Customer Reviews

Good Rockin' Tonight: Twenty Years on the Road and on the Town With Elvis

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have not read that many books about Elvis Presley, but I do consider myself an Elvis fan. Joe Esposito is more candid about Elvis' affairs with women than I had expected of him. You do realize that Elvis was flawed, but only because he was human. There were parts of the book that were almost shocking. Joe even talks briefly about some of Elvis' sexual practices. He picks up, in detail, about the very night he met Elvis and travels on to the day Elvis died, which is also in detail. Joe talks about the funeral arrangements and how he was in on the cover-up about the drugs. Among all the hundreds of books about Elvis, this one is worth the read. You just cannot dismiss Joe Esposito. He was really and truly as close to Elvis as anyone ever was. Joe has probably more first hand knowledge of Elvis than anyone.

It is very interesting to a casual Elvis fan such as me, but l would not recommend it to the die-hard fan.

I agree with another reviewer who spoke of Joe rationalizing the Colonel's treatment of Elvis. I strongly suspect that the Colonel and Joe treated Elvis about the same. They used him to get what they could out of him. Maybe I'm wrong, but the fact is Joe Esposito gained a lot from knowing Elvis and I doubt very seriously he ever would have done or said something that would put him out of favor with Elvis. Elvis was as much Joe's livelihood and he was the Colonel's. Joe does give a story about him and Elvis splitting up at one point, but in the last years Joe did not seem to do anything to help Elvis.

I want to comment on another reviewer's statements concerning Joe's exposure of J. D. Sumner and The Stamps' womanizing. I too love gospel quartets and I was a big J.D. fan, but I am not naïve. Singing, regardless of what genre it is, requires a lot of time on the road and that can easily lead to affairs especially when you happened to tour with Elvis Presley and all the "leftovers" to be had. I even saw J.D. two or three times during the late `80's and early `90's. I just want to say that I for one understand real life is ugly and no one is ever what they appear to be, particularly entertainers even the gospel ones. As far as Joe asking J.D. beforehand whether it was okay for Joe to expose J.D.'s affairs, I doubt too that he asked, but what do you think J.D. would have said, sure go ahead? I appreciated Joe's honesty. He gave plenty of evidence damning himself, but also provided a true picture of life with Elvis. For the record so to speak, J.D. never had a widow. His wife died a few years before him. As a matter of fact I think she died in 1992 or 1994, the year the book came out. J.D. died in November 1998. So although J.D. may have been aware of the book's existence, his wife probably never saw it. But with so many Elvis books out there, I am sure quite a few have mentioned J.D. and some were probably not kind in their remarks.

I appreciate Mr. Esposito's warm and honest portayal of Elvis Presley as a complex, imperfect, yet sincere human being as well as a great performer. I especially appreciated his clarification of Elvis' relationship with blacks, and relieved to hear accounts from Myra, one of the members of the Sweet Inspirations (the black female group that did background with Elvis from the late 60s until his death) that Elvis was not a racist and treated blacks with respect, courtesy and admiration. (in fact, he appreciated black music as a child sneaking to black churches to hear the singing). The only thing that bothered me was his account of the late J.D. Sumner and the Stamps running around chasing women the same as Elvis did. Even if it were true, this must be very painful for his widow and children to hear, and I think Esposito should have at least spoken to J.D. before he published something of this nature about him (I believe that J.D. passed away after the book was published). I'm sure if Elvis (who deeply respected gospel music) were alive, he would be appalled. Other than that, the book was very good.

Joe's book Good Rockin' Tonight is one of the most inaccurate books ever written on Elvis Presley. Though he has a few interesting personal stories to share, it's amazing how many things he got wrong when it came to Elvis' career. Most of the Memphis Mafia laughs at how bad Joe's memory is on alot of the personal stories too. Some much better books to get are: Elvis Aaron Presley - "Revelations Of The Memphis Mafia" or Marty Lacker's "Elvis - Portrait Of A Friend" ...

I remember when this book came out in '94 and I was still a pretty new Elvis fan. Then the years went on and I learned that there were two Elvis worlds; the EPE inner-circle world and the real world. Esposito is in the EPE payroll world, along with Schilling, Priscilla etc. Guys like Lacker, Billy Smith etc. they're in the world that actually existed from 1935-1977.

The book has some good stories but Esposito has a tendency to over-portray himself as Elvis' best friend and right-hand man. Yeah, he was his road manager for the tour years but he was also a huge liability to Elvis (i.e. the racquetball lawsuit). I think we as the readers need to take into consideration that every one of Elvis' mafia guys wanted to be his best friend (just read any of the other books) so many of the opinions will be weighted.

Out of all of the books I have read about Elvis' life, I recommend Alana Nash's book that she wrote with Billy Smith, Lamar Fike and Marty Lacker. You'll get many more believable stories and you'll see the real Esposito away from the EPE facade portrayed in this book.

I don't hate Esposito but from meeting him and reading this book and a slew of others, I think he was a gold digger that was like so many others in Elvis' life, a leach.

I thought this book was very good! I have read many Elvis books and really liked this one it gives you an inside look into the life of Elvis and the guys around him. i thought Joe was very honest in telling the story. i also liked the fact that this book tells what happened the day elvis died. it really is a great read if you are an elvis fan. good job joe i loved it!

I felt the book to be a more honest and informative depiction of the life of Elvis than other books that I have read on the subject.

Good Rockin' Tonight is a very good book that tells the truth about Elvis Presley the king of rock and roll when he was on the road. A warm yet vividly honest portrait of Elvis the MAN. Recomend to all Elvis fans and anyone who likes good books.

I loved this book. Joe really lets you know what it was like to live with Elvis. He also allows the fans to love Elvis and does not dwell on his shortcomings.If you love Elvis.... you'll love this book..

i agree with danny on this one joe was very hones,t and open about his book. he did elvis proud also larry geller wrote a moving book about his time with elvis and that was also a very honest discription. jeanette

This is one of the most inaccurate books ever written about Elvis Presley. It's obvious that Joe's affiliation with The Colonel was something that he tried desperately to rationalize because he is constantly lying in regards to how the Colonel ran things. He gets details wrong all the time, dates,...ect. When you compare this book to others written about Elvis, it's obvious that Joe's memory and his refusal to talk honestly about the Colonel and a few other subjects, make this a bad choice in what books to get about Elvis Presley. Even researchers ignore most of this book when writing their own books about Elvis. It's not that he doesn't talk honestly about the drugs either, he does. But the facts he states involving stories about the movie years and other things he gets the details all wrong.