And Sam said, ‘Nobody ever bothered us.’ ” “When they got up in the balcony, Elvis would step over this little barrier, probably 18 inches high, and sit in that section with him. “Elvis would go in the front door, and Sam would go around to the side and then into the colored section,” says Turner. The two boys would go the Lyric Theatre in town to see movies. And he said his grandmother and grandfather thought the world of Elvis because he always said ‘yes, ma’am’ and ‘no, ma’am,’ which no White person said to a Black person during that era.” “Sam was raised by his grandparents - his father was killed in World War II, and his mother had gone north to find work. “Elvis spent the night at Sam’s and vice versa, and they ate at each other’s homes,” he says. Potato Head might be more recognizable than Elvis. To use a language they would understand, Elvis is like a meme.”Īt a souvenir shop I’m intrigued by an Elvis Mr. That’s really how they interact with older culture now: as images. “But they know the look - those iconic photographs performing on Ed Sullivan or him decked out in his white suit in his Vegas incarnation. “Unless they’re music geeks, or they had parents or grandparents who exposed them to the music, they don’t know it,” he says of Elvis’s repertoire. To his students, Elvis exists not as a performer, but as an image. cultural and intellectual history at California State University at Long Beach, has found something similar. Recently my sister-in-law, who teaches high school English in Fairfax County, showed 35 students a photo of Elvis, then asked whether they could identify him and name a song. “Why is it just as popular today as it was when it came out? Because dads are watching it with their sons,” he says. He compares it to the enduring success of “ A Christmas Story,” which debuted in 1983 and still airs in annual yuletide marathons on TBS. Women in their 20s, he says, are the second-highest demographic for Graceland visits and Elvis merchandise.
Joel Weinshanker says he’s not worried that young people will discover Elvis, for a simple reason: They always do. Ponce de Leon, author of the Elvis biography “ Fortunate Son.” “Even with the top 40, insofar as there is such a thing, you see what the top hits are, and few if any songs have any connection to the older rock and pop for which Elvis is known.” “Music has changed so much: the fragmentation of genres, the emergence of specific subcultures attached to genres, the domination of hip-hop, the eclipse of rock as a popular musical form,” says Charles L. It’s a White-dominated society that elevated Elvis over artists of color. The problem isn’t Elvis the artist or Elvis the man. Between the anniversary and pent-up pandemic demand, Graceland’s management expects a big turnout for the nine-day Elvis Week in August. 16 will mark the 45th anniversary of Elvis’s death, and Graceland will celebrate with exhibits, concerts, giveaways and other events. A new movie, “ Elvis,” starring Austin Butler as Elvis and Tom Hanks as his scheming manager, Col. “We’re all here to keep his legacy alive,” she had vowed in her speech, and 2022 is a big year for meeting that commitment. After her speech, Presley slowly strolls along the metal barrier that separates her from the crowd, talking with fans, posing for photos and signing autographs, bringing an approachable grace and warmth to the cold Memphis air. A nearby couple speaks German a man with Elvis sideburns and a late-Elvis paunch speaks with a thick Scottish brogue. Two older women stand before me in matching black jackets, a pair of handsome Elvises gazing seductively from their backs. By my rough estimates, at least 500 people are gathered around the ceremony’s open white tent.