Ava's Allocations: This ETA is for Elivs THE Artist....join me in....

....taking a look at the documentary just released....THE SEARCHER....and some other thoughts...

Welcome all and hello. We are spilling into mid-week with a special post on Elvis, the Artist as seen in the documentary THE SEARCHER. If you haven't seen it on HBO there are several showings available for you to check it out. What a remarkable documentary. It really takes a look at the Artist and how he lived his life and put together a career that is still going strong, over 40 years after his passing.....

This is just a look at Elvis from where I sit at this juncture in my life...... I don't know how I became as big of a fan as I am now, I just know that my family loved Elvis. I remember watching him on TV with my family and I remember exactly where I was when he passed.....

Over time, I didn't even realize all the Elvis "things" that were around me in my life.... it's weird that I am a HUGE fan now and I see all this stuff around me....so I guess I was always a huge fan....just didn't know it til recently. LOL

If you haven't seen the Searcher, it's such a touching story of the way Elvis was about his life, career and his music. I feel like he had 2 different careers....one that started before he went into the Army ....

.....and one that started again after what became known as the 68 comeback special....

Elvis was terrified at that time. This was a TV show that was either going to be the start or the end of his career, according to Priscilla....

Elvis never ever forgot how he came from poverty and what his family went through during that time. His Mother, Gladys, was working so hard at a time when Vernon (Elvis' Dad) went to prison for forging a check to put food on the table. Elvis and his Mom were extremely close . His family ties were amazing..... His Dad was so embarrassed by all of this yet eventually this was put behind them...

I think all of this left a certain mark on Elvis, especially going through a time that was crazy with infusion of different types of music.... Gospel, Country etc... with every turn of the dial.... by that I mean how music was pulling into radio...all genres could be heard with a turn of that dial...then the move to TV was next....his

Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in a small shack. Moving to Memphis was a game changer for him. The music scene was so amazing there at the time.

From the very beginning and even through all his "learning" stages, Elvis always wanted to challenge himself to do better....to be better....

There is so much we could cover here and it is just amazing.... you could find any genre of music that you like and find a connection to Elvis. He is one of the only artists that could sing 5 genres of music.... Pop, Rock, Country, Blues, and Gospel....In fact, he loved Gospel music and received his only Grammy's for his Gospel music.

After he made the film GI blues, he recorded a full length Gospel Album.

FROM THE FILM GI BLUES

Elvis had a real connection to his songs and to his audience. There came a time, with a whole inside back story, that Elvis became disenchanted with the music that was coming out for his films....for the films itself and he wanted to get away from that and get back to his connection with music and to a live audience.... with that, there are several great films that came out over his career and great music...even when some of those films seemed contrived, the music survived and is still loved today.... I loved "Girl Happy" and I have not seen "King Creole" yet I hear it's one of the best.... it's on my to do list... LOL.... "Blue Hawaii" was also one of the biggest movie sellers and produced some of the greatest music along with Jail House Rock. If you remember, Jail House Rock was supposed to be a James Dean film about a boxer...then the fatal accident. They didn't even want to look at the suggestion of Elvis in this role, yet when he met the director the rest became history and Jail House Rock was now about a singer.....

What was then to be known as the 68 Comeback special, Elvis was going through all sorts of emotions while getting ready for that show, including the death of Robert Kennedy . When he decided to close the show with "If I could dream"...he was dedicating that to ALL that was happening in the World at the time. Priscilla says, in the documentary, that it was nice to see Elvis smile again. (Referring to the whole Comeback Special performances). She says they all sat in silence watching it and when the phone calls started coming in afterwards they knew this was going to be the new launch of his career moving forward.

Many artists give commentary in this documentary like the late Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen just to name a couple....The movie, if you may, goes through a 2 part series from the very beginnings of Elvis' career... through Sam Phillips, Colonel Parker, Sun Records and then beyond....

Elvis' life took on many changes in music, time, and decision making.... eventually, he was able to take control of his own decisions....yet by that time, he was doing 2 shows a night, exhausted and turned to prescription drugs to stay on top of things.... as we all know, that didn't keep him on top, just dragge his whole psyche down to eventually his death....

What a ride he had though and today his career is still going strong...

From performing with Frank Sinatra in that iconic song role reversal to Vegas to doing it in his own style.... there isn't a day that goes by that you can't find an "Elvis Sighting". LOL....

I am thrilled to be such a fan these days and to have had the opportunity to tour Elvis' home at Graceland and meet some awesome people.... to be friends with some great ETA's like Richie Santa , Jimmy Elvis and Gentleman Jim to name a few.... I so love that Elvis' music is around to be passed onto generations and the Searcher is an amazing look at his life and his music.