Happy Birthday Elvis!

If you watched any type of news broadcast today I'm sure you heard that today is Elvis' birthday and he would have been 77 years old.  I LOVE Elvis. 

I'm not sure when my love for Elvis started, considering I had just turned 1 year old the month before he died, but I remember listening to my parent's records as soon as I was able to work the stereo.  I had a huge Jailhouse Rock poster hanging on my bedroom door that my neighbor, Sara brought back from Sweden for me when we were about 10 years old.  My brother gave me the book, Elvis and Me for Christmas that same year. 

I even liked to bring a little Elvis into my education.  I chose The Essential Elvis Presley cassette tape as my prize for selling magazines in elementary school.  My freshman year of high school, I had to give a persuasive speech.  I may or may not have persuaded some 14 and 15 year olds that Elvis was still alive.  My senior year at The University of Iowa, I followed my roommate Kristi's lead and took a class called Elvis As Anthology.  I wrote a 30 page paper about The King and got an "A" in the class. 

As the years passed, I accumulated more Elvis treasures.  I have two of the swinging hip clocks, Christmas ornaments, t-shirts, a street sign, games, cd's and a myriad of books.  One of my favorite treasures is the Elvis Lava Lamp that my friend, Pam sent me a couple of years ago.  I adore it, but I'm scared to death to put it out because of the kids.  I think I have made the right choice since I have had to replace the lamp on my nightstand 3 times.  Pam will always be my friend because she is the only person I know that has seen Elvis in concert.  I still remember the day she told me.  My jaw hit the floor.

However, all of my Elvis paraphernalia doesn't compare to my trip to Graceland in August of 2009.  Ryan surprised me with a trip for our anniversary.  Not only was I finally going to the Promised Land, but I was going a couple of days before Elvis Week!  Honestly, I think this was way better than being in Memphis during the actual week.  There were Elvis' at every turn.  Ryan commented "You can't swing a dead cat without hitting an Elvis."  He has such a way with words.

Here are some of the pictures from our trip.  I had a stupid grin on my face the entire 4 days we were there. 

Graceland

A crazy little monkey that was in Elvis' TV room.  I need to get my hands on that monkey.

Hangin' out in Elvis' backyard.

One of the Elvis Tribute Artists.  There were some good singers, but not one came close to being as sensuous as the real deal.

50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong.  I stared at this for a long time.

Just for the record, I also like the Beatles. 

Sing, Sing A Song

My taste in music has been questioned, criticized and mocked for years.  I like all genres of music except country.  And even then I’ll allow some country music as long as it was recorded in or before 1980.  I have been known to sing a little Patsy Cline every now and again and who hasn’t been caught singing The Gambler the first time you ever sat down at a casino table?  Just me?  Ok then.

The truth is, I love to sing.  I have been told I’m not particularly good at it, but I have never let other people’s opinions influence me much.  Consequently, the music I like the best is music I can sing along to. 

My first ever karaoke performance.  I was singing Bobby McGee.

Today was a rather excellent sing along day.  I’m still milking my free satellite radio trial that we got when we bought our car and after today, any doubts that I had of subscribing to the service have vanished.  First, let me give you the list of my XM presets.  Ryan and I were both allowed 6 stations.  However, because of my broad spectrum of music likes, I find Ryan’s presets enjoyable, while he considers some of mine borderline torture.  My lineup is as follows:

20 on 20  The description for this station is “The latest top 20 countdowns from pop, rock, hip-hop and more.”  I enjoy all of the above so this is right in my wheelhouse.  Another bonus of this station is that one channel previous is SiriusXM Hits 1.  I don’t have to waste a preset when I can simply turn the dial one notch.  You need to consider these things, folks. 

80’s on 8  This is self explanatory as to the music played on this channel.  Who doesn’t love some rad 80’s?  I’m not sure how much longer I’ll keep this one, though.  I go in phases when I need 80’s and other times when I can’t stand it.

90’s on 9  This was the result of some overzealous programming on my part.  I was all excited and programmed this station on the first day.  It’s going against the previous strategy of not programming a station immediately preceding or following an existing preset, but if I get rid of the 80’s station, things will be kosher once again.

Z100/NY  I really like this station.  They play about 99% Top 40, but every once and awhile they throw a random hip hop song from 1992 in there.  It’s a nice treat.

Pop2K  Yes, it’s music from the previous decade. 

And last, but certainly not least;

Elvis Radio  No explanation is needed.  It’s Elvis and he’s fantastic. 

Ryan treated me to a trip to Graceland for our anniversary.  Super awesome!

Ryan’s presets include Pearl Jam Radio, Grateful Dead Channel, Classic Vinyl, Deep Tracks, Jam_On and 1^st Wave.   Besides opting to program stations that are already adjacent on the XM line up, I appreciate all of his selections; some are just not the easiest to sing along to.  Specifically, the jam band stations.   I don’t like waiting 10 minutes in between versus just so someone can get a crunchy groove on.

Back to my excellent travel music.  Today started off with Sir Mix-A-Lot, BabyGot Back .  I don’t care how overplayed this song is, I love it.  My anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns, hon!  Shut the front door with those awesome lyrics!  Next up, DepecheMode, I Just Can’t Get Enough.  That keyboard makes me bounce around in my seat.  I arrived at Target singing Elvis, Always On My Mind.  No one and I mean no one sings this song better than Elvis Presley.  I made Rory sit, strapped in his carseat, until the song was over.  The whole while I sang to him he was shouting, “No sing Mama!”  I don’t know who he thinks he was fooling, he liked it.  On the way home I was treated to Guns N’ Roses,November Rain.  This brought back fond memories of seeing GNR in high school with my friend, Lisa.  We paid a whopping $40 for tickets and it was worth every penny.  And finally, Pitbull got me back home with Give Me Everything.   

I think this is proof that I’m all over the place when it comes to music.  I represented multiple decades, genres and tempos all in one quick trip to Target.  If you are trying to imagine me singing in the car, think of Lila in The HeartbreakKid.  I might look a little like that.  Okay, I look exactly like that.