Elvis Around The World
I have very strong feelings and opinions about Elvis Presley, most white trash Southern boys do. For years I would only drive big old used Cadillacs because that's what Elvis did.
Once I got a big pile of cash for my NBC sitcom, the first thing I did was buy my Mom a brand new Cadillac because that's what Elvis did, and the thought of my Mom broken down somewhere in one of her old jalopies as she often was would always break my heart.
My Elvis doll means a lot to me. It is made by Mattel, the same fine people who make Barbie. I have 2 little nieces who love Barbie and about 6 years ago while shopping for them in a toy store I found this special edition Elvis Barbie.
It's perfect because it is the 1968 NBC comeback special Elvis.
In my opinion the last moment Elvis was cool, before he went off and became fat, pill-popping, jumpsuit Elvis. Elvis of the '68 comeback special was lean, tanned and powerful in his sleek black leather outfit - a fire breathing dragon of talent and magnanimous charm.
Fat, drugged-out Elvis pains me because it can also be used as the perfect metaphor for America; the once beautiful defiant one choked by its own vision of individuality, becoming an old and fat … A parody of its former self.
Elvis had bad management. That's what killed him…
Colonel Tom Parker (Who took 50% of all of Elvis' earnings) was Dutch, born in Holland and never had proper citizenship papers, which is why he never let Elvis tour Europe and the rest of the world. Colonel Tom booked Elvis to do all those shitty movies and then later booked Elvis on an endless string of Casino engagements at the end of his life.
Somewhere out there I thought that what really could have saved Elvis would have been to fire Colonel Tom and travel the world playing acoustically in jeans and a t-shirt for all the good little people all around the world. Either that or he should have moved to Harlem, exclusively dated black women and became best friends with Muhammad Ali.
That is what I think of now when I take his picture in far off distant locations. Please enjoy my strange hobby.