Yesterday marked the 32nd anniversary of Elvis passing away. I was out most of the day, but I did make a point of observing it by listening to FTD’s All Shook Up (August 26, 1969, Midnight Show, Las Vegas) and watching Sit-down Show #2 (June 27, 1968, 8 PM, Burbank) from ELVIS: ’68 Comeback Special-Deluxe Edition DVD.

One of my favorite little segments from that sit-down show gave me an idea for a future post. After the first couple songs of the show, Elvis mentions on a whim that they should have had audience members fill out cards to ask him questions.

Though I can only imagine what some of those questions would have been (“Elvis, will you kiss me?” “Elvis, will you please buy me a Lincoln?” “Elvis, what’s your secret with women?”), I think this would have been a great concept.

Elvis’ buddy, Charlie Hodge, unfortunately dismisses it. He quickly moves Elvis on by saying, “I’ve got a question . . . what’re you going to sing next?” and then prods him into starting “That’s All Right.”

To my knowledge, Elvis never executed his answering fan questions concept during his shows over the next nine years. I have heard of shows with a “request box” where people could ask that he perform certain songs, but that’s not quite the same thing. I wish he had tried this a couple of times (and maybe he did, who knows, there were well over a thousand shows).

So, if you could ask Elvis one question, what would it be? I’ll have to think about that one for awhile. So, for now, I’ll just say, “To Be Continued. . . .”

Read some great news over on Elvis Today that the Elvis Collectors label, Follow That Dream Records, is not dead! With no new releases announced lately, I was beginning to share Thomas’ concern that the end was near for FTD after ten years.

Turns out that there are three more albums in the Classic Albums series currently in the works. Meanwhile, the next release will contain rehearsals from August 1974. As someone who does not buy bootleg material, I’m glad FTD is getting around to releasing official versions of material like this. I’m also glad that I won’t have to wait until the Twelfth of Never to buy more FTD releases.