which elvis?

[datasuspect]

[RevCheesehead]

1. Forrest Gump Elvis!!

:loveya:

[datasuspect]

8. lissen baby

i'm sitting here on toilet

ummm yeah

high and drugged out,

this is where i gave up my life

(to the tune of hunka hunka burning love)

[ForrestGump]

10. Whatchoo got on? Your mind?

:D

:hug:

[RevCheesehead]

12. Elvest!!

:loveya::hug:

[idgiehkt]

2. pre-big collar elvis.

Was he native american or something? I've always wondered.

[ForrestGump]

9. He was part Cherokee

His great-great-great-grandmother was Morning White Dove. He was a real mix, though, in terms of heritage (including Jewish through his maternal grtandmother that, as I understand Jewish law, made him Jewish).

He played an Indian in two movies (got inducted into the Los Angeles Tribal Council for the first one) and in the '70s a lot of the clothes he had made for wearing ona nd off the stage had Native American themes...this 1975 jumpsuit was a pretty cool one:

[idgiehkt]

11. I knew it!

I wanted to say Cherokee but I just said native american because everyone always says Cherokee in the south even though there are tons of other tribes.

I wonder who made that jumpsuit for him...

[ForrestGump]

17. The jumpsuits were made by

IC Costume Company, in LA, and designed by a dude named Bill Belew (showbiz costumer...he first worked with Elvis on the 1968 TV special and then began making stage clothes for Elvis and also most of his casual attire, as well).

The jumpsuits were all made of stretch wool gabardine, a custom blend imported from Milan, and when he started sporting stones on them as well as brass studs they used Austrian crystals...the things were expensive and very heavy (up to 40 pounds, with the studded capes). The Indian suit was among the final type made for Elvis (he started with simple suits, then went to heavily studded suits, then suits heavy with crystal, and then the even more expensive but considerably lighter embroidered suits) and had some pretty nice embroidery going on:

[jane_pippin]

3. I tried voting for Bloated Elvis but my vote didn't get counted.

Bloated Elvis 4 Eva! Take that, error message!

[johnnie]

4. .

x(

Can you find a worse picture?..LOL


Here is what Elvis looked like right before he died

[LeftyMom]

5. His weight went up and down really rapidly in his final years

ForrestGump did an almost day-by-day analysis a while back. I seem to recall that his self-medicating had a lot to do with it.

[johnnie]

7. He had a lot of trouble with his insides due to the drugs

He bloated on and off his whole life. They made him do that last film and he looked like shit, but his later dates of that tour he looked fine. I can say that by turning 40 just 2 years ago, I can understand. I was always trim and now I go up and down and it isn't the same as it was. Of course I would rather have Forrest in here, because he can explain Elvis much better than I can

Him and I are both the same age, and I was a fan before he was, but that dude knows what he talking about and can do it better than I. I suck at conveyance. :)

[ForrestGump]

15. You convey, dude!

:D

I bet some of the Greek Gods on DU who'd make 'fat Elvis' cracks wish they looked as good as Elvis did in his lowest physical moments. Even when he was sick, and heavy, he had those classic features. Hell, it's not like he is the only person to gain weight or get sick around 40, though you'd think so to hear some of the crap spouted about him by people who not only don't know their "as-trology from a hole in the ground" but who seem to lack compassion when it comes to dying cultural icons.

[ForrestGump]

14. Here's that thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2823868

Yep, Elvis' drug abuse (he saw it as something else, most of the time, because they were legally-prescibed pharmaceuticals) was undoubtedly key, though he had several conditions that were probably congenital if perhaps exacerbated by a highly unusual way of living and the stresses of being who he was. He had several medical conditions that contributed to his physical decline -- the amazing thing, really, is that he was so robust for so long (the people around him also point that out in relation to his ability to withstand physical punishment in general, as well as potent 'attacks' of powerful prescription drugs).

His weight was to an extent actual weight gain -- again, he was genetically predisposed that way, as many of us are -- but much of it was swelling...oedema. Regardless, Elvis weight/bloat only really got especially apparent once he hit 40 and it did, indeed fluctuate. What gets to me is how people, including so-called 'progressive' people on this site, continue to hold Elvis to a standard that many or most of them would fail...why? Because he wasn't ever supposed to be anything but an Adonis? Putting people down for weight issues (too much or not enough) remains a widely accepted prejudice, apparently. For me, his physical condition or his self-destructive behaviors do not detract from the man's legacy...not the parts that really count, the music and the harder-to-pin-down aspects of his career and its ramifications that help ensure that not only does he still top record charts today but that you rarely go a day without seeing some reference to Elvis in one or other of the media or just around you, wherever you are.

[ForrestGump]

16. And here's a shot from his final concert:

A good time was had by all.

[baldguy]

6. Other

[grannylib]

13. Neither. Elvis Costello gets my vote.