Event Pick: Priscilla Presley

The King’s Queen Holds Court in Austin

_{Elvis and Me: An Evening With Priscilla Presley
Paramount Theatre
December 14, 8 P.M.}

Since the dawn of time, man’s thirst for knowledge has been unquenchable, launching a never-ending quest fueled by desperate hopes and dreams to discover the answers to civilization’s greatest questions.

With a few tweaks to those questions, pretty much the same goes for Elvis fans. “It’s true—no matter how much I tell, people always want more,” says Priscilla Presley, who met the 24-year-old idol when she was a barely-teenaged girl of 14. If you think the original First Lady of Rock ‘n’ Roll couldn’t possibly have more to say about life with the King, take a moment to consider that maybe even Elvis hasn’t given us all he has to give. To wit, the second of two recently released albums (one in 2015, the other in October of this year) using rearranged Elvis vocals backed by the band of his dreams, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, just took Elvis past Madonna in the record books as the solo artist with the most #1 albums in the U.K.

Presley, an earnest caretaker of Elvis’ legacy, is especially excited to bring her open conversation about their life together to Austin. “What an important place for music Austin has become, it’s absolutely fantastic. I was here for SXSW and I’m amazed at the metropolis of Austin now compared to when I was a girl and my family was stationed at Bergstrom.”

Austin’s own one-man-musical-encyclopedia, Joe Nick Patoski, will moderate the evening, which will also showcase never-before-seen home movies and photos. Presley says, “I love the chance to tell people about the Elvis they likely never knew. We had stacks of classical albums and opera, too. He loved everything from Brahms to Mario Lanza.”

If you’ve spent a lifetime waiting for the right time, it’s now or never: go ahead, ask what you’ve always wanted to know about the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.