If you folks read Elvisblog hoping to find some new things about Elvis, this week you’ll get a really good one. I will bet you don’t know anything about the South African self-described doctor who threatened to blackmail Elvis and who had his plans thwarted by the FBI.   more »

Famous Elvis photographer Al Wertheimer seems to show up in my writings several times every year. Just last week, I wrote about him twice while working on an edition of Elvis…The Magazine celebrating the 20th anniversary of its publishing. My contribution for this special issue will be “20 Years – 20 Favorites.” I got to choose my favorite article for each year and to write a couple of paragraphs about each one.   more »

This will be the third Elvisblog article about Al Wertheimer in the past six weeks. Normally, I try to mix up the subjects for good variety, but the impression this man made on me was so strong that it pushed other story ideas farther down the list.   more »

When Elvis was drafted into the Army in 1958, the press reported he would be treated just like any other GI. Perhaps he was during basic training in Texas, but when it was time for him and 6,000 other soldiers to board a troop ship in New York Harbor, strange things happened. Col. Parker made sure Elvis’ send-off was a big event.   more »

To my surprise and relief, it has not been hard to come up with a new article for this Elvis blog every week. There are frequent items about Elvis in the news, and I bump into lots of good things while exploring Elvis links on the internet. However, Friday night I had a wonderful Elvis experience – on the telephone. It was a 3-1/2 hour interview with Al Wertheimer.    more »