Elvis Impersonator Singing Only in Latin - what does it mean?

It means there were two high points, so far, in the total history of
Western Civilization - the Roman Empire of the 1st century AD and the
American Empire of the 20th and 21st centuries with abslutely nothing
of importance in between - empires or otherwise.

                                        RL Schuyler


At 03:14 PM 6/5/2001 +0100, you wrote:
>In Finland, there's a fairly well-known Elvis impersonator who sings
>solely in Latin.
>
>Is that a sign of an existentialist vacuum, or is it perhaps the
>inevitable final stage in the syncretisation of Western Civilisation (if
>there is such a thing)?
>
>Alasdair Brooks
>
>
>On Tue, 5 Jun 2001, geoff carver wrote:
>
>> somewhat non-archaeological, but...
>>         on the weekend some guy was singing at a local beer-fest; old
rolling
>> stones, beatles, simon and garfunkel tunes, etc. - all classics that
everyone
>> over the age of maybe 20 has heard 1000 times or more (if not willingly,
then at
>> least in the background, etc.) - the only thing remarkable about the
whole thing
>> was that the songs were written and sung in english by a german speaker
(you
>> could tell by his accent) in a city which used to be in east germany -
>>         i don't know if everyone else hanging out knew almost all the
words to
>> these things or not, and i don't know if there is a term for this kind of
>> cultural transmission, but i keep wondering: what's it going to be like
for the
>> generation(s) which currently consume(s) techno or rap (or any variations
>> thereof) about 20 years down the line? will they still be able to remember
>> whatever dance track was all the rage at the raves during the summer of
1999?
>>         i don't want to start a debate about the relative merits of
different
>> musical genres here, i'm just wondering about something i'm only sort of
getting
>> around to defining - anyone with a guitar and enough beer can sing just
about
>> any bob dylan tune around the campfire, for example, but how can you
whistle a
>> disco remix?
>>         a culture needs to be self-replicating - there are stories you
tell your
>> kids because you remember your parents telling them to you once upon a
time -
>> there are songs you sing and remember because that was the song you
heard when
>> you first met so-and-so or... for whatever reason -
>>         but what happens when these relics or artifacts are replaced by
such
>> ephemeral and short-lived phenomena as computer games and dance trax?
will there
>> be some sort of existentialist vacuum (vaguely thinking of blade runner
here) or
>> will something else to fill it? or has modern western culture somehow
changed
>> itself in some drastic way, as a result of which that sort of memory -
>> whether shared or personal - will be a thing of the past?
>>
>>
>> geoff carver
>> http://home.t-online.de/home/gcarver/
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>
>
Robert L. Schuyler
University of Pennsylvania Museum
33rd & Spruce Streets
Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324

Tel: (215) 898-6965
Fax: (215) 898-0657
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