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| Library hosts a fitting tribute to ‘The King’ |
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| News | |||
| Written by Jesse Trimble | |||
| Wednesday, 03 February 2010 09:00 | |||
You could call George Karnaze a fan of the King, but that would be a bit of an understatement.  Karnaze has been collecting Elvis Presley memorabilia for 50 years, and he’s not about to quit. For the next few weeks, the Louisburg Library will be featuring only a portion of Karnaze’s collection, which ranges from shampoo bottles, photos of Elvis performing over his short career and several of the original movie posters. But Karnaze is nonchalant about his collection — and said he did it for fun then and does it for fun now. In a day and age where music is constantly downloaded and music files are compressed so the original sound of the recording is lost, many music fans haven’t experienced what it’s like to stick in that 45 or put on that vinyl record — fresh out of the sleeve onto that turntable. But that’s what first sold Karnaze on the King. “I bought my first 45 record of his called, ‘It’s Now or Never,’ in 1960,” Karnaze said. And the rest, as they say, is history. “It was the range of his voice — I’d never heard anything like it before,” he said. So, from there, he searched for recordings Elvis had done in the 1950s and collected all of them. Over the years, Karnaze has collected almost 200 Elvis records and more than 500 photos, murals, postcards, books, Vegas menus and paintings. Other items include an Elvis watch, belt buckle, bubble gum cards and puzzles. On top of the several movie posters on display at the library, two glass cases feature a few of the bubble gum cards, photos, as well as the menu from the famous performances at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Karnaze recalled tickets being $15 for the performance and the meal. It was the first Elvis concert he had attended. That was July of 1969. Before Elvis’ death in August, 1977, Karnaze saw the prominent artist perform 35 times across the country. Karnaze added that Elvis visited Kansas City in 1956, ‘71, ‘74, ‘76 and ‘77 — he knew the years like he knows the back of his own hand. Karnaze can also expatiate specific names and dates, whether it be in relation to Elvis’ 33 films or the specifics about the King’s personal life. Karnaze and Presley also share the same birthday — January 8. When Elvis died on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42, Karnaze remembers exactly where he was. “I was at the bank, where I’ve been for 35 years,” he said of First National Bank. “It was 3:30 in the afternoon and I heard it on the radio. It was hard to believe — he was only 42 years old." He added that he followed the coverage of it on television and in the paper the following weeks, as many others probably did. Despite boxing up many of his collectables, Karnaze still keeps a few items out on display in his house. He also watches his favorite Elvis films now and then, which are “Flaming Star” and “King Creole,” which is rumored to have been Elvis’ favorite role in any of his films. Karnaze said he enjoyed ‘Star’ because it was a western and it only had a few songs in it. “Everyone thinks of Elvis as this big fat jelly doughnut guy,” Karnaze said with disgust. “But he wasn’t always like that.” While looking at a few of the blown-up photos of Elvis on display, Karnaze said he wants people to remember Elvis as he does — the lean musician who performed as no one else did back then, all hips and jive.
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