what do you think of the memphis mafia?

[QUEENIE]

I'D BE INTERESTED TO HEAR PEOPLE'S VIEWS -AND I'M NOT TALKING EXCLUSIVELY ABOUT THE "MAFIA" BUT OF THE OTHER GUYS AROUND ELVIS TOO. I ALWAYS LIKED CHARLIE HODGE AND FELT THAT HE WAS WITH ELVIS FOR THE REASON THAT HE LOVED HIM, BUT NOW I'M NOT SO SURE. IS IT TRUE THAT HE LEAKED NEWS OUT OF GRACELANDS? I READ SOMEWHERE THAT ELVIS HAVING CANCER WAS A MADE UP STORY TO SEE WHO COULD BE TRUSTED AND THAT CHARLIE AND DICK GROB LEAKED IT -IF HE WASN'T TRUE, WHAT OF THE OTHERS? PERSONALLY I HAVE NEVER LIKED JOE ESPOSITO -TOO MUCH OF A PUBLICITY SEEKER BUT HAVE ALWAYS QUITE LIKED LAMAR FIKE. OR WERE THEY ALL A LOAD OF OLD BITCHES?

[RBGRO5]

The sad fact is,most them guys wrote a book or 2
to profit from what Elvis wanted kept private.
Only one who never wrote one is"Ginger"
She gets my respect.

[nina]

QUEENIE wrote:

I'D BE INTERESTED TO HEAR PEOPLE'S VIEWS ...OR WERE THEY ALL A LOAD OF OLD BITCHES?

they were mostly all a load of old bitches who are only known and had careers in the entertainment industry because of their association with Elvis and the contacts that they made as a result.

none of the MM guys would have had any movie credits if they hadn't been extras in Elvis' movies.

and probably would have been regular blue collar guys - and nothing's wrong with that - in Memphis.

Red West would not have been a songwriter and actor nor would Sonny have had an acting career

Charlie Hodge would have continues on the regional country & western circuit as part of a quartet

Lamar Fike would not have gotten into music publishing

Joe Esposito would not have been a tour manager for a variety of acts if not for his Elvis/Parker connections

Jerry Schilling's movie production career was the same

and none of them would have ever had a book published

I used to like Jerry Schilling and Joe Esposito the best, until I met them at an Elvis convention and they took turns yelling at me (especially Joe)

I had asked if they thought Elvis would form the basis of a future religion and Joe lost his mind, when his voice went horse, he called Jerry over to keep yelling at me.

Jerry was too shocked to do it.

Charlie Hodge always creeped me out - he was the biggest sycophant around Elvis and the only one who would have had an entertainment industry career - he had one before he met Elvis

and he gave it up to be a scarf and water guy

that does not suggest a normal, emotionally healthy guy to me.

yes, he was the source of the bogus bone cancer story, which was invented by Dr Nick to try to convince Vernon that Dr Nick wasn't a bad guy

Charlie was most devoted to Elvis and would say anything if he thought it would make Elvis look better

Charlie was also one of 5 guys who claimed to double Elvis' voice in the later concerts

if you watch the Charlie "elvis documentary" (it runs about an hour and has less than 3 mins of Elvis - all fan shot 8mm footage) which is really just a Charlie interview "The Elvis I knew"

you'd get the creeps too, it's practically a reading of his book by the same name

[nina]

RBGRO5 wrote:

The sad fact is,most them guys wrote a book or 2
to profit from what Elvis wanted kept private.
Only one who never wrote one is"Ginger"
She gets my respect.

really? Ginger recently ran an auction of Elvis crap she kept all these years, it included a half smoked cigar

Ginger was plenty happy to sell her story in 1977

but probably stayed quiet when she realized that she didn't come off looking so good in it

even when she told it.

[RBGRO5]

Wow,didn't know about that Nina.Where and when
did this take place?
Don't have a clue what Ginger even looks like
today.

[Lee]

QUEENIE wrote:

I'D BE INTERESTED TO HEAR PEOPLE'S VIEWS -AND I'M NOT TALKING EXCLUSIVELY ABOUT THE "MAFIA" BUT OF THE OTHER GUYS AROUND ELVIS TOO. I ALWAYS LIKED CHARLIE HODGE AND FELT THAT HE WAS WITH ELVIS FOR THE REASON THAT HE LOVED HIM, BUT NOW I'M NOT SO SURE. IS IT TRUE THAT HE LEAKED NEWS OUT OF GRACELANDS? I READ SOMEWHERE THAT ELVIS HAVING CANCER WAS A MADE UP STORY TO SEE WHO COULD BE TRUSTED AND THAT CHARLIE AND DICK GROB LEAKED IT -IF HE WASN'T TRUE, WHAT OF THE OTHERS? PERSONALLY I HAVE NEVER LIKED JOE ESPOSITO -TOO MUCH OF A PUBLICITY SEEKER BUT HAVE ALWAYS QUITE LIKED LAMAR FIKE. OR WERE THEY ALL A LOAD OF OLD BITCHES?

Lamar Fike was the dirtbag who started the rumor that Elvis wore diapers and went to the bathroom on the bed! In the period of time that Fike claimed these things happened, he wasn't even with Elvis, but this story is still being repeated as fact.

In the beginning, the story of how Elvis died was that he was sitting on a CHAIR in the bathroom and fell off of it. Among others, Joe Espostito was one who exagerated and changed this original story to the one that he fell off the toilet, etc, and made it much more humiliating to Elvis.

Charlie Hodge? As far as I am concerned, since so many of the stories contradict each other over the years, many of them have to be lies. Neither Charlie Hodge, nor any of the others have ever accused the others of lieing.

Even the ones like Charlie, who have never said anything particularly bad about Elvis, are guilty of not speaking up against the others.

All of them are sewer scum. All of them.

[Lee]

nina wrote:

<quoted text>
really? Ginger recently ran an auction of Elvis crap she kept all these years, it included a half smoked cigar
Ginger was plenty happy to sell her story in 1977
but probably stayed quiet when she realized that she didn't come off looking so good in it
even when she told it.

I don't remember Ginger selling her story in 77. What was it and where?

[Lee]

nina wrote:

<quoted text>
they were mostly all a load of old bitches who are only known and had careers in the entertainment industry because of their association with Elvis and the contacts that they made as a result.
none of the MM guys would have had any movie credits if they hadn't been extras in Elvis' movies.
and probably would have been regular blue collar guys - and nothing's wrong with that - in Memphis.
Red West would not have been a songwriter and actor nor would Sonny have had an acting career
Charlie Hodge would have continues on the regional country & western circuit as part of a quartet
Lamar Fike would not have gotten into music publishing
Joe Esposito would not have been a tour manager for a variety of acts if not for his Elvis/Parker connections
Jerry Schilling's movie production career was the same
and none of them would have ever had a book published
I used to like Jerry Schilling and Joe Esposito the best, until I met them at an Elvis convention and they took turns yelling at me (especially Joe)
I had asked if they thought Elvis would form the basis of a future religion and Joe lost his mind, when his voice went horse, he called Jerry over to keep yelling at me.
Jerry was too shocked to do it.
Charlie Hodge always creeped me out - he was the biggest sycophant around Elvis and the only one who would have had an entertainment industry career - he had one before he met Elvis
and he gave it up to be a scarf and water guy
that does not suggest a normal, emotionally healthy guy to me.
yes, he was the source of the bogus bone cancer story, which was invented by Dr Nick to try to convince Vernon that Dr Nick wasn't a bad guy
Charlie was most devoted to Elvis and would say anything if he thought it would make Elvis look better
Charlie was also one of 5 guys who claimed to double Elvis' voice in the later concerts
if you watch the Charlie "elvis documentary" (it runs about an hour and has less than 3 mins of Elvis - all fan shot 8mm footage) which is really just a Charlie interview "The Elvis I knew"
you'd get the creeps too, it's practically a reading of his book by the same name

I don't think Charlie loved Elvis any more than the others did. Otherwise, he would speak up against them.

I don't know where you got the idea that Dr. Nick made up the story about the bone cancer. Cathy Westmoreland said Elvis himself was the source of that story. She said he told her he had cancer in his knees. He probably thought that because his knees hurt so bad.

[QUEENIE]

you know what i hate? when i watch backstage videos and elvis is in the room doing stuff, which isn't always that funny, and his guys are sitting around watching and then they do these hidously fake cackling laughs. I wonder, are they scared not to laugh ( in which case how pathetic are they), or are they just the biggest bunch of sycophantic insincere blokes you could meet...

[TCB-girl]

QUEENIE wrote:

you know what i hate? when i watch backstage videos and elvis is in the room doing stuff, which isn't always that funny, and his guys are sitting around watching and then they do these hidously fake cackling laughs. I wonder, are they scared not to laugh ( in which case how pathetic are they), or are they just the biggest bunch of sycophantic insincere blokes you could meet...

I don't know how to take the humor and what appears to be some kind of special camaraderie among ELVIS and the guys. Maybe it is that I am female and what is funny to young guys isn't always so funny to ladies. We all have different senses of humor. Perhaps some of it was private "inside jokes" between them that we would not ever understand in a zillion years.
Who knows?????
LOL LOL LOL ;)

[QUEENIE]

I dont know -just seems strange to me. A good friend of mine was a close friend of Charlie Hodge and was actually a bearer at his funeral and in fairness he did say that all he ever said about Elvis was great stuff -never a bad word so he did show loyalty. Which makes me wonder do the papers make up or pervert a lot of what the guys allegedly said...
All said though, I am not a fan of theirs

On a different matted TCB I just read your posting about your mother and want to say I hope you are okay now. We nursed my grandfather until he died and it was so hard emotionally. He died 15 years ago and I still miss him so much -he was my hero really and I adored him. But that's for another place

[Magnus34]

What about Billy Smith?

I think he seemed loyal to Elvis! Even though appeared in a book together with the MM.

I mean he stayed with Elvis to the end, even if he seemed to feel like he was left out.

But this is just what I believe I am sure some people will disagree!

[Jon]

RBGRO5 wrote:

The sad fact is,most them guys wrote a book or 2
to profit from what Elvis wanted kept private.
Only one who never wrote one is"Ginger"
She gets my respect.

Ginger is in fact currently writing her own book!!

[Jon]

Plus Ginger was in a film - playing a girlfriend of a 70's aging rock star, who just happened to wear jumpsuits and sing rock n roll - of course this was NOTHING to do with Elvis ... not!

[QUEENIE]

i agree with you, but you must admit -he has said some wacko stuff since. Mind you, not quite as wacko as his nutty mother -there goes one sad cow!

[QUEENIE]

soorry -misread your post -thought you were talking about the Stanleys

[RBGRO5]

Why has it taken Ginger over 30 years to now be
starting on a book? Very strange.Looked in vain
for the movie Ginger made after Elvis died,but
nobody's heard of it."The living Legend" it was
called.Has it ever been released?

[Phil]

surely the fact that she made it speaks volumes!! Whether it was good enough to release or not is a different matter. Probably wasnt good enough .... sounds tacky to me!

[TCB-girl]

IMO
I think Charlie Hodge loved ELVIS. At least he didn't talk TRASH about him as some others did.

The only other friend I can think of that stayed classy about the relationship between themself and ELVIS was Ann-Margaret.

I enjoyed Jerry Schillings book and felt he gave ELVIS respect throughout. He did speak of ELVIS' weakneses, but didn't wallow in them as other MM have..I do realize Jerry, too, still lives off ELVIS.(EPE)

ELVIS'"friends" needed to try to find a new way to make a living once ELVIS passed on.. and for most all the new way of making a living was from their relationship to ELVIS. If it was done with a little decorum it hasn't bothered me near as much as the ones that totally TRASHED ELVIS while still eating at his table. Those are the ones that rub me wrong. Nothing like slapping the hand that feeds you.

[nina]

RBGRO5 wrote:

Wow,didn't know about that Nina.Where and when
did this take place?
Don't have a clue what Ginger even looks like
today.

Feb 2008

Ginger Alden Auctions Part Of Her Elvis Presley Collection
As part of the Pugliese Pop Culture Collection Auction (March 15 & 16, 2008), Guernsey's is pleased to be offering 14 amazing Elvis Presley lots consigned by Ginger Alden, Elvis' fiancee at the time of his death. This marks the first time Ms. Alden has offered any of her personal Elvis Presley collection at public auction.

These one-of-a-kind items will be sold on Sunday, March 16, following a number of fantastic Elvis-related lots from the Pugliese Collection. Please note, however, that these lots are not part of the Pugliese Collection and are being consigned directly by Ginger Alden.

Items for sale are:

Elvis Presley's Handwritten Notes on Numerology
Elvis Presley's Handwritten Note to Amber Alden, on TCB Stationery
Elvis Presley's Painting of his Plane, Named "Lisa Marie"
Elvis Presley's Chromed Globe Phone
Elvis Presley's Ram's Head Necklace
Elvis Presley's Pajama Top
Elvis Presley's Abalone and Mother-of-Pearl Crucifix
Elvis Presley's Concho-Style Belt
Elvis Presley's Diamond and Gold Pendant on Gold Rope Chain
Elvis Presley's Black Star Sapphire Ring
Elvis Presley's Guitar Pick
Elvis Presley's Half-Smoked Cigar
Elvis Presley Carved Coconut Head
Four Elvis Presley Concert Stickers