THE SUPERMAN OF MUSIC
Elvis was
a beefcake hunk chunk
big pile o’ corn beef
Meat bleating cheese,
blue moon aperitif
Metamorphosis from pretty boy
to scrutinized excess
of himself
The avenue of appetite
Decadent plenitude,
salty thumpy zipperedness,
busty rhinestone luster
Lips right outta Salvador Dali’s
magical surreal luminous objects,
vanguard of forever, amen
~ Lady
Elvis Presley was 77 yesterday. That means I’m 2 months shy of 66. Think I’m doing much better than he is, except financially, and name recognition of course. Although who knows; maybe it’s much nicer on the other side. But is Elvis Elvis on the other side, or just an anonymous energy flow? At least Smith is still Smith on this side, however good or bad that may be.
Elvis is 77 and he died in 77. Alive 42 years, dead 35 years, makes around 55 million dollars each year he’s dead. Smith’s alive nigh 66 years, dead zero years, makes around $55 million a year less than Elvis.
Death can be a great career move. Here are the earnings by the top 15 dead from 10-2010 thru 10-2011 according to Forbes, the people who count dead people’s money.
01 – Michael Jackson – $170 million – musician – died 2009 age 50 drugs
02 – Elvis Presley – $55 million – singer, actor – died 1977 age 42 drugs
03 – Marilyn Monroe – $27 million – actress – died 1962 age 36 drugs
04 – Charles Shultz – $35 million – cartoonist – died 2000 age 77 cancer
05 – John Lennon – $12 million – musician – died 1980 age 40 murder
05 – Elizabeth Taylor – $12 million – actress – died 2011 age 70 heart failure
07 – Albert Einstein – $10 million – scientist – died 1955 age 76 natural causes
08 – Dr. Seuss – $9 million – author – died 2001 age 87 natural causes
09 – Jimi Hendrix – $7 million – musician – died 1970 age 27 drugs
09 – Stieg Larsson – $7 million – author – died 2004 age 50 heart attack
09 – Steve McQueen – $7 million, actor – died 1980 age 50 from surgery
09 – Richard Rodgers – $7 million – song writer, died 1979 age 77 chronic illness
13 – George Harrison – $6 million – musician – died 2001 age 58 cancer
13 – Betty Page – $6 million – stripper, nude model – died 2008 age 85 natural causes
13 – Andy Warhol – $6 million – artist – died 1987 age 58 from surgery
Maybe Heaven is supposed to be this Planet. This is the butterfly that’s going to carry me home, and this is the trash I’m going to pick up later, I hope.
Risk is part of farmin/run with it weirdness. “I’m going to go for the trash I see on the Horizon and then hopfully I’ll be able to run.”
Elvis turned 75 yesterday – that’s 42 live Elvis years plus 33 dead Elvis years.
Dead Elvis made $55 million dollars last year, $403 million these past 10 years, and $4.2 billion just while he was alive.
John Lennon said “Before Elvis, there was nothing.” Of course he also said that another name for rock n roll would be Chuck Berry (whom Elvis admired greatly).
I saw his first appearance in 1956 on the Ed Sullivan show and wasn’t all that blown away (of course I was 10 years old) but when I heard the first few notes of King Creole, I was “gone gone gone, jumpin like a catfish on a pole.”
Here are a few more quotes from other famous people.
Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it’s a whole new social revolution — the 60’s comes from it. – Leonard Bernstein
I think he maybe just got a little tired of repairing all the broken hearts in the world. – Tom Waits
I wasn’t just a fan, I was his brother. He said I was good and I said he was good; we never argued about that. Elvis was a hard worker, dedicated, and God loved him. Last time I saw him was at Graceland. We sang Old Blind Barnabus together, a gospel song. I love him and hope to see him in heaven. There’ll never be another like that soul brother. – James Brown
If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead. – Johnny Carson
You know, Bush is always comparing me to Elvis in sort of unflattering ways. I don’t think Bush would have liked Elvis very much, and that’s just another thing that’s wrong with him. – Bill Clinton during the 1992 presidential campaign.
When I first heard Elvis’ voice, I just knew that I wasn’t going to work for anybody, and nobody was going to be my boss. He is the deity supreme of rock and roll religion as it exists in today’s form. Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail. I thank God for Elvis Presley. – Bob Dylan
Before Elvis, everything was in black and white. Then came Elvis. Zoom, glorious Technicolor. – Keith Richards
The Postal Service is being wasteful in spending nearly $300,000 to promote its Elvis Presley stamp. To break even, they would have to sell more than one million stamps to collectors who do not then use them. – Ralph Nader, just a few months before the US Postal Service announced it had made a record breaking US$31 million on the strength of some 120 million unused Elvis stamps, out of the 500 million which were sold, the most for any commemorative stamp in US postal history.
That Elvis, man, he is all there is. There ain’t no more. Everything starts and ends with him. He wrote the book. – Bruce Springsteen
A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man’s music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis. – Jackie Wilson R&B singer
