Original Painting, Urban Love Affair. Acrylic on Canvas $800. By Cindy Davis.

I recently downloaded a large selection of Elvis songs to my iTunes account. I suppose I am a bit naive about just how big a star Elvis Presely was. I grew up in Memphis. We always heard about Elvis in the media all the time and most people my age were not fans of his music.

We were all kinda sick of hearing about him actually. I was 13 when Elvis died. I was at the Mall getting my ears pierced when my Mom and I heard the news. She started crying. I thought she was a dork and was embarrassed that she would cry at the mall in public. Like I said, I was 13 years old at the time.

For the next few year Memphis became consumed again with Elvis and most kids my age didn’t think he was cool at all. Except Makky Kaylor who I went to high school with. I remember Makky did an Elvis song our high school talent show. He did a great job with it. By the way, Makky grew up to be a suceessful songwriter/singer in Nashville. I guess Makky know cool back then, I just didn’t realize it at the time.

After I looked at the Elvis Presley iTunes collection, I was rather taken aback by the sheer number of gold records he had. I realize that Michael Jackson sold more records than Elvis, but I think one needs to consider the increase in population by the time Michael Jackson came along. Elvis really was huge I suppose.

Anyway, I have been discovering Elvis music again, or actually truly for the first time. Sheer hotness is the best way I know to describe it. I also really like the glimpse of southern accent in the songs. Makes me feel like I am right back in Memphis.

Those of us born and raised in the South can hear the difference between a Mississippi Delta accent, an East Tennessee accent, and a South Georgia accent. There is a difference, you just have to be able to hear it. Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee during the years in which Elvis was alive I have an Elvis story, just like everyone else in town. Here is mine. It is a two part story spanning several years.

Elvis Story Part I

My story is not my own, it belongs to my Dad but I am going to tell it anyway since I have heard my Dad tell it about a gazillion times. One day in the late 1950′s just after my parents were married, my Dad was out in the front yard mowing the grass on Dunn Road. He had a new lawn mover. I am sure it was not a fancy one, but the mower had some kind of unique design that had just come out on the market.

Elvis drives by Dunn Road in his convertible Cadillac. He is not yet BIG famous yet, only a little famous at this time. His girlfriend, pre-Pricilla, lived in our neighborhood. This was when he live in the Getwell / Cherry Road area, before he bought Graceland. Most people in Memphis know about this house but it is not marked in anyway. People still live there, at least last I heard.

Elvis stops his car in front of our house. He is wearing a black leather jacket. He starts talking to my Dad about the mower. My Dad is a friendly guy and they chat it up. Elvis takes the mower for a couple strips down our front lawn.

My Mom is looking out the window if freaking out. NOT because it is Elvis, as he really isn’t that famous yet. But because she is newly married and doesn’t want my Dad to be hanging out with “hoods” and such. She is concerned will fall in with the wrong sort of crowd and such. It was the fifties. And no one respectable wore leather jackets back then. Thus ends part I of the Elvis story.

Elvis Story Part II

Many years later, in the 1970′s, my Dad is sitting around somewhere in Memphis. I don’t remember the exact location. I would guess the Willow Road Inn, the doughnut shop, or perhaps the dog track if it was built yet. Anyway this guy he only sort knows, who happens to be an insurance salesman, mentions that he is nervous because is he is all set up with an sales appointment at Graceland and sell Elvis some life insurance.

My Daddy says, “no reason to be nervous, I met him once years ago. He is a regular guy, no big deal.”

The guys starts bugging and bugging my Dad to go with him. The insurance man says it will help break the ice if he bring someone along that Elvis know. My Dad keeps telling him he doesn’t really know Elvis, he just met him once. After more bugging my Dad agrees to go with him to Graceland.

They arrive shortly after noon, and are led into the kitchen. Elvis’ Mom is cooking breakfast, bacon, eggs, biscuits. Normal Southern Breakfast. She tells some guy to go upstairs and get Elvis. She says something like:

“get Elvis out of the bed. Tell him breakfast is ready and he better get down here and eat and get if he knows what’s good for him”.

So Elvis comes down eventually, disheveled a bit after just getting up. Elvis says hello and they introduce themselves, etc. Both Elvis and his Mom insist that Dad and the insurance man have something to eat. They all sit down and begin eating breakfast at the kitchen table.

Elvis looks at my Dad kinda strange and ask if he knows him from somewhere. Dad tells him about the lawn mover and Dunn Road and how he was driving by to pick up the girlfriend. It was many years ago. Elvis remembers, they laugh and talk awhile about the neighborhood. We still lived in the same house, the house in which my brother still live today.

They finish eating and the insurance man and Elvis go into the other room (the famous fancy white living room) to talk about the life insurance and Dad sits and drinks coffee with Elvis’ Mom in the kitchen.

Fancy White Living Room

I mention the fancy white living room because in Memphis back then the White Living Room was almost as famous as Elvis himself.

Remember Graceland wasn’t open to the public back then. Most people had never been inside but had heard stories about how fancy it was.

Whenever anyone in my family or friends visited a nice home with a white living room they would say, “Oh how pretty, you have white living room just like Elvis Presley.” I think it is safe to say that Elvis personally inspired thousands of Memphis housewives to include a fancy white living room when they built their dream house.

We never had one of those by the way. We had a regular living room on Dunn Road and I am proud of it ! Thus ends Part II of our family’s Elvis Story.

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There is one additional Elvis episode to mention involving my Dad, but it doesn’t involve him meeting him personally. I will save that for another day.

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And if you are wondering, this has absolutely nothing to do with my Urban Love Affair Painting. But I am tired of talking about my painting all the time. I think I might write some more about my growing up in Memphis. There are quite a few stories, most are not fit to tell.

Have you got an Elvis Story? I would like to hear it. Leave a comment below.

Title: Urban Love Affair
Acrylic on 1.5 in Gallery Wrap Canvas.
Design wraps around edges of this painting for a contemporary look. Frame not necessary.
30″h x 30″w  –   $700.