The Death of Elvis (Excerpt from "Rethinking John Lennon...")
Salvadorwriter
The FBI's War on Rock Stars" by Salvador Astucia
PART III: PRIMAL SOUNDS
Chapter 5: King Elvis and the Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll
(pp. 125-131)
Colonel Tom Parker
Roy Buchanan’s biographer, Phil Carson, credited sidemen
Scotty Moore and Bill Black for Elvis’s initial success,
and blamed Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, for firing
the two sidemen. Carson made the following comments about
Elvis's original trio in his book, Roy Buchanan: American
Axe:
==== [quote on] ====
[Roy] simply had a gift for playing the guitar. He was a
sideman, and in the eyes of promoters and record companies,
sidemen were expendable commodities, even when their level
of musicianship helped make songs into hit records. This
attitude explained why Elvis Presley unceremoniously
dumped guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black in
September 1957. The pair had played an integral role,
along with drummer D.J. Fontana, in launching Elvis. Their
performances and recordings with the singing star had
supplied some of the excitement that made him The King.
After the singer and his band had achieved a degree of
success, the sidemen and had the temerity to point out
to Presley and his predatory manager, "Colonel" [Tom]
Parker, that the singer's original agreement with them
called for sharing record royalties and increased
performance fees. In order to get Elvis' attention,
Scotty Moore and Bill Black threatened to quit, and
they were dismissed. Ironically, many observers believe
that, despite Elvis' continued commercial success as a
singer, his records and performances never again
possessed the magic conjured by Moore and Black for
Sam Phillips' Sun Records in 1954-57.(1)
==== [quote off] ====
It's interesting that Carson refers to Colonel Tom Parker
as Elvis's "predatory manager." Why would Colonel Parker
allow Elvis to drop his great sidemen? When Elvis first
became a star in 1954, he had something very real to offer.
It was a fragile, almost indefinable quality, but it was
definitely real, nothing abstract. Whatever it was, it
rubbed off on others. But once Colonel Parker got a hold
of Elvis, the young rocker quickly began to falter as an
artist. Who was Colonel Tom Parker, anyway? Writer Alanna
Nash attempts to answer that question in a new book, The
Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker
and Elvis Presley. Nash portrays the Colonel as a psychopathic
murderer born June 26, 1909 in Breda, Holland, whose real
name is Andreas "Andre" Cornelis van Kuijk. He fled Holland
in 1929 shortly after the death of a twenty-three-year-old
woman, Anna van den Enden, the newlywed wife of greengrocer
Wilhelm "Willem" van den Enden. On May 17, 1929, Anna van
den Enden was bludgeoned to death in the kitchen of her
home behind her husband's greengrocery shop at Nieuwe
Boschstraat 31. Andre van Kuijk (aka, Colonel Tom Parker)
left Holland for America the same night that van den Enden
was murdered.(2)
Nash believes van Kuijk/Parker murdered van den Enden.
Although Nash does not provide absolute proof, she builds
a strong circumstantial case, and she points out that Parker
was discharged from the United States Army on August 11,
1933 by reason of "Psychosis, Psychogenic Depression, acute,
on basis of Constitutional Psychopathic State, Emotional
Instability."(3)
While in America van Kuijk took the name Colonel Tom Parker
and immersed himself in the world of carnival and circus
which led him to musical promotion. He first promoted
country music artists, most notably Hank Snow, before
managing Elvis. Contrary to popular belief, Colonel Parker
did not discover Elvis. If anyone should be given credit
for that, it would be Sam Phillips. In addition, Elvis's
lead guitarist, Scotty Moore, was Elvis's manager. So what
exactly did Colonel Parker do? Nothing really, except take
a hot young rock 'n' roll artist and turn him into mush.
The Colonel maneuvered his way into Elvis's world, managed
to broker a buyout of Sun Records by RCA, took over
management of Elvis from Scotty Moore, and eventually
fired Moore and bassist Bill Black. Elvis was also drafted
and joined the Army on Colonel Parker's watch, a move that
destroyed what little momentum Elvis had left after firing
sidemen Moore and Black. As an artist, Elvis floundered
badly from the day he met the Colonel, but commercially
he became quite successful, acquiring vast wealth. In
December 1968, Elvis made a comeback with a televised
one-man Christmas special which revitalized his status
as a performer. In 1969, he released a single, Suspicious
Minds, which went to Number One. Throughout the Seventies
he became one of the top live attractions in the United
States, often appearing in Las Vegas.(4)
Oddly, Elvis did not perform outside North America because
of Colonel Parker's aversion to traveling abroad. In 1957,
the Colonel admitted to his twenty-three-year old assistant,
Byron Raphael, that he was afraid to leave the United
States. Parker reportedly told his young assistant: "You
know, Byron, we're never going to be able to take Elvis
abroad to do personal appearances." Raphael thought this
was an odd statement because Elvis was so popular
internationally. Raphael explained: "By that time [1957],
Elvis was already the biggest star in Japan, and also in
Germany. And the offers from Europe were for many millions
of dollars, even then."(5) Nevertheless, Parker refused
to book Elvis overseas. Parker had a problem with his
immigration status from years earlier, but had never
bothered to get it fixed. The big question was Why? Alanna
Nash described the essence of Parker's fear of foreign
travel in her book, The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story
of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley. The following
is an excerpt:
==== [quote on] ====
It wasn't that Parker couldn't leave the country. Through
the years, he accumulated many influential friends in all
ranks of government--including President Lyndon B.
Johnson--who could have solved his problem with a single
phone call. The truth of the matter was that Parker didn't
want to leave the country. And not even the promise of
money beyond his wildest dreams could stir him from his spot.(6)
==== [quote off] ====
Elvis's obsession with the Kennedy assassination
If history teaches us anything, we should know that the
United States government--particularly the FBI--does not
care for rock 'n' roll, and it particularly did not care
for the King of rock 'n' roll, Elvis Presley. But the
Bureau eventually had another reason besides rock 'n'
roll to dislike Elvis. It is not widely known, but in
the Seventies, Elvis was obsessed with the assassination
of President Kennedy. Elvis's stepbrother, Billy Stanley,
revealed Elvis's preoccupation with Kennedy's murder in
a 1989 book, Elvis, My Brother, by Billy Stanley and
George Erikson. The following is an excerpt:
==== [quote on] ====
Elvis, like any major entertainer or politician, had a
deep-seated fear of assassination. The Sharon Tate
murders had happened very close to Elvis's Trousdale
Estates house in 1969. Afterward Elvis had told me,
"Man, that could have been me. That could have been
you. That could have been my family!" He was obsessed
with John F. Kennedy's assassination; he had videotaped
the Zapruder film of the event and watched it for hours
and hours, speculating about what really happened. He
was shocked by the Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King
assassinations, crying, "Oh man, when is this thing going
to end?" The fear that some lone madman, hidden in crowds
of thousands of fans, would find him an easy target was
one that he would have to overcome every time he walked
onto a stage.(7)
==== [quote off] ====
Elvis reportedly believed Lee Harvey Oswald did not murder
President Kennedy. He also believed and Robert Kennedy's
death was the result of a conspiracy. The following is
an excerpt from The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of
Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley, by Alanna Nash:
==== [quote on] ====
The upbeat mood was shattered barely three days later
when Robert Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles. His murder
threw Elvis into an emotional spiral. Already a conspiracy
theorist--reinforced, perhaps, by the Colonel's Sam Cooke
story--Elvis showed [Steve] Binder that he was "quite well
read" on the subject. "He told me all the books to read...
he was convinced it was not Oswald who killed [John]
Kennedy, and he was obsessed with the plot to assassinate
RFK."(8)
==== [quote off] ====
Elvis died on August 16, 1977, while the House Select
Committee on Assassinations was underway. The Committee's
primary objective was to re-investigate the assassinations
of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King. On November 9,
1977, high-ranking FBI official William Sullivan was shot and
killed--reportedly by Robert Daniels Jr, age 22, of Libson,
New Hampshire--while hunting near his home in Sugar Hill,
New Hampshire. Sullivan was struck in the neck with a
.30-caliber high-powered rifle. Sullivan had just completed
a preliminary meeting with investigators for the House
Select Committee on Assassinations.(9) He was also in
the process of writing a book highly critical of J. Edgar
Hoover and the FBI.
If writer Alanna Nash's revelations about Colonel Tom
Parker are correct--that Parker was a Dutch murderer on
the run--then it is quite possible he was working for
the FBI to keep tabs on Elvis. Under Colonel Parker's
management, Elvis lost his edge which made him less
threatening to the FBI as a performer who might encourage
youth rebellion. By 1977, Elvis had become a different
kind of threat. He was a superstar with an international
following, and he was obsessed with the assassinations of
President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. He was so obsessed
that he watched the Zapruder film for hours at a time.
With a man like Colonel Tom Parker managing Elvis--a man
quite possibly on the run for murdering Anna van den
Enden in Holland in 1929, a man who quite possibly worked
for the FBI--then murdering Elvis would have been an easy
task.
The Death of Elvis
Elvis's girlfriend, Ginger Alden, found his body in the
bathroom of his home--Graceland--in Memphis on the morning
of August 16, 1977. He was taken to Baptist Memorial
Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death
is still a matter of controversy. Dr. Jerry Francisco,
Shelby County medical examiner--the physician who signed
the death certificate--stated publicly that Elvis died of
"cardiac arrhythmia," that several prescription drugs were
found in his blood stream, but did not contribute to his
death, he would have died regardless of the drugs. Francisco
further described the cause of death as "hypertensive heart
disease, with coronary artery disease as a contributing
factor."(10) Dr. Eric Muirhead, chief of pathology at
Baptist Memorial Hospital, reportedly claimed Elvis died
from an accidental overdose, or "polypharmacy, the lethal
interaction of a number of drugs taken concurrently."(11)
Surprisingly, Elvis's father, Vernon Presley, reportedly
believed Elvis was murdered. The following is an excerpt
from The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom
Parker and Elvis Presley, by Alanna Nash, which describes
the confusion over the cause of death of the King of rock
‘n’ roll:
==== [quote on] ====
...[What] had killed Elvis Presley? Dr. Elias Ghanem told
friends he was certain Elvis had fallen off the toilet and
suffocated in the shag carpet, and pointed to his lolling
tongue as proof. Others speculated that Elvis had mistaken
the codeine tablets given to him by his dentist for Demerol
and had ingested all ten, suffering an allergic reaction.
But a grief-stricken Vernon believed his son had been
murdered, either by a member of the entourage or, he suspected,
by Parker himself, especially in light of Elvis's growing
interest in finding another manager and the Colonel's
monumental gaming debts, his association with nefarious
circles, and his inability to sell Elvis's contract in
California. For that reason, Vernon authorized both a
private investigation and an autopsy.
On October 18, Dr. Eric Muirhead, chief of pathology at
Baptist Memorial Hospital, took a team to Graceland to
explain the autopsy report to Elvis's father.
According to The Death of Elvis: What Really Happened,
by Charles C. Thompson II and James P. Cole, the toxicology
report showed that Elvis died of a drug overdose, or
polypharmacy, the lethal interaction of a number of drugs
taken concurrently. Vernon was told that at the meeting,
the authors contend.The following day, October 19, the
Memphis Commercial Appeal ran a story by an enterprising
staff journalist named Beth Tamke, who reported that
Vernon had been told that tests ordered by Baptist
Memorial Hospital showed at least ten different drugs
in the singer's system. Tamke's story went on to
speculate that the interaction of the drugs might have
affected Elvis's heart and caused his death.
But to reporters who contacted him later, Vernon insisted
it was too early to say whether drugs played a role in
his son's demise, and added a baffling statement: "I
can't straighten it out by telling another lie."On October
21, Dr. Jerry Francisco, Shelby County medical examiner,
appeared at a news conference and passed out a press
release that said Elvis died of "hypertensive heart
disease, with coronary artery disease as a contributing
factor." According to Francisco, who had signed the
death certificate the day before, Elvis died of cardiac
arrhythmia, although he conceded that no fewer than
eight drugs had been present in Presley's body.
"Prescription drugs found in the blood were not a
contributing factor," Francisco said. "Had these drugs
not been there, he would still have died."(12)
==== [quote off] ====
Colonel Parker's behavior at Elvis's funeral was quite
odd, and inappropriate, to say the least. The following
is an excerpt from The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story
of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley, by Alanna Nash:
==== [quote on] ====
While the Colonel had business on his mind the day of
the funeral, several of the mourners gathered in Graceland's
music, dining, and living rooms for the 2:00 P.M. service
on August 18 [1977] found his behavior more peculiar than
ever, beginning with his dress: a Hawaiian shirt and a
baseball cap, from which protruded unruly tufts of
gray-brown hair."If Elvis looks down and he sees the
Colonel all dressed up, he's gonna say, 'What the hell
is that?'" Parker explained later. "This is the way I
always dress. Informal. No point putting on airs now."
When he saw Tom Hulett dressed appropriately in a tie and
black suit, the Colonel told him to go change into his
usual jeans and loafers.But what galled everyone was that
Parker refused to be a pallbearer, and, as Jackie Kahane
remembers, "every time he would go past the coffin, he
would avert his eyes." Larry Geller also found it strange.
He remembers the Colonel being stoic."
He didn't talk to many people, and he was way in the back.
He certainly wasn't sitting in the front room, and he
could have been right down there with Grandma [Minnie
Mae Presley] and Vernon if he'd wanted." Afterward,
Geller expected Parker to have a private moment at the
casket before the lid came down for the last time and
a white hearse trailed by seventeen white limousines
carried the body to Forest Hill Cemetery. "But it never
happened. He wouldn't walk up. He didn't even look. You
could almost see him struggling not to look."...Years
later, Parker boasted that he never once wept at the
funeral. "No, sir. If anybody had seen my eyes mist up
for a second they must have had their hands in my
pockets."(13)
==== [quote off] ====
The Dentist, Dr. Lester Hofman
According Alanna Nash, Elvis went to the office of Dr.
Lester Hofman, his dentist, on evening of August 15,
1977--several hours before his dead body was discovered
in his bathroom--to have a crown fixed. Apparently it
was not an emergency visit. He merely wanted the problem
crown taken care of before he started a tour the next
evening. The mysterious trip to the dentist occurred
after 10:30 PM. This seems quite odd, especially when
there was such a controversy about the cause of death.
The following is an excerpt from The Colonel: The
Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis
Presley, by Alanna Nash, which describes Elvis's
late-night trip to the dentist:
==== [quote on] ====
On the sweltering evening of August 15, 1977, Elvis
Presley slipped out of his blue silk lounging pajamas
and, with the help of his cousin Billy Smith, climbed
into a black sweat suit emblazoned with a Drug Enforcement
Agency patch, a white silk shirt, and a pair of black
patent boots, which he wore unzipped due to the puffy
buildup of fluid in his ankles.At 10:30 [P.M.], after
a night of motorcycle riding with girlfriend Ginger
Alden, the singer stuffed two .45-caliber automatic
pistols in the waistband of his sweatpants. Then he
donned his blue-tinted, chrome sunglasses to slide
behind the wheel of his Stutz automobile. With Alden,
Smith, and Smith's wife, Jo, in tow, Elvis steered his
way to the office of his dentist, Dr. Lester Hofman,
in East Memphis. A crown on Presley's back tooth
needed fixing, and he wanted to tend to it before
he left the following evening for Portland, Maine,
the first date of a twelve-day tour.(14)
==== [quote off] ====
The trip to the dentist is quite peculiar. Most doctors
would not see a patient--even a superstar like
Elvis--late at night unless it was an emergency. From
Alanna Nash's description of the visit, it was not an
emergency. Elvis apparently had a loose crown or
something of that nature, but it apparently could have
been done any time. So why did Dr. Lester Hofman allow
his patient to come to his office after 10:30 P.M.? This
is incredibly strange. Is it possible that Hofman called
Elvis and made the late-night appointment, or did Elvis
schedule it? Is it possible that Hofman slipped Elvis a
drug that could trigger or mimic a heart attack? Given
the controversy over Elvis's death, and the fact that
Elvis's own father thought he was murdered, Dr. Lest
Hofman should have been a prime suspect. Yet to my
knowledge, no one has ever raised the possibility that
Dr. Hofman might have been involved.
[END OF EXCERPT]
SOURCE NOTES:
(1) Phil Carson, Roy Buchanan: American Axe, p 54
(2) Alanna Nash, The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and
Elvis Presley, pp. 39-40
(3) Photocopy of discharge paper, dated August 19, 1933, for Thomas Parker,
from Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, Office of the Detachment Commander;
signed by Major A. G. Heilman, assistant Detachment Commander. Photocopy of
Parker's discharge paper is included in book by Alanna Nash, The Colonel: The
Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley.
(4) Encyclopedia Britannica: Presley, Elvis
(5) Alanna Nash, The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and
Elvis Presley, pp. 37-38
(6) ibid, p 38
(7) Billy Stanley and George Erikson, Elvis, My Brother, p 144
(8) Alanna Nash, The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and
Elvis Presley, p 236
(9) Multiple sources: (1) Jim Marrs, Crossfire, p. 564; (2) New York Times
notice: "Man is fined in death of former FBI official", January 15, 1978; (3)
Daily log entry from Maryann K. Monteiro, New Hampshire State Police, Nov. 9,
1977, "Hunting accident of Nov. 9, 1977, Telephone calls and radio
transmissions"
(10) Alanna Nash, The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker
and Elvis Presley, pp. 313-314
(11) ibid, p 314
(12) ibid, pp. 313-314
(13) ibid, pp. 312-313
(14) ibid, p 305
====
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===
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PButler111
>From: salvado...@cs.com (Salvadorwriter)
>Date: 5/1/2004 5:36 PM Central Daylight Time
>Message-id: <20040501183606...@mb-m29.news.cs.com>
>
>Excerpt from "Rethinking John Lennon's Assassination:
>The FBI's War on Rock Stars" by Salvador Astucia
Why are you still here? Who gives a shit? There are plenty of Beatles
newsgroups for you to bother (and I know you have been), so leave us the fuck
alone, you pathetic, paranoid loser.
Swampfetus
"PButler111" <pbutl...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040501215217...@mb-m22.aol.com...
I welcome his contributions to the newsgroup. So does Alex. So shut up &
stop speaking on behalf of everyone else.
--
Dave
Alexander DeLarge
>> newsgroups for you to bother (and I know you have been), so leave us the
>fuck
>> alone, you pathetic, paranoid loser.
>
>I welcome his contributions to the newsgroup. So does Alex. So shut up &
>stop speaking on behalf of everyone else.
Yeah, I think Salvador's posts are great, I invite him to post as many times a
day as he likes. It is, after all, a public newsgroup.
Tell us all more, Salvador. :-D
PButler111
>stop speaking on behalf of everyone else.
>
>--
>Dave
I was speaking for myself. If you don't like it -- tough shit for you.
Swampfetus
Then stop referring to yourself in plural form. You're not an "us," asshole.
---
Dave
Swampfetus
"Alexander DeLarge" <kubrick...@aol.comkorova> wrote in message
news:20040501223559...@mb-m25.aol.com...
That's right. Please do.
---
Dave
PButler111
>From: "Swampfetus" swamp...@comcast.net
>Date: 5/1/2004 10:56 PM Central Daylight Time
>Message-id: <_PadnVzp26g...@comcast.com>
Well... no. You were just defending your asshole buddy "Salvador's" right to
post whatever he wants, whenever he wants. That right extends to everyone, not
just the folks you select. And, once again, if you don't like it -- tough shit
for you.
Swampfetus
Oh, you can post whatever you want, too. But just because you have a right
to post doesn't mean I can't tell you to shut the fuck up & stop speaking on
behalf of everyone on the newsgroup.
---
Dave
PButler111
>to post doesn't mean I can't tell you to shut the fuck up & stop speaking on
>behalf of everyone on the newsgroup.
>
>---
>Dave
God, Dave, say something new, won't you? Seriously. Didn't you used to
actually say interesting things, and things that were somehow related to the
Doors? You've gotten so fucking boring and predictable. As soon as I see your
name in the posting line, I know I'm in for a yawn. It's tragic. Stop wasting
my time.
Swampfetus
If I'm so tragically boring & predictable, stop obsessively replying to my
posts.
---
Dave
Alexander DeLarge
>posts.
Just ask about her sexuality issues and watch how fast she stops replying to
you.