Remembering Elvis. . .

Priscilla Pressley was on the Today Show this morning talking about a documentary coming out called Elvis Pressley: The Searcher.  I don't know much about what kind of searching Elvis did, but it made me remember a time in the early 50's when my first husband, Artie Mogull, was working in New York City as a song plugger for various bands, and had just returned from a trip to Memphis, Tennessee.  Artie went on to become a legend in the music business, as CEO of Columbia Records and discoverer of talent like Olivia Newton John, Kenny Rogers, The Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul & Mary. He was known for his ability to recognize talent early on. 

This was long before his halcyon days, however.  He was just out of college, we were  married only a few years and I was home in Mt. Vernon with our new little baby, Andrea.  He returned from the trip and was telling me over dinner about this remarkable local concert he had attended.  The young guy who was singing was playing the guitar and shaking his hips like crazy.

"I never saw anything like it," I remember he said. "He wore really tight white jeans kind of pants and you could  see the outline of his black underpants through the white.  The girls in the audience were all screaming as he sang, and when he finished, they actually threw their underwear up on the stage.  It was the wildest scene I ever saw."

I asked him the singer's name.  He thought about it for a few seconds and then said "Elvis something.  I don't really remember. Probably never hear about him again."

That was definitely one time you were wrong, Artie.
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