Diane: I don’t know what to say. Marc totally surprised me. I wasn’t expecting this at all!

Marc: Well here he is. He was nice enough to come to speak with us for our blog.

Diane: Hello Mr Presley!

Elvis: Elvis will be fine.

Diane: Okay well Elvis…that sounds so funny. How do you do? It truly is an honor to meet you. (I could barely get the words out).

Elvis: The pleasure is all mine ma’am. Marc has told me about you and the work you are doing, so I was glad to be able to come and help.

Diane: Well Marc….did you want to ask Elvis questions or shall I?

Marc: I’ll start. Elvis….what was it like growing up in the South? Being British, I was fascinated by the States as most of my musical heroes came from there, but didn’t hear much about it from where I was (the day to day lives of people).

Elvis: Well Marc, it wasn’t easy growing up when and where I did. There were a lot of poor folks – people struggling. Many probably wouldn’t have survived without their strong beliefs. I wouldn’t have been able to go on without the support of my family – especially my Mother. Somehow we managed to carry on through adversity.

Marc: Who were some of your musical heroes?

Elvis: Well I loved gospel music as you know….that was always my first choice of music to do but that didn’t sell the records.

Marc: How did things change when you started recording in Memphis?

Elvis: Well it was exciting for me. I was waking up as a serious musician and making some wages that I could take home. I met a lot of people in the early 50’s that shaped me. I had many different influences.

Marc: Did you regret never leaving the States and doing tours? I loved coming to the States although traveling on tour wasn’t always the best. It was very tiring sleeping in buses all the time. The concerts and performing made up for it most of the time for me.

Elvis: Well I was in Germany during the War so I did get out of the U.S. for awhile but all the time, I just wanted to be back home. Yeah given the chance, I probably would have done concerts all over the world, but with the Colonel’s situation, that wasn’t going to happen. I kept pretty busy nonetheless.

Marc: Did you have any hobbies as Elvis?

Elvis: I didn’t really have much time for that kind of thing. I did like to read and once I started karate, that took up a lot of time.

Marc: What are you doing now? Still playing music?

Elvis: A bit. I’m doing more classical music and still singing gospel. Faith has always played an important role in many of my lives. I have been priests several times – in fact, in rather high positions in the Catholic Church. 

Diane: Elvis, can I ask….what motivated you the most in that life?

Elvis: To reach as many people as possible. It didn’t matter to me if I sang in front of ten people or ten thousand. The feeling of being together (with his fellow performers and the audience) – raising your vibration with the joy of the music. Music can elevate you to such high vibrations – take yourself out of yourself – heal wounds. It is truly a glorious thing.

Marc: Where did you get your inspiration outside of your faith and family?

Elvis: Myself. I knew I was here for a higher purpose than just me. I was here to change things.

Diane: What was your main purpose as Elvis?

Elvis: To inspire. To show that you could be born in a poor town in Mississippi and raise yourself up to be this superstar. That nothing was impossible if you had the faith in yourself to do it.

Marc: And the talent…

Elvis: That helps for being an entertainer for sure. But so many people did the same thing at the time – Martin Luther King Jr. You can choose to do that kind of life through many different avenues.

Marc: Is there one thing you feel you missed out of in that life?

Elvis: Seeing my daughter grow up. Of course, I’ve seen everything that she has done and her family from here, but I would have liked to have done that in the physical.

Diane: What do you think of Marc’s artwork? (Marc has been doing Impressionistic paintings and everyone has been teasing him about them).

Elvis: Well ma’am…I’m not an art critic but….I ….well I just don’t know what to say about that.

Diane: Is there a common theme in your lives Elvis?

Elvis: Well maybe not being poor in all of them but coming from a disadvantage and working my way up to inspire others has been. Of course Elvis was on a massive scale but not all of them have been like that. Maybe I’ll come down as a politician. You can make a big difference to just a small amount of people.

Marc: Well Elvis thank you very much for taking the time to come speak with us. It was nice to see you again.

Diane: Yes Elvis….thank you! It was an honor and a pleasure to meet you.

Elvis: You too ma’am. The pleasure was all mine. I enjoy doing these interviews and remembering my time as Elvis. Boy…what a life that was!

Marc told me later – “Yeah I’ve talked about some of these things with him before because he was such a hero of mine – such an inspiration. He still doesn’t mind talking with people and sharing his story. A humble spirit who was one of the biggest giants who ever came to earth, but he never plays that up.”

© Bolan-Beaty Boogie

October 31, 2016