Tag: music

Do you know these facts about Elvis?

by Pam Harris, "blind" writer

I don’t know why I was such an Elvis fan. I still love his music, but I do not view him through some sort of rose-colored glasses that fans of celebrities often wear. I loved his cheesy movies when I was growing up thanks to my brother and his girlfriend who took me to see them. In several of those movies, Elvis sang to kids and talked to them, and I just thought it would be so cool to be his friend. Nine-year-olds can think weird thingsl

For the non-Elvis fan world, you may not know what a paradox he was. I view him as two distinct individuals. The first half of his life, he was innocent, hopeful, attached to his mother (probably too attached–no, definitely too attached), acne-prone (yes!),a dreamer, and poor. The second half of his life was a wild ride that propelled him to the top, and the world around him, his grief over the loss of his mother, and other factors sent him on a downward spiral that ended in the way we all know.

Today, January 8, would have been his 91st birthday. The movie starring Austin Butler that was released a couple of years ago created a new generation of Elvis fans, although I think many are not Elvis fans. They are AustinButlerPlayingElvis fans, but I could be wrong.

In celebration of his birthday, I thought I’d share these facts about the King of Rock and Roll who was and is so much more to many all over the world.

  1. Elvis Aaron (Aron) Presley was born on Jan. 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi. His twin brother Jesse Garon was still-born and buried in an unmarked grave. No one knows where it is. A memorial “fake” grave is at Graceland.
  2. He and his parents, Vernon and Gladys, moved to Memphis in 1948. They lived in housing projects near Humes High School where he attended school until he graduated. He was an average student, and report cards show a mix of B’s and C’s.
  3. “That’s All Right, Mama” recorded with Scotty Moore (originally from Humboldt, Tennessee) and Bill Black was an instant hit in Memphis and became a regional hit. Sam Phillips of Sun Studio in Memphis recorded and promoted the group. It was released in 1954. At the time, Elvis was working as a truck driver for Crown Electric.
  4. Elvis’s favorite music was gospel. He and his girlfriend Dixie Locke attended all the gospel quartet performances in Memphis, and his dream was to be a member of a gospel quartet. In the late 1960s and 1970s when he was performing in Las Vegas and touring the country, he and his back-up singers would go to his hotel room and sing gospel music all night long. His idea and insistence, not theirs. “How Great Thou Art” became a standard in his concerts.
  5. His drug problems began when he was stationed in Germany while serving in the Army. When he had night watch, he took pills to help him stay awake and then had to take pills to help him sleep. He thought because they were prescribed by doctors it was fine to take them, but as we all know, it escalated into drug addiction and abuse. In his mind, he never thought he was doing anything wrong, and although family and friends tried their best to get him to stop, their efforts were ineffective.
  6. His mother died August 14, 1958 while he was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, for basic training. She was only 46. She was a worrier and worried about Elvis his entire life. It was not widely known, but she developed a drinking problem and died due to a heart attack, but some sources indicate she had cirrhosis of the liver. Elvis did not drink alcohol. Maybe that’s why.
  7. Elvis grew to hate the movies Col. Parker had contracted for him to make. Barbra Streisand approached him to be her co-star in “A Star Is Born,” which Elvis really wanted to do because he wanted to be a serious actor, but Col. Parker refused because he wanted Elvis to have top billing instead of Streisand.
  8. Elvis was into karate and racquetball in the 1970s.
  9. Elvis played the guitar and piano by ear.
  10. Graceland has a copy of the Bible Elvis read, and it is full of notes that he wrote in the margins. He read it voraciously and read books about spirituality.

Maybe you already knew all of this, but I thought I’d share in case you don’t. I could write much more, but I don’t have time to address many Elvis issues about his relationship with Priscilla (we think of pedophiles in this day and age and it creeps us out although their relationship was not physical supposedly until she was older), his infidelity which violated the Christian principles he found in the Bible, and his temper. He had a bad one according to those closest to him.

His generosity was legendary, his loyalty to his fans at a level high above any other celebrity’s, and his allegiance to his family were other aspects of a very human and flawed man. I often say a psychiatrist could spend years analyzing him. My thoughts? Not famous to famous too quickly. Poverty to riches too fast. Immaturity that lingered too long. A little boy trapped in a man’s body. A charismatic entertainer whose main joy in life, other than his daughter, was performing and being adored by fans.

Ronnie McDowell, a country music and talented artist who has painted for Disney and other people/organizations, painted the artwork you see in the photo. This is his interpretation of a twelve-year-old Elvis getting his first guitar at a hardware store in Tupelo, a purchase that changed the course of history, not only for him, but for the world.

You have to wonder what his life would have been like and what our music today would be like if that purchase never had been made.

One final thing. Somehow peanut butter and banana sandwiches have become known as Elvis’s favorite sandwich, which may or may not be true. Believe me, there are plenty of Southerners who eat them. Elvis’s favorite meal was meat loaf with potatoes and other veggies like fried okra and corn.

Musician Jackie Phelps’s interesting life and a sunny vegetable salad recipe

by Pam Harris, "blind" writer

Betty Nan Carroll (left) and Donna Baker at the local senior citizens’ center.

The following is an article I wrote for the local newspaper that will be published next week.

UTM Grad Shares Stories of Her Father’s Life in Music

Imagine growing up in a world in which you viewed people like country music’s Roy Acuff, Stringbean, and Grandpa Jones as friends instead of the musical icons they were. Imagine spending Friday and Saturday nights in a dressing room entertaining yourself or playing with Johnny Cash’s daughter while your father is performing on stage as part of the Grand Ole Opry. Imagine seeing your father every Saturday on WTVF’s Hee Haw and accepting it as a normal life.

Imagine that your godfather was Roy Acuff.

If you can imagine this, you can grasp what Donna Phelps Baker’s growing up years were like. The 1982 UTM graduate and Nashville resident returned recently to Martin to be a part of a speaking series offered at the Gateway Senior Citizens Center.

The Tennessee History series began in July, under the supervision of Becky Hames, activities director. Topics have included historical events like the Battle of Shiloh and historical places like The Ryman in Nashville.

When local retired teacher Betty nan Carroll was asked to do a presentation on The Ryman Auditorium, she agreed and reached out to Baker, fellow retired teacher and member of Alpha Delta Kappa, to be a part of the program on July 25. Carroll’s presentation included the history of the famous building and its builder as well as how the building was used over the years for revivals, public speakers, and performers. Baker’s part of the program involved her father and how he came to be an important part of the Nashville music scene.

It’s possible you may not recognize his name. Although he released six albums on Nashville’s Starday record label, he is more recognized than known to a generation of Hee Haw viewers from 1972 until 1988. Jackie Phelps was an accomplished musician and singer whose journey into the music business began at a young age while growing up in Virginia.

“He was born in October of 1925,” Baker said. “The same month and year that the Grand Ole Opry started.”

Like many of that time, the native of Holland, Virginia grew up poor but learned to play  a pedal steel guitar and an acoustic “flat-top” guitar which allowed him to perform locally at venues like grocery stores. Encouraged by others to audition for Bill Monroe, who is considered to be the father of bluegrass music, he traveled to Norfolk to do so and was rejected. Later, however, when a band member quit, Monroe contacted him and asked him to join the group.

The year was 1947, and it wasn’t long until Phelps was drafted to serve in the military. He was sent to Korea but never saw combat. Instead, his role was to drive officers, including generals, to their destinations. When they learned he could sing and play music, they asked him to perform, thereby enabling him to continue to develop his craft.

Upon his return to civilian life, he continued to play with Bill Monroe’s band occasionally but secured a spot with Red Foley’s band. While touring with Foley in Springfield, Missouri, he was smitten by the cute girl selling tickets to the event and in 1949, he married the girl named Lois. He and his bride moved to Nashville where he did studio work, but his travels did not stop.

By this time, Phelps could play the banjo in addition to the guitar, and he began his tenure of working with Roy Acuff, a tenure that included performing in Bob Hope’s USO tours. The entertainers spent ten to 12 weeks at a time going to places like Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. “Wherever there was an American military base in southeast Asia, they performed there,” Baker said.

No doubt he experienced some close calls while in southeast Asia, but it was on U.S. soil that the most famous one occurred. Having performed in Kansas City, Phelps and Jean Shepherd were offered a ride on a small plane to return to Nashville, but Shepherd was eight months pregnant and not allowed to fly, so Phelps drove her back to Nashville.

That plane crashed near Camden, Tennessee, killing Patsy Cline and “Hawkshaw” Hawkins.

Another tragedy hit close to home when Phelps’s close friend, the musician, songwriter, and comedian known as “Stringbean” was murdered in his home along with his wife. “She was shot in the back,” Baker said. “It was brutal.” Phelps was devastated by the loss and served as honorary pallbearer at Stringbean’s funeral.

Phelps’s repertoire of fellow performers, in addition to those mentioned, include Porter Waggoner, Jean Shepherd, and even studio work with Elvis Presley. But his most lucrative and steady work began when Archie Campbell and a Hee Haw producer discovered Phelps and Jimmy Riddle one night doing rhythm skills known as “eefing” and “hambone.” Two weeks after auditioning, the two men signed a contract that lasted for Phelps from 1972 until his retirement in 1988.

In 1989, he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 1990. His close friend Grandpa Jones served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral. He was inducted posthumously into Hazard, Kentucky’s Thumbpickers Hall of Fame in 1990.

The Tennessee History series will continue through October, and a schedule of dates and times is available on the Gateway Senior Citizens Facebook page and the City of Martin Facebook page, or you can go by the center and pick up a calendar. The next scheduled topic is August 15 at 10:00 A.M. when Pam Harris will share stories and information about Graceland.

That is the end of the article, but I hope it intrigued you to look him up on YouTube and other sites. Baby boomers likely watched Her Haw and may recognize Phelps.

This week’s recipe was one I got from my mother-in-law who read magazines and searched the Internet regularly for new recipes to try. She was an amazing cook and wonderful person who was loved by all who knew her. I couldn’t have asked for a better mother-in-law.

Sunny Vegetable Salad

5 cups fresh broccoli, chopped

5 cups fresh cauliflower, chopped

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2/3 cup chopped onion (I like red onion for this)

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup sunflower kernels

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons apple or red wine vinegar (I use the red wine vinegar)

6 bacon stripps

Instructions:

Cook bacon strips until crisp. Remove to paper towel to cool and allow extra grease to be absorbed.

In a small mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. In a large bowl, combine chopped vegetables, raisins, and sunflower kernels. Stir well, then add dressing from smaller bowl. Add shredded cheese and stir well to mix all ingredients. Crumble bacon and top salad with bacon crumbles. Serve immediately or refrigerate until time to serve. Note: If I am not going to serve immediately, I wait to add the crumbled bacon until ready to serve.

Is Elvis stuff worth anything? Well, it depends.

by Pam Harris, "blind" writer

Over 15 years ago, I met one of Elvis’s girlfriends at a conference. Her name is June Juanico, and they dated in the 1950s before his Army service and before Priscilla. I purchased her book and found it to be interesting. I gave the book away when I lost the ability to read regular books, and I wonder how she is doing all these years later or even if she is still alive.

A family friend who was 14 years older than I (yes, I’m using correct English there instead of colloquial English, but has that rule changed?) was a huge Elvis fan. She kept a scrapbook with all kinds of celebrity photos, but she had more Elvis clippings and photos than any. She brought parts of that scrapbook over a year before she passed away. She knew I’d appreciate them, and she didn’t want her treasures going to someone who wouldn’t care.

I’ve had those pages all this time, but because I have to use a wearable headset to look at that sort of thing, I kept putting off going through them because I knew my eyes would be very tired. But this weather forced me to find something to do in the house, so I pulled them out and spent over an hour examining them.

The cool thing about this is she had the original clippings from the Memphis newspaper, and the Memphis newspaper seemed to have constant photos and articles about Elvis. People in other parts of the country wouldn’t have had those photos. Among the photos are a clipping of the family gathered around Elvis’s mother’s grave (with the tent above the burial site) at her funeral in 1958. I had never seen that before. Another photo is the original newspaper clipping of the Million Dollar Quartet–Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins–at Sun Studio. Elvis’s girlfriend at the time is in the photo. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, one day Elvis stopped by Sun Studio and somehow the other three ended up being there. It was a historic moment in music, and a newspaper reporter got to the studio to take the photograph. Look it up online. It has been duplicated in posters, books, and blogs like mine. I couldn’t believe it when I picked it up. An original clipping, not a copy.

How cool.

And those two are just the beginning. As I went through them, I could imagine the 14-year-old devouring the teen magazines and newspapers as she selected which ones to keep in her special scrapbook. I had those celebrity scrapbooks. At that age, I was basically an only child because my brother was gone from home. We lived in a neighborhood with only older people, so no one to hang out with. I was skinny, awkward, wore thick glasses, and escaped my reality by reading books and teen magazines. My celebrity crushes were Kurt Russell, Bobby Sherman, David Soul, Michael Cole, and…no, not Elvis…Lee Majors. Well, the Lee Majors in “The Big Valley,” so maybe it’s more appropriate to say Heath Barkley. By the way, I love that name Heath. But I couldn’t bring myself to name my sons after a TV character. I did know a couple who named their children Rhett and Scarlett. Really.

I think I’ll hang on to those photos and clippings for quite a while. It will be fun to go down memory lane remembering those iconic figures of the past while at the same time remembering my friend. Fourteen years separated us, but she was a family friend who spent a lot of time with my mom and me. She was a part of my growing up years, as much or more than some of my relatives.

Yesterday Barry was watching a “Pawn Stars” episode, and a woman was trying to sell something that belonged to Frank Sinatra. She was disappointed the item wasn’t as valuable as she thought it it should be. But they explained that because there are no longer many Frank Sinatra fans, the memorabilia has gone down in value.

That may happen with Elvis memorabilia, but for me, the scrapbook items are worth a great deal. Maybe not financially but emotionally. I will close with a line that only those familiar with Elvis will get, and forgive the corniness. It’s true.

Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind.

Sweet memories.

Elvis would have turned 90 today. Can you pass this quiz?

by Pam Harris, "blind" writer

This is Elvis at a concert I attended in 1975. No, I wasn’t this close, but a friend was and sent this photo to me.

I’ve been an Elvis fan, but not an Elvis fanatic, since I was six or seven. My brother, nine years older than I was, had his records, and his girlfriend took me to see his movies. My family likes to razz me and say I had a crush on Elvis, but I really didn’t. I thought he was gorgeous in his younger years, but as a little girl, I was captured by his charisma and all I knew was I wanted to be his friend. The innocence of youth. My celebrity crushes were Kurt Russell, Lee Majors (think Heath Barkley in “The Big Valley”), and others. I did want to grow up and marry Heath Barkley, though. Not Lee Majors. And definitely not Elvis.

But I was fascinated with the Elvis rags-to-riches story. The poor Southern culture in which he was raised was all too familiar, and the fact that he lived in my home state just added fuel to the fire. He was a local guy. He was one of us.

Needless to say, I learned a lot about this man, both the bad and the good, and I thought you might have fun testing your own knowledge of the man known as the King of Rock and Roll.

  1. Where was Elvis born?
  2. What high school did Elvis attend? (side note: a local woman lived in Memphis at the Tim and had Elvis as a student in last period study hall. She told me he used to skip study hall every day, walking by her room and glancing her way and laughing. She thought he was a thug.)
  3. What record was Elvis’s first national hit?
  4. Put these movies in the order they were released: Loving You, King Creole, Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock
  5. In what year was he drafted into the Army, and where did he do basic training before being sent to Germany?
  6. Elvis bought Graceland in 1957. How much did he pay for it? (multiple choice) a.Was it? $245,300? $175, 300? $102,500? $210,500?
  7. What car did Elvis buy for his mother even thought she didn’t drive?
  8. What was Elvis’s favorite music?
  9. What percentage of Elvis’s earnings did Col. Parker draw as his agent? 10%, 15%, 25%, or 50%?
  10. Which of these members of the Memphis Mafia, Elvis’s group of bodyguards, is still alive? Joe Esposito, Jerry Schilling, Red West, or Sonny West?

Answers:

  1. Tupelo, Mississippi
  2. Humes High School in Memphis (the family moved to Memphis when Elvis was 13)
  3. “Heartbreak Hotel” on RCA. “That’s All Right, Mama” was on Sun and a regional hit.
  4. Love Me Tender, Loving you, Jailhouse Rock, King Creole
  5. 1958, Fort Hood, Texas. I lived in Killeen, a town near Fort Hood, part of 1967 and 1968. One day I was at my friend’s house and saw a framed picture of a pretty young woman with Elvis. Of course, I asked who and what? It was her older sister. Her dad was Army, and one day when they were eating on base, Elvis was seated alone at a table near them. Jeanie’s sister kept looking at him, and he finally winked at her while she was bringing a glass of tea to her lips. It flustered her so much, she spilled tea all over herself and on the table. He burst out laughing and came over to talk. They went on a few dates.
  6. $102,500
  7. a pink Cadillac (wonder if that’s where Mary Kay got the idea?)
  8. gospel. His true desire was to be a member of a gospel quartet.
  9. 50%–the man took advantage of simple country folks
  10. Jerry Schilling. He was several years younger. Elvis bought him and his wife a house in California, and that is where he lives to this day.

How did you do?

Graceland and The Guesthouse–a girls’ weekend adventure

by Pam Harris, "blind" writer

I have many friends, but perhaps the most special are the ones I’ve had since a young age. They know me better than anyone else. We shared confidences, cried with each other through the dramas of adolescence, even had an argument or two along the way. And even though we’ve been separated by time and distance, we’ve stayed connected, which has been much easier to do in this age of technology.

My younger years were mobile. Due to my dad’s health and his job, we left Tennessee and lived in two towns in Arizona, two in Texas, and finally landed back in Tennessee at the end of my sixth grade year.

That town was my home base until I was 23 when my parents returned to our hometown over 200 miles away. And that town is the place where I made friendships that endure to this day.

Two of my closest friends came to my part of the state last week for a girls’ trip (yes, we call ourselves girls) to Memphis. They wanted to see Sun Studio and Graceland, and I wanted them to see Mud Island and the Bass Pro Shop in the pyramid. I was tour guide, and they were willing followers.

The first stop was Sun Studio. I was amazed at the number of people there on a Friday, but we only had to wait about fifteen minutes for the guided tour which included an entertaining guide and the chance to post with and touch the same microphone used by Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and countless others. If you think the reason Memphis is called the birthplace of rock and roll because of Elvis, you are mistaken. If you want to find out why I say this, well…take the tour, and you’ll learn.a lot.

A drive through the beautiful neighborhoods on Mud Island and a light lunch at Miss Cordelia’s, a grocery store/”restaurant” in the quaint commercial district of the island, me pointing out areas used by film producers for a This Is Us episode and a scene from the award-winning Wedding at Graceland (a Hallmark production, and yes, I’m being sarcastic), and a stop at the Bass Pro Shop on the river was next. The pyramid houses Big Cypress Lodge and a massive store with restaurants, a bowling alley, huge aquarium, and an observation deck accessed by an elevator (a charge for that) that allows sweeping views of the river and the Memphis skyline.

The next stop was the impressive, multi-story hotel next to the Graceland mansion called The Guesthouse at Graceland. Warning to those of you who have never been there: Graceland is located in a run-down area of Memphis. When Elvis bought the house and acreage, it was in a rural setting, but as the city grew so did the developed area around it. It was once a nice area but now is not the best. I would not recommend venturing out at night in that area. The daytime hours, though, are fine.

If you’re curious about what the hotel looks like, go on YouTube, and you can see plenty of videos. When we checked in, we were given an information sheet about activities and amenities of the hotel. There are two restaurants: EP’s Bar and Grill which has burgers, fish tacos, salads, and that sort of fare. Then there is Delta’s Kitchen which is elegant and more upscale. Dressed in our jeans or yoga pants, we opted for EP’s Bar and Grill. Our salads were delicious.

We then went to an in-hotel theater where a different Elvis movie is shown each night. Viva Las Vegas was showing that night, but movies on other nights include Jailhouse Rock, Love Me Tender, Elvis on Tour, Aloha from Hawaii, and some I can’t remember. Live music in the lobby followed, and the group performed everything from Elvis songs to Johnny Cash to instrumental pieces like those played by Roy Clark. If you’re of a certain age, you recognized that last name. The final activity was picking up a”free” peanut butter and jelly sandwich at 9:00 P.M. before heading to our room. I put “free” in quotes because at the price of the hotel rooms, I can’t say anything there is free.

There is no breakfast offered in the hotel, but there is an in-room refrigerator if you want to store chilled items, and there is a microwave down the hall in a vending/ice area. There is also a coffee shop with pastries called Shake, Rattle, and Go for to-go items, or you can splurge on a big breakfast at Delta’s Kitchen.

A shuttle takes you from the hotel across the boulevard to Elvis Presley’s Memphis where you purchase tickets for the tours. Here are the things included in the package: a seven-minute introductory film, board another shuttle to go to the “mansion” (by today’s standards, it’s hard to think of it as a mansion), tour the house and grounds, back to Elvis Presley’s Memphis to the museums housing numerous vehicles and other aspects of Elvis’s life as well as clothing and items used in the making of the 2022 movie Elvis, and Elvis’s planes. All museums contain videos on large screens that are playing constantly. And, of course, there are numerous gift shops and more restaurants.

If you’ve read my blog this far, you are likely interested in what these places have to offer, so that’s why I’ve gone into so much detail. But all of this detail pales in comparison to the true fun of the weekend.

For just a few days, I was fifteen or sixteen again. I can laugh with these friends in a way I can’t laugh with anyone else. We told stories on each other. “Do you remember when you’–?” Or “Remember when he–?” and that sort of thing. Sure, we talked about our current lives, and they caught me up on the lives of friends I left behind physically and emotionally, but it was gratifying to be with friends who ave been with me through good times and bad, friends who know me in a way my “friends made in adulthood” never can. With them, there is no pretense. They know the real me.Even though we have lived apart since 1979 and not always been in frequent contact (until cell phones became common), we’ve stayed connected.

I value all my friends and consider friendship one of life’s greatest blessings. I hope each person reading this can know the blessing of true friendships.