On New Year’s Day 1958, there was no question who was the most illustrious personage in the U.S. Army. That person, of course, was retired General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, who that month was completing his sixth year as president of these United States. But Ike was probably looking over his shoulder a bit, when on March 24th of that year, Elvis Aaron Presley reported for his Army induction. That became a date forever remembered by his millions of fans around the world as “Black Monday.” Offered the chance to serve with Special Services, Presley (at Colonel Parker’s urging) declined, choosing instead to become the most famous ordinary private in U.S. Army history. The general had to settle for second place, at least for a while.
Elvis went through basic training (just as all enlisted men did at the time) and then was shipped off (literally) to an American Army base in West Germany. Despite his celebrity, Presley did his best to serve his two years as simply an ordinary soldier, although he was given the opportunity to live off the base. He moved into a five-bedroom house in Bad Neuheim, along with his “Memphis Mafia” of family and friends, and while everyone had more than a few European adventures, Elvis mustered out as a sergeant, returning home in March of 1960.
Shortly after that return, he found himself sitting behind a desk in the little office behind Graceland, lots of TV cameras rolling, giving his first interview after getting out of the Army. At one point, without prompting, the King summed up his German experience this way: “You’ll never know how happy I am to be here. Somebody asked me this morning what I missed most about Memphis, and I told them, ‘Ev-er-a-thang.’”
I’ve been lucky enough to travel all over the globe, but I have never encountered anyplace more peculiar and more endearing than this city many of you call home.
More than most celebrities, the King meant just that. He would remain a Memphis resident for nearly all of his brief life, which ended right here, 42 years ago this month. This magazine was two years old when Elvis passed, and perhaps the best-ever eulogy of the King, penned by longtime staffer Jackson Baker, appeared in these pages in our September 1977 issue. You can still read it yourself online.
I’ve now considered Memphis home for almost as long as Elvis lived, so it’s no coincidence that I share the same passion for this place as the King did. Now, I won’t go so far as to say that I like ev-er-a-thang, but I do think, and have told folks everywhere, that Memphis is something of a hidden treasure. I’ve been lucky enough to travel all over the globe, but I have never encountered anyplace more peculiar and more endearing than this city many of you call home. Oh, we do have our share of problems, most of which, frankly, spring from a mixed-bag of history that has left us all with a difficult poker hand to play. But as W.C. Handy used to say in a tune about Beale Street, “I’d rather be there than anyplace I know.”
Speaking of longevity, our August issue happens to be our 36th annual "City Guide." Someday I want to put them all in a tall pile, lock myself in a room, and read each and every one, cover to cover. That would be an excellent way to capture the ebb and flow of our peculiar city, over time. The good news would be that we’re in a far better place than we were when Elvis passed. We’ve certainly come a long way from the very sad decade that began when the King came home from Europe.
In our office downtown, we store hard copies of each year’s issues of this magazine in vertical plastic boxes; I view them as something akin to the individual vintages of a particularly fine wine. Yes, the bottles are all from the same chateau, as it were, but every year’s product should always have a fresh and different taste. We have worked to make this year’s “City Guide” informative, entertaining, and uniquely different from our earlier “vintages.” Speaking for the entire staff, we all hope this month's issue suits your palette, showing both substance and elegance. It’s got a little bit of ev-er-a-thang.
Kenneth Neill
Publisher/Editor