The following was sent by HCB, reminding us in the process that Elvis Death Day is a little over two weeks away.
"May 1959: While Elvis Presley’s popularity in the U.S. was arguably at its all-time peak, Mexico was in the midst of a huge anti-Elvis backlash. Tijuana tabloids called him a racist and homosexual, after the singer reportedly told gossip columnist Federico de León "I'd rather kiss three black girls than a Mexican." A Mexican woman in the same column was quoted saying "I'd rather kiss three dogs than one Elvis Presley.” Mexican Radio Exitos read de León's column over the air and spearheaded a boycott of the "insolent artist," while the powerful student group Federación Estudiantil Universitaria (FEU) held public record burnings. When Elvis’ movie King Creole screened in May 1959 at the Américas Cinema in Mexico City, newspapers who’d advertised the film under the title Melodía Siniestra (Sinister Melody) reported a “riot” occurring. Mexican counterculture novelist Parménides García Saldaña wrote a short story, "El rey criollo," about the screening where several hundred gatecrashers reportedly shredded the seats and threw lit papers onto patrons from the balcony. “Before the film began,” wrote Saldaña, “it was pure chaos, a f-ing riot as they say more vulgarly. The different gangs shouted ‘Here the Guerrero [neighborhood],’ ‘Here the Roma’ ...And then some chicks come in with leather jackets with swastikas painted on them, pony tails and bobby socks, real rock and roller like…a group of guys gang up around them [and shout] “Dance!’ Mexican reporters suggested Elvis’ hip-wiggling and mannerisms proved he was either maricón (homosexual) or actually a woman in reverse-drag." (Click here for more.)
Merce Cunningham – RIP
"May 1959: While Elvis Presley’s popularity in the U.S. was arguably at its all-time peak, Mexico was in the midst of a huge anti-Elvis backlash. Tijuana tabloids called him a racist and homosexual, after the singer reportedly told gossip columnist Federico de León "I'd rather kiss three black girls than a Mexican." A Mexican woman in the same column was quoted saying "I'd rather kiss three dogs than one Elvis Presley.” Mexican Radio Exitos read de León's column over the air and spearheaded a boycott of the "insolent artist," while the powerful student group Federación Estudiantil Universitaria (FEU) held public record burnings. When Elvis’ movie King Creole screened in May 1959 at the Américas Cinema in Mexico City, newspapers who’d advertised the film under the title Melodía Siniestra (Sinister Melody) reported a “riot” occurring. Mexican counterculture novelist Parménides García Saldaña wrote a short story, "El rey criollo," about the screening where several hundred gatecrashers reportedly shredded the seats and threw lit papers onto patrons from the balcony. “Before the film began,” wrote Saldaña, “it was pure chaos, a f-ing riot as they say more vulgarly. The different gangs shouted ‘Here the Guerrero [neighborhood],’ ‘Here the Roma’ ...And then some chicks come in with leather jackets with swastikas painted on them, pony tails and bobby socks, real rock and roller like…a group of guys gang up around them [and shout] “Dance!’ Mexican reporters suggested Elvis’ hip-wiggling and mannerisms proved he was either maricón (homosexual) or actually a woman in reverse-drag." (Click here for more.)
Merce Cunningham – RIP
3:41 in the Ante Meridiem & it's still 78.1 in one of the coolest (temperature wise) rooms in the house...
ReplyDeleteThat & the clouds that formed off the cascades yesterday were immensely out of place.. tall, bounding & massive... like in the great-planes (or are they plains?)... I've never seen clouds like that rise from mountains, nor this side of the state that weren't rolling in off of the ocean. Everyone I've talked to says the same... one friend was drunk & down in the river before he noticed & said he thought Raineer had exploded & the noise had yet to hit him until he realised the clouds weren't black or moving quickly.
Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter yet & wednesday even worse... still, it isn't even august yet.
Oh... & on the Elvis quote, strangeness... but, logic tells me that I'd also rather kiss three black girls than one mexican girl, unless there were major qualitative issue involving aesthetics or hygiene between the options.
ReplyDeleteMamarracho
ReplyDeleteYou must be in the PNW. It's muy caliente ahora as our Elvis hatin' friends might say.
ReplyDeletenever mind all that,what about those girls in the leathers?
ReplyDeleteAin't nothing but a rent party.
ReplyDelete