Blue Suede Shoes

 

the blue suede shoes of Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley died in 1977. I was not a crazy fan but I did like much of his music. I was saddened to learn of his death. His life story gets mixed reviews from me, as I was raised to be modest in appearance and behavior, both of which were challenged by Elvis. I have seen his story enough times that I do believe he was a born again Christian, but he undeniably pushed the standard definition and his lifestyle example encourages questions.

My Gary reached his adolescence while I was still sounding out phonetically the words in Dick, Jane, and Sally.  He had more of a connection to Elvis than me. When Elvis comes to town (in the form of those tribute concerts that are so popular in retirement communities), he has bought tickets and I'm glad to go.

The other night was one of those shows. That morning Gary slid into our bedroom with our mugs of coffee singing, "Blue Suede Shoes." (The man sings something to me nearly every day: this time the theme was Elvis and his impersonation is good.)

An Elvis event was in progress with many Elvis wannabes in town putting on several shows. One could buy tickets for all of them, or just one or two. We opted for Thursday night. Gary insisted on taking my picture with the pre-show stage in the background. While the venue was not full, there was an excellent turnout of fans. We sat back and waited for the music to begin.

The first Elvis was a skinny guy, not dressed real impressively but he knew the music and had practiced his gyrations choreography. Sporting the black hair, sideburns, and that stray lock of hair hanging over his forehead, he gave us about 4 songs, most of which were familiar to me, in spite of being one of his younger fans. I was disappointed in his appearance until Gary made the comment that this performer represented Elvis' younger days.

The second Elvis (NOT pictured above) was a disappointment to me, too, because he was also of a smaller physique and his face looked kinda fake .... was he wearing an Elvis Halloween mask? No. He was probably wearing a thick layer of makeup and his hair was PERFECT to the point of looking like the molded plastic heads on my childhood dolls. I was disappointed enough in him that I did not even take his picture -- although you'll see him later in this post. To his credit, he did well with the music and also had the physical theatrics down well.

The third Elvis was a big improvement. He looked older than the first two and his clothes were GORGEOUS!!! I felt a sigh of relief that the evening was not a loss when this version of Elvis began to sing with the kind of confidence I expected of "the king." Like the other two, his stage dancing was good and his voice was pleasing, too. And that jacket!!! It sparkled and twinkled and made up for any faults in the performance, although there were none. The show could have ended with him and I would be satisfied. 

But no, more was to come.....

Elvis #4 looked much more like the iconic album covers. The black hair, the tight white jumpsuit, the high open collar, and yes, the shiny (sweaty) bare chest...... Whoa! Too much for this little Baptist girl! 

In truth, I took several snapshots of him, which was no easy feat with all the dancing gyrations back and forth in rapid succession across the stage. The sensual performance hit me with embarrassed shock. Later, at home I went through the photos I took and eliminated all but this one that has a [somewhat] less feverish presentation. (This is supposed to be a family-friendly blog!!)

But the shock-and-awe of the evening was not done.

The fifth and final Elvis of the evening's program was probably my favorite. Clearly these Elvis impersonators tend to get better with age and experience in their line of work, at least that's my opinion. But even with his very talented performance, there was a surprise I did not anticipate. Gary has seen this before, but not me.

Backing up for a moment of explanation: As a teen I never went to a rock concert. My parents wouldn't even allow Sister and me to go to school dances! Attending a rock concert was never on the radar in my conservative family.

So to set the scene for what happened at this concert I have to tell you the room was filled with old, retired people. And at that, more women than men (which is what demographics are the older we get).

We've seen the concerts where the young girls at Beatles' concerts and such go crazy nuts with screaming, crying, and passing out at the sight and sound of their music idols.

At this concert, people [women] were encouraged to go up to the base of the stage to KISS Elvis!!! I was aghast. A long line of women, about 100!!! did exactly that! I took several snapshots with my zoom feature but am sharing just this one (above). We aren't sure if Elvis kissed all these women on the cheek or if the women kissed Elvis. Some reached up to grab his neck, and some were even given a souvenir white satin-looking scarf from around his neck.

No, I absolutely did not participate in that exercise. As we were driving home, Gary marveled at the exchange of germs with such a public display of affection with so many strangers.

For the final songs, all 5 of the evening's Elvis impersonators (#2 is in the center, black suit) were on stage. This clearly illustrated the chronology of Elvis' age and style, which helped me to be forgiving of the first one (tallest in black with the silver belt).

It was a good concert. Gary probably knew all the songs, and I knew most of them. I'm glad we got to have such a fun date night but may never look at aging women (even myself) the same again.

The Lord does not look 

at the things people look at.

People look at the outward appearance, 

but the Lord looks at the heart.

I Samuel 16:7b

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara