After receiving this video exclusive of "Elvis Is Not Dead", Charlie Megira sent us this cryptic telegram from Tel Aviv:
"Long live the Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine, love is strange and my favourite color is gold."
And with that, we press the play button. The video starts off innocent enough as a passed out reveler awakes from suckling his empty Stella Artois bottle from the entrance of Megira, proclaiming "Elvis Is Not Dead"! After making a wall busting entrance like Mr. Kool Aid Man, Megira shreds away on his Tornado guitar, spits some "freak from earth" put downs amid checkered backgrounds, rattling some bamboo bars along with some tough audiences.
The mythology of Elvis's life everlasting gets out of hand when some switchblade punks stab a Michael Jackson poster that both bleeds and burns up. The Jaffa indie group plays the iconoclastic forces of pop kingdoms against each other suggesting a certain immortality that exists through cults of memorabilia and tabloid personalities. Perhaps the most beguiling and almost convincing is Charlie's conviction of Mr. Presley's death transcendence with the chorus closing line, "I saw him!"
Charlie Megira & The Modern Dance Club's double LP Love Police is out now on Guitars and Bongos Records.
