"ELVIS LIVES" (Année 1997)
Un article de Jean-Pierre POLEMARY pour la commémoration du 20ième Anniversaire de la Mort du King.
L'impact d'Elvis sur le Peuple Français!
" The celebration of Elvis' 20th Anniversary here in France gave us a perfect opportunity to understand the impact of the King on French people; until then, we had seen a few fan clubs, in Paris, Lyon, Dijon, etc... and a lot of clubless fans who would appear now and then to offer an Elvis night in their "cafés", a friendly gathering in their homes to sing together, to watch one of their idol's movies...
So, for a few week, Elvis was the talk of the town, Paris and the whole of France went quickly beating along with her heart...
Well! It has been a very hectic year here in France as we celebrated Elvis" 20th Anniversary through films, documentaries talk show, articles, concerts and a lot of informal get-togethers.
Now while some are on their way to Memphis to commemorate the King's birthday and others are off on normal winter holidays, strangely enough Elvis seems to be forgotten.
HOW IS POSSIBLE??? WHAT HAPPENED???
Take last October for example. "Le Petit Journal Montparnasse", one of the oldest artistic communities here in the heart of Paris, hosted Elvis Presley Hootenanny '97.
It was an evening loaded with surprises as more than 30 artists honouring Elvis in their own special way sang, danced and played to a full house that rocked, laughed, clapped and swayed for over six hours non stop as they were swept up in familiar Elvis tunes.
The artists Thrilled us with all the different aspects of Elvis' music but more than that they made us feel like we had literally stepped inside his films: Hawaiian dancers, cow-boys and cow-girls, New Orleans jazz bands, a black Negro blues singer. We saw actors interpret certain scenes from his films that have become real cults. Another treat of evening was a troubadour group singing a middle-aged version of "Blue Suede Shoes", translated as "Poulaines en daim bleu" in French?
This was to be the last of Elvis Presley events and had actually been intended to bring together all of his real fans, all the amateurs who were dying to sing (his songs), and all of the people who wanted to pay a last tribute to the King (an intimate one far away from the press and official ceremonies).
Though it was crowded, we saw very few members of the official Elvis fans clubs, which was to be expected, considering what we had seen happen during the more formally organised events:
*At the channel M6 TV special on Elvis that took place in May, only one fan club accepted the invitation to the show, even though it was open to all.
*And in the South in France in July, Elvis Memories was forced to cancel everything due to a major lack of response to the invitations sent out.
All of this and more has brought us to the realisation that in France Elvis fans either belong exclusively to a club, these being openly or subversively at war with each, or they keep to themselves with many fighting in the same manner.
What they all want in fact, is to be considered as the only specialists aroud town when it comes to talking about Elvis.
*Then there were the TV shows that only focused on a book by Christie Blachas, a member of the TV crew interwieved by his friends, and who though an Elvis singer, had simply taken this opportunity to do a book and show off!
Book that had been written in French evev before for example the actual Elvis craze, were overlooked or ignored: "Elvis, Balade Sudiste" by Denis Tillinac, also "The Message of Elvis Presley, A Cultural Hero" by E.Y. Monin.
Both books explore the Elvis phenomenon in a fare more sensitive, profound, intelligent and positive manner. Whereas in Monsieur Blachas' book on Elvis, he did all he could to belittle Elvis'image.
*So did the French rock singer Dick Rivers.
*So did the psychoanalyst who seized the occasion to talk about hysteria (Cnannel 5 "Identification")
Meanwhile some of the faithful Elvis fans could find almost nothing to talk about other than themselves when interwieved (Libération)
On a superficial level all the magazines joined in a seeming praise of Elvis. Unfortunately a lot of them also in a lot of trash, the best example being the magazine "Marianne". Marianne did in fact put out a very good article on the King but added another to it that was nothing more than a condensed hateful and viscious attack of the King.
***
In different places around France, entertainers added Elvis songs to their personal repertoires: In Paris, Country songs by Youpi Wahoo at the "Petit Journal Montparnasse" last May. Rhythm n' blues by Diana Hamilton at the famous "Hollywood Savoy". Negro Spiritual at the "Chesterfield Café" during their Gospel brunch hour on Sundays. The Poetic Lovers released a new version of "In The Ghetto", to a rap beat. While famous Elvis impersonators went on with their usual tours: Olivier Clement, Chas Agulo, Ange. Not to mention projections of many of Elvis'films at film libraries, and on TV.
And to top it all off, at their annual parade in Montmartre, American cheerleaders marched to the beat of popular tunes, as he was the theme chosen for this years performance in France.
What an interesting event,though, to find out the motivations of most so called Elvis fans... What a perfect opportunity to discover that the human values that the King tried to embody are left aside by almost all the French people...
Yet, luckily enough, it helped us to meet Elvis' hidden real friends, those who don't use his fame to glorify themselves, but try to share, away from money business and power trips, their love for his songs and his personality... Very few people, sure..., yet enough to maintain "his Truth" still "marching on" in this part of the world! "
Jean-Pierre POLEMARY
"ELVIS LIVES" !!!
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