42 Years Ago We Lost The King

tommym

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"Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite"

Wow, I remember going to that concert. I was there along with a lot of old folks and tourists. I must have been 12 years old at the time, so I guess everyone looked old to me.

Yeah, I still consider Elvis the "King", and always will.

I mostly play John Denver songs on my guitars now days, but when I remove the stings to change them out, I strum my Elvis songs before I put the strings back on....:congratulatory:


Tommy

"Burning Love".



walrus
 

Rich Cohen

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By the time of his death, Presley was rather overweight. His fondness for fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches and other unhealthy foods was well-known and he suffered from several ailments including diabetes, high blood pressure, and glaucoma...

and

Between 1975 and 1977, the doctor had written prescriptions for 19,000 doses of drugs for Presley. From just January to August of 1977, he had prescribed more than 10,000 doses.

I am surprised he lasted to 42.

Yes, but he had to make himself happy some how, no? It's, of course, rather pathetic, but understandable. He was essentially alone in this world, beyond the help of anyone. Okay, his death could have been accidental as Al suggests. He wasn't a chemist after all. I just feel sorry for him. What a talent, and gone way too soon. I've visited his home and museum. That Convair 880 he used to fly around in has a solid gold bathroom sink, and a bedroom in the tail end which has a round bed in it. OMG. His home also has a round bed, and a shooting range. The living room contains a "mile long" white sofa, and the room has a red carpet. Then, there's the "Jungle Room" with a "grass carpet" and "Natural Fiber" wallpaper. OMG. He was generous....there are many checks he wrote for $1,000 for various charities. He was manipulated by the system obviously.
 
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adorshki

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He was essentially alone in this world, beyond the help of anyone.
From the Jerry Lee Lewis anecdote, Linda Gail, Lewis' sister, explaining why she was sure Elvis had actually called Jerry Lee to come visit:
'I believe, really and truly, that the people who were associated with Elvis at that time were trying to manipulate him. He was supporting all of them financially, and it was in their best interest to keep him isolated',

Okay, his death could have been accidental as Al suggests.
Heart attack likely related to stress resulting from barbiturate over-prescription.
To be fair regarding the "loneliness" issue, his girlfriend was at Graceland that day, too.
Of course that's no guarantee of emotional comfort, how many of us have felt alienated even when surrounded by friends and loved ones?

He wasn't a chemist after all. I just feel sorry for him.
I don't want to feel sorry for him only because I want to remember him differently, but yeah I get what you mean.

Yeah, I still consider Elvis the "King", and always will.
Elvis was bigger than any of them.
He was even John Lennon's hero.
 
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Rich Cohen

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Let's not forget that Elvis was possible because he and his promoters understood the value and power of African American music and its artists. He was in a position to be manipulated by those who wanted to cash in on the power of American Black music and its culture. Without them preceding him, there wouldn't have been Elvis. And, not surprisingly, he benefited the most financially and fame wise. Let's admit, us white folks, that Black American music has given so much to our culture and nation. Those who co-opt it should acknowledge it! In my opinion, African American music and culture is so fundamental to American culture because it seems to be the only way that white Americans are willing to accept its contribution without a racist attitude. Long live the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X., to name just two important political figures.
 
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adorshki

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Let's not forget that Elvis was possible because he and his promoters understood the value and power of African American music and its artists. He was in a position to be manipulated by those who wanted to cash in on the power of American Black music and its culture. Without them preceding him, there wouldn't have been Elvis. And, not surprisingly, he benefited the most financially and fame wise.
Rich, respectfully, think you may be over-thinking it a little too much.
Truth was, "race music" was pretty much relegated to specialized stations and venues and if hadn't been for Elvis who knows how long it would have stayed "underground".
The big surprise to everybody was that his take on it (which was truthfully more "rockabilly" than "blues" ) was so suddenly and widely embraced.
He (more appropriately perhaps, Sam Philips) came along and upset the applecart of whitebread music exemplified by tunes like "Mr. Sandman" and "Lollipop"
According to Wiki, Philips:
...He was an early investor in the Holiday Inn chain of hotels. He owned and operated radio stations in Memphis; Florence, Alabama; and Lake Worth, Florida. He advocated for racial equality and helped break down racial barriers in the music industry.
..In the 1940s, Phillips worked as a DJ and radio engineer for station WLAY (AM), in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. According to Phillips, the station's "open format" (of broadcasting music by white and black musicians alike) would later inspire his work in Memphis.
...On January 3, 1950, Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service, at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis.[7] He let amateurs record, which drew performers such as B.B. King,[8] Junior Parker, and Howlin' Wolf,[9] who made their first recordings there. Phillips then sold the recordings to larger labels. In addition to musical performances, Phillips recorded events such as weddings and funerals, selling the recordings. The Memphis Recording Service also served as the studio for Phillips's own label, Sun Record Company, which he launched in 1952. "
Sounds to me like a guy who was just out to get good music exposed as opposed to exploiting the creators...
Let's admit, us white folks, that Black American music has given so much to our culture and nation. Those who co-opt it should acknowledge it! .
I don't think Philips or Elvis or anybody here's denying it but maybe you think we're forgetting that?
It just hasn't been relevant to the conversation yet, I think.
Berry Gordy.
Motown.
Those guys did it all on their own merits and didn't need any help getting "black" music on the charts.
:tranquillity:
 
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Rich Cohen

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Al, I'm not putting down or lessening Elvis' uplifting or showcasing Black music artists. I'm saying that they couldn't have crossed over in the large numbers they did without a white man promoting them on national media.
 

JF-30

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Elvis was ONLY 42 years old when he took his life! There's a lesson in it.

Don't take your life? Or maybe don't listen to a bunch of a-holes who are mooching off you. The Memphis Mafia, Col. Tom ect.

I don't think Elvis committed suicide though. He took more colored pills than all the hues in a Disney movie.
 
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adorshki

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Al, I'm not putting down or lessening Elvis' uplifting or showcasing Black music artists. I'm saying that they couldn't have crossed over in the large numbers they did without a white man promoting them on national media.
Rich, never thought you were putting down Elvis, I just got you thought nobody was acknowledging just where all that music came from:
Without them preceding him, there wouldn't have been Elvis. And, not surprisingly, he benefited the most financially and fame wise. Let's admit, us white folks, that Black American music has given so much to our culture and nation.Those who co-opt it should acknowledge it!
I'm actually gonna retract my own earlier statement now, made too hastily:
"Truth was, "race music" was pretty much relegated to specialized stations and venues and if hadn't been for Elvis who knows how long it would have stayed "underground"."
In fact while it's true that music performed by black artists was largely relegated to specialized outlets, luminaries like George Gershwin celebrated the cultural tradition as far back as the '30's with Porgy and Bess; Satchmo was highly respected as America's jazz ambassador to the world (which largely gave American jazz a whole lot more respect then we did here at home); and Pat Boone had already practiced the "white man sings black music" formula a couple of years before Elvis.
And I still say Bill Haley and Jerry Lee and Carl Perkins and Elvis were far more "rock-a-billy" than blues.
In other words, they put their own white stamp on the music...
Maybe the real problem was that in '57, with the integration of public schools crisis in Little Rock Arkansas, openly acknowledging the roots of the music might have been more of a fuse on a tinderbox than promoters and top 40 radio and record companies wanted to play up.
All they wanna do is sell records and not say or do anything that might interfere with that.
I don't know, it's just something that occurred to me that may explain what you seem to be saying.
His manager Tom Parker was acutely aware of Elvis' bad boy image and saw his Army stint as a chance to remake his image in a more mass-audience appealing mold.
I also now humbly submit that when Elvis went into the Army that phase of his career effectively ended and he "got respectable" and what came out after he came back, the movies, was pure Wonder Bread.
(No wonder I didn't like Elvis or "get it" when I was a kid)
In the meantime, the Beatles got in the door, the next generation of teenagers had their new heroes (every 4 or 5 years a new class gotta have their own, still going on to this day) in vocal groups, and most important of all, as I mentioned earlier, black music "crossed over" without any assist or reference to "Elvis style" music at all with the Supremes:
"Founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and are, to date, America's most successful vocal group"
Have to admit the Civil Rights movement in the early '60's may also have played a role in fostering an atmosphere of tolerance and acceptance for "black music"; but that alone wouldn't account for the Supremes' massive popularity on both sides of "the fence".
Peace (?)
:tranquillity:
 
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Westerly Wood

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i just want to try fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches.
 

adorshki

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i just want to try fried banana and peanut butter sandwiches.
Original recipe calls for Wonder Bread, helps build strong bodies 12 ways.
And Green Onions on the side.
Batter-dipped Milky Ways for desert.
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Hmmmm......maybe it wasn't the pills....

Doctor Feelgood:
"Elvis if you can't lose a little weight I'm gonna have to cut your scripts in half."
Elvis:
"'Long's I can get some sleep at night, doc.
Say, you gonna finish that?"
 
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