I was born June 11, 1977 in Tupelo, Mississippi. That's right, I came into the world just before the King of Rock N Roll left the building.
- Mom holding me outside the birthplace, shortly after his death...
When I was little, my father teased me by saying, "You killed Elvis...you was born and he kicked off..." (Yeah, my dad's a real sweetheart.)
At the time of my illustrious birth, my parents lived on Reese St. If you know your Tupelo streets, you'll know that Reese St. leads right into the birthplace. We moved from that location when I was two years old to Mooreville, and that area is where I spent my remaining childhood years.
Elvis was always in my life, whether it be an occasional spin of my mom's vinyl records or the random Elvis movie on cable or even local events relating to him. He was always there, as I grew up and my musical taste expanded from the good old country and rock that my mother was always playing on to weirder things...You know; grunge, punk, and goth...My horizons expanded to lots of things.
Growing up in Tupelo, you heard about him all the time.
Years went on and now I'm 32 years old. I've never denied being an Elvis fan, but some days you just take him and his music for granted. Growing up here is a different sort of animal...I see both young and old taking for granted his legacy- his influence on the economy, culture, and history of North Mississippi. That saddens me. I know some of you younguns think that Tupelo is this horribly boring place, but I hate to inform you that if you are unhappy; you are going to take that unhappiness with you to wherever you go. I learned this by moving away for college. I thought "escaping" would bring a better life.
He was a generous soul because of where he came from...Think on that.
Even if you don't like his music, cheesy movies, or anything else he's done, you have to pay the respect that's due to him if you live in this community.
Someday, with the wisdom of age; you too will see that this place isn't so bad and part of that reason is the improvements of the town brought about by the love of one little poor kid who made it big. (The classic rags-to-riches story!)
Happy 75th Birthday, Elvis. Wish you were still here.
