Sandi Miller Interview

[Merry]

This is straight from my journals written a few hours after Elvis told the story so it should be pretty accurate of what he said.

Palm Springs - Sept 72

>>After finishing up several hours of singing -- mostly upbeat stuff, other singers, etc. the last hour was strictly gospel which of course is my favorite
type of song to watch him sing. Tonight was different - because after finishing Amazing Grace he asked if we knew the story behind that song. Heck, I don't know the story behind any song but I'm all ears!

As only Elvis can tell a story ... complete with total drama and hand gestures, he starts talking about some guy (John something) who back in the 1700's was a slave trader - hauling men and women and children from Africa to be sold as slaves. He mistreated his captives and generally was not a very nice guy. He was captain of his own ship. On one of the trips his ship hit a terrible storm and the ship was looking like it was going to go down - human cargo, crew - right to the bottom of the ocean. The storm made him look back at his life and all the misery he had caused to others over the years and he prayed to God to spare him and all onboard. Since his prayers were answered and his ship and all on board were spared, he decided to devote the rest of his life to the church and to writing religious hymns.

Amazing Grace was one of those songs only it was called something else when he wrote it....Faith's Review.... or something like that...later renamed Amazing Grace.

Elvis said it was sung by both sides of the Civil War, it was sung by the civil rights protesters - he listed several other times it has been used as a song that heals the heart and soul . Pretty profound (but then I'm easily impressed) Normally I'm never sure if he's pulling my leg with his stories but I got the impression he wasn't making this one up - there was something in his eyes as he was telling it and he was too intense.>>

[Merry]

I love this part from Sandi!


Hehehe:




**This made me laugh -- Sometimes Elvis came up with some of the most bizarre stories and I'm convinced he did it to see how far he could go with something before someone said "wait a minute...you're making that up!!" Then he'd say "Yeah I am! But it's a good story" so after several of these tales from him- I basically had to think twice about anything he said that seemed a little off the wall.

[Merry]

Sandi Miller:
Elvis - funny "Mystery Blonde"




There was a movie he played over and over at the Memphian one night- I'm pretty sure the name of the movie was Blow Up. It was about a photographer who unknowingly caught a murder on his camera but only discovered the evidence when he was making enlargements of a photo shoot - or something like that. THe other movies he liked have all been written about already (Cool Hand Luke, Patton,Peter Sellers etc.) There were more movies he didn't like the times I got to go to the Memphian and you could pretty much tell if he was going to turn off the movie in the first ten minutes of screen play. If it didn't grab him in the first 10 minutes - then forget it!

Oh gosh, he was forever reading something but do you think I can remember any titles now? Brain freeze! The exception is the Leaves Of Gold Book -- he liked reading passages out of that and then he'd ask "what do you think this means?" I hated it when he did that...I didn't want to think...just wanted him to keep reading! He gave me a copy of that book after reading out of it several times over the course of about 6 months and I still have it. I believe he gave out quite a few copies to other people over the years because he liked the book so much.

One thing, when he was reading to himself and he came across something that really interested him, he'd stop and re read it aloud to everyone - sometimes several times...then he'd analyze!

On the frivilous side, the boys would sometimes bring the rag mags and he'd read those. One paper, the Enquirer I think, had a photo of Elvis leaving the Hillcrest house in his Rolls Royce. Elvis was sitting in the back seat with his new "mystery blond" (the photo only showed the back of the Rolls Royce as it was heading down the street which means you only saw the back of Elvis' head and the back of the blond's head. ) A big juicy story followed about the mystery blond...........(who happend to be Rick Stanley when he had long hair! Elvis was hysterical over that and laughed about it for a week! )

Well, it's late and that's all my brain can crank out right now.

[mistymorning]

Thanks alot honey ! I really enjoyed reading these stories !!!!!!! Elvis was very cute ! I love the way he tells a story too ! With those eyes loking at something invisible , hand and head gestures ,........ he looks so sweet !

[mistymorning]

A big juicy story followed about the mystery blond...........(who happend to be Rick Stanley when he had long hair! Elvis was hysterical over that and laughed about it for a week! )

[Merry]

A big juicy story followed about the mystery blond...........(who happend to be Rick Stanley when he had long hair! Elvis was hysterical over that and laughed about it for a week! )

Isn't that the funniest thing? rofl I wonder if Ricky's name was changed to: "Big Juicy Blonde" rofl


I also love the way Elvis played with Sandi's mind, rofl One gorgeous lady

[mistymorning]

An other touching story from Sandi Miller interview :

One of the regular girls decided to bring a friend of hers that was visiting her to the house one evening.She wasn't the most attractive gal , quite large , looking much older than she really was . Some of the boys started making rather unkind remarks to her which I won't repeat.After a few minutes of this , Elvis got uo out of his chair , walked over to the girl , who by this time was sitting on the couch looking miserable and out of place , and he asked her if she'd like something to drink and she nodded.He went in to the kitchen and came back with a glass of lemonade for her . When she finished it , he took her hand , and asked , " would you like me to show you around ?" He proceeded to walk out of room thru the dining room to head in to the back yard , but he looked over his shoulders and shot daggers at those who were unkind to her . Needless to say , by the time he came back to the living room with her , no one said another nasty word to her .He handled alot of situation in that same manner ....didn't say much -just acted . He could say more with a look than words at time.

[Merry]

I love this, lol

Elvis had been smoking his little cigar and put it in the ashtray--there wasn't much left of it so I presumed he was done with it and so I just popped it in my purse only to have him come back later and ask what happened to it. Oh the stress!!!! I know he thought I was totally nuts!

[Merry]

Another one, from dearest Sandi:


|

Before Elvis got married, occasionally rumors would fly that he was gay because he lived in a house full of guys and he didn't appear to have a serious love life that anyone knew about (back then no one around Elvis spilled the beans about anything!) . Rona Barrett took it upon herself to try and put forth that entire concept and wrote several articles hinting about Elvis' personal life.

Several fans brought the magazine articles to Elvis' attention and he actually thought they were funny. Rona had these two reporters (men) that she used to send up to the Rocca house to try and get "info" from the fans and see what they could see. We had a pretty good nose for reporters and the fact that both these guys had very expensive cameras vs the little junkie ones we carried, was another huge tip off plus they didn't ask the usual questions new fans at the gate would ask. We usually any reporters wrong information and played total mind games with them anyway /

Elvis was informed also of these two guys so now he too knew they were sniffing around...and being the practical joker he was, he decided to play along with what they were hoping to find out.


One day after coming home from the studio, Elvis drove in and after parking his car and going inside for a few minutes...both he and Charlie came out in the doorway together. Once Elvis saw that the "reporters" were watching he grabbed Charlie and laid one on him...OMG it was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen- especially since Charlie "wiped it off" and Elvis then "spit it out" We almost fell over laughing so hard and those poor reporters didn't know how to take it! They just stood there in shock as both Elvis and Charlie went back inside laughing their heads off. Funny thing - those reporters didn't come back to the house for weeks and weeks!

[Genie]

These are fantastic examples of the sweet beautiful little blonde lady Sandi and the big handsome King of the world!
Sandi can stop a simi-truck with just one of her wonderful stories.
I never had a chance to ask her, why she and Elvis didn't have more than a huge friendship. As she is stunning. Very lovable and intelligent.
I'll have to make a point of asking her. I probably heard that answered before, just don't seem to recall now.

[mistymorning]

I just can't stop laughing imagining Elvis and Charlie together !!!!!!! and laughed remebering it even at my work !!!!!! some asked me what I was laughing at ?!!! I answered " It's a secret joke " !!!!!!!!

[Genie]

Sandi Miller:
Elvis - funny "Mystery Blonde"




There was a movie he played over and over at the Memphian one night- I'm pretty sure the name of the movie was Blow Up. It was about a photographer who unknowingly caught a murder on his camera but only discovered the evidence when he was making enlargements of a photo shoot - or something like that. THe other movies he liked have all been written about already (Cool Hand Luke, Patton,Peter Sellers etc.) There were more movies he didn't like the times I got to go to the Memphian and you could pretty much tell if he was going to turn off the movie in the first ten minutes of screen play. If it didn't grab him in the first 10 minutes - then forget it!

Oh gosh, he was forever reading something but do you think I can remember any titles now? Brain freeze! The exception is the Leaves Of Gold Book -- he liked reading passages out of that and then he'd ask "what do you think this means?" I hated it when he did that...I didn't want to think...just wanted him to keep reading! He gave me a copy of that book after reading out of it several times over the course of about 6 months and I still have it. I believe he gave out quite a few copies to other people over the years because he liked the book so much.

One thing, when he was reading to himself and he came across something that really interested him, he'd stop and re read it aloud to everyone - sometimes several times...then he'd analyze!

On the frivilous side, the boys would sometimes bring the rag mags and he'd read those. One paper, the Enquirer I think, had a photo of Elvis leaving the Hillcrest house in his Rolls Royce. Elvis was sitting in the back seat with his new "mystery blond" (the photo only showed the back of the Rolls Royce as it was heading down the street which means you only saw the back of Elvis' head and the back of the blond's head. ) A big juicy story followed about the mystery blond...........(who happend to be Rick Stanley when he had long hair! Elvis was hysterical over that and laughed about it for a week! )

Well, it's late and that's all my brain can crank out right now.

Great story! Love it to pieces! Kinda breaks my heart also. I have that book myself, I had a real time trying to find one for a dear friend of mine in AU. I did locate one on Ebay for her. Now she knows it's true, that was his favorite book. He also liked "The Shroud of Turin"
Didn't he go for all those James Bond films (I thought?)

[Joe Car]

Love reading this stuff, thanks!

[annie1000]

I loooove it !Thank you!

[J.P]

Isn't that the funniest thing? rofl I wonder if Ricky's name was changed to: "Big Juicy Blonde" rofl


I also love the way Elvis played with Sandi's mind, rofl One gorgeous lady

funniest part for who?? i bet Rick was loving his new name Juicy Blonde (maybe for the reason his mom was a berry??? rofl!)

[J.P]

ty Kimmi for sharing this we all love Sandi's stories

[J.P]

These are fantastic examples of the sweet beautiful little blonde lady Sandi and the big handsome King of the world!
Sandi can stop a simi-truck with just one of her wonderful stories.
I never had a chance to ask her, why she and Elvis didn't have more than a huge friendship. As she is stunning. Very lovable and intelligent.
I'll have to make a point of asking her. I probably heard that answered before, just don't seem to recall now.

i think that's a pretty good question let me know when you've got the answer i'm curious to

[Merry]

funniest part for who?? i bet Rick was loving his new name Juicy Blonde (maybe for the reason his mom was a berry??? rofl!)

LOL,

Ohhhhh "Juicy Blonde" how could anyone leave that name alone? rofl

I wouldn't be able to look at him, after that, without laughing, lol

[Merry]

ty Kimmi for sharing this we all love Sandi's stories

You are welcome, lol,

[Merry]

I just can't stop laughing imagining Elvis and Charlie together !!!!!!! and laughed remebering it even at my work !!!!!! some asked me what I was laughing at ?!!! I answered " It's a secret joke " !!!!!!!!

I loooove it !Thank you!

Love reading this stuff, thanks!

You are welcome, lol

Sandi brightens a day