Get out of the way! It was reported Elvis was seen in Iron River Thursday evening!

August 5, 2016 - Friday

63 degrees/partly cloudy/breezy

Pentoga Road

I mean it. Really. Who'd have thought that after all these years, Elvis would have appeared in little bitty Iron River, Michigan... and to think, for almost forty years, they said the King was dead. 

I'm here to tell you, it ain't so! The proof is on the billboard in front of our local community center, right above Kung Fu Panda and Batman. Elvis is alive and kicking.

Sargie got off work an hour early Thursday afternoon and we were at the Windsor Center forty-five minutes before showtime. You could feel the excitement. There were a fair amount of people already in their seats with more streaming through the door.

What happened over the next two hours was one of the most fun times I've had in many years. Elvis gave his show in two parts, the first half featured songs from the fifties and sixties and after intermission, from the seventies.

The backup band, supposedly the only one sanctioned by Presley Enterprises out of Graceland, took pride in playing all the music exactly as was done when Elvis was still alive. They were good.

We were Hound Dawg'd, All Shook Up'd, and Teddy Bear'd for well over an hour. It was wonderful. The crowd sang and clapped and the energy in the room was purely electric. 

We kept saying that we wished Sargie's sisters and brothers-in-law were with us. They'd have been some of the loudest singers and by night's end, Elvis's last name would have been, no doubt, Milligan. 

Elvis made his appearance after intermission dressed in his jump suit and sang all those songs we loved back when, How Great Thou Art, In the Ghetto, Suspicious Minds, My Way, You Gave Me a Mountain, and many others.

Laugh? Lord, we laughed when Elvis began handing out his famous scarves from around his neck. There was no shortage of little old ladies who made their way to the stage to get theirs, along with pecks on the cheek, from Elvis. 

The most touching time was when a young girl with Downs Syndrome tried to get to the stage, but was unable to and gave up. Elvis spotted her in the crowd, motioned for the young lady to come up, and gave her a scarf, making her the happiest girl in the world. We all clapped, cheered, and sang even louder.

When The Trilogy, of which Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie is a part, was performed, the entire crowd stood and sang. With the band playing and the rest singing at full volume, goose pimples were racing up and down my arms and I might have choked back a tear or two. The gentleman who played Elvis gave quite a personal tribute to our veterans and troops and for the first time in a long time, I felt that old-fashioned patriotism that made America great, a feeling that has been difficult to find over the past eight years. At that moment, the rapidly aging men and women in the audience could and would have whipped all the terrorists in the world, single handedly, with one arm tied behind their backs and it wouldn't have surprised me to see General Patton, John Wayne, and Ronald Regan walk onto the stage to lead the charge.

Sargie and I departed the community center last night with hoarse voices, but still singing in two-part disharmony. It wasn't until I lay in bed later that I truly realized that the memory of Elvis is a real part of Americana, just like God, Mom, country, and apple pie. 

Oh, yesterday before the concert? It was filled with boring stuff like laundry, sweeping the floors, and moving boulders from the side yard. Nothing exciting.

Sargie's off today so I'm not sure what lies ahead. Other than an ache here and a pain there, I'm feeling much better. The hot temperatures and high humidity have departed. Mow the grass? Work in the side yard? Take a drive? Go water skiing? Rob a bank? (<- Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.)

One thing I know, I'd better get out to the garden and feed those pesky pumpkins before they get too rambunctious and try to break out of the fence. As you well know, a man's work is never done.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...