'The Elvis Files Magazine'

The eight Elvis Files volumes were a very ambitious project by Erik Lorentzen to carefully document almost every single day of Elvis' life from 1954 to 1977, covering everything from what he wore on stage, to who he met, rare interviews, candid photos and newly discovered images. Not only has Erik Lorentzen completed his beautiful Elvis Files books but the associated quarterly magazine is also available. Finding new Elvis images every week, Lorentzen's collection of Elvis articles and exclusive photos is so extensive that he has more than could fit into his books.   EIN checks out the December 2016 - Issue #18 with Preview pages below ...

The annual subscription cost including postage is €58 Go here to the Elvis Files for more purchase info

The annual subscription cost including postage is €58 Go here to the Elvis Files for more purchase info

Below EIN reviews a previous issue #11 of The Elvis Files Magazine.

You probably don’t want to hear this – but if EIN’s Sanja Meegin can go to Polynesia (look here) then so can I - and where better to check out the last issue of the Elvis Files magazine than while lazing under a palm tree?

From the front cover close-up of Elvis at the 1968 NBC TV Special to the back cover of Elvis in 1956, you can tell that this magazine will deliver what fans want in quality photos and interesting articles. Check out the photo above! (and that's in low-res!)

The majority of Elvis acquaintances have, of course, passed on by now or previously told their stories multiple times over, so perhaps this is why the Elvis Files magazine is doing so well since it focuses instead on great quality Elvis photos and fascinating articles from-the-time.

There is no doubt that one of the main reasons for subscribing to this magazine series is the quality of the full-page photos - and what a sensational shot graces the front cover of this issue. You can see ever pore of Elvis' skin as well as his close shaved stubble. Has this photo be printed in such quality before?

The magazine, as always, features a variety of articles from all eras but the subject of the lead story this time is one that fascinates most Elvis fans - one Andreas van Kuijk - "Col Parker"!

While Alanna Nash's 2003 book 'The Colonel' covered the mysterious "murder in Breda" theory here we get an original Swedish article on the same subject "Col Tom Parker - A Ruthless, Gambling Crazy Murderer" by Borje Lundberg (translated / edited by Gordon Minto).

And it is a great article once again shining a not too glamourous light on the wily old carny manager. What was the old codger doing as an illegal alien managing the world’s biggest superstar? Parker could of course asked for a US passport from his cronies – so why was he so scared to do so?
And why was Gladys so wary – when Vernon showed his true colours going for the potential fast buck?

Interestingly Borje Lundberg did meet The Col and so has some interesting insights into the story. The story includes ..

.. Parker wooed them and promised them the moon. Vernon Presley, Elvis' dad, saw dollar signs and said yes immediately. However, Gladys, Elvis' mother - the determined member of the family - was suspicious. She had an uneasy feeling in her stomach, telling her that Colonel Parker was bad news. If only she could have known how right she was. For the man who spoke so compellingly was neither a colonel, nor was he called Tom Parker, but was instead Andreas "Dries" van Kuijk, an illegal immigrant from Breda in the Netherlands.

Not only that though, his escape to the United States seemed to coincide exactly with the murder of a young woman back in Holland. To this day, her murder remains unsolved.
The woman's name was Anna van den Enden, 23, and she was married to a greengrocer. On the morning of May 17, 1929, she was beaten to death in his home behind the store on Boschstraat. The murder weapon was never found. The killer had sprinkled white pepper around her body so the police dogs could not get on the trail of the killer. On the same day, Dries disappeared from Breda for good.
Although Dries was not included in the official police investigation, he knew the woman and the store well. At the time, the police questioned witnesses who saw a man come out from there. Their descriptions matched Dries…. "

 

An 8-page article by George Klein – ‘Evening With Elvis' – looking back at 1957- follows and features some great radio-studio candids..

The end of the article is a treat as George Klein wishes Elvis "a great future" ( ! ) and the story captures some delightful easy going moments from that great year,,

…. We then all walked over and inspected Elvis' swimming pool. Elvis took us back into the house then, into his den. He has just installed a new organ in there. He likes organ music very much. Elvis sat down at the organ and played while everybody else sat around. We started playing a little quiz game of guess the melody. Elvis would play a song on the organ and taking turns (I acted as emcee) I would quiz someone as to the name of it. If they answered correctly, they supposedly won twenty-five dollars. We had a lot of fun doing this.
.. Elvis likes gospel singing a lot. The other night, I ran into him down at a gospel sing at the auditorium here in Memphis. The Blackwood Brothers were sponsoring the sing and Elvis was glued to the side of the stage watching every performance. He said that he would like to have sung a couple of numbers with them, but his contract wouldn't permit it.
Of course, about girls, everybody's fascinated about who it might be that Elvis likes best. June Juanico, the girl from Biloxi, is a good friend. She's spent a lot of time with Elvis. And there's another girl named Dotty Harmony, who's a dancer Elvis met. She works at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas and Elvis met her when he was on the West Coast, and liked her. He asked his mother to invite her to Memphis during the holidays at the end of last year, and she spent a few days here. And there's Barbara Hearn, his girl in Memphis. …

 

Later in the magazine Elvis’ Flaming Star movie co-star Barbara Eden talks about Elvis and yet again she sadly confirms the carny ways of Elvis’ manager ..

.. That's what impressed me about Elvis. He cared so much about doing a good job, and knowing his craft. He was lovely man to work with. Good manners. He followed direction, he listened, and he was no problem. There wasn't a huge ego. He wanted to please.
But he did bend. He wanted to just act in this film, and not sing, but they decided they needed music and had him playing guitar while I hopped around the table at one point. He enjoyed doing that film, playing a half-breed Indian. The director, Don Siegel, said it was his finest performance ever. It ran opposite to anything he had done or would do in the future. And he was so good at it, and he got good reviews, but I don't think the picture made a lot of money. And that's too bad, because Colonel Parker was out for the fast buck. I remember the Colonel had a little desk set up, and he was selling Elvis' records and memorabilia just inside the soundstage. I watched and I did a double take. I couldn't believe it. Elvis said, 'People talk about the Colonel a lot, but he's been good to me. I was a nobody before I met him. I was playing little joints, and he made me what I am, and I appreciate it, and I'll always listen to him'. "

In another interview ‘Live A Little, Love A Little' co-star Celeste Yarnell - "Tells All" … … "Elvis immediately put us at ease by coming around to say hello, and that he was glad to meet us and looked forward to working with us." Opening her eyes as wide as possible, Celeste beamed, "Glad to meet us, can you picture that? Inside I almost fainted, but was able to gulp out a 'thank you' to his nice gesture." What does Elvis do when there's a break for an hour or so? "Mostly he goes to his trailer. Sometimes he likes to play small, practical jokes on his friends, but never anything mean," she said. "For instance, he'll light little pop firecrackers under the dressing room trailers. They make a lot of noise and it scares the heck out of whoever is inside. Usually they dash out thinking the world has come to an end!

Perhaps the best find in this issue is the 12-page article on Elvis in Germany and his time with German actress Vera Tchechowa - "The Day Elvis Was Mocked and Threatened By His Buddies" by Beverly Ott. It is an interesting read….

… It was at the club that Elvis and his entourage met Joe, an American businessman living in Munich with his wife and two little boys. Ordinarily, first meetings can be a bit formal, but as Vera put it, "When Americans meet in Europe, it's like old home week. They can be total strangers and in half a second they're slapping each other on the back and calling one another by first names!" There wasn't any backslapping but at the end of five minutes a stranger would have concluded they'd all been friends for a lifetime. "Elvis, why don't you stay at my house while you're here? My wife's in the hospital and the kids and I've been pretty lonely. We'd enjoy having company." Which was how they happened to go home with Joe. They arrived a little before midnight. "Let me wake the boys," their host suggested. "I want to catch their impressions on their faces when they see you." He went into the bedroom and said, "Come and meet Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley's in the living room." "Oh, sure!" the boys answered. "I'm not joking." Four eyes opened, two sceptical heads were raised. How about parents! Always telling guys to go to bed, then trying to get them up in the middle of the night with some crazy story. Sometimes you couldn't figure grownups. Finally they decided to humor their not-so-old man and climbed out of bed to meet the guest. At the sight of him, the sleep fell from their eyes in a hurry. Elvis Presley!!!" Out came Presley records, to be autographed. Down sat the boys, for a long talk. When their father decided it was time for them to get back to bed, they went reluctantly. Elvis stayed close to the house his first day in Munich. And the fact that he was in town remained a secret all day.

Another section of the magazine focuses on a controversial show by Elvis in Burlington, 1956.....

He had recorded "Heartbreak Hotel" a few weeks before for RCA but didn't perform it until later on the tour. At some point during the concert, Elvis asked fora child to come up on stage and dance with him. The parents of 6-year-old Freddy Owens pushed him out into the aisle, and he went up on stage with Elvis. Freddy attended Williams High School a decade later and became a musician in his own right, performing with Bill Deal & the Rhondels from 1971 until his untimely and tragic death in 1979. Contrary to popular belief, Elvis was not booed off stage at Williams, nor was the audience small, although several people who were there that night said they had come to the concert solely to see the other performers and left when Elvis began singing. The type of music that Elvis played was simply not popular in Burlington at the time, and that is probably the reason that The Daily Times-News didn't even report on the concert. In fact, every mention of Elvis in The Daily Times-News in 1956 was decidedly uncomplimentary. For example, he was referred to as a "mush-mouthed singer" in an article in the Oct. 18, 1956, edition, and on June 6, 1956, the paper reported that Elvis "shakes and wiggles and jumps and bumps; it's like watching a strip-tease and a malted milk machine at the same time."

This contrasts fabulously against Elvis super-fan Elaine Christan who continues her exclusive look at various concerts and meetings with Elvis in the seventies. This time seeing him in Vegas in 1972. The article includes some nice stories and is combined with some great candid photos.

.... "For the midnight show, it was just "us girls" and I went up to the balcony with the Winstons. Jane Winston was Mom's age and it is her oldest daughter Madeline Winston that took some of the best 1972 Vegas photos of Elvis ever taken.
This time the waiter sat us front row and all the way to the right hand side. We were in the corner but they were great balcony seats. Elvis wore the suit that we called 'chicken tracks' at that time. It's white with gold trim and a asp - this would come to be called the Adonis suit. He gave a beautiful show. He was doing an unusual move during this engagement. Unusual for him because it was so "stylized" rather than seemingly spontaneous. Elvis would turn his toes together then outward and glide across the stage like that - toes in, toes out. I got two rolls of film with a camera borrowed from a friend of ours. While I was getting the third roll a security guard showed up and grabbed the camera right out of my hand. After the show we had to wait around to get the camera back, without the film, of course. We learned later that all the film and movies confiscated from the fans were not necessary destroyed, the staff gave them to their girlfriends!"

Other articles included in the magazine are....
- Hal Wallis – The Paramount Producer who Reigned Over Elvis’ Film Career
- 1976 – The Blue Egyptian Bird suit.
- 1957 – Elvis’ Army Pre-Induction.

Overall Verdict: As you can tell from all these short extracts above, this issue of the Elvis Files Magazine is packed with articles focussing on all kinds of different subjects. And in every article you find something new and of interest from which you can learn even more about our hero. Plus of course the usual set of quality photos and candids - loads of which you will have not seen before. No wonder this magazine is becoming more & more popular.

NOTE - Erik Lorentzen now offers the chance to buy individual copies of the magazine (if not already sold out) for €15,00.

Annual subscriptions are still €58 - Click here to ORDER 'Elvis Files Magazine' and for information at The Elvis Files website> www.elvisfiles.no

The Eight-Volume series and publishing dates:
The Elvis Files Vol. 1,1953-1956, (April 2013)
The Elvis Files Vol. 2,1957-1959, (November 2010)
The Elvis Files Vol. 3,1960-1964, (April 2010)
The Elvis Files Vol. 4,1965-1968, (December 2011)
The Elvis Files Vol. 5,1969-1970, (August 2012)
The Elvis Files Vol. 6,1971-1973, (October 2013)
The Elvis Files Vol. 7,1974-1975, (December 2015)
The Elvis Files Vol. 8,1976-1977, (August 2016)

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'Elvis Files Magazine ISSUE 9' Mini-Review: Overlooked due to the 'Ultimate Elvis' release, the final Elvis Files Magazine of 2014, Issue 9, really delivered the goods. The magazine included articles on... - 1957 “What Elvis thinks of his fans” - Judy Spreckels and Elvis - Rolling Stone interview with Chet Atkins.. - Interview with songwriter Paul Evans - Super-fan Elaine Christan continues her exclusive look at various meetings with Elvis, this time September and late 1970. But the most interesting article "I've Never Been Strung Out In My Life" is a fascinating article about Elvis' “Desert Storm” closing show in September 1974 and how it reveals a completely different show from what we know.. The comments include "Elvis' lively happy mood was completely contagious. Everyone caught up in his high happy spirit began to clap time and laugh and beat time and just have one wonderful good time, because Elvis was having the best time of all time." - It is a amazing alternate viewpoint Plus plenty more Rare Candids not featured in previous Elvis Files books. Go HERE as EIN checks out this sensational issue (Book Reviews, Source;ElvisInfoNetwork)

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'Ultimate Elvis' in Soft Cover: Elvis Files has announced that as the deluxe 1,720 page 'Ultimate Elvis' Hardback Box-Set is sold out from the dealers, they are now offering a special SOFT COVER set at a special lower price. The  original release have already been reviewed as.... "I can honestly say that I have never got so much pleasure from a post Elvis product as I did from these magnificent books which were obviously a labour of love from those who compiled it." "This is the most thorough analysis of Elvis’ recorded output ever undertaken, with the finished product being exceptional"

"I don't see how this publication can be topped by anyone. It is what I consider truly groundbreaking and THE definitive work concerning Elvis' recording career." GO HERE for full reviews So now is the chance for anyone who missed out to get the three huge books in exactly the same high-quality print but as a Soft-Cover version and now at the special price €197 = US$208 =  £141 including shipping worldwide. Get in early for your copy and send an email for info to sales@elvisfiles.no (News, Source;ElvisFiles/ElvisInfoNet)

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Big News from 'The Elvis Files': Elvis Files publisher Erik Lorentzen and his team have some big news and big surprises up their sleeves for 2015 - 2016. Firstly the news that the final volume of "The Elvis Files" series of books has had to be split into two, due to the fact that Elvis was so busy touring during his last years. There are so many stunning photos available - so it was just not possible to do justice to Presley's final four years in just one volume. The first book 'The Elvis Files Vol. 7 1974-1975' is planned for August 2015 publication. 'The Elvis Files Vol. 8 1976-1977' is planned for Spring 2016. Also another new book underway, "Greater Than Ever - A Touch Of Gold Lame" an in-depth look at Elvis tours of 1957. And also not forgetting the quarterly 'Elvis Files Magazine'.   For a better quality look at all these releases - please go HERE to our Elvis Files 2015 information page.   (News, Source;EL/ElvisInfoNet)

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The Elvis Files Magazine - ISSUE 1 : Not only is Erik Lorentzen releasing his beautiful Elvis Files books but now an associated quarterly magazine is available - and issue #1 recently arrived in Australia. Lorentzen's collection of Elvis articles and exclusive photos is so extensive that he has more than he can ever fit into his books. EIN recently asked Erik Lorentzen a few questions to clarify a few points for magazine subscribers and to find out more. We also feature a review of the magazine and some delicious example photographs. Click here to find out about this great magazine. (BookReviews, Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)