A Brief One by Doug Draper
Posted July 30th, 2025 on Niagara At Large
I am hoping you will stay with me here while I engage in a bit of escapism I think we could all use at least a few moments of these days.
So join me, if you will, for a brief ride on the way-back machine.
It was 71 years ago today, on July 30th, 1954, that a 19-year-old Elvis Presley was shaking in terror as he walked up on the stage of a band shell in Memphis, Tennessee and performed professionally for the very first time.
It turned out that he had nothing to feel terrified about.
As he stood up there and sang the only two songs he had so far recorded for a small but mighty label called Sun Records – ‘That’s Alright, Mama’ and ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’ which were already getting some radio play on stations in the south by the time of the gig – the young people in the audience went wild and began screaming for more.
The rest, as they say, is musical history as Elvis went on to be crowned by fans around the world as ‘the King of Rock & Roll.
To hear Elvis Presley’s recording of ‘That’s Alright, Mama’, click on the screen immediately below –
By the way, that band shell is still there in Overton Park in Memphis as a lasting monument to Elvis Presley, and musicians, young and old, are still performing in it. But by all accounts there has never been another performance quite like the one Elvis gave there on July 30th, 1954.
Henry Burgoyne as I remember him when The Standard still had a newsroom.
I am dedicating this post to my old boss & friend, who was publisher of The St. Catharines Standard during its golden years, the late Henry Burgoyne.
Henry was also the biggest Elvis Presley fan I ever met.
R.I.P Henry.
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Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
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