August 9th-17th is Elvis Week.
I grew up in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois. It used to be known as Spring Bluff. The first house was built around 1835. There was a stagestop on fourth street and Sheridan for the stages between Milwaukee and Chicago. Just after 1900, there were a lot of industry down by the lake front, including Winther Trucks and a fireworks factory. Then there was a golf course built and fancy homes. After the depression, the businesses closed down. The WPA, Works Progress Administration helped people work by tearing down the factories, and using the bricks to pave the main streets, and the concrete used for riprap on Lake Michigan.
After world war II, there was an influx of workers for the factories around Winthrop Harbor. Many of them came from Tupalo, Mississippi and Red Bay, Alabama, to work in factories around the area. The most famous person ever to come from Tupalo, Mississippi would be Elvis Presley. That explains why I heard a lot of Elvis growing up. I remember when he died. It was one month after my dad died. At that time, the world seemed upside down, and I stopped listening to country-and Elvis-for a long time. It took a while to come back.
I have a nice CD collection “Elvis from Nashville to Memphis” a five CD set of Elvis music and book. From when Elvis got out of the Army, through his movies, to his Memphis recordings in ’69, one can see his trajectory in music and films.
A wonderful tribute to the King is “Elvis” by Dave March, 1982. This ‘Coffee Table’ book, supported by many photographs, helps one to remember the rise and fall of Elvis Presley.
I love cookbooks. How about “Are You Hungry Tonight?” by Brenda Arlene Butler, 1992. Elvis may have been King, but he loved his poor, down home country cooking. In my world of collecting cookbooks, ( I enjoy reading a cookbook like a novel or best seller. I can picture me cooking the recipes,) this is a good southern cookbook.
One must try Red Eye Gravy, with biscuits and grits. Ham (or bacon) fat, then deglazing the pan with coffee, makes the gravy. While I cook a mean sausage gravy, every now and then, I like that different taste of the ‘poor man’s gravy.’ Or a BLT-Elvis liked very crispy bacon, with an added slice of cheese; or Pork Chops and Sweet Potatoes. The recipe for a side dish of Southern Black-eyed Peas is pretty darn good.
Ohh, and desserts. There are some great ones to make: Banana Coconut Chiffon Cake, to Southern Sweet Potato Pie, to Spiced Nectarine Cobbler, to Pineapple Upside- down Cake. Elvis did make three movies in Hawaii: Blue Hawaii, Girls, Girls, Girls, and Paradise, Hawaiian Style. Cook any of these recipes, and people all will be saying…
“Thank you, thank you very much.”
August 9 is National Book Lovers Day. Book Lovers Day is to celebrate the joy of learning, and reading, and the curiosity that books create in the minds of people.
This is my day!
And a day for my kids! And for all my grandkids! And to all my friends that force their way through these readings…
Thank you! Thank you very much!
Librarytomes 