Take care of the fans and they will sure as hell take care of you.
– Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley’s Graceland celebrates the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s birthday each year with four days of special events. Fans were called to join the celebration in Memphis from January 5 to 8 as they honoured Elvis’ 88th birthday with concerts, movies, conversations and more! This year’s festivities included the Memphis Symphony Orchestra concert with Terry Mike Jeffrey, Conversations on Elvis, plus a very special Elvis screen show to mark the 50th anniversary of Aloha from Hawaii!
In addition, fans were invited to the north lawn of Graceland Mansion on January 8, Elvis’ Birthday, at 8.30 am CST, for Elvis’ Birthday Proclamation Ceremony which included a special appearance by Lisa Marie Presley, along with EPE officials, a birthday cake cutting, and an official proclamation of Elvis Presley Day. Those who couldn’t be in Memphis could watch the ceremony online for free via Graceland’s Livestream page.
Also on January 8, Graceland opened a new Making of ELVIS Movie Exhibition at Graceland. The exhibition looked at the beginning of the creative process for the celebrated film and followed it through its journey to the big screen, taking the story from paper to film.
For us in Kuching, it was the first time we marked his birthday in a simple way and really missed our deceased club chairman Elges, the Elvis of Kuching titleholder and other deceased members such as Eskandar Eyaw (EP of Sarawak titleholder 1966); the late Albert Blassan and three other deceased members John Sia, Alex Ting and Jimmy Adit. We observed a minute of silence in their respect during our rendezvous on Sunday Jan 8. All of them were life members of the Elvis Presley Fan Club of Sarawak (EPFS), perhaps the only fan club registered with RoS in Malaysia. Nevertheless, despite our busy schedules, we managed to meet for a while at a joint in Stutong. Present were acting club chairman Azmi Jahidin @ Elaz, Major (rtd) Abong Amping (honorary secretary), Adrian David Junior (treasurer), Henry Gerijih (Auditor) and yours truly.
Among the flow of beer, it was Elaz and Adrian who stepped up the performance and hence added up to the merriment of the atmosphere and ambience. Elaz belted EP top hits such as You Gave Me a Mountain, Give Me The Right and Sweet Caroline while Adrian crooned the likes of It’s Now or Never, Crying In The Chapel and Johnny B Goode. I obliged with Shake Rattle and Roll.
I remember the days when Elges was still around his favourites were G.I. Blues, I got Woman, Fool Such As I, Little Sister and many more whereas Albert liked to perform songs such as I Can’t Stop Loving You and Judy. For the late Eskandar his main favourites included All Shook Up and She’s Not You.
Though just the five of us and some other patrons, it was certainly a moment to savour and remember, especially after the two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. With our songs we were reminded that as if the rock n roll king was still alive. Born Elvis Aaron Presley on Jan 8, 1935 at a two-room home in Tupelo, Mississippi in USA, the king of rock n roll died of cardiac arrest – though his doctor confessed very much later that EP’s death was attributed to constipation – on August 16, 1977. Now his birthplace is a historic museum site in Tupelo. Elvis was regarded as the greatest singer and artiste of the 20th century by majority votes among the world’s leading magazines in December 1999.
His impersonators the world over amounted to roughly just about 2,500 on his death in 1977 but the latest estimate was about 2.2 million – phenomenal increase being thanks to his evergreen music plus additional ‘push’ by Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. (EPE) which is a corporate entity created by “The Elvis Presley Trust” to conduct business and manage its assets, including, which has been turned into a museum with an average paying visitors of 3,000 daily. EPE’s business extends far beyond the Graceland operation, however, and includes worldwide licensing of Elvis-related products and ventures.
Our EPFCS club that received substantial contributions from various quarters has been very active in sharing the joy of Elvis music and songs with the fans and other community members in the country since 2014. In 2017, we held various shows in the state as well as in Kuala Lumpur. In Kuching alone, we held three memorable group performances at Kuching Waterfront at two locations namely the Waterfront Amphitheatre and on a stage behind the Grand Margherita Hotel. We hope to remain active despite losing our chief Ges Barundang @ Elges in Sept 2021 and earlier Eskandar Eyaw and Albert Blassan in the same year. Happy Birthday and Long Live The King!
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
