Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Long Live Elvis!

I continue to believe that Elvis Presley transcends life and circumstance. And it's not just because of the simple, universal beauty of his music. I believe it's connected to the perpetual essence of who he is--a spirit that continues to bring joy into lives.

Take tonight for instance. I delighted in a performance by a group of musicians from Lifeworks (all of whom have profound developmental disabilities) called Musical Syndrome. They exuberantly performed several Elvis tunes as part of a rock band. And they played all the instruments of a rock band while singing as edgy and passionately as Elvis himself used to.

And I had to wonder: How did they ever learn about Elvis? What ever caused them to connect with The King? Because each one of them was certainly connected.

One man--the drummer--took the stage only after walking directly to a life-sized Elvis cut-out. (BTW: The cutout Elvis was sporting the gold lame suit). The man spent at least one full minute speaking privately to the cutout. N one could hear what he was saying. We could only see the interaction. As we watched, he stopped talking long enough to reach up to stand the collar of his shirt at attention then quietly offered a private comment to the visage of his alter ego. As the exchange ended, he touched his hand to his lips, kissed his fingers, and then touched them to the mouth of the cardboard Elvis before taking his place on the throne of his drum set. And, yes, he kept a steady, pulsing beat as his group proceeded to rock the house.

Totally captivating. Purely joyful.

So, yep. I think humans have an intuitive ability to connect to Elvis' spirit. Or maybe we have the ability to connect to the same spirit Elvis did when he was regularly rocking inhabitants of this world.

It's gotta be something transcendental. There's just no other way to explain it. And how cool is that?

Long live Elvis! Long live The King!

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