Elvis turned 90 today. It’s a big deal.
Ninety years ago today, early Lord one frosty morn, on January 8, 1935, little Elvis Aaron Presley came into the world in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Check out all the attention this world-famous nonagenarian is getting, starting with a big birthday commemoration this morning in Memphis. Has any one mortal retained this sort of acclaim for this long?
Cutting the giant 90th birthday cake for Elvis on the grounds of Graceland.
News sites declare “Elvis at 90” and “Viva Las Graceland.” They tout new exhibits and devote paragraphs and air time to profiling the devoted fandom and endless appeal among young and old all these decades later.
There’s even an article or two purporting to show through artificial intelligence what Elvis would look like if he were still with us today. I don’t think anyone or any machine can really nail that. But I do know the man is very much alive in our hearts today and every day.
“Last Bridge to Memphis”
I recently took that sentiment and imagined a great big “what if.” What if we still had Elvis in our lives into the 1980s? What if, instead of dying at the young age of 42, back in 1977, he had lived into his fifties?
But what if, in surviving, he carried on in a sort of twilight state, diminished and scandalized by the drip, drip of tabloid revelations? In today’s terms, we’d say he was “canceled.” (The 1970s were not a time of tolerance or understanding of addiction and substance abuse.)
Coming soon!
This was the initial premise behind my novel, Last Bridge to Memphis. But I took it a bit further. What if, in this scenario, Elvis shunned performing and turned inward, obsessed with a quest for purpose, a search for meaning?
And what if a young Memphis television reporter crosses paths with him? What if they bond over a shared loss and a common goal, an alliance that exposes them both to the deadly passions of a rogue cop?
I found the experience of writing this novel so revelatory and inspirational that I’m planning to continue the journey with these characters. In the meantime, I do hope you’ll watch this space for the announcement launching my first novel.
For today, though, I’m going to enjoy a slice of virtual Elvis birthday cake and check out some good rockin’ — as I do most days. It just feels so right.
Oh and … Happy birthday, Mr. Presley! At 90 and at any age, you still are … King of the whole wide world.