I have very vivid memories of the morning of September 11, 2001. I was supposed to fly out of Jackson, Tennessee through St. Louis to Indianapolis that morning. When I got out of the shower, my wife came into our bathroom and told me that she was watching Good Morning America and they had reported a fire… Continue reading 9-11 Memories
Author: elvisgumby
Watching “This Is Elvis” After Elvis Week 2014
It has been almost two weeks since my latest visit to Graceland and less than a week since I posted the essay for this year’s trip. Earlier this week, I was going through the channel guide on my television and saw that the movie “This is Elvis” was on. This documentary was released in 1981. … Continue reading Watching “This Is Elvis” After Elvis Week 2014
Elvis Week 2014: Hanging out with Insiders
A few days before my yearly trip to Graceland for the Candlelight Vigil, I ran into a friend who had read some of my posts about visiting Graceland. He told me that he was one of the few people ever kicked out of Graceland. Earlier in his life, he was involved in a comedy club… Continue reading Elvis Week 2014: Hanging out with Insiders
Getting My Driver’s License
Last week, my youngest child got her driver’s license. This is reason enough for me to reflect on the differences in driver’s licenses today at back in 1978 when I got mine. At that time, getting a learner’s permit consisted of filling out forms and paying money. You didn’t have to take any test. The… Continue reading Getting My Driver’s License
A Brief History of Memphis Soul Music
I live in West Tennessee and I also grew up here. Most of the television stations that we watched were from Memphis. The most popular radio stations that we listened to were also from Memphis. I would love to be able to say that I know a lot about Memphis music because I listened to… Continue reading A Brief History of Memphis Soul Music
Skating on Ice
John Pechonick was my favorite chemistry professor in college. He was a short, muscular man with bushy eyebrows. One of my friends described him as looking like a cross between Popeye and E.T. When he spoke, the words seemed to come out the side of his mouth in a sound that was almost like a… Continue reading Skating on Ice
Chairs
Several years ago when my youngest daughter was still little, she was playing one day in our kitchen. As she walked around the kitchen table, she would assign a gender to each chair. She would say, “This is a boy chair, this is a girl chair, this is a girl chair, this is a boy… Continue reading Chairs
The Pyramids of Mexico
In October of 2003, I was traveling in Mexico on business. Any other time that I had been to Mexico on business, I had traveled to a U.S. border town and crossed over for the day. For this trip, we were supposed to travel into Mexico City. I was traveling with two other Americans. One… Continue reading The Pyramids of Mexico
All In The Family
When I was in elementary school, my mother’s family seemed to get together almost every other weekend during the spring and summer. I have three male cousins that are really close to my age that would always be at these family reunions. It was also good that we had each other to keep entertained. Some… Continue reading All In The Family
There’s Something About Mary
Several years ago, we used a satellite service for television. When we first subscribed to this service, we were unable to get our local channels. I wasn’t interested in dealing with all of the processes that were necessary to get network feeds from New York and Los Angeles. We had no antenna and lived far… Continue reading There’s Something About Mary