The King still reigns in Navajo Nation

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Thirty years ago – on Aug. 16, 1977 – the world was all shook up to learn of the death of Elvis Presley.

Born in a shotgun shack in Tupelo , Miss. , the world couldn’t help falling in love with Elvis, the flaming star that rose to become one of the most beloved entertainers of all time.
Today, 30 years after his premature death, Elvis still outsells most living performers. His estate, estimated at approximately $5 million at the time of his death, is worth hundreds of millions of dollars now.

What keeps him so popular – even with fans who weren’t even alive in his heyday?

“His persona is timeless.  His voice is gold,” said musician James Bilagody, who is a well-known Elvis impersonator. “The information highway is exceptionally complete; and a P.R. team and sales staff are diligent and successful in their efforts.”

Navajo Elvii?
Elvis is popular in the Navajo Nation. Perhaps, it’s because he played a Navajo rodeo star, Joe Lightcloud, in the movie “Stay Away, Joe?”

Several entertainers claim the crown as the “Navajo Elvis.”

In addition to Bilagody, there’s Rex Redhair and Will Foster, who bills himself as “Hosteen Dine Elvis.”

“I like to imagine what it would be like if Elvis was Navajo,” Foster, of Tuba City, said. He might sing “Hound Dog” in Navajo, or pretend to be Elvis at a squaw dance, he said.

Like Elvis, Foster is a truck driver, working for BHP. He also once had a close encounter of the Elvis kind: he recalled the day in 1974 when he wandered into an antique store in Bentonville , Ark. , and found himself face to face with the King.

“I heard people talking and when they came out of the other room I thought it was him. I wasn't sure until he stopped and talked to me,” Foster said. “He said ‘Hey, how you doing, man? If you see anything you like, these people will take good care of you’.”

Though he was born in 1956 – the year Elvis became an national phenomenon, with hits like “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog” and “Don't Be Cruel” – Foster said his favorite Elvis songs are from later in his career, such as hits from his Vegas years “American Trilogy,” “Burning Love,” “My Way” and “Moody Blues.”

He performs as a way to pay respect to The King, and to bring Elvis to the reservation for those who couldn't see him perform, Foster said.

“My cousin-brother listened to Elvis back in 1957-58 where ever there was a juke box to be listened to. We were pre-teens; I had no clue about rock and roll,” Bilagody said. “Years later, 1970-71, I went to an ole' drive-in theater on the corner of University Parkway and Highway 89, in Orem , Utah. The movie was called “That's the Way it Is” It was a docu-movie about Elvis Presley’s comeback. I was hooked. Later, I got many of his albums. Eventually, I got most of his albums. Now I have a more complete collection.”

It is not unusual to find a Navajo named Elvis today, and there was a time when many of the boys wanted to look as much like The King as they could.

“We all fixed our hair like Elvis; Butch wax was our mainstay,” Bilagody recalled.

He was the one
Fans across the nation – and the world – shook, rattled and rolled with Elvis, from his days as a lip-snarling, hip wiggling sex symbol to his metamorphosis into a Las Vegas lounge lizard.

“I grew up in the 50s and, as a teenager, I saw Elvis from the very beginning of his career,” Marie Kissick of Avon Park, Fla. said. “He was so great, and, I not only enjoyed his rock ‘n’ roll songs, but loved to hear him sing gospel. I think in recent years that the public has realized more than ever what a great gospel singer he was!”
Jim Labrosse of Hope Valley, R.I. was reluctant to admit he liked Elvis.

“Yes, I’m an Elvis fan, but not a fanatic,” Labrosse said.

“When I was younger, I didn’t think I liked his music, but I think it was simply because it annoyed my best friend who was an Elvis zealot.”

For Kathy Helms it was such an easy question.

 “I’m from the South, of course I’m an Elvis fan!” Helms said. “My stepdad could sing and act just like Elvis; when we were kids, dad would put on a black vinyl 45 rpm and give us a rendition of ‘Jailhouse Rock’ or ‘Blue Suede Shoes’.”

From a clambake, to the world’s fair, Elvis could also be found living in paradise, Hollywood-style. Hollywood ’s greatest legends – Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin – all had at least one movie during their careers that flopped.

But Fate wouldn’t be cruel to the millions of Elvis fans. None of his 33 films (the final two were documentaries) ever lost money.

Her family never missed an Elvis movie, Helms said. But, it’s been so long she can’t remember her favorite.

“It seems like it was ‘King Creole’. I used to love the mournful way he sang ‘Crawfish’,” Helms said.

Though some put down Elvis’ movies, Foster isn’t one of them.

“I liked a lot of his movies,” Foster said. He counted, among his favorites, “Blue Hawaii,” “Love Me Tender,” “Viva Las Vegas” and “Clambake.”

As a young Elvis fan, Helms was certainly a hard-headed woman.

“When the Beatles came out, I nearly got in a fight with my best friends at school because we were arguing about who was the most popular, the Beatles or Elvis,” Helms said. “What a dumb question! Of course it was Elvis! But they didn't see it that way.”

Born into an extremely poor family, things didn’t come easy for young Elvis. At the dawn of his career, he auditioned for the Grand Ol’ Opry, where the manager told him to “stick to driving a truck.”

But that’s all right.

Elvis went on to become a legend; and that Opry manager probably ain’t nothing but a hound dog.