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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Richard Banks

Aired August 11, 2002 - 11:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Beale Street was teaming with fans and "Jail House Rockers," as well, as Memphis kicked off Elvis week with a parade. August 16 is the 25th anniversary of Presley's death, but organizers call last night's event "a celebration of life." It's just a start of a full week of Elvis worship events in and around Memphis.
So, you don't have to limit your time to Graceland, if you're looking for place to visit with an Elvis connection. Of course, the King has connections to many places in Memphis, and about his birthplace as well, Tupelo, Mississippi.

We head now to Memphis, where Richard Banks, with "Southern Living" magazine can tell us more about Elvis destinations.

Hello, Richard.

RICHARD BANKS, SOUTHERN LIVING MAGAZINE: Hello, Kris, welcome from Memphis.

OSBORN: Absolutely. So, tell us about this week, and everything it involves, of course an exciting time for Elvis fans.

BANKS: It is exciting. It's the 25th anniversary of his death, which in one sense is sad, you know, we lost the King, who's now had a career in death that was longer than his career when he was alive, and he's still doing pretty well, I'd say, and -- so, now it's 25th anniversary, as I said, and today, there's a slew of events all the way through next Thursday, and even on into next weekend, too.

The big thing, I think, today, and I'm looking here through my notes, because there is so much -- today, for instance, there's Andy Child (ph) at Elvis Presley's Memphis, which is his a, which is Elvis Presley Enterprises club on Graceland, and also today, which is one of the things that will provide a lot of insight, unique insight into Elvis, George Kline (ph), who was a good friend of Elvis' when Elvis was alive, of course, and who's been a radio personality here in Memphis holds an event called "George Kline's Elvis Memphis Mafia Reunion," and the Memphis mafia was a group of people that were friends with Elvis, that worked for Elvis. And they'll provide, I'm sure, a lot of interesting tidbits, and it also provides a forum for people to ask questions of the group, too.

And probably, you know, you go from some things that are rather bizarre, like the -- there is the towel (ph) of Elvis, I think there's an event Thursday or Friday that's being held here in Memphis as well, to some stuff that's relatively scholarly. At the University of Memphis, Peter Goralnick (ph), and I hope I'm pronouncing his name correctly, who's written a definitive biography of Elvis -- it's a two parter -- will be part of a forum on Elvis, discussing, you know, the pop culture influences, and things along that line, along with perhaps the most scholarly music critic in America, a guy named Grill Marcus (ph), and this will be Thursday night.

And then Thursday night beginning at 9:00 p.m., it's the beginning of the vigil, where thousands of people, and Elvis Presley Enterprises is predicting maybe as many as 20,000 people are going to show up -- Thursday night, and a lot of these people are going to stand in line anywhere from four to six, to maybe even eight hours, each of them holding a candle lit from the eternal flame up at Medication (ph) Gardens where Elvis and his parents are buried, and that will last possibly to as late as noon on Friday the next day.

So, we're talking about a good 15-hour event, and people will stand in line for that long. It's a solemn event, in one sense. People will stand in line and tear up and cry, while, sort of on the periphery, you've got Elvis impersonators working the ground, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and getting pictures taken, and things a lot that line.

OSBORN: You know, Richard, you were talking about the fans and their level of devotion, their level of enthusiasm of course, for the King. I read there were something like 70,000 may be coming to pay homage -- talk more about the fans, and the level of their devotion.

BANKS: Yes, it's a -- it's a big deal for these people. I mean, a lot of them are coming from halfway around the globe, and the fact is, the 25th, of course, it's a nice round number and you get that many more people that are in, but you've got people that come to Memphis for these kind of events. And this is a real pilgrimage for them. Graceland is something of a Mecca, and they are very serious about Elvis, the love of Elvis, and who he was.

I mean, this is a guy who embodies so much of what is America. It's a rags to riches story. Elvis loved his mama. He had a great heart. He bought, you know, several nurses through the years, cars, and other people that he just met, sort of here and there. But he also sort of had this other side to him too, which was -- he just lived some excesses, and things along that line, especially toward the later years of his life.

But I think people really connect with this man who's become so much more than a man in life and in death, and they absolutely adore him. And it's tough sometimes being a local -- I'm nearly a native Memphian, and, it's a sometimes, you know, we get a little bit irreverent, I think, in what we do, and sometimes the fans don't quite understand that. But yet there is an appreciation of Elvis that extends to even the most cynical of Memphians, because this is a man who, I think, to a certain extent, even helped bring down, you know, the iron curtain. He was sort of the embodiment of that rock'n roll, that cultural revolution that spread across the globe, and I think we all understand that. OSBORN: Well, many fans will doubtless delight, to hear your commentary talking about him. I wanted to quickly ask you about how Turner South and "Southern Living" are celebrating, commemorating, of course, the memory of Elvis.

BANKS: Yes, there is a, next Sunday, that's August the 18th, beginning at 10:00 Eastern time on Turner South, they're going to start their Elvis movie marathon. The movie marathon will culminate in the best of all Elvis movies, which in my opinion at least, is "Jail House Rock." He was robbed the Academy, by the way, he should've gotten a nomination, I think, for that one. But -- and then after the Elvis movie marathon on Turner South, they're going to show the "Southern Living Presents" episode that features a tour of Graceland, as well as the wedding a chapel, which is located next door, and people can come rent out that -- the wedding chapel, of course, and have their ceremony there at -- or at least nearby the home of the King.

OSBORN: The home of the King. Richard Banks from Memphis, thank you very much.

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