2017 All Rights Reserved authored by Jeffery Schremfs with permission
Over the years I have been asked (literally) thousands of questions about Elvis Presley by quality websites such as; by participants of Quora, Wiki, and others. When I am able I answer them and provide facts that are not commonly known. When I get positive comments, upvotes, responses, emails, etc. I am appreciative as I have never monetized my collection, knowledge, etc. of Elvis Presley. I am a routine fan who has studied Elvis, onstage and off, for (approximately) six decades now.
This is in addition to this blog, http://www.ElvisCollector.info (no ads, no solicitations, no pop-ups, just 100% interesting/rare/unique/cool, http://www.ElvisCollectorWorldwide.freeforums.org (100% free Elvis Presley fan forum), and many other blog/sites I interact with.
I take great pride in these works and they have, individually and collectively, been positive distractions from my battles with cancer, PIDD, and I’ve been recently diagnosed with kidney failure aka acute renal insufficiency. Additionally I have hospitalization(s) scheduled for, including but not limited to, mapping of my, swollen – painful – and asymmetrical, lymph nodes and surrounding tissue.
I am very blessed to have good doctors, hospitals, friends, relatives, and other support systems. I have my own beliefs, and faith, in God which has sustained me and man are/were there times when the weight of all these medical/mental/emotional/etc, issues decimated my every breath.
I am also thankful to you. Those who want to know more about Elvis Presley. Those who are just curious, Those who came across this blog by happenstance. Thankful to all of the search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
You see Elvis’ life, beginning with the death of his identical twin brother who was born first but was “stillborn” (i.e. born dead) and his beloved mother (Gladys) and Father (Vernon) tasked with coming up with a name for their newborn son as they never expected twins, is unique and interesting to say the least. Elvis life was, at various stages, complicated yet simple. If you want to see dirt poor people in the South without means in the 1930s Elvis meets that criteria. If you want to see someone with riches, fancy cars, custom jewerly, his own fleet of cars and a few airplanes to boot Elvis is your man. I can, and will in the future, go on and on.
As a boy (in the 1960’s – man its been a….W H I L E) I started collecting Elvis memorabilia and everyone from my best friends, relatives, minister, neighbors, teachers, etc. knew
I not only collected Elvis related things but was also knowledgeable about the life of Elvis onstage and off. I never believed Elvis was perfect nor did I believe anything other than Elvis was multi talented, worked hard, provided jobs/income for his friends/family, was loyal, and had a world famous temper. I never put him on a pedestal and I had an emphasis on the truth (i.e. from direct sources I had the honor of knowing/speaking with/etc) and context. My Grandfather, who has long passed and I miss very much, gave me many fundamentals/life lessons to adhere to. An example is he used to tell me “the only thing worse than a lie is a half truth”. I was young then but a few years later I learned firsthand just how wise he was and how this saying was spot on. You see when someone lies there are countless ways to cross reference it. But, when someone tells a “half truth” it carries more weight, and thus is harder to disprove because part of it is true and can be corroborated.
Back to Elvis.
Elvis, in context, was a good man who loved the Lord/Jesus/God and not only sang about it but did not back off when asked about his faith. He helped so many in need. He gave of his time. His heart. His talents. His works. His money. He cared and people were drawn to him.
Publicly Elvis did not judge others nor did he disparage other celebrities. An interesting response he gave, to a question (I am summarizing here and from two interviews around the time of his 1972 Madison Square Garden concert in New York, of “do you think other entertainers should speak their minds then “do you belief other entertainers should avoid military service”? Elvis’ response was all Elvis. He said “I’m just an entertainer and I’d rather keep my own views to myself so I’d rather not say”.
It has been a long time since Elvis walked this earth. It was a joy to watch him share his talents. Everything from his hair, to his style, to his clothes, to his laugh, to his biting humor, to his wit, to his photographic memory, to his upbringing of politeness using verbiage such as “yes mam, no mam, yes sir, no sir” etc.
He owned a luxury home in Hollywood but he called Memphis (Tennessee) his home with his house named “Graceland’. At the time he purchased this home, in the 1950’s it was off the beaten path. It was a southern style mansion with acreage to ride horses. To have pets. To have privacy from the world and always being thankful to the fans who lined up outside the stone wall, and the infamous gates, of Graceland.
He was a “one of a kind” man who left us three decades of excellent works (i.e. movies, songs, albums, videos, dvds, writings, interesting stories, served honorably in the United States Army, and received many achievements throughout his life.
… to be continued