Where were you 30 years ago?

[Terry Beeson]

So... all you real music fans... Where were you 30 years ago last Thursday (August 16th?) I bet I know where Dano was...

I was in college... but can't remember exactly when I heard the news...

[Flysmallie]

College??? Wow!! I was 8. But I remember my mom and sister crying about it in the car.

[crappiefisherman]

I imagine i was working on my 1972 buick grand sport and wishin I was crusin down town Branson, after a nite hardball game at Mang Field, but alas i was only 15.And the cool guys drove 57 chevys

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Sackin' groceries at the local store! Didn't know what the fuss was about at first, but noticed alot of the check-out girls with tears in their eyes!

John

[brownieman]

lets see...guess i was just out of college applying myself well pumping gas at a 'full service' gas station and cruising rockaway beach when i could get down there in a 56 chevy...ah, the good ole days.

never was much of a fan but apparantly many were huh.

bm

[davekeim]

I was 17 years old. Left home. Living with the lady that was the manager at the pizza place I worked. Boy did my mom love that! She was an Elvis freak! I can home she was sitting on the couch eying her Elvis shrine on the fireplace mantle. Sitting there crying. Oh...Oh....Elllllvis Died! It was tough not to laugh!

Signed,

Cardiac

[Danoinark]

Well, reluctantly I will reply to this, because apparently there is a conflict among theorist as to the actual time. But the following is what I remember in a post to an interviewer some years ago. I am only posting this because my good friend urged me to.

It was August 16, 1977. I was working for WMPS radio in Memphis. One of the most successful radio stations in the Mid South. It was an AM Top 40 during the days when AM was rocking. Working the afternoon shift, a young reporter comes in approximately 5 minutes until 3:00 PM with the word that Elvis had died. I asked her where she got the information thinking this was simply another one of those Elvis rumors that always circulated around his hometown...Elvis was always in and out of the hospital for some unknown reasons. The Flu, in for rest, that kind of thing. I didn't put much stock into her report to me until she told me the hospital called. I said are you sure it was the hospital, this is an official announcement? She said yes. Well, I reported it knowing full well I had better be right!!!!. I knew with that announcement it would be the biggest story of my career or could get me fired immediately and maybe sued!!! After we returned to music I ran immediately to the newsroom to gather more information. I asked the young reporter who from the hospital called. She said a nurse in the emergency room of the hospital, ONE OF OUR FAITHFUL LISTENERS....Oh My God...you means it was no one official from the hospital? No, she said she just thought we would want to know. I jumped to the newswire, there was nothing at all about it. Surely if we had the story the whole world was now learning about it. I called my contact at the Associated Press Memphis Bureau. He had not heard anything either..I began to sweat profusely. Had I made the biggest mistake of MY life!!!! The phone calls from listeners began to flow in. I sent a reporter down to the Hospital. He did report back there was some unusual activity such as more police vehicles than usual. We made frantic phone calls to the hospital, any contact we could muster. Still nothing official. Time was dragging on. It probably had been 30 minutes now with nothing official or even new about what we still were unsure about. Finally our reporter on the scene called with the news that he had picked up some of his sources saying YES it was true...the King of Rock and Roll had died. It would be hours later before the details of the death would surface...and it was nearly two hours later before the OFFICIAL announcement of his death was made by hospital authorities. I was credited in books about Elvis' death as being the first person to announce the death of Elvis. Little did we know that the next three to four days would tax our news reporters in what was the story of the decade. When news hit worldwide about the idols demise, people from all over the world began making plans to fly to Memphis. It was their Mecca. Our reporting team put a plan in place, calling in all off duty workers, placing them in strategic areas to report. In just a short while we were receiving calls from radio and other news media from Australia, Canada, Germany, the BBC, all wanting first hand accounts of what happened. We obliged each and everyone. The stories were endless. The interviews with notables were countless. Many sidebar stories developed such as the death of three young people hit by a drunk driver outside the gates of Graceland on the first night of the vigil outside the gates to Elvis home. The request of the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper to any reporter to get a photograph of Elvis in the casket. As to the funeral, I was the third person in a line of reporters to see Elvis in his casket. At first the family had declined a request from the fans to open the it for viewing, but finally relented. Reporters were allowed to go first, and after having our equipment scrutinized for cameras by members of Elvis' bodyguards dubbed The Memphis Mafia the long line of mourners were allowed to enter the Graceland foyer.. People have continually asked me, was it really him? I can truly attest to the fact that Elvis is dead. Funeral services for the King were held three days later and he was to be buried at one of the local cemeteries where his Mother was interred. But that was to change too. Many of the World's most famous were in attendance. Legends from the world of Music, Film and Government were there. As a side note, police were tipped that someone had plans to steal Elvis' body. Police arrested the culprits, and a decision was made to move Elvis' and his Mother, Gladys' bodys to Graceland where they remain today. There are many more stories I could certainly tell about that day. It's a day of course I will never forget. And when someone asks me if I remember where and what I was doing the day Elvis died. I just smile and tell them yes I do.

[brownieman]

That's a pretty cool memory Dano...how much weight did you 'sweat out' in the meantime till the news was verified...talk about pins and needles, you were on the 'hot seat' my friend, lol.

I doubt you will pop somes bubble about the existence though...although if I were one your experience would make me wonder.

That has to be a memory of extraordinary proportion!...glad you 'reluctantly' posted that.

bm

[crappiefisherman]

Rock on brownieman

[brownieman]

Rock on brownieman

pretty much just tryin to keep rollin these days john, lol

good memories though

bm