Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, but when you have it, you have it all over.
— Elvis Presley
Last Monday, August 16 marked the date the late King of Rock N Roll Elvis Aaron Presley had left the building for 44 years.
Despite restrictions during the pandemic in the US, a large number of diehard fans still gathered and lit candles at the king’s mansion Graceland that was declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006. It was their Elvis Week observed starting from Aug 11 till Aug 17.
Fans gathered at Graceland to remember EP music, movies, and legacy with a week of celebrity appearances, live concerts, parties, tours, and more. Highlights included the Elvis Tribute Artiste Contest with contestants displaying their best Elvis-style sounds and moves as they competed for the top cash prize of $20,000.
Graceland is the most-visited privately owned home in America with over 650,000 visitors a year, rivalling publicly owned houses such as Biltmore Estate, Hearst Castle and the White House.
Inherited by Elvis’ only offspring daughter Lisa Marie Presley, the first site related to rock and roll, Graceland is always the gathering venue of his fans every year on his birthday (Jan 8) and death anniversary. This time around, despite the coronavirus, there was still a big gathering but very much mellowed atmosphere at the 5.6 hectare former palatial home of the king.
Elsewhere in the world, fans of the music icon also mellowed in their marking of their idol’s death anniversary as most felt the situation wasn’t really safe. The pandemic has thwarted the efforts by Elvis fans and tribute artistes (ETAs) worldwide to do their yearly tribute to the man who once said with humility: “I’m not king; just a singer.”
In Malaysia, this is the third year ETAs have to lie low on our idol’s death anniversary. For our local ETAs this year, we mourned two losses while last year one of our members was also called home.
Due to the pandemic and movement restrictions, members of our Elvis Presley Fan Club of Sarawak (EPFCS) — perhaps the sole EP fan club to be registered with RoS in Malaysia — were not able to observe proper vigil for them who all died of natural cause.
By not gathering or performing as usual during his death anniversary as we used to do since 2002, we really miss the ambience and excitement. At the same time, our EPFCS members, under the helm of Elvis of Kuching titleholder Ges Barundang (he went to Graceland in 2004), popularly known as Elges Presley, also miss our fellow ETAs who have departed, namely Reynolds Gregory (2010); Alex Ting of Miri (2013); John Sia of Sibu (2016); Jimmy Adit @ Eljim (2020); Eskandar Eyaw @ Elkandar (Apr 2021) and Albert Blassan (July 2021).
Our aim of forming the fan club is to use it as an umbrella for all ETAs and fans. Registered via e-RoS in 2014, now EPFCS is proud to have over 1,000 online members. We also have nearly 100 life members — all the late ETAs were life members.
Funded by donations from generous individuals, especially VIPs, our club aims to enliven the legacy of the king by sharing his songs and music with the public regardless of faith, age, gender, colour, origin and background. After all, music is a universal phenomenon, borderless and is meant to entertain all.
However, Elvis music stands out from the rest as it has the greatest following globally, including an estimate of between 250,000 and 400,000 impersonators/ETAs now as compared to just about 170 during the time of his death 44 years ago, with other artistes, dead or alive very pale in comparison.
His music is the greatest uniting factor for the entire world, sung even by non-English speaking enthusiasts — I met Thailand’s EP impressionist Elvisoot Thungarat on my 23rd birthday in Bangkok three months after the king’s demise.
We communicated using simple English which he also had problem understanding but his cassette tape played at their Elvis fan club sounded very close to our idol’s vibrato — except for the poor pronunciation.
In fact, the Elvis lookalike donated one to me containing about twenty songs. Our contact ended there.
In our own Malaysian music fraternity, there is a certain bonding among enthusiasts of EP. In my own experience since 1977, namely after his demise, my devastation was replaced by excitement when I led a few musical talents from Sarawak and Sabah to form The Elvis Presley Revival Band.
Fast forward to the present, ETAs in Malaysia try our best to bond and perform together to enliven the King’s legacy.
