Elvis Cultists Are Ecstatic Rockin' With Their Leader
by Robert Kelly
Charleston Daily Mail
July 12, 1975

The faces in the crowd told the story of Elvis Presley's appeal.

"He's the rock on which everything is built," said Kenny Miller, 21, of Marmet, who also enjoys the bizarre, mutant rock 'n' roll species that have evolved from the rock.

"I like Kiss too," Miller said. Kiss is an English group that enjoys worldwide popularity with the Pepsi generation but remains light years away from bridging the generation gap.

"Elvis is keeping me young," said Mrs. Charlotte Kerstein,60, of Chesterfield Avenue. She waited to see Elvis with her son-in-law Stephen Meyer,42, who was at Venderbilt University in Nashville when Elvis picked up his guitar in Memphis in the mid 1950s.

Kim Martin,8, was in line with her mother Mrs. Barbara Martin,40, who recalls sipping sodas in the West Virginia Wesleyan College student union and listening to "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Blue Suede Shoes" on the jukebox.

Kim, by letter, invited Elvis to ride horses on the family farm at Clendenin. "I'm pleased that a young man of my age is doing so well," quipped Mrs. Martin. Elvis also is 40.

Some fans were more exuberant. Brenda Sue Metten, 23, of Davis Creek, said she'll never outgrow Elvis.

"They say he's over the hill at 40," she said. "But if he's over the hill. I'd like to be over there with him."

Brenda's George Washington High School graduation gift was a trip to see the Presley manse in Memphis.

"I've been so nervous since he came to Charleston," she said.

Mrs. Clara Stevens, 31, of Barboursville, said she "loves Elvis because he's so gentle and seems like one of us."

Is mr. Stevens jealous that his wife proclaims her adulation on the front of her shirt, spelled out in glitter? "Oh, of course not," she said. "Elvis has his life, we have ours."

State Sen. J. R. Rogers, 35, D-Boone, brought his wife Susie, 25, to see what the senator termed "a living legend."

Anti-abortionist Harry Zain stood outside, sans ticket, trying to find one. Scalpers suggested $50. Zain asked if they had anything cheaper. He was bargaining from a position of strength.

As 8:30 approached, the price came down, and Zain later learned from a third row seat: "Some little girl sold me one for $6.75."

THe cash registers jingled. A special photo folio concert edition at $2 and Elvis buttons at $1 were hustled inside and out.

At Dr. Phillips Animal Hospital a block away from the Civic Center, a block away from the civic Center, Jim Mc Dougal, 18, and Jeff Parsley, 19, rented parking spaces for $1.50. They had the doctor's permission, they said.

Bill Scraggs, of Ashland, Ky., didn't believe them and checked with the vet to make sure. "Never hurts," he said as he marched his nine-member Kentucky entourage from station wagon to the Civic Center. At least one person out front didn't like Elvis.

"This is madness," said Abraham Stover, 18, of 1313 Crecent Road, who had a ticket for sale in one hand and a look of disbelief on his face as his elders, line up, neared the end of their pilgrimage.

Courtesy Of Archie Bald