This afternoon, I saw Baz Luhrmann's film EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.
Almost fifty years after he died, Elvis still blew my mind.
I've been an Elvis fan for a long time, although I had those punk years when I didn't really want much to do with him...not because I hated him, but because I was focused on other things. When I was growing up, lots of people in my family loved Elvis: my Mom because of his gospel records, some of her sisters because Elvis was just plain hot and they loved all his records.
Naturally, I saw Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic starring Austin Butler as Elvis, and I loved it. As much as I loved it, I think I loved this film even more.
We get to see tons of rare archival footage in this movie, much of which I had never seen before. The best thing about it is that Luhrmann brings out Elvis's human, funny, humble, and caring side. The man became a myth to a certain extent, but he was still a poor kid from Tupelo who made it big because of his looks, his voice, and his charisma.
And oh lawd, what charisma. I was sitting between my two sisters for the movie, and we looked at each other a couple of times, like, "Whew!" I think I fanned myself a couple of times.
This movie showed a side of Elvis that we rarely got to see: his rehearsals with his Vegas band were especially fun to watch. It was obvious that he loved music, loved to perform, and he wanted to give the people who came to see him a genuine show. He performed relentlessly and had fun with his band and backup singers. I think it's fair to say that a lot of performers get to that level and just start phoning it in, but he took it seriously and gave it his all. The final scene shows him being hustled into an elevator right after a performance, sweaty, disheveled, exhausted...he bows his head, but he has a smile on his face.
And can I just give a big "fuck you" to "Colonel" Tom Parker, who stopped Elvis from performing around the world? That would have been an amazing opportunity for Elvis and I think audiences in England, Europe, Japan—you name it—would have loved him.
I've talked to people who think that Elvis is "overrated," mainly because he didn't write his own songs. I expressed my disagreement with this in the most vociferous terms (if you know me, you know), and I'll say it again: Elvis was one of the greatest performers of all time. I don't care that he didn't write his own songs. He brought music to people in a way that no one had done before. There's a snippet of an interview early in the movie when someone asks him about his music, and he says that his music is a combination of all kinds of different music, including country, gospel, and rhythm & blues. That is the very definition, the ORIGIN, of rock and roll. Those are the three main elements that are the nucleus of rock and roll. Did other people do it before him? Probably. But he brought it to the masses in a form that they could accept...and keep in mind that that was a very segregated time in America. Elvis brought black music to a white audience, and music was never the same. Would there still be rock and roll without Elvis? Or would it have fizzled out? I'm not sure that's an answerable question. I think it's fair to say that it would be different if it weren't for Elvis.
How many people in the history of music have actually changed music? Brought it to new ears? Pushed the boundaries, influenced countless others, remain an influence fifty years after they died? It's not a huge list.
Overrated, my ass!
I think it's worth a mention that I go to Sunday afternoon matinees fairly often, and I have never seen a theater this full on a Sunday afternoon. Not every seat was occupied, but it was a fairly full theater.
Elvis. Still putting butts in seats and still one hell of a thrill!
