Many Nice Adjectives About Micky!
The
Monkee Lady
> http://www.theimproper.com/Template_Article.aspx?IssueId=4&ArticleId=...
Great piece and I will state my only gripe as a question....Jimi
Hendrix opened for the Monkees in 1974????
Monkee Lady
catg...@aol.com
> Hendrix opened for the Monkees in 1974????
Yes, that was the Secret Reunion and Wake The Dead Tour, featuring all
four Monkees although critics complained Hendrix was a little stiff on
the guitar. (Ducking for cover and running like hell...lol.)
The
I knew that would get a reaction! LOL! I love it! Kudos to you and
Monkeelady for jumping on that one.
It reminded me of being at a gift shop at Graceland in 2001. There was
a video there for sale an Elvis in concert...a "rare footage" video.
The blurb on the back listed the concert as being in 1984. My friend
said, " Are you gonna buy it?" I said "Naw. I really, really do not
want to see what Elvis looked like in 1984."
Monkee Lady
ROTFLMAO at both replies!
Monkee Lady
catg...@aol.com
> > > Hendrix opened for the Monkees in 1974????
>
> > Yes, that was the Secret Reunion and Wake The Dead Tour, featuring all
> > four Monkees although critics complained Hendrix was a little stiff on
> > the guitar. (Ducking for cover and running like hell...lol.)
>
> I knew that would get a reaction! LOL! I love it! Kudos to you and
> Monkeelady for jumping on that one.
>
because that one just wrote itself out while I was trying to think of
what to say.
> It reminded me of being at a gift shop at Graceland in 2001. There was
> a video there for sale an Elvis in concert...a "rare footage" video.
> The blurb on the back listed the concert as being in 1984. My friend
> said, " Are you gonna buy it?" I said "Naw. I really, really do not
> want to see what Elvis looked like in 1984."
1984 was about the time the "Elvis is alive" hoopla was just getting
started. I remember seeing a magazine ad for a book on Elvis being
alive, offering "conclusive proof" that Elvis was still alive. The
book was rather expensive for a paperback by 1984 standards, $7.95 +
$2.00 shipping and handling, but I thought what the hell. I bit, more
curious to see what they had to offer in the way of conclusive proof,
as I knew Elvis was quite dead.
What was the proof? It took more than a year to find out. When the
book didn't arrive within six to eight weeks after ordering, I figured
the person was running a scam just to get money from people. So, when
I got the book in the mail, it was a bit of a shock in two ways. The
first being it took a little over a year for delivery. The second
being the book was a booklet of about fifteen to sixteen pages, the
ramblings of a psycho fan who concocted a piece of fiction in which
Elvis changed places with a lookalike who was conveniently dying from
cancer.
It was pathetically amateurish, the worst scam of any "Elvis is alive"
story that was out there. And there were quite a few but most of them
have gone away. Pyscho fan however, is still out there and carrying
on, last I heard. Like the "World is coming to an end" and "Jesus is
coming soon" freaks, he keeps saying Elvis is ready to re-emerge,
names a date but then moves the date back when the day arrives and
there's no Elvis. He must sympathize a lot with Linus, forever waiting
the arrival of the Great Pumpkin and walking away disappointed.
The
<catgo...@aol.com> wrote:
.... but I thought what the hell. I bit, more
> curious to see what they had to offer in the way of conclusive proof,
> as I knew Elvis was quite dead.
>
> What was the proof? It took more than a year to find out. When the
> book didn't arrive within six to eight weeks after ordering, I figured
> the person was running a scam just to get money from people. So, when
> I got the book in the mail, it was a bit of a shock in two ways. The
> first being it took a little over a year for delivery. The second
> being the book was a booklet of about fifteen to sixteen pages, the
> ramblings of a psycho fan who concocted a piece of fiction in which
> Elvis changed places with a lookalike who was conveniently dying from
Oh. WELL. I somehow missed the psycho fan's offering! I bought the
OTHER one, the bestselling "Is Elvis Alive? " by Gail Brewer Giorgio.
She had some very intriguing things in her book that were...well,
intriguing. Not proof by any means, but interesting - most of these
are well-known by now...the fact that to this day Elvis's life
insurance policy has never been cashed in on, his middle name is
spelled wrong on his over-the-top expensive tombstone ( some say
that's a Southern superstition - if you are still alive you do not
have a gravestone made with your name spelled properly and "tempt
fate"), the fact that right before he died he withdrew all the money
from his checking account - all of it....it made the wishful thinking
of many seem less odd and more of a possibility that Elvis might
really have faked his own death. It was a good, fun read, but I
realized that Elvis was really dead when Lisa Marie married Micheal
Jackson. I knew that charade never would have happened if Elvis still
walked the earth. Come back Elvis! We'll be good this time! (-:
catg...@aol.com
> OTHER one, the bestselling "Is Elvis Alive? " by Gail Brewer Giorgio.
> She had some very intriguing things in her book that were...well,
> intriguing. Not proof by any means, but interesting - most of these
> are well-known by now...the fact that to this day Elvis's life
> insurance policy has never been cashed in on, his middle name is
> spelled wrong on his over-the-top expensive tombstone ( some say
> that's a Southern superstition - if you are still alive you do not
> have a gravestone made with your name spelled properly and "tempt
> fate"), the fact that right before he died he withdrew all the money
> from his checking account - all of it....it made the wishful thinking
> of many seem less odd and more of a possibility that Elvis might
> really have faked his own death. It was a good, fun read, but I
> realized that Elvis was really dead when Lisa Marie married Micheal
> Jackson. I knew that charade never would have happened if Elvis still
> walked the earth. Come back Elvis! We'll be good this time! (-:
I guess psycho fan, being self published, didn't reach a wide
audience. He implicated one of the people who worked for Elvis as
being in cahoots about the switch. The Elvis associate sued him, I
believe, over the fiction. I'm not sure the associate was able to
collect a dime.
Gail Brewer-Giorgio's story was total fiction. There were explanations
for some of the things she listed as pointing to the possibility of
Elvis being alive. For instance, the story of the money being
withdrawn from the bank wasn't true; there was $7.2 million in one of
Elvis's bank accounts when he died. He may have had other bank
accounts that dealt with salaries for his personal associates and
Graceland employees. My guess is any money that was withdrawn from the
bank was done so by Elvis's father, who bristled at the thought of
paying anything to Elvis's friends that worked for him. He was
probably doing that to make sure Lisa's interests were well protected.
As for Brewer-Giorgio, she got into the 'Elvis is alive' business
because she had written a fictional novel called "Orion," that dealt
with a music superstar who faked his own death, so he could live a
normal life. Her story actually matched that of the psycho fan's, the
music superstar switched places with a dying lookalike. And also,
withdrew enough money from his bank account to live out his days.
Brewer-Giorgio maintained during the 'Elvis is alive' hoopla that she
had never heard of Elvis. That was really stretching the credibility
of her story. Never heard of Elvis? Where did she live? Somewhere
without access to TV or radio or telephone? Her "I didn't know
anything about Elvis" story was blown in 1984 when either the late Ral
Donner or the late Jimmy Ellis (both eerie Elvis soundalikes) was
hired to record as Orion and wear a gold mask to conceal their face
and identity. The story was blown when the one who was Orion talked to
Goldmine and exposed Brwer-Giorgio's deceit. She hoped her novel and
the two Orion albums would catch on with Elvis fans. Some people
bought into it, including one idiot who lived about 45 miles from me,
who believed Orion was Elvis. The idiot in question was a policeman
and one of the local newspapers did a story on this guy and his
belief. That scared me. I mean, the guy was a policeman and you have
to wonder how many people might have been convicted, sent to prison,
possibly on death row, based on his testimony? One can only hope that
anyone who was convicted for murder and executed for their crime was
convicted based on his testimony.
JanB
"catgod29@home_on_the_range.com" <catg...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:98b9a09f-0830-4506...@k37g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
There are actually Elvis fans out there who not only believe that Elvis is
still alive, but claim to have proof. They've even claimed to have chatted
with him over the back fence of Graceland...recently. But..."threats" have
kept them from telling the truth. One of them asked me if I believed that he
was dead. My answer: Legends don't die.
Then there's that crack in his tomb, where he rolled over in his grave, when
Lisa married Michael...
JanB
The
knows all the players, including Dr. Nic, whom he knows very well. The
probable cause of the money being taken out of the bank, I believe -
if I am remembering this correctly - is that they were about to go on
tour. It wasn't even that much money to be honest, certainly not by
celebrity cash-on-hand standards. The other truth being that Elvis
kind of lived from money-making venture to money-making venture. By
today's standards - or even "Elvis" standards - his bank account/s
weren't what you would think. He was in no shape to tour at that time,
but he really needed to. He makes more money now than he ever did back
when.
I know a couple in Tenn - have I mentioned them? Can't remember - who
went to high school with Elvis and the male half of the couple worked
for Elvis for a while when he was young, as did many of Elvis' friends
over the years, from time to time or for a long time. This same guy
was also a policeman in Memphis when the good Rev Dr. Martin Luther
King was assassinated. A fascinating person to speak to about high-
profile Memphis. Really nice guy.
But check this out for the pro's and cons. It's pretty fun to read.
I"m not sure if your psycho-fan is in this bunch or not! Tell me if
you see him here!
Monkee Lady
> I have an ex who wrote a book about Elvis. It's a long story, but he
> knows all the players, including Dr. Nic, whom he knows very well. The
> probable cause of the money being taken out of the bank, I believe -
> if I am remembering this correctly - is that they were about to go on
> tour.
Yes, he was about to tour......a friend and I were planning on seeing
his concert that would have taken place on either August 19 or August
20. I was gonna go out of curiosity, as I could not imagine being in a
crowd of screaming fans.....of course, I would find out what was like
in 1986! ;-))
Monkee Lady
catg...@aol.com
> still alive, but claim to have proof. They've even claimed to have chatted
> with him over the back fence of Graceland...recently. But..."threats" have
> kept them from telling the truth. One of them asked me if I believed that he
> was dead. My answer: Legends don't die.
>
thinking of Elvis's most fanatical of fans? Had Elvis faked his death,
I don't think he could've lived with himself when a drunk driver drove
his car into the crowd that was across the street from Graceland,
killing two young girls in the process.
Morrison, by the way, was or is another member of the fake their death
club. After his death was announced in '71, there was a group or
singer called Phantom that had a song in '73 or '74 called "Calm
Before the Storm." Morrison was also reputed to have been working in a
bank in Switzerland around the same time and then, not too long ago --
a couple of years ago in fact, as a working farmer in Oregon. If he or
Elvis did fake their deaths, they're being pretty cavalier on being
seen in public. Then again, no one would believe it anyway and because
of that, there would be no need to threaten anybody.
> Then there's that crack in his tomb, where he rolled over in his grave, when
> Lisa married Michael...
That might have been enough to raise Elvis back from the dead!
catg...@aol.com
> his concert that would have taken place on either August 19 or August
> 20. I was gonna go out of curiosity, as I could not imagine being in a
> crowd of screaming fans.....of course, I would find out what was like
> in 1986! ;-))
It's amazing that any performer -- Elvis, Monkees, Beatles or any
other act -- that had that kind of screaming phenomenon going on
didn't end up going deaf themselves from that screaming. Mike
complained in the 60s that he had lost some of his hearing from the
screaming.
One of the local TV stations here tried to sneak into the last concert
Elvis gave with a portable video camera, hoping to film what he looked
like. They were met by security and all they got of Elvis was a blur.
But, the audio was something else: continuous screaming so loud that
it drowned out the band's playing.
I sometimes what the sound would be like if you managed to get the
billions of souls on this planet to scream for one hour straight, at
the same point of time in all time zones. Doing it in the name of
peace. Would all that energy break glass and pottery, register on the
Richter scale, make politicians tremble, raise the dead, rip the world
in two, frighten aliens from space, etc? Even evoke a response from
the almighty? Might be interesting to find out...
catg...@aol.com
> knows all the players, including Dr. Nic, whom he knows very well. The
> probable cause of the money being taken out of the bank, I believe -
> if I am remembering this correctly - is that they were about to go on
> tour. It wasn't even that much money to be honest, certainly not by
> celebrity cash-on-hand standards. The other truth being that Elvis
> kind of lived from money-making venture to money-making venture. By
> today's standards - or even "Elvis" standards - his bank account/s
> weren't what you would think. He was in no shape to tour at that time,
> but he really needed to. He makes more money now than he ever did back
> when.
Elvis was to have left from Memphis on August 16th to fly up to
Portland, Maine, I believe, for the start of yet another concert tour.
So, he probably withdrew enough money to cover the per diems of
everyone involved in the tour, and probably some cash for emergencies.
Elvis's greedy manager took half of what he made, so that would've
been more money that didn't go into his bank account. What I thought
was intriguing was that in the year after Elvis's death, it was
reported that over the course of the two decades, the Elvis industry
had earned $43 billion! That was a staggering amount of money in those
days and even more astounding was that Elvis somehow saw very little
of that money. It's hard to believe his manager could've allowed
companies to have profited off of Elvis's name and image and not have
paid any royalties for the privilege. Others said later the $43
billion figure was inaccurate, that it was $4.3 billion but even that
figure was disputed by those who had shrunk the figure to $4.3
billion. They felt that one person could not have moved that much
money in two decades. Some of these naysayers had no trouble believing
the Beatles moved similar amounts of money in a less amount of time.
Whatever the case, if Elvis's manager had been as smart as many
claimed, Elvis should've died a billionaire and not someone with less
than ten million in the bank.
> I know a couple in Tenn - have I mentioned them? Can't remember - who
> went to high school with Elvis and the male half of the couple worked
> for Elvis for a while when he was young, as did many of Elvis' friends
> over the years, from time to time or for a long time. This same guy
> was also a policeman in Memphis when the good Rev Dr. Martin Luther
> King was assassinated. A fascinating person to speak to about high-
> profile Memphis. Really nice guy.
I'm really surprised that someone hasn't done a book (that I'm aware
of) covering Elvis's high school years. Or a book about the people who
worked with Elvis in his movies, whether they were cast members or
film crew members or the musicians and background singers. One member
of a group called the Mello Men was kind of shaken when they first met
Elvis. He said Elvis had this otherworldly presence, as though he
didn't belong here and was only visiting. Another thing he said that
shook him was that Elvis would be looking through you at what was
happening behind you. And Elvis didn't give the impression that he was
staring at what was happening behind this person. I wondered about
that one. Maybe there was a red and blue costume underneath the
clothes Elvis was wearing.
> But check this out for the pro's and cons. It's pretty fun to read.
> I"m not sure if your psycho-fan is in this bunch or not! Tell me if
> you see him here!
>
> http://www.classicbands.com/MysteryofElvisPresley.html
I could only read the first page. If I wanted to read the rest of the
interview, I had to contact the writer by email. Guess he thinks he's
protecting his copyright. Brewer-Giorgio mentioned Joe Esposito agreed
with her on Larry King about Elvis's remains sweating. He may have
agreed but he frequently changes what he has to say about Elvis. He
might agree with you one day, then disagree with you the next. For
instance, he agreed in the 80s and up through the 90s, that Elvis died
from an overdose. However, after a second coroner in the 90s reviewing
Elvis's autopsy and medical records said the cause of death was from a
massive heart attack and not an overdose, Joe Esposito switched back
to the heart attack story.
I didn't see the psycho fan among that group but I did see Major Bill
Smith, who was a music promoter from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I
forget who it was he handled in the 50s or 60s but he promoted a tape
that he said was taken from a recording studio in '81, where a live
Elvis was recording the Eddie Rabbit song "I Love A Rainy Night.".
This 'Elvis' was informed that "Ronald Reagan had just been shot" and
he "hoped the president was going to be okay." Another convenient
scam. Smith went to his own grave still insisting that was Elvis on
the tape even though a voice analysis of Elvis's own singing voice and
the voice on the tape showed the voices were different. The voice on
the tape did not belong to Elvis.
The
Dead Club! I just thought he was in the "He's Hot, Sexy and Dead"
club...or whatever it was that Rolling Stone printed on that infamous
cover of him in the 80s. On a related note I thought " No One Here
Gets Out Alive" was a very good book and was sorry to hear that Danny
Sugarman, the author, also died too young, at 50, from lung cancer. He
was married to Fawn Hall ( of Iran-Contra scandal fame...and she also
dated Rob Lowe at one time.) I remember when NOHGOA was first being
optioned in Hollywood wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back when, John
Travolta's name was being bandied about to play Jim Morrison. Can you
imagine?
catg...@aol.com
Travolta as Morrison? Egad! He and I are the same age, roughly -- I
think he has a few months on me. But, he would've been too old to have
played Morrison. Don't get me wrong, Travolta is a great actor but he
was wrong for Morrison.
I believe the RS header about Morrison was "He's Hot! He's Sexy! He's
Dead!" Which I think was the best header they ever came up with. As
for Danny Sugarman, didn't he run Stevie Nicks's record label, Modern
Records? I believe she actually owned or owns the label but doesn't
run the day to day operations. Too busy as an artist most of the time.
(And slightly on the weird side: it was reported a few years ago that
she had a fire going in her fire place every single night. Even during
the summer when southern California may be baking in 90* heat at
midnight.)
catg...@aol.com
> you said, so he could pretty much run up and down the street screaming
> "I'm Elvis Presley dammit! I invented rock and roll! I made Vegas hip
> again! I took more drugs that Keith Richards has ever seen!
> Well...maybe not!!!" and people would just say, "There's that nice
> crazy man who thinks he's Elvis. Someone give him an ice cream to shut
> him up."
Reminds me of the late Kirsty MacColl's song, (titled, I think)
"There's A Guy Who Works In A Shop Down The Street Who Thinks He's
Elvis." I think a lot of the EIA (Elvis is alive) crowd tend to forget
that if Elvis were alive, he'd be 73 years old. If he was still around
and kickin', he'd probably rather sit out on the front porch in his
rockin' chair and watch rest of the world go by, smiling to himself
that he had pulled it off.
> �Can you imagine being Elvis Presley and having NO kind of normal life
> as an adult and never being able to really be left alone or have any
> peace, faking your death and then, say, 20 years later trying to come
> around again and no one believed you and you run into people who
> worshipped you and now they think you are some crazy old dude? Or
> worse yet, an Elvis impersonator?
I was watching "It Happened At The World's Fair" last weekend and
Robert Osborne, the host, was telling the story of Kurt Russell who,
in the movie, kicked Elvis in the shin for a quarter. But, he also
told about the movie actually being filmed at the world's fair in
Seattle and the customers at the fair crowded to get a glimpse of
Elvis. They had to have police and security hold the people back so
that not only would no harm come to Elvis, but also so the movie could
be shot. I shudder to think of what would happen if Elvis was alive
and trying to re-enter the public arena. The fanatics would probably
rip him apart before he ever got a chance to do anything.
> My Auntie dated Bill Bixby in the 1960s and he introduced her to Elvis
> on a movie set one day. She said she was so excited she couldn't even
> breathe. I tried to quiz her about it and she said her brain just shut
> down and even now all she can remember is that she couldn't breathe.
> She said he was the most handsome man she's ever seen. I remember once
> PT looked at my Elvis keychain ( I have an Elvis keychain I got in
> Tupelo) and he said, "He looked like a Greek God." My ex-husband used
> to say, " That was one sharp lookin' man."
Elvis once visited Bill Bixby on the set of his series, "The Courtship
of Eddie's Father." He was there to visit with Bixby and nothing more,
but the guy who produced the series tried to get Elvis to agree to
making an appearance on the show. Elvis told the guy that he'd have to
talk with his manager, that he didn't do anything without his
manager's okay. That was fatal loyalty. Another time, Parker agreed to
Elvis making an appearance on Joey Bishop's late nighter. He was okay
with the $2,500 fee, which surprised Bishop, who asked why so little.
Parker's reply was that it would cost Bishop an additional $47,500 for
Elvis to get up and leave. Needless to say, Elvis didn't appear on the
show.
catg...@aol.com
> I got a birthday card last year that had Elvis on the front of it and
> when I opened it, Elvis in his real voice said "A-happy happy
> birthday...have a hunka hunka burning cake". It WAS Elvis' voice. It
> really was.The aliens told me it was.
>
> (-;
I know. I just had Elvis and Jim over for some poker. Elvis brought
with him John Lennon and George Harrison and Jim Morrison brought the
space aliens. Elvis was unhappy about that birthday card; it was
released without his knowledge and he wasn't getting paid for it. I
told him, "Well, that's what you get for taking up the aliens's offer
to tour the universe." He replied, "Yeah, you're right but Jimmy gave
them some LSD and we ended up lost in space for a while. Jimmy regrets
that because now they won't leave him alone. Damned aliens want more
LSD and he dumped what he had left on Mars. One of the aliens was
making like a dog with Jimmy's leg and that scared the sh*t out of
him!"
John and George howled with laughter and joined up with Elvis, playing
their guitars but Jim never once looked amused. All night, he kept
begging me to take the aliens off of his hands. What could I do? I
felt so sorry for him, so I took them from him but sent them over to
hang with President Bush. He likes his new playmates and gets
hysterical when the aliens chase Cheney around the White House, trying
to hump his leg!
The
<catgo...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> Travolta as Morrison? Egad! He and I are the same age, roughly -- I
> think he has a few months on me. But, he would've been too old to have
> played Morrison. Don't get me wrong, Travolta is a great actor but he
> was wrong for Morrison.
I guess it seemed very smart business at the time - this was roughly
1979 or 80, just before the book came out and everyone was talking
about it - because Travolta was the Hot Young Actor, the buzz would
have been enormous...he could sing, he was very handsome, as was
Morrison, with the whole full lips/pretty eyes/lotsa hair thing...you
know, some casting ideas are just signs of the time. I can almost
imagine it, but not quite.
> ..... Even during
> the summer when southern California may be baking in 90* heat at
> midnight.)
I thought she lived most of the year in southern Arizona. Another
place where a fire seems an unlikely choice year-around! Stevie Nicks
is an interesting one. I know from my friends who worked with
Fleetwood Mac that she was a drug addict for years, had a real
problem, but then the 70s were a time of excess for everyone, she was
hardly the only one! I believe once it really caught up with her she
was a mess and she took care of it. She's very smart and advises young
women in the business to write songs because publishing is "where it's
at." That's where you will make your money, she says. She would know.
The
catg...@aol.com
> place where a fire seems an unlikely choice year-around! Stevie Nicks
> is an interesting one. I know from my friends who worked with
> Fleetwood Mac that she was a drug addict for years, had a real
> problem, but then the 70s were a time of excess for everyone, she was
> hardly the only one! I believe once it really caught up with her she
> was a mess and she took care of it. She's very smart and advises young
> women in the business to write songs because publishing is "where it's
> at." That's where you will make your money, she says. She would know.
Stevie's state of residence may be southern Arizona. I remember
hearing about her drug problems and that the drugs did catch up with
her. Her obsession with year round fires burning in her fire place is
unnerving for the reason there is always the potential a fire could
get out of control and burn her house down and possibly injuring or
killing her. I believe there were a couple of actresses in the 60s
with the same obsession and both perished when their fires managed to
spread out beyond the fireplace.
Stevie's right on with her advice to young women to write songs, but
the money from publishing and songwriting royalties is only there if
the songs are a success. Not just a short term success but a long term
success. You can make a lot of money in the short term with million
sellers but long term success depends more on radio, TV (including
satellite radio and TV) and internet airplay than sales.
A million selling album could keep selling in large amounts every year
following the original release date but it could also sell next to
nothing or nothing. Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil have earned millions
for having written "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" -- the total
number of airplays on that song is over seven million. That translates
into millions and Mann and Weil have other songs as well that are in
BMI's "Millionairs Club." Nicks has quite a few songs in that
exclusive club too."Dreams," "Sara," "Gypsy," "Edge Of Seventeen"
and "Silver Springs" are a few of the titles that have kept money
puring into her bank account.