Elvis Presley

[Martina]

Presley was born in a two-room shotgun house, built by his father, in East Tupelo. He was an identical twin—his brother was stillborn and given the name Jesse Garon. In 1946, for his eleventh birthday, Presley received his first guitar. He had wanted a bicycle or rifle for his birthday, but his parents could only afford a guitar. In 1954, Presley began his career as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "black" and "white" sounds, made him popular and controversial as did his uninhibited stage and television performances.
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Martina


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[isaac42]

But did he ever learn to play that guitar? I've read that he only knew two chords.

[WowieZowie]

I think he was great. And I haven't always felt this way.

Now, singing Elvis songs, that is a bit dicey. Maybe it is just me, but the dude had/has such a huge persona, that it makes using his songs in sets worrisome. The Elvis impersonator has made the playing of his songs "clownish" and an almost running joke. It is sad in some ways. And hilarious in others.

Sad because Elvis was an amazing talent. (kinda wish you had talked a bit about gospel by the way - huge impact and a huge part of the controversy for that matter.) His voice was so rich. Great tone. Tone monster if you ask me. Check out early vids on youtube. He was so beautiful, it is no wonder that such an explosion happened in music right after his debut. People who saw him felt that they had found their calling - saying "That is what I want to do!!" And you can hear the influence in the Beatles, and so many others. The dude was huge.

Hilarious - well it kinda seems obvious. So many jokes about the dude.

When he was in high school, he would dress really wild, compared to the flat top wearing teens of the time. His hair was long (comparitively speaking) and he was constantly picked on. The dude that later became one of his body guards, "Red" was a big red haired football player -star of the team. Well, on two occasions, once outside after school, and once in the bathroom, he stopped seperate groups of guys who were hell bent on cutting Elvis' hair. Red told them that they would have to fight him first. And they backed way off. Now this was before Red, or anyone for that matter had heard elvis sing. So, he was protecting him because he felt kinda sorry for Elvis. Elvis seemed weak, and he truly would have gotten his butt kicked had Red not come along.

It was at his senior talent competition that Elvis got on stage, and just brought the house down. Like no one knew that he could do anything but dress and act funny. When he sang, Red tells the story that it was hypnotic. He watched the audience change in an instant from giggling at this quirky dude, to worshiping him after one freak'n song.

Elvis left a sea of people feeling this way in his life.

His talent was unmistakable.

By the way, he hated doing all those movies. He wanted to change his sound, be more creative (I can't stress this enough - if anything he was hugely creative from the get go.), but the Colonel new that there was huge money to be made by following the script as it were. Stick with what brought in the money. They did, and I really think that Elvis suffered immensely.

Oh, and the shooting the TV stories. Very true. But it is more funny when one finds out why he shot the TV's. One reason was, if he ever saw "Robert Goulet in some show, that tv was toast. - elvis loved toying with guns while in his hotel rooms, always holding them, etc, and he absolutely detested Goulet, interesting if you listen to the later sounds of Elvis.

My personal favorite story is when he just drives up to the White house (Nixon Presidency) and asks to see the pres, and he actually gets to see him!
That whole story, which started like a month prior when Elvis was on a plane and met the like sec'y of defense or something and tell the sec'y that he really would like to be a special agent because he felt that the young were being led by commies and that he had a special relationship with them and could help to sway them in the right direction. (hilarious TRUE stuff) Oh, and most importantly was that he would get to have a "badge" that he could whip out and freak people out. What a great dude. Like on the level of the "fear and loathing in las vegas" dude, yet with great musical talent to boot.

[WowieZowie]

But did he ever learn to play that guitar? I've read that he only knew two chords.

Check him out playing a gibson super 400 in his 1970's comeback. He plays a bit. He wasn't that great. But, he could play.

He was much better at karate. ;)

[Tag]

Please anyone that read this thread: Watch the '68 Comeback Special. Elvis was a fantastic singer and such a huge presence on stage. I never really appreciated his amazing voice until I watched
him belt it out superlatively on the Comeback Special...

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/142/069_3727~Elvis-Presley-Posters.jpg

[Shananigans]

THe 68 Comeback Special is amazing. That Was the real Elvis, at his prime. His voice is just so smooth and beautiful really. One of my favorite voices out there. I always loved his less popular stuff and more bluesy stuff. Liked the gospel , and my favorite Elvis songs ever are Kentucky Rain, In the Ghetto, The wonder of you, Dont Cry daddy, and Suspicious Minds.