Interesting discussion. My favorite story connected to Elvis is his supposed time spent in Tura Satana's orbit. From what I recall, one rumor is she dated him pre-fame and helped him develop his stage presence, how to move his hips, etc.
Intriguing to contemplate in the context of Elvis as shaman because if you zoom out/squint at it, this relationship reads like Tura embodying the archetypal priestess initiating Elvis and awakening his kundalini.
Fanciful speculation? Yes, but I heard this about Tura and Elvis decades ago and it was always a delightful piece of trivia for me to contemplate.
I grew up in Tennessee and love this subject. I absolutely recommend that you and Miguel Conner read queer poet CaConrad's "Advanced Elvis Course" poems on Elvis and Graceland if you have not already.
Often in hip-hop and African American circles Elvis is considered a fake and an imitator. Ray Charles said he "wasn't anything worth thinking about. He was just doing black music." My partner's evangelical mother who lives in Memphis, absolutely loves Elvis. Yet I'm certain she could not like or appreciate the African American musicians he was imitating / borrowing from. To me he is a bridge figure who allowed white America to accept, grow up in, and integrate black art, though I recognize that Little Richard was unable to be "the king of rock n roll" as he should have been because he was too queer and too black. The same can be said of Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Lastly, I recently learned Shawnee/Indigenous rock and roll legend Link Wray was a huge Elvis fan and was heavily influenced by him. And as Miguel says in the opening that rock and roll was religious music and all these musicians were priests. As I was reading about Link Wray, he said growing up Shawnee in North Caroline was to be a third class citizen, "even people of color would look down on us." Link Wray's mother was Shawnee but also a street preacher, so he never saw any disconnect between being Indigenous and Christian. His s/t 1971 album "Link Wray" was both his coming out as "Shawnee" and is very much a priestly Christian Sermon full of both love for his fellow man as well as with Fire and Brimstone. So yes, I think there is something deeply tricksterish and valuable in being able to see Elvis in his complexity and Rock n Roll as a priestly, deeply religious genre.
24:30 - Glad you name-dropped Phillip K. Dick. I was thinking of the similarities between these two. Both are of a similar age, both are storytellers, both are surviving twins, both had mystic experiences, both died young. All this and more.
Well that was positively awesome.
Interesting discussion. My favorite story connected to Elvis is his supposed time spent in Tura Satana's orbit. From what I recall, one rumor is she dated him pre-fame and helped him develop his stage presence, how to move his hips, etc.
Intriguing to contemplate in the context of Elvis as shaman because if you zoom out/squint at it, this relationship reads like Tura embodying the archetypal priestess initiating Elvis and awakening his kundalini.
Fanciful speculation? Yes, but I heard this about Tura and Elvis decades ago and it was always a delightful piece of trivia for me to contemplate.
I grew up in Tennessee and love this subject. I absolutely recommend that you and Miguel Conner read queer poet CaConrad's "Advanced Elvis Course" poems on Elvis and Graceland if you have not already.
Often in hip-hop and African American circles Elvis is considered a fake and an imitator. Ray Charles said he "wasn't anything worth thinking about. He was just doing black music." My partner's evangelical mother who lives in Memphis, absolutely loves Elvis. Yet I'm certain she could not like or appreciate the African American musicians he was imitating / borrowing from. To me he is a bridge figure who allowed white America to accept, grow up in, and integrate black art, though I recognize that Little Richard was unable to be "the king of rock n roll" as he should have been because he was too queer and too black. The same can be said of Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Lastly, I recently learned Shawnee/Indigenous rock and roll legend Link Wray was a huge Elvis fan and was heavily influenced by him. And as Miguel says in the opening that rock and roll was religious music and all these musicians were priests. As I was reading about Link Wray, he said growing up Shawnee in North Caroline was to be a third class citizen, "even people of color would look down on us." Link Wray's mother was Shawnee but also a street preacher, so he never saw any disconnect between being Indigenous and Christian. His s/t 1971 album "Link Wray" was both his coming out as "Shawnee" and is very much a priestly Christian Sermon full of both love for his fellow man as well as with Fire and Brimstone. So yes, I think there is something deeply tricksterish and valuable in being able to see Elvis in his complexity and Rock n Roll as a priestly, deeply religious genre.
24:30 - Glad you name-dropped Phillip K. Dick. I was thinking of the similarities between these two. Both are of a similar age, both are storytellers, both are surviving twins, both had mystic experiences, both died young. All this and more.
https://x.com/SterlingCooley/status/1911101527512743973