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Outback Elvis: The story of a festival, its fans and a town called ParkesJohnConnell and ChrisGibson, NewSouth, Sydney, 2017, ix + 214 pp, ISBN 978‐1‐742‐23529‐5 (paperback), AUD34.99.

2017; Wiley; Volume: 55; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/1745-5871.12243

1745-5871

Roy Jones,

Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research

As the authors acknowledge at the outset, the Parkes Elvis Festival has been an object of fascination for them since 2002, and they have already produced a number of academic publications on the impact of the Parkes Elvis Festival in particular (for example, Brennan-Horley, Connell & Gibson, 2007) and of regional music festivals in Australia more generally (for example, Gibson & Connell, 2012). This volume is both a retrospective on their involvement with the Parkes festival and a conscious attempt to present the story of the festival's impact on Parkes and its surroundings to an audience that extends beyond both the discipline and academia. Initially at least, they appear to have succeeded in this latter regard since the book has been publicised inter alia on BBC News, and in the American Airlines inflight magazine, and the authors have made an appearance on Channel 7's Sunrise programme in Elvis tribute jump suits. This success in no way detracts from the appropriateness of its being reviewed in the discipline's national journal because this book is an outstanding example of how the value of a geographical perspective and of geographical research can be conveyed to a wider public. The geographical perspective is immediately apparent in Chapter 1 (It's Now or Never) which begins with a brief but authoritative account of the Elvis phenomenon and its impact in (and on) Australia. This work is followed by a masterful analysis of the development of Parkes and of the nature of the economic and social challenges facing it (and most other small agricultural centres in regional Australia) in the early 1990s, when the Elvis festival was first mooted.^ This introductory analysis is complemented by material in Chapter 8 (All Shook Up) that considers the impact of the Elvis Festival on the town and its surrounding region over the last quarter of a century and in Chapter 9 (Follow That Dream), which contextualises both Elvis and the Parkes Festival in national and global terms, citing other Elvis festivals around Australia and even pondering the significance of Elvis's appearance on Burkina Faso postage stamps.^ Chapters 2 and 3 trace the development of the festival over its 25 year history. While these can be read as an eventful and highly personal set of narratives, a number of distinctly geographical themes emerge: the significance of leadership groups and of insider: outsider dynamics in small rural communities; the importance of a clear link to the metropolis and its media, in this case through the Elvis Express trains from Sydney; and the fine margins between success and failure for socioeconomic initiatives in remote and sparsely populated locations. This chronological sequence is followed by a detailed description of the event over a long, four-day, weekend. Subsequent chapters also describe and contain responses and reminiscences from the performers (including professional and ‘wannabe’ Elvises—or Elvii as they are termed—and Priscillas) and from festival visitors. This material not only provides human interest but also demonstrates the value of thorough longitudinal/long-term research because it traces how the festival and the demographics of the festival performers and the festival goers have changed over time. Because institutional support for long-term rural research is extremely limited in Australia, the information presented here is all the more valuable given the scarcity of this type of material. The text also indicates that the authors have used the festival as a venue for student fieldwork and that good relationships, and extensive data sharing, exist between the authors and the Parkes community, further evidence of the value of this type of work. A chapter subtitled ‘Schoolies for grown-ups?’ then considers the extent to which Parkes experiences disruption and transgression during the festival. This is clearly a serious issue for small centres hosting large events. Visitors to the Elvis festival far outnumber Parkes' normal population, and festival goers now need to be bussed in to events from towns up to 100 km away. While this requires serious planning and organisation, police statistics indicate that festival arrest numbers are no different from those on a non-festival weekend. Overall, given its aim of reaching a wide audience, this book is written in a highly accessible style and, given the nature of its subject matter, it is copiously and entertainingly illustrated with photographs. While it is adequately supported by maps, the authors acknowledge in the concluding notes that more ‘data’ (their inverted commas) is provided in their academic outputs on this topic and in their reports to the Parkes Tourism Office. The only reservation that I would make regarding the book's content relates to the future of the festival. From shaky beginnings in its first decade, the festival has experienced several years of near-explosive growth. However, the generation who responded to the first coming of Elvis are now ageing so a little more consideration could have been given to the festival's medium and long-term prospects. For research and, to an extent, for teaching purposes, this book directs readers to the authors' academic work. Nevertheless ‘Outback Elvis’ is far more than an enjoyable read. It can introduce students to geographical research and scholarship in an arresting way. It can demonstrate, albeit implicitly, both the practical and the entertainment value of geographical scholarship to non-geographical audiences. And it can convey the utility of socioeconomic and rural research to other specialists within the discipline in an extremely user-friendly manner.^ Australian academics are increasingly exhorted to evidence the impact of their work; this can be demonstrated through citations and through community collaboration. The authors have already achieved both in the course of their previous research and writings on rural festivals. It is, however, more difficult for academic work to achieve a wider public impact, but the quality and the accessibility of the material presented in this volume certainly indicate that it merits such an outcome.