Elvis Presley

[Gracie]

Growing up in the South, I think it was mandatory to like Elvis. Well, it was in my little po-dunk part of the world.

Two Elvis memories:

When I was 16, my boyfrield and I were "riding around" and we stopped at the radio station. He got out and told me he was going in to request a song. After five minutes or so, he came back to the car and off we went. After the song on the radio finished, the announcer said, "Gracie's 16 year old heart's flame (not really, but you know) just stopped by and requested a song. You know we try to help all young couples out. Here you two go!" I look at him, he looked at me, we both smiled and our hands touched. Then it happened. The first strains of "Suspicious Minds" came on. I was so angry. I told him, "Of all the Elvis songs, you picked that one?!?!" His excuse was he went blank and that was all he could think of. Nearly thirty years later, guess what and who I think of when I hear that one.

Now, fast forward to a delivery room in Middle TN, August 16, 1984. I was three weeks late and about to kill someone if they didn't take the alien out of my body. Labor finally started in the wee hours that morning so off we went. Mr. Gracie #1 stayed with me through the whole thing. He wasn't about to leave. Elvis was all over the TV that day. There was Elvis Day coverage, memories of Elvis, Elvis movies and, my particular favorite, Kurt Russell as Elvis. Graciette #1 was born just after midnight on August 17. I say it was because of Elvis Overload. She just didn't want to come out.

Favorite songs? Kentucky Rain and, of course, Suspicious Minds. Oh, he sang on the 1968 black leather tv special? Then, anything from that too. ;D

[bitterntwisted]

My mother is a HUGE Elvis fan, like every Elvis fan is. She is a walking encyclopedia of Elvis knowledge. Elvis was a very spiritual person, always checking out various faiths and absorbing all of what they had to offer to further his spiritual path. He even encountered Scientology back in the day and when asked about it he said, I got the hell out of there because all those people want is my money. Yeah, Elvis knew it.

[margojata]

XM Radio had some good old interviews and live concerts on last night. All from when he first got started - 1956-58. It was sad, he was so polite, and sweet - you would never guess he would have become the television shooting, black-haired, bejeweled, bloated drug addict of later years. The early music is really good. Such a shame that the very famous all seem to go completely nuts.

[Deleted]

snarkblossom said:

The first time I went to Graceland I was with snarky art director friends and we were stoned. Some little 13 year old docents took us around and recited the scripts for each room and I thought we were going to pee our pants, we laughed so hard. ... We were total assholes on that visit.

snarkblossom -- I'm so glad you snapped out of it! I've been on tours in various places where people are obviously stoned or just there simply to laugh at the tour for whatever reason and those people are lucky they don't get punched in the face by someone on a budget who carefully planned how much they could spend to see various sights and can't concentrate on what they are being shown. Sorry to sound sanctimonious but I've had this happen a couple times.

However, it's interesting that the second time around you had a completely different experience. I guess Elvis has become something beyond an icon -- almost mythical? I've always been fascinated by the rags to riches thing and how he died with not much money because he compulsively gave things away or bought pricey items for complete strangers. Not to mention his manager, who he trusted, but who in reality was pocketing 90% of the money Elvis made.

[divasahm]

Oh, my--Colonel Tom Parker was a piece of work, wasn't he?

I heard a few years ago that the reason that Elvis never performed overseas was because Col. Tom couldn't get a U.S. passport for some unsavory reason. Can anyone elaborate?

[heyalice]

Where does the Elvis was a racist come from?

[ownlife]

I love that Sirius has an Elvis channel (all Elvis, all the time). I was listening to the live from Graceland broadcast this morning, I should really get my ass in gear and go to Memphis already.

[Deleted]

ah. I was in Hollywood looking at the walk of stars. we found Elvis' star and I took a photo of it. I don't know why, I wasn't really a big fan. Then we got back to our hotel and turned on the radio. Jailhouse Rock was playing. Then the DJ came on and said Elvis was dead and it felt like something that could never happen. So long ago.

[snarkblossom]

Lisa Marie Presley is getting ready to pull a Natalie Cole and record a duet with Elvis dubbed over one of his songs. It actually sounded pretty good in the sound clip.

HeyAlice, some people think that Elvis was a racist because he was a white guy who co-opted black music for his own gain. In fact Elvis greatly respected black people and black musicians, but it's one of those things that keeps getting spread around because sadly, some people want to believe it to be true.

[Britty]

One other thing I was surprised about was the location of Graceland, on this big busy commercial road. It just seemed so out of place.

Originally, it was pretty much in the country surrounded by farm land. Memphis annexed the big area it was in that was the suburb Whitehaven. If you look at a map now you can see how far from the downtown area it is.

I grew up near Memphis, and my parents lived there when they first married. My mother worked for the telephone company, and she remembers all the women sneaking Elvis' phone number. Neither of my parents are fans, and I've never actually been through Graceland. I've been by many times because it was near a restaurant we used to go to. The classic rock station in Memphis used to do a big Elvis Death Week thing. They gave away chalk outline bath mats which I always thought was hilarious. I called every year to try and win one but never did.