Elvis Dies – Where Were You [Video]

The day was hot, after all it was August. The year was 1977 and I was sound asleep on my parent's couch. The TV in the living room must have been on because I heard my mom scream. I woke up out of a dead sleep to hear the news. Elvis Presley was dead. I grew up in north Mississippi, about 60 miles south of Tupelo and not that much further from Memphis.

No matter what you thought of him, Elvis was a big deal. Where I grew up he was a real big deal. The news of his passing was shocking, the fact that he died really wasn't. I had heard the rumors of his superstar lifestyle and I figured that somehow figured into his passing. Based on the medical reports Elvis and his excesses probably played a large part in his leaving this world way too early. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be Elvis.

There were just so many things we didn't know about him. To know that your every move, your every word, your every action would be documented by somebody. The simple act of going to the grocery store would become a media frenzy and this was back in the days before the internet and paparazzi. I think Elvis had a lot of friends but I bet he was lonely.

I like to think of him as a simple country boy whose talents put him into a lifestyle he didn't really ask for. I know he was a man of faith and man who believed in family. I know he loved his parents and his daughter. I know he was very talented and blessed with a gift for entertaining that we in this world will never see again. What are your Elvis memories? Where were you when you heard the King was gone?