Customer Reviews

Is Elvis Alive?/Book and Audio Cassette

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Rumors about Elvis having hoaxed his death to escape his extreme fame and the media spot light have been around since at least 1978. I remember at the time coming across an entire tabloid dedicated to stories and accounts of people who had allegedly seen and or talked to him in the year following his 1977 passing. That's not say that all of the accounts were true. Nor is it to say that those people were lying. It could have been a simple case of mistaken identity.

During his life as a superstar, Elvis was not only the subject of great media scrutiny like many other famous people in the entertainment business. He was also elevated to a "god like" status by some of his more rabid fans; giving the casual observer the impression that Elvis was perhaps the center of their universe. Of course, these good folks meant well and Elvis was flattered by their love and attention. But he was also troubled and frightened by the extremes of his fandom. Frequently, he had no choice but to withdraw from it behind the walls of Graceland and his room.

Most people need to be loved and cared for but no right thinking mortal wants to be turned into a deity or to be treated like one. Elvis was no different. On many occasions he would say that he was just a little country boy from Mississippi and that Jesus was the King, not him. Without getting into psycho-babble, it doesn't take much of an imagination to realize the troubling effects Elvis' extreme fame and adulation must have had on his psyche. The evidence became apparent in later years. Nor is it hard to understand how and why he would want to escape that life for a more normal one. Less than a year before his passing, it is said that Elvis told his record producer, Felton Jarvis, "I'm tired of being Elvis Presley".

The question then becomes, "Was Elvis fed-up enough to hoax his death before 'death by attrition' could lay it's cold hands on him?" After all, he wasn't looking or feeling that well towards the end and the clock may have been ticking. That's what Gail Brewer Giorgio tries to figure out in her book, "Is Elvis Alive?" In some cases she presents some noteworthy facts to support the premise that the man "left the building" alive. And on other points she stretches to silly extremes, damaging the credibility of her case. Nevertheless, the book and the accompanying audio tape raise some good questions and make for some interesting reading and listening respectively.

You finish the work hoping that Elvis did indeed escape his prison, not to hurt anyone's feelings but to go on living his life, in relative peace. After all he gave his fans, Elvis deserves that. "Is Elvis Alive?" is a question worth pondering. Here's to you Elvis, wherever you are.

There is no doubt in my mind that Elvis faked his death in 1977! This book not only confirms what's in my mind, but it gives even deeper proof and understanding of what really happened before and during August the 16th 1977. My advice would be that you bye the book "Orion" by the same author as Is Elvis Alive Book... and you'll understand this book far better than not reading "Orion".

Just to give u a clue, to why I've made this suggestion. The Book Orion went off the shelves shortly after it was published because it sounded to be way too true - true enough to sound like Elvis, when the book really had nothing to do with Elvis what so ever, mysteriously the book vanishes from the shelf's, and people were told to never compare Orion to Elvis, when no one ever did in the first place. What where these people trying to hide??? The name Elvis doesn't even appear in the book, not even once!!! When certain things started to strangely happen, the book "Is Elvis Alive" came out, its pretty much "..The book about the (previous) book"

I do not know if Elvis is alive or not. People say he is, people say he faked his death, and others say anyone who thinks that is out of their mind. What I do know is that this book really gives you something to think about. If you ever really wondered why people think Elvis might be alive, then this is the book to get.

This book is fantastic. You won't be able to put it down. This book is what got me started on the investigation and what I have learned since then would astound you. If you don't buy another book this year..., Buy this one. Gail also has two other books out on this subject and they get better each time she writes one. The second is 'The Elvis Files' and the latest is 'The Elvis Cover-Up". I highly recommend 'The Elvis Cover-Up'. It is definately the best.

Someone please strike me with a shovel and ask me why, oh why do I feel that I must finish reading books after I start them. Regardless of how awful the book is, regardless of how many cringes I make before I even get to page two, I have a masochistic compulsion to give every book I open a chance that it will improve, up to the very last page.

Is Elvis Alive? by Gail Brewer-Giorgio is my latest masochistic waste of a few days of living. This is one of my twenty-year-old I'll-get-around-to-it reads. I bought this book for a dollar at a remainder outlet and thought it would be a riot to read, yet never bothered with it for the past two decades.

It was a painful read. The author, realizing that her credibility is at stake for writing such a book, makes it known throughout the 220 pages that she is a serious, published journalist, and has conducted extensive research and had interviews with those close to the Presley inner circle. She then proceeds to make spelling errors throughout the book [1] and uses as her own research material such tabloid Presley biographies as Elvis by Albert Goldman, Elvis: What Happened? by Red West, Sonny West and Dave Hebler, and Are You Lonesome Tonight? by Lucy de Barbin and Dary Matera. Goldman's book rates as the worst Presley biography in history, yet she quotes from it more than any other source.

Brewer-Giorgio also has the extremely irritating habit of writing questions when none are required. For example (and man there are dozens of examples like these): "She asked if he had cancelled it?"; "He asked if he could send the manuscript to the New York office?"; "I don't understand what you're talking about?". Annoying!

Do I really want to write an intelligent review on such a horrid book? Why would I want to waste my time trying to talk intelligently about a book that does not even deserve a thoughtful review? Why didn't I trash it after the first few pages? I decided to read this piece of crap because I thought it would be a fluffy read, and I might get a laugh out of it. Let me tell you: by the end of 220 excruciatingly badly written pages, I wasn't laughing. I don't even want to relive what I read in order to write a book review. It was that awful.

Is Elvis alive? No, he's dead!

[1] It's for its; your for you're; and confusing both there and their for they're. Yeah--you've lost your credibility with spelling error number one.

I bought this book in 1989 and have since purchased two more books from Gail Brewer-Giorgio about the possibility of Elvis being alive. I live in Memphis, Tn. and know for a fact some of these things are true.I highly recommend any of her books.

I Enjoyed, Is Elvis Alive. Ther has been a lot of mystique that surrounds Elvis Death & Still does, unfortunatly that is 1 Mystery that may Never be Solved.I Loved Orion & I thought it should have been left out of this whole mystery.why would someone want a Fiction booked pulled from the shelves?Is Elvis Alive, I don't know, but I do know that, None of us May Ever Know.

I've never been a fan of consipiracy theories, and am in fact quite the cynic. So when I was given this book as a gift, it was sometime before I even picked it up to read it. Wow, I'm sure glad I finally did! I never read Orion (apparently the author's first novel), but the facts included in this book and the conversation on the tape are just incredible. I didn't think the author was trying to make us believe anything, rather she just presented the facts surrounding Elvis' death and allowed the reader to come to his own conclusion. My conclusion after reading this book twice is that, if Elvis really did die in Aug 1977, there sure was a huge cover-up of some sort on the part of his family, friends, and business associates. Too many things just didn't fit, and the question would be "WHY NOT?". I would recommend this book to anyone with an open mind.

I think this book was pretty good but I do not think it is true at all.
I wish it were true. I think Gail wrote this book to make money off of the Elvis name like so many others out there who wrote books.the voice on the cassette does sound like Elvis but I saw a guy on TV years back that said he was paid to do this tape. Gail does point out a few things that do make you think and that is why it is a pretty good read. but is it true?I do not think so.

The fact that the author seems to believe that the supposed tape of "Elvis" is real shows that she is certainly on shaky grounds to start off with. Granted, it is the greatest Elvis *impersonation* I have ever heard - I've listened to it more than I have several Presley songs! As I understand it, the tape is actually answers to questions edited into a monologue - the same technique used on a real Elvis interview from 1962 [and obviously the reference disk for the incredible mimic] - see the "Elvis Aron Presley" boxed set for the monologue, and "Golden Celebration" for the interview (apparently overdubbed with a different interviewer than the reported original "Parade" magazine interviewer).
Once we easily dismiss this "evidence", there is very little else to take seriously. Her sections on handwriting [pre and post(?) 1977] and voice identification analysis [of the above-named tape] and medical "cover-up" are well presented and thought-provoking, however.

In reference to the supposed "Elvis" monologue, the reader will be amazed to learn that one expert actually believes to a certain degree that the tape does contain the voice of Elvis Presley and that another believes that the sentences/statements are not spliced. Some fans might remember that Presley's 1953 acetate of "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" did not pass a voice analysis test and still was released circa. 1990.
Apparently, expert mimicry or actual sounds applied to high tech. scrutiny can yield inconclusive results in some cases. The Presley fan might enjoy reflecting on that thought in relation to "The 'Elvis' Tape".