned, I hasten to add-- she was due to be born on March 15th! Later I remember the teen trauma that surrounded his induction into the Army and the great romance with Priscilla Beaulieu.
I might have been hard pressed to list a dozen Elvis songs, so I astonished myself as I remembered the words of piece after piece-- it was like some kind of muscle memory-- the first few notes brought the memories flooding back. Like my week at Cold River Camp, the experience was bittersweet, the years fading away until I realized that I am now one of the "middle aged matrons" and blue-haired grandmothers" who formed his fan base in his last years.
I listened to one disc of Adam's Curse but decided that Sykes was providing more detail that I need so I switched to The Hypnotist's Lover. Finally had a success with fava beans. Got them fresh at Chase's Daily and followed the many steps necessary to get them ready for a salad. Time consuming but as most people say, they were worth the trouble.
