Elvis Week

"Elvis was complicated, so you need a lot of time to make sense of him," says Jim Hamilton in a Wall Street Journal piece by Marc Myers (8/18/10). Jim is one of some 40,000 fans who descended on Memphis to celebrate Elvis Week, commemorating the 33rd anniversary of the singer’s death. Jim drove his 1959 Pink Cadillac all the way from Baltimore to be near Graceland on August 16th, which he’s done every year for the past 15.

June Balish has attended Elvis Week for the past 14 years, although she admits she’s not sure exactly why. "Elvis is infinitely mysterious," she says. Barbara McLean, also attending Elvis week for the 15th time, agrees: "No matter how big you think Elvis is, he always turns out to be even bigger," she says. "Every year, I think I’ve finally figured it all out, but I haven’t. He just keeps growing on you." It’s true that Elvis, in his 23-year career, "delivered an almost kaleidoscopic range of stage personalities."

He was a rocker, a film star, a balladeer … a pawn and a king. His persona ranged "from aw-shucks innocent to pill-dependent recluse." But whatever he was, he’s still making money. Warner just re-issued "Elvis on Tour," a 1972 documentary, and RCA/Legacy is about to release a 30-CD box set priced at $749. "He’s the only star who touches your mind, heart and secksuality all at once — and you never really fully figure out why," says June Balish. Mitchell Johnson, an Elvis impersonator, thinks he knows: "Down here, Southern hospitality has become a tourist attraction," he says, adding, "Elvis is just the soundtrack."