Suspicious Mind - Elvis Presley
On Aug. 16, 2017, we will celebrate 40 years since Elvis Presley died.
In 2016, however, we celebrate 40 years since the last time The King of Rock "n" Roll visited Syracuse.
Elvis, then 41, performed two sold-out concerts at the War Memorial in July 1976, giving 16,000 fans their final chances to see the legendary rocker in Syracuse. He sang many of his classics, including "Hound Dog," "All Shook Up," "I Got A Woman," "Can"t Help Falling in Love" and "Don"t Be Cruel."
The July 25 show went down in Syracuse history, thanks to a scathing review by Dale Rice, a 25-year-old education reporter for The Post-Standard.
Elvis Presley performs in concert at the Syracuse War Memorial on July 25, 1976. Clem Murray | The Post-Standard"The s*x idol is dead!"
Printed under the headline "Fat, Puffy, Has-Been Elvis Is Outshone by His Costume," the concert review sparked what one editor later called a "firestorm of protest."
Rice opened the review with the line "The s*x idol is dead!" followed by withering jabs about Elvis" puffy cheeks, double chin and "mediocre" singing.
"The show lacked enthusiasm, and the only thing that sparkled was Elvis" costume," he wrote. "The suit featured a wide (very wide) belt that must have been designed to disguise the fact that Elvis is overweight. It didn"t help. Elvis is fat, and there"s no hiding it."
Rice was not a music critic. At the time, the newspaper didn"t employ a full-time music journalist, so various reporters from the public affairs department would be sent to cover major acts in Syracuse. Rice later said no education or city hall story ever brought him as much attention as his Elvis critique.
Fans of The King responded with outrage. Hundreds of furious letters and phone calls flooded The Post-Standard newsroom, calling Rice"s review "totally unfair," "uncalled for" and "completely wrong."
The morning the review published, angry fans managed to track down Rice"s home phone number. Rice woke up to several phone calls with "strings of expletives." He eventually unplugged his phone and went back to sleep.
Escape to Wyoming
On July 28, Rice struck back. A picture of Rice appeared on The Post-Standard editorial page with Rice"s reply to the angry fans.
"With a single review of an Elvis Presley concert I became infamous and notorious overnight. At least several hundred, maybe even several thousand, female fans (not to mention a handful of males) directed their fury at me...One phone call after another arrived at my home. They questioned. They shouted. And they swore...I don"t need a hearing aid. My vision is 20-20. I"m not jealous of Elvis, and I love my mother. I may have encroached on the fantasies many women have harbored for the last 20 years, but I still stand by my original review. I wrote it as I saw it, and the phone calls and letters have done nothing to change my mind."Best of all, Rice ended the response by sharing his plans to escape: "If you want to get in touch with me now, forget it. I leave tomorrow for Wyoming. There, I will spend the next two weeks backpacking and mountain climbing where there"s no forwarding address."
The letters kept coming, and The Post-Standard even had to run an editorial on July 30, asking readers to "let the controversy die." The editorial promised readers all their angry letters would be saved for Rice to read when he returned from his Wyoming trip.
The War Memorial marquee tells the story - "Syracuse Loves Elvis" - as thousands of Central New Yorkers enter the second straight sellout performance by Elvis Presley on July 28, 1976. Clem Murray | The Post-StandardElvis leaves Syracuse on a good note
The Post-Standard sent Mike Holdridge, the newspaper"s sports editor (and avid Elvis fan), to review Presley"s second War Memorial show on July 28. Unsurprisingly, he wrote a rave.
"The "King" lives!" Holdridge wrote. "Presley was nothing less than dynamite as he crooned his way through a fine mixture of love songs and had "em rockin" in the aisles with the kind of tunes he does best."
Holdridge quoted Elvis" closing comments to the Syracuse fans: "You"ve been one of the finest audiences we"ve ever worked with." Elvis then said he"d be back "if you want me."
Elvis planned to make a return appearance at the War Memorial, Aug. 20, 1977, but never did. Presley died from a heart attack in Memphis on Aug. 16.
Dale Rice reflects, four decades later
Today, Rice works as the director of the journalism studies program at Texas A&M University. His 35-year career included jobs as a city hall reporter, education writer, capital bureau chief, business editor, features editor and restaurant critic.
"What I wrote was representative of an emphasis on journalism in the post-Watergate era," said Rice, now 65. "There was a real effort to tell what you saw as the truth, to write things the way you saw it. But I learned you can tread a bit more lightly when you are dealing with people"s heroes."
Rice stayed at The Post-Standard for six years. He saved a bundle of those angry Elvis letters and still hangs on to them, 40 years later.
"I thought someday I might write a piece that looks at fandom and the passion people carry," he said. "I can look back and really appreciate the position those fans took. I didn"t have any animosity to the people who hated me."
Today, Rice would tell those fans he "really respected their passion" for Elvis" music and dedication to him.
"They held Elvis up as someone very special, that represented more than just music," he said. "For so many of them, he represented their youth and a changing time in American society. He was an important part of their lives, and I certainly recognized that."
However, Rice still stands by his review.
"I still don"t think it was a great performance," he said. "I did not think it was a performance worthy of the audience."
Johnathan Croyle contributed to this report.
Katrina Tulloch writes music and culture stories for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact her: Email | Twitter | Facebook
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Source: http://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/08/fat_puffy_has-been_elvis_panned_in_syracuse_video.html
