Remembering the King of Rock and Roll on his birthday
Friday marks the “King of Rock and Roll”, Elvis Presley’s 81st birthday and if you consider yourself an Elvis fan, one local would probably give you a run for your money. When you think of the phrase “Elvis fan” Salisbury native Jean Pierre Bouvier could be the king.
47 ABC spoke with Bouvier and when asked what he would say to Elvis today, Bouvier tells us, “Happy 81st birthday and the next thing would be let’s play a song.”
Bouvier has two Elvis cars that he travels in to judge competitions. One being a blue mini-van he calls “The Elvis mobile” and the other, a hot pink convertible! His home is also filled with Elvis collectibles and he even has his own “Taking Care of Business” museum right across from his house.
Walking into the TCB room is overwhelming. Cards, plates, guitar shaped popcorn tubs, clocks and even personalized bar stools fill his space. He keeps a photo album of his loot in case he finds something new and wants to see if he has it or not.
Not only does Bouvier collect items he even dresses the part as well. Bouvier tells 47 ABC, “One lady told me she told me she says can I ask you something? I says yeah I guess, she says do you ever wear any clothes that don’t have Elvis on it? I said honey I didn’t even know that existed.”
And Bouvier doesn’t limit what he collects. He even has unopened alcohol from the 70’s as well as chocolate and bubble gum. When asked if his wife were as big of an Elvis fan as he was he tells us, “I don’t know if she is as big as me but she, every time in fact, she books shows before I even think I want to go.”
But Bouvier knows one thing for a fact. He tells 47 ABC, “We never forgot Elvis. We don’t just remember Elvis, we never forgot it.”
Taking Care of Business in a flash was adopted by Elvis in his last couple years and his last backup band was called the TCB band. Bouvier says he is running out of space for all of his stuff so he is planning on expanding his taking care of business room, sorting each room into different decades. He says he hopes to have it finished by the end of summer.
