PHOENIX - "Whatever you call Elvis Aaron Presley, don't call him The Pelvis.

The Legs, The Elbows, The Knees, maybe. But not The Pelvis.

As Elvis himself told 14,000 screaming fans at the Coliseum here last night: "Ah was just a kid when ah did that other stuff."

The "other stuff" was a bump and grind routine that made Presley's hips look like they had ball bearings instead of marrow in the sockets. But all that was more than a decade ago.

Last night's show was Elvis' third public appearance since his discharge from the U.S. Army in the late 1950s, excluding his lucrative club engagements, mostly in Las Vegas.

A half hour behind the schedule, the show tried to get off the ground at 9 p.m. For an hour, a restless, kind of thirtyish audience suffered through the warmup acts. They included a male quartet known as the Something-Or-Other Brothers, a female quartet called the Sweet Inspirations (who were) and a comedian ("You've all seen him on television, folks, and now here he is...").

The comedian was cut short by clapping. Intermission. Booing. Fifteen minutes passed, the band came back, the lights dimmed.

Elvis, looking as sexy as a 35-year-old can look, sauntered onto stage. Before you could say "Don't Be Cruel," the squeals went up - largely from the part of the audience that must have been 3 or 4 years old, when Elvis started the whole thing.

Then it was worth the wait. There was something borrowed ("That Lovin' Feelin "from the Righteous Brothers), something new ("Kentucky Rain"), something old ("Hound Dog") and something blue ("In The Ghetto.")

Through it all, the fans thundered their approval, while Elvis fell on the stage, writhed (nearly), laid down, got up, shook his healthy locks alot and even kidded himself a little! about not being as young as he once was.

There was no kidding the press, though, who had a choice of tickets at $10, $7.50 and $5 for the privilege of reviewing the show.

And no interviews. Said an aide to Presley's manager, Col. Tom Parker, from Las Vegas last week: "We just won't have time for that sort of thing." Nor did they have time for press photographers, including one from the Tucson Daily Citizen.

They were first asked for credentials, allowed to shoot The King and were then summarily yanked by their collars away from the stage. And there was no kidding the audience, periodically blinded by klieg lights while an M-G-M crew filmed portions of the show for a forthcoming movie. It will be called, oddly enough, "Elvis."

It was a two-hour show and Elvis was on stage for about 45 minutes, the fringe of his super mod white outfit flying as fast as the flashbulbs.

There was "Love Me Tender," too, which brought to mind that Elvis for years was accompanied by The Jordannaires, who have since passed by the wayside or whatever it is that groups like that do.

And there was the properly planned spontaneous throwing of a neck scarf to a fan in a front row seat. She screamed well enough to be a member of the Class of 1955, but she wasn't old enough.

Elvis dashed out a side exit, rocking less but rolling more in money.

Not bad for the kid who started out as a $35-a-week "truck driver in Mississippi.

Courtesy of Mr. Archie Bald