The Paper • Page 6 • September 22, 2016
The Unknown Elvis Cont. from Page 3 written for the most part by cretinous (sic) goons, and by means of its almost imbecilic reiteration, and sly, lewd – in plain fact, dirty – lyrics . . . it manages to be the martial music of every side-burned delinquent on the face of the earth.”
With Sinatra’s alleged underworld connections and other shady dealings, such pronouncements (only partially quoted above), seemed highly hypocritical. Sinatra had his own house-cleaning to do. Nevertheless, Sinatra’s blasting of rock ‘n’ music in general was a wide spray from his shotgun that included every rock ‘n’ roll performer, and not just a swipe in the direction of the Tupelo-born, hip-swinging, Elvis.
Elvis and Sinatra later would sing together, such as on the television Special, “Welcome Back Elvis,” on May 12, 1960. Like a lot of other folk, Elvis could be short-fused. And this means a possible “Reach for the Skies” shootout scenario for any source of his trouble. Luckily, these sources of vexation were inanimate objects – and not human. That Elvis was trigger happy was a ‘given’ among those who formed his coterie of friends as well as members of his Memphis Mafia.
On one occasion, Elvis Presley had purchased a beautiful, bright yellow De Tomasco Pantera for his girlfriend, at the time, Linda Thompson. After a verbal fight with Thompson, Elvis angrily jumped into her Pantera in hopes of making a dramatic exit, and wanting to light-up the tires in a screeching ‘burnout.’ Unfortunately, the 1974 Pantera refused to cooperate by not starting. There was only one logical thing left to do.
Elvis pulled out his revolver and shot the car. Several times. The exotic mid-engined Pantera sustained multiple bullet holes: one in the tire, one in the driver’s door frame, one through the floor pan, and one went totally through the steering wheel.
There is no defense that Elvis had a stockpile of weapons and loved to shoot things, often out of annoyance, or simply for leisurely fun, such as at poolside shooting-out floating light bulbs.
Ginger Alden, who was Presley’s final girlfriend during the final months of his life, reflected on one particular Elvis memory that she expects to remain indelible: “We were reading together and the toilet was making a noise,” Alden remembers. “Elvis got up, left the room, came back with a machine gun and proceeded to shoot the toilet.”
There have been many myths written about Elvis Presley, all of which seem amusingly unnecessary since his life is, without exaggeration, of a brightly-colored peacock in a drab
gray world. Everything he did, he made a splash in the news. He would often sign autographs on the breasts of his female fans, “Elvis” on the left breast, and “Presley” on the right one. On such occasions, he would often stand back to admire his handwriting. His unusual life and eccentricities began early on. When he was only two years old, he once wiggled out of his mother’s lap so that he could walk over and join the choir singing, during services at the Assembly of God Church.
Elvis had many deeply-scarred wounds, springing from a painful past. He was born into poverty, a shame which was later rebuked by him in the form of freely giving away expensive cars, often to strangers.
He was born blond in hair color which he carefully darkened in his later years, using Miss Clairol 51D, called “Black Velvet.” He wished his hair to be jet black, as he saw in his favorite movie star, Tony Curtis, whom he greatly admired and emulated. He even dyed his eyelashes, which in time begat health complications in later years. And to keep his lips soft and velvety for kissing, he often used A&D ointment. Deep down there remained a religious streak, which never totally departed him. For all his rabblerousing ways, drug addictions, sexual escapades, and other transgressions, he still held-out hopes of redemption and standing in front of the pearly gates. He believed that, somehow, the Almighty would understand his crooked life, and the road he had walked. In 1965 he spoke about entering a monastery.
His close emotional connection to his mother was, at times, uncanny. There seemed to be an almost spiritual bond between them. Once while touring, Elvis and his band members were en route to another town when their car, unexpectedly, caught fire. When Elvis phoned his mother later that same night, she immediately asked, “What happened?!” When a stunned Elvis asked, “What do you mean?” she proceeded to hysterically tell him, “I had a dream and I saw fire, a big fire all around you!!” The conversation left Elvis thunderstruck.
As world-famous as he became, he still remained sensitive to criticism, and forever nurtured a thin-skin. For example, he greatly loved watching “The Tonight Show,” on television. Until one evening when he heard Johnny Carson joke about him being, “Fat and 40.”
Some things in his widely-varied life still haunted him, day in and day out. Because some things he chose to never forget. In all his 42 years on Earth, he never forgot his twin brother who died at birth, thirty-five minutes before Elvis entered the world. His mother was poor and gave birth at home, on the morning of January 8, 1935. The stillborn twin was given a name: Jesse Garon
Presley. His parents decided to add his stillborn twin’s middle name (without the ‘G’) to Elvis’ as a way for Elvis to always remember his twin brother . . . who never made it. So “Garon” became “Aron,” then finalized as “Aaron” so that Elvis Aaron Presley was forever melded to his precious sibling, who was buried poorly by an impoverished family, in an unmarked grave in nearby Priceville Cemetery, in East Tupelo, Mississippi.
Unknown to the world at large, Elvis remained tormented by a great sense of loss and grief – and unfounded guilt – for his lost twin brother, whom he never got the chance to know. Elvis’ own mother, Gladys, stated in interviews that her son, Elvis, achieved great things because he “possessed the power of two people, and was living for two souls.” Psychiatrists who have found Elvis an interesting study, agree with his mother, Gladys. His great agony and yearning for contact with his foreverlost twin brother, and the painful feelings of guilt brought on with Elvis’ global fame, made it difficult on some levels for Presley to completely enjoy his success completely – knowing full-well that his brother was left without.
Later in his life, Elvis made clear that he was never at rest, emotionally. He even went so far as to refer to his dead twin as his “original bodyguard.” A bodyguard of sorts who made Elvis try harder, insulating Elvis from failure, protecting and galvaniz-
A Roadmap of Priority
Tired of sitting in backlogged traffic on the I-15 or just trying to get your kids to school and then to work? California’s population has almost doubled since the 1970s, but our highway system has not kept pace and must be upgraded to keep our people moving and our economy humming. That is why our caucus introduced a ninepoint, $6.6 billion plan to fund transportation infrastructure and fix our roads with existing resources. Our state has the fifth-highest fuel tax in the nation, yet studies consistently rank our highway system as one of the nation’s worst. As the economy has rebounded, tax revenues have increased, but essential highway upgrades have been delayed. During this year's Transportation Special Session called by the Governor, I introduced ABx1-14 to make a formal commitment in the State Budget General Fund to fund
ing him with the knowledge that Elvis Presley was living for two souls. For his brother’s sake, he had to succeed.
In his twilight years, this small boy from Mississippi was, ultimately, left with only a poverty portion of hope -- his most cherished hope -- that he would, someday, somehow, find a way to breach the vault of heaven, and navigate his soul, with divine guidance, to a final re-union with his twin brother. Almost 40 years after his death, Elvis Presley remains the most famous, the most celebrated, and the most imitated figure in all entertainment, from the four corners of the world.
When the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, paid a landmark visit to President George W. Bush, in 2006, he had one big request, president-to-president: Japan’s Prime Minister was a die-hard Elvis Presley fan, and the powerful Japanese leader requested to visit Graceland. Making George W. Bush, the first sitting United States President, to do so. (Former president Jimmy Carter visited Graceland in 1991, but not while serving as U. S. President.) This year, in 2016, the number of Elvis Presley impersonators has reached a historic record-high number. These Elvis Presley imitators saturate the world, in most every civilized culture, as no other American
The Unknown Elvis Cont. on Page 7
transportation by $1 billion annually without raising taxes or fees, including $500 million for highway upgrades and $500 million for local streets and roads.
According to early predictions by the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), the three-year revenue forecast is such that we can fully fund Prop. 98 (education funding), the Rainy Day Fund (reserves) and still dedicate $1 billion annually to transportation. All without raising taxes! The need to provide reliable highways, streets and roads is one of the primary responsibilities of state government, and it’s one I take very seriously. Our economy and our way of life depend upon a network of highways and roadways designed for a growing population of almost 40 million people, not an antiquated system built many decades ago. Rebuilding our state’s highways can wait no longer.