Elvis Schmelvis

I knew somebody (or somebodies) would run with this idea...

In the late 80's, when I was in my late 30's, I learned from my mother that my maternal grandmother had a Jewish mother. Until that time I knew nothing about Nana's real parents. Family lore has it that her father was the black sheep son of a lumber baron, and that he treated my great-grandmother horribly, prositituting her in lumber camps in Seattle.

I figured if my great-grandmother was Jewish, that would make me about one-eighth...right?

This new info percolated around in my head for awhile. Combine it with the fact that my birthday is the day after Elvis, and somehow I got the idea to do a musical about Elvis being Jewish. But in my take he wanted to be a country singer. You know, the better to have production numbers like "Bagels-n-Boots." I wrote the title song lyrics. I shared them with a drummer friend and he said he'd write the music, sort of a fast rock song with a Hava Nagila twist. But we never got around to finishing the song. It still pops into my head (very rarely anymore) and I occasionally sing it to myself in the shower.

I just Googled "Elvis Schmelvis." Nice to see there are some folks out there making a living with that moniker. Like here. And here. And here. And here's a bit about why some think Elvis actually was Jewish.