Elvis Fan Banks on Making His Obsession a Business

It was a cold November day in 1960 when Denny Jeske, 13 years old and living in Chicago, bought his first Elvis Presley record, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”

When he brought the record home and put it on the hi-fi, it was love at first listen. “I played it so many times, I practically wore it out,” Jeske recalled. “And, from that point on, as soon as he’d come out with a new record, I’d buy it.”

By the time he was 20, Jeske had at least one copy of virtually every Presley record ever made. And, by the time he moved to San Diego in 1980, his collection had grown to include photos, posters and other Elvis memorabilia--from calendars and books to dolls and decanters.

“I bought stuff at swap meets, garage sales, record conventions and thrift stores,” Jeske said. “I had made some money from the sale of a restaurant I had owned back in Chicago, so I didn’t have to worry about a job--I was a full-time collector, spending an average of $5,000 a year on my hobby.”

Eventually, however, Jeske had accumulated “so much stuff that I no longer knew what to do with it,” he said. “So, in 1986, I decided to turn my hobby into a profitable business.”

This “business” is Nostalgia Records in North Park. A more appropriate name for the store would be Graceland West: Up for sale are mint-condition copies of just about every domestic Elvis single, EP and album released between 1956 and the present, as well as dozens of pricey vinyl rarities.

Among them are the “Jailhouse Rock” LP, which only came out in South Africa ($50), “The Truth About Me,” a 1956 interview record produced by Teen Parade magazine ($300), a white-label promotional copy of “Blue Christmas” ($150), and the “Essential Elvis Presley” radio sampler ($150).

Nostalgia Records also carries an impressive selection of Presley memorabilia. There are hundreds of books and more than 3,000 magazines. There are Elvis jigsaw puzzles ($9.99) and Elvis trivia games ($25). There are porcelain Elvis dolls ($95) and porcelain Elvis decanters ($100), Elvis photos, posters, iron-ons, calendars, stamps and sheet music.

There’s even a boxed set of “Love Me Tender” hair and body care products--shampoo, cream rinse, moisturizing lotion and milk bath--yours for $25.99.

“People are always asking me, ‘How long do you think this Elvis fad will go on?’ ” Jeske said. “I always tell them, ‘It will go on until the last life he touched is gone.’ ”

The Beat Farmers, the Paladins and eight other local bands will be featured in a free concert at the Belly Up Tavern on Sunday night, three days before the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control holds a hearing to decide whether to revoke the Solana Beach nightclub’s liquor license because of noise complaints.

Belly Up owner Dave Hodges describes the “Last Round Up?” concert as “a pep rally . . . to raise our spirits before we go into the final stages of this ordeal.”

For more than a decade, the Belly Up Tavern has been one of San Diego County’s leading concert clubs, playing host to national and local pop acts in a pair of renovated Quonset huts constructed at the end of World War II and originally used to build bombsights and landing gear for B-29 bombers.

Last July, the ABC notified Hodges about noise complaints filed by three of the club’s residential neighbors, who produced a detailed log of alleged violations recorded between May, 1987, and March, 1988. At the time, ABC granted the Belly Up Tavern a stay of suspension on its liquor license until a public hearing could be held to determine whether the license should be revoked under the “disorderly house” rule, according to Hodges.

Since then, Hodges said, he’s hired an acoustical engineer to redesign the club’s exhaust ventilation system, which has been found to be a portal for low-frequency noise generated inside by bands. And he’s hired security guards to patrol the parking lot in an effort to limit noise by patrons outside.

“I’m going into this hearing with cautious optimism,” Hodges said. “I’ve got a letter from the county noise abatement officer, saying we’re within our legal limit. And I’ve got volumes of letters and testimonials from the Solana Beach City Council, the city manager and our customers, saying we’re a positive influence in the community.”

LINER NOTES: “Mission,” one of the cuts on the new live Rush album, “A Show of Hands,” was taped during the Canadian trio’s concert last February at the San Diego Sports Arena . . . . Saxophonist Al Garth, who’s been on the road with Loggins and Messina and Glenn Frey, has joined local blues group the Mighty Penguins . . . . Tickets go on sale Saturday for Cheap Trick’s March 4 appearance at Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park . . . . Contrary to speculation, the West Coast leg of R.E.M.’s national tour does include a San Diego date. It’s March 16 at the Sports Arena. Tickets go on sale Feb. 11.