The Reality of What Is!

In June 1977, 45 years ago this year, Elvis embarked on what would be his final tour, comprising ten shows, over consecutive nights, in ten cities over seven states, with total ticket sales of just under 117 000.

It was an eventful few days on the road, as recounted in Peter Guralnick's forensically researched bio, Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley;

“…Ronnie Tutt left after the Des Moines concert, citing a family crisis, and Larrie Londin was able to come in for the last two nights after Sweet Inspirations drummer Jerome “Stump” Monroe filled in for one show. In Madison, Wisconsin, Elvis was being driven from the airport to the hotel when he spotted two youths ganging up on an attendant at an all-night filling station. Over the protests of Ginger and his father, he leapt out of the limousine and struck a karate pose, offering to take the two bullies on. The fight broke up without any further blows being exchanged as the three participants stood in stunned recognition of who was intervening. “Presley did not leave until tempers were cool,” reported one wire-service account…Presley shook hands and posed for several pictures. He seemed amused by the whole episode as he got back into the limousine…In Cincinnati he gave everyone another surprise when he grew irritated at the inadequacy of the hotel air-conditioning system and, deciding to take matters into his own hands, set out to find another hotel, heading down the street in his DEA jogging suit with his security detail behind. He was an hour late to the show that night because of what he termed “a technical hitch,” but his performance was generally accounted to be a good one…”

Early in the tour, in Omaha and Rapid City, shows were filmed for a television special, the final edit not ideal due to arena sound problems and Elvis' own struggles which have been well documented. For marketing purposes, it was claimed that these performances were Elvis' last actual concert. This was not true, and in fact Elvis' performance improved consistently over subsequent days, and his real final show, on June 26th in Indianapolis, was a great performance to a big, enthusiastic audience.

Over June, I'll be posting some clips, background and audience recordings celebrating Elvis' final days on the road, and despite what has been written then and since, on a good night, he was still a powerful showman who could fill big arenas, and whose voice was actually better than ever.

Super random return to Tumblr after what I think must be years! But having fallen down the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard rabbit hole, I’m seeing some Amber apologists on here posting the ultra gaslighting bits of Rottenborn’s closing without allowing comments, so I just felt compelled to come on and make my own comment to say: 

“If you didn’t take pictures, it didn’t happen. If you did take pictures, they’re fake. If you didn’t tell your friends, you weren’t injured. If you did tell your friends, they were part of the hoax.“ 

That is Not. TF. what we (or Camille) are saying. And it was unbelievably insulting and gross for him to frame it that way.

The reason what Amber’s done makes me so angry is because I DON’T assume anyone would lie about having suffered abuse, ever. I have argued vehemently against misogynists who DO treat women who come forward as lying until proven otherwise. So no, sir, I do not appreciate being lectured about how I’m harming women when it took the absolute mountain of evidence of her NOT being truthful to pull me away from that default. I don’t appreciate being gaslit for being upset that someone would take advantage of that default that the 99% of survivors who would never dream of lying about the abuse they’ve suffered fought, and continue to fight, so hard for. 

This is not about “if it happened you should have pictures.” This is about there being a mountain of photos, videos, and recordings proving that the incredibly severe, specific allegations she sat there recounting in gruesome detail under oath never happened. 

This is about her sitting there swearing up and down under oath that the video we all saw with our own two eyes of her completely uninjured, was her with two black eyes and a busted lip after having been brutally beaten in the face by a man who wears the equivalent of brass knuckles in rings. Not “the abuse wasn’t the type you would see in this video” - but specifically “yes, I had severe facial injuries in this video where my face looks flawless.” This is about her having carefully documented all manner of OTHER photos and videos exploiting Johnny’s struggles with addiction, and insisting that the harm he did to himself is somehow evidence of him having brutally, severely harmed her, while deliberately having avoided taken photos of herself after the alleged most severe attacks. 

No one. is saying. that the abuse has to be severe in order for it to count. No one is expecting survivors to have documented everything. SHE made the allegations so severe that they don’t match up with the reality we see. SHE made it impossible to believe she wasn’t sitting there this whole time appropriating the very real suffering others have had to go through. 

So to the survivors out there (especially women, for purposes of this discussion): 

I can’t control what others do, but please know that I believe you, and will NEVER expect any bar of proof to do so. It took a heaping mountain of proof I could see and hear with my own eyes and ears that Amber IS lying - Amber, one single woman out of the 99% who would never dream of doing so - to make me not believe her. And her lies will never make waver in standing by you. I will always believe women, and I’ll continue to call out anyone using this trial as an excuse to do otherwise. 

I just don’t believe Amber. One specific privileged cis white woman who coopted a necessary, hard-fought feminist movement as a shield for her abusive behavior.