Pamela Clarke Keogh

Cool Stuff

Tiffany's threw a really cool party!

Tiffany's threw a really cool party -- it was a fundraiser for the NYPL, and they featured table settings with NYC authors -- John Loring, Candace Bushnell ("Sex and the City") and Gloria Vanderbilt...

The EP book was also featured and (needless to say) we had the coolest table -- we did sort of a late night at Graceland thing with EP, Blaine Trump, Bill Clinton and the Duchess of Devonshire (they are all huge fans). If you look closely, you will also see a Graceland snowglobe, SUN ashtray and mug, handwritten note from Bill Clinton... Tiffany did a great job with the table, and thanks, everyone at SUN and EPE for the accoutrements.

(On the night of the party, I also watched two extremely well dressed, older women, nab two Elvis playing cards from the table and put them in their pocket!)

Okay, I will admit it: I am a devout Democrat, and one day in the mailbox, I got a handwritten letter from Bill Clinton, mentioning his friendship with Jacqeline Kennedy Onassis and his love for Elvis. Way cool! By the way, the original is framed and hanging over my bar.

In Nashville, my very good friend, Pamela Needham hosted a book signing at a record company on Music Row (let’s just say that if I ever figure out how to put two notes together, I could probably get a record deal). It was really fun — full of industry people, folks in the biz, Woody Guthrie’s grandson (a nice, nice guy). In the middle of the party, a man comes up to me and hands me some sheet music — the handwritten horn section to “Suspicious Minds.” It turns out to be Wayne Jackson, one of the legendary members of the Memphis Horns. I almost fell over I was so surprised!

When you get to Memphis, visit Stax Studio to learn all about Wayne’s contribution to the Memphis Sound.

A party I wish I could have gone to…

A nice letter from Hans Fiebig, the man who made the King’s famous “EP” and “TCB” sunglasses.

If you ever find yourself in Natchez, Mississippi, this is the place to go for fried catfish…

My Worst Review Ever!

Okay, I'll admit it -- I've been spoiled. My first book was a NYT bestseller... and Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, as was my second. And they were published in lots of different languages -- languages that I can't even understand.

But nothing prepared me for Elvis. His friends (cool), his fans (lovely), the tour (a total blast). If you want to feel the love -- write a gorgeous book about EP. I can't tell you how many hundreds of very moving letters I have gotten from readers.

Except for this one person. At the risk of litigation, I am not going to say much. He is very well known in Elvis Circles, and is even something of a self-styled expert. And in case you are wondering -- I like his books. They are clear, concise, simply written. For what they are, they are quite good. But boy, did he not like my work. (Or me, I think, for that matter...) Here is his "review" which appeared in an Australian webzine. (Thank god for small miracles, right?)

I hate writers who bitch about their reviews, my attitude is: write your book and let the chips fall where they may. But I read this and got so annoyed that I challenged him, If you can find the chapter -- or sentence for that matter -- where "Elvis went around everywhere talking aloud to his dead twin, Jesse Garon," I will donate $10,000 in your name to Presley Place
right now.

Not very zen, I realize. But there it is.