Butch Proclaims That Elvis Is Still “The King”

My wife and I watched the new “Elvis” movie at the Eastside Ten theater in Lafayette a few weeks ago. The cost…thirty dollars for two tickets, one bucket of popcorn, and one large drink! Slightly more than the 35 cents I paid for a ticket and bag of popcorn at the old Sunshine Theater in Darlington to see the first movies Elvis made in the 1950s!

But hey, it was worth it. The movie was good, and the actor who portrayed Elvis had him down spot on. However, by the end of the movie, we both had seen enough of Col. Tom Parker, portrayed by Tom Hanks. We would rather have seen more of Elvis than his manager, but those of you who have seen the movie may feel differently. My daughter and her family watched the movie in the theater, and she has now watched it three more times at home!

I was only 8 or 9 years old when Elvis started recording songs in the mid-1950s. His music was just totally different than what my parents had been listening to. In fact, his looks, his style, the way he talked, the way he acted…was different and more unique than any other musician. Many high school boys wanted to act and look like Elvis, especially his hairstyle and his shirt collar flipped up in the back. Why?…because the girls loved Elvis! He seemed like the all-American boy, but with smoldering sexuality. Like most fans, I was not impressed with his movies. They were, for the most part, simple plots and just a vehicle for him to sing…but they were enjoyable and cheap entertainment for teenagers at the Ben-Hur drive in.

But then along came the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, and an entirely different style of music…Elvis faded out for a few years…until his 1968 “Comeback Special.” Wow! The women went wild over that one…his new look in black leather and his new songs…Elvis was hot again! He brought in sold-out crowds in Vegas, and then continued touring the country later on. My wife found out that Elvis was going to perform at Market Square Arena on June 26, 1977. She just had to go! And since I had always been an Elvis fan…sure, why not?

The concert started at 8:30pm, but we arrived early to make certain we didn’t get hung up in traffic and found our seats, which were up fairly high in the arena. I brought along a pair of binoculars just in case. The arena was jam-packed with 18,000 fans, all of whom waited nervously through an hour and a half of the opening acts…until finally “that music,” you know, the music that is played and gives you goosebumps before Elvis comes on stage, started up…and the crowd went wild. Elvis then appeared on stage, and women went berserk. My wife grabbed those binoculars, and held on to them tight the rest of the evening. He sang many of his older songs, along with his ballads, for the next 80 or 90 minutes. Yes, Elvis was overweight and he kept wiping away perspiration, but he was amazing, dynamic, and just plain spectacular. He still had it! It was a concert to always remember.

Little did we know that just six weeks later, Elvis would be gone. He died at his Graceland home on August 16, 1977. We had been lucky enough to attend his last concert. When he left the stage that night, he looked at his fans and said, “We’ll meet you again. God Bless. Adios.” Market Square Arena was torn down in 2001, but at the corner of Market and Alabama streets, there is a plaque commemorating Elvis’s last concert. The “King” may be gone, but he and his songs are still floating around in our baby boomer minds. “Thank you…thank you very much.” Elvis, you were the best!

John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 32 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.