Long Live the King

Today is the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birth. Long live the king! It is estimated that one billion of his records have sold worldwide. How many artists have had a number one single — A Little Less Conversation — decades after they have passed away? Here are some fun facts about him, gleaned from askheatherjarvis.com, edited by yours truly:
In 1947 a local radio show offered Elvis, age 12, a chance to sing live on air. He was too shy to go on.
At 18 Elvis paid $4 to make his first record, a gift for his mama.
In 1954 Elvis auditioned for a gospel quartet named the Songfellows. They turned him down.
He played only five concerts outside the U.S., all on a three-day tour of Canada in 1957. Many believe the reason he never toured abroad again was that his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, was an illegal immigrant from Holland who would have been deported had he applied for a passport.
Elvis demanded 31 takes of Hound Dog in the recording studio.
His second film, Loving You (1957), featured his parents as audience members. Following his mother’s death that same year, he never watched the movie again.
He earned $78 a month while in the Army.
It’s Now or Never so inspired a prisoner who heard it in jail that he vowed to pursue a career in music upon his release. The artist, Barry White, was serving a four-month sentence for stealing tires.
Elvis was a distant relation of Abraham Lincoln and Jimmy Carter.
He recorded more than 600 songs, but did not write any.

The happiest people on the planet these days must George Soros, the Biden family and the upper echelon FBI cabal that tried to oust Trump. All will get away with their crimes. Hunter Biden, the bagman, must be ecstatic, as he was the most likely to get thrown under the bus.

Here’s a new term from an article at nypost.com: “Plague raving” refers to parties that are thrown despite Corona restrictions.

I get Social Security and Medicare, I have three retirement accounts and my little dog and pony book shop show — and the idiots have sent me $600. The government is run by morons.

The clouds rolled in about halfway through today’s session of the floating book shop, but the absence of wind helped negate the cold. My thanks to young Bek, who recently graduated from New Utrecht H.S.. His family is leaving the country for awhile. He asked a favor, self-conscious, as are so many, about throwing away a bunch of books. How could I refuse to take them? He’s such a good kid. A lot were huge textbooks. Only a couple were fiction. And thanks also to the only Asian buying books lately. He chose seven paperbacks. Memory check: America the Beautiful by Moon Unit Zappa, Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, Airframe by Michael Crichton, and Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. Beep — failed!

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