JULIE PARRISH DIES

Julie wrote this inscription on her photo to me :
"Sid, I thank you with all my heart for your kindness in helping me get my great, great, great grandfather's 
papers from the Public Record Office, Kew Gardens. Bless You!   Love, Julie Parrish "

It is with much sadness that I learned of the death of Julie Parrish. I never met Julie Parrish, never spoke to her and yet somehow through our email and personal correspondence it was like I had known her for years and that she was a friend. Sadly, in the Elvis World I have met many people who are takers but Julie was a giver and she gave from her heart.

She had written to me in April asking for help to track down some information about her ancestry in Sussex and gave simple instructions of what was needed. I put her request on our website and in our Cyber Newsletter but no one came forward to help Julie so I went to the Public Records Office to find the documents she needed. It was an interesting and enlightening experience going through all these ancient original documents. I managed to photocopy some pages but others had to be mailed to me. Eventually, after a couple of weeks, I sent off all the copied documents to Julie. She sent a brief thank you message by email and then some weeks later she posted FORTY signed photographs of herself, including one signed personally to me which is on display in the Elvisly Yours Shop  at 233 Baker Street, London. I will cherish this photograph and its personal message. Many of the photographs have already been used to raise money for charity and the rest I will specially auction through our website and possibly on eBay to raise money for the Lynda Jackson MacMillan Centre for Cancer Support. Julie had fought ovarian cancer twice and won and although the cause of her death is not known at the time of writing it may well have been as a result of her battles with cancer. She came over ill on Wednesday October 1st and was taken to hospital where she died. 

She had offered to pay my small expenses for getting her documents but I had written I did not want any money because I joked that she should treat me and Maureen to a slap up meal when she came to London. Sadly, she wrote that she did not think she could ever afford to come to England. Being ill in America is a huge financial burden. I have never understood how the American people have put up without a health service for all these years and if you get cancer you can be ruined, even with insurance which does not cover all bills. Just two weeks ago I received a card from Julie with a UK cheque for £25.00 from a friend of Julie's and I was surprised because I did not want or expect any money. It had been such a pleasure to visit the Public Record Office and forty signed photographs was way over the top as a 'thank you'.

We are planning on visiting Los Angeles and we had hoped to meet Julie after our friendship had developed through email and letters. I wanted to give her a copy of my book and my 2004 calendar and some day hoped to invite her to England for an Elvis promotion. I had heard so much about her from fans and people in the Elvis World. Everyone had a nice word for Julie, she was truly an angel and now she has joined all the other angels in "Blue Suede Heaven".

I kept a permanent advert for her photographs on our web pages and in our Newsletters hoping that fans would buy Julie's photographs to help her realize her dream and visit England again to research her family ancestry. I would like to hear from any fans that did write to Julie and I know they all got a response as she was a lady who cared. After her acting career waned she gave her life to helping battered wives and helping other cancer sufferers. My great regret was never meeting Elvis or seeing his concerts and now there is another regret that I did not meet such a sweet, warm and caring person like Julie who has died at the age of 62 years old. Our sympathies go to her family, friends and the so many fans that she touched with her love, warmth and kindness. 

If you have any messages about Julie please leave them on the Elvisly Yours message board www.elvisly-yours.com . The bidding for signed photos of Julie which she sent to Elvisly Yours will start at £50.00 each plus p&p and all proceeds will go to the Lynda Jackson MacMillan Centre for Cancer Support. If you would like a signed photo of Julie Parrish, not necessarily with Elvis, then please put in your bid now and send to sid@elvisly-yours.com . 

 Visit the Julie Parrish website to read more about her life :    www.julieparrish.com

"They couldn't organize a booze-up in a brewery"

In London there are SEVEN Elvis theme restaurants, all have been successfully operating for many years and all give a good service to their customers. In Memphis there was only ONE Elvis Restaurant and with the 600,000 plus visitors to Graceland every year it should not have taken much skill or decent management to operate successfully. You would be wrong because EPE's Elvis Presley Memphis Restaurant has recently closed.

There is a huge misapprehension that the people who run Graceland are astute businessmen but for years I have stated publicly that if your replaced EPE's management with baboons they would make even more money. It is the magic of Elvis that brings in the business and people will always visit Graceland whoever is running the show. With a restaurant downtown it was a different proposition as management and marketing skills were required. Since EPE has made sure there is nothing to do in the Graceland area when it closes each day most tourists arrive on their tour buses, visit Graceland and often leave the city immediately after their pilgrimage. To get them to go downtown and visit their restaurant needed simple marketing, a little bit of imagination, drive and promotion. Instead EPE have managed to destroy what should have been a very profitable restaurant. "They couldn't organize a booze-up in a brewery". How you can run an Elvis Restaurant business in Memphis into the ground is beyond belief? Surely, everyone who visited Graceland is a potential customer and yet they failed miserably. I am sure that Paul Chan of Gracelands Palace of London and Kent could have done a much better job having successfully run his restaurants now for 15 years.

For more information about the closure of the "Elvis Presley, Memphis" Restaurant read this article by Thorne Peters  'EP's MEMPHIS'        

If you haven't yet read "DisGraceland" or the 2003 Elvis Symposium click :

ELVIS SHOW  IN BELGIUM Tickets for "Elvis, King Of The World" available now!  October 18th, Casino Knokke, at  36 and 42 Euro. In concert: René Shuman, Terry Mike Jeffrey, Duke Bardwell, Charlie Hodge. Address: American Dream,  Dorp West 13 - 2070  Zwijndrecht, Belgium      tel: 0032 (0)3 2529089 email: tcb.elvis@skynet.be web: http://users.skynet.be/ueps  RARE ELVIS BOOK... messages from the spirit of Elvis Presley Herrre's Elvis by Margo Blu is a fascinating little book that is full of anecdotes, thoughts, drawings and statements about life as told to Blu by the spirit of Elvis. The book is a must for any serious collector and although quite old now there are just a few copies left. It is very different to any other book on Elvis and a possible insight into the real Elvis and his spiritual needs. With so few copies left order today as it will not be reprinted in its current format.   Blu's wish is to find a publisher who will help her realize her dream to publish a complete book on her spiritual contact with Elvis and called "Elvis, God and Me". Herrre's Elvis by Margo Blu  Price $10.00  plus $5.00 mailing to Europe, $2.50 USA/Canada.  For details about ordering contact : LLBook@PacBell.Net email Blu : TheKingandI@dc.rr.com Margo Blu, 79813  Desert Willow, La Quinta, Ca. 92253 USA

ELVIS CHRISTMAS SHOW

		COME ALONG TO THE ELVIS  CHRISTMAS SPECIAL Christmas is a great time for festive fun and the Elvis Express and the Hanover are bringing you an all Elvis show to celebrate the festive season.     Our special "LIVE" performance will be from "THIS IS ELVIS" a great live show by a very talented young man. Plus all Elvis music, all night.   WHY NOT organise your works Christmas party for this special night of fun that you will remember and talk about all year long. Or just come along with family and friends.   It's all in support of the Chestnut Tree House Appeal   Tickets are £8.00 each and go on sale October 1st but you can pre book your tickets NOW!
To Pre-order your tickets: Send us £3.00 per ticket plus a S.A.E. (medium sized) along with your name and address.  Pay the remaining £5.00 per ticket by November 1st and we will send you your tickets.   (note: £3.00 deposit is non-refundable) All cheques / postal orders are payable to:  The Elvis Express , 208 Queens Park Road, Brighton, Sussex, BN2 9ZB England     TCE ALWAYS Lee Dawson (Editor)   For more details on how to subscribe: send a S.A.E. to The Elvis Express, 208 Queens Park Road, Brighton, Sussex BN2 9ZB, England   Tel: 01273 386 312  - Overseas: +44 1273 386 312  Fax: 01273 386 312  Check us out: www.elvis-express.com