Elvis Week in Memphis: Among the Pilgrims
to pay tribute to Him. Photo: ThisIsIt2/Flickr (CC)
This half-hour documentary originally aired on the program Soundprint, which was part of NPR at the time. Soundprint had sold more tapes of this show than any other episode ever – at least as of the last time I checked.
MEMPHIS, TENN. — What is it about Elvis Presley that causes so many otherwise seemingly normal people to devote themselves to his memory? In this program, we take a visit to Memphis along with these pilgrims to ask certain questions:
Is there an Elvis religion?
What is it about Elvis, anyway?
What do the “faithful” get out of it? What are they seeking?
Mark Muesse, a professor of comparative religion, guides our journey and helps draw parallels between Elvisism and other, more established world religions.