Quote:
"Elvis Presley is the greatest cultural force in the 20th century."
(Leonard Bernstein)
Quote:
"If you're an Elvis fan, no explanation is necessary; If you're not an Elvis fan, no explanation is possible."
(George Klein)
Quote:
"For a dead man, Elvis Presley is awfully noisy."
(Professor Gilbert B. Rodman)
Quote:
"History has him as this good old country boy, Elvis is about as country as Bono!"
(Jerry Schilling)
Quote:
"Absolute id crashed into absolute superego...as the uptightset man in America shook hands with just about the loosest."
(Mark Feeney on the 'Elvis meets Nixon' meeting)
Quote:
"Elvis is everywhere"
(Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper)
Quote:
"...especially in the South, they talk about Elvis and Jesus in the same breath"
(Michael Ventura, LA Weekly)
Quote:
"The image is one thing and the human being is another...it's very hard to live up to an image"
(Elvis Presley, Madison Square Garden press conference, 1972)
Quote:
"Elvis was a major hero of mine. I was actually stupid enough to believe that having the same birthday as him actually meant something"
(David Bowie)
Quote:
"No-one, but no-one, is his equal, or ever will be. He was, and is supreme"
(Mick Jagger)
Quote:
"I wasn't just a fan, I was his brother...there'll never be another like that soul brother"
(Soul legend, James Brown)
Quote:
"Before Elvis there was nothing!"
(John Lennon)
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Where Elvis will always be the king -
Edmond rock n'roll collector has relationship with his memorabilia |
Loralea Knox, The Edmond Sun
Pat McKenzie proudly displays some of his Elvis Presley memoribilia collection. McKenzie has been called by some, "The man who knows everything about Elvis."
(SARAH PHIPPS/The Edmond Sun) |
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Walking into Pat McKenzie's home is like walking into a rock n' roll museum. His walls are literally coated from the top to bottom with memorabilia from the great rock artists of past and present.
As you enter, you are greeted by Elvis Presley from the top of the entrance stairs. His gold albums are hung carefully, displaying pictures of him as he poses on stage for fans, in his rock star stance.
As you turn the corner, Eric Clapton plays his guitar for you from life-sized photographs, encapturing Clapton's young face, so involved in what he's playing that he never even ackowledges your presence.
Walking from Clapton's wall, you can feel Johnny Cash's eyes follow you from his framed Time magazine covers, and as you approach the Beatles wall, Abby Lane photos, anthology posters and hazes of bright album covers engulf you, wether you are a fan or not.
A shadow that is Jim Morrison can be seen along the base of the staircase, placed strangely next to the very happy, smiling man who never ages, Dick Clark, from American Band Stand.
The Beach Boys yell at you from atop the fireplace, and if you were to quickly look over your shoulder, you might even catch a glimpse of Mick Jagger sticking his tongue out at you, as an aged Rolling Stone band still rocks on.
McKenzie definitely keeps good company around him, in what some have called the largest rock n' roll collection to exist.
"There has been some talk of calling the Guinness Book of World Records," McKenzie said. "I think my collection definitely wins a prize."
Beginning his collecting days at age 9, it was a younger McKenzie who was first turned on by the rock n' roll life.
"I bought my first radio when I was 9," he said. "As soon as I turned it on, the song 'Dream Lover' by Bobby Darin was playing. I just had to run out and buy the 45 of that song. That's really how it all got started."
McKenzie found himself buying more and more 45's after hearing the music on his radio.
"All of the music that was coming around at that time, I would go out and purchase it, never intending on collecting," he said.
"But before I knew it, I had quite a collection on my hands, and it has brought me so much joy."
McKenzie's collection has also helped him in other ways. Having sustained a terrible spinal injury during a tour of duty in Vietnam, McKenzie suffered a fall in 2004 that left his memory of past events fuzzy.
"They never would call it amnesia, just a temporary loss of memory," he said.
When McKenzie came home to his collection, he slowly began to fill in some of the holes.
"Seeing my collection helped me to trigger memories that I had forgotten," he said. "Each piece has such a wonderful place in my heart."
Although McKenzie's collection features many different aspects of entertainment, from music to movies, he has a soft spot for one performer in particular.
"Had it not been for Elvis Presley, " he said, "we would have no Beatles - no Rolling Stones. He had the most remarkable stage presence the world has ever seen. His fusion of blues and gospel, making his own original sound - that's why he has been such an influential artist."
"Elvis once said that when he performed a concert, the people who paid money to see him expected there to be a show. If he didn't give that to them, they wouldn't go to see him again."
McKenzie met Elvis in 1971 in Las Vegas at the International Hotel. Much like the death of JFK, McKenzie remembers exactly where he was and what he was doing on the day that Elvis died.
"I was pulling into my driveway, coming home from a road trip," he said.
"I was just about to turn the car off when the radio had a break-through announcement saying that he had died.
"I just remember thinking 'what a loss.' To have someone so young and talented, who always gave his success to his fans, die. It was a tragedy."
Even though McKenzie's heart is with his collection, he has recently made the decision to auction some of his memorabilia items.
"When the idea came around of holding this auction, I thought about just giving a few items over. Then, I thought, 'you know what, if they want an auction, I'll give them an auction.' "
McKenzie's collection has already been appraised at over $1 million.
"Owning one of these items, to me, is just like owning a work of art - just as much as owning any Michelangelo or Monet painting and hanging it on your fireplace."
Rock n' roll has definitely influenced America's pop culture, but McKenzie says that it's influence goes much deeper than even culture fads.
"On the night that The Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show," he said.
"It was estimated that the crime rate in New York City dropped by 92 percent. Even the crooks stopped to watch!"
That night in TV, the Beatles broke a record for the number of viewers to watch any TV show. A record previously set by Mr. Elvis Presley.
McKenzie's son, Taylor, who attends Classen SAS high school, has also follwed in his father's rock n' roll footsteps, only he doesn't collect memorabilia. He's working on being the picture on one of his father's posters some day.
"(Taylor) is an amazing guitar player," McKenzie said. "When he was 14, I gave him a CD of Eric Clapton's 'Layla' to give to his guitar teacher."
"About an hour later, he came out of his guitar lesson and asked me if I wanted to hear what he had learned. As he played that song, note for note, I closed my eyes and I almost thought that Clapton was playing acoustically for me right there."
And what does McKenzie's family think about this enormous collection of his?
"The word obessive-compulsive comes up occasionally," he said. "It's a joy, not an addiction, for me to collect these things."
And, for anyone whose wondering the biggest question of all:
"No, I do not believe Elvis is still alive," McKenzie said. |
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Quote:
"Elvis Presley is the supreme socio-cultural icon in the history of pop culture"
(Dr. Gary Enders)
Quote:
" Elvis is the 'glue' which holds our society together....which subconciously gives our world meaning"
(Anonymous)
Quote:
"Eventually everybody has to die, except Elvis"
(humorist Dave Barry)
Quote:
"He is the "Big Bang", and the universe he detonated is still expanding, the pieces are still flying"
(Greil Marcus, "Dead Elvis")
Quote:
"I think Elvis Presley will never be solved"
(Nick Tosches)
Quote:
"He was the most popular man that ever walked on this planet since Christ himself was here"
(Carl Perkins)
Quote:
"When I first heard Elvis' voice I just knew I wasn't going to work for anybody...hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail"
(Bob Dylan)
Quote:
"When we were kids growing up in Liverpool, all we ever wanted was to be Elvis Presley"
(Sir Paul McCartney)
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