Marko wrote:I asked Dave Hebler about the turban and he said Elvis told him that he was wearing it because his hair was "all f... up".
I think your former post is more incisive:
Marko wrote:In either Elvis What Happened or Revelations From Memphis Mafia books they tell that Elvis wore a turban when he was into psychic healing. I think it was Sonny West's kid whom Elvis tried to heal and the kid went for the jewel on the turban. Elvis got upset because the kid was ruining his show. As always Elvis went all the way. When he wanted to be a cop he got the badge, guns and a full uniform. When he played football he had his own team with uniforms and cheerleaders. When he wanted to be a cowboy he had a ranch and everything that goes with it. It was just natural for him to put on a turban when he though he was a psychic healer.
Elvis had a lot of strange, esoteric and irrational beliefs. He would never have entertained a chump like Larry Geller if he didn't believe in a fair bit of wacky stuff. Some people need to read around. You can find references in unusual places, like the picture book on how Graceland used to look, which talks about these tall folding screens he'd had erected due to a superstitious belief about never closing doors and windows (allegedly).
And, aesthetically, does the pearl-white turban look all that bad on the head of Elvis Presley? Not from where I'm sat. Sure, it's extreme, but EP was a fairly extreme guy. It's pleasing to see that he talked the talk and walked the walk, so to speak -- even if some of it stemmed from a deep sense of neediness/insecurity. To be honest, I've known some boring people in my life, and when I see them in, for example, the same navy-blue trousers, a bland white shirt and simple black shoes, I'm relieved to know that there are more daring souls out there. Sartorially, and otherwise, Elvis wasn't afraid to push the boat out.
If you think the turban is shocking, don't click to see the resulting picture, will you? This is a full-blown assault on the senses:
http://www.elvisinfonet.com/image-files/book14x.jpg And we all know about the "TCB" and "Jungle" rooms, right?
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Re: "Stoned"
He could be stoned, he could not be stoned. Is anyone here an expert on visually-identifying these matters, least of all when the source material is blurry 8mm footage hastily transferred to video cassette, heavily compressed for YouTube, showing a man for less-than-two minutes, with no sound, his eyes behind sunglasses, at a distance? Elvis does seem fairly serious in it, but being serious is not synonymous with being stoned. Even then, there's a very Elvis-sie moment at around 0:42, where he teases that kid, and then struts forward, cool as ice.
In fact, I'm gonna go one better than what I said earlier: he makes that turban hella cool. I get the sense that American and European apparel is generally fine, but Elvis must be punished for having the temerity to step outside of western-approved fashion lines. Y'know, it's a smug, subliminally-racist attitude to have, and I sense that the world still has a long way to go. Let's also remember that this is
private footage showing EP in a very
private moment -- which, maybe, says something about EP, the man, and his perception of and sensitivity towards the general attitudes of other people; it may also serve to cast an ironic pall over
public remarks that, overtly or implicitly, express disdain and contempt.
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In closing:
Some people on this forum, in my opinion, are
waaaay too judgmental about a guy that we've nearly all supposedly idolized since children and seriously studied as adults.
