what a great story. I'm sure you have become great friends - and he would have had his own Gotham Rock and Roll group. -And that would have been a popular one. :-)

Would make a great movie, what might of happened. Fred and the King.

You handle the moment well. Always interesting how you get to handle these moments. I got to meet Stephen Stills during the '84 Democratic National Convention, 2x! And of course many times got to chat and more with his bandmate, Richie. A few stories of course involve Richie's former mates in Poco. Fred even met one ( and has pics to prove it). As to Elvis, he never lost his throne and sits in the grandeur that we call rock and roll heaven.

One moment, one chance, well done, a great memory.

A classic Fred Klein story!

Tribute to Elvis composed by Fred:

THE KING!
I saw the Great Elvis today
encapsulated on film
written off and explained away
and I tried to cry,
cry for him or cry for me
or was there something else?
Or what is gone,
or never happened,
or will never be again
And is lost forever?

He was the Shooting Star of the Fifties
when we were young
and he stroked my stirring adolescence.
He could sing,
Man could he sing!

He was profane
and so tough,
so right
and I loved the way he moved ~
it was very Rock ‘n Roll.

He excited me ~
turned me on,
lit me up.
He was the first,
he broke through
and found new ground.

He defied past practice,
revolutionized an entire industry,
energized my whole generation,
Indeed, changed the world.

And then he was fat,
swollen with excess ~
his perfect body abused with drugs,
his manhood cuckholded by a neglected wife.

And now he is dead
and I was betrayed.
He could sing,
Man could he sing.
He was THE KING!
By Fred C. Klein

I thought of Elvis today on the train going to Brooklyn. I had no idea that it was his birthday. I sat there thinking about him for awhile. I never think about Elvis. Spooky things at a distance.

"Often lament?" Don't be so hard on yourself! You were what 16? 18? What sage advice could you have given him then ? My wife and I ran across Elvis last week at a gas station in Santa Cruz. He asked us for directions to Sacramento. I helped him load his propane tanks into his 1956 Corsair ! Elvis look a likes abound in Santa Cruz.. I met Sonny Liston at the same crap table before the Ali fight in Lewiston, Maine but my moment wasn't
limp. I said "Bear ! " watch out for Cassius' left jab ! He glared at me !Don't often lament anything Fred ! No regrets brother!

Hollander sends