Rapid Rise, Searing Charisma,Tragic Descent
Col. Parker Knew it Was Best to Leave 'em Wanting More
I was 8-years-old when Elvis died in 1977. The nation's reaction and mourning shocked the intelligentsia as they had written him off as a flash in the pan hillbilly. President Carter said it was appropriate to fly the flag at half mast, and tens of thousands lined the streets of Memphis to watch his white hearse pass by.
Elvis never left his roots. Born in Tupelo, MS he settled in Memphis and never left. Even at the height of his fame, he always chose to surround himself with the Memphis Mafia; friends from high-school who's loyalty he held and reciprocated. He worked in Hollywood, but never lived there.
His talent pushed him quickly in to the national spotlight in 1956, and rather that use his star status to get easy duty in the Army, he was drafted and served like all the other boys. Fame, fortune and a selfish manager named Col. Parker lead to his isolation. Temptations of being able to have anything he wanted destroyed his marriage, health, and life.
Like Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, Jack Kerouac, James Dean, Jim Morrison, Princess Diana, John Lennon, the Kennedy's, and MLK, we Americans like when our heroes to self sacrifice, or self-destruct; a consequence of their talent and ambition. Ironically after the fall, we immortalize the rise.
Better to go out on top. But those that live just can't seem to leave the limelight behind. Let's see...Brett Farve, Cher, the Who...
Not Elvis. Only that guy could pull of the rhinestone jumpsuit and look like Apollo. Charisma without arrogance; humility in the face of fame, a square jawed man's man, and an untrained voice that owned every song it sang. That was Elvis.
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