All shook up….
Ask any 30-something where they were and what they were doing on 9-11 when the towers came down. Bag would wager even the ones who were only 8-9 years old at the time could tell you with remarkable accuracy. Once every decade or so, there is a seminal event that, for whatever reason, is imprinted on the psyche of everyone, even children. Most 40-somethings could tell you where they were when the OJ verdict was read. Most 50-somethings, when the Challenger blew up.
For Bagholder, one of those moments was August 16th, 1977. He was walking through Sears and Roebuck at the ripe old age of 11 with his mother, who was shopping for material for her next sewing project. Suddenly, in seemingly every Aisle, women were crying. Even today, some 45 years later, that memory is so vivid it feels like yesterday. Bag is, of course, referring to the breaking news that day of Elvis Presley’s death.
Can’t help falling in love…..
When Elvis Presley first appeared on the scene in the late 1950s, it was like a bolt of lightning. He was young, charismatic, ambitious, and wildly productive. His music was unlike anything before. It was a mix of upbeat southern blues, country, gospel, and rockabilly, all of which were blended in a unique manner, giving birth to …. rock and roll. His brash manner and performance style was derided by many of his peers. The legendary Frank Sinatra said Presley’s music
“brought destructive reactions in young people. It smells phony and false. It is sung, played and written, for the most part, by cretinous goons....This rancid-smelling aphrodisiac I deplore”.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement. The Truth is, though, it didn’t matter what the Sinatras of the world thought - they were just singers. Elvis was much more. He was a performer - and an “outside the box” one at that. He thumbed his nose at the idea of just standing at a microphone and singing like his rigid contemporaries. His iconic freedom of movement on stage with wild gyrations, in effect, injected an emotional component into music that was never there before. He was an instant success. The idolization of Elvis spread like wildfire and brought with it unimaginable wealth and fame. It literally, allowed him to strip teenage girls everywhere - of more than just their allowances.
Viva Las Vegas ….
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. Unprecedented fame brought an avalanche of hustlers and shakedown artists from every corner of the world. It wasn’t enough he was churning out one gold record after another - No - Newspapers, Magazines, Television, and Hollywood hucksters all wanted a taste. The demands on his time were insatiable. He lived in a world where he couldn’t go to the store for a Gallon of Milk without creating a public disturbance. Consequently, Elvis did what many people do who can’t deal with the realities of their day-to-day life: he began to self-medicate with various drugs. It was straight downhill from there….
In the back half of his career, he was a shadow of his former self, bloated from overconsumption of everything from peanut butter & bacon sandwiches to pharmaceutical-grade drugs. In a vain attempt to relive his glory days, his final years were spent stumbling around a stage in Las Vegas night clubs, clad in sequin-laced one-piece jumpsuits, while phoning in his greatest hits for drunken retirees. He was a sad sight in those days, woefully unproductive, drug-addled, and living off of the reputation and successes of days long gone.
That’s all right….
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Elvis’s life is how it is a perfect microcosm for the United States of America. His life arc neatly encapsulates the story of the USA. This country was formed 250+ years ago by our forefathers - a group of young, brash, charismatic, and ambitious men. They thumbed their nose at the rigid old ways of the European monarchs with their “outside the box” notion of granting people freedom and rights. They built a country unlike any before, which quickly became idolized by much of the civilized world. In its early days, the US was wildly productive. We manufactured everything in excess for the better part of 150 years and became unimaginably wealthy in the process.
Unfortunately for the US, the story doesn’t end there. All that wealth attracted some of the greatest shysters in history (link here). The JP Morgans, the Rockefellers, the Rothchilds, etc., all came looking for their taste. They injected themselves and their progeny into every level of government, writing laws designed to strip away the very rights and freedoms our forefathers granted us. The final blow of these shysters came in 1913 when they seized control of the nation’s money supply, giving birth to the creature from Jekyll Island known as …(drumroll)… the “Federal Reserve.” It was straight downhill from there.
In the ghetto…
Gone are the days of the US producing anything at all. The factories are all shuttered, and the manufacturing has been moved overseas. Poverty rates, homelessness, racial tensions, and political divides have never been worse. The psychological health and morale of US citizens is plummeting. Americans have become bloated and weak from over-consumption of everything from junk food, to video games, to social media (link here). As a nation, most of our populace is up to their eyeballs in debt, juggling multiple addictions and battling various forms of depression. Like Elvis at the end, this nation is a shadow of what it once was: woefully unproductive, drug-addled, and living off the successes of days long gone. Is it really any wonder half this country self-medicates, choosing to spend their long sleepless nights next to designer water bongs and half-eaten jars of Zoloft?
If you had to sum up what killed Elvis, and what is killing our once great nation in just a couple of words, those words would be “lofty expectations.” In Elvis’s case, he lost control of his own life because of the constant demands of reporters, editors, directors, producers, and rabid fans who were all constantly tugging at him. They all expected him, to find the time, for them. Ultimately, for the kid from Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Aron Presley, it was just too much.
Its now or never…..
Likewise, the expectations of our younger generation are, indeed, lofty - and it is killing this country. Their attitude this world owes them something has reached epidemic proportions. Perhaps that attitude is a product of one too many participation trophies or the widespread insane idea that the Government can right any wrong. It does not matter where those expectations came from. If we, as a nation, do not find a way to temper entitlement, assume some responsibility ourselves, and seize our country back from the shysters who have taken it - then it’s only a matter of time until we end up like Elvis did: Face down dead, on a cold bathroom tile floor, pants around our ankles, ass in the air, and our face in a puddle of our own vomit.
For those interested in a more detailed explanation of why and how things got so bad in this country, (please click here) for one of Bagholder’s most popular articles…
Cool song references! Great comparison of Elvis and our state of affairs. Reminds me of Detroit where in the 1950s had the highest per capita income in the US. In a couple of decades half the people were gone and the city was bankrupt.