‘Burning love’ remembered on Elvis Day
Nun took a match to young fan’s ticket for Presley’s only show in Ottawa
God got in the way of Monique Oliver-Shaw’s only chance to see The King.
As a schoolgirl, she had a ticket to see Elvis Presley perform in Ottawa on April 3, 1957.
Oliver-Shaw, recalling the story at city hall on Monday in commemorating the 60th anniversary of that concert, said “Elvis the Pelvis” was too sinful for one of her teachers.
“During the class, the nun was asking everybody who had a ticket for that special night. Several hands came up and I was one, too. Somehow or other, the nun focused on me and she asked me to get my ticket,” Oliver-Shaw said.
“I brought it in the class and she asked me to do the ultimate sacrifice and to burn my ticket because God was loving me so much and in return I had to prove to him how much I loved him, so she produced a book of matches and she burned it in front of me.”
It was “heartbreak hotel,” she said.
Mayor Jim Watson proclaimed Monday Elvis Presley Day in Ottawa to recognize the anniversary, while also promoting a concert tonight at the National Arts Centre called “The King Is Back.”
Ben Portsmouth, one of the Elvis performers in the show, helped receive the proclamation in the mayor’s office.
Watson wasn’t going to attempt any high-risk pelvis gyrations during the proclamation, mindful of his 2015 snowmobile injury.
“Listen, Elvis the Pelvis,” Watson told Portsmouth, “I broke my pelvis in three places, so it’s the only thing in common that I have with you.”
Ottawa has a minor infatuation with Elvis.
The late Ottawa Sun columnist Early McRae helped establish the Elvis Sighting Society with Ervin “Budgie” Budge and Moe Atallah, owner of Moe’s World Famous Newport Restaurant in Westboro. In 1991, city council coined Elvis Lives Lane behind the old Newport location near Richmond Road and Churchill Avenue.
Oliver-Shaw never did get to see Elvis, but she’s going to see Portsmouth at the NAC.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Oliver-Shaw said. “He’s our next best thing.”