Eye on Elvis Week: Insight and trivia focus of 'Mafia' reunion

George Klein

George Klein’s annual Elvis Mafia reunion at Alfred’s on Beale brought together fans with a panel of people who knew Elvis and had some stories to tell.

The Q-and-A Sunday evening is always a well-attended event with Klein emceeing and fielding the questions. He ends up answering many of them, too, thanks to his encyclopedic knowledge of the King or Rock and Roll.

George Klein

George Nichopoulos

Did you know, for example, that Elvis disliked:

* The smell of fish being cooked? (Therefore the limited surf cuisine in the household).

* The colors green and brown? (Reminded him of his Army days).

* Women wearing slacks? (He liked to see legs).

* Men who cursed in front of women? (If the offending gent didn’t know that, he found out fast).

* People who sat in front of him at the movie theater? (That would have been the Memphian where Playhouse on the Square is now. You could sit to the side or behind him. You didn’t remain in front of him for long).

* Nashville? (Not really the city as such — He liked the people and of course he recorded there. But he never got over being rejected by the Grand Ole Opry in 1954).

It was that sort of trivia and insight that pleased the fans at Alfred’s but they also loved to hear about the music. Much of that came from Mark James, the songwriter who provided Elvis with “Suspicious Minds,” “Raised On Rock” and “Moody Blue.”

James appreciated how Elvis stayed true to the songwriter’s intent. “Some performers change the music and the phrasing and you lose what it was. Elvis knew when not to go over that line.”

Dr. George Nichopoulos was on stage, being introduced by Klein who declared that Dr. Nick was one of the good guys. Nichopoulos has been controversial for prescribing a large number host of drugs for Elvis, but he got no flack at Sunday’s event. The fans were more interested in hearing about the singer’s battle with glaucoma and that hair dye and sweat aggravated his eye condition.

Klein’s Elvis Mafia reunion also featured drummer D. J. Fontana, nurse Marian Cocke, and Elvis buddies Dean Nichopoulos and Will ‘Bardahl’ McDaniel.

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