The Elvis Collection: 70's Scrapbook 1

Over the 60's and most of the 70's, mom apparently stopped collecting Elvis articles.  She was busy getting married and raising a family.  Elvis was making a bunch of bad movies and then going out on tour.  The family story is that dad had promised mom to take her to an Elvis concert and Elvis did come to Albuquerque once.  The parents didn't want to make the trip and thought there'd be other opportunities to see him.  

That never happened.  I was 8 in 1977 when my afternoon cartoons were interrupted by a TV news report that Elvis had died.  I woke mom up from a nap to tell her.  I was inappropriately laughing at the time, because I knew she wouldn't believe me.  Actually, I don't think she was terribly shocked by the news.  Mom was aware of his unhealthy look and rumors of his drug abuse from his close associates.  

On Sundays, we usually had a big family breakfast.  Mom would play her LP's.  Usually, it was classic country, but songs from her Elvis albums were also common.  I liked Elvis' last album, Moody Blue.  It was made from a funky blue vinyl and I dug the song Way Down for the very low bass part with one of the backup singers.  These are my main personal Elvis memories.  

After Elvis' death, mom started collecting Elvis clippings again.  This last large oversized scrapbook is basically all articles from the year following his death.  Elvis leaving building one final time may have generated as much press as his initial bombshell national debut in 1956.  This event was a big deal in American culture at the time.

This article is on the inside cover and starts off the scrapbook.

The Dwight Yoakam article is from a later time.  Mom became a big fan of his later in life.  Yoakam was heavily inspired by Elvis.

There's going to be a lot of Elvis memorial merchandising coming up in future posts.

Coverage of Elvis' funeral.  

Here's the first of many newspaper columnists who'll be writing commentaries about Elvis' passing.