I never saw Elvis live, but we were living near Memphis, in Oxford MS, when he died. The Michael Jackson coverage reminds me of the wall-to-wall coverage the Memphis media gave Elvis' death and funeral. They couldn't have hyped the story any more if Elvis had risen after in three days.

I like Elvis' very early stuff. In 1956 his music was tremendously exciting compared to the bland, predigested tinpan alley crap on the radio at our house -- and once Elvis was on the radio they started playing other exciting musicians, too. Some of the other guys had been around for years, but I'd never heard them on our radio. It was quite an eye-opener. Those first couple years were great, but I didn't care much for anything Elvis did after that.
- Phil