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“Return2Sender” Redux: Scarypoolparty Kicks Off Graceland’s Calendar

When the King sang “Return to Sender” in 1962, was he singing not only of a rejected love letter, but the cyclic nature of history itself? Did songwriters Winfield Scott and Otis Blackwell have an inkling that another song, “Return2Sender,” would echo through the halls of Graceland half a century later?

Such questions are likely to crop up whenever pop culture perennially reinvents itself, in this case when the the latest pop phenom, Scarypoolparty (aka Alejandro Aranda), brings his solo Acoustic Tour to the Graceland Soundstage on June 14.

But Aranda is no mere flash in the pan. Rather, his rapid ascension into the pop stratosphere (with 15 million combined streams and over 700,000 social media followers) was done with an uncompromising sense of purpose. When he first catapulted into the national spotlight with multiple appearances in season 17 of American Idol, he distinguished himself as the only artist in the show’s history who refused to play cover material, instead performing seven of his own songs as the season wore on.

Those songs, at once vulnerable, fragile, and impossibly glossy, sparkle with the finesse of his own guitar playing and the emotion of his earnest lyrics. They seem to have struck a nerve on a global scale, and Lionel Richie was even moved to give him a hug.

While “Return2Sender” was released in the heart of lockdown last year, he now has dropped a new EP, Los Angeles, which was actually recorded during that time. In contrast, it balances his more ethereal work with a harder-hitting approach that showcases his versatility, even as it keeps his expressive voice front and center.

Expect more of his introspective material at the Graceland show, as he carries out a tour with only his acoustic guitar by his side. But don’t let that lull you into complacency: Even the quieter side of Scarypoolparty is a draw, and tickets for the Memphis appearance are being snatched up.

This will be an especially intimate kick-off show for a venue that’s typically more boisterous. Once Scarypoolparty wraps, the Graceland Soundstage carries on with more world-class national acts well into the fall. After the isolation of quarantine, Elvis himself would be proud that the party, no matter how scary, is once again revving up.

Scarypoolparty
Monday, June 14, 2021

Bill Cherry
Saturday, July 3, 2021

Hardy
Thursday, July 8, 2021

Blackberry Smoke – Spirit of the South Tour
Friday, August 6, 2021

Cheap Trick
Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Friday, September 24, 2021

The Monkees Farewell Tour
Friday, October 1, 2021

Jelly Roll
Thursday, October 7, 2021

Greg Gutfeld
Saturday, October 9, 2021

Trey Kennedy – Are You For Real Tour?
Friday, October 22, 2021

Drive-By Truckers
Friday, February 4, 2022

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Opinion Viewpoint

Idol Fancies

Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon,

Going to the candidates’ debate.

Laugh about it, shout about it.

When you’ve got to choose,

Every way you look at it you lose.

— “Mrs. Robinson” by Paul Simon

These traveling roadshows called debates have increasingly taken on the air of a TV reality program. I watched one Republican debate, but after seeing a majority of the candidates admit, en masse, that they questioned the validity of evolution, I didn’t need to watch another.

The Republican debates are equivalent to the summer replacement show America’s Got Talent. (The Democrats shade toward American Idol.) The contestants are carefully scrutinized as to appearance and confidence levels, and expectations run high each week over who will stumble and who will rise to the challenge. They even have judges posing as questioners. They critique the candidates’ answers and attempt to build rivalries within the group. The role of the intemperate asshole judge is played by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (alternately, Chris Matthews). The flaw in the concept is that we can’t phone in each week and get somebody booted in order to thin this herd and maybe hear something of substance.

I took an online poll in which you were asked to match your opinions with the candidate who most closely holds your views. Mine came out Dennis Kucinich, which is good and bad.

I admire the congressman’s courage to call for impeachment openly and often. (He nearly got a vote to the floor last week.) I agree with him on ending the war in Iraq and holding the planners accountable. And he has been the single most consistent liberal voice in all these dark Bush years.

But I also know Kucinich hasn’t got a chance to win the nomination. I’ll happily vote for him in the Tennessee presidential primary to make a statement. Hell, I once voted for Prince Mongo for county mayor. I also voted for LaToya London on American Idol.

But once again, machine politics and corporate cash rule over procedure, and even though Kucinich’s rousing debate performances rival the American Idol appearances of Bo Bice, he’s going to lose to the blond lady who was mistreated when she was younger.

Before Hillary gets measured for crown and scepter, however, it would be well to remember that not a single vote has yet been cast and that the American voter is a famously fickle animal who will turn on you in an instant. How else can you explain Taylor Hicks winning American Idol, or George Bush winning anything, for that matter?

I’m sure Kucinich is at least as deserving as fellow ugly duckling Clay Aiken was. But if I had to review Hillary’s debate performances thus far, I would say, à la Randy Jackson, “It was just aw’ite for me, Dog. You’re a little pitchy.”

While this lite operetta continues, President Zero is neglecting some serious issues: The Chinese are trying to date-rape our children; Wal-Mart has been discovered taking out life insurance policies on its aged workers and collecting benefits when they die; Laci Peterson has morphed into Stacy Peterson; a discovered statement left behind by the still-deceased Saddam Hussein said his flim-flammery about WMD was not to threaten the U.S. but to fool Iran.

Barack Obama has promised to take off the gloves this week. And did I fail to mention our troops are in the middle of a foreign civil war with no end in sight? Too bad we can’t just vote the troops off the island.

Al Gore may have won his Oscar and his Nobel Prize, but Carrie Underwood and Daughtry kicked major butt at the AMA’s, and Fantasia was up for an award, too. With the current television writers’ strike, the mid-January start of the new season of American Idol might have to be moved up, just like those nervy upstart states want to do with their Johnny-come-lately primaries.

Then we could have five nights of nothing but American Idol and debates. But if the debates are going to compete, they have to really want it, Dog. This is, after all, a singing competition. And there is one lonely voice singing in the corner, crying, “Impeach now. Impeach now.” Can you hear him? It’s Dennis “The Dark Horse” Kucinich, and his spouse is better looking than Hillary’s any day.

Hey, no one believed Ruben Studdard could win either. Seacrest out.

Randy Haspel is, among other things, a Memphis musician and wit. He writes at bornagainhippies.blogspot.com.