Posted in Life, Music by briggsa on April 25th, 2008
Elvis came to Grimey’s on Thursday.
Honestly, I felt like a 10 year old girl. I was completely nervous in the hours before his arrival, all sweaty and listless, kind of wandering the store aimlessly. When he arrived, we were ushered quickly to the side for group photos (sadly, no solo pic of Elvis and I in a bromancely embrace). During all of this, Elvis was looking around the store, making comments about the inventory. He made a great (and reverential) Prince joke, although I can’t remember what it was about. I felt like he was sort of shopping the whole time he was there, just looking around, connecting all this vast musical knowledge in his head.
We pretty quickly opened the door to let people in, so I stepped aside and helped keep the line in order. I stood about 12 feet or so away from Elvis while he talked to folks, and he was really charming, very witty, and very friendly to everyone. He told Grimey’s regular (and supreme vinyl collector) Joe Crook that he liked his Son House t-shirt, and I thought Joe’s head was going to explode. While there was a little lull in the line, Larry and I jumped over and introduced ourselves, shook his hand, and thanked him for being there, and it was pretry surreal and a little hazy, even in the moment it was happening.
When the line evaporated we closed the doors so Elvis could shop, and he spent a good 30 minutes going through the store, asking for recommendations from Doyle, and making requests. There were a few straggler customers still around, and he made some recommendations to them in passing, which was pretty much the coolest thing ever. He bought a box worth of stuff, said goodbye, and then took off in his bus.
So yeah, yesterday was one of the coolest and most surreal days ever.
Sidenote: if you haven’t heard Momofuku yet, go hear it. It benefits from a very immediate, almost tossed off vibe. Great songs played almost effortlessly from a very friendly genius with a nice hat.
Donna posts to listserv-
OK, here is my Grimey's story. I got there about noon and the line was already half a block out the door. Since my copy of Momofuku did not arrive before I left for Nashville, I had to a buy another copy to get signed. I told Elvis as he was signing that the new website seems to be a big hit that there was a lot of positive buzz around the internet and he seemed pleased by that. He said "Really? that's great." Oh yeah, it was hot and muggy standing in line and there is Elvis in his leather jacket and a black scarf with white polka dots tied around his neck and an open weave hat.
Todd wanted to look around the store, but all those gawkers were actually part time workers they brought in for crowd control and to keep anyone from remaining in the building after their album was signed. They herded us out
the back door. One of the worker's apologized for herding us like cattle and Todd asked if he was going to get a bolt in the head on the other side of the door. The kid thought that was pretty funny. So, Todd decided he wanted to come back and look around the store after signing. We came back at 1:20 pm. I did not see Elvis at the signing booth and I asked the girl at
the front if the signing was over and we could come in and shop. She said it was not quite over but we could come in. Elvis was shopping by that point.
Several of the workers were talking to him about music as he browsed. He picked up several CDs and a vinyl album, but I didn't see what he had. I was waiting for him to leave so that I could ask the cashier if I would have on the Momofuku promotional posters (she did give me one). As I started up to the counter, Paddy was there with Elvis' purchases, and I thought Elvis had left, until he came out the bathroom right next to where I was standing. Anyway, he purchased his selections (I did hear the total was $124.44) and then he and Paddy left.
Here is the funny part. The manager watches him leave and then stands on a box and shouts "Elvis has left the building" Then all the kids who were acting cool and talking Elvis about new bands and such just went crazy.
There were comments like "I can't believe it!, It was Elvis Costello! That was so cool!"
I noticed that Elvis stopped to talk to a woman on the way out. She came in and talked to the store manager. Apparently she was with his publicity company or management or something. She had set up the signing. The manager was saying how nice it was that someone of that stature would come to do the signing. The woman said that Elvis is very supportive of these types of things and what a pleasure it was to work with him. She said he is always willing to do anything we ask and he is such a gentleman; he is my favorite client. The owner said they sold 212 copies of Momofuku in that hour and a half.
