Elvis Presley - Where No One Stands Alone

Lisa Marie has stepped back into the studio with her father for the forth time, helping to set forth a new collaboration, "Where No One Stands Alone," featuring vocal contributions from music legends such as, Darlene Love; Cissy Houston, Terry Blackwood, Armond Morales and Jim Murray of The Imperials; and Bill Baize, Ed Hill, Donnie Sumner and Larry Strickland of The Stamps Quartet. These great talents will join Elvis, enhancing the original track vocals, resulting in a very special treat to our ears--more Elvis gospel!

As a special extra Lisa will again take up the mic and join her father on a reimagined version of "Where No One Stands Alone." All of us here at Blue Suede Connection cannot be more excited for this release on Aug 10th, and we hope that the experience was an uplifting and healing one for Lisa, as she has had her share of trials over the last very years. Every little girl needs her Daddy and Elvis would have loved to have had her by his side; in the studio singing the music he loved.

"He seemed to be at his most passionate, and at peace while singing gospel. He would truly come alive--whether he was singing just for himself and me at home, or on stage in front of thousands of fans." - Lisa Marie Presley

Gospel music was Elvis' first passion, musically. He loved the old spirituals he grew up with as well as the up and coming contemporary Christian music, which we feel he would have fully supported had he lived long enough to see it as it is today; main stream and popular. In fact, some say, he helped that movement along with songs like "I've Got Confidence," on the He Touched Me album in 1972. Elvis was always blazing trails, even when he wasn't trying to.

Here at Blue Suede Connection we have joined up with Amazon's Associate program and have been granted the rights to add a link to this wonderful CD on our website, as well as other deserved Elvis items we ourselves have enjoyed and supported over the years. It's a win-win! Every purchase earns BSC a few extra dollars, as a kick back, to help with our operating costs and we get the chance to showcase such great work like "Where No One Stands Alone." Who would have thought our website could be a one stop Elvis shopping mall? (Yes, we're excited!)

So, mark your calendar, the CD's release date is set for Aug 10th! And yes, we will be showcasing this CD real soon on Blue Suede Connection! Stay tuned for the air date.


Mean while TCB/TLC Elvis style.


Patricia Garber








  

Growing up Elvis

For most of us, we can't remember a time without Elvis. I mean, I have a slight memory; me asking my mother to help me fill out a form to the "Six Million Dollar Man" fan club--a mere momentary loss of myself, that's all that was.

 (I really did like that show!)

From the age of eight onward, he was everywhere in my life; on my walls, in my car, in my ears, on my shirts, inside my friend circle, and outside of my faith and family, he was the next best influence of my life.

One of the life's highlights, undoubtedly lies in the throng of Elvis Movies all Elvis fans sat glued to all summer long! Think of it; you at the age 10 or 11, maybe older, and you take your cassette player, prop it up against the TV and record Girl Happy! Why? So you could listen to the music in bed later that night, silly! Yes. We all did this!

Every girl wanted to be as beautiful as Ann Margaret or Shelly Fabares, and every boy imagined themselves as tough as Danny Fisher (King Creole) or as brave as Walter Gullick (Kid Galahad).

Say that five times fast!  

Let's face it, there are good and even better Elvis movies, but there are no real bad Elvis movies. Every movie is chocked full of fun and memories.  And that's exactly why, from time to time, Dan and I (TL) love to do an All Movie Song show on Blue Suede Connection; rekindling those innocent and free times from our childhood.

The show is guaranteed to be full of songs you never hear on the radio like, "It's a Wonderful Life," "What Every Woman Lives For," and "Could I Fall In Love."  We have such a great time, come laugh and reminisce with us this Sunday, 2p to 4p, LIVE on 94.7 WRGG. Listen here but if you can't make it, catch the replay all week long on many of our fine affiliates.


Remember, we will forever have PARIS! Wait. Wrong movie! "Hail to the ole ivy league--Poison Ivy League." We promise to not have panty raids but do not promise there wont be other hijinks.

Don't miss it!

Patricia

"Soul Has No Color"

"Poverty was not created by God," Mother Teresa once said. "It is we who have created it, you and I through our egotism."

Poverty oppresses each soul, indiscriminately.

The Presley's little boy, Elvis, knew what it was like to have little; to find nourishment in the generosity of a neighbor and spiritual healing from church every Sunday. He grew up just outside of "Shake Rag," the neighborhood known as not only the "colored" side of town, but the poverty stricken side of town.

The Presley's, like all the other poor white folk in Tupelo, lived just over the rail road tracks, the line that split the white poor from the black poor--the undesirables from the elite. Though the town had segregated it self, two fold, the children in the down trodden neighborhoods were above it all. Smarter than the adults, they ignored the lines and crossed as they pleased.

Elvis was one of these children, often crossing into Shake Rag, listening to their music, sneaking into their lively churches, and playing with other little boys who's families were facing the same struggles The Presley's were, just over the tracks. Let's be honest, as children often do, the color of your skin just wasn't as important as the creek level on a hot Tupelo, Mississippi day! If the swimming was good in Shake Rag, than Shake Rag was where they were all going, playing and swimming together like no ones business.

There was gambling and bootlegging in Tupelo's Shake Rag neighborhood. But! There was music! The Tupelo of the 1930's was a stop for jazz and blues. Well known bands would play up town to all the white folks on the "other" side of the line, and at the end of the show, head to Shake Rag.

Music would blare from house parties and street corners. Elvis Presley soaked all this up. Not just the music but the love of people, an understanding that all people, no matter your color, were the same. If you were poor white, you went hungry just like the black children over the tracks. This experience stayed with him his whole life, building a respect for all people, in a time when color mattered to many.

In 1956, Rock N Roll, blurred racial lines. Little white girls screamed for Little Richard, and little black kids flooded to see Elvis Presley. And that's why the establishment hated it! It wasn't just that the music was loud and ruled by the young, it was because it brought "Shake Rag" to the whites on the hill!

Over the years, this movement, this pre-civil rights luster has lost it's story. The people that lived it are long gone and in it's place is a new generation, spinning a tail of hate and discrimination, sadly darkening that true generation that set off the freedom train long before JFK and MLK shared their dream.

"How did Elvis Get Turned Into A Racist?" Is an actual article that reports on a belief that Elvis hated black people, though his life proves another story, though so many black entertainers loved him, friended him and worked for him. Though so many of color in the town of Memphis alone have received his generosity, first hand, and have lived to tell about it. Did that New York Times writer visit these stories, I wonder? In today's world, people don't read someone's life story, as told by many, they scan paragraphs of fiction, whispered by few, and call it truth.


No man or woman, black or white, should be unjustly labeled. And today, a Sunday given to all, man or woman, black or white, Blue Suede Connection will do our part to set the story right.

It's Rhythm and Soul today and we'll be spinning the music that inspired a generation to be free. You'll hear Elvis do all the tunes that made him the man he became, listen t0 black artists and friends talk about their struggle and friendship. We're going to let those that were there, tell you the truth. You decide if their story is worth re telling. We believe it is.

Patricia Garber

 

Patriotic Elvis

When I think back over Elvis’ life, there are reoccurring words, like doting father, faithful friend, loving son, believer, but Patriotic is one big word that I hear over and over. He loved his country, felt it, and it’s people, had given him the biggest blessing in life—his livelihood. He loved the USA so much, he paid his taxes in full, never once acquiring a CPA to cut what he felt he owed.


Some would laugh at this fact, calling him hillbilly, country, unintelligent, but Elvis was none of these things. He was a smart man with strong belief in God and Country.

 Let's just look at a few facts:                



Elvis received his draft papers over the week of Christmas of 1957. He was finally on top and now Uncle Sam was calling. There was no war, no real reason for the need of the draft. He could have fought it, ran from it, or just simply lawyered up. But not Elvis. He went. And not only did he go, he refused any soft cushy job the Army tried to give him. If he was going, he was going for real, he said.

Taking a Las Vegas stage in Jan of 1972, with the Vietnam war still raging, Elvis belted out "American Trilogy," from the stage. Written by country composer, Mickey Newbury, Elvis was touched by the mix of three controversial subjects--a confederate anthem, a black spiritual, and a gospel hymn--finally coming together in one song. From that point on, no matter what part of the country Elvis played in, north or south, he played this song with pride. And it remains a fan favorite to this day.

And finally, on of my favorite displays of Elvis' patriotic heart, came when Elvis had a chance to sing in front of over a Billion people for the Aloha Satellite concert in 1973, and what outfit did he choose to proudly display? The American Eagle jumpsuit! Overshadowing the US Super Bowl, which aired that same day, Elvis strutted around in front of the world with his flag on his back, in what cannot be argued as the biggest display of support for his country by any entertainer, to date!

As an Elvis fan, I'm so proud that our guy wasn't afraid to show how much he loved his country to the world. And I can't help but wonder what he'd think of all the unrest in our country today? I believe it would bring him great sadness

So wherever you are today, remember, no matter our strife, we are a great country! We haven't always been perfect, but we are truly blessed. We haven't always agreed but we have always come out better for having listened to one another. 

If in the middle of the Vietnam tragedy Elvis can take a stage with the American Flag on his back, we can all raise our heads today--celebrate being an American!!

Be safe this holiday! And know we love ya!

Patricia Garber

Below: Elvis and his roman candle fights! Don't be ELVIS!