Greetings Elvis fans & other travelers,

Welcome to The Mystery Train Blog. Please find your seats quickly and secure all loose articles.

The primary focus of the Mystery Train Blog is Elvis Presley as an entertainer, meaning his music (including television appearances) and his movies. I offer my thoughts and opinions on related topics, old and new, often with a personal perspective. I’m definitely looking for you to chime in as well.

I have been an Elvis fan for as long as I can remember. I am a second generation fan, and Elvis passed away before I could experience him live in concert. His death when I was two-years-old is actually one of my earliest memories.

I can find something to enjoy in most aspects of his career, though my favorite span is 1966-1970 if pinned down. There is no doubt that his influential peak was 1954-1958, and those years represent some of his finest work as well. I play almost all of it, though, and I love much of it. There is a stretch from 1964 to 1965 that I find tough to slog through. I also tend to avoid his 1976 concerts. Though I call things as I see them, I generally prefer to bring a positive approach, as there is certainly enough negativity already in this world.

Before taking the plunge in 2010, I’d been toying with the idea of starting an Elvis Presley blog for about two years. I actually started writing about Elvis almost thirty years ago. For five years, I was the president of an official Elvis Presley fan club. I’m not sure how many there are now, but there were about 450 official clubs back then. Mine was only a “club” in the loosest sense of the term, though.

At its peak, my Elvis fan club had maybe fifty concurrent members. We never once held a meeting! In reality, the club existed solely as an excuse for me to create and write a free quarterly newsletter about Elvis – using an archaic delivery system consisting of items called “paper,” “envelopes,” and “postage stamps.”

I was 16 when I started that club, certainly one of the younger fan club presidents at that particular time. It was not exactly popular for 16-year-olds to like Elvis back then. While I may have been young, I had grown up listening to Elvis.

I’m 45 now, and just about every facet of my life has changed since then. Most notably I accepted Jesus Christ in 2018, and life began again for me. In many ways, I became a new creation. I had heard such stories, but never really believed them.

One of the few constants through the ongoing changes has been Elvis headlining the soundtrack of my life. I have discovered a lot of new (to me) music to love by other artists, but Elvis remains in that grand mix, continuing to lead the pack with his incredible gift.

Friends, I pray for your health and well-being during these times and going forward. May we all be the change the world needs.

All aboard! This train is leaving the railway station. Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Hold on tight, and enjoy your ride.

Your conductor,
TY
February 2021

---

“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
from 2 Corinthians 5:17