robert pamperin

WEIGHING IN ON THE KING OF POP!

Do you remember the day Elvis died?  I remember the day like it was yesterday.  It was August 16, 1977 and I was ten years old.  I didn’t know or care who Elvis was.  I didn’t even know he was a famous singer, but I did know the song “Hound Dog” for some reason.  The day a 42 year old has been, overweight, drug addicted singer died taking a crap galvanized a family memory for me. 

I was two weeks away from starting the fifth grade at Pacific Beach Elementary School.  We lived on Beryl Street about four or five blocks from the beach.  In a lot of ways, it was the best of times.  That summer my grandma and grandpa came to visit with two of my dad’s sisters.  They were taking a long vacation that had started out in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  There last stop before seeing us was in Las Vegas.  They came to town a jovial bunch.  I remember all the laughter and goofing around.  My grandmother went swimming in the Pacific Ocean for the first time and rode a boogie board.  My grandfather(originally from Chicago) slipped me a one hundred dollar bill and told me to keep it between us.  I gave my two aunts a book on every recorded shark attack in the history of the world.  I had just seen Jaws at the drive in and had a fascination with sharks that sticks with me to this day.  After reading the passage of Robert Pamperin’s fatal shark attack at La Jolla Cove in 1959, my two aunts decided to not go into the water the entire week they were here.  The day Elvis died lives in my mind because I remember all of the news coverage and all the talk amongst the adults.  I remember all of the jokes about dying on the toilet.  If Elvis didn’t die while I had family in town would the memories be as vivid?  I don’t think so.

Let me come back to present day and the death of Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop.”  The similarities between the death of Elvis and MJ are eerie to say the least.  Another has been singer, anorexic, addicted to plastic surgery, prescription drugs and allegedly small children dies under mysterious circumstances.  Somehow this has galvanized another famly memory for me and most likely my kids.  You see, every year we go beach camping here locally at San Elijo State Beach in Cardiff by the Sea, California.  For five days it was surf and sun in the California sun.  At one point we had 4 adults, 13 children and 2 dogs at the camp site.  It could have been more, but I’m not really sure.  My youngest Jacqueline had an awesome skateboard wipe out.  She end up with scrapes on both knees, both elbows, her back and her stomach.  My oldest Stewart went to the free Switchfoot concert and in a dollar raffle won a $500 surfboard.  Michael Jackson died and that’s all anyone or everyone was talking about.  My buddy even busted out the “Essential Michael Jackson” cd one night.  Who knew he would have that in his car?  The guys cracked a lot of pedophile jokes and the women lamented the loss of a great talent.  For some reason, I got the vibe from the kids that this was a trip to remember.  Other trips just seem to blend all together, but this one will stand out forever due to the King of Pop.

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