For once, I'm on the right side of the age divide on a pop culture issue. I haven't been thinking enough about Elvis Presley.
Neither have a lot of other Americans, especially younger people. And that has true fans, and those who sell the legend, all shook up.
Elvis still draws crowds to Graceland, his Memphis home, 25 years after his death. He's still big business. The problem is that age is creeping up on those who make the pilgrimage to Graceland.
Those who treasure the innocent years, when Elvis' gyrating pelvis was thought so shocking it had to be shielded from TV viewers, are getting old — at least by the standards of today's youth-driven society.
Fans love the story of a poor kid from Tupelo who lived the American Dream — at least to a point. They tend to gloss over the bloated Elvis who ran through his money like Kentucky rain. But those original disciples won't be around forever.
If the Elvis-sellers are to survive, younger customers must somehow come to share the frenzied rapture of their parents and grandparents. Only then will new generations of Elvis fans be waiting to step into their blue suede shoes.
Can that be done?
I called an old friend from college who has spent years studying Elvis. She says yes, absolutely. Alanna Nash ought to know.
Alanna has spent years studying Elvis. She may be the one who started the rumor that Elvis is still alive. Alanna covered the funeral. She was the first reporter to view Elvis' body laid out in the foyer at Graceland. She looked at the man in the casket who was wearing a white business suit, light blue shirt and silver tie.
"It didn't look like Elvis," she told other reporters. "I'm not sure that's Elvis Presley."
At the time, she was sure it was a wax figure. Now, she is convinced it was Elvis.
She has written two Elvis-related books and, after three years of research and writing, is finishing her third. "Secrets and Shadows," a biography of Col. Tom Parker, Elvis' manager, is due out next year.
"Elvis is the most important person of the 20th century," Alanna said. She wasn't kidding.
"It sounds ludicrous, but he changed everything. There was no teen culture before Elvis Presley . . . no clothes, no music, no anything. The idea of teenagers having their own world came from Elvis Presley. And he opened the door for race relations. Before Elvis, white teenagers didn't listen to black music. Elvis made that possible.
"And the music is still so fresh. You listen to the Sun Records from 1955, and you can't sit still. It is brilliant. It is the synthesis of American music to this day. Nobody can resist that early stuff."
She wasn't finished.
"Elvis is bigger than any U.S. president," Alanna contended, "except maybe JFK."
The idea that people would stop traveling to Graceland? "You might as well say Mount Vernon is going to shut down. It's not going to happen."
If tourism at the mansion falls, the estate will do whatever it takes to keep visitors coming — even if it means opening the second floor, she said. On the second floor are Elvis' bedroom and the bathroom where he died.
It doesn't sound that easy to me.
The younger generation has been brought up on cautionary tales of the eccentric Elvis who died of a drug overdose at 42. These young people may not remember — or care — that President Bill Clinton's Secret Service code name was Elvis. It's been 10 years since candidate Clinton charmed voters of his generation by going on Arsenio Hall with his sax and playing "Heartbreak Hotel."
Still, the savvy marketers are unleashing an Elvis extravaganza aimed at 20- and 30-somethings. The promotions are timed to take advantage of the hoopla surrounding the 25th anniversary of Elvis' death in August.
In the past couple of years, the still-dead Elvis has staged a worldwide concert tour, appearing on video while live musicians accompanied him onstage.
Nike uses Elvis singing "A Little Less Conversation" in its World Cup Soccer TV ads. Elvis furniture is coming soon to a store near you. There will be McDonald's "Happy Meals" and Elvis' CDs with new releases of old favorites. You can get a King of Rock 'n' Roll Monopoly game and "relive the magic of Elvis."
The official Elvis Website www.elvis.com carries a 24-hour "GracelandCam" with live shots of the mansion, as if the man himself might walk outside any minute.
I don't know what to make of these measures. They seem desperate. Maybe Elvis is on his way to becoming a latter-day Glenn Miller.
What do you think? Will this hunka hunka burnin' love live forever?
E-mail: mmercer@mediageneral.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.