Sandra Dodd

It's Elvis's birthday. He's dead, so he doesn't care, but it would
have been his birthday.

I was never a big Elvis fan, though I know many of the songs in the
visceral way that people know familiar recordings and if you're
hearing an alternate version it's jarring. My favorite ever is "I
Can't Help Falling in Love With You." I like his recording, and I
much enjoy UB40's.

So I was letting my thoughts zing here and there, as they do, and
"letting them" is an odd thought because they just do it, and
thinking about memories and connections and unschooling. I have
some newly-thought thoughts about it, but first I want to exhume and
put here something I wrote a long time back, and will post the other
in other places.

This is here, too:
http://sandadodd.com/dot/elvis
(there's more at the website, and where it says "back to the present"
below it means back to the present when it was published years ago)


How Elvis Appears to Unschoolers

Sandra Dodd


Once long ago, in 1993, on Prodigy's Homeschooling bulletin board, I
wrote this, and it conjured Elvis:
Some time back there was a request for songs to be sung which would
be educational. As music itself is a discipline, I think any music
can be used as an educational tool. It can tie in with physical
activity, mathematics, physics, history, geography, art, language,
and it can be used to get kids excited and awake, or calm and asleep,
or anything in between. I don't mean singing about math or history,
either, but discussing the form of the music, the rhythm, the moods,
the origins, the instruments on which it is traditionally played, the
length and pattern of the verses (or phrases, or whatever), what its
purpose is (a march, background music for a movie or for an 18th
century fireworks show, a lullaby, a love song), etc.

Don't miss this fun and easy opportunity to tie different "subjects"
together by using a song as a jumping off place to many different
discussions. If you need ideas, name a song here and see how many
suggestions you can get for it!

So that sat out in public for nearly two hours before someone wrote.
"Ok, I'll try that. 'Blue Suede Shoes'."
I had never been an Elvis fan. Still, it was rich with potential. The
next ten paragraphs here were the response:

Look up pictures of the 50's. What was happening in those days? Where
did Elvis Presley come from?

What was the deal with Black music in those days? What was new that
benefited Elvis's career? (Television! Cheap color movies!) How was
his induction into the army (combined with his popularity) used by
the government? Find some old magazines with articles showing him in
uniform, in his barracks, etc.

What is suede, anyway? How is it made? How far back in history was
there suede? How is leather tanned? How would suede be made blue? How
does dye work? (Visit Tandy leather, or a shoe repair place. Tie-dye
something.)

Talk about slang. Much of what was slang in the 50's is mainstream
English now. What is slang that hasn't yet died out or been accepted
by a larger group?

"One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and [go,
cat] go": With "four to go," what is that used for outside this song?
Is it fair to just steal words from just anywhere for song lyrics?
Sure it is! Look for some other examples. (It might take months of
casual listening to find another example, but there are lots.)

What is "slander"? (Check "libel".)

If the children are trained in music, you can talk about syncopation.
If they're up on music technology, discuss the simple mixing that
went on at recording studios in the 50's and early 60's, before
stereo was common (and before mono was no more). Listen to the
quality of the bass line and compare it to a modern recording with a
broader spectrum and newer technology on storage and playback. Find
something that explains how magnetic tape works for sound recording
and CD's and phonograph records. (Usborne's music and science books
have some stuff about this, and encyclopedias have too.)

What instrument did Elvis Presley play? Do you have a guitar at your
house, and could the kids learn a few chords? (Blue Suede Shoes can
be played with four, I think, in a simplified form.) What other
instruments are on the recording? What time signature is the song in?
What key? How could you find out? (pitch pipe, keyboard)

What's the difference between rock'n'roll and jazz? Blues? (This
might be easier by identifying samples-i.e. multiple choice-than by
definition.)

These are just the things I'm thinking of as fast as I can type. Some
would be too hard for some kids, some might not interest the parents
or kids, but every one could lead to something else, which could lead
to something else again. Looking through old Life or Look magazines
would reveal lots of civil rights activity, the Korean War, the first
days of Camp David, advertisements for modern gas appliances,
discussions of the new suburban homes (40-yr-old houses, shown as
brand new cutting-edge technology), and advertisements for
automobiles (with the prices, even in those days), and Elvis might be
just a tiny thought on the side of learning about the 50's. How did I
do? Others should add more!

So, back to the present now, I was amazed at how much had poured out.
That led to my "Everything is Educational" belief which has turned
into folders and workshops. Elvis had finally really captured my
attention.
A few years later my kids asked about Hawaii and were amazed that I
was already alive when Hawaii became a state and remembered reading
about it in Weekly Reader at school. "Tell us more." I thought of
Elvis again, and went and rented "Blue Hawaii." We ate pineapple. I
found an umbrella I had bought at a thrift shop that was manufactured
in Hawaii before statehood. That started our "unit" on Hawaii, but as
I explained things to them ideas were coming together and being taken
apart in my own mind.

When "Blue Hawaii" was new, Americans were seeing some of their first
BIG, color photos of Hawaii, and some of their first moving footage.
TV was still in black and white, and newspapers were too. Even most
magazines were full of black and white photographs.

We talked about Germany, the Berlin Wall, prejudice, colonization,
plantations, volcanos, latitude, oceanography, music, fashion,
realities in wealthy families which don't apply to poorer familes,
cultural traditions, the changing culture after WWII... We talked
about commercial airlines, engineering and economics. We got more out
of a movie that was never intended (except for the tolerance and anti-
prejudice messages) than I expected we would. And still I left things
out. The actress wasn't really half Hawaiian (I'm guessing), but I
left that for my kids to figure out later on their own.

Part of what this sort of exploration takes is the willingness to let
go of an "outline" or of a hope that you will find something, and an
ability to go with what you do find. It's the big airplane hangar
door to unschooling, through which, if you can leave the schoolish
building your own mind has built, which has "academics" sorted and
stacked against old walls with bad memories, you can see that light
of the real world outside. Just move out toward those cliffs and
flowers and see what kind of birds are out there.

So take up a glass of pineapple juice while "Blue Suede Shoes" blares
in the background. Here's hoping you see Elvis soon!


 

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sandra Dodd

On Jan 8, 2006, at 8:30 AM, Sandra Dodd wrote:

> It's Elvis's birthday.


=========

So I was thinking... It would be fun if we could have a snapshot set
of statistics of the people on this list as to who remembered seeing
Elvis on TV (pre-Las Vegas days), and had seen him in person, who had
visited Graceland, who was born after Elvis died, and who would need
to say "Who?" But then I thought it's not knowing how many, it's
knowing that there would probably be some in every category.

Then, thinking about how I'm not a statistician and I don't want to
set up a poll and it doesn't matter anyway, I thought of the kinds of
correlations that serve as "proof" in our culture, especially
regarding sociology and education and health, and how we could
"prove" some bogus stuff. Like... I bet that those unschoolers who
saw Elvis on TV in the 50's and early 60's are less worried about
whether their children will learn to read than those who never saw
Elvis on TV.

Sandra

jessi koons

Sandra,
If you're feeling interested in statistics, and are up for a good laugh, google "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster." It's a website regarding a letter that was written to the Kansas City School Board about teaching intelligent design/Creationism in science classes. In any event, there's a really funny part in which the author makes a correlation between global warming and pirates. Give it a read, if you like. :)

Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>So I was thinking... It would be fun if we could have a snapshot set
of statistics of the people on this list as to who
Then, thinking about how I'm not a statistician and I don't want to
set up a poll and it doesn't matter anyway, I thought of the kinds of
correlations that serve as "proof" in our culture, especially
regarding sociology and education and health, and how we could
"prove" some bogus stuff. Like... I bet that those unschoolers who
saw Elvis on TV in the 50's and early 60's are less worried about
whether their children will learn to read than those who never saw
Elvis on TV.

Sandra





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Ren Allen

'who had
visited Graceland,"

I can even tie that to the conference!:) We stopped there in 1998 on
our way to Springfield and then again this October, on our way to St.
Louis for Live and Learn.

Aaron Jansen was traveling with us from Pensacola, and we stayed in a
hotel right up the street from Graceland. We drove past it in the
morning so he could say he'd seen it...he'd been through Memphis many
times and never saw Graceland.:)

But it wasn't Elvis that we were excited about that day..it was the
Peabody ducks. So off to the Peabody hotel we went.

Ren

Ann

Ren Allen <starsuncloud@...> wrote:
But it wasn't Elvis that we were excited about that day..it was the
Peabody ducks. So off to the Peabody hotel we went.

******

Several years ago I drove my daughters to Memphis because they were enchanted with Brittany Spears at the time and she was there in concert. What turned out to be the most fun for all of us was hanging out on Beale street and seeing the musicians just stop on a corner and play a sax or trumpet,it was great! The cajun food was awesome as well. The second thing they loved most was the Peabody Hotel because of the ducks. We have more photos of the ducks than we do anything else:0) We never made it to Graceland either. I love going on trips that don't have an itinerary.

Ann




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Sandra Dodd

On Jan 8, 2006, at 10:11 AM, jessi koons wrote:

> there's a really funny part in which the author makes a
> correlation between global warming and pirates. Give it a read, if
> you like. :)

----------------

I HAVE seen it, and it's great.

There's another thing that has gone along for years you might find by
google too, that "proves" that being Baptist lures (or creates?)
tornados. It doesn't help to live near Methodists, or to be in a
mobile home, but it's the being Baptist, statistically, that's the
problem.

Sandra
former Baptist

elainegh8

Hi
In the UK there was a looooong run of Elvis films on TV in the
70's. They're certainly a strong memory from my childhood. I even got
bought a double Elvis album when I was a kid and I wasn't even a big
fan.

BWs Elaine

Like... I bet that those unschoolers who
> saw Elvis on TV in the 50's and early 60's are less worried about
> whether their children will learn to read than those who never saw
> Elvis on TV.
>
> Sandra
>

elizabeth roberts

I've never been an Elvis fan. I was born in 1975 and I have no idea of just when he died. I don't get the idolization of a guy just because of his singing voice, particularly as he spiraled into drug abuse and other problems before he died.

That said...We used to live in Homosassa, FL and my husband worked at the Coast Guard station up the road in Yankeetown. To get to Yankeetown, you pass through Inglis. Inglis's claim to fame is proudly announced on a marker board that Elvis filmed a movie there. I couldn't tell you which one though.

That's as close as I've gotten to the whole Elvis thing other than occasionally saying "Thank you, thank you very much" in jest on occasion.

Beth, NC


Sing, Dance, Laugh...LOVE!

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Ren Allen

"I don't get the idolization of a guy just because of his singing voice"

While I'm not a huge Elvis fan (I adore some of his music though) and
I think the idolization can get nutso, I also know his hugeness is not
"just because of his singing voice."

If you understand the culture and history, surrounding his generation
and music of the time, you'll understand just how revolutionary he
was, in many ways.

Look him up at Wikipedia, it's pretty good, here's an excerpt:

"According to Rolling Stone magazine "it was Elvis who made rock 'n'
roll the international language of pop." A PBS documentary once
described Presley as "an American music giant of the 20th century who
singlehandedly changed the course of music and culture in the mid-1950s."

[email protected]

Elvis (from the many documentaries I've endured that my husband loves...LOL)
took a lot of his ideas and style of music from the Black culture he grew up
around. That's part of the reason he was so controversial, especially being
from the south.

I saw a comedy recording of Billy Connelly, and he said when Elvis came on
the scene it was like going from this mild sort of Perry Como stuff to
gutteral ROCK AND ROLL...(not his words, but can't explain the way he did.) He said
it felt like they finally had their OWN music instead of their parents
music.

Nancy B.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

diana jenner

Sandra Dodd wrote:

>So I was thinking... It would be fun if we could have a snapshot set
>of statistics of the people on this list as to who remembered seeing
>Elvis on TV (pre-Las Vegas days), and had seen him in person, who had
>visited Graceland, who was born after Elvis died, and who would need
>to say "Who?" But then I thought it's not knowing how many, it's
>knowing that there would probably be some in every category.
>
>
Elvis played his next-to-last concert in Sioux Falls. I was around 12
and I remember the hoopla surrounding his arrival in our fair city. I
also remember exactly where I was when I found out he was dead (kinda
like others have that JFK memory) and how sad it was for him to die when
he was fat and ugly, a far cry from the beautiful young man he used to
be (I always linked musicians to how I saw my daddy - a young Johnny
Cash or a young Elvis).

My favorite Elvis story (though it may be untrue...) is him getting
arrested for lewd behavior (the whole pelvis shaking thing) and how a
strip of heater hose was discovered in his pants <bwg>

Thanks to Lilo and Stich, my kids are Elvis experts! They have no ties
to the "purity" of his music and love the remakes/remixes on the
soundtrack. We've had great talks on the Beatles vs Elvis camps of
Gramma's time and how most of this area stuck by the "All American"
young man and completely rejected "those foreigners," which is why I
grew up with very little Beatles music in my life (though Grampa played
a lot of Hank Williams for me and I can't quite understand why Hank
would be thought of as a good role model for anyone...<g>)

:) diana


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sandra Dodd

On Jan 10, 2006, at 10:16 AM, diana jenner wrote:

> and I can't quite understand why Hank
> would be thought of as a good role model for anyone..


Because he wanted to free their doubtful minds and melt their cold,
cold hearts, I guess.

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/10/2006 6:19:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
Sandra@... writes:

> and I can't quite understand why Hank
> would be thought of as a good role model for anyone..<<

Was the original post about Hank Sr. or Hank Jr.? I know that Hank Jr. was
very manipulated by his mother (who wanted him to be a carbon copy of his
dad, mostly for the money).

He fell into alcoholism and drug abuse heavy, and got out from under that,
became his own person, and made his own kind of music, very different from his
father. Right at the peak of everything he fell from a cliff and badly
disfigured his face. That's why he has such a heavy beard, dark glasses, longer
hair and a hat all the time. There's a pretty good biographical movie about
him starring Richard Thomas (John Boy).

No one is perfect, but I'd say he did a few things OK. My husband actually
met him when he was performing for Marines overseas in Japan, and said he was
very friendly and good to his fans. I don't know as much about his dad
though, so the whole point may be mute if the post was about him!!

Nancy B.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/10/2006 8:39:30 PM Central Standard Time,
CelticFrau@... writes:

There's a pretty good biographical movie about
him starring Richard Thomas (John Boy).



~~~

I met John Boy and used to have his autograph around here somewhere and I
was almost an extra in a movie he made in the town I went to high school in. I
rode my bike to town and watched the filming every day for about a week.
Dennis Quaid was in it, too, but I didn't know that until recently. I really
wish NOW I had known who Dennis Quaid was then!

Karen


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

diana jenner

CelticFrau@... wrote:

>In a message dated 1/10/2006 6:19:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>Sandra@... writes:
>
>
>
>>and I can't quite understand why Hank
>>would be thought of as a good role model for anyone..<<
>>
>>
>
>Was the original post about Hank Sr. or Hank Jr.? I know that Hank Jr. was
>very manipulated by his mother (who wanted him to be a carbon copy of his
>dad, mostly for the money).
>
>
It was Hank Sr -- I grew up knowing the words to "Whiskey Weed Women"
I'm sure my grampa would have freaked if he ever heard Snoop Doggy Dogg
singing "Gin & Juice" but I guess the topic was okay for ol' Hank <bwg>

on an aside: has anyone else heard the country version of Gin & Juice??
It's hilarious! It's by The Gourds.

:) diana


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Paige Parr

diana jenner <hahamommy@...> wrote:
on an aside: has anyone else heard the country version of Gin & Juice??
It's hilarious! It's by The Gourds.

:) diana
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
It's one of our all-time faves here...we like to compare the two versions. My girls love to jam out in the van when it comes on. ;-)

Thanks for the heads-up on the band, BTW...we have seen Phish AND Government Mule credited as doing the bluegrass version, but we'd never seen the Gourds listed.

Paige








Paige in Virginia
Unschooling Mama to four daughters: Shelby (12), Tori (7), Ashlyn (6), and Loryn (3)

I'm bloggin' here: http://autodidactsanonymous.blogspot.com/












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nellebelle

Gillian Welch has a song about Elvis. The album title is Time (The Revelator).

Mary Ellen

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

diana jenner

Paige Parr wrote:

> Thanks for the heads-up on the band, BTW...we have seen Phish AND Government Mule credited as doing the bluegrass version, but we'd never seen the Gourds listed.
>
>
Just an FYI: it's not the *band* Phish who does it, but a rapper /named/
Phish who worked on the original with Snoop, hence the confusion (though
when I heard it, I immediately wanted to ask Ben & Cameron Lovejoy if
they'd heard this version live... I was so sad it's not the band...
maybe they should consider covering it! <bwg>)

:) diana


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

-----Original Message-----
From: diana jenner hahamommy@...

Just an FYI: it's not the *band* Phish who does it, but a rapper /named/
Phish who worked on the original with Snoop, hence the confusion (though
when I heard it, I immediately wanted to ask Ben & Cameron Lovejoy if
they'd heard this version live... I was so sad it's not the band...
maybe they should consider covering it! <bwg>)

-=-=-=-

You know the band is no more, right?

They've split.

~Kelly

Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://liveandlearnconference.org



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