"Now, Elvis, he was just...uh... gone!" says Tom Petty, bouncing on the balls of his feet a couple of hours after a triumphant two-encore set at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom. A funny faraway gleam glazes his eyes.

"Did you ever see him do 'Reddy Teddy' on the Sullivan show?" he wonders. "Now, man, that was real gone. His hips were swivelling and his eyes were wild and cross-eyed. He just kept banging on his guitar, really wailing, and he shuffled 'cross the stage like he was on wheels. Never seen nothing like it before."