The above quote was made by Jerry Schilling, Elvis’ long time buddy. The meeting he referred to was when Elvis met President Nixon in the Oval Office on December 21, 1970. Schilling made the quote while participating last year in a panel discussion presented by the National Archives Administration. It was titled "We Were There When Nixon Met Elvis."   more »

Elvis fans know he always travelled with an entourage. Four, five or six members of his Memphis Mafia accompanied Elvis everywhere, and they took care of all arrangements and logistics of the trips. This included any expenses incurred, so Elvis never had the need to carry much money. Somebody else always handled it.   more »

If you read other Elvis websites, you already know about the death of songwriter Jerry Leiber. The other sites informed you that Leiber and his partner Mike Stoller wrote more than a dozen Elvis hits, including “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock” and “King Creole.” For ElvisBlog, I thought it would be more fun to tell you some Jerry Leiber stories. They all involve my favorite Elvis song, which happens to be written by Leiber & Stoller.    more »

The celebration of Elvis Week is going on right now in Memphis. I start early each year trying to figure out a new way to blog about the anniversary of Elvis’ death. A few weeks ago, I came across my copy of the September 20, 1977, issue of the National Enquirer. On the cover was a photo of Elvis in a car, and the tag was “Hours Before He Died.” The caption under the picture was, “The Last Photo of Elvis Alive.”    more »

July was a good months for auctions containing Elvis memorabilia items. Gotta Have It had 25 of them up for bidding that closed on July 22. So, let’s take a look at the Elvis wardrobe items that changed hands at The Rock and Roll Auction from Gotta Have It.    more »

If you follow the news, you certainly know about the cell phone hacking scandal involving the British tabloid News of the World. The current issue of Time Magazine has a cover story that digs into the history of Murdock and his media empire. One illustration for the story was a shot of his six tabloid papers. When I saw that one of them was The Star, I remembered my collection of supermarket tabloids with cover stories about Elvis.    more »

A few weeks ago, when I was reviewing pictures in my files for the recurring feature Postscripts to Earlier Elvisblogs, there were several photos from Elvis’ first appearance in Las Vegas. That was his two-week engagement at the New Frontier Hotel’s Venus Showroom from April 23 to May 6, 1956.    more »

In 2008, famous antiquities collector Graham Geddes of Melbourne, Australia, revealed his discovery of a 1,800-year-old marble bust that looked like Elvis Presley.    more »

Recently, I learned about an interesting item of Elvis memorabilia that is on display at the Berlin Hard Rock Café. It is a handwritten draft of a letter that Elvis wrote while he was in the Army serving in Germany. According to the Hard Rock website, this two-page letter was written in 1959, and they consider it one of their better pieces of Elvis memorabilia.   more »

Back in late 2005, I was trying to think of something to write for the upcoming Birthday Tribute Issue of Elvis International magazine. I always try to submit something for each issue, and Darwin Lamm, the publisher, likes to do anniversary themes. So, I checked out what went on with Elvis fifty years earlier in January, 1956. I quickly realized that lots of important stuff happened, and I had my story idea.    more »

Google Images search is best if you enjoy going to unusual websites. You just click on an interesting Elvis picture and you never know what you might find. That’s how I found a most interesting story about Bob Dylan, Andy Warhol, and one of his Elvis paintings.   more »

This is the front cover of the latest book of Elvis photographs by Alfred Wertheimer. His iconic 1956 photos of Elvis have appeared in several other books, DVDs, calendars, and more products than you can count. I had the good fortune to be selected by Al Wertheimer to write the forward for Elvis: The Early Years.   more »

Tony Curtis died this past Wednesday, and several Elvis websites noted his passing. The reason they did this is because there are two stories connecting these two great entertainers. In case you haven’t read these other websites, here is the Elvis//Tony Curtis story that gives us a look at Elvis’ sense of humor.    more »

For the second time in 18 months, a prized Elvis collectible has failed to garner the minimum bid set by the auctioneers. Of course, it was a pretty steep minimum – a half-million dollars.   more »

In May 1960, while he was in Los Angeles filming G.I. Blues, Elvis consented to an interview with New York Times reporter Murray Schumach. It had been two months since Elvis returned from the army, and a lot had changed in the two years he was gone.   more »

Lots of Elvis fans celebrate the anniversaries of events in Elvis’ life, including May 1, the day he and Priscilla married. However, not many folks this week celebrated the forty-third anniversary of Elvis’ second wedding reception on May 29, 1967. This event is pretty far down on the list of Elvis lore, but it is still an interesting story.   more »

If you were asked to guess what Elvis’ ten biggest hits were, would you have “Hound Dog” on your list? Certainly. How about one of his five biggest hits? Very likely, as well. So, it may come as a surprise to you that “Hound Dog” was never credited as a Number 1 hit on the esteemed Billboard list.   more »

It’s a natural for Elvis websites and fan magazines to do something to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Elvis’ discharge from the Army on March 5, 1960. But, what could you do that would be different. How about a list of significant (or at least, interesting) numbers relating to his two years in the Army?   more »

We can assume Elvis was very proud of his promotions during his two years in the Army. He was promoted to Sergeant in February 1960, so let’s commemorate the 50th anniversary of this event with a look at his rise through the Army ranks.   more »

On January 30, 2005, the first blog devoted to Elvis made its debut. Five years and 800,000 hits later, ElvisBlog rolls on. There have been many changes, so it’s fun to go back and look at the first three articles that started things off.   more »

I was mulling over possibilities for a good year-end review to write about, and for a second, I thought of reviewing the year’s music. But, that would be ridiculous. I have no idea what’s going on in popular music today.   more »

My son gave me Rolling Stone – Cover to Cover,a four-disc DVD set showing every page of every issue of Rolling Stone magazine from 1967 to 2007.   more »

History has recorded that Elvis’ return to the stage on July 31, 1969 in Las Vegas was a huge, major success. It was his first live performance in eight years, and he was outstanding. We are quickly approaching the 40th anniversary of this epic concert, so I checked out several sources in my Elvis library to find the best description of the event.   more »

An old high school buddy of mine is also an Elvis fan. He lives in Indiana and has a background in history education. So, it was a pleasant surprise when he sent me a copy of the Spring 2008 issue of Traces, the publication of the Indiana Historical Society, with this cover story: “The King’s Last Concert – Elvis Presley in Indianapolis.”   more »

You have to hand it to the supermarket tabloid Weekly World News. Elvis has been dead for thirty-two years, but they are still publishing cover stories about him. Two weeks ago, I’m in the checkout line, and what is staring back at me? Just my old favorite Weekly World News with a photo of Elvis on the cover.   more »

ElvisBlog readers who are also fans of American Idol know that heavy-favorite Adam Lambert surprisingly missed the top spot this week. I don’t think that matters a bit, his career is going to take off starting now, and he will be a huge star. What I like is that there have been some references to the fact that Adam Lambert looks a lot like Elvis, and affects certain Elvis-style mannerisms.   more »

Do you know how many members of Elvis’ family lived at Graceland with him? Only the really dedicated Elvis fans will know the name of the other Presley family member that lived in Graceland. One of Vernon’s three sisters was named Delta Mae. When her husband died in 1966, she moved into Graceland.   more »

OK, now that DJ Fontana and Bill Black have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we fans are happy that all of Elvis’ bandmates of the 50s are honored in the “Sidemen” category. We’ve talked about that here, and I’ve also asserted that the rest of the 70s TCB guys should join them next year. Surely there aren’t any more Elvis-related musicians worthy of Rock Hall cheerleading.   more »

I hope you aren’t tired of articles about Elvis-connected people who were recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because there is one more. Elvis had a lot to do with Wanda Jackson becoming the first queen of rock and roll, as the Hall website calls her. Like many other Wanda Jackson fans, I believe this Hall of Fame recognition was long overdue.    more »

Did you know you could find Elvis in the Smithsonian Institution? You can, if you check out the National Portrait Gallery’s “Bravo” exhibition.   more »