Mark Bego On Elvis Presley Boulevard.

[Diane]

Have any of you read about how Lamar got to be with Elvis in the first place? He met Elvis (can't remember how far back) and Elvis asked him to come to visit and Lamar over-stayed his welcome and when Elvis asked if it wasn't time for him to leave, he refused, he just plain decided he wanted to stay there. Elvis never could stand up to some of his rights so Elvis did find something for him to do but I don't believe there was ever any closeness between the two of them.

Diane

[EP75]

Have any of you read about how Lamar got to be with Elvis in the first place? He met Elvis (can't remember how far back) and Elvis asked him to come to visit and Lamar over-stayed his welcome and when Elvis asked if it wasn't time for him to leave, he refused, he just plain decided he wanted to stay there. Elvis never could stand up to some of his rights so Elvis did find something for him to do but I don't believe there was ever any closeness between the two of them.

Diane

You are correct and EP also used to make jokes of him being fat like a pregnant woman in labor in front of his face. I think EP felt sorry for him and allowed him to hang around.

[King_Creole]

If those PR quotes are from Mark Bego's text, then it seems Fike has hooked up with another hack.

After all these years, and Fike's experience with biographer Alanna Nash ten years ago -- Elvis Aaron Presley adhered to a factual timeline in a most pleasing fashion -- it is a little disappointing. Lamar is insightful, intelligent and hilarious and his experience with Presley will make a great book -- it just seems this collaboration with Bego won't hit the mark.

Fike did bring "Kentucky Rain" to the table in February 1969, for Elvis' American Sound sessions. Unfortunately, he also later gave Elvis crap like "Life" as session fodder a year later.

-> "Kentucky Rain" -- issued on single in early 1970 -- was NOT Elvis' last million-seller.

-> Lamar didn't "run" Elvis' publishing thereafter.

-> The "Rock Hudson is gay" story is a mishmash of a well-known incident in Vegas in the early 1970s which involved Jim Nabors -- not Rock Hudson.

Let's see what the book looks like -- but it doesn't appear to have much promise.

[King_Creole]

Have any of you read about how Lamar got to be with Elvis in the first place? He met Elvis (can't remember how far back) and Elvis asked him to come to visit and Lamar over-stayed his welcome and when Elvis asked if it wasn't time for him to leave, he refused, he just plain decided he wanted to stay there. Elvis never could stand up to some of his rights so Elvis did find something for him to do but I don't believe there was ever any closeness between the two of them.

Diane

Can I get a source for your insightful info on this particular piece please ?

As far as I know, there isn't a bit of truth in it.

Elvis met Lamar and befriended him, even letting him make cameos in his films, concerts, and also worked the stage and lighting direction for some time on tour during the 1970's ...

Lamar might have suffered being the butt of Elvis' jokes, but that doesn't mean he disliked, or didn't care for Lamar one bit. he kept him around because Elvis wanted him around and Lamar wanted to be around Elvis too.

[Diane]

No I can't back up my post KC because I can't remember which book I read that in so just disbelieve it if you want.

Diane

[presley31]

No I can't back up my post KC because I can't remember which book I read that in so just disbelieve it if you want.

Diane

Thanks daine, l sure believe it.

[Stryx]

There are inaccurate remarks in those comments by Lamar.

1)Rock Hudson was not known to be gay until he ended up in the hospital from losing so much weight and was found out that he had AIDS from a secret homosexual lifestyle. And that was in the 80's. He was a well known ladies man in the 50's and definitely not known by anyone at that time in the Hollywood world to be gay. So this is a flat out lie by Lamar and could be held against him in the court of law as liable slander by the Hudson family and estate.

2)EP was homophobic and would not allow a man to even touch him in a different manner. Much less sleep in his bed. It was how he felt and against his beliefs. So another lie by Lamar.

3)If EP never got to meet the most sensual sex symbol of all time then no way would he send his buddy to take his place. I highly doubt Lamar got a second with Monroe. Lie #3.

Should I go on? This is one of the reasons some of us good true fans trash and slam the almighty and glorified Memphis Mafia. They have done nothing for their own lives for the past 30 years accept to live off of the legacy of their so called friend. They are nothing but sorry low life losers. What's even more disturbing is the fact that so many so called "die hard" fans believe this crap and take it as the holy word when it comes to EP's life. Sometimes I question the loyalty of some fans.

Hudsons family can't do anything about slander. Why do you think nuts like Gail Brewer Girogio get away with saying Elvis is alive, you can't do anything as the person in question is dead.

It was known Hudson was a mans man.

Elvis often slept in the same bed as Billy and some of the others...I belive he also jumped in with Lamar on occasion, especially towards the end.

Don't question the loyalty of fans who listen to the MM....by the looks of it you need to brush up on some Elvis facts before slamming other people.

[Stryx]

Actually Elvis did sleep with different members of the MM at times.Billy Smith confirms this as he had to do it.I think Elvis even slept with Billy and his wife at times.
Rock Hudson's sexual preference wasnt a secret.It just wasnt broadcast back then.All of hollywood knew this was back but you didnt publisize it.Same thing with Kennedy's personal life as another example.
Jak.

Well said Jak.

[Stryx]

Well I will say this and it may not be too acceptable to some but whatever. The sooner these low life's are removed from God's green earth the better the EP's image will heal from the tarnishing and destruction caused by these useless amount of tell all books by the same ole people time and time again. While Myrna Smith and others were around him just as much as anyone else at the end but has yet to stab him in the back as the Mafia has. Tells ya who was more loyal doesn't it?

I fail to see the logic in hoping Elvis's friends die but you are entitled to an opinion as odd as I may find it that you hold such distain for people you don't even know that you wish death upon them. Thats pretty sick in my opinion.

Myrna Smith was around Elvis as much as the MM Man go check your facts!!!

[Stryx]

So by your reckoning we should be happy with all the C**p he's come out with over the years just because he was with Elvis until he died......Yeah right!!

That's a very strange point. I have never referenced what Lamar has put out over the years and perhaps it would be wise to consider what people who were with him have to say before listening to biographers who were never there.

If you care to elaborate your point I would be happy to discuss it.

I don't take everything Lamar says as Gospel just like no one should take everything they hear about anything Elvis related or not as Gospel.

[Stryx]

Lamar and Marty were the worst of the worst when it came to who EP's real friends were. Lamar has constantly taken every opportunity he has gotten to mention EP's personal health issues. When you care for someone you don't stab them in the back as he has constantly done. Lamar is a big overgrown bully. And Marty is a self arrogant SOB who has this "I was there you weren't" attitude who stabbed EP in the back while he was still living.

Anyone ever realized that Elvis-What Happened? was released on August 1, 1977, 15 days before EP died? If there was ever any reason for EP to commit suicide then this would have been it. Yea, they were great friends alright.

They were good friends and if you think they were not good friends while Elvis was alive then Elvis's judegement obviously sucked in your opinion. So why not blame Elvis instead of the people he had with him?

Yes What Happened was published that day and it was chronicled on Good Morning America on the 16th of August 1977. But Elvis didn't kill himself so that's just outlandish and I suggest if you are to pursue that Elvis may have committed suicide you show some hard facts and not nonsense or fairytales for why he may have.

Your "facts" have been seriously flawed on this thread already from legal issues to knowledge of Elvis sleeping in bed with the guys.

[Stryx]

Have any of you read about how Lamar got to be with Elvis in the first place? He met Elvis (can't remember how far back) and Elvis asked him to come to visit and Lamar over-stayed his welcome and when Elvis asked if it wasn't time for him to leave, he refused, he just plain decided he wanted to stay there. Elvis never could stand up to some of his rights so Elvis did find something for him to do but I don't believe there was ever any closeness between the two of them.

Diane

Give Elvis credit. He could kick anyone's *** out when he wanted to do and he did on occasion. The biggest problem with your story is when he used to fire people including Lamar and hire them back! Had Elvis hated Lamar as you suggest he woulden't of hired him back.

By the way where did you get your info on Elvis asking Lamar to leave cos he overstayed his welcome?

As Elvis seemed pretty happy to have Lamar got to Germany with him.

I often wonder where some of these "tales" about Elvis and what he did come from.

[Stryx]

You are correct and EP also used to make jokes of him being fat like a pregnant woman in labor in front of his face. I think EP felt sorry for him and allowed him to hang around.

Yes Elvis used joke with him. And Lamar used joke at Elvis.

Like when Lamar told Elvis to get his fat *** off the Lisa Marie in 1977 and Elvis looked at him and then laughed and said you have been waiting twenty years to call me that!

Hilarious!!

Friends joke with eachother it doesent mean they hate eachother!!!

[Stryx]

If those PR quotes are from Mark Bego's text, then it seems Fike has hooked up with another hack.

After all these years, and Fike's experience with biographer Alanna Nash ten years ago -- Elvis Aaron Presley adhered to a factual timeline in a most pleasing fashion -- it is a little disappointing. Lamar is insightful, intelligent and hilarious and his experience with Presley will make a great book -- it just seems this collaboration with Bego won't hit the mark.

Fike did bring "Kentucky Rain" to the table in February 1969, for Elvis' American Sound sessions. Unfortunately, he also later gave Elvis crap like "Life" as session fodder a year later.

-> "Kentucky Rain" -- issued on single in early 1970 -- was NOT Elvis' last million-seller.


-> Lamar didn't "run" Elvis' publishing thereafter.

-> The "Rock Hudson is gay" story is a mishmash of a well-known incident in Vegas in the early 1970s which involved Jim Nabors -- not Rock Hudson.

Let's see what the book looks like -- but it doesn't appear to have much promise.

Well said.

This book looks like some facts are a bit flawed.

Best to read it with a discerning eye and spot where the mistakes are....no doubt it will give some more background to certain events which is always welcome!!!

[KPM]

Celebrity-author MARK BEGO is uncovering all sorts of never-before-revealed tidbits about ELVIS PRESLEY, in the forthcoming ON ELVIS PRESLEY BOULEVARD; LAMAR FIKE: AN UNCOMMON JOURNEY, the tome he is writing with LAMAR FIKE; he of the infamous Memphis Mafia.

Fike lived, worked, played, and partied with the King. He was there for the highs and the lows of life with The King. Among the books saucy revelations: "When Lamar first moved into Graceland with Elvis, he actually slept in the same bed with The King. According to Lamar, "He would have nightmares, and he would sleepwalk, so I slept with him ... so he didn't walk out of the second floor window.

I had to turn on the lights to get him out of his sleepwalking phase." While there are all sorts of rumors about Elvis meeting and having an affair with Marilyn Monroe, in reality, it was Lamar who met her. Says Fike, "She invited Elvis over to a party at the studio, but he sent me over to send his apologies. Instead of Elvis ever meeting her, it was just me. I spent a half an hour talking to her. She was just mesmerizing to talk to. She would look you right in the eyes."

*In 1971, when Elvis had been absent on the record scene for years, it was Lamar who found him his last million-selling hit, "Kentucky Rain." Lamar went onto run Elvis' publishing company for years.
*Lamar was with Elvis at a party at Nat King Cole's house in 1957, where Rock Hudson was a guest. Lamar told Elvis that Rock was gay, and Elvis didn't believe him. At the party, Lamar watched as Rock started up a conversation with Elvis and they sat down on the sofa together. Amidst their conversation, Rock put his hand on Elvis' leg, and Presley jumped up like the sofa was on fire.
He walked over to Lamar and said, "You know what? You were right - Rock is Gay!"

*Lamar went to Hollywood to stay with Elvis in 1957 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. The following day Elvis told him that they were going to go over to the movie studio. The next thing Lamar knew, he was on the set of "Jailhouse Rock," and he was a character in the film. Lamar is seen in several scenes as part of Elvis' group of friends in the final cut of the picture.

*One night, late, after some serious partying, Elvis and Lamar were sitting alone, and Elvis asked Lamar how he saw him as an old man. Lamar, pausing for a moment, looked at him and said "I don't."

Prophetic words indeed. The book will be out early next year.


2007/10/17 www.timessquaregossip.com / www.epgold.com

That is in error, These all went gold after Kentucky Rain:
The Wonder of You/Mama Liked the Roses, Gold
I've Lost You/The Next Step Is Love, Gold
You Don't Have to Say You Love Me/Patch It Up, Gold
I Really Don't Want to Know/There Goes My Everything, Gold
Burning Love/It's a Matter of Time, Platinum
Separate Ways/Always on My Mind, Gold
Also he had a couple gold singles after he died.

[KPM]

Yes Elvis used joke with him. And Lamar used joke at Elvis.

Like when Lamar told Elvis to get his fat *** off the Lisa Marie in 1977 and Elvis looked at him and then laughed and said you have been waiting twenty years to call me that!

Hilarious!!E

Friends joke with eachother it doesent mean they hate eachother!!!

I just can't imagine Elvis letting anyone call him "fat a** "IMO
This is the type comment I am always suspicious about which Lamar makes. I just can not hear Lamar saying that to Elvis- because in any footage I've ever seen where Lamar is the butt of Elvis's jokes(especially some of the EOT and TTWII outtakes that have circulated)-I have never seen Lamar make any real effort to "return the fire" so to speak. Lamar is always kidding around but it never seems its at Elvis's expense-especially his weight. I can imagine there were a ton of things Lamar wanted to say to Elvis like this but never did. Then again- maybe it just happened when it was just he and Elvis alone.
Another comment Lamar says he made to Elvis was about his suits getting to tight and being sandwiched into them he supposedly told Elvis something like
- if that suit pops you're gonna spray some people with metal shrapnel.
Elvis may have made fun about his own weight-but I can not imagine he let anyone else do it.

[Stryx]

I just can't imagine Elvis letting anyone call him "fat a** "IMO
This is the type comment I am always suspicious about which Lamar makes. I just can not hear Lamar saying that to Elvis- because in any footage I've ever seen where Lamar is the butt of Elvis's jokes(especially some of the EOT and TTWII outtakes that have circulated)-I have never seen Lamar make any real effort to "return the fire" so to speak. Lamar is always kidding around but it never seems its at Elvis's expense-especially his weight. I can imagine there were a ton of things Lamar wanted to say to Elvis like this but never did. Then again- maybe it just happened when it was just he and Elvis alone.
Another comment Lamar says he made to Elvis was about his suits getting to tight and being sandwiched into them he supposedly told Elvis something like
- if that suit pops you're gonna spray some people with metal shrapnel.
Elvis may have made fun about his own weight-but I can not imagine he let anyone else do it.

Well we wern't there so it's hard to know. Obviously they wern't going to joke too mcuh with Elvis and especially not at his expense when the cameras were on for TTWII and EOT so they are bad examples.

Only thing is that Billy Smith was present when Lamar said it and he just laughed along.

Makes you wonder....cos Billy has on occasion stepped up and said some of the stuff that's being said isan't true....this time he just laughed along.

I think Elvis was a fairly cool guy and that he took some abuse from his friends as we all do!

He was only human. And hell if he such a tight *** that he woulden't take abuse and only would dish it out then I find it hard to believe that he could be as successful as he was.

[presley31]

Don't believe anything that comes out of Lamar mouth. thats my opinion.

[cameron]

Don't believe anything that comes out of Lamar mouth. thats my opinion.

I can agree with that .

[KPM]

Well we wern't there so it's hard to know. Obviously they wern't going to joke too mcuh with Elvis and especially not at his expense when the cameras were on for TTWII and EOT so they are bad examples.

Only thing is that Billy Smith was present when Lamar said it and he just laughed along.
Makes you wonder....cos Billy has on occasion stepped up and said some of the stuff that's being said isan't true....this time he just laughed along.

I think Elvis was a fairly cool guy and that he took some abuse from his friends as we all do!

He was only human. And hell if he such a tight *** that he woulden't take abuse and only would dish it out then I find it hard to believe that he could be as successful as he was.

On most subjects I agree, but on his weight which was obviously something which bothered him, I just can not imagine he would allow Lamar to call him "fat a**" IMO.
He stayed in his room for several days(supposedly) after he turned 40 after the CBS news reported he was "fat and 40" near his 40th birthday. I'm sure he could take some good natured ribbing-but I think the weight would be one thing he would not "laugh off"
If you notice in the book "Rev. of the MM" they have comments one after another and sometimes Billy does not see eye to eye with what Lamar has to say. His version about events and topics is sometimes differing than Lamar-Elvis and the diaper storys is one-Elvis and his nose bleeds is another where it seems they have differing opinions on the subjects.