"The Spirit Of Elvis" Reprinted From The Former Newsletter "The Southcentral Kentuckian," Collector's Story Edition # 1, 2005.

 (Note:The following story posted below is a reprint of a story that I wrote for my former short-lived newsletter called "The Southcentral Kentuckian," Collector's Story Edition #1, Oct.-Dec. 2005.  After seeing the 2022 Elvis movie at our local theater in Bowling Green, Ky., several weeks ago, I immediately thought of this story that I wrote about Elvis almost 17 years ago.  I even mailed a copy of it to Graceland Enterprises in Memphis, Tenn., which oversees the Elvis Presley estate and mansion where Pricilla Presley is the CEO. Graceland is now one of the top tourist attractions in the country.  And also the second most visited house in the USA besides The White House in Washington, D.C.  Btw, I thought the new movie was great and I highly recommend it everyone to see it if you get a chance especially if you're an Elvis fan like me. Also, I apologize for any mistakes you might find while reading this story. It is long and it was a lenghty process while typing it into the blog format.)

The Spirit of Elvis

By Galen A. Smith Sr.

Memphis, Tenn. _ Elvis Lives! Yes, that's right, he's alive and well at his home at Graceland on Elvis Presley Blvd., in Memphis.

Poster from the new Elvis movie

As a matter of fact, I just saw him on Aug. 31 at his house. Man, this guy's face, image, voice and music is over this beautiful mansion which was built in 1939. Elvis bought this southern style, stone house in 1957 and managed to live there until 1977 before his death due to heart failure and prescription drug addiction. Too bad he was only able to enjoy Graceland for 20 years before he left this world and all of his millions of fans. To this day, I am still amazed that "The King of Rock & Roll" is still popular as ever. Many people have said that Elvis didn't really, really get famous until after his death. To a certain degree I think this is true. However, I think he happened to be "at the right time at the right place," to claim his place on the popular throne in American history and culture. His name, music, songs and images are finely woven into the fabric of the America and the American South not to mention his claim to fame on the world-wide stage of admiring fans. From Mississippi to Germany and from Los Angeles to Moscow, his fan base still ranges in the millions and millions still to this day.

My Knowledge Of Elvis

I was born in Memphis in 1962 and lived in that city until I was 14 years-old before I moved further on down South in 1976. I had just moved to DeSoto County, Miss., the fall before the Summer of 1977 when Elvis died at his home. I remember the day of his death on Aug. 17, 1977. Donald Dillingham, a friend of mine from Eudora, Miss., where I lived on a private fishing lake in the rolling hills of North Mississippi on the bluff of the Delta near Eudora, and I had been to the drive-in theatre in South Memphis on U.S. 61 Highway the night before. My brother, Gary, had driven us up to the drive-in but I don't remember the movie we watched. Wait a minute...I think it was "Warriors" about street gangs fighting in New York City. That's right! And I remember too, that Classic Rock Star Joe Walsh's "In The City," was the theme song for the movie. Anyway, Donald and I, after drinking a couple of bottles of "Boone's Farm Apple Wine," (Lol) decided that we were going to walk home after the movie because Gary did not want to take us to Southhaven, Miss., to see these particular fine pretty ladies. Of course, we were only about 30 miles or so from our homes in Eudora. But little did we know that walking the streets of South Memphis at midnight would be a frightening event. Finally, we arrived in Southhaven but the girls were asleep and we decided not to disturb them. It was getting really late so we decided to go to a nearby gravel pit to sleep. (Lol) When morning finally arrived, we hitchhiked to Hernando to spend the afternoon with some friends. We talked one of our friends from Eudora on the phone to come to Hernando to come pick us up. I guess it was about 3 p.m. in the afternoon and I heard on the radio of this friend's station wagon that Elvis had just died at Baptist Hospital in Memphis. I said, "Hey, did you all hear that? Elvis died!" Then everyone in the vehicle said, "No way, that can't be true!" And I said, "Yes, it is, I just heard it, for real!" Needless to say, The King of Rock & Roll" was really dead.

The "Southcentral Kentuckian, 2005"

My first recollection of Elvis was the time I was invited to see "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," the Walt Disney movie starring Dick Vandyke that was showing at the Southland Mall not far from Elvis' house. I guess it was about 1968 and I was about six years-old.  When we drove by Elvis' house, the mother driving the car, "There's Elvis Presley's house and he's in Hollywood filming movies right now." I wasn't quite sure who Elvis Presley was at the time but I did have an idea that he was kind of famous in my young mind at the time. The main thing I remember about this particular moment was the gate to his house. I remember seeing musical notes and an image of man singing into a microphone. Then as the years rolled on by into the 70's, I would see Elvis on television, in movies, concert footage and the memorable "Live From Hawaii Via Satellite Concert." I think I was memorized watching all the women going crazy over him while they were receiving a kiss and scarf to remember him by. 

Then in the Summer of 1974, I met a new friend at an old church in Memphis where AA and Al-Alon meetings were being held. My mother would attend these meetings on Saturday and Wednesday nights and us kids of the parents who were there would have to hang around in the basement or outside to pass the time. But this one particular boy who was about my age, 12 years-old, named "Tommy" had become friends with Elvis and had met him at the Karate studio on Union Avenue. Tommy was taking Karate lesson and Elvis and his entourage would come there and do karate demonstrations and etc. Elvis befriended Tommy and even took to his house for dinner and gave him an autograph record on the album that was recorded in "The Jungle Room." that same year.  Yes, I was impressed but it was hard for me to believe it too. But I guess it was true.

In the Spring of 1977, I developed a bad sore throat and it would not get any better even though my dad had taken me to the local doctor in Hernando. Finally, he decided to take me to his doctor, and Elvis' doctor also, "Dr. Geroge Nichopoulous who lived and had a practice in Memphis. My dad said that "Dr. Nick" (affectionately known by Elvis and everyone else in Memphis) was famous for prescribing drugs without having to do surgery. Boy, how true it was! Yes, Dr. Nick was famous or infamous, I should say for prescribing drugs alright.  But little did we know at the time that Elvis was in a predicament with his drug addiction. However, I enjoyed meeting Dr. Nick and I remember he was wearing lots of gold and diamonds that Elvis had probably given him including the gold chain with the "TCB" pendant.

Before and after Elvis' death, I had hung out around Horn Lake, Miss., quite a bit because I had a friend on the private fishing lake who went to school in Horn Lake. There was this place called the "Gun Club" and apparently Elvis had built for him and Pricilla and his entourage to go ride horses and act crazy while having tons of fun. Supposedly, head several mobie homes moved down there so everyone had their own mobile homes at the gun club property near Walls, Miss., on Goodman Road. After Elvis' death, a group of investors quickly rented the property and started busing people from Graceland to the Gun Club to see the little house on the farm where Pricilla and Elvis spent their honeymoon. I remember they had an old school bus taking tourists back and fourth from Graceland and the bus did not have any air conditioning. You know those tourists had to be really hot!

My Feelings About Elvis

Me and my former neighbor, Lee Swetmon 

After seeing and being inside Elvis' house for the first time after living in Memphis and American South for 43 years, I realized that I have had a spiritual connection to Elvis just like he connects with all of his other fans and admirers. I had felt this same feeling once before when I was allowed to walk up to Elvis's grave in March of 1981 not long before it was turned into a museum and tourist attraction. Although, across the street which used to be a little strip shopping center, is now a part of the whole Graceland experience with Elvis gift shops, Elvis Hotel, Elvis Restaurant and etc. Also, his personal jet, the "Lisa Maria" is there along with some of his cars. I had my picture made in front of make believe gates and house in the distance. Then we were shuttled into a small bus and taken across the street while wearing head phone listening to Elvis' voice and some of his songs. I really felt enchanted and amazed. I couldn't believe it! Then we arrived on the front steps of his house and we were directed inside. The first thing I noticed was the blast of air that blew into my face and it had a sweet smell to it. I could feel "The Spirit of Elvis." Yes, he was here and alive. His spirit was in this house. Elvis had a very strong energy force that can still be felt today. As I walked through the living room and dining room and into into the kitchen. I was pretty much taking everything in like a sponge while trying to comprehend and absorb it all. Then we went downstairs into the "Television Room" that practically all yellow and then into the multi-color "Pool Table Room," then back upstairs to the "Jungle Room" and then out back to the "The Office," then "Gold Record Hall of Fame" and then out back to "Racquetball Building" that shows his crowing glory of world-wide and international fame at the pinnacle of his incredible singing career. However, my favorite spot was the "Meditation Garden" by the swimming pool. I was silent and inspired. The Spirit of Elvis had touched my life again. I felt as if I knew him and he knew me.

                                               

Wild Bucks, Honky Tonks And Other Crazy Stories From The American South: Case Knives, The Sawmill and The Supervisior

Case Knives, The Sawmill and The Supervisor

This Is An On-Going Short Story Fiction Series

By Wild Bucks

     Sawmill supervisor Raymond Richards sat at his kitchen table in his brand, spanking new doublewide trailer in the south part of Muhlenberg County, Ky., after a long day at work. He was extremely proud of his new trailer as the all stainless steel kitchen appliances sparkled in the background behind him where he was sitting.

     A young insurance agent name Bill Lester who was fresh out of college from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky., and was a very naive and gullible but a friendly fellow who was trying to make his way in the world by selling life insurance and cancer policies as his first job right out of college in 1988.  As Bill sat next to Raymond, Raymond held up his left hand and said to the young sales agent,  "You see this middle finger?

"Yes Sir, I do" Bill answered.

 "I lost half of it in a saw at the sawmill in Greenville," Raymond said.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Sir," Bill said.

 "You don't have to call me Sir," Raymond said.

    Then Raymond pulled out a big clear plastic bag of marijuana out of a desk drawer next to the table and picked out of a large bud of weed with green and purple looking looking hairs sticking out of it.  It smelled heavily of Christmas tree pine needles.  Then Raymond pulled out some rolling papers from his front shirt pocket and began to roll a joint.

"Man, this stuff is sticky.  They call it skunk weed," he said as he began breaking off the bud into tiny pieces onto the paper laying flat on the table.  Then he began to roll it up.  As he stuck the joint in his mouth, he pulled out a Bic lighter, lit the joint and took at big hit with his mouth and lungs.

    All of sudden, a humongous cloud of smoke came billowing out of Raymond's mouth and he began choking and coughing. He face was turning red and he said to Bill, "You want some?"

"Nah, I'm good, Sir" Bill said.

"Come on, it's really good. It's kickass. And don't call me "Sir", remember?" Raymond said.

"No, that's okay. I'm good. Really. And sorry about calling you Sir," Bill said with a little and uneasiness and assertiveness in his voice at the same time.

   Bill had a young wife and baby in a small but fairly decent apartment back in Bowling Green which was about sixty miles southeast of the small-town of Greenville.  Greenville is the county seat for the good folks of Muhlenberg County.  Muhlenberg County was known as the king of coal producers of Western Kentucky back in its day or at one time, one of the largest coal producing Kentucky counties west of the Mississippi River.  And supposedly, there were more millionaires in this county at one time than anywhere else in the United States during the 60's, 70's and 80's.  Also, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Fossil coal burning plant is in Paradise, Ky., in the southeastern part of the county on Ky. 431 highway between Central City to Russellville where one of the largest electric steam shovel in the country was owned and used by Peabody Coal Company. 

    As Raymond continued to smoke the joint of marijuana, he eyes started turning glassy and red.  He reached over to stereo cassette deck player and put on some Pink Floyd's "The Wall" using a big set of  Hi-Fi speakers on the kitchen counter.  Young Bill was quite sure to make of all of this.  He was starting to get a little worried.  He didn't know where Raymond was going with this. Bill had seen some of his fraternity brothers back at college smoke weed at the fraternity house but he never really paid much attention to it because it was not his thing and was really never around it much.

   Then Raymond got up from the table and said, "Here, let me show you something. Follow me." He took Bill to a back hallway where he opened the door to a back bedroom where he had a big black pit bull dog chained to the floor.  The dog was growling and barking while showing his big white teeth.  He was guarding several big pound bags of weed on the bed and there stacks and stacks of Case knife sets everywhere in the room.  Case knives are known to be the Cadillac of pocket knives in the knife world.  But Raymond literally had hundreds and hundreds of Case knives in boxes everywhere in the room.  On the bed, under the bed, on top of the dresser, in the closet, in the bottom of the closet and top of the shelf in the closet.  He had some of the most expensive Case knives sets you'd ever buy.  Even some with diamonds in the bone colored handles. American and Patriotic knife sets, Christmas and Holiday knife sets, Halloween and Thanksgiving knife sets, John Deere knife sets, fishing and hunting life sets and even sawmill knife sets.

     When they got back to the kitchen, Raymond offered Bill a bourbon and coffee.  Bill declined the bourbon but took a cup of coffee with cream and sugar in it. After they started drinking their cups of coffee at the table together, Raymond looked Bill in the eye and said, "I am going to be honest with you.  Even though, I am a supervisor at the sawmill, I am also a drug dealers.  And with my profits, I invest in Case knives as a coverup.  Everybody thinks I'm part-time flea market dealer on the side"

   "I'll tell you what I will do for you.  I'll buy some life insurance from you and one of your cancer policies. But you have to buy a Case knife from me and I'll even give you a discount.  And also, if you tell anyone what I just told you what I really do for a living, I'll have you cut up into pieces at the saw mill!" Raymond told Bill in a dead serious tone of voice.

     So Bill agreed and hurriedly pulled out the paper work and applications to be filled it out. Then he had Raymond to sign them.  Bill picked out a Case knife which acted like he liked. It was a "Texas Jack Toothpick" with a red bone handle and then paid Raymond for it by pulling out some cash out of his wallet after he received a 10% discount.   Then they both stood up from the kitchen table, shook hands and Bill was out the door.  Later on he delivered the polices but decided not to go back inside. Bill just stayed on the front porch.

     32 years later, the Case knife that Bill bought from Raymond still sets in a little stand on his desk in the office at his home.  Bill no longer sells life insurance but works at Ace Hardware as a manger in Bowling Green where they sell Case knives. As for Raymond, Bill read in the Bowling Green Daily News several years ago, that he was murdered at a saw mill in Greenville and cut up into pieces.  Obviously, Police suspect foul play.  But no arrests have been made in the case to this date.

“This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.”

     

"Bohemian Rhapsody" Rekindles A Fire In The Hearts And Souls Of Queen Fans In Theaters Across America

    I was never a major, big, superfan of the rock band, "Queen," while growing up down in the American South in the 70's and 80's.

   But, I liked Queen and I liked a lot of their songs that were played on the rock radio stations back in those days.  I think everybody from the American rock scene, concert goers, party scene people, rock fans, radio listeners and album buyers liked Queen back then. And I think just about everybody knew who Freddie Mercury was too.  He was the lead singer from Queen who had the funny looking teeth but had a voice that could beat any opera singer's range of sounds, tones or harmonies.  And the band was kick ass too with Brian May on lead guitar, Roger Taylor on drums and John Deacon of bass.

 


     The first time I ever heard of Queen was when I was about 13 years-old in 1975 while living in East Memphis.  I was spending the night at friend's house and we watched the official "Bohemian Rhapsody" video on The Midnight Special television show which showcased popular rock musical acts on late Saturday nights in the 1970's during its heyday.   We were blown away by the video and the band.  We were like, "Wow, who are these guys?  They are so unique and different!"  And of course, we continued to hear hit after hit on the rock radio stations during those years of our youth on up through the late 80's.  Someone also bought me their "News Of The World" rock album for my 16th Birthday in 1978 and I absolutely loved it!  I listened to it over and over. I loved the artwork on the album cover and some of the big hit songs like, "We Are The Champions" and "We Will Rock You." Then MTV, the mega, super music video cable channel appeared in our homes across America and the world in the early 80's and the rest is rock history.   

   When Queen played Live in 1985, the band became a rock legend with their music and albums, concert performances and music videos.  Also, I remember one time in 1978, when Queen came to Memphis to play the Mid-South coliseum, the show sold out immediately.  They had a solid base of fans in Memphis.  One of my friends who lived in North Mississippi, who was originally from Memphis like me, had a brother who was a gigantic Queen fan. He bought front row tickets and presented the band during the concert a bouquet of roses and a plaque honoring their visit to Memphis.  I was also friends with the guy who drove the limousine that took them from the Hyatt Regency Hotel in East Memphis to the Mid-South Coliseum before and after the show.  My friend said that the band was really nice and cordial too. That was about my total knowledge of Queen at the time.

      Later on, I think most people in the world had heard rumors that Mercury was gay and had aids. And of course, a lot of people put two and two together and probably assumed he died from the consequences of his lifestyle.  I really didn't think much about it or could care less.  I figured that was his business and I still enjoyed his music and the fact that he was great performer.  That's what I remembered Mercury for.  And for a lot of Americans, I think life just went on and we didn't think a whole lot about it anymore.  We put it in the back of our minds and we just lived life, working and paying the bills.  However, we still loved Queen and their music regardless.

     Then we start seeing this movie trailer for the new Queen biopic called "Bohemian Rhapsody" on social media and especially on Facebook during the last several months.  I know I posted the trailer several times on my Facebook.  I was excited to go see the movie and my wife and I watched it at The Great Escape 12 theater in here Bowling Green, Ky.  We loved it! I thought it was a wonderful movie and I think the producers and director did a great job with it.  The actors were wonderful too!  And the music was incredible!

    The movie starts out in 1970 when Queen was basically a college band in a London club.  Their lead singer and guitar player quits after the gig. Mercury had already been a fan of the band.  Later on he approaches Brian May and Roger Taylor and makes a proposal to join the band.  Eventually he joins and so does John Deacon on bass.  The movie shows a lot behind the scenes about the band that their fans will find interesting like how they created certain hits songs in the studio like "Bohemian Rhapsody," "We Will Rock You," and "Another Bites The Dust" Also, the movie revolves around Mercury's relationship with his girlfriend, Mary.  He had proposed to her but later on they drift apart when Mercury admits to her that he is bi-sexual. But they still remain close. We also find out that Mercury loves cats too which is adorable!

     The movie depicts times of turmoil in the life of the band but ends on a note of triumph with the scene where band plays Live Aid and it leaves you with a feeling exhilaration.  What I liked best about the movie that it has a strong element of forgiveness.  The band forgives Mercury after he had left the band to record two solo albums for four million dollars without telling them first. And also, there had always been tension between Mercury and his father because his father thought that Mercury had not turned out like he should have.  But you see a strong level of forgiveness when Mercury and his lover stop by his parents apartment in London and his father hugs him before he heads off to play the Live Aid concert. After I got home after watching the movie, I loaded up my Amazon Prime app on my iPhone with Queen hits songs, put my ear plugs in and went out into the backyard to listen to their music while I played with my dog.  The movie rekindled a fire in my heart and soul and it had even inspired me to create a playlist for Queen's hit songs. I will start listening to them on a regular basis again especially while driving down the road in my work truck.

  

    If you're are a big Queen fan still to this day, you should definitely go see this movie.  If you were somewhat of Queen fan like me, you should still should go see this movie like I did.  And you were never a Queen fan and if you decide to go see the movie, you will become a Queen fan after seeing this movie!

The Mid-South Coliseum In Memphis, Tenn., Has Its Place In Rock & Roll History And It Should Be Saved

   

The 1970's in the American South was in tatters after the civil rights movement with unrest that had blazed the streets of Memphis, Tenn., and other cities across the South in the late 1960's.  With the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., at the Loraine Hotel in downtown Memphis in April of 1968, the city was struggling to get back on its feet after the riots that rocked the streets that stood next to the "Mighty Mississippi River."

     Also, the Vietnam War was still riveting the landscape with America's young soldiers being slaughtered on foreign soil and then later sent home in body bags and makeshift coffins tearing families apart as well as the drug culture seeping into mainstream of the country's veins.

     And with the "Summer of Love" in 1967 during the "Golden Age of Rock & Roll" which had come and gone in San Francisco and the massive rock concert in Woodstock, N.Y., that made history in 1969, Memphis was slowing but surely finding its way to become a world-famous city for "Arena Rock" even before the death of Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock & Roll" in 1977.  However, there was a light of hope in the form of entertainment for Memphis that shined a beacon of  light during turmoil years of the late 1960's and during the reconstruction years of the 1970's.  And that light was the "The Mid-South Coliseum" and tens of thousands of people from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas flocked to shows, rock concerts, sporting events and graduations at this historic, iconic arena.

     Also, the Mid-South Coliseum is a place where the ghosts of the Mississippi delta blues men would meet on any given night that there was a rock concert taking place.  The roots of rock and roll all began about 60 miles south of Memphis on that famous Highway 61 in North Mississippi just outside the little shanty town of Clarksdale, Miss., where former sharecropper Robert Johnson made a pact with the devil in order for him to become a famous blues man and guitarist and singer from the Mississippi delta.  Unfortunately, Robert Johnson died at the young age of 27 years-old.  From Elvis to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin to Kiss and Van Halen to ZZ Top including hundreds of more rock bands who have performed at The Mid-South Coliseum, this former rock and roll venue has earned it's place in history and it should be saved from the wrecking ball.

                           Some Historical Facts About The Mid-South Coliseum

*The Mid-South Coliseum was also known as the "The Entertainment Capital Of The Mid-South" which is located at 996 Early Maxwell Blvd., at the former Mid-South Fairgrounds and the Liberty Bowl Stadium with a seating capacity of 11,555.  At one time, it was fully air-conditioned with a paved parking lot for 3,000 vehicles.

* The building was built as a sports and concert venue in 1963 and now listed with the United States National Register of Historic Places.

*The Mid-South Coliseum was home to the University of Memphis Tigers basketball team before they booked for the Pyramid which opened in 1991.

*The Mid-South Coliseum was one of the few stops on the Beatles' final American tour. The Aug. 19, 1966 concert is infamously known as "The firecracker Concert" in which a concertgoer set off a firecracker or "cherry bomb" while the Beatles were performing on stage.  The Beatles had flown into the city for two shows and Memphis was their eight stop along their North American tour.  John Lennon's misquoted remarks earlier in the year about the current state of Christianity had caused some problems especially in the Southern states.  There were protests, record burnings organized by Christian radio stations and even death threats including a televised death threat against the Beatles from a local Memphis Klu Klux Klansman.  While there were no problems with the afternoon concert, nerves were shattered when some someone threw the firecracker or cherry bomb on stage during the evening concert.  Apparently,  concertgoers thought the noise sounded like a gunshot during their performance.  Everyone who heard it was shocked.

*The Mid-South Coliseum was also a popular venue for professional wrestling and the home base for the United States Wrestling Association and Jerry "The King" Lawler headlining numerous sold-out shows at this historic facility.

                    Help Save The Mid-South Coliseum From The Wrecking Ball

    Currently, there are plans for the City of Memphis and Shelby County to raze the historic, iconic The-Mid Coliseum in order to build to some new developments.  In order to keep up on the latest news of what's happening with the MSC, please "Like" the "Save The Mid-South Coliseum" Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/savemidsoucol/