Folks, a couple of weeks ago I posted a story that I had previously told at a local storytelling monthly competition in my new hometown of Foxboro, Massachusetts know as “Foxtales”. Please see KC#33 for more info on Foxtales.

Well, two nights ago I competed with 6 other story tellers and I told my Rock n’ Roll story. My story begins now…….

“Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen…Who is the King of Rock n’ Roll?” Right, Elvis Presley (everyone agreed). Well, I saw Elvis live and I will talk about that a little later. But first, I have a public service announcement…I am fortunate enough to have seen a man perform over 20 times live in concert whose voice is more beautiful than Elvis, Frank Sinatra, or Roy Orbison. Who could that be? No, not the “WHO” (we will discuss the Who in a minute)…NO, it is a man named Raul Malo, lead singer of the Mavericks. If you haven’t been to a Mavericks concert, GO! You will be standing and dancing during every song. I have seen Raul and the boys in Texas, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, and even Germany! OK, this is the end of the PSA.

I grew up the Motown suburb of Southfield, Michigan. My first intro into rock and roll was my transistor radio where I could listen to AM Radio, WKNR (Keener Radio) and CKLW, the station from Windsor, Canada. My first concert experience was a very bad one, because my mom wouldn’t let me go. Like other American cities in 1967, Detroit was experiencing civil unrest and my mom would not let me out of the house on that night of November 23, 1967. The concert took place on my high school tennis courts and the main act was the WHO! Who has ever heard of Sirius radio? Well, a friend of mine named Pat St. John is a DJ at the “60s on 6” Sirius radio station between 3 and 6pm weekdays, so I called him on the air about a month ago and he confirmed that the Who smashed their guitars at the end of that show. I did get the chance to see them over 40 years later in Philadelphia (October 26, 2008 Wachovia Center), great show, mellowed by then no smashing guitars.

My first LIVE concert was at Blood, Sweat and Tears (10/30/1969) with my Uncle Skip. It wasn’t heavy rock, but is was that night that I became a huge fan of live music

I didn’t go to many concerts in high school as I was to busy with sports, student council, studies, and covering HS sports for our local paper as a reporter.

That all changed my senior year when I received notification that I was being offered a full-ride scholarship to the US Military Academy at West Point. Realizing that my days of freedom would be numbered once I reported in on July 3, 1972, I began attending as many concerts and Detroit Red Wing hockey games as I could in the Spring of 1972. In March of 1972 a buddy of mine and I went to see Black Sabbath in Detroit. We were really excited to hear songs like :Iron Man” and “Paranoid” live by Ozzie and the gang.  What I didn’t expect was that I would leave that show BORED in the first half hour! Why you ask? Because the opening act who I had never heard of stole the show! I mean, really, who in their right name would name a band “YES”???

The last show I saw before becoming a cadet was less than a month before I had to report in to West Point and was only 5 days before the last day of high school. Before heading out I checked in with my mom to make sure I could miss the meaningless day of school the next day. I also had three different sports articles due the next morning that I hadn’t even started. Surely she would understand. Well don’t call her Shirley, because my drill sergeant mom told me “You are going to school, no matter what” I didn’t care, I was seeing Led Zeppelin. When I got there, I had nose bleed seats and at 8:00pm sharp, when the opening act usually starts, I heard “The Immigrant Song” THERE WAS NO OPENING ACT! YAY! I got home around midnight, typed the three articles, drove them over to the newspaper’s drop box, drove home, and went to bed around 6 o’clock. My head had just hit the pillow when my mother drill sergeant pounded on my door and yelled, “Get Up, you’re going to school,” which I did.

I went to school that day, and 4 weeks later I was doing pushups at West Point. Ironically, during the academic year, West Point offered sporadic opportunities to see live music on weekends. They have a 4000-seat auditorium called Eisenhower Hall (Ike Hall) where cadets could see major acts at reasonable rates as the generous public donated to West Points “Morale Support Welfare Fund” which would be paid to the bands on top of our tickets. I was able to see Don McLean, James Gang, Mountain, Ohio Players, Sha Na Na, Grand Funk Railroad, America, and The BOSS (Bruce Springstein).

But the highlight of my personal Rock n Roll journey began with the King of Rock n Roll himself, ELVIS PRESLEY on New Year’s Eve 1975 at the Pontiac Silverdome. Did anybody here see the ELVIS movie? Well, towards the end of the movie it shows an indoor stadium scene. That scene was of the concert I attended, watching Elvis LIVE was actually made possible by a West Point cadet named Wes Walters. How was that you say?..Well, as the late great Paul Harvey used to say…Now the REST of the story…

Wes Walters was a plebe (or freshman) in my company when I was a yearling (sophomore) and we were in the same squad. Wes and I had a special relationship, as did many yearlings and plebes. Often, we yearlings were assigned a plebe that we were to mentor. It was a professional relationship, but since yearlings were only plebes the previous year, it was thought that we yearlings would be more compassionate with the oft time stressed out plebes. Wes was my plebe, so to say.

Wes Walters was an exceptional plebe. Sharp as a tack and smart.  He handled the pressures of plebe year well, and as such, so our conversations became a little less formal.  It was common for a plebe to have a picture of their girlfriend on their desk. It was also common for a yearling to kiddingly ask their plebe if their girlfriend had any friends.  I didn’t break tradition, and Wes Walters’ girlfriend made it easy for me.  The picture that Wes (I mean Mr. Walters) had on his desk had two women in it. Both were quite attractive, so I felt it my duty to ask. (TRADITION). His “girlfriend’s girlfriend” was a beautiful looking woman wearing an all American (stars and stripes) bikini bathing suit. I asked Mr. Walters to ask his girlfriend if her friend wanted a pen pal. (they were from the West Coast and there was no possibility of my ever meeting this Missy America). Mr. Walters said he would check.

To my surprise, about a week later I received a letter from someone in Arizona (over 2000 miles away) named Missy America. Missy, a high school senior at the time, was a very nice young lady.  We began very innocently writing letters to each other, approximately once every couple of months just talking about what was going on in our lives. Somewhere in our communications we talked about music. I remember telling her that I loved Rock n’ Roll (today we call it Classic Rock) and I remember her telling me that she loved Elvis.

After a year or so, our communications slowed down to every six months. As a matter of fact, I thought we had just totally faded away from each other until Monday, December 22, 1975, a day that would live on in infamy. On December 22, I was scheduled to catch a bus to LaGuardia Airport to fly home in the late afternoon. I was required to go to lunch formation, and then baby it was off to Motown I would go! Mail call was at noon, right before the lunch formation. I almost missed mail call as I didn’t care, I was going to be home in less than 8 hours. Having I had just gotten caught drinking two days before, so I was planning on letting loose during my winter break as I knew that coming back to West Point in January was going to suck big time walking punishment tours on the cold cement (called the “area”) in the middle of winter. I managed to grab the one piece of mail on my way to the bus. To my surprise, the letter was from Karen Smith, my long-lost pen pal. I hadn’t heard from her in over a year!

Then, I was astonished to notice that the return address was from an address in Royal Oak, Michigan, the town right next to my hometown of Southfield, Michigan!!!!! I ripped open the envelope and read Miss America’s letter.  SHE HAD MOVED PERMANENTLY to Royal Oak and I would be less than 5 miles from her in the next 6 hours!!!

You know where this is heading don’t you?

When my parents picked me up from the airport, I told them I needed to borrow their car THAT NIGHT, and I told them the Missy America story. My mom didn’t want me taking her car out to hunt down Missy America, but she agreed to drive me there that night. I simply HAD to visit Missy at her Royal Oak home THAT NIGHT, probably less than two days after she had mailed me her letter!

With mom driving, I went to the address, climbed the stairs, and knocked on her door at about 8pm. She said, “who is it?” I replied, “Cadet Joe Sanders from West Point.” She replied “WHO?” and I said, “Joe Sanders, the guy you have been writing to from West Point.” She excitedly said, “Oh My God, is it really you?” and she opened the door. I said, “Missy America from Arizona?” and she said “yes! please come in!” I had already made up my mind that I would not enter her apartment if she asked as it was already inappropriate to just show up unannounced, plus Alberta Blanche Sanders (mom) had the timer on me (mom knew me pretty well). I replied,” No thank you Karen, I just wanted to let you know that I live very close to you, and maybe we can go out to dinner while I am in town?” She agreed and she gave me her phone number. We politely hugged and I departed for the car.

The next day I was doing some late Christmas shopping at Hudsons Northland and happened to walk by a ticket office. I saw that the The King was going to be playing at the Pontiac Silverdome in just one week! I bought two tickets immediately, hoping that Karen would go to the concert with me (remember, I mentioned earlier that she had told me she loved Elvis). I was feeling all proud of myself, thinking I was the lucky guy who actually paid attention to a lady’s wishes. When I got home, I called her immediately and our date was set!

I wanted to make it a great New Year’s Eve, as it was the eve of our nation’s bi-centennial year. I would be graduating from West Point soon and I wanted to go into 1976 in style! I picked Missy up for our pre-show dinner date and took her to a fine steak house. I ordered filet mignon and it was then that I learned (actually, I was reminded) that she was a vegetarian. I apologized profusely and told her we would go to a different restaurant, but she insisted we stay and that she would order a salad. (I am sure that in some previous letter she had told me that she was a vegetarian, but it wasn’t information I needed to know, or so I had thought). We finished our dinner and polite conversation and headed for Pontiac.

We got to the Silverdome late as traffic was horrendous.  I was concerned that we might miss a portion of the show. We got to our floor seats around 10pm and were relieved that Elvis had not taken the stage at that point. Finally, well after 11pm, all the lights in the stadium were dimmed. It was time for ELVIS to enter the stage.

The 60,000+ person crown got relatively quiet as everyone strained to get a look at Elvis’ entrance. Suddenly, thousands of women began screaming and thousands of flashcubes lit up the stadium as Elvis Presley waked out of a long tunnel and onto the stage. No stadium lights were on, yet the whole arena slowly lit up with a wave of light because of the flashcubes from spectator’s polaroid cameras! Of all the pageantry of seeing Elvis, it was that flashcube-lit Silverdome moment that is what I remember most! Who’d have thunk it?!

Elvis began with “C.C. Rider” and then addressed the crowd. He threw in a few signature “Thank you very much” comments and then confided that he was nervous. He said he was very nervous as this was the largest crowd he had ever performed before!

Elvis then followed with a confession that he had “ripped his pants” in front of the largest crowd ever! Nobody cared, we all just wanted to be a part of the magic night!

At midnight, we all joined Elvis and sang Auld-Lang-Syne together as the huge screen flashed “1976”.

All was good with the world, 1976 was finally here! The stadium announcer made the announcement that “Elvis has left the building” and we all headed out

I took Missy America back to her place in Royal Oak, gave her a polite good night kiss, and I never saw her again. But thanks to Wes Walters, I got to see Elvis Presley live, and I am happy for that to this very day!

While seeing Elvis live was a great experience, believe it or not, I experienced a better Elvis moment almost 50 years later right here in the Marilyn Rodman Performing Arts Center. It was November 8, 2024 and I had purchased tickets to see Dan Fontaine and the Memphis Sun Mafia Band perform their Viva Las Vegas show. Siting with my very serious girlfriend, “Elvis” sang a a beautiful song and when it was over, we looked at each other both with our eyes welling up with tears and I said to Ivone, “That is our song.” And she nodded her head. I told her AO CHI AMMO: and then, Will you marry me? She said yes! So, we hugged right there in our seats and nine days on November 17, 2024, we became Mr. and Mrs. Sanders. What was the beautiful song you ask? Well, before I kissed the bride, I sang the following, “Wise men say, only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you. Thank you, folks, The Colonel is leaving the building.

PS: My “setlist” from my Foxtale story on “Rock n’Roll” is provided for your perusal below: ENJOY!!

0 11/23/1967 Unrelated Segments/Amboy Dukes/WHO Southfield High Confirmed by Pat St John, SiriusXM 60s Gold (844) 607-4653
1- 10/30/1969 Blood Sweat, and Tears Ann Arbor Spinning Wheel
2 – 11/19/1971 Chicago Cobo 25 or 6 to 4
3 – 12/3/1971 Deep Purple Detroit Smoke on the Water
4 – 12/16/1971 Sly and the Family Stone Olympia Dance to the Music
5 – 3/22/1972 Black Sabbath Detroit Paranoid
6 – 3/22/1972 YES Detroit Yours is no disgrace
7 – 4/17/1972 Emerson, Lake, and Palmer Detroit Lucky Man
8 – 6/6/1972 Led Zeppelin Detroit Immigrant Song
9 – 3/30/1974 Grand Funk Railroad Tampa Stadium We’re an American Band
10 – 10/19/1974 America USMA Ventura Highway/Horse with No Name
11 – 6/1/1975 Doobie Brothers Detroit China Grove
12 – 6/10/1975 Jethro Tull Detroit Aqualung
13 – 7/1/1975 ELO Detroit, Pine Knob Don’t Bring Me Down
14 – 12/31/1975 Elvis Presley (ripped his pants) Pontiac Can’t Stop Loving You
15 – 5/22/1976 Bruce Springsteen West Point Born in the USA
16 – 1972 – 1976 Don McLean West Point American Pie
17 – 1972 – 1976 James Gang USMA Walk Away
17 – – 1976 Kool and the Gang USMA Celebrate
19 – 1972 – 1976 Mountain USMA Mississippi Queen
20 – 1972 – 1976 Natalie Cole West Point This Will be
21 – 1972 – 1976 Ohio Players West Point Love Roller Coaster
22 – 1972 – 1976 Sha Na Na West Point Rock n Roll is here to stay
23 – 1972 – 1976 Linda Ronstad West Point Your no good
24 – 1985 – 1988 Hall and Oates NJ Your Out of Touch
25 – 1985 – 1988 Grass Roots NJ Midnight Confession
26 – 1985 – 1988 Harry Bellafonte NJ Bannana Boat DEO
27 – 1988 Herman’s Hermits NJ Cant You Hear My Heartbeat
28 – 1985 – 1988 James Taylor NJ How Sweet it is
29 – 1985 – 1988 Monkees NJ I’m A Believer
30 – 1985 – 1988 Neil Diamond NJ Sweet Caroline
31 – 1985 – 1988 Paul Revere and the Raiders NJ Good Thing
32 – – 1988 Moody Blues NJ Question
33 – 1994 Beach Boys NJ Surfin USA
34 – Tears for Fears NJ Head over Heels
35 – 2004 DMB Camden, NJ 2 Step
36 – 2008 Peter Gabriel Philly Solisbury Hill
37 – 2008 Red Hot Chili Peppers Philly Can’t Stop
38 – Stevie Nicks AC Rhiannon
39 – 2008 Styx Philly Blue Collar Man
40 – 2010 Mumford and Sons Camden I will wait
41 – 2010 Paul McCartney Philly Maybe I’m Amazed
42 – 2010 The Who Philly Wont Be Fooled Again
43 – 8/9/2017 Pink Floyd (Roger Waters) Philly The Wall
44 – 9/1/2023 Foreigner Mohegan Sun Feels like the First Time
45 – 9/1/2023 Loverboy Mohegan Sun Working for the Weekend
46 – 11/1/2023 Eagles Boston Life in the Fast Lane
47 – 11/1/2023 Steely Dan Boston Do It Again
48 – 5/22/2024 Rolling Stones Foxborough Satisfaction
49 – 6/1/2024 Sammy Hagar Mansfield Jump
50 – 9/1/2024 Bob Dylan Mansfield Like a rolling Stone
51-65 – 2011 – 2024 Mavericks – 15X TX, NJ, PA, FRG EVERY SONG 66 – 6/21/2025 – George Strait/Chris Stapleton Foxborough, Luckenbach, Texas
4/10/2025 TOTAL TO DATE = 66