Yo…
One of the many intriguing experiences of pop culture I adore is it’s all connected.
I did not watch Priscilla a 2023 biopic written and directed by Sofia Coppola.
I did watch Elvis a 2022 biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann. Austin Butler was a decent Elvis while Tom Hanks played Colonel Tom Parker. Elvis’ notorious manager.
And here…Baz Luhrmann is one of the talking heads in Jason Hehir’s Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley.
Also in Return of the King?
Bruce Springsteen; a massive Elvis fan.
I’d just recommended his recently released Hulu special Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band post-TIFF. And who directed that special?
Thom Zimny.
Who in turn directed Elvis Presley: The Searcher (2018) a captivating 2-part HBO documentary highlighting the development of Elvis Presley’s musical artistry. (Priscilla’s comment about Elvis as "a searcher" is what sparked the docuseries name.)
It’s all connected.
Elvis died on August 16, 1977 and yet impressively the ripples of his life continue to spread out.
I sat down with director Jason Hehir to talk about his 2024 Elvis doc. Jason is the director who gifted us The Last Dance.
So…in a way think of Hehir’s Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley as Elvis’ Last Dance. (Aw, man I have a multitude of dense emotions. Jordan and Elvis…)
See? It’s all connected.
Well…except I can’t explain Conan O’Brien in this Elvis doc. That I don’t have an suitable connection for. So, maybe it’s not all connected.
I asked Jason about that, though: What’s up with Conan O’Brien?!
Elvis is fresh. Present tense.
Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley (November 13 on Netflix)
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He had one chance to show the world he was still the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Discover the story behind Elvis Presley’s triumphant ‘68 Comeback Special.
I saw Elvis’ astonishing ‘68 Comeback Special on TV as a kid. (Obviously not in ‘68; the TV special aired on December 3, 1968. I’m not that old.)
It was stunning. Raw magnetism. Raw talent. Raw Elvis. All of it was unleashed and came through the TV set. It was like touching an electric current with my bare hands.
At the time I didn’t understand the "comeback" part or have the proper context for where Elvis was at in his career. Though, I instantly understood the ‘68 Comeback Special as a sonic manifesto. It remains a powerful artistic statement.
Of the many, many perks Elvis left us is TCB: Taking Care of Business (the lightning bolt in the logo means in a flash). Which is exactly what he did with this one hour of TV.
First. Reinventing Elvis: The ‘68 Comeback streamed on Paramount+ on August 15th, 2023.
That documentary was mostly told from the unique perspective of the Special’s director Steve Binder. It’s decent. Check it out.
Now. Jason Hehir’s Netflix documentary features Conan O’Brien, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Corgan and of course...lots more.
(Priscilla Presley is of course in the Jason’s Elvis documentary. However, Jason and I laughed when I brought up Naked Gun. Sure, it’s compelling to hear Priscilla Ann Presley talk about Elvis but…Naked Gun, yo, son: those movies are #GOLD.)
Admittedly, I’m not a fan of "We Did This Before" and yet I’m making a rare exception for this Elvis double-dipping. Elvis, for one…two because of the ‘68 Comeback Special, which to this day is a stunning TV special.
(Having lived through Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever with Michael Jackson’s thrilling performance in 1983…seeing the Moonwalk and throwing the fedora was literally jaw-dropping. I can fully understand how awe-struck TV audiences were in 1968. To watch a man defy ordinary is glorious.)
Nothing in pop culture is past tense…it’s all connected. Make a serious tea for Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley on Netflix, when it streams on November 13. #SetTheVCR
Elvis is amazing. Present tense.
Can we trace rock n roll reinvention directly to Elvis?
Most likely Elvis established The Blueprint: a man at the height of his powers seeking reinvention via redemption.
What about The Beatles? That’s weird to go from the puppy love of I Want to Hold Your Hand to the stoner logic of I Am The Walrus. (Goo goo a’joob, to you too.)
Elvis is the celebrity template: the early hits, the signature leg shaking which created controversy and elevated his popularity. Outlaws are always fashionable. He made movies and sang on the soundtracks to those movies.
Those movies box office bombed, they were terrible.
The ‘68 Comeback Special to reignite his career. The bedazzled Vegas years.
The tragic drug overdose death.
And finally, becoming a dead celebrity where Elvis continues to make $100 million a year. He’s been dead since 1977.
There are famous people alive who don’t make $100 mill a year. Yet Elvis remains popular and profitable.
Jason’s right when he said these people aren’t born this way.
Elvis lived an extraordinary life. We make docs about him, we make podcasts (like this one) about him. We pilgrimage to Graceland, like I did in 2018.
All but 1 of the photos scattered about this dispatch were shot during my Graceland visit in 2018. That place is magic. (“But I’ve reason to believe / We all will be received in Graceland…”)
Elvis is cool. Present tense.
Attached is the My Summer Lair conversation with Jason Hair focusing on The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley.
You know director Jason Hair…he directed The Last Dance…the famous Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls dynasty docuseries we all watched during the pandemic.
(Return of the King concludes with a title card that reads in part: “The ‘68 Comeback Special aired on December 3, 1968 on NBC: 42% of the American television audience watched.” You gotta figure The Last Dance released during a pandemic lockdown, on Netflix (which is worldwide) secured a similar captive audience. That Jordan docuseries was one of the last things we all watched together. Surreal.)
Jason’s magnificent IMDb includes Andre the Giant for HBO (2018). Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage, and Reckoning for HBO (2023) as well. The Fab Five for ESPN Films (2011).
I highly recommend them all…big fan.
This was a treat; I can’t believe I got to talk to the dude. I really was All Shook Up.
Still, he’s a household name because of The Last Dance. And in this conversation with Jason I draw parallels with Jordan and The Last Dance with Elvis and Return of the King.
“Elvis was very unique because he wasn’t a guy that just hearing his music gave you the full picture. You had to see him.”
~ John Jackson, Historian (The quote is from Jason’s Elvis doc)
Jordan and Elvis are icons. You had to see them, though…that was the magic.
I talk to Jason about growing up in Boston and attending a Catholic Church because typically Catholic Churches have stained glass windows…the Church immortalizes their saints and icons in those windows.
In pop culture we don’t have stained glass windows but we have docs like The Last Dance and Return of the King.
Documentaries are how we immortalize our icons.
And even though it’s like asking a magician how he pulled off a magic trick I ask Jason to explain his fascination with these massive cultural icons.
During our conversation Jason confessed:
“I’m not a believer in destiny. I’m not a believer in fate. I think that you make your own destiny. You make your own fate through hard work and through perseverance. So the idea that people think that a lot of these extraordinary people are born the way they are. No one’s born the way they are as an adult, they become that.”
Jason Hehir wants this Elvis documentary to show how Elvis’ ‘68 Comeback Special inspired hope during a trying time politically. All the Wonder Years ruckus.
The ‘68 Comeback Special concludes with Elvis singing If I Can Dream. Turn this mother up.
Dude is singing this on December 3, 1968.
Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968. He was shot in Elvis’ Memphis. This is personal, yo.
This exhilarating performance is more moving than U-Haul.
And sure maybe that’s a Martin Luther King, Jr. homage as he was recently murdered:
There must be peace and understanding sometime
Strong wind of promise that will blow away the doubt and fear
If I can dream of a warmer sun, where hope keeps shining on everyone
Tell me why, oh why, oh why won’t that sun appear?
Or perhaps it’s Elvis foreshadowing the next phase of his fascinating career: If I Can Dream.
And maybe it’s for the audience…If I Can Dream.
During politically dark times…hope is always in high demand but low in supply.
Elvis was a beacon back then and he can be one today.
Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley will stream on Netflix on November 13. #SetTheVCR
Elvis is hope. Present tense.
Streaming is an amazing escape hatch to soothe end of the world drama.
About the recent American election? It is what it is.
During the NBA season I spend hours watching ESPN. Talking heads do their best to make a case why this team should win, why that team is struggling. Most of it doesn’t mean much. There’s upsets, teams make mistakes and a host of unexpected surprises which only cement that nobody knows anything.
Political polls are no different than an ESPN host making the case why a team will win. Eh, sure. No matter how sound the logic is; they’re not facts. (Or in the case of the election…votes.)
That was then, anyways. Voters had two choices and they went with Donald J Trump for Round 2.
What happens now is exciting. We know this from last time Trump was President. Curiosity is gonna flourish.
On January 23, 2018, during his first term Trump imposed tariffs on solar panels produced outside the United States. The tariffs initially started at 30% and gradually fell to 15% in four years.
And yet: In 2022, President Biden extended the now 15% tariff on solar panels another four years.
Lotta of that context gets muddled in the hyperbolic emotional reactions that passes for news these days. Being curious…asking is that true? is a noble habit.
Seek context and treasure nuance.
Be quick to read and slow to speak.
Those are the opportunities every Presidential election naturally provides. (Even if Kamala Harris was elected those principles remain.)
(2024 voters lived through Trump’s imposed tariffs in 2018. I’ll never grasp political Alzheimer’s. This wasn’t like Nixon or the Attack on Pearl Harbor or something. This was…2018.
The National Retail Federation was often vocal in its opposition of the tariffs. The NRF also launched an ad campaign with Ben Stein, who reprised his role as the economics teacher from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Remember that? That came out May 14, 2018.)
As part of Trump’s administration RFK Jr. wants to stop putting fluoride in drinking water. That’s been such a contentious issue for most of my lifetime…so many court cases.
I dunno why we decided it was the right thing to do. What are the costs and benefits? Is this a common practise? Does the formula need to be adjusted? Is this one of those it made sense back then but why do we still do it now things?
(The CBC reported: “In Canada, 38.8% of the population has access to fluoridated water. Is that true?! Is that low? High? A good thing? A bad thing?)
Clearly I dunno anything about this entire process. (Who do you even ask? Who is the fluoride in water expert?) So, I can’t publicly speak. But I can read and I can ask and I can listen.
Seek context and treasure nuance.
Be quick to read and slow to speak.
That’s always the smartest political response. And that’s what the best documentaries facilitate from Elvis Presley to Michael Jordan.
A Suspicious Mind…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
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