Nevernever. She was 86. Mutual friends say it was more to protect Presley than to make money from him that Fike volunteered for the US army when the singer was called up in 1958. Please reset your password. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. Failed to report flower. Unfortunately he did not improve and was sent back to the hospital about a month ago. SHULI announced: "What a kind, funny, and sweet human being. Thanks for your help! The same goes for backstage meetings, he likes to sit backstage quietly alone to prepare himself for the show. Lamar will be missed. It is probably like that with most public figures. [2] And because Goldman has placed a racist slur at the very founding point of rock n roll, and because, here and elsewhere, he works to make racism seem ordinary, matter-of-fact, and obvious, he will contribute to the acceptance of racism among rock fans, who might learn a different lesson from an honest version of their history, and he will contribute to the growing fashionableness of racism among Americans of all sorts. The tragic news of his passing has been announced via Shuli, a popular stand-up comic, writer, gamer, and podcaster, along with many condolences by his fans on social media. Recently, it became known that before he died, Lamar had also spent several days with researchers L.E. Published by The Times-Picayune on Feb. 18, 2011. That Elviss life represented a real American dilemma? Agent Kevin Eggers brought Fike together with Albert Goldman, a fifty-four-year-old pop critic and former college professor. Fortis - Get a grip. I liked him, and its sad that he is gone. To use this feature, use a newer browser. Those of us in the Memphis Mafia who remained his friend are greatly saddened by the loss of yet another member of our close group. The promised scandal is there in plenty, and because of the saintliness in which Elvis was wrapped throughout his lifetime, it still has punch. I agree with what Tony and dgirl were trying to say here. I would rather have that than the sugar coated stories from some people. Elvis Presley on Beale Street when he first started out was a favorite man. It was Fike who introduced the rock'n'roll star to a 14-year-old girl called Priscilla Beaulieu, the singer's future wife and mother of his child, Lisa Marie Presley. He could sing em not necessarily like a Negro, but he didnt sing em altogether like a typical white musician. Village Voice (Voice Literary Supplement), December 1981 (originally titled Lies About Elvis, Lies About Us); reprinted in Dead Elvis, 1991, Because his book will be the most widely read and widely consulted biography of Elvis Presley, his perversion of Sam Phillipss statement will replace the statement itself.. He must do this because the small-combo music can be credited to no one but Elvis himself, who not only sang but played lead guitarand Goldman grants approval to Elviss music only when it can be credited to someone else. Asked why Elvis did not marry Wood, Fike, though never a great fan of Tom Parker, said simply: "the Atlantic Ocean" a reference to Elvis's service in Germany. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager. Lamar Fike in hospital: Lamar Fike, member of the Memphis Mafia was hospitalised last year in October for lymphoma. "Elvis told me he had the whole thing in control. Last October he was taken to the hospital with breathing difficulties. I got fired about 500 times, but it's all part of it. (LogOut/ He was very honest. When Elvis and Wood were photographed kissing passionately before he left for Germany, Fike, and most of the world, assumed Wood would eventually become Mrs Presley. the rest of the entourage have no such motive as Elvis was long gone before they started putting pen to paper. Its so sad.. That in the last few months we have lost Myrna Smith, Sean (Shaun) Neilsen, and now Lamar Fike. Secondly, perhaps Goldman took some truthful anecdotes from Lamar and made mischief in the way he wrote them up in his book; ok perhaps Lamar shouldn't have given him an interview but Goldman may have kept his agenda hidden.Thirdly, has anybody noticed the long list of people (eg, the Colonel, Priscilla, Red West, Ginger Alden, etc etc etc, ad infinitum) who have been accused of betrayal and financial rapacity? Add Janice's family friends, and her friends from childhood through adulthood. Highly recommended. Elvis Presley Grave Who is Buried at Graceland? Lamar had a history of health problems. Elvis bought Lamar Fike a number of cars and when drafted in 1958 Lamar Fike tried to enlist but was turned down because of his weight problem. There is a problem with your email/password. Second (as Goldman himself will claim when he needs to find roots for Elviss later interest in spiritualism), the Presleys attended tent meetings and traveling revivals, where the preaching was often far wilder than in a settled church. Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD Video with Sound. About this biography . RIP, Lamar. The cause of Elvis' death on Aug. 16, 1977, remains an issue of speculation and controversy. Elvis considered his "mafia" as his extended family and there is a school of thought that he kept such old friends around him to protect him from the advances of the real mob, particularly during his Las Vegas years, when he was said to have received offers that must have been difficult to refuse. Yes, perhaps Elvis didnt do enough concerts to kill him. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. was intended to aid Elvis rather than a tawdry attempt to gain revenge with royalties added - who's naive? Fike had been hospitalized for non-hodgkins lymphoma, on and off, since last October. And before you call me to account for calling Elvis a "great person" - tell me who in your view is. Marty. People are curious as to the cause of the end of Ben Fike after learning the details of his passing. This is an excellent release no fan should be without it. Oops, we were unable to send the email. I think it might be good to listen to "Walk a Mile in My Shoes", and imagine what it was like for the Memphis Mafia - people who relied on Elvis for employment and a social structure - watching him throw his life away together with everything that gave structure and purpose to their lives. He was 66. Weve updated the security on the site. "When he got hard-nosed, you knew he was there. As we can see the departure of one of these guys always brings back controversial and dark chapters in the Elvis's biography. NIGGER Are you sure that you want to delete this flower? Lamar passed away very peacefully, Friday, January 21. For a time in 1962 Fike left the Elvis inner circle to become the manager foe singer Brenda Lee only to return a few years later Lamar Fike became infamous three Memphis Mafia members when he was accredited in the Albert Goldman book ELVIS. And alternatively, I've read that there was concern about lawsuits connected with heavy-handedness by Elvis's protectors so their services were dispensed with. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. But hey, that's easy to say when you're on the outside looking in I guess. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. It's always sad when we lose another person so close to the heart of the story of Elvis; but ever since I read "Elvis and the Memphis Mafia" I cannot help but be resentful of anyone connected with it. Are you sure that you want to delete this photo? He wasnt willing to keep to his place, and now he is being returned to it. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. No part of any article on this site may be re-printed for public display without permission. Lamar passed away very peacefully, Friday, January 21. What about a couple of the other Smith cousins who were around in the early days? In the immortal words of Alice from the old Honeymooners TV show, Blimp Takes Off. On Elviss background: The Presleys were not an ordinary family: they were hillbillies A more deracinated and restless race could not be imagined Just as the hillbillies had no real awareness of the present, they had no grasp on the past [Vernon and Gladys Presley were] the original Beverly Hillbillies [Gladys Presley was] not merely ignorant, but a hillbilly Cassandra [Vernon Presley was] a hard, mean, nasty redneck a dullard and donkey [with a] deadened dick Like most Southern men, Vernon had aknack for slippin away I jes cant see mahself over theah in a fereign country [Goldman pretending to quote Gladys Presley]. On the South: rickets, a disease produced by not having enough money or enough brains to eat right a [gospel] sing is one of those parochial institutions endemic to the South [Pentecostal Christianity] is a set of superstitions the corny old saws of hillbilly faith healers a classic white trash bluegrass song No matter how much of the black style these white boys take, it always comes out sounding as Caucasian as the Klan Of all the dumb activities in this dumb working-class school about the dumbest was shop: Elvis Presleys major. On Presley: Little cracker boy sang like a nigger He loved above all else to impersonate the jive-ass nigger pimp [he looked like] a homosexual in drag a latent or active homosexual his fat tongue his mush-mouthed accent his country-bumpkin cousins smug, stupid, embarrassingly self-conscious screen rooster [his] dumb jocko-shlocko Memphis-in-Bel-Air milieu pig junkie the face of a young George Wallace. On there being nothing lower than a male hillbilly like Presley except any kind of woman: His middle-aged womans passion for knickknacks, curios and chatzkahs throwing things like a hysterical woman he would always go inside a stall, like a woman like an obese go-go girl propped up like a big fat woman recovering from some operation on her reproductive organs. And on, and on, and on. What? An exile from the real world, Elvis Presley built his own world, and within itwhere the promise was that every fear, pain, doubt, and wish could be washed away with money, sex, drugs, and the bought approval of yes-menElvis Presley rotted. Having already disposed of the Myth that Elvis absorbed, and transformedintegrated into his personal culturethe spirit of unfettered Pentecostalism, Goldman turns to the great question: How did Elvis learn to sing black?. It is hard to know where to begin: the torrents of hate that drive this book are unrelieved. Also the timing when the book came out added to the confusion too. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Don't hike alone," said Fike. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Lamar was also very close to Elvis' mother. For some people (3) controlling their eating is the only way that they can feel in control of their lives generally. Outside of Red West, Lamar Fike was with Elvis the longest and he remained close to him until Elvis passing. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. Im surprised Goldman could walk down the street after that, without strangers hitting him with a sock full of horse manure. Lamar stayed a close friend of Elvis throughout the years, often providing the humour that helped Elvis and the gang get through the tough days. Surely they meet the criteria. The effect of Goldmans revision will be twofold. . During what Elvis purists believe were the pathetic years of his decline, the singer was wont to invite Fike onstage to give him the kind of "piggyback" a father gives his child. The 'parade' footage is good to see as it puts you in the right context with color and b&w footage. Following their return, he became Presley's tour manager.Beginning in 1961, he alternated between being in Presley's camp and serving as the road manager for Brenda Lee. Lamar - Lona . He worked for the King from 1957 to 1977 and even traveled to Germany with him in 1958. was published. Regarding the issue of people not being given access to Elvis at times, it is possible that Elvis knew of this and was part of the game. It scared us all to death. And if you believe that "Elvis What Happened?" I feel EPE should send a belated check of 50-thousand dollars to the other who have vanished last year.that's "loyalty" and appreciation in my book. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. He got fired for that. Fike's physical bulk led to his description as "larger-than-life" in various of the countless books on Presley. Mr. Fike was the co-author of the 2005 book Elvis and the Memphis Mafia. Lamar had been hospitalized since last October 14th and then transferred to the physical therapy wing of the hospital. Billy Smith, Marty Lacker and Lamar Fike were among the earlier. Year should not be greater than current year. Ultimately they were all as bad as one another, none of them being of any real benefit to Elvis. Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. "When it comes to safety please listen to your parents. It is never good to speak ill of the dead. [2] One of those who followed Goldmans version was Robert Pattison, professor of English at Long Island University and author of The Triumph of Vulgarity: Rock Music in the Mirror of Romanticism, published in 1987 by Oxford University Press. I have been friends with an English singer from the sixties who still performs. In addition to James Fike, of Atlanta, GA. he is survived by another son, John Fike, of Nashville, Tenn. Finding strong reason to believe that Bob Lee Smith, Elviss maternal grandfather, may have married a first cousin, Goldman gravely informs his readers that genetics may explain why the children of Bob Lees brothers and sisters turned out well, whereas Bob and [his wife] Doll produced children who exhibited an abnormally high incidence of addiction to drugs and alcohol, emotional disorders and premature death. Goldman turns his tricks well. I'm thankful that we have so much video of Lamar thanks to the Memphis Mafia videos from 1997. And I always lost. "When I found out their relationship was more than just necking, I was afraid we were all going to prison without a trial," Fike recalled. "He treated everybody equal. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. So when he had a show down there at the Palace, everybody got ready for something good. The point I make is that the criticism of Elvis as a self destructive junkie is as hackneyed and exaggerated as most Elvis Impersonators. It is one thing to take drugs, it is another thing how your body react to it. In later years, Lamar Fike returned to Nashville to work as an assistant to record producer and label executive Jimmy Bowen, most notably during Bowen's tenure as the head of Capitol Records, 1989-1995. Dave Hebler is at the "Elvis: What Happened?" Fike was born in Cleveland, Miss., on Nov. 11, 1935. Lamar Fike wishes to be cremated will be carried out and the Brown, Owen, Brumley Funeral Home, Ft.Worth are handling his funeral. The reasons for that are probably quite innocent and quaint but it inevitably leads to a distorted impression of who Elvis was. Just my feelings. Another one is gone. One of Fike's most revealing interviews was with the presenter Larry King, who asked him what Elvis was like to work with. If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, Keisker remembers Sam Phillips saying, I could make a billion dollars.[1], In Goldmans book what we are offered is very different. But it's very, very hard to get at a balanced view not least because we weren't there and are left trying to arrive at informed conclusions based on inconsistent information. Being around a drug addict for years is Hell. This is the way he wants it, but the fans have no idea of this, they think it is all my doing. 12:15 PM at the "Gravesite", final words and the Interment of his Ashes. He is preceded in death by his parents Henry and Rose Grodstein Lacker and his sister Anne Louise Lacker Grenadier. Fike became an intimate member of the Memphis Mafia, whose relationship to Presley was described by one writer as "like a football scrum after a loose ball." I guess I learned from them. Why would Elvis lie? Elvis Birthday Elvis Born January 8, 1935. I also met Elvis in '54 and began working for him in '57 although we never got paid. [1] From an interview with Keisker by Jerry Hopkins, as it appears in Hopkinss Elvis (1971). This is a carousel with slides. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. Her . At the time of his death, he was reportedly writing his memoir, Fike: An Uncommon Journey.Mr. If Red West was the Judas of the Mafia (being much closer to Elvis before he betrayed him) what shall we then call Fike? I taken him to the Hotel Improvement Club with me, he told Margaret McKee and Fred Chisenall, authors of Beale Black & Blue, and he would watch the colored singers, understand me, and then he got to doing it the same way as them. The Stanley brothers is another example. He had something in between that made the blues sort of different Always he had that certain humanness about him that Negroes like to put in their songs. Elvis Presley and Lamar Fike at the carpark / observation lookout high above Hanauma Bay, Hawaii, May 1969. Lamarr had lived in the Orlando area for the past decade, in Altamonte.         Fike began working for him for no pay Elvis preferred to tip his entourage with flash cars or houses for their parents. If he'd wanted to meet up with Steve Binder, he could have phoned him at NBC and arranged for him to collect complimentary tickets at the International. Home - Elvis Presley Photos | Elvis Presley and Friends, Copyright 2022 by www.elvis.com.au & www.elvispresley.com.au, https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/news/lamar-fike-has-died.shtml. I fully agree with both "ttwiise" and "Jamie". Even the books errors, its disregard for the most easily confirmed facts, its degraded style, and its refusal of documentation or, most of the time, even attribution, is part of this: it emphasizes that a figure such as Elvis Presley does not deserve a serious biography.

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