AN ELVIS special coming on the tube. Far out. But they better not put him in a tuxedo.

They sure didn't. From the instant that smooth face, the curled lip, the incredible hair with that well-groomed gas station attendant sheen, the leather--leather!--and his first words:

If you're looking for trouble,

You've come to the right place,

If you're looking for trouble,

Just look right in my face.

There was absolutely no doubt; this promised to be the bossest hour of television in a very long time. Cherry, man. Cool. Like his guitar-man said, "What a gig!"

From "I'm Evil," all of a sudden Elvis is in the middle of this tiny stage, surrounded by an audience of girls. Real live human being girls, with whitened hair and Montgomery Ward dresses and the belligerently Okie appearance that is associated with California dragstrips and jerkwater high schools. He's holding his own ax--"I didn't know Elvis could play the guitar."

"He can't."

"Look. Look. He is!"

He's smiling now, digging it, "It's been a long time, baby," he says, then in the tone that you'd expect a man whose been around, done the whole trip, the tone that John Mayall tries to get into his music, he adds, "Real long time."

FLASH! Elvis is back! Oh wow! Yank those beers out of the mother icebox. The man, the MAN, the whole cause of everything. He's on the tube, can you believe, singing in a torrent of sweat in a black leather suit--no, wait, it's a high-roll collar dealie, and can you dig his pants? Heartbreak Hotel? Raunchy as ever? Hound Dog? It's too good to be true! That quiver that makes girls moan from their stomachs made me shriek at the top of my lungs: "Elvis, Elvis, you son of a bitch, you are the KING!"

Every minute of that show was like the last three seconds of the Harvard-Yale game. Or whatever moment in your life has ever turned you on to the point of shouting. As a rock and roll expatriate, I can remember many such moments: hearing Bill Haley screaming "Rock Around the Clock," in a movie theater; hearing Ray Charles, live at El Monte Legion Stadium, after singing ten minutes of "What'd I say" in 1956 say:

"Hold it, hold it." Complete silence. Then:

"Hey--yu-uh!"