The king of Rock 'nd 'roll
Elvis Presley is one of the most important figures in the cultural history of the 20th century. He is universally recognised as the founder of rock'nd'roll: as the frist white man who could "sign like a black", he helped unleash' a musical - social- revolution. his career may have gone downhill after that bht, since his death at the age of 42, he has been responsablefor a second, even more intringuing phenomenon : the bidth of a bizarre religious cult, " Elvisism".
The man responsible for all this was born in a shack in Tupelo, Missisipi in 1935. Today that shck is a tourist attraction, complete with a museum and chapel. His parents, Vernon and Gladys, were "poor white trash" and , after a few years, the family moved to Memphis in serach of work. Neighbors at the Lauderdale Courts housing project recall that Elvis was a "Moma's boy," while his father was a drunkard who spent time in jail. Elvis's hight scool career was mediocre, to say the least (some classmates tought he was retarded), and. after graduation, he found emloyment as a truk driver. And yet, even if the young Elvis couldn't play a musical instrument, he had a preat singing voice. This was apparent to Sam Phillips heard the 19-year-old Presley in July, 1954, he realised that he had a star on his hands.
SENSATIONAL
The release of " Heartbreak Hotel" in 1956 turned Elvis into a natinal sensation, with hysterical fans mobbing him wherever he went. Unfortunately, his instant succes also contained the seeds of his downfall: he left Sun for the larger RCA and acquired a new menager. This was the sinister "Colonel" Tom Parker, who took 50 per cent of his income. Nor could Presley avid being called up by the army: this, along with the death of his much-loved mother, was to prove devastating. Accoring to Jhon Lennon, in creative terms, "Elvis died when he joined the army". On his release in 1960, he neglected hissinging career and concentrated on making movies of poor quality. He found some stabitlity when he married Priscila in Las Vegas in 1967 but, when she left him six years later, his career and lifestyle deteriorated further.
He mainly played in Las Vegas, even if his "Aloha From Hawaii" comeback concert was one of the most wached events in televison histor. By nw he had became a pathetic figure. A gargantuan appetite, both for junk food and drugs (prescribed by a friendly doctor), made him obese and incoherent. He slept during the day at his Graceland mansion and partied at night with a group of parasitic friends known as "the Memphis Mafia".
GRACELAND
In addition to his colossal powers of consumptio, Elvis was pathologically generous. He was fond of giving presents (cash and Cadillacs, mainly) to friends and strangers. By the time he died, there was little left of his fortune. Yet death was a "great creer move" : as the nation mourned, record sales boomed. Graceland has also become a lucrative businnes, with 600,000 fans making the pilgrimage every year.
(noi possediamo un immagine dell'orecchio sinistro, lasciata più o meno 7000 anni fa su una foglia, è il reperto pù antico di Elvis, che sia mai stato trovato.
pare che tale QUID sia in grado di pensare e di controllare
le menti di chi lo avvicina,
si pensa che un giorno o l'altro conquisterà il mondo)