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Transcription: [00:18:13]
{SPEAKER name="Warren Perry"}
Of course there are biographies, there are lots of biographies:

[00:18:17]
the guards at Graceland - Elvis's maids - Elvis's family. There's a lot of people in that family down there.

[00:18:24]
And of course more people, more scholarly people— I'm currently reading this one by Charles Ponce de Leon,

[00:18:30]
and this is almost, um, this is almost a capitalist take on Elvis.

[00:18:34]
It talks about Elvis, it talks about how much he earned, and how much he meant to the world.

[00:18:38]
But it puts things very much in a capitalist perspective.

[00:18:41]
And Mr. Ponce de Leon is um, I believe he's um, yes he's an historian at Purchase College at SUNY - he's got a really interesting take.

[00:18:50]
There are other biographies out there - Peter Guralnick's work is probably the most famous set of biographies on Elvis.

[00:18:56]
But then, there's everybody else who wants to put their own lens on Elvis. Here are some examples:

[00:19:06]
This is the 'Towel of Elvis' [laughter]

[00:19:12]
This is in search of Elvis' Jewish roots, it's called "Schmelvis" [laughter]

[00:19:18]
This is one for the- for the new-agers, this was truly an interesting book, I've read through this, "Elvis' After Life - Unusual Psychic Experiences Surrounding the Death of a Superstar".

[00:19:30]
There are interesting things in here— stories like a young lady in the South who was at work in a restaurant and all of a sudden,

[00:19:37]
she was called by her buddy and said Elvis died. Well, they were big Elvis fans.

[00:19:41]
She started crying, she rushed home and when she got home her entire Elvis record collection had melted. Nothing else in her house was on fire.

[00:19:50]
{LAUGHTER}
{SPEAKER name="Audience"} I believe it !

[00:19:56]
{SPEAKER name="Warren Perry"}
A series- a further series of scholarly studies, Elvis through various other scholarly lenses: 'Elvis Culture: Faith, Fans, and Image', that's a nice compilation.

[00:20:04]
And then of course — this is one of my favorites — "Are You Hungry Tonight?" {laughter} Elvis' recipes. And then--

[00:20:15]
'Elvis Fashion: From Memphis to Vegas' - this was assembled by Judy Mundy but I bought this at Bernard Lansky's store in Memphis in the Peabody Hotel

[00:20:30]
and Mr. Lansky is the one who was responsible for outfitting Elvis during his first few years touring and all that and, um,

[00:20:38]
Mr. Lansky is always very very happy to talk with you about Elvis and he also will make sure that,

[00:20:44]
if he has it available, he'll sell you some nice pink argyle socks or, a nice pink shirt. And then, finally--

[00:20:53]
This is interesting— this is the "Where's Elvis?" and it's got pictures of different places and events:

[00:21:00]
"The Million Man March" - and we've got the "Chicago Gay Men's Chorus", "Lenin's Tomb" in Moscow, and there's Elvis sightings in all of these.

[00:21:09]
Thank you very much for coming out and Happy Elvis' Birthday to each and every one of you! Thank you!

{Applause}

[00:21:14]
Questions? Yes, ma'am?
[00:21:17]

Transcription Notes:
* actual title: 'Elvis Culture: Fans, Faith, and Image' * Julie Mundy (not Judy)