I got hitched in Vegas. I got hitched in Vegas by the King. I'm pretty sure it was him. He was real tall though, like 6'8.
I asked him if he ever played any ball. "No man, I always been the king".
Good enough for me.

Elvis and Vegas is real close to maybe the best match for performer and venue ever. The ironic thing is that Elvis was so obviously not a dapper Vegas cat - he was a hillbilly badass who could split your lip with a Karate chop and got buried in the backyard. Anyone wonderin' about the King's countrified-ness would do well to watch Elvis '56 which, just through photos and interviews - no videos - tells the story of the King's breakout year in 1956. It's him stealin' a kiss with a high school sweetheart, roughhousin in a half full swimming pool with his buddies, buying his first ring (the horseshoe, for good luck). Narrated by another great Southern wildcat - Levon Helm of The Band - it's a portrait of a real sweet country boy about to go poof like those fireworks Kerouac wrote about.

Frank Sinatra seemed at home in Vegas, swingin' with a deck of songs about heartache, booze and the good life but New York was really his town. The King, on the other hand, was just trying to find a place big enough to contain him. He was bigger than that ol' out-of-luck cowboy hitchin' a ride in all those postcards. Now Elvis in Vegas is like Santa at the North Pole. But there was a time when it wasn't so. Those jump suits everybody finds so damn funny were a brand new thang. He looked kinda like a crazy hillbilly super hero, like he'd just piloted a home-made spaceship that carried him and David Bowie back to earth. That suit was so fly that Evel Kenievel even co-opted it, jumping sharks and school buses in (a version of) it. And after all, if yer gonna do athletics, a high collar white polyester jumpsuit covered in rhinestones is just what you wanna wear. Remember Kurt Russell in the John Carpenter-directed Elvis TV Movie, telling his costume guy - I'm playin' Vegas man, can you make me somethin' you know.. .like a karate Gi?"

Now CMT will air a special all about Elvis in Vegas on Monday Aug 11th at 8pm (and the Blue Ray DVD will go on sale at Walmart for $10 bucks the same day). The take on it is how Elvis Presley reinvented Vegas and how it reinvented him. This thing oughta be pretty interestin' with everyone from 50 cent to The Rock to Tom Jones and Nancy Sinatra - you even got 'ol crazy-ass but very artful David Lynch - waxin' poetic on the king. I wonder if they're gonna have those flyin' Elvis's there? They got performers too. Everyone from rappers Three 6 Mafia doin' In the Ghetto to Toby Keith and Joe Perry doin' Mystery Train. And you got Chris Isaak and Brandi Carlile doin' love me tender, and you even got 'ol Celine Dion doin' Can't Help Falling In Love, which is when I'll be takin a peanut butter and banana break. But hey man, you can't have it all. I might even watch Celine, I just won't tell no one. What happens in Viva Las Vegas, stays in Viva Las Vegas. Check out the trailers for the show here.