Elvis Presley

Like him or not, Elvis Presley was an entertainer of such immense popularity as to defy comparison in his era. Beyond that, during his lifetime he was one of the most influential humans on earth -- not just in terms of music and art, but also in his impact on social customs, sexual attitudes, class divisions, style, the nature of irony and the self-image of hundreds of millions of people. The Beatles idolized him. Rock 'n' roll emanated from him. Richard Nixon opened his Oval Office trinkets drawer to him. More people have impersonated him than anyone save Santa Claus, whose historical authenticity is, at best, questionable.

ALL THE HOOPLA about Elvis Presley last week seems to me to have been largely wrongheaded because too many things were mixed up. Mr. Presley was an important cultural figure, but he was not an artist; he was an entertainer. His "revolution" was not at all musical because he was not capable of making a musical revolution. His abilities were too small for anything of that sort. He was no Louis Armstrong or any derivation of that level of talent, the sort of genius who provides truly new ways of expressing the human condition.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Elvis Presley is crooning over a synthesized dance beat. Again. "A little less conversation, a little more action," he sings, as another van filled with tourists rolls off toward the Graceland mansion. The song blares all around Memphis. It greets guests checking into Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel -- which is, of course, down at the end of Lonely Street. It greets shoppers cruising the Graceland Crossing for discount souvenirs. It greets diners at Elvis Presley's Memphis Restaurant, where it helps the Elvis-approved fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches go down a bit easier.

There is only one Elvis Presley - although, since the passing of The King, many have laid claim to his pop-culture throne. The latest entrant is bad-boy rapper Eminem. On his current album, The Eminem Show, he lays out his case: "No, I'm not the first king of controversy/I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley to do black music so selfishly/and use it to get myself wealthy," he raps in his hit "Without Me." In his manifesto "White America," he says, "Look at my sales/Let's do the math/If I was black, I woulda sold half."

A very important Elvis day is coming up this week. Friday, Aug. 16, will mark the 25th anniversary of the King's death, from drug-induced cardiac arrest on the toilet in his second-floor bathroom at Graceland. Big things of a strangely religious sort are likely in store for that day in his hometown, though that is nothing new. It was clear back in 1987, at the 10th anniversary, when 50,000 "Presleyterians" gathered in the steamy heat of Memphis, Tenn., for a candlelight graveside vigil: Elvis Aron Presley had reached the status of secular saint, with Graceland his Jerusalem, complete with its solemn rituals (vigils)

Elvis may have left the building, but his doppelganger has come to the beach. In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the King's death, Elvis impersonator Jesse Garron brings his "Tribute to Elvis Presley" show to Bethany Beach, Del., tomorrow and to Ocean City Sunday. Performing Elvis hits of the '50s, '60s and '70s, in a voice that even wise men might say was surely the King's, Garron becomes Elvis, from his long sideburns to his bell-bottomed polyester suit. If you've never experienced an Elvis concert, this may be the next best thing.

HIGH POINT, N.C. - Elvis is back in the building. And soon in your bedroom, if the good ole' boys at Galax, Va.-based Vaughan-Bassett furniture makers have their way. The Elvis Presley Collection, unveiled at the spring International Home Furnishings Market here, are not reproductions of the furniture at Graceland, Elvis' home in Memphis that attracts 600,000 visitors each year. These are relatively low-key designs inspired by Graceland and the King's time in Hollywood. The "Graceland" group features the large "Love Me Tender" bed ($599)

Otis Blackwell, 70, who wrote dozens of hit songs, including "Don't Be Cruel" for Elvis Presley, died in Nashville on Monday of a heart attack. Mr. Blackwell wrote more than 1,000 songs, recorded by performers such as Ray Charles, Billy Joel, The Who, James Taylor, Otis Redding, Peggy Lee and Jerry Lee Lewis. Some of Mr. Blackwell's other credits include "Great Balls of Fire" and "Breathless," both recorded by Mr. Lewis; "Handy Man" by Mr. Taylor; "Fever" by Ms. Lee; "Daddy Rolling Stone" by The Who; and "Return to Sender" and "All Shook Up," each recorded by Mr. Presley.

Elvis is at the drive-through. He's there in the speaker-box beneath the menu board, and he wants to know if you want fries with that. How 'bout a Coke, too? Elvis is here to help. Elvis recommends a combo meal. "Please drive around," he says, "and thank yew, thank yew very much." In the 24 years since Elvis Presley died, people have claimed to see him in Disney World, on Bourbon Street and at seemingly every filling station along Route 66. But as it turns out, he's in Glen Burnie, working the drive-through window at Checkers, serving up a hunka hunka burnin' beef.