There are famous people, and then again, there are really famous people. Imagine that you have been dead for over forty years, and the very mention of just your first name immediately reveals your identity. So when an acquaintance of mine asked, “Did you hear that Elvis will be campaigning for Trump?” I knew he was not referring to Elvis Costello, even though Costello is alive, and I thought Elvis Presley was dead.
“No,” I responded, “I have not heard this rumor. I thought Elvis died in 1977. Where did you hear this?” I asked trying to hide my incredulity. “Around,” was his succinct response.
I have always found “around” to be a prolific but unreliable source of news.
I felt a great need to ask many questions such as “Why is Elvis going to campaign for Trump?” and “Where will Elvis be campaigning” and “Will Elvis be singing on the campaign trail?” but I thought I would first ask a more relevant question, “Where has Elvis been hiding since 1977?”
This question did not stump my acquaintance as I was certain it would not, “Elvis has been a minister in a church only a few miles from Graceland. He has the keys to Graceland and sleeps there every night.”
This explanation raises more questions than I had the energy to ask. Elvis seems like an unlikely minister of any faith, and his sneaking into Graceland each night without anybody noticing defies logic, but logic does not always hold sway, especially in today’s topsy turvy world.
And so if the upcoming presidential campaign were not promising to be interesting enough, let us all be looking out for an appearance or several appearances from Elvis Presley. At the rate things are happening in this world of ours, I would not be completely surprised to find Elvis participating in this election, and to be frank, I wouldn’t mind hearing him sing “Don’t be Cruel” once again.