Rex Martin (Worldwide Elvis News Service Weekly) talks exclusively to EIN:

 

EIN recently had the pleasure of spending several hours talking to Rex Martin publisher of the legendary publication, the Worldwide Elvis News Service Weekly.

The result is a fascinating multi-part interview beginning today.

In Part 1 Rex speaks about his early years, becoming an Elvis fan, why he started the fondly remembered weekly, his trips to the US and what he has been doing since he ceased publishing the Weekly in 1978.

For those not familar with Rex's publications, the "Weekly" revolutionised how fans right around the world received their Elvis news while his Elvis booklets (see opposite) offered well researched and rare material for readers to enjoy.

EIN invites you to take a trip down memory lane and witness a very important part of Elvis world history....

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/rexmartin.html

 

 

(Interview, Source: EIN)

Marty's Musings:

 

Today we add a page devoted to the many insightful contributions to EIN by Memphis Mafia member and co-best man at Elvis' wedding to Priscilla, Marty Lacker.

Marty has been great over the years in commenting on various claims and providing our readers with insight about what really happened around Elvis. Marty's contributions are something EIN appreciates greatly and we look forward to his ongoing comments for many years to come!

What we have added today represents Part 1 of "Marty's Musings" and covers all of his contributions to EIN in 2007 and 2008. We will add Marty's earlier contributions to EIN early in 2009

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/marty_musings.html

 

He always has plenty to say :yahoo:

Part 2 of our Rex Martin Interview:

 

Today we add the 2nd part of our fascinating interview with the man behind the legendary publication, the Worldwide Elvis News Service Weekly, Rex Martin.

 

In Part 2, Rex continues his vivid account of the Elvis world in the 1970s and talks about, among other things:

• how technology changed the Weekly

• the start of his Elvis Film Events

• his trips to the US to see Elvis in concert

• mass Elvis billboards arranged by the Colonel

• early encounters with the King

• filming the King - security and technology

• "lost" Aussie friends

• meeting Tom Diskin

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/rexmartin_part2.html

 

We also add a further page (Rex Martin Info Page) about Rex which includes a:

• brief history of the Rex Martin story, including his amazing collection of Elvis "live" films

• review of his Worldwide Elvis News Service Weekly

• Rex's Quest List - the people he would like to re-establish contact with - can anyone help?

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/rexmartin_info.html

 

Interesting article and some cool pics B)

 

http://www.trumanndemocrat.com/story/1488737.html

Elvis Presley, Arkansas State College and the - Man of the Year Award 1960 :cheer:

 

Rick Husky and TKE members Don DeArmen of Corning and Jeff Sheraer of Patterson, Mo., along with faculty member and fraternity advisor Robert Howe and photographer Charles Crowe, set out for Graceland on Oct. 24, 1960 in Husky's 1956 pink and white Ford for their meeting with Elvis.

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis_pres...e_college.shtml

 

Elvis Articles December 27, 2008

 

Elvis Collectors Brazil has a new interview with Donnie Sumner B)

 

http://www.elvisbrasil.com/epbrasil/DonnieSumnerenglish.htm

 

Jerry Chesnut Remembers Elvis Presley

 

I met Elvis through a mutual friend of ours, and so called Memphis Mafia member, Lamar Fike ... in 1974 Priscilla came to see Elvis perform. They sat in the booth Elvis always reserved for her and when he spotted them, He sang Priscilla's Favorite song 'It's Midnight'. He walked to the edge of the stage, looked at her, and tears were streaming down his cheeks. He was all broke up. She was the only girl he really ever loved ...

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/jerry_ches...s_presley.shtml

 

Elvis Articles, Elvis Interviews January 14, 2009

Rex Martin talks to EIN - the penultimate part!!:

 

Today, EIN presents the 3rd part of our riveting interview with Rex Martin, publisher of the legendary publication, the Worldwide Elvis News Service Weekly.

Rex's blow-by-blow account of the Elvis world in the 1960s and 1970s is a fascinating time capsule bringing to life an exciting era fondly remembered by many fans. Relive the excitement as Rex reminisces about being in the center of things "Elvis"!

 

In Part 3 of his interview, Rex talks about:

• finally meeting Elvis!

• the hidden microphone

• Red & Sonny's double somersault

• why Rex threw his clothes away

• the "awkward" February 1973 Las Vegas season

• the riot on stage in Vegas

• the fan who got kicked in the eye during that fight

• getting banned from Vegas

• the logistics of following an Elvis tour

• having to buy a ticket from a scalper

• wild times in Cleveland

• how a car battery helped Rex film Elvis on tour

• the final years!!!!

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/rexmartin_part3.html

 

Rex Martin talks about his friends Maria & Gladys Davies; Elvis in Houston and those reel-to-reel audio recordings:

 

EIN presents another fabulous article from Rex Martin, publisher of the legendary Worldwide Elvis News Service Weekly.

Rex's article includes rare photos of Elvis in Houston, stories of Rex's great friendship with the Davies sisters as well as details of the video film shot by Maria.

Relive a piece of Elvis history as Rex recounts some wonderful memories.

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/rex_remembers_maria.html

 

(Spotlight, Source: EIN)

 

Coming soon to EIN:

Maria Davies' report with photos of Elvis' triumphant return to live performing in Las Vegas in 1969

 

Loved the pics :yahoo:

 

Elvis' TWO Hollywood Walk of Fame stars:

 

On the eve of the 49th anniversary of Elvis' Hollywood Walk of Fame Star (9 Feb 1960), Rex Martin's latest exclusive article for EIN tells the story of Elvis' TWO Hollywood Walk of Fame Stars.

Apart from Rex's own article he has sourced other stories about the star and all are complemented by 9 great visuals.

Elvis' Hollywood Walk of Fame Star is one of the least known parts of the Elvis story........until now!!

Rex takes us behind the story and gives us the lowdown on the history of the Walk of Fame; how "stars" are awarded across 5 categories; some of the other celebrities to receive multiple stars; and the re-dedication of Elvis' star following damage.

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/rex_twostars.html

 

(Spotlight: Source: EIN)

 

Rex Martin....the final part:

 

In the final part of a riveting interview, Rex talks about, among other things:

• the impact of seeing Elvis live on stage

• some of Elvis' "live" song highlights

• Elvis in Vegas vs. Elvis on the road

• how Rex looks back on publishing the Weekly and spending so much time following Elvis in Vegas and on the road

• the logistics of doing a trans global interview!!!!!

Rex's vivid narrative of life and technology in the 60s and early 70s paints a wonderful panoramic of the landscape in which his weekly Elvis news publication crystallised and grew. It is a slice of what was an often frenetic, challenging and very rewarding part of the Elvis story.

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/rexmartin_part4.html

 

(Interview, Source: EIN)

Elvismania!:

 

While Beatlemania has been well recorded (largely thanks to the widespread use of audio-visual technology in the 1960s), Elvismania is not as well chronicled in the medium (due to the paucity of audio-visual hardware in the 1950s). Few audio-visual relics exist of the pandemonium and riots caused during many of Elvis’ early performances.

Where Elvismania has been recorded for posterity is in the many newspaper and magazine editorials and news stories of what ensued at an Elvis concert. That from mid 1956 the police required Elvis’ shows to be presented in a certain way resulted in a formal clause being included in the contract for each show:

Show to be presented in its regular presentation as per show police established on other appearances

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/rare_live502092.jpg

 

One archive of such material is Lee Cotton’s sublime book, Did Elvis Sing In Your Hometown? EIN has taken several accounts from the book to highlight the extent of “Elvismania”:

 

San Diego, California – April 4, 1956: Long before the show started, a platoon of the Navy Shore Patrol and extra police units were called out to protect Elvis from the over-enthusiastic crowd. During the show, the roar of the crowd was deafening, and the young women were wound up to a frenzy by Elvis’ gyrations. At one point, he temporarily stopped the show in an attempt to get the crowd to return to their seats. Order was restored only after he said, “Sit down, or the show ends.”

Rumors that Elvis had been jailed following his performances in San Diego spread like wildfire and were reported as far away as Amarillo, Texas. What the press actually witnessed was a cordon of police officers escorting Elvis from the arena to protect him from his overzealous fans.

 

El Paso, Texas – April 11, 1956: As Elvis exited the building, it took ten policemen to hold off the wildly enthusiastic crowd. Even with the protection of the local police, Elvis was man-handled by the crowd. Later, he said, “one girl took a swipe at me and really clawed my side.”

 

Dallas, Texas - October 11, 1956: Cotton Bowl Stadium – Ninety-five policemen were hired for security to keep fans in check.

 

Louisville, Kentucky - November 25, 1956: After a blistering 35 minutes on stage, Elvis slipped out of the building unnoticed. His fans, not content to let him go so easily, stormed the stage. Some girls caressed the microphone he had used. Others rubbed their hands in the places he had stepped and then kissed the dirt. And, this was just the matinee!

 

Chicago, Illinois - March 28, 1957: When Elvis finally hits the boards, it was the first time he was wearing his famous $2,500 gold suit, designed by Nudie of Hollywood. ……..The effect on the crowd when the spotlight first illuminated Elvis in his shimmering wardrobe was sheer pandemonium as thousands of fervent fans made a mad dash for the stage……..He (Elvis) was able to hang on for an incredible 47 minutes, singing a total of sixteen songs, before a dozen young women climbed on stage, effectively putting a halt to the show. During the performance, firemen carried away thirteen girls who “swooned upon viewing their idol.” One distraught female struck an usher with her purse, sending him top the hospital with a suspected skull fracture. Another grabbed the edge of the stage with such determination that it took two policemen to pull her away.

 

Los Angeles, California - October 28, 1957: The first 20 rows of seats had been removed, placing the fans further away from Elvis. In addition, two dozen police ringed the front of the stage…….Finally, the audience of 9,200 got an eyeful of Elvis, wearing the gold jacket, white trousers, and a ruffled white shirt. Some fans closest to the stage may even have heard part the show. Their screams echoed two blocks away, according to Wally George, who reported on the affair for the Los Angeles Times, who wrote, “The impression upon walking through the audience was that of being on the edge of a volcano.”

 

Los Angeles, California - October 28, 1957: The police filmed Elvis’ show in response to concerns his act is lewd and corrupting teenage youth.

 

(Source: Did Elvis Sing In Your Hometown?)

Top of the crops: Liam Gallagher shows off his Elvis sideburns and leopard-print loafers at anniversary meal

:o

What do you think???

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...rsary-meal.html

 

Elvis Top Icon

 

Elvis Presley has been voted the pop icon fans would most like to meet - despite being dead. :cheer:

The singer - who passed away at home in 1977 - narrowly beat '4 Minutes' singer Madonna to the top spot in a list which contained six dead stars.

Queen frontman Freddie Mercury - who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1991 - came in third, with assassinated Beatles legend John Lennon in fourth place.

'No Woman No Cry' singer Bob Marley, guitar hero Jimi Hendrix and The Doors frontman Jim Morrison were the other deceased stars to make the list, compiled by digital music channel Music Choice.

Ellen Lesemann-Andreandi, a spokesperson for Music Choice, said: "Classic hits hold more memories the older they are."

Other musicians who fans would most like to meet include ailing 'Thriller' star Michael Jackson, former Take That singer Robbie Williams and U2 rocker Bono.

 

Meanwhile, Elvis' former Memphis home, Graceland is celebrating its 70th birthday with new exhibitions about the 'Suspicious Minds' singer.

Elvis In Hollywood examines the singer's movie career with memorabilia from his big-screen successes, while Elvis Lives: The King and Pop Culture shows the star in action via a video presentation.

The Elvis Presley Auto Museum will introduce new additions, including the six-door Mercedes Benz limousine featured in 'Elvis on Tour'.

The 70th Anniversary exhibition, included as part of the VIP Tour package, also features the original architectural drawings of Graceland, a signed cheque from Elvis for the down payment - $102,000 - on the home in 1957, the deeds to Graceland, which was built in 1939, and a video presentation that includes memories from those who lived there.

 

Music Choice's Top 10 pop idols music fans would like to meet:

 

1. Elvis Presley :yahoo:

2. Madonna

3. Freddie Mercury

4. John Lennon

5. Bono

6. Bob Marley

7. Jimi Hendrix

8. Jim Morrison

9. Michael Jackson

10. Robbie Williams

 

Source: Google / Updated: Feb 18, 2009

 

I would kill to meet Elvis :w00t: Actually, maybe easier if someone killed me :lol:

Elvis still generating big bucks.........and "Diamond Joe" slams the authors of "Elvis, What Happened?:

 

ELVIS Presley's best mate Joe Esposito talks about the man, the money and the memories in an exclusive look at the extraordinary value of Elvis the asset. Even in death, Elvis Presley can't stop making money. The business of Elvis - Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE) - last year turned over almost $100 million.

 

EPE is majority-owned by New York Stock Exchange listed company CKX and is growing even when the US economy is faltering. CKX bought 85 per cent of EPE in 2004 for $US100 million (now about $150 million). The Presley family retains 15 per cent.

CKX owns all of EPE's business activities except the music - Graceland and its tour operations, the Heartbreak Hotel across the street from Graceland, the trademark licenses for Elvis' likeness, songs and name. CKX also has a similar stake in the name, image, likeness and intellectual property of Muhammad Ali. In addition, it owns the American Idol TV show.

The opening of the Elvis-themed cabaret show in Las Vegas this year which will follow in the lines of the successful ‘Love'’ show based on the Beatles will undoubtedly generate more substantial income for CKX.

 

CKX also plans to demolish the 128-room Heartbreak Hotel, opposite Graceland on Elvis Presley Boulevard, to build two 400-room hotels, restaurants, an amphitheatre and shops.

 

In the 2007 calendar year, CKX reported income of $US12.1 million on sales of $266.8 million - a 32 per cent jump on the previous year. But it's not just the big companies who live on Elvis.

 

Elvis's long-time friend Joe Esposito - in Australia this week as a consultant to Gold Coast-based beverage distributor Global Beverage Marketers-Daiquiri Group - makes a living off touring the world talking about Elvis.

 

“It's amazing. He's been dead for 31 years and he's still a big part of my life,'' Mr Esposito said from yesterday from the Gold Coast. “I have come from England and Ireland and now I'm in Australia, and then I'm in Sweden and France - I love it. I have a lot of answers and people just want to talk about Elvis.''

 

Mr Esposito (71) retired in December after working as a casino host in Las Vegas. He first met Elvis in the late 1950’s after they were both drafted in the US Army for duty in Germany.

 

“I was an office clerk in Chicago and was drafted when I was 20. Most of the guys, including Elvis, were 23. I though getting drafted would change my whole world. It did,” he said. “I met Elvis, we struck up a friendship and before I left the Army in March 1960, he asked me to come and work for him. “At my discharge from the Army I was told I had flat feet and a bad ankle. I was also too young. I shouldn't have been in the Army in the first place, yet it was fate. I met Elvis and he changed my life.''

 

He worked for Elvis for 17 years, was the best man at Elvis' 1968 wedding, was a pallbearer at Elvis' 1977 funeral and went on to manage the Bee Gee's, Michael Jackson and John Denver. He was sacked five times by Elvis - usually an overnight event because it was forgotten the next morning - and endured the bitterness that came with a tell-all 1976 book “Elvis - What Happened?'' written by former Elvis bodyguards.

 

“That book crushed him,'' he said. “It was all he talked about - `why did they say those things?' he would say. It hurt him tremendously. “The book, with all its negativity, depressed Elvis. He took pills and more pills. I think that 50 per cent of the cause of Elvis' death was that book.''

 

“I don't care for those people (who wrote the book). They're not Elvis' friends.''

 

The US has an estimated 30,000 Elvis impersonators, each with a business of unpublished worth and Mr Esposito believes Elvis wouldn't have minded being represented in that way.

 

“They're doing something they enjoy and I'm sure Elvis wouldn't have been upset with that,'' he said.

 

Mr Esposito is now charged with helping promote GBM's push to distribute beverages - primarily the German premium beer Krombacher - into the US casino and hospitality sector. Incidentally, Krombacher was the beer Mr Esposito drank while on duty with the Army in Germany in 1959.

 

(News, Source: Neil Dowling, Perth Now)

 

Joe's a nice enough guy, but I don't feel the same way towards Red and Sonny as he clearly does. I truly believe that they did love Elvis :)

Legendary Chuck Norris talks about Elvis:

 

Three decades after Elvis' death, his life is larger than ever, and his estate is still expanding as big plans are underway right now for more Graceland's renovations.

Forbes reported that, in 2006, the king-of-rock-n-roll's earthly home took in $27 million in revenue, and his overall business empire still yields more than $40 million a year. For those keeping records, those numbers earned Elvis the second highest grossing dead celebrity status last year, behind only Nirvana's front man and iconoclastic singer, Kurt Cobain.

With the 30th anniversary of Elvis' death Aug. 16, I thought I'd take a little walk down memory lane when I visited the king one night in Las Vegas and taught Priscilla martial arts in Southern California.

 

The king and karate........Like myself, it appears Elvis was introduced to the world of self defense while in the military. He would study many styles under many different ethnic instructors throughout his life. In 1959 he started as a student under German Juerge Seydel (a Shokotan sensei), then was mentored under Japanese Teugio Murakami (a Shokotan master), Korean Kang Rhee (Sa-Ryu TaeKwon Do Grandmaster), Americans Hank Slemansky (a Chito Ryu stylist) and Ed Parker (the founder of American Kenpo - who would remain his lifelong

teacher) and Filipino Dan Inosanto (later Bruce Lee's student), under whom Elvis would eventually earn his black belt.

 

Over the next decade and a half, Elvis was awarded advancing black belt degrees, and in time was granted an honorary 7th degree black belt. He even opened his own martial arts school back in Memphis, "The Tennessee Karate Institute", where Bill Wallace was the chief instructor.

 

Elvis' love for martial arts permeated his career in music and movies, where he'd often demonstrate his self-defense moves. I'll never forget seeing him perform in Las Vegas (which I'll detail in a moment), where he kicked, punched, postured and even did the splits holding his guitar in hand!

 

Several of his films demonstrate the influence of karate in his life, including "G.I. Blues, "Wild in the Country," "Blue Hawaii," "Kid Galahad," "Follow that Dream," "Double Trouble," "Harum Scarum" and "Flaming Star."

Teaching Priscilla martial arts..........While they were still married, Priscilla called me to say she wanted to study karate with me. We had been introduced by Ed Parker at a tournament. I asked her why she didn't study with Ed, to which she replied, "Ed can't teach me because he is Elvis' private trainer as well as his personal bodyguard." So I agreed and taught her at my Sherman Oaks martial arts studio.

 

Priscilla came to her private lesson wearing a gi (a martial arts training uniform). She worked hard, and I soon discovered she was serious about her training. We would start her lessons with stretching exercises to loosen and warm up the muscles. She was quick to learn some basic kicks. Priscilla had studied ballet, which gave her an edge over many students, because she was already limber and able to execute high kicks with ease. Within a month she was able to kick anywhere I directed with force and precision.

When we started free-style sparring (a free exchange of blows, blocks and counterattacks until a cleanly executed assault to a vital point is made), I tried to put a boxer's head-guard on her. Although most students welcomed the face protection, Priscilla scorned it. I remember her responding as she rejected the offer to wear it, "I won't have one of these on in the streets." Once she even insisted on going out in the alley behind the studio to work out with the high-heeled shoes, because she said that was what she usually wore.

 

Priscilla has many of the qualities I value in a person. She is open and has a positive attitude toward life. She was a great reflection in yesteryear of what we see today - women training and competing with equal diligence and fortitude to men. From her training onward, I've expected top results from both my male and female students. In fact, in my World Combat League, women are among the fiercest competitors.

Viva Las Vegas!................After one of her private lessons, Priscilla invited Bob Wall (my karate studio partner) and me to Las Vegas to watch Elvis perform at the Hilton Hotel. We gladly accepted the invitation. This would be the first time I met Elvis in person. I'll never forget sitting in the front booth with Priscilla at that dinner show and being captivated by his charisma and showmanship.

 

Afterwards Elvis invited us up to his suite, where we talked until 4:00 in the morning. At first I thought, "What are we going to talk about?" I knew nothing about music, but I knew I could talk about martial arts all night long! And we did! I was impressed with his self defense insight and devotion. Even after two shows earlier that evening, Elvis stayed to the early morning hours shooting the breeze with us. That was a special night for all of us, which I'll never forget.

Elvis was a real nice, down-to-earth guy, who made you feel in a few hours like you had known him forever. I still enjoy his music and films. I wasn't always a big fan of his morality, but then I wasn't always a big fan of mine.

I hope, despite his struggles near the end, that Elvis too made peace with God, believing those gospel truths as well as he belted them out as a singer. God's amazing grace is still all sufficient, able to forgive us all of all we've done wrong, even those king-sized vices. When we ask Him to do so, as Elvis sang, we too can sing, "O happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away."

Despite some personal objections to his lifestyle, no one can doubt Elvis' musical and theatrical genius, creativity and magnetism as a performer. And as far as his martial arts abilities, he truly was pretty impressive, flexible and tough. He may not have been a Bruce Lee, me or other notables in the field of professional competition, but then again have you ever heard about any of our singing careers?

 

(News, Source: Amber Smith)

Interview with Glen D. Hardin.

 

I met Elvis him the first time when I went to an audition to play the Las Vegas show. I didn't go the first time in 1969. But I, after that, Larry Muhoberac, playing the piano before me, for reasons of his own, didn't want to go on the road anymore. Anyway, the boys in the band leaned on me and wanted to come and do it, so I went down for a little audition.

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview_..._d_hardin.shtml

 

Elvis Articles, Elvis Interviews February 27, 2009

The Browns and Elvis Presley

 

The first time I met Elvis, I told him my mother had predicted he'd be a big star. He just laughed shyly. In those days, he truly had no idea of how big he would become. Few know this, but there were actually two Elvises inside the one. As we traveled the road with him, we came to see both sides. He could be very, very shy, the sensitive momma's boy, and he could be as wild as a joker in a game of spit in the ocean.

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/the_browns...s_presley.shtml

 

Elvis Articles March 7, 2009

 

On EIN B)

 

Sandi Miller Interview:

 

An exclusive interview with Elvis' good friend Sandi Miller with thanks to Elvis Collectors Brasil. Sandi was a fan of Elvis just like every one of us, but over the years she became a personal friend of his, a privilege that very, very few fans can say they had. Sandi not only became Elvis' friend but was also a guest at his various homes and was present at some important moments in his career. She also took some of the most beloved candid pictures we have of him. Many of his pictures appeared in the great Behind The Image book, together with her fascinating stories of Elvis, that could be relived as it just happened yesterday, thanks to the entries on her journals. In this conversation Sandi shared some more stories about her times with Elvis Presley. We hope you enjoy read it as much as we did.

 

http://www.elvisbrasil.com.br/epbrasil/san...llerenglish.htm

 

Duke Bardwell Interview:

 

Elvis' bass player Duke Bardwell worked both on stage and in the studio with The King in the mid-70s, playing bass on 181 concerts. Yet he’s always avoided media exposure about his association with Elvis, so in anticipation of the upcoming Elvis tribute tour in May ’09 Arjan Deelen talked to him about that association. Duke experienced some great highs with Presley, including Elvis’ first concerts in Memphis in 13 years, the two amazing Houston Astrodome shows in front of 88,000 people, the dynamite shows at the L.A. Forum.. but there were also the lows. During the period that Duke worked with Elvis, the latters problems with prescription medication were really beginning to take hold. Duke was there that infamous night in Las Vegas, when Presley told a stunned audience that he was sick of the rumours flying around about him, and that if he would find those responsible. Duke acknowledges that it was generally a difficult period, but nevertheless he still talks about Elvis with a great deal of affection, as this interview shows. “It was the most magnificent thing musically that ever happened to me…” - Duke Bardwell.

 

http://www.elvisnews.dk/Main.htm

 

(Interviews, Source;ArjanDeelen)

Why Southerners Love Elvis

 

By Pamela Mays Decker, Mar 9, 2009

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/southerners.jpg

 

In 1936, a novel was published that captured the imaginations of millions. Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Gone With The Wind” – adapted into a blockbuster film in 1939 – portrayed the American South as a place of wealth and noble gentility where beautiful belles in hoop skirts dwelled in white-columned antebellum plantations and were pursued by handsome, gallant gentlemen suitors. In the mind’s eye of so many beyond the South, it was a land where we all sat on our breezeways shaded from the sultry sun, sipped mint juleps and danced gentle waltzes at the cotillion.

Bearing a stark contrast to those romanticized images were absurd rustic characters such as the farcical “Ma and Pa Kettle,” first appearing in a 1947 movie and then featured in about a dozen films from 1949 to 1957. Firmly cemented was the stereotype in complete diametric opposition to grandiloquent country gentry: the “hillbilly.” The archetypal hillbilly was a slow-witted, bumbling, lazy rural oaf to whom audiences could feel a smug sense of superiority. With their blatant exploitation of the classism that has existed in America for ages (a fact many would likely self-righteously deny), the movies did nothing to cultivate positive impressions of country folk – but they raked in beaucoup bucks (revenue for the entire series was estimated at a rather impressive $35 million).

 

 

 

Studies have long shown that people have widely formed their perceptions of Southerners from literature and the media – but especially from movies. Due to that apparent general inability to distinguish the concocted fantasy and escapist entertainment of movies from reality, the people of Appalachia and the Southeastern United States unfortunately became subjected to scathing bias spurred by the unflattering generalizations created and perpetuated by the mass media. Lost and forgotten in the chasm between exaggerated stereotypes of aristocratic, magnolia-blossom debutantes and the antithetical barefoot hayseed bumpkins were the many diverse, dynamic, real life individuals comprising the region’s populace. Among them were – and still are – a cross-section of decent, good-natured, industrious, intelligent, sturdy people with solid values who have felt largely dispossessed by these satirical and heavily-embellished depictions. Plainly stated, the media has traditionally not been kind to Southerners.

 

But by the mid-20th Century, a “flash” from Tupelo, Mississippi would detonate a cultural explosion that rocked the world, changing broadly held negative misconceptions of Southerners and eliciting an avalanche of seemingly universal adoration. Elvis’ significance to his fellow indigena of his native region has always transcended far beyond just his music and his movies. It is more than simply an intense admiration; it is a deep connection and very real kinship that so many throughout the American South feel.

 

Elvis was not the progeny of nobility. Rather, he was the sole child of young, struggling parents living in the country’s most impoverished state. Compounding that plight was the fact he was born in an era of runaway economic stratification: the Great Depression. Author Elaine Dundy noted in her 2004 book, “Elvis and Gladys” that as a toddler, Elvis sat on his mother’s six-foot long tow sack as she dragged him up and down cotton rows while laboring during the autumn picking season. Among the harsh realities Elvis and his family shared with so many others of that collective circumstance were that survival was a matter of day-to-day struggle, material possessions were meager – and things of an incorporeal quality were embraced as an escape and salvation. Music and spirituality were so closely intertwined, at times one could not tell where one ended and the other began.

 

The music that emanated from front pews, front porches and back fields was a staple of the region’s majority descendants of sturdy Scots-Irish stock, of the African Americans brought here not of their own accord who had long been acquainted with grievous inequity and despair, and of those with Native American ancestry who for centuries have possessed an acutely supernatural connection with the land, but whose forebears had been so cruelly ripped away from it. Elvis was a product of the then oft-overlooked stratum of Southern society where different cultures met, co-existed and so frequently intermingled harmoniously. Shared hardships – including racial and classist discrimination – were a uniting force between many Southerners, black, white and “red.” It was in music that the embattled, the weary and the brokenhearted had a voice. And it would be through music that the first substantial strides were made to bust down the walls of segregation.

 

While many retrospectively idealize the 1950’s in America as a time when white bread, suburbanite innocence prevailed and everyone was nice to one another, they have either been grossly misinformed or are practicing revisionist history. This after all was the heyday of the rabidity of McCarthyism. Bigotry, intolerance and exploitation of the weak and “underclass” had long been rampant practices nationwide. The introduction of child labor laws and the fight for fair wages, safe working conditions and for various civil liberties were not-so-distant memories – and there were still many battles left to fight. As unpalatable as the observation may be, the stark truth is that the country had long been controlled by wealthy, powerful white men of aristocratic lineage who, despite the nation’s ideals on paper, often did not put those ideals into practice.

 

Elvis’ emergence was a jolt to the straight-laced façade of innocence and tranquility of the day as he helped inject the daring musical fusion of Rockabilly into the national consciousness. However, his charisma and sincerity were more powerful than the futile, vicious attempts to demonize him. Those who resolved to resent and to disparage him as an insolent and unrefined hick wound up eating a heaping dish of Memphis-style deep fried crow. Even crooner Frank Sinatra, who harshly and very publicly lambasted his music as “rancid” and “deplorable” – mostly because he felt threatened by his soaring popularity – became a close friend, finding him to be “a warm, considerate and generous man.” As the world would quickly discover, there was nothing about Elvis that could be disliked or resisted as he insinuated himself into the lives and psyches of virtually everyone on the planet.

 

Elvis embodied the best of everything about the South: The gentle spirituality, the fervent passion, the gracious humility, the hospitable warmth, the engaging manner… and arguably, every element of what is commonly referred to as “Southern charm.” Elvis was the quintessential personification of Southern charm. Without intentionally setting forth to do so, he made Southerners proud to be from the South – while everyone else on earth wished they were too. For more than half a century – and despite his passing from this walk of life almost 32 years ago, he has prominently served as the world’s ambassador to the South.

 

Even underneath a layer of gold lame and sequined jumpsuits, he retained the heart, soul and essence of a country boy. And wherever he went, he took Southern culture right along with him. He did not change, nor did he ever shirk or deny his heritage or upbringing. As he transformed into the world’s most famous face and voice, Hollywood’s highest-paid actor and the top recording artist of all time, he no doubt could have feasted on the finest, most exclusive cuisine prepared by the most prestigious culinary experts the world over. Yet, soul food remained his preferred sustenance: meatloaf, pork chops, potatoes, turnip greens, butterbeans, biscuits, hot water cornbread… the same food he ate when his family didn’t have two nickels to rub together.

 

As his meteoric rise to superstardom may have seemed on the surface to be a very unlikely story, his fellow Southerners have always understood that Elvis succeeded not in spite of his upbringing and the myriad struggles he was exposed to – but rather because of them. Those experiences indelibly shaped him. Without them, he wouldn’t have been who he was. And as we followed his phenomenal career, we not only celebrated for him; in many ways, we celebrated right along with him. Borrowing from the words of author Kathryn Tucker Windham, it is as if the South is just one big, shared front porch where “everybody is kin to everybody else.” He was one of us… like a member of our own family. Down here, that sense of kinship with Elvis remains just as real and alive to this very day. The dynamic between Elvis and the people of his region is deep and complex, yet so very simple: He belongs with us – and he belongs to us.

 

It has been said many times through the years that Elvis is the embodiment of the American dream. He has been described as a cultural touchstone. The voice of a generation. But to those of us from this kudzu-drenched clime who share his upbringing, his culture, his heritage and his accent…those of us who did not require the obliging “Polk Salad Annie” preface delineating the edible weed…he has always been so much more than those things. Elvis was, is and always will be our champion; a Southern brother who did well.

 

“He is from us... He is all that is best of dark and bright; familiar and unique, human and divine. Our boy…”

 

© 2009 Pamela Mays Decker

 

Pamela Mays Decker is a writer from Birmingham, Alabama – which is also home to the world's largest iron statue: the bare-bottomed Roman god of fire and forge, Vulcan.

 

Great article and believe me, it's not just the southerners who love Elvis :wub: :yahoo:

Elvis in 1969 - the triumphant return!!!: :cheer:

 

The King’s return to live performances is one of the highlights of his amazing career. And one person who was there during that first season in 1969 was Maria Davies. Courtesy of Rex Martin, EIN presents Maria’s first hand account of Elvis live in Las Vegas in 1969. Maria’s account of the event is complemented by many wonderful photos she took in 1969 plus several from later seasons

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/rex_maria_1969.html

 

(Spotlight, Source: Rex Martin)

 

Elvis was a rolling stone

 

After Sidney Lumet had finished The Fugitive Kind, his adaptation of Tennessee William's play Orpheus Descending, he wondered if he should have cast Elvis Presley not Marlon Brando in the starring role ... Elvis was different. We can all agree on that. But that difference did not just apply to his looks, his voice, his talent. It also applied to his personality, what Lumet called his 'simplicity, lyricism and strange otherworldly quality'.

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis_was_...ing_stone.shtml

 

Elvis Articles, By Paul Simpson March 13, 2009

 

Love the pic of Elvis in this article :wub: