ELVIS HAS LEFT
THE BUILDING, ALREADY!
18 August 2002
Not everyone has continued to carry a torch for Elvis lo these many
years since his death/disappearance.
Got this this from my friend Diane morning:
Jesus, oh Jesus, have we had ENOUGH of Elvis this week? Every
morning I tune into the Morning channels from CBS and NBC and they were both all about
Elvis. The next morning, because I was sick of it, I clicked over to CNN and THEY were all
about Elvis. Today I found the same thing and clicked to MSNBC and found THEY were doing
Elvis. Do we have no news? Is there that much interest in Elvis? Who the Hell cares
anymore? Put all this on the E! channel for those who are interested.
Lord, this seems to be the only entertainer whose DEATH we
celebrate. I haven't seen THIS much media coverage of Kennedy's death.
Hey! I was a big fan of his music and was a "very young"
devotee in the days that were his great recording days, and I am 60 YEARS OLD. For
Krissake let's let the man die. Elvis was famous for less time than he has been dead, now.
He was a big, fat, egotistical, womanizing drug addict when he died and let that be the
end of it. Most of us grew up and got over it. What is the media thinking? Are we going to
go through this at the 25th year of Lennon's murder? Or, the 25th Anniversary of Sinatra's
death? Please... spare us this WASTE of news media......
A good friend of mine--my age--is still a huge Elvis fan. Such a big
Elvis fan that I still buy her Elvis memorabilia for gift-giving occasions. There is a lot
of Elvis kitsch in her otherwise tastefully decorated home. She's raising her
granddaughter, and is teaching the little girl to appreciate Elvis (though I suspect the
youngster is more into Brittney Spears--she's that age).
I'm afraid the whole Elvis thing passed me by--as did much of the
music of my generation. I remember the year that Elvis hit the big time. I specifically
remember spending the summer with my cousin, going to the home of a friend of hers and
watching the two girls squealing over Elvis on TV. I was more interested in the horse next
door.
I don't know why I never got into Elvis. Was it that the whole birth
of rock and roll was so poo-poo'd by my jazz-loving father that I didn't allow myself to
actually enjoy any of the music?
While others were wetting themselves over Elvis, I was playing Bing
Crosby, Andy Williams, and other crooners.
Maybe it was because it was at this time that I became a Judy queen.
I suppose it's somewhat silly of me to scoff at the Elvis
celebrations when I just spent the weekend wandering around, wide-eyed, through the
displays of posters of Judy Garland at the Judy exhibit at the Hollywood museum.
The media is largely absent from that display, but it is all
the focus, at least in West Hollywood. Banners are hanging everywhere, from every
lightpost.
Judy was my Elvis. And every June 10 I think about how old she would
be now if she were celebrating another birthday. Every June 22 I think about how I'm now
older than she was when she died.
So maybe I do understand the hoopla surrounding the anniversary of
Elvis's death. It's just that it's just another one of those cultural things that I can't
relate to. Like the Beatles. Like the history of rock and roll.
I really should have been born in the 1930s. Musically speaking, I
seem to relate to that era a lot more closely.
In other news....I rode my bike to the office today, and rode over
the horrible overpass, not only going there, but coming back as well. Haggie wrote an entry the other day about
riding over hills and how she was starting to enjoy it. I can't say as how I could
actually say I enjoyed it, but I will admit to a tremendous sense of exhilaration
when I reached the top and flew down the other side--and a wonderful feeling of
self-confidence. At least it was good enough to get me to turn around and do the
hill again from the other side, coming home, rather than taking the easier tunnel route.
Thank you for nominating my entry, Moving On for a DiaristNet award! |
