A Letter of Appreciation: A Fan's View of Fandom (9/20/02) Hi Elvis, Though you have been so 'dear' to me, my family, friends and many others in my little circle, I have dispensed with the all too familiar and over-used "Dear" to begin this letter, this note of deserved appreciation. And still, I just don't know where to begin........ I shall try to keep this brief, and I appreciate tremendously any efforts you have made in having a moment, or a care, to read my words. It's certainly not something I would expect, but just as you have offered yourself to meet and greet your fans on many occasions, I can only feel touched by your gratiousness, patience and warmth when it comes to such formalities. No one does it better. Well, back to the gush.... I've never taken the chance to say thank you, and I feel as though now is as good a time as any to make my presence (as a fan, a true fan) known. I've had the pleasure of meeting you on several occasions in the past, and I have been deeply involved in enjoying your work, music, words, and voice for well over twenty years (since I was 15). I have very recently turned 40, and I am still taking the ride with you and your musical potions and notions/commotions (...and loving it). Years ago, growing up in Las Vegas, I would travel with my best friend to Los Angeles whenever you had tour dates. I was privileged to be at the Solo Tour show of May 1, 1984 to see you and T-Bone giving your all(s) as the reunion-ing Cowards, and I was knocked out by the five night stand at the Beverly in 1986. I just got a copy of three of these shows on cdr, (for free), and I can't explain the happiness of the memories and the thrill of the experience (and your heartfelt performance). I have been to more of your concerts than any and all other performers that I have seen over the years combined. Did that read right? I dunno...sorry, i'm preparing to leave in the a.m. to attend your Seattle show, and I just have to get this out (still trying to keep it short too). I have been involved in the ''circuit'' or ARMY of Elvis fans for many years, beginning with fan magazines, record, tape, poster, and video collecting, and world-wide friendships that have developed due to our mutual fondness for your music and career work. I've had friends travel to visit and stay with me that I've met due to this mutal appreciation. I have posted a few questions to the Island website, and I have really enjoyed reading your "Journal" entries as well. I'm very happy to see you so involved and present during this year in particular (more on that soon). A splendid time was had by all. I have been fortunate that my parents and sister have a fondness for your stylings as well, but of course, they are pretty smart cookies. We know what's good. Yes, I have studied your career, have all the tomes and whatnots one could need, and I am a devoted COSTELLO-L mailing list fan and subscriber, as well as website dude with an Elvis section, but still the pleasure comes down to just plain enjoying your songs, man (!!), and they are.....great. I too was a huge fan of The Band growing up, and thanks to my parents, I got to know their music and that of the Beatles, Dylan, Neil, the Stones, and many others during my formative years. I actually wrote a long, handwrittend double-sided EIGHT page letter on Yellow LEGAL paper to Garth Hudson and the Band when I was Eight years old and still living in St. Louis. Today, it makes me chuckle to think of how my mailing must have been taken by the Band-mates. They wrote back and sent a very nice, copyright 1970 press photo that they had all autographed and added personal comments to for me to treasure. I did and do. I still have it, and the memories, as I do have the memories of all the enjoyment that I have had being an Elvis fan and supporter. Needless to say, I have everything that you have released, and then some...and then some... So here I am again, travelling and planning the best weekends of my life around the experiences of getting to see you perform. Meeting new friends and having enjoyable times due to what has come out of your work and dedication. You have not let me down. This past May, I was here at this same venue, The Paramount, to enjoy your second show of the U.S. tour (I was also at the first knockout show in Portland as well). My fiancee, Christina and our boy Vini were also in attendance, and you were so gratious to us after the show in yet again allowing us autographs and a picture to remember this fantastic night. We joked with friends and fans about how we were getting a stowaway into the concert(s) for free, because Christina was almost four months pregnant at the time. Now, it is late September and we are again chomping at the bit and salivating over seeing some shows, and, yes again, we have our little stowaway daughter wrapped in mommy's eight month coccoon-like environs. I am here alone for this show, and Christina and I will be in attendance at the Portland show and our home show in EUGENE next wednesday night. A great year it's been and continues to be, and we thank you for adding so much to it. You really have. Additionally, we are to planning be married this upcoming Wednesday in Eugene (the day you appear at the McDonald Theatre). We've been together nine years, in solid fashion, we just never got around to this step. As luck would have it, Christina is as much a fan of yours as I am, and I will never forget how happy and thrilled she was when I convinced her to hang out with after the SEPTEMBER 1996 Mercer Arena show to say a word and to get a picture. Now, we have these framed and hung up. She is nine years my Junior, but she has always been a fan, as has most of her family as well. It was easy to get along and enjoy each other after that common interest was mutually discovered. You're like our Uncle Elvis or something....quite like it. I feel so embarrassed but happy to be sharing this (hopefully with you), but I am most aware that I needn't over-do it. I am really a quite reserved, and quite normal (mostly) human. I can't say enough how much I (we) enjoy listening to your songs and seeing your performances, and I hope that I (we) will have a great many occasions in the future to be a part of all that is Elvis. You know, your career has been longer and certainly more prolific than that other golden KING, and I for one (of the many) have been completely entertained !! Now, the hard part that has been wretching for weeks now. I wonder, if it is at all possible, for you to make a small mention, or dedication -as it were-, to my bride to be and our upcoming nuptials. In fact, we may have just been married at or outside the McDonald Theatre In Eugene by the time you are stagebound that night. We have needed to be married for a while , and we have finally just decided to do it, during September, and it was only a bonus to know that we could have our wedding on the day of one of your concerts (in our town...no less). Maybe this is unprecedented, but hey.....what gets done in life, or accomplished, if some things are not unprecedented? I know it's a lot to ask, and I understand that you have no connection to us, and no reason to acknowledge us publicly or privately, but if you by chance find this amusing, touching, or inspiringly sinister, then it would be great to hear you say "A hearty congrats and best of luck to Christina and Charles" while onstage. A dedication of sorts, but no special effort or song is being requested, as I feel that may be pushing it. We will have some local friends and fans in the audience with us, as well as a few travelling Costello-L mates stopping in for the show, and I know this would indeed be a memorable moment for us all (we especially). Even this seems so weak (almost) of me to type, but then again, it has a true air of import to our lives and experiences, many of which involve your music, and you are just the kind of person/artist, I feel, that may understand how the significance of this event might be felt by others (from this act). I have made no mention of this to Tina, so it would be an especially surprising treat for the heavily pregnant her to hear a dedication of sorts requested by me and delivered by you. I leave it to you to explore and perhaps remember, and I am truly aware that it just may not be possible or in the cards for such a thing to happen. But, I figure, that if anyone can make something happen, than it is Good King Elvis that can get it done. Again, what can I say except that this would be a stunningly spectacular thing for us to remember, and a very special and fond memory for us to cherish for many years. Furthermore (with tongue firmly in cheek), WOULD you like to be a witness? We need a witness or two for our nuptials that day, and if this idea is at all reaching you, then please feel free to let me know, and we will nuptuate by your bus, the theatre or along any roadway you designate. We have no plans really, and this is all on a shoestring, so our quick vows can be manipulated to some degree. Please, I realize this is indeed probably more than you can fathom, handle, or be asked to do by total strangers, but i'm just throwing this bit in because it's part of the Big Fantasy Dream that I think Tina and I have both contemplated. Still, again...you never know... But, in either case, it will be a great day for us and a great memory of how and when we became husband and wife (legally even). This whole paragraph need not be taken too seriously (except for starting now), but if the earlier request of a mention or dedication of sorts can be taken seriously, I would be and I am forever in your debt. You can sing for your supper anytime at our house if things get rough, El, and I thank you again for Everything you have given us over the years. It's all good. Please excuse some of my structure, grammar, and usage herein, I'm writing this on the eve of my departure for Seattle and without time for much review. Thanks Elvis, Charles Hazen 541-465-4932 3210 W. 13th Ave Eugene, OR 97402 hazenworld@aol.com (serving the universe since 1962) -- chaz -- ( " living with the curse of sophistication " )