ALWAYS ON OUR MINDS Elvis Presley Pt. 1
Aug 16, 2010
33 years after his death, there's still no getting away from The King...
BY GILLIAN G. GAAR
Elvis is working the streets. Everyone knows him of course, and few seem surprised to see him hanging out on Las Vegas Boulevard; indeed, the people passing by often shout out "Hey Elvis!" and rush over to say hello and ask if he minds if they take a picture with him. Of course he doesn't mind. Elvis is jovial, but he really beams when people tip him a dollar after the pictures are taken: "Hey, thanks a lot. Appreciate it." This Elvis is actually Billy Gouvier, who's also appearing in the impersonator show American Superstars up at the Stratosphere, alongside replicas of Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, and Tim McGraw. But Gouvier only works a few shows a week, and in order to generate more income is forced to hang out on the Strip snagging tourists for photo ops. You know times are hard when even Elvis has to hustle for spare change.
"We will never agree on anything the way we agreed on Elvis," Lester Bangs wrote in his memorial piece on Presley after Elvis' death on August 16, 1977. But what exactly is it that we agree on? The scope of Presley's legend seems far too broad to allow us to come to any consensus about what Elvis "really means." Was he a musical innovator? A racist? A God-fearing patriot? A washed-up junkie? Elvis is now all things to all people, less an artist and more of an idea, a concept, a blank façade onto which people project whatever they want to see.
But this was apparently always the case. "He was like a mirror," Marion Keisker, record producer Sam Phillips' assistant, said in Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. "Whatever you were looking for, you were going to find in him... He had all the intricacy of the very simple." The only thing that remains unchanged about our perception of Elvis, especially in his posthumous life, is that what was once seen as scandalous is now conventional. What once pushed the envelope is now comfortable and safe. And therein lies the debate that continues to this day, between those who take him too seriously and those who don't take him seriously enough.
Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), which runs Graceland and oversees the marketing of Elvis' image, naturally wants you to take Elvis seriously. They've been criticized for sanitizing his image, not officially releasing the TV special Elvis In Concert on video or DVD, for example. Filmed in June 1977, and aired the following October, two months after Presley's death, the show all too clearly captures the King in sad decline. But in this regard they're no different than anyone else looking after the estate of a posthumous icon. The Doors don't focus on the bloated, drug-addled Jim Morrison, but the glory years of the leather-clad Lizard King; reissues of the Beatles' records occasionally airbrush cigarettes out of the Fab Four's hands.
Instead, recent releases have emphasized the durable nature of Elvis' work. The excellent four CD set Elvis 75 (2010 would have been the year Elvis turned 75) is a judicious mix of Elvis' best songs, whether hits or non-hits. It's a "serious" retrospective; there's no room for overly lush production numbers like "The Wonder of You" and "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me," despite the fact that both were hits at the time of their first release, and there's nary a whiff of kitsch (with the possible exception of "Bossa Nova Baby"). Instead, you'll find such treats as Elvis' exquisite cover of Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow Is A Long Time," originally hidden as a "bonus" cut on the 1966 Spinout soundtrack. The set even pulls off the remarkable feat of finding the wheat amongst the chaff of the post-1970 years (in some ways, more of a musical wasteland than the movie years were), with poignant versions of "Always On My Mind" and "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues," and rockers like "Promised Land" and "Burning Love." (See the BLURT review the RCA/Legacy box set here.)
Other official releases this year have been hung on the anniversary hook. The 40th anniversary reissue of the live-in-Vegas On Stage album (packaged in a two CD set with the 1969 Elvis In Person At The International Hotel album as a bonus) looks back at the period when Elvis still found performing in Vegas enjoyable. Two new DVD box sets repackage Elvis' movies (the one aspect of his career that's long overdue for a good critical assessment), each tied in with his 75th birthday. And this October will see the RCA/Legacy release of a lavish box set entitled The Complete Elvis Presley Masters, a 30 CD box set featuring master recordings of every song Elvis released during his lifetime, along with rarities and a 240-page book with an essay by noted Elvis historian Peter Guralnick, all of it "housed in a stunning, limited edition display case." Undoubtedly to the consternation of fans everywhere, the initial run of the set is limited to 1000 numbered copies, and caries a hefty price tag of $750.
In contrast to his obvious recording achievements, the release of the 1972 concert documentary Elvis On Tour on DVD, the last of Elvis' original films to appear in the format, offers a more sobering portrait of the King. It captures Elvis on the cusp of his fall; his face is pudgy, and his athleticism in concert is noticeably muted, but he's not yet the tragic figure he later became. Still, it's clear that things have started to slide. Mid-way through the film, clips from his September 9, 1956 performance on The Ed Sullivan Show are shown, and the contrast is startling - Elvis is vibrant, alive, exuding an energy that he clearly can't muster two decades later. His voice still has impressive power, as revealed on songs like "Never Been To Spain" or "You Gave Me A Mountain." But the frenzy of the shrieking audiences has him playing up style over substance - the increasingly lavish jumpsuits, the ritual dispensing of kisses and scarves. When the Beatles got tired of playing to screaming fans, they simply stopped touring. Other groups, like the Rolling Stones, began making the kind of music teeny-boppers weren't about to scream at. With Elvis, it's as if he grew up, but his fans didn't. Fatefully, instead of seeking out newer pastures, Elvis opted to stay where he was the most comfortable.
And it's the fans that have kept Elvis from really leaving the building, at least in spirit (though a reported 7% of Americans believe that Elvis is in fact still alive). For Elvis fans, the High Holy Days are during "Birthday Week" in January, the month of Elvis' birth (Jan. 8, 1935), and "Elvis Week," held the 10th through 16th in August, the month of his death. Fans from around the world descend on Memphis to tour Elvis sites, purchase Elvis memorabilia, meet those who once crossed paths with Elvis (many of whom now have their own books or souvenirs to promote), and pay homage at Graceland, both Elvis' home and his gravesite; August 15 is "Vigil Night," when the faithful solemnly walk by Elvis' grave, next to his house, from 9 pm until the early hours of the morning, passing the innumerable elaborate flower tributes from fans that line the long driveway.
The August gathering is an especially intense experience, further heightened by the punishing Memphis weather (temperatures are routinely in the 90s, with the accompanying humidity). The diehard fans who attend speak of their love for Elvis in the same way they'd talk about the love they have for their spouse, or children. And it's this emotion that the impersonators (or Elvis Tribute Artists - ETAs in today's parlance) tap into. It's the one setting where they truly make sense, for the fans that need an outlet to express their heady devotion readily find it in the impersonators. Even EPE, with a "if you can't beat ‘em, join ‘em" attitude, finally began offering their own official "Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist" contest in 2007. So you'll find impersonators in droves during Elvis Week; you can barely get around the tourist hotspots of Graceland or Beale Street without tripping over one.
Tomorrow: Part Two of our
Elvis tribute. Meanwhile, check out author Gaar's photo gallery of assorted Elvi and Elvis-related happenings right here.
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Gillian G. Gaar is the author of Return of the King: Elvis Presley's Great Comeback, out now from Jawbone Press. (Read more about the book here on the BLURT website.) She will be doing a reading and book signing Monday, August 16, at Seattle's Café Racer for Elvis Tribute Night & Karaoke Party, and then the following evening, August 17, she'll be at the Feedback Lounge (also in Seattle), signing books and co-hosting a rock and Elvis trivia contest.
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