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GAZETTE

         I enjoyed listening to Elvis Presley music on August 16th, 2012, as various television channels recognized the 35th anniversary of his death.  Elvis died on August 16th, 1977.  When I hear Elvis' voice, which seems to come from another dimension, I stop everything I'm doing for a moment and just listen.  Elvis loved his mother and he sang church songs; there was a goodness in that boy.

         I was in grade school when Elvis was becoming popular and I remember saying to my little girl friends, "I like Pat Boone."  Actually, as a child I had little or no time for either of them.  There was one radio at home and it was normally turned to Yankton, South Dakota, for farm markets, or 830 WCCO.  Remember Cedric Adams and the Noon Time News?  How about the "Romance of Helen Trent" during the day or "Gunsmoke at night"?  Although faintly, I even hear Amos and Andy and Kingfisher in the background. 

         It never crossed my mind to suggest a different channel, and it never crossed my mind to change channels for myself.  You just didn't tamper with some things, especially when the radio is sitting high atop the round shouldered Kelvinator refrigerator.

         But we could tamper a bit with the television channels because they were within reach, all three of them.  If we got one or two of the three channels to stop rolling or snowing, we were happy.  Especially if it was after school with "Axel and His Dog" or Saturday morning with "Captain Eleven" and "Fury, the Story of a Horse and the Boy Who Loved Him."

         In high school I became familiar with KDWB on the car radio, but I hardly ever drove the car -- it was one car per family in those days -- so when the Beetles came along, I knew about them because of television and school, not the radio.  It was easy to sing the Beetles songs because there was a lot of repetition, like in "All You Need is Love."  But I preferred Andy Williams for sock hops in the high school gym where I danced with Allan Orsen, among others, to "Moon River."

         After I detasseled corn for a week that last summer before college, I earned enough money to buy luggage, a hi-fi stereo that played both 45's and 78's, and a radio.  All of the above were deemed to be very important for going off to college.

         The luggage was used for coming and going, of course.  The hi-fi stereo was used for The Carpenters, Sonny and Cher, The Mama's and Papa's, Simon and Garfunkel -- also Al Hirt and Eddy Arnold, sometimes Elvis Presley.  The radio was used to wake me up in the morning.  That white plastic radio with the big clock face on the front was the best and most reliable alarm I've ever had.

         When Elvis died in 1977, I had already been married seven years, and Jenny and Nick were growing up on Lilac Lane in Victoria, Minnesota.  By then Elvis had become bloated and drugged and embarrassing to watch on television.  I remember feeling bad for him because he was basically a good boy who, as I said, loved his mother and often sang church songs, but he had allowed himself to be used and overrun by a bad crowd.

         There are those who blame Elvis for the start of raunchy music and behavior in the entertainment industry and thus society at large.  Maybe it's true; maybe it's not.  The 1960's turned the world upside down in many ways. 

         Some of you may remember the gasps from audiences around the country when Elvis appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.  Amazing, we also had Bishop Fulton J. Sheen with his own television show teaching us that "Life is Worth Living."  I suggest Fulton and Elvis have since met in that other dimension and are fast friends today, especially if Elvis is still singing "How Great Thou Art."

         When I ran across that quote next door (in The Editor's Favorite Notes and Quotes) in a recent issue of Touchstone magazine about the power of music, it hit home immediately.  Music does shape our soul, for good or for ill.  We are altered according to the music we listen to, and that goes for both children and adults.  It's important to know what music our children are listening to.  Music impacts mood and behavior and therefore the soul, which defines character.

         When I hear polka music, I dance.  When I hear country music, I sing.  When I hear classical music, I'm lifted.  When I hear some "music," I turn it off. 

         When I am in need of a change of venue, a change of landscape, a change of attitude, I turn to my music -- DeBussy, Mozart, Strauss, Tim Janis, Susan Boyle, John McDermott, George Strait, Aaron Neville, and others.  Sometimes I turn to my CD's of Elvis.  I believe Elvis had a good heart and that he tried to lead us in a good direction,which is why he is lasting.  Maybe you've heard him sing, "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, His Truth is Marching On!"

September 2012

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From the Editor