[/caption]Carol Forsloff - The turnout of people at the Elsie Stuhr Center in Portland, Oregon who came to listen to an Elvis Presley impersonator was beyond most expectations, with those of a certain age who took the rock and roll star to the top years ago applauding not just his memory, but the fact Elvis Presley's music remains so popular. That fact is reinforced by an Elvis album debut at #1 this month.
Elvis would be 76 today, and some wondered at the picnic just what he would be like had he lived to the ripe old age. While the Elvis impersonator captivated the crowds that day, folks marveled that those familiar rock and roll sounds remain so fresh more than half a century later.
Billboard's Top Music Video Sales chart this week shows, Elvis: The Great Performances 2 DVD Set (Hip-O/SOFA Entertainment) ranking at #1. The album was released on August 2. A press release tells us that it “captures the talent, mesmerizing stage presence and charisma of the man known throughout the world as the "King" of Rock 'N' Roll.”
The contents of the album for those Elvis aficionados who remain steadfast to the King of Rock and Roll’s memory as well as the new Elvis fans is a collection from the King’s first televised appearance to his concert just weeks before he died on August 16, 1977. It contains over two hours of new material juxtaposed with some of the masterful performances that have been played over the years, giving folks in Elvis: The Great Performances 2 DVD set what is said to be “ a glimpse into the world of one of America's most beloved icons.”
No one who has heard Elvis Presley in person would likely forget his magnetic performances and his popularity that far surpassed the negatives that happened in his life. In the fall of 1976 GHN editor Forsloff, age 35 at the time, attended an Elvis concert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The arena was filled to capacity, to the top tier with thousands of people waiting for the magic moment of Elvis’ arrival on stage. One hour passed, and folks became restless. One could hear the gripes and moans of people who were tired and annoyed at having to wait for so long. But when Elvis came onto the stage, the audience rose to its feet in thunderous applause, forgetting the wait and uncomfortable seats, as they welcomed their hero that night.
That night the great King’s voice filled the arena with his popular songs and the rhythms so familiar for years. The tight-fitting outfit with sparkling stones showed the Elvis no longer the young, handsome lad that took the hearts of the teen world in the mid 1950’s. For his Pittsburgh audience that night, those incidentals did not seem to matter, as they applauded again and again, with tears of excitement and joy for the moment, the memories and all.
In less than a year, he was dead.
But Elvis’ magic for most folks continues to live on and on, even now in the midst of economic travail, with riots and fires and floods, the world is united in some ways, with the magic of Presley again.