Believe it or not, until last night, I had never watched the entire documentary The Last Waltz featuring The Band.  In one way, I'm glad it happened this way because I appreciated the documentary so much more than if I had seen it years ago. 

I ran through so many different emotions while watching it - sadness, melancholy, joy, pleasure, and others while lamenting the march of time and the toll it takes on all of us.

To sit there and see all of these musicians in their prime and in the midst of their still youth, and then forced to reconcile that for those still alive that were on that stage, they are now in their 70s and even older. 

Then, I came to another discovery, that has only taken about 40-plus years to figure out, and this dealt with how I feel when watching musical performers do that last song and leave the stage - typically, I get hit with a bout of sadness and melancholy watching them wave, bow, and depart and it finally dawned on me why.  It is because the close intimacy I felt being in the visual and auditory presence of the performance, both in person and in front of a screen, of these performers has come to an end.  And to me, what is really strange about this feeling is that exists within just the performance.  What I mean is, this feeling is present whether in a stadium show, small venue, or in front of a television. 

Now, on to the Elvis documentary Reinventing Elvis: The '68 Comeback.  Growing up, I wasn't a huge Elvis fan, but grew into a larger one, mostly through my mother.  She absolutely loved Elvis and what he brought to her was my gateway. 

This is a wonderful documentary and I tell you, moments capture the absolutely beautiful draw Elvis could summon and if there is one person that deserved to be burning in hell, then that is Col Parker.  He may have brought Elvis to the world, but he destroyed Elvis and what Elvis could have continued to be. 

I find it so sad how younger generations of today will never really understand the impact and importance of people like Elvis, or events of years ago, and largely because of how all things have now entered into this realm of instant access or everything on demand.