Is The King Finally Dead, After 25 Years? Elvis Presley died on 16 August 1977 and, silly season or not,
The Observer, kicking off with
Nik Cohn's above-linked essay, has assembled a cracking collection of articles, interviews and humorous pieces about the controversial crooner, mainly directed (I'd say) at
non-fans. To my mind, the most enjoyable are
Nigel Slater's brave attempt to make the famous
Presley sandwich; the weird interview with
Larry Geller, his
hairdresser and spiritual advisor; the account of Elvis's only (secret)
visit to Britain;
Michael Odell's funny set of instructions on
how not to behave at an Elvis party; an
interview with George Nichopoulos, the doctor who wrote out more than 10,000 prescriptions for him; a round-up of ludicrous
ex-girlfriends' memories and, as an after-thought, a collector's report on locating that legendary first
"Uh-huh" of his. It's all good stuff but one has to ask whether, in this day and age, it isn't, er,
overkill. Is Elvis Presley still that relevant or is he slowly becoming a figure of fun? Whether or not he's actually dead, of course, is entirely another matter...
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Aug 11, 2002 -
22 comments
The best CD I've purchased so far this year is the
latest from the
Blind Boys of Alabama. this record features superb vocalizing, great bluesy guitar, and a Sones(!) and Tom Waits(!!) cover. In an age where "gospel music" has sunk into the quagmire of
"Contemporary Christian", its easy to forget that
old-school gospel both
black and
white were
huge influences on rock and roll. Little Richard, for one, took his trademark "Whoo!" from Marion Williams and countless rockers from Aretha to Elvis learned to sing in church.
Now, can I get an Amen?!
posted by jonmc
on Apr 2, 2002 -
25 comments
