Yesterday morning Vince Staten came by our offices on his morning travels and brought me his book, “The Real Elvis.” I gave him $20 this past Saturday night at his birthday party and was impressed that he would take the time to deliver the work. He has worked as a columnist for the Times-News for several years and although I’ve always known how popular he was among our readers, I never knew he has penned more than 12 books and has been a feature writer for decades in Tennessee and Kentucky. I barely knew the man, but I’ll certainly remember his 60th birthday party this past Saturday night.
Meeting any author has has always compelled me to buy a copy of their work. The blood, sweat and tears, along with my own obsession for books makes it hard for me to walk away, but this one was a bit different. A bright red book, aged a bit from its 1978 publication date, “The Real Elvis” has special appeal especially after hearing Vince tell the story on the stage of the Kingsport auditorium about the time Elvis Presley played a concert in Kingsport in 1955.
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According to Vince’s book (I’ve already dived into the pages), Elvis drove to town in a pink Cadillac and was just getting started on his monumental rise to the top. He had just released, ‘That’s all right Mama” and played the second set of a night with two other country artists. The book describes some of the stories and lore about that night along with plenty of other Elvis memories and I can’t wait to share the stories in this book with my mother and granny who are still fans.
Vince has also worked in Louisville as a TV and movie critic during the mid-seventies. He’s an extremely popular columnist and plenty of friends joined him this evening including Carl Swann – local radio icon and according to his t-shirt, he has a “BS Degree.”
Carl was excited to tell me about his birthday gift for Vince. When he mentioned ‘Jade East,’ I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, because my first memory of a comparable cologne for men was Brut, but Carl let me have a swiff and what snootful that was. Not sure if it was fermented or what, but this elixir might make a good salad dressing.
Vince has written his own column for this special birthday event. He had plenty of good friends dancing in the auditorium too. They were dancing to the music of a classic oldies band out of Piney Flats called “The PF Flyers” and they did a great job entertaining the couples too. Mike and Lisa Milhourn were gorgeous together and Keith and Pam Wilson proved that they have definately had dance lessons – great job! Vince even had a hula-hoop contest that was amusing to watch and the winner got a signed book.
I took the video camera too and shot plenty of footage from this event and I’m trying to prepare the work tonight for Vince’s column. Little does he know that he’ll be on You Tube in the morning and the highlight of the night is Vince singing ‘Hello Mary Lou” to a sea of screaming fans – a dream realized – of which he’ll always remember.