The breaking up & the bumps: 20,000 mydiaryvirgins

When
he starts
a show Elvis
takes a few swipes
at his guitar, then lurches
into one of his scorchers like
I Want You, I Need You {Ah Wa-
ha-hunt Yew-who, Ah Nee-hee-heed Yew-who"}
or his first hit, Heartbreak Hotel. The most
emotional girls out front go into their screams and seizures. From then on
most of them do not hear what Elvis sings as he flings about, bringing his susceptible
audience to the breaking point. 'He isn't afraid to express himself.' was one 15-year-old's defense of his free style. 'When he does that on television, I get down on the floor & scream!'
The rewards of this fearless expression are almost unbelievable for the young man who gave up his truck-driving job two years ago to become a full-time singer. Since the first of the year, he has fallen just short
of grossing half a million dollars - $100,000 for over 125 public appearances, $350,000 in record royalties,
$20,000 from television, & $50,000 more due this fall for three more TV appearances. This gyrating how-ler swings both guitar and hips in a tip-toe version of the burleque bump he uses. Perquisites of success and kisses on the job: occasional exercise for Presley is sparring with high school friends. He's not really the athletic type & has trouble learning to swim in his big backyard pool! Elvis built for himself and parents
a new home with a fence with musical staff and notes while girls on his lawn are plucking grass blades they
need to join the local fanclub. His old car, a 1956 Lincoln Elvis traded in for a Continental Mark II after dri-ving it three weeks, was covered with lipstick notes when girls spotted it in Miami! Hearing himself, Presley
sits at home with an old, close friend, Barbara Hearn, and listens to recordings she selected as her choices
of his best work. Hearing their hero, admirers kneel outside his home pressing ears to his bedroom wall: Elvis was asleep inside and girls thought they heard him snoring. Backstage kisses are bestowed on pretty
admirers in Jacksonville & Andrea June Stephens who came there from Atlanta, Georgia after writing prize-winning letter on why she would like to meet Elvis: promised a dinner date with Elvis, she got instead sand-wich at lunch counter level! Some towns get all worked up: when Elvis Presley performed in Jacksonville Flo-rida last summer, his fans ripped nearly all his clothes off. Memories of this visit and of Presley's growing
notoriety stirred up civic leaders, and when the singer headed back to Jacksonville last month the city was
ready for him. Juvenile Court Judge Marion Gooding had warrants prepared charging presley with impairing
the morals of minors. The judge declared he would sign and serve them if Presley repeated his torso-tos-sing spectacle. "I DON'T DO DIRTY BODY MOVEMENTS!" said Elvis Presley. But he toned
down his act noticeably & Judge Gooding took no further action. Neither this nor clergymen's denunciation
of Presley dampened the enthusiasm of teen-agers, and his sex performances all sold out. Elvis left town
richer in pocket and with the prayers of amny devout citizens following him. A pulpit comparison between
poster advertising Elvis Presley & the Bible is drawn for his congregation by the Presley critic, Baptist prea-cher Robert Gray, and also an antidote to Elvis in Jacksonville was the church social at the Murray Hill Me-thodist Church two evenings after Presley left: before dance, the group heard Presley denounced in a ser-mon against 'fast living' & "rock-'n-roll" music! Defense against Presley was discussed by members of the Optimist Club with Judge Gooding, who studies an Elvis Presley magazine while consi-dering ways to curb that extremely popular singer. Last but not least: there was prayer for Presley in the Trinity Baptist Church which came after the Rev. Gray declared that the singer had
'achieved a new low in spiritual degeneracy'

Teeners in the front rows led this
prayer that salvation
be granted
him
...

Dat
waren dus
wel heel andere
tijden: ik was elf in
de vijfde klas v/d lagere
school & verliefd op Gaby de Haas
uit Bergen op Zoom & Marjan van der Heyden
uit Alkmaar, maar had nog nooit gehoord van zingende
vrachtwagenchauffeurs, gillende kleine maagden & die hele jeugdcultuur
die op komst was in die jaren met de Buddy Holly's, Everly Brothers, Brenda Lee's,
Brian Highlands {"ITSYBITSY TEENYWEENY YELLOWPOLKA DOTBIKINI"}, Drifters, Neil Sedaka's,
Duane Eddy's, Fats Domino's, Ricky Nelsons, Bobby Darins, Jerry Lee Lewis's & countless
others on those borderlines of the fifty's & the Sixty's: Chuck Berry,
Lloyd Price, Robin Luke, Chardelles, Ritchie Valens ...
eindeloze rijen popsongs, hitlists, top
of the pops, Beatles, Stones,
Jazz, Spirituals, Gospels
and so
on


sleep
soft and
dream sweet to
tell us all about it tomorrow
if you really want
to do
so