WWTBAM Bored

Two icons in their respective fields were lost on this date in history. 40 years ago today we lost The King. Or he retired to hang out in convenience stores in Idaho or something, depending on who you believe. In any case, without Elvis to bring it into the mainstream, we probably don't have Rock 'n Roll...or it would be so watered down (ala Pat Boone, etc.) we wouldn't recognize it as such. He didn't invent it, but he got it heard by the masses. Thankyewverramuch, Mr. Presley.
Also, on August 16th, The Sultan Of Swat, Babe Ruth, took his final at bat in the game of life, in 1948. With baseball in deep trouble because of the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal (in which the Chicago White Sox were accused of intentionally throwing the World Series), it looked like the National Pasttime was on the road to becoming a National Memory, Ruth and his home runs brought people to the ballpark and put the scandal in the rear view mirror. Prior to Ruth, the home run was a rarity in the game, considered by many to be a "sideshow act" and detrimental to the intricate strategy of baseball. With the emergence of the larger-than-life Ruth (his personality was a magnet for folks as well as his longballs), the game was forever changed and about a century later the fans still get the thrill from seeing somebody go deep.
Baseball and Rock 'n Roll. Two of my life's basic food groups.

I remember the exact moment I heard Elvis died. I had just started the drive back to Austin, from College Station, after dropping off my stuff in my apartment in preparation to starting my freshman year of college the next week. I was listening to the radio when the DJ abruptly said "The King is Dead, more after this..." and he cut to a commercial. Mind you, I had just seen Elvis in concert a little over 4 months prior. I was thinking "Elvis? Is he talking about Elvis? Probably not. I wonder who he's talking about." After the commercial, the news was confirmed.

BackInTex wrote:I remember the exact moment I heard Elvis died. I had just started the drive back to Austin, from College Station, after dropping off my stuff in my apartment in preparation to starting my freshman year of college the next week. I was listening to the radio when the DJ abruptly said "The King is Dead, more after this..." and he cut to a commercial. Mind you, I had just seen Elvis in concert a little over 4 months prior. I was thinking "Elvis? Is he talking about Elvis? Probably not. I wonder who he's talking about." After the commercial, the news was confirmed.

Here in Atlanta we had a long time talk show host named Neal Boortz who recently retired. In his younger days, he was prone to pulling stunts like fake interviews with people posing as celebrities or non-existent politicians. When he announced Elvis' death, he prefaced it by saying something to the effect that he knew he had pulled people's legs on occasion and invented gag stories but he wanted everyone to realize that what he was about to say was not a joke or stunt.

I was at a summer program at RPI. I remember that I heard about his death and was surprised, but otherwise I don't think it had much impact on me. As is obvious to anyone who's ever observed my performance in Lyrically Speaking, music isn't that big a part of my life. --Bob

Elvis is alive and living in Elko.

An all-star English field Hockey team was visiting the US and playing a series of games against all-star teams in PA, NJ, Delaware and Maryland.

I was writing a feature on their visit to Burlington County for the Courier-Post. One day, in the midst of three all-star games, the US girls and their moms were taking the English team to Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J., so I tagged along.

On the way home, I kept hearing Elvis songs. As soon as one was done, I flipped the station. And there was Elvis again. Finally, I kept one station on long enough to hear what had happened.

Definitely on of my list of "places you remember where you were when..."