Elvis’ appeal spans many, many generations. No other entertainer has such lasting popularity, or popularity with such a wide range of fans, from all ages, to all countries, etc. When visiting Graceland, I have seen fans ranging from the infant to the elderly. Sure, in some cases, parents drag their children along and the child might not know or care about Elvis. But, a great deal of them really know who he is, really love his music. You can expose your children to all sorts of things, but as parents, we all know that not all of those things stick. My three kids grew up exposed to Elvis, but they each have different levels of interest in him. They all respect and appreciate his talent, but not all of them share an equal love of his music, movies, etc. (I can’t say who loves him most, because I get in trouble when I do J) The last time we were at Graceland, we stayed at The Heartbreak Hotel and there was a youth group staying there as well. Pre-teens and barely teens were wearing Elvis shirts and taking pics of one another next to the Elvis photos hanging in the hallways. On the Graceland tour, I saw many of the young people moved to tears.
My precious niece, Amanda, adores Elvis, and she is exposing her children to him as well. My great-nephew, Blake is only five months old, so it’s too soon to know if he’ll be a true Elvis fan, but here is a pic of him at Halloween. How cute is this?
His sister, my great-niece Reagan, is five years old, and she is a true blue Elvis fan. It’s so adorable how much she loves him. Recently, her mother introduced her to his movies and they had a mini-marathon. I’m anxious to hear how that turned out. (they live out of town and we don’t see one another as often as I would like) Here is a pic of her in front of the television while Follow That Dream played.
Yesterday, for Thanksgiving, we sprang my mother from the nursing home for the day. Oddly, the topic of Elvis came up, and she, at 78 and with Dementia, went on and on about how sexy he was. LOL.
Here is a pic from last year when I took my children and my niece (my other niece, Madison) to Graceland. I’ve shared the pic before, but I thought I’d share again, since it’s so fitting to the topic. 🙂
Really, it’s not all that surprising that his legacy has stood the test of time and ages. I mean, just look at him.
Author Alicia Dean 
Once a group of my students–(writing assignment–describe a pilgrimage– after we read Chaucer)–took an imaginary pilgrimage to Graceland. On board the bus were an Elvis impersonator, several “elderly” ladies with beehive hairdos and a bunch of teenaged fans! What fun that was. Elvis is just plain universal! Now we can get out his Christmas carol videos. Yay!
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You are right Alicia, “The King” was the consummate entertainer and I wish he could have lived a healthier and longer life. I’m not sure what “the doctors” had him on, but you could tell it wasn’t doing his health any good! Still even at his last show, recordings of which have recently been on the Internet, he was doing all he could to keep the show going! It is good that the younger crowd learns about Elvis (and all the other great performers, singers, musicians, actors and authors [and might I say politicians] of the past and present). I personally believe the current crop isn’t as good as those who are no longer with us, certainly they don’t act like the love our country as much as Elvis and others did.
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