I was in Vegas a few years ago at the awesome old school eatery the Peppermill when I saw Penn Jillette eating nearby. I'd never approach someone famous, especially if they were eating, if I didn't have something urgently important to tell them and I thought me loving the song he'd done for a 15 year old Rutles tribute album was important enough. I was right. He couldn't believe I'd even heard of it, let alone dug it. Instead of letting me politely step away, he asked what poster I was holding. I told him some friends and I had thought about doing a set of Costello songs someday and I thought a poster of Abbott & Costello doing Who's On First would be a good backdrop.
He told me there was a photograph that I HAD to find. Backstage at a Costello concert, he'd recently seen a fan present EC with a rare photograph of Elvis Presely and Lou Costello. Costello died in 1959, so this was probably the only time they'd met. Elvis' stage name has been incorrectly credited to being a combination of Lou & the King, but EC loved the photo and, surprisingly, had never seen it. I told him I'd definitely look for it when I got home to San Diego.
I was unable to find the photo anywhere online on either Elvis or Abbott & Costello sites. I emailed a ton of people who ran fansites and came up empty. I forgot about it and a few months later, I got an email that simply said "I heard you were looking for these." and had the photos attached. I replied to thank them and ask how they'd got a hold of me and they never replied. We never did do Elvis' Army but we named my band's second album What's On Second? and put a hidden track in the artwork under the disc that said http://www.SecretBonusTrack.com See if you can find the secret link and then check the "pics" section if you want to see more than this....
