American Idol & Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis: Confirmed

I just found this gem for Q3 on MJs (actually, it was yesterday and I left the browser up as I can only stand scanning a page or two of commooonts there):

Q3:
04/08/2010 at 6:46 pm
elrok:
04/08/2010 at 5:47 pm
Adam is a good choice for Elvis week. They have plenty in common: Born and raised in the South – grew up listening to county, bluegrass, gospel, and Delta blues – sang in church – played small clubs in Arkansas … who was that we were talking about???

Love it! OK I’m all for Viva Kris!!
But to be accurate Elvis did not grow up listening to bluegrass — bluegrass was developed in Kentucky in the mid-40’s and not heard in Mississippi until much later. Elvis was born in 1935 and grew up in Tupelo, MS listening to White Gospel Music, “hillbilly” music on his favorite radio program Mississippi Slim’s show on the Tupelo radio station WELO, and Blues — and Elvis heard a lot more than Mississippi Delta Blues, that is just one of the blue traditions that flourished in Mississippi at the time.
And just a matter of state pride — Arkansas has almost nothing to do with the “Delta Blues” — the Delta Blues came from Mississippi and Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the Crossroads in Mississippi.
Elvis was a brilliant musician whose celebrity and image overshadowed his musical accomplishment. Elvis created a new musical fusion, could not get radio airplay, had trouble getting signed to a major label but RCA Record took a chance on him, was accused of doing obscene TV performances, was a multi-genre artist and criticized for not focusing on one genre, had an encyclopedic knowledge of music, was hard to classify as a vocalist and musicologists are still debating if he was a bari or a tenor [compromise is high tenor], vocally described as “often brilliant” at the top [upper range], with the capacity for “full-voiced high Gs and As that an opera baritone might envy, was able to duplicate the open, hoarse, ecstatic, screaming, shouting, wailing, reckless sound of the black rhythm-and-blues and gospel singers,demonstrated a remarkable ability to assimilate many other vocal styles, had mostly female fans who found him “sexy’, was universally described as nice, was very loyal to his friends, like sharp close and enjoyed dressing up, was totally unique, and was one hell of a live performer. Sound like anyone we know. Who was that we were talking about???