I’m not big on commemorating death-dates. I prefer the birth dates. But August 16th is the 40th anniversary of Elvis’ death at the age of 42. Been working on a big essay about him scheduled to go up next week at an undisclosed outlet. I pitched it, and they took it, bless them.
It’s been Elvis 24/7 around here for 2 weeks. Buried in research and viewing. So much fun. But exhausting.
For Hope, too. I mean, look at this tableau.
There’s something emotional about digging down to write about him. There always has been. Whatever it is that my obsession for this man taps into … it goes very deep.
It has something to do with joy.
Sheila, I always enjoy your writing on Elvis. I don’t suppose your essay will be available in the U.K which is a shame. The man’s music and all round Elvisness has been a lifelong comfort blanket to me. This year it’s been more like a life raft. I know what you mean about death anniversaries, but this year it’s a big one. I think it’s going to be an emotional one too.
Abigail – the piece will be online, and hopefully you’ll be able to see it!
I agree in re: the life raft aspect. The other day I was driving, and I felt lonely and sad and scared about the world. His “Milky White Way” came on – it didn’t change the world – but for the space of the song, I felt comfort. You can’t say that about too many artists.
Ah, now I understand the higher-than-usual volume of Elvis photos from @fenianchick in my instagram feed! It is a big date, indeed.
It’s funny how every time I see anything Elvis-related I immediately think “oh Sheila would like this!”. You know, some person I don’t know but who I know is so deeply into him.
In my mind, you are inexorably entwined with Elvis Presley, forever.
Brooke – ha! Yes, in re: all the pics. I was in the Zone – he’s a captivating Zone, that’s for sure.
// It’s funny how every time I see anything Elvis-related I immediately think “oh Sheila would like this!”. //
I so love to hear this – it’s so funny!!
I’m very glad this particular outlet took my pitch. I had to pitch it pretty hard. :) It’s not that they were reluctant – not exactly – but I really had to explain myself, and the concept of it, and what I wanted to do with it. They’re super happy with it, so it’s all good.
Goes up tomorrow!
Looking forward to your piece. You are the best writer on Elvis anywhere: great sentences (by which I mean that every sentence has something in it, a weight, an argument), and always something new and interesting, always insightful, no autopilot.
Funny on my sense of the comfort of Elvis songs. For a long time I thought it was the comfort of the songs themselves, the way when you hear them you feel like they are brand new and yet you have always heard them, and then I read where Col. Parker once said something about how people just wanted to hear his voice, as if the song didn’t matter. I wondered about that for a long time: singer or song? Now I think it’s what he does with the songs, the artistry and the choices he makes to allow him to become one with the song, not so he disappears, or his voice disappears, but so that the song becomes an Elvis song in a way that is so powerful that for its duration we live inside the world of that song. I probably don’t quite have the words to describe what I mean yet with any accuracy, but I hope that makes some sense.