“DID YOU LOVE ELVIS PRESLEY?” That was the question that popped up on Quora on Friday and that I ignored over the weekend. It seems kinda dumb but this morning it caught my attention again and I thought I’d check out whatever answers had been posted in the past few days. One answer from a young man signed in as Zeek Street stood out from the others:
“I wasn’t born in that time period and I’m not much of a rock and roll sort of guy. However, he was an innovator in his own right and paved the way for artists like Ed Sheeran and the likes.” 1
This is actually a favorite topic of mine, although not a topic I have addressed at any length in any of my essays. Nonetheless, I immediately responded to his comment:
“Zeek, most people—or maybe I should say ‘most record buyers’—do not now or ever did genuinely like genuine rock & roll. What most (white) record buyers like/liked was pop music with a beat and a little rhythm.”
To the original Quora question, “Did you love Elvis Presley?” I answered, What’s with the past tense “did”?
Finally, to read the entire thread, click HERE.
FEATURED IMAGE: The photo at the top of this page is of Elvis the Pelvis, Steve Allen, and Sherlock This photo was taken during rehearsal, prior to the broadcast where Elvis was legendarily angered or embarrassed or humiliated by having to sing to a dog. He doesn’t look remotely put off by the dog in this photo. As for Allen’s get-up and props (10-gallon hat, 6-shooter, and fake guitar), Elvis also took part in his first and only comedy skit titled “Range Roundup” with Allen, Imogene Coca, and Andy Griffith. 2
FOOTNOTES:
1 Hah! I didn’t have to look up who Ed Sheeran is because I saw the movie Yesterday!
2 I suppose you could count Presley’s performance with Frank Sinatra on the latter’s 1960 television special as a comedy skit of sorts.
Hi there,
My uncle died from COVID complications a few months ago. He was a huge Elvis fan and collector.
His wife is looking to sell his collection of records which he said was valuable. She needs it to help pay their expenses.
Do you happen to have any insight on where is the best place to sell it besides ebay? Is there an auction house or company you may be aware of?
Thanks in advance!
JENNY
My condolences for the loss of your uncle.
Trying to sell a collection is a Herculean task for a non-record collector. You will ahve to purchase the following:
• protective sleeves
• mailing boxes
• mailing pads/inserts for those boxes
• rolls of tape, you have to know how to correctly grade both records and sleeves/jackets.
Many novices advertise records by saying that a record “looks like it’s in good condition.” In record collecting, “good” means “almost bad,” which is not the type of condition that 90% of collectors are willing to pay for. So to make sure you don’t sell a $500 record for $50, you have to be able to judge the difference between VG and VG+ and NM.
Sell individually
The only way you will get anything near the real market value of the records is to sell them one-by-one. The two best online sites for selling used records is eBay and Discogs. If you have a LOT of records and most of them are common, then it will take years to sell them that way and you will be constantly lowering the asking price to make the sale.
Sell as a collection
If you sell the records as collection, you will get about 15% of their real market value—and that’s if you sell to a decently honest dealer.
Sell through consignment
A third option is to have an established dealer sell the records for you and split the money with him/her.
Finally
Did your uncle keep a written inventory of his collection and if he did, can you send it to me? That way I can better asses
Hope this helps …
NEAL