A hot day in Zurich...

Zurich is a wonderful place. I love Switzerland, mostly because I’m a mountain person. We were on a European summer vacation, coming back into town from a little village high in the mountains where I love to hike and eat schnitzel. We were scheduled to return to the States the next day so we got in early enough to enjoy the city.

Lunch was great along the river and then we decided to walk downtown.  We hadn’t gone far when I noticed the newspapers hanging by clothespins from a line above the newsstand. “ELVIS IST TOT” was emblazoned across almost every headline. I was never an Elvis fanatic but I do like some of his music.  His death was the talk of the town that day, as I’m sure it was in most places.

I will always remember that day because of the news. However, what I’m struck by most is that the news cycle may have been longer because media was slower in those days but it was much less intense.  When I compare the impact of Elvis’s death to Whitney Houston’s, it’s night and day. We waited and waited to get more information about Elvis as it slowly trickled out. No huge outpouring. No tweets going every direction in seconds. No big plans to cover the funeral morning to night. The pace and timing of information is so different now. The advances are incredible.

RIP, Elvis…wherever you are.