Elvis and the Photographer: A Story of Gratitude

I was just listening to George Klein on Sirius XM’s Elvis radio station (channel 19). Today, as usual, he had an interesting story that demonstrates not only one of Elvis’s many positive aspects, reasons for the King’s continual success, but one that can also be harnessed by you.

The story goes that for Elvis to get back to his room after a show at the International (later the Las Vegas Hilton) he couldn’t get back through the casino without being stopped. So, he would go backstage through the maintenance passages and take the service elevator. With him would typically be about six members of Elvis’s gang of friends, the Memphis Mafia, and about four bodyguards.

On this particular occasion, when Elvis and his entourage got out of the elevator, a man with a camera greeted them by asking Elvis if he could take his picture. Suddenly, Elvis’s bodyguards were on the man, pushing him to the wall and taking his camera.

But Elvis told his bodyguards to lay their hands off the man. When the man was released, Elvis asked the fellow how many pictures were on his camera. The man replied thirty-two whereupon Elvis asked him how he would like him to pose. Long story short, the man didn’t leave until Elvis had posed for all thirty-two shots.

Afterwards, Elvis asked his bodyguards to be easy with his fans because if it weren’t for them, he wouldn’t be where he was.

First off, I’ve gotta thank George Klein for a great story which I only wish I could tell as well as he can. It’s touching to hear a tale of such humanity when many celebrities are pulled into the bustle of their own importance. But more so, humanity is what makes Elvis fans still get the warm fuzzies for him thirty five years after his passing (and yes, I am no exception).

Elvis cared so much for the man that not only did he save him being roughed up and give him a picture, but he gave him as many pictures as possible could. Why? Because Elvis recognised that people like that fan were responsible for his success. And even if that man had never bought an Elvis record in his life, the man’s spreading of Elvis’s neighbourliness might encourage others who would.

Elvis realized that no one gets anywhere without something to get them there. Moreover, nobody becomes successful without someone helping them, whether that be a friend, a relative, or, yes, a fan.

Elvis’s Lessons:

• Remember (and be grateful to) those who helped you get somewhere. They can be your parents, relatives, friends or strangers. It doesn’t matter. What does is that you give them the respect they deserve because they helped you become something and even if they individually can’t take that away, a multitude of them can (and your common decency should hurt long before that ever happens). They helped you, so it’s only fair if you help them, too, even if it only be through gratitude. The best bit: your continual support of them will encourage them to continue supporting you. Result − both you and them are happy in the long run.

P.S. If your interested in seeing Elvis perform in one of the shows that could have preceded the story in this article, here's a clip from Elvis: That's the Way it Is of the King singing Patch it Up.

Move On When It's Time

Since that fateful day in 1953 when Elvis Presley first walked into Sun Studios, Elvis had been closely associated with that studio (who also had members such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins) and Sam Phillips. He’d got his first recording contract and cut his first commercial track there. His band started at Sun and all Elvis’s success had stemmed from that little studio in Memphis.

But Elvis was getting big. By 1955, he had a large fan base, a gruelling touring schedule and several minor hits to his name. Elvis’s career needed a boost.

The first big change that changed Elvis’s life and career forever was his meeting Colonel Tom Parker, later to become Elvis’s manager. Parker had managed singer Eddy Arnold but had now heard the buzz about this new singer. He felt he could take Elvis’s career to the next level, as his manager, and that’s exactly what he did.

One of Parker’s first important acts was getting Elvis a recording contract with RCA in late 1955. RCA was a large enough company to get Elvis’s work all over the United States and later the world. Elvis must have been scared. He’d never recorded anything not under the Sun Studios label and everyone who knew him well in the recording industry would have been with the smaller studio. But to become as famous as he would, he needed to move to the bigger company.

Elvis’s musical selection had changed considerably since when he first started. His first couple songs had been bluesy, like Arthur Crudup’s “That’s Alright Mama”, or country-ish, like “I Forgot to Remember to Forget”. They had elements of blues, gospel, and country and were called rockabilly, a style Elvis was originally associated with. These songs tended to be upbeat, crowd pleasers. But when Elvis got the first single done for his LP, Elvis Presley, for RCA, it was the slow, bluesy, hard-hitting “Heartbreak Hotel”. His new studio was furious. They wanted him to be successful so they could be successful and this was like nothing else he’d ever done before. But the change paid off. “Heartbreak Hotel” became Elvis’s first national number one in April 1956.

Elvis’s musical style continued to evolve and he started adding more “real” rock ‘n’ roll into his repertoire, the rhythm and blues that people like Chuck Berry and Little Richard were putting out. Elvis’s cover of “Long Tall Sally” or “Rip it Up” are examples of this.

Then came another big change; Colonel Parker got Elvis into Hollywood and the movies. Starting with Love me Tender in 1956 and moving through films like Loving You and The Jailhouse Rock in 1957, all with songs unique to the themes and titles of the pictures. Scary at first, but Elvis ended up with an average salary of one million USD per picture and continued to make thirty-one films (not including his two concert documentaries).

The best parts of Elvis’s life came with changes. There was when he went into the army, the tracks he recorded while in it and the buzz created when he got out. Then, when musical tastes were switching to the like of The Beach Boys and, later, The Beatles and The British Invasion, Elvis was in Hollywood making movies and selling their soundtracks. When he got tired of that, he did his ‘68 Comeback Special, including the original acoustic portion of the show. He moved on to Las Vegas sporting custom made jumpsuits instead of the typical tuxedoes of other singers. Then, he sang in the first globally broadcast concert in Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii.

And, as a matter of note, the lowest points in Elvis’s life were when he wasn’t changing or doing something new. His movie-making in the 60’s led him to play the same, old, stale characters after a while and he put on weight and was less popular during his later time in Hollywood. Also, his constant touring schedule in the 70’s, staging over 1,100 concerts between 1969 and his death, eventually led to less exciting performances and poor health which eventually killed him. Elvis was known as an innovator of popular music and is remembered for that now. Change is innovation. Stagnation leads slowly, as it did in Elvis’s case, to death. In contrast, he never looked healthier than when he was doing something new, like star in his 1968 comeback special. Makes you think, huh?

Elvis’s Lessons:

Ø Elvis moved to RCA when his career needed to go to the next step. Go to the next big opportunity, even if you’re scared, when it’s time to push the boundary a bit more and get out of a rut. HINT: You’ll know you’re in a rut if you aren’t enjoying what you were doing before as much as you used to, if you feel unfulfilled. Remember Elvis’s Hollywood career.

P.S. If you're interested in hearing some of Elvis's early RCA, Rock n Roll, material, here's a recording of "Rip it Up": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZPpd8-pbm4

Failing is Not a Reason to Give Up

Elvis and the Blue Moon Boys were a pretty new item on the music market in 1954. Their rockabilly style, mixing country, blues and gospel music together, was new, too. As a result, it required an open-minded person to accept these new styles and not be offended by them. And America in the 50’s was a very easy place to offend people.

Back in those days, the Grand Ole Opry was the largest country show in the United States. Sam Phillips, owner of Sun Records and Elvis’s contract, got the Blue Moon Boys a gig at the Grand Ole Opry, a very unusual stroke of luck for a group so young. They were excited. They were unheard of and now they were on one of the greatest shows in the U.S.

But things didn’t go quite as planned. Apparently the country element of rockabilly wasn’t large enough for the conservative country crowd. The crowd did not respond well to the show put on by the boys and the talent producer of the show told Elvis afterwards that he should go back to driving trucks. Ouch.

The Blue Moon Boys weren’t done yet, though. The Louisiana Hayride was also running at this time and, though not as big as the Grand Ole Opry, it was more open-minded. When Elvis and the Blue Moon Boys showed on their show, they were a big hit and returned many times afterwards. Taking the advice of that Talent Producer at the Grand Ole Opry could have destroyed a perfectly good career because Elvis and his band didn’t fit into that shows niche.

Later, Elvis, now managed by Colonel Parker and working for RCA, went onto the Milton Berle show to play a couple songs. He finished with a crowd favourite, a cover of Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog”. Elvis’s version is much more upbeat and rock ‘n’ rolling. Then it would go into a slow section where Elvis would shake his body to the music and get the crowd going wild. The music of the show is fine. The clip is even good and nowadays most people would smile with Elvis’s energetic movements, but not America back in 1956. Some people were so offended, they wanted to have Elvis banned.

The newspapers tore the Mississippi kid apart. But the Colonel got Elvis on the Steve Allen show, a big show similar to David Letterman’s show nowadays. Allen brought Elvis on after a “he’s learnt his lesson” speech. Elvis was further humiliated by singing “Hound Dog”, the song that had got him in trouble, to a real hound, a moment he would say to the end of his life was his most embarrassing moment.

Working through his imminent failure had done him a favour; Steve Allen’s show beat Ed Sullivan’s show in the ratings that night. Sullivan, known for showing the latest cutting edge acts of the day, was flabbergasted and wanted to get the boy who had outdone him that night on his show.

Elvis was booked for a performance which has since become a legendary moment in that show’s history. Sullivan called Elvis, “a very nice boy” and Elvis’s career was safe and back on track again. Elvis returned to the Sullivan show for a further two, unforgettable performances.

Elvis was still not immune to failure; Elvis and his boys were offered a four week engagement down in Las Vegas. But after a couple weeks of bad reception from the conservative audience, who expected entertainment on the line of Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra, Elvis’s group cut their stay short and left casino town. However well he was doing in the charts, Elvis could not guarantee the love of older fans as well.

Fast forward thirteen years to 1969: Elvis has done his ’68 comeback special and has had his biggest selling hit with “Suspicious Minds”. Elvis wants to return to touring and the Colonel has once again booked him in Las Vegas at the International, later the Hilton, Hotel. It’s hard to imagine the thoughts going through Elvis’s mind. This was the town which had seen one of his greatest flops when he was a national sensation. Now he was still making a comeback. His whole concert tour career might hinge on the success of these shows. What would happen if he failed again, even after the changes of time, and he had to cut his tour down, again?

But times had changed and so had people’s opinions. When Elvis performed in Las Vegas, all these years later, he was warmly received. So warmly that a documentary film Elvis –That’s the Way it Is was done through MGM showing Elvis during that first year back in Vegas. Elvis continued to play successfully at the Hilton until the end of his life and is still associated with that famed hotel in Vegas.

Elvis’s Lessons:

Ø Failing is not a reason to give up. Not everyone will dig your style. Take what you can learn from a situation and move on, continuing to do your best. Who knows, maybe next time you try you’ll be successful.

Ø Given different changes and after being altered by the pass of time, situations that once turned out in failure can be turned around to create success. Elvis could do it in Las Vegas, so can you do it in your life.

P.S. If you're interested in seeing Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show, this is a clip from his first appearance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsP6fluNoTU&feature=related

Be Really Good At Something

I was only listening to an Elvis radio station when the King himself came on singing a version of Fats Domino’s big hit, Blueberry Hill. It was a pretty good cover which I and many other Elvis fans may have enjoyed, but it also spells out a major point of controversy associated with Elvis. More about this later…

Blueberry Hill was written in 1940 by Vincent Rose, Al Lewis and Larry Stock to be played in a western, originally being sung by Gene Autry. Glenn Miller had also had a hit with it and there had been a host of other covers in following years. Fats Domino released the song in 1956 and it rose to number two in the US and number six in the UK – his biggest hit.

For those with a poor memory, Fats Domino was the big-boned rock ‘n’ roll pianist who put out his first song in 1949, “The Fat Man”. Over time, the loveable Domino put out twenty-three big records, each selling over a million. His hard work not forgotten, he was inducted into the Rock n Roll hall of fame in 1986 (its first year and also the year Elvis was inducted).

So where am I going with this? Well, Domino, considering he didn’t even write “Blueberry Hill”, is an example, as Presley was, of a musician in the 50’s who would sing other people’s songs as if they were their own. They would then have hits with the songs and be associated with the tune for ever after. Another good example is Presley’s 1956 cover of Carl Perkin’s 1955 song ‘Blue Suede Shoes’. At the time, people were interested in hearing the gritty, new rock n roll versions of these songs or, in Perkins case, another artist’s interpretation of a song.

But what has happened with time is these songs tend to get associated with one person. It still gets many a Carl-Perkins fan when ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ is credited as an Elvis song because of Elvis’s enduring popularity, leading people to give Elvis credit even though the original was by Perkins a year earlier. In Domino’s case, Presley also covered his hit a year later. At the time, this meant a different version and, clearly, Domino’s version kept selling long after Elvis’s version came out; it wouldn’t be remembered so well today if it hadn’t.

But to the controversy: isn’t one artist covering another person’s song stealing the credit that person deserves? And, if the artist covering another person’s song is stealing, and Elvis did a lot of covers in his time because he didn’t take part in the writing process of many songs, then does that make Elvis a leech, stealing the popularity deserved to his fellow his musicians? Interesting point, huh?

Well, not really. Elvis claimed to be a singer. And that’s what he did, sing. And he was very good at it. But that’s a musician’s job, not a writer’s job. Writing songs is a completely different talent with different required skill sets. The best songwriters aren’t always great singers nor vice versa. Elvis couldn’t craft a good song so he made up with it by singing his all on other’s songs. And, if you’re into classical music, you’ll know this isn’t that weird; Mozart hasn’t played any of his hits in years, or Beethoven, but no one complains when Daniel Barenboin does his excellent covers of those great composers’s work. He’s perhaps not a legendary composer himself, but he is a great musician who does them justice all these years after the grave took them.

But, isn’t it different in pop music? Nope. Rihanna didn’t write her smash hit Umbrella, but The-Dream, Kuk Harrell, Christopher Stewart and Jay-Z (for his rap introduction).

Furthermore, there are copyright laws. Even if a songwriter loses publicity because another artist did a more successful version of their song, providing they had it copyrighted and have the rights to it, they can still get royalties on that song. Chuck Berry, the legendary Rock n Roll guitarist, does this when people cover his songs.

It’s not like talented song writers can’t be singers, like Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, or either one of the Lennon- McCartney duo, but there’s nothing wrong with being one or the other, like Elvis was. You’ve just got to be extra good at the one skill instead of decently extra good at two.

Elvis’s Lessons:
Ø You don’t have to be a little good at a lot of things; there will always be other talented people to take care of those areas if you can’t (like song-writing in Elvis’s case). But what is important is that you’re good at one thing, so good that you can make the original sound like it was a cover (for Elvis that was singing). That’s what Elvis did through his whole career and he still has more hits than most fellow singers then and now.

P.S. If you're interested in hearing Elvis's version of "Blueberry Hill", check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4zF3M_Y24E

Welcome to Graceland, Ontario!

Welcome to Graceland, Ontario, a tribute to the life of Elvis Presley by a Canadian fan (with the inspiration of his English teacher’s mark book). Starting from his early beginnings, we’ll work our way through the King’s early years, take a bend during his Hollywood stint. Later, we’ll hit Las Vegas and stop by to watch the world’s first internationally broadcast concert (among other glam events involving Elvis) and relate all of the above to timeless lessons that can help you and your success.

The point of this blog isn’t to simply recount Elvis’s life as that’s been done in tons of books and blogs over the internet. What we want to do at Graceland, Ontario is look at the life of one of the most successful men in not only popular music but popular culture. Then we’ll analyse what success principles he showed to get where he was at his peak and how violating some of these principles hurt him and ultimately led to his death.

Beginning of History Lesson

For those of you who aren’t crazy Elvis fans (and I’m sure there are a couple of you out there), Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on the 8th of January, 1935. He led a generally unremarkable existence until 1953 when he walked into the lobby of Sun Studios in Memphis to record a couple songs as birthday present for his mother. He must have done something right because in 1954 Sam Phillips contacted Elvis and asked him to come back to the studio to do more singing. Phillips hooked Elvis up with Scotty Moore on guitar and Bill Black on bass and the group, after lots of practice, found they worked together well. They had a local hit with a cover of Arthur Crudup’s “That’s Alright, Mama” later in 1954 but were going on to bigger things.

In late 1955, with the help of his new manager, Colonel Parker, Elvis secured a record contract with RCA. He recorded his first LP, Elvis Presley, and had his first number one, national hit with “Heartbreak Hotel” in 1956. Several hits and a major controversy concerning his onstage movements later, Elvis got into the movies. Starting with Love Me Tender in 1956 he was later to record thirty three movies for MGM (two of which were concert documentaries).

Elvis served a stint in the army from 1958 to 1960 and was honourably discharged as a sergeant. There were doubts whether he could make a comeback but, following an appearance on The Frank Sinatra Show, the world was certain that Elvis was back.

He met the Beatles in 1965, was married to Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967 and, when he became sick of movies, did the TV Special Elvis (later known as the Comeback Special) in 1968. He returned to touring in 1969 and was famous for his shows at the International Hotel in Las Vegas (later to be the Las Vegas Hilton).

Elvis had a daughter, Lisa Marie, in 1968 and one of his biggest hits ever with “Suspicious Minds” in 1969. Two live concert films of Elvis were made at this time, Elvis ­– That’s The Way it Is at the International in 1970 and Elvis on Tour in 1972. Elvis first sang in Madison Square Garden in ’72 and, in 1973, Elvis sang in the first globally broadcast concert, Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii.

But it was not all sunshine and roses for the king, as fans called him at this point. Elvis’s marriage with Priscilla broke up in1973 and he was never the same afterwards. His last top ten hit in the U.S. was “Burning Love” in 1972 and he gradually developed a prescription drug dependency. This combined with his growing weight problems and other health issues led to his tragic early demise at 42 on August 16th, 1977.

Elvis’s legend has grown in death and Graceland, Elvis’s mansion, after being opened as a museum in 1982, receives over 600,000 guests a year. Nearly 35 years after his death! Elvis had a hit with a remix of “A Little Less Conversation” by JXL in 2002, twenty-five years after his death and he still gathers fans through mediums such as, you guessed it, the internet.

End of History Lesson

Now, a couple FAQ’s: Why "Graceland, Ontario"? Well, because Graceland is the name of Elvis’s iconic mansion (just in case you didn’t pick that up during the history lesson) and I live in Ontario, so it makes sense… kind of. Going on, does Graceland, Ontario really, geographically, exist? Well, possibly but to my knowledge no, so picnicking is not an option. Furthermore, do I live in Graceland, Ontario? Please refer to the previous question for an answer. Isn’t it weird when you have to ask another question to understand an answer? Man, now I’m over-complicating things and, as my English teacher says, that’s not a good thing (she also says I do it a lot, but la-de-dah).

So, buckle up for the ride of your life as we follow the exciting paths of Elvis Presley. Pay attention − questions will be asked (eventually…).

P.S. Gotta take time to thank http://www.freeclassicimages.com for the photos. You guys are life savers!