I LOVE ELVIS PRESLEY, I WENT THROUGH A LONG PERIOD OF BEING OBSESSED BY HIM.HE WAS MY SECRET OBSESSION WHEN I WAS GROWING UP.HIS STYLE,HIS MUSIC,EVERYTHING THE GUY DID I COLLECTED THATS THE WAY IT WAS.NOTHING ELSE MATTERED.HE WAS THE GREATEST.HE HAD IT ALL,THE WORLD WAS AT HIS FEET.GROWING UP I FELT AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE THAT THIS ROCK N ROLL PERFORMER WAS THE PERFECT ROCK STAR,I WAS VERY NAIVE IN MY THINKING, I THOUGHT THIS GUY COULD DO NO WRONG,WHAT I READ ABOUT ELVIS WAS THAT HE WAS A GOD FEARING MAMAS BOY WHO NEVER SMOKED OR TOOK DRUGS.ALL THE WHILE I WAS GOING TO ELVIS TRIBUTE ACTS THAT WERE AROUND,LOVING THE MUSIC MAYHEM THIS ELVIS WANNABE WAS STIRRING UP,GETTING ALL THESE MIDDLE AGED WOMEN EXCITED,I WAS SUCKED IN WITH IT ALL,IF MY MOD MATES FOUND OUT I WOULD HAVE HAD THE PISS TOOK OUT OF ME,BADLY, LIKE I SAID IT WAS A SECRET OBSESSION.GROWING UP WITH THE KING I MADE THE TRANSITION FROM GEEKY TEENAGER TO GEEKY ADULT AND WHILST READING AND LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE KING,LURKING IN BOOKS WRITTEN ABOUT HIM YOU FIND THINGS OUT LIKE AMID THE ORGY OF GUNS,PILLS AND EXTRA MARITAL AFFAIRS LURKED A PROFOUND INNER LONELINESS OF A MAN THEY CALLED THE KING OF ROCK AND ROLL.ALTHOUGH ALL OF ELVIS’S LIFE AND CAREER INTRIGUED ME IT WAS THE VEGAS YEARS I THOUGHT WERE THE WEIRDEST;FROM 1972 ONWARDS AFTER THE BREAK-UP OF HIS MARRIAGE, INTO A MUSICAL DECLINE FROM WHICH HE WOULD NEVER RECOVER FROM,TRAPPED INSIDE A WORLD HE INVENTED.
ONE OF ELVIS’S OBSESSIONS WAS COLLECTING POLICE BADGES AND ON DECEMBER 21,1970,ELVIS WENT AFTER THE COLLECTORS HOLY GRAIL:A BADGE FROM THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF NARCOTICS AND DANGEROUS DRUGS.THE PHOTOGRAPH OF ELVIS IN THE WHITE HOUSE SHAKING HANDS WITH RICHARD NIXON IS ONE OF THE SEVENTIES WEIRDEST,MOST INDELIBLE IMAGES.”THE ULTIMATE REBEL BECAME THE ULTIMATE CONSERVATIVE”
HE EVEN POINTED A FINGER TOWARDS THE BEATLES WHO HE SAID HAD BEEN”PROMOTING AN ANTI-AMERICAN SPIRIT”THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT WERE TRYING TO DEPORT LENNON AT THE TIME OF HIS MEETING WITH NIXON.
AS THE AMOUNT OF DRUGS INCREASED ELVIS’S BEHAVIOUR BECAME MORE BIZARRE WITH HIS CONCERTS BEING USED AS A PLATFORM FOR MONOLOGUES AND PUTTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT THESE BECAME AS LONG AS THE SONGS THEMSELVES.
ELVIS PRESLEY ON STAGE IN THE SEVENTIES.
TOWARDS THE END OF THE SEVENTIES HIS TRIUMPHS BECAME FEWER AND FEWER.ON DECEMBER 12,1976 HE PLAYED LAS VEGAS FOR THE LAST TIME.IN A CITY THAT OFFERS CUSTOM MADE ILLUSIONS,HE HAD FALLEN FOR THE BIG ONE:THE PROMISE THAT THE COMEBACK HE MADE UNDER ALL ITS GLITTER AND MAGIC FAIRY LIGHTS WOULD LEAD HIM TO BIGGER AND BETTER ACHIEVEMENTS,HE COULD HAVE CONQUERED THE WORLD.INSTEAD IT TURNED INTO A TREADMILL MORE TEDIOUS AND EXHAUSTING THAN THE ONE IN HOLLYWOOD.BUT ELVIS PRESLEY LEFT ME WITH SOME GREAT MEMORIES AND ONES I WILL TREASURE.
ELVIS PRESLEY-AN AMERICAN TRILOGY-HAWAII-1973.
THE COOLEST MAN ON THE PLANET CIRCA 1968.
ELVIS PRESLEY-1935-1977.
THANKYOUTHANKYOUVERYMUCH.
the right direction-the northern line. 