Lamar Fike interview on EIN site

[John Walker]

There is an interesting new interview (part 1) with Lamar Fike on the EIN (http://www.elvisinfonet.com/interview_lamarfike_2005_part1.html) site.

In it there is a wonderful story about Natalie Wood threatening to jump off a window ledge because Elvis wasn't paying her enough attention. Lamar also talks about the drugs, being with Elvis in Germany and why Elvis's relationship with Ann-Margret didn't work.

There is also an unusual question and answer about Elvis' self-mutilations!!

[N880EP]

There is an interesting new interview (part 1) with Lamar Fike on the EIN (http://www.elvisinfonet.com/interview_lamarfike_2005_part1.html) site.

In it there is a wonderful story about Natalie Wood threatening to jump off a window ledge because Elvis wasn't paying her enough attention. Lamar also talks about the drugs, being with Elvis in Germany and why Elvis's relationship with Ann-Margret didn't work.

There is also an unusual question and answer about Elvis' self-mutilations!!

Agreed. (There is, however, another thread discussing this topic).

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I wonder if Natalie Wood was engaging in some of the same over-the-top psycho behavior when she fell off that boat & drowned years later. (Food for thought).

I agree with Fike, ......... too much of what Fike has said has been blown way out of proportion.

EP's Legend is a double-edged sword that cuts both ways. In this case, over-blown NEGATIVE MYTH. Fike is responsible, however, for lots of it.


N8
... just a fan ....

[John Walker]

N8

Can you point me to the other thread? I can't find it.

[N880EP]

Sorry John,

My mistake. I was confusing the Lacker interview with Fike's. Looks lilke your thread is the first.

Both are great (easy to confuse the two).

On that note: Good job EIN. Looking forward to Part Two & others in the future.


N8
... just a fan ....

[elvisjock]

A great deal of the blame or responsibility, depending on how you label it, of the general public's negative perception Elvis since 1977, can be laid squarely at the feet of Lamar and those closest to him, that revealed Elvis' dirty laundry to the world.

And, each of us that gobbles up the latest book, video and DVD containing the latest revelations feed the frenzy. We're to blame, to some degree, just as much as those who spilled their guts to the Albert Goldmans and Steve Dunleavy's of the world.

Is there another public figure that has been stripped of their privacy and dignity to the level of Elvis? Not JFK, not Marilyn, not James Dean. Certainly no other rock star.

[N880EP]

Much agreed elvisjock.

Some of the blame, however, also lies with the gullible & uncritically thinking average Joe Public who are unable to put the information into it's proper perspective & take it for what it is.

That said, some are able to, though. (Most, are not, unfortunately).



N8
... just a fan ....

[Ezzz]

"Some of the blame, however, also lies with the gullible & uncritically thinking average Joe Public who are unable to put the information into it's proper perspective & take it for what it is."

[N880EP]

"Some of the blame, however, also lies with the gullible & uncritically thinking average Joe Public who are unable to put the information into it's proper perspective & take it for what it is."

I take it you don't agree .........

Pretty articulate reponse there Ezzz.

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IMO, the people who allow themselves to be fooled are just as much to blame as those doing it.

Whether it be Bamboozler or Bamboozlee, the result is the same ............... "shame on thee".

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In Fike's case, ........ it is just payback time for all those years that he had to endure EP calling him a lazy lard-a** sloth.

Not that hard to see where a lot of his bile is coming from.

JMO.


N8
... just a fan ....

[DarrylMac]

N8 - Lamar didnt' HAVE to endure anything. He, like all the others, were free to leave at any time. They knew they were on to a good thing, milked it for all it was worth.

[N880EP]

N8 - Lamar didnt' HAVE to endure anything. He, like all the others, were free to leave at any time. They knew they were on to a good thing, milked it for all it was worth.

You raise an excellent point that I do happen to agree with.


N8
... just a fan ....

[dl]

I like the comments from Lamar. He seems to be telling the truth and doesn't try to make Elvis better then he was. He doesn't tell horror stories and he's not trying to go into a compitition with Charlie Hodge by telling the people a cleaned up version of the things that happend.

[Luuk]

I like the comments from Lamar. He seems to be telling the truth and doesn't try to make Elvis better then he was. He doesn't tell horror stories and he's not trying to go into a compitition with Charlie Hodge by telling the people a cleaned up version of the things that happend.

Exposing Elvis' private life is a breach of trust, loyalty and friendship.
It has nothing to do with whether they paint a rose-coloured private life or a dark-sided private life.
"I am just an entertainer. I'd like to keep my personal views to myself." (Elvis Presley during a 1972 New York press conference)

[dl]

You have high expectations...

[DarrylMac]

High expectations - possibly, but expectations that some, such as Charlie seem able to meet.

Lamar seems, to me at least, to have been a particularly unpleasant character in his time with Elvis, seemed to be one of those people who seemed to want to keep an us and them mentality with Elvis and the outside world, and one to make sure he got what he wanted first from women wanting to meet / get close to Elvis.

Only my opinion though.

[dl]

Charlie Hodge tells us nice stories from Wonderland....

[DarrylMac]

Maybe, maybe not, but I wish more showed his level of respect for his old friend.

[Renan]

Lamar as a friend?

I´d rather spend my days alone.

[dl]

Maybe I'm the only one here, but I respect Elvis Presley far more as a singer than as a person.

[Luuk]

Maybe I'm the only one here, but I respect Elvis Presley far more as a singer than as a person.

I don't care about "Elvis the person" and what he did or did not do.
I became a fan because of the music. I did not understand a single word of English when I heard the first Elvis song but it got me interested to learn the language.
As for Elvis the person and his private life I always consider the source that tells the "stories". Are they real friends or do they have an axe to grind because they were fired, were not chosen to play in his movies, Elvis did not want to date her, whatever.
I am not interested in Elvis' private life but unfortunately some say that "we" have the right to know about Elvis' dark side. Now if only those people would tell more about the recording sessions, unreleased songs, hidden tapes, et cetera......

[N880EP]

Give me the TRUTH anyday over Disneyfied Fantasy (either skewed truth or outright fiction).

I'd rather sift the good & bad for myself, than be fed a bunch of bunk.

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Regarding Hodge:

You are only getting one-side of the story on both Hodge & EP (from Hodge).

Hodge is ignorant on some counts & outright not talking about other counts (& his roles in them).

Generally speaking: Some of those that were there that are held in high regard by the fandom are - ironically - the least reliable. They are loved because they tell everyone want they want to hear.


N8
... just a fan ....

[Steve_M]

Charlie Hodge suffered as an alcoholic towards the end of Elvis' life.

He is nowhere near accurate with the truth of events. He tells it as his memory recalls it, which unfortuantely isn't the same as what happened in many cases.

[N880EP]

Charlie Hodge suffered as an alcoholic towards the end of Elvis' life.

He is nowhere near accurate with the truth of events. He tells it as his memory recalls it, which unfortuantely isn't the same as what happened in many cases.

Have seen various MMM's insert themselves into events (that they were not present for), & re-tell stories that they have heard (just like the rest of us) with slights twists embellishing their role(s), etc..

Fading memories with time, the desire to be a nice guy in the eyes of others, ignorance of the facts, not having all the pieces to the puzzle / story, speaking with too much "authority" about things they have assumed or filled-in-the-blanks with their imagination, ..... self-promotion, ........ the list is really endless, .... but there are so many reasons it happens.

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I like Hodge as much as the next fan, ... but (just as Elvis didn't) .... I wouldn't take the guy too seriously.



N8
... just a fan ....

[Pete Dube]

Look, my beef with Fike is that he is the main guy who over the years repeatedly trashed Elvis, then turns around and says he was his friend. HYPOCRITE! Where I come from you don't do your friends that way. If someone's your friend you honor their memory. It's one thing to talk frankly about some of the unpleasant aspects, but it's quite another thing to flap your jaws about the sordid details - especially when you're getting paid to do so. That makes him a whore in my book. Friend my a$$! Let the writers dig up their own dirt. And please spare me the 'he's a straight shooter' sh#t.

As for Elvis as a person, the unprecedented level of fame & fortune caused him to lose touch with himself, and become what he became. A good-hearted, well-intentioned young man became corrupted and his mind twisted up by the trappings of celebrity.

[minkahed]

Look, my beef with Fike is that he is the main guy who over the years repeatedly trashed Elvis, then turns around and says he was his friend. HYPOCRITE! Where I come from you don't do your friends that way. If someone's your friend you honor their memory. It's one thing to talk frankly about some of the unpleasant aspects, but it's quite another thing to flap your jaws about the sordid details - especially when you're getting paid to do so. That makes him a whore in my book. Friend my a$$! Let the writers dig up their own dirt. And please spare me the 'he's a straight shooter' sh#t.

As for Elvis as a person, the unprecedented level of fame & fortune caused him to lose touch with himself, and become what he became. A good-hearted, well-intentioned young man became corrupted and his mind twisted up by the trappings of celebrity.

Totally agree w/ u on that Pete.

In the book, Revelations, there is a quote in their that says Elvis called Lamar a "JOKE" and he couldn't have been more right and so ahead of his time, in knowing, that is exactly what became of him after Elvis' passing.

How does that douche consider himself a "Friend" and "loyal", when he says with so much pride and gusto that "You could smell him coming...(in regards to Elvis' body odor).

[Joe Car]

Lamar was and still is to this day, an a--hole.