• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Elvis Presley

On a previous anniversary when there was a bit of fuss about it I chatted with a friend about where we were when we heard the news.

I was in bed with my then blurk and we were bickering about who was getting up to do the breakfast. I eventually heard the announcement but he didn't, so I said 'Oh get up ya lazy git, Elvis is dead!'
He leapt out of bed, turned the radio up and wandered round the bedroom naked with his hands to his head lamenting.

My friend said 'Oh yeah, I remember it VERY well. I was in hospital because my Dad had beaten me up. My mother came to see me to plead with me not to talk to the police when they came to see me later.'

What the flip? :dunno:

Techy was still at school. He and his friends said 'Elvis? So what?'
 
I wasn't so familiar with his music as a little kid, but his movies were always on TV, so I knew him more as a movie star than a recording artiste. Like George Formby.
 
Just to illustrate my earlier point about how Elvis's live performances are Where It's At:

This is spine-tingling (for me at least)


Non-fans: let me know if this does the trick!

Edit:
There's something about the way he Elvis-ises his covers of other artists' songs. He usually picks the big hits--a common error of lesser artists--but with his voice, the orchestration and the changes in phrasing he almost invariably leaves you with the impression that he is feeling the words he sings--that they are resonant with him in some deep personal sense.

That is a rare and precious talent in a showman.
 
Last edited:
As good an introduction as any:


Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite is a concert that was headlined by Elvis Presley, and was broadcast live via satellite on January 14, 1973. The concert took place at the Honolulu International Center (HIC) in Honolulu (now known as the Neal S. Blaisdell Center) and aired in over 40 countries across Asia and Europe (who received the telecast the next day, also in primetime). Despite the satellite innovation, the United States did not air the concert until April 4, 1973 (because the concert took place the same day as Super Bowl VII). Viewing figures have been estimated to be between 1 and 1.5 billion viewers worldwide. The show was the most expensive entertainment special at the time, costing $2.5 million.


Elvis, starring Elvis Presley, is a United States television special that aired on December 3, 1968 on the NBC television network. The special is commonly referred to as the '68 Comeback Special, because of subsequent developments in Presley's career. It was directed by Steve Binder and produced by Binder and Bones Howe. Music from the special was released before the broadcast, on the album Elvis (NBC TV Special).

Presley's informal jamming in front of a small audience in the special is regarded as a forerunner of the "unplugged" concept, later popularized by MTV.
 
Well....I have to be honest and say that those videos didn't change my mind about Elvis.
I think if he had lost the white suit and acted like a 'normal singer' without all the over the top star production bs...... I might have more respect for him. He had a good voice as far as that goes but the songs in general and the 'showmanship' just never appealed to me.
Funny but I kind of always put him and Neil Diamond in the same category but I like the songs Diamond wrote far better.
 
Yithian said:
As good an introduction as any:


Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite is a concert that was headlined by Elvis Presley, and was broadcast live via satellite on January 14, 1973. The concert took place at the Honolulu International Center (HIC) in Honolulu (now known as the Neal S. Blaisdell Center) and aired in over 40 countries across Asia and Europe (who received the telecast the next day, also in primetime). Despite the satellite innovation, the United States did not air the concert until April 4, 1973 (because the concert took place the same day as Super Bowl VII). Viewing figures have been estimated to be between 1 and 1.5 billion viewers worldwide. The show was the most expensive entertainment special at the time, costing $2.5 million.


Elvis, starring Elvis Presley, is a United States television special that aired on December 3, 1968 on the NBC television network. The special is commonly referred to as the '68 Comeback Special, because of subsequent developments in Presley's career. It was directed by Steve Binder and produced by Binder and Bones Howe. Music from the special was released before the broadcast, on the album Elvis (NBC TV Special).

Presley's informal jamming in front of a small audience in the special is regarded as a forerunner of the "unplugged" concept, later popularized by MTV.
Click to expand...
My Dad had the chance to see him in Vegas once but didn't go because he was trying to set up his business stateside .. he's kicked himself for that ever since
 
I go to Vegas regularly and to this day Elvis has left a mark on that town.Elvis was a rare one of a kind.
 
Prefer the Stray Cats to Elvis as a listen and a show, but there'd be no Cats without The King. Respect where it's due.
 
The great men aren't died ever you know already. The are always remembered for the good works.
 
I may be repeating myself here.

One of my exes loved Elvis and I think I heard everything he ever recorded that was available up to the late '70s. Repeatedly.

Here's one of my favourite Elvis songs. I once played it to Techy to see if he could guess who it was, and it took him a while.

Michael Jarrett who co-wrote it was inspired by the response of his then girlfriend to his plan of leaving his home town to be a songwriter. She was sceptical so he went without her, and the song came out of that experience. Elvis loved it and often performed it.

When Jarrett told his by then ex-girlfriend, who hadn't believed enough in his talent, that he'd written this song she said 'Wow! Elvis is singing about me!'

I'm Leavin'
 
Swifty said:
My Dad had the chance to see him in Vegas once but didn't go because he was trying to set up his business stateside .. he's kicked himself for that ever since
Click to expand...

I work with someone who likewise had that chance when in Vegas, but his girlfriend of the time wanted to see Liberace instead.
 
Paul Morley was excellent on Radio 4's Archive Hour tonight, linking the '68 Comeback Special (broadcast almost exactly 50 years ago today) to the wider story of America in the 1960s and beyond:
Radio 4 doc

Makes a nice companion piece to this year's film doc The King, which is also recommended. Among the gems of info on the R4 piece: they chose the director because he had caused controversy earlier that year with his Petula Clark special, where she had briefly held hands with Harry Belafonte. This caused uproar because a black man had touched a white woman on TV. It's crazy.

Oh, and I was not quite right about the above: Elvis had a heart attack in his bathroom (not on the toilet), but he died in hospital hours later.
 
Kondoru said:
Isnt he a myth anyway??
I mean, no real person could have a name like Elvis?
Click to expand...

No, he isn't. Yes, a person could ... 'Elvis' is a name of murky origins that pre-dates Presley.
Elvis is a male given name. It is an anglicisation of the Irish name of Saint Ailbe (d. 528). The saint was also a popular figure in medieval Wales, where he was claimed to be of British origin, in which case the Irish name Ailbe might be gaelicisation of an Ancient British name ancestral to modern Welsh Eilfyw or Eilfw. ...

The etymology of the name is unknown, and it is uncertain whether the name should be considered Irish (Gaelic) or British (Welsh) in origin. A folk etymology is suggested in the Vita Albei, as a derivative of ail "a rock" and beo "living". ..

The name may be related or identical to Elwen, Elvan, the name of a poorly attested saint or saints venerated in early medieval Cornwall and Brittany.

In medieval French sources, the unrelated homograph Elvis occurs as a feminine name, a variant of Helvis, Aluysa, Alaisa, from a Germanic name such as Alwis. ...

The name most commonly refers to American singer and actor Elvis Presley (1935–1977). Earlier bearers of the name include American administrator Elvis Jacob Stahr, Jr. (1916–1998, born the same year as Elvis Presley's father, Vernon Elvis Presley). ....
Click to expand...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_(name)
 
No more Elvis themed weddings.

Las Vegas chapels of love that use Elvis Presley’s likeness could find themselves becoming Heartbreak Hotels.

The licensing company that controls the name and image of The King is ordering Sin City chapel operators to stop using Elvis in themed ceremonies, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Monday. Authentic Brands Group sent cease-and-desist letters in early May to multiple chapels, which are expected to be compliant by now.

With Elvis so closely tied to Vegas’ wedding industry, some say the move could decimate their businesses.

“We are a family-run business and now we’re hanging with the big dogs,” said Kayla Collins, who operates LasVegasElvisWeddingChapel.com and the Little Chapel of Hearts with her husband.

“That’s our bread and butter. I don’t get it. We were just hitting our stride again through Covid, then this happens.”

Clark County clerk Lynn Goya, who led a marketing campaign promoting Las Vegas as a wedding destination, said the order for chapels to stop using Elvis could not have come at a worse time for the sector.
.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40885754.html
 
Elvis: Just as much about Colonel Parker(Tom Hanks) as it is about Elvis (Austin Butler). The Great Pretender (Parker) is the narrator, an unreliable narrator when it comes to interpretations of what happened but the facts are presented to us warts and all. We see the young Elvis inspired by (and hanging out with) Rhythm and Blues musicians like B.B. King (Kelvin Harrison jr; Little Richard (Alton Mason) and Big Mama Thornton (Shonka Dukureh), This musical miscegenation was to cause trouble for Elvis when opportunist politicians used their war on Rock and Roll as tool in their racist campaigns. The raw power of the early Elvis is vividly portrayed by Butler, sheer R&B Punk Power, the Joe Strummer of his generation. How Parker got Elvis to soften his image and performance didn't occur overnight, a combination of carrot and stick over years was required. At one stage the Colonel literally takes Elvis up to a high place (top of a ferris wheel), shows him the world and promises it to him. The two great performers are Butler and Hanks but Luhrmann is masterly in the way he puts things together, Multiple split screens, cartoons to emphasise developments and metaphors, cutting between the young and old Elvis, judicious use of old TV and Film footage. Stands with the best of Luhrmann's work. Directed by Baz Luhrmann, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner. 9/10.

n cinemas.
 
I don't know that I've ever mentioned this here before (honestly can't remember), so forgive me if I bore you with my re-telling of this story, but I have actually seen Elvis in person.
It was early January 1977 and I was travelling with my father to the U.S.
On the tail end of our trip we spent 3 nights in Las Vegas and stayed at a condominium complex that overlooked the carpark of the Las Vegas Hilton.
Whilst Elvis wasn't actually touring that week, he was in town before beginning his finals months of performing.
Upon checking in to our room, the concierge mentioned to look out from our balcony each evening at 6 p.m as we'd see Elvis and his entourage arrive at the rear of the Hilton in his fleet of cars, get out and enter the building.
Two nights out of 3 we saw him briefly at a distance of around 200 meters.
That's all there is to tell. No more, no less. But I've seen him.
 
Last edited:
I have been in Graceland and it is a museum not having been touched since the day Elvis died, but the upstairs is off limits.

His planes are across the street is like its own museum.

The newer parts shows off his clothes and lots and lots of awards.

Taking about a true time warp, walking into this house makes you think you are back in the 1950s.

It’s a weird feeling inside.

At the family gravesite all the visitors and tourists are crying their eyes out.

His songs still pays his estate lots of royalties.
 
charliebrown said:
I have been in Graceland and it is a museum not having been touched since the day Elvis died, but the upstairs is off limits.

His planes are across the street is like its own museum.

The newer parts shows off his clothes and lots and lots of awards.

Taking about a true time warp, walking into this house makes you think you are back in the 1950s.

It’s a weird feeling inside.

At the family gravesite all the visitors and tourists are crying their eyes out.

His songs still pays his estate lots of royalties.
Click to expand...
My Dad had Elvis's 'Your So Young And Beautiful' played at my Mum's funeral.
 
Elvis' house at 1174 North Hillcrest Road in Beverly Hills.

There are photos of him meeting fans at the gates in the 1960/70s (he lived here from 1967-73).

The gates today look to be the same ones;

ep.png
ep1.jpg
 

(obviously I can't verify this is Elvis)​

​

Things Found In Walls - And Other Hidden Findings​

Andrei Vasilyevich Kosarev · ·


While cleaning in my parents basement I found two random photos of Elvis? on the floor that nobody in the family has ever seen before.
House was built in 2006, and all the family pictures are kept in a box in the opposite end of the house. Nobody has any clue where they came from.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbi...pxC0f9DHCNxTsDaRs3wyYOeKxyS6RpR0w&__tn__=EH-R

I'm going with no.

aelvis002.jpg
 
Well, do you know the other people in the pictures ?

Elvis had tremendous psychological problems because his twin, Jesse, was born dead and at a young age his family was thrown out on the streets as his father was sent to jail for check forgery.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top