I MET WITH ELVIS'S MANAGER
26 January 2011

Has it ever happened to you that you only asked for little in life and got thousand times more? The phone rang around Christmas time in 2010. My friend, József Iváncsik was on the other end of the line. With a hint of mischief in his voice he said: "Do you want to meet Elvis Presley's band?" I said: "Are you kidding me?!" But I had to realize that my friend Iván was not joking. Somehow, three weeks passed in a joyful wait. All at once I found myself doing my hair and with an incessant grin I jumped into my matchbox on my way to meet TCB Band! We arrived at the hotel with my manager Maryam Sherman an hour early. Just imagine what luck I had. As we stepped into the hall of the hotel the bellhop whispered to someone that Elvis's guitar player is sitting there. Though the information wasn't directed at me, I knew it was meant for me. A friendly old man was sitting beside the table accompanied by a few fans. I teleported myself there at once and asked with utmost respect "May I disturb you, Sir?". He told me with a friendly smile to take a seat then introduced himself: "My name is Joe Esposito." After getting acquainted I pulled out of my hat my long time dream of a documentary about Elvis Presley and Hungarians, and a song which I wrote about Elvis Presley called The King is Alive. What a strange coincidence, my laptop happened to be at hand, so I showed him the whole material. He was watching the production with every sense of his being. It felt great when he turned up the volume. Meanwhile I was watching him from the corner of my eye. One of the characteristics of good people is that they are capable of paying attention to others unselfishly. Zoli and Csabi, my musician friends were sitting at the table beside us. Seeing Mr. Esposito's distuinguished attention we winked at one another, celebrating the magic of the moment. When the movie came to it's end, following a silence that seemed to last a long time, he turned to me and said: "It's a great job!" After asking me what my plans were with the material I told him that the movie and the song were made with the intention so that Hungarian people could thank Elvis and the American people for their help during the 1956 revolution. Furthermore, I asked him to give a copy to Priscilla Presley, to which, like the gentleman he was, he replied that it's only natural. Afterwards he talked to me in a friendly way. He told me that he fulfilled Elvis's great dream with this European tour. I watched Mr. Esposito in awe. He was simple, direct and free of vanity. Only good men are capable of living life this way. By the end of our conversation I saw that a small group had gathered around us who were watching the incident with curiosity. After Mr. Esposito left to tend to the affairs of the band a couple of people asked me to play the movie for them as well. Why not? I thought. After all, it's only a push of a button. I awaited the reactions with curiosity. All at once the noisy room became quiet and the people watched tensely. When the movie reached the point where the Hungarians thank the help received in 1956 from their whole heart I saw a couple of teardrops roll down people's eyes. When it ended I was really happy that many people congratulated me. After this the press conference started where the staff of Tv2 Aktív asked me for a short interview. Grasping the opportunity I thanked them for showing the archive video many years ago of when Elvis sang for the Hungarians in the Ed Sullivan Show, which was what inspired me. The twist in the story, and allow me to take upon myself my ignorance. I only learned next day, that the man I had been talking to all along was actually the King's manager.:-))) My friend Csutka would simply say, just go home, take some medicine and you'll get over it in a couple of days. To put it nicely!!! But the point is that it was a magical evening. I could go on and on with the story and never run out of words.

Love Sunny