The Colonel : The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley

Rating:
Summary: A very enlightening and shocking book
Review: The book gives impressive detail into Parker's past before he signed on as Elvis' manager. There is enough detail and accounts from witnesses throughout the book to give the reader a personality profile of Parker as a man without a conscience. Read the contract details, the side contracts for Parker, the excessive control written into the contracts. Elvis was trapped, and he knew of no way out. The book goes into detail about how once Parker realized Elvis was not well, into drugs, and his career stalemated once again, Parker sets up the Boxcar company (15% to Elvis) to make money on souveniers. This contract would become a gold mine once Elvis was dead. This was in 1973. The book is shocking and sad to read. I highly recommend this book to get a better idea of what went on behind the scenes. This book seconds the findings of Dirk Vellenga, with Mick Farren, authors of the book "Elvis and the Colonel" published in 1988. The book also contains the story of how in 1980 a Memphis judge ordered an investigation of Parker's dealings with Presley-related income. Rather than rubber-stamp the contracts that were in place, the investigation took the agreements from Parker and put them back in the hands of the Presley estate. The findings of the court-ordered lawyer, Mr. Blanchard Tual, uses words like "in Parker's self interest, fraudulently obtained, unethical, against industry standards."

Rating:
Summary: The best rock management biography ever written
Review: The title including the word "Extraordinary" is fully justified. I thought this book would be a "dishing the dirt" epic on Parker but it turns out to be a very well researched lifetime biography of the Colonel's life and not just his involvement with Elvis.

The well told story is of a man who from poor beginnings in Holland was involved in a murder there and forced to flee to the USA at an early age. He then spent his life as an illegal immigrant with that dark secret.

His early struggles with poverty in the 1930s and 1940s including being discharged from the army with mental illness, sets the scene for a man who revitalised his childhood fascination with fairs and carnivals, which were a major circus in the Americas of that period. All the man's later business cunning and marketing skills were learnt in that "carny" environment of deceit, overstatement, advance promotion and getting the cash in any deal as soon as possible to survive. He clearly retained a soft spot for this teaching ground all his life.

His first major music involvement came with country star Eddy Arnold who he fell out with when Arnold found him doing personal side deals. With no real appreciation of music ever, he became aware of the early Elvis and the storm he was creating in the South and took control under an initial contract that fully reflected Parker's approach all his time in managing Elvis of keeping it simple and balanced in his favour.

The view established by the book is that while the Colonel (a title obtained by politial hucksterism and not from his army days) always looked after Number One and was continually doing side deals that personally benefitted him not his client, the usual Elvis fan's view of the Colonel being a parasite is certainly challenged-

- the fan mania developed across 1956 and subsequent years including manipulation of the RCA label and TV was unprecedented and owed a lot to the flair of Parker to do things differently in the face of others historic approach to how to promote pop stars;

- Elvis's enlisting into army service and his "protected" life in Germany plus a controlled keeping in the public eye across those years may owe more to the manipulation of Parker;

- the much derided series of Elvis movies in the 1960s together with their hit singles and dross LPs may in retrospect have actually protected Elvis from live performance and a decline in popularity esp. with the advent of the Beatles plus given his lifelong poor approach to financial matters kept him earning a steady stream of income in that period;

- the return to live performance while driven by Elvis was taken to a new level by Parkers' approach to concert promotion, both in Las Vegas and across the USA.

However, the book does not flinch from the downsides of the man's personality and approach to business, especially his endless paranioa, bullying and control by fear over all those who worked with him; his ensuring limited access and opportunities being shown to Elvis by others (notably his failing to allow his development as an actor in serious roles); his Las Vegas deals fuelled by his increasing addiction to gambling and not Elvis's best interests at the hands of the casinos, and due to his illegal immigrant status his unwillingness to ever allow foreign tours by Elvis which in the later years could have been major revenue earners for him.

The sad conclusion is that Parker given his personality always saw himself as the person in charge and Elvis his instrument and that Elvis's success and earnings were down to the Colonel's skills and negotiations not Elvis's talents. The reality demonstrated endlessly is that Elvis and his family (especially his father) were never going to challenge Parker, given their lack of financial acumen and extravangant spending laid them open to continual manipulation. Parker in turn given his personality was unable to help as Elvis's deline under drugs gathered pace and the inevitable happened.

The post Elvis years show a man who was still driven by the self benefitting deal and his manipulation of the Elvis estate, with the sad endgame as he gambled ceaslessly of a man who earned an estimated $100 million plus from his relationship with Elvis but at death had less than a million dollars in assets.

This is by far the best rock management biography that I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: RAGS TO RICHES--TWICE
Review: This bio is a winner that keeps the reader involved from beginning to end because the main subject is a fascinating character who could properly be termed as eccentric...and mentally brilliant. He had a multitude of jobs...all menial until he proved himself, yet never able to get into the front office 'til his forceful personality "made things happen." He truly did "make" Elvis Presley. He took advantage of almost everyone and, at the same time, helped many in their careers. Elvis could be blamed for not paying any attention to the business part of his life, but there was so much money involved that it seemed he was happy, too. Chapter titles give a hint of the contents like: "The Little Dutch Boy," and "Dancing Chickens, Toothless Lions, and Rodeo Cowboys," and "Mistakes Some-One May Hae Made." Oh yes, discover why The Colonel and Elvis were almost destitute when they died and their estates were miniscule compared to their earnings.

Rating:
Summary: Almost completes the Picture
Review: This book is critical in getting a more complete understanding of The Rise and Fall of Elvis... Tom Parker was integral to the whole phenomenon. This Book is an extraordinary portrait of an extremely complex character, providing real insight into his motivation.... For me, the details provided here intensify the tragedy of Elvis's Life, but also help me understand him better. Not to mention shed light on the genius of Parker. This Book is a Mmst for those inspired by Elvis!

Rating:
Summary: Ho hum . . .
Review: This story has been told in part in many novels about Elvis and in whole in the novel: ELVIS MY BOY, by Sean O'Neil. The explosive dud in this book is the thinly pieced together allegation that he may have killed a woman before he fled his homeland. The rest is leftover grist for the mill that has been regurgitated for more than 20 years.
Did the Colonel rip Elvis off, or was he really the only manager that deserved a 50-50 split? Giving the devil his due, Elvis was singing at shopping mart openings and barn parties when the Colonel came along. His big gig was playing the Lousiana Hayride for $18.00 on Saturday nights. His records were shutout in every category and he had to split his take with his touring jamboree, even though he was the one overflowing the auditoriums. After more than a year in the business, he was working himself into the ground just to keep the roof of their little house over their heads.
Within 6 months of signing with the Colonel, he was the biggest name in show business and he just got bigger. His music played in every genre, he was the dominant figure on television, the most controversial artist in history and his image was reproduced more than Jesus or Santa Claus. He was with the biggest label, the biggest studio, the biggest talent agency and was making more money than any entertainer in the world. The Colonel certainly earned his cut in the beginning.
But later he sold Elvis out in Vegas to cover his gambling debts and worked him to death playing backwater venues, rather than accepting the fortune offered by foriegn countries for concert performances, because, as an illegal alien, he couldn't obtain a passport.
This book provides no new information and offers the same superficial perspective we've read too often. Even the interviews with his long lost relatives merely confirmed what we already knew. Parker/VonKujik was a confirmed S.O.B! Each were fascinating; together they were formidable and built something that will last forever. That's their epitaph.