Sun Records rising

Thank you for Robert Hilburn’s piece on Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips and the birth of rock (“Rock’s Delivery Room,” July 4). However, twice in his piece, Bob refers to a “receptionist” at Sun Records. The receptionist had a name -- Marion Keisker.

According to the two best Elvis bios (by Jerry Hopkins and Peter Guralnick), Keisker -- a prominent Memphis radio personality before joining Phillips when he opened Memphis Recording Service in 1950 -- was the first person to meet the young Elvis when he initially came into the studio to record a demo.

Most importantly, Keisker was the other person in that now-legendary conversation with the fledgling King (“Who do you sound like?” “I don’t sound like nobody”).

She deserves to be more than a footnote in any story about the birth of rock.

Other than that major omission, it was a terrific piece.

Bill Holdship

Sherman Oaks

Bill Holdship is a former editor of Creem and Bam and has written for Spin, Musician and Mojo.

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I loved the article on Sun Records, Elvis Presley and Sam Phillips. My daughter, granddaughter and I just toured the Sun studio in April. We were visiting my brother and mother, who live in Memphis. I was an Elvis fan as a kid and now my granddaughter is too.

As it happens, my brother is a doctor and Sam Phillips was a patient of his. When we saw how small Sun’s studio was, we thought it could not be very interesting, but we were very wrong. History was made in those small rooms.

Patricia Hopkins

Long Beach

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Unless you are older than 40, and hopefully from the South, it’s hard to really grasp that time and place. My grandmother, Letha Spain, happened to be Elvis’ fourth-grade teacher at Lawhorn School in east Tupelo, Miss. Not being a fan, she remembered him in two ways: He was “a very average student,” and he brought the Christmas tree star to class.

My grandmother was more from the John Philip Sousa school than the rockabilly school and didn’t see what all the fuss was about.

With the passage of time his legend continues to grow. As it rightfully should.

Kyle Spain

La Canada Flintridge