Design
The book is a full color hardcover book with 72 pages packed with text and images. When you celebrate your birthday, you’d better do it right; ElvisMatters did. The book is written for the members of the fan club so it comes in Dutch and is illustrated with over 200 inside and backstage pictures. The photo's illustrate the story, not the other way around. Personally I would have expected some more pictures from the various concerts. There is a great shot of James Burton, filling the entire page, but that is the only one. Why not add another 30 pages and round the book off at a neat 100 pages.Content
Perhaps it is a bit bold from ElvisMatters as one of the youngest fan clubs around to document your own history, but browsing the pages it becomes obvious that this club has been very busy. It will take some clubs tenfold the time it took this club to pull off the same.Peter Verbruggen, chairman of the fan club, wrote the book and it clearly shows he is proud of the achievements of his club; nowhere does he take credit as a chairperson, all achievements are a result of the team. The story is written in a very entertaining way and reads like a “boy’s book” as we would say in Holland. A few fans with enthusiasm decide it is time for a new kind of fan club, and “history” proved them right.
There are “fan clubs” and “fan clubs”, some emphasize the last part of the word, some the first. ElvisMatters is one of those clubs who emphasize the fan part of the word “fan club”.
Browsing through the pages, reading the memories, seeing the pictures and memorabilia from the various events, a lot of good memories come back as I visited many of the club’s events. The club flew in all members of the TCB Band individually or as a band, backing vocalists, co-stars and former members of Elvis' entourage, they all stopped by to share memories with the fans or to entertain them. I actually visited the club’s first big event with James Burton. From there on we became more than fans of Elvis meeting up, fans clubs working together, we became friends through Elvis. Thanks for that ElvisMatters! Winning the first ElvisMatters Award was the icing on the cake.
Conclusion
This book is written for the members of the fan club and will bring back a lot of memories especially if you visited one of the many many events of this club.A toast on the first five years; let’s see what the club will do to justify a book on the next five years. See you in two months with the TCB Shows!