
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 1, 1992                   TAG: 9203030362
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

IT TOOK A LITTLE MATURITY TO UNDERSTAND, APPRECIATE

My first memory of the King was from endless television commercials promoting this paunchy white-jumpsuited guy with dyed-black hair singing in Hawaii. I thought, "Who would send their $7.99 for record, $8.99 for cassette to hear this idiot?"

As a child of the 1970s, I targeted Elvis and these advertisements interrupting my re-runs of "The Flintstones" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show" for the butt of so many adolescent jokes and jabs. Order now: "The Complete Fat and Sweaty Elvis Absolutely Live." Operators are standing by.

It wasn't until college that my attitude changed.

By chance, my college roommate's mother was a devoted Elvis fan from her teenybopper days in the 1950s. She had all his singles, meticulously stacked and cataloged in a handy carrying-case. She let us borrow it for a semester.

We thought we were so cool, so funny, taking her collection to beer parties. What a novelty when it seemed like the only party song you ever heard was "Super Freak," by Rick James.

Then, we started listening to them, and my juvenile sensibilities matured.

And although I still found the Hawaiian Elvis laughable at times, there was now appreciation, too. So much so, that when I got married a few years ago, I gave each of my groomsman a gift of four Elvis coffee cups. Most of them college buddies who shared the same newfound discovery of The King as I had. They were delighted.

by CNB