Starting in August 1969, Colonel Parker committed Elvis to month-long Las Vegas engagements twice a year. Neither could I imagine that just four short years later, Elvis would be back on top of his game and appearing before sold out crowds in the Sahara Tahoe showroom. It was, after all, the “Summer of Love.” One day I drove into San Francisco to see what was happening there, but, as an Elvis addict, I couldn’t imagine ever wearing flowers in my hair. The Beatles and Bob Dylan had taken music in a completely different direction. Besides, at that time Elvis had reached the depths of insignificance in the pop music world.
I couldn’t even listen to my Elvis records, having left them at home in Spokane. Like any Nevada vacation area, Tahoe is a drag when you’re not old enough to gamble.
My dad, who was a card room supervisor in the Sahara Tahoe’s casino, got me a job as a bus boy in the hotel’s coffee shop.
