Elvis Has Left the Building by Dylan Jones

Author:Dylan Jones [JONES, DYLAN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: MUS000000; MUS049000; MUS030000; MUS035000; MUS020000; MUS050000; BIO000000; BIO004000; HIS000000; HIS054000; HIS036000; HIS036060
ISBN: 9781468310429
Publisher: ABRAMS, Inc. (Ignition)
Published: 2014-08-14T00:00:00+00:00

6

What Happens in Vegas …

“I came out here, to Vegas, and I made me some neon promises, to be good to myself, to my audiences, my fans, and my women”

– Elvis Presley

While Elvis was never invisible, his inner world always remained terra incognita. Elvis hardly ever agreed to interviews, and those he did tended to be anodyne, casually monosyllabic and ultimately opaque.

Take the transcript of his press conference on June 9th, 1972, at Madison Square Garden. He adopts the guise of a humble entertainer, one whose reluctance to offer an opinion, or deviate from his script, makes him appear stoically bland. It’s remarkable how respectful he is of his audience, forever grateful for his success and unblemished by the slightest hint of weariness or haughtiness. Elvis’s soundbites here are little different from the ones he gave seventeen years earlier, when he was just starting out in the business, and could hardly look at a TV camera without blushing. He is flanked by the Colonel and by his father, both of whom give the impression that they’re holding on tightly to invisible string, attached to every part of Elvis’s mind and body. His behaviour also suggests that his aggressive attitude on stage was the result of a genuine transformative act. For his fans, the fact that he was so normal in the flesh made his stage persona even more extraordinary.

Dressed in a pale blue suit with black trim on the lapels, he smiles throughout the conference. Watching today on YouTube it’s easy to be mesmerised by his good looks – his way of being both bashful and arrogant at the same time makes him come across as supremely confident, as well as highlighting his handsomeness – but if you only read the transcript, Elvis seems utterly ordinary.

Elvis: Would you like me to sit down? … First of all, I plead innocent of all charges! Okay …

Q: I love you Elvis!

Elvis: Thank you dear, I love you too. Thank you. Okay.

Q: Elvis, what took you so long to play New York City?

Elvis: I think … I think it was a matter of not getting the building, the proper building. We had to wait our turn in order to get the building.

Q: You couldn’t get a building in all these years?

Elvis: Couldn’t get a good building in fifteen years! No, all kidding aside, we had to wait our turn to get into the Garden, you know?

Q: What do you think of performing here live?

Elvis: Oh I like it you know, I enjoy it … I just hope we put on a good show for everybody.

Q: Mr. Presley, why do you think you’ve outlasted every other entertainer from the Fifties, and for that matter the Sixties as well?

Elvis: I take vitamin E! No, I was only kidding. I just … embarrassed myself, man. I don’t know dear. I just enjoy the business. I like what I’m doing.

Q: I hear from a lot of press reports that you really are a shy, humble, wonderful human being.

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