Today (August 16th) marks the 45th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. Elvis died of a heart attack on August 16th, 1977 at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 42-years-old.

The day after Elvis' passing, then-President Jimmy Carter said in an official statement:

Elvis Presley's death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique and irreplaceable. More than twenty years ago he burst upon the scene with an impact that was unprecedented and will probably never be equaled.

His music and his personality, fusing the styles of White country and Black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense and he was a symbol to people the world over, of the vitality, rebelliousness and good humor of his country.

Fans are currently participating in ongoing "Elvis Week" celebrations in and around "The King's "Graceland mansion.

Elvis would have turned 87 back on January 8th, and unbelievably, 2020 marked the first year that Elvis Presley has been gone longer than he was alive.

Tragically, on July 13th, 2020 Elvis and Priscilla Presley's only grandson, Lisa Maria Presley's child, Benjamin Keough. Keough shot himself with a shotgun at his home in Calabasas, California. He was 27-years-old.

The new biopic, Elvis, opened on June 24th to ecstatic reviews. The film was directed by Baz Luhrmann with Austin Butler portraying Elvis and Tom Hanks as the legendary Col. Tom Parker. To date, Elvis has so far earned over $261.5 million at the box office globally.

Released last November 12th was the four-disc set, Elvis: Back In Nashville, featuring a whopping 82 original recordings capturing "The King" and his musicians live-in-the-studio laying down basic tracks. The collection chronicles Elvis Presley's final Nashville sessions.

In April 2018, the eagerly awaited HBO documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher premiered on April 14th on HBO, including never-before-seen photos and footage from private collections worldwide. The doc was directed by Bruce Springsteen's longtime filmmaker, Thom Zimny and produced by Springsteen's manager Jon Landau, Priscilla Presley, and original "Memphis Mafia" member Jerry Schilling, who now serves as the president of the Beach Boys' Brother Records' Inc.

In 2010, Elvis's personal physician Dr. George Nichopoulos -- infamously known worldwide as "Dr. Nick" -- published his memoirs about his decade over-prescribing drugs to Elvis in the memoir, The King And Dr. Nick. In 1980, Nichopoulos, who died in 2016 -- and over the years has been rated no better than a dope dealer by Elvis' family, friends, and legion of fans -- was indicted on 14 counts of over-prescribing drugs to Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, as well as 12 other patients. According to court records, in 1977 -- the year Elvis died at age 42 -- Nichopoulos had prescribed over 10,000 doses of amphetamines, barbiturates, narcotics, tranquilizers, sleeping pills, laxatives, and hormones for Elvis.

In an interview with The Daily Mail, Nichopoulos revealed that Elvis was suffering from, "arthritis, gout, a fatty liver, an enlarged heart, migraines, constipation, and a colon swollen to twice its normal size." Elvis was also reportedly battling glaucoma -- pressure on the eyeball -- as well as hepatitis, an enlarged liver, and Cushing's Syndrome -- a hormonal disease that causes bloating -- which was most likely was attributed to the herculean doses of hard dope he took on a daily basis.

(from pulseofradio.com)

2019 Rocky Mountain Showdown

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