THE COLONEL
By ALANNA NASH

Book Review: “The Colonel”
Author: Alanna Nash
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Reviewer: Ken Vrana

Three years ago, I had little if any real interest in Elvis Presley. All that would change when an old girlfriend of his suggested I do a documentary film on the man. Now, after traveling over 150,000 miles and doing some 400 interviews, I jokingly tell people I can probably tell you what color socks the guard at Graceland wore in 1965. In part, that’s why I was particularly interested in reading Alanna Nash’s newest book, “The Colonel. – The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley.” 

It’s no secret that Elvis’ lifelong manager, Colonel Tom Parker has been the target or ridicule and scorn by the legions of Elvis fans who believed that Parker biked Elvis at every turn, so of course, the path of least resistance would have been to simply jump on that band wagon and enjoy the ride. Never one to take the easy route however, Alanna Nash has produced a thoroughly readable and hugely well-researched book that will both entertain and illuminate it’s readers.

“The Colonel” is about 416 pages long, but Nash moves us from Parker’s life as a boy in Holland, where he was actually born, Andreas van Kuijk, through his flight from that native land and subsequent years on the carnival and circus circuits, to his discovery of Elvis and their extended relationship, so effortlessly, that the book feels only half that long. Research is the key to a book like this and given that Tom Parker could have taught the Secret Service a thing or two about how to cover it’s tracks, ferreting out the truth about the man seems a near impossibility. Nash has clearly been able to do it however, in part through sheer doggedness and also by interviewing as many people who actually knew the man as she could find. As I had interviewed man of the same people for my film, I can tell you she was did her homework. Moreover, Nash never takes advantage of the cheap shot and I personally know of at least one story she could have included in the book, that she decided not to use, even though it might have enhanced the sizzle factor a notch, because of her commitment to her craft.

The other danger, especially when writing a book that in this case has a built-in potential readership, is that there’s no margin for error. If you’ve not done due diligence, Elvis fans will point it out and I was hard pressed to find any holes in the book. I was also reasonably sure that the potential market for this book, reaches beyond Elvis fans. While they will find it fascinating, because of the Elvis connection, it is also a book about a larger than life character, who in many ways helped invent what we now accept as standard talent marketing principals, well before most folks had even thought there was such a thing. 

It might easily be said that if Col. TomParker had orchestrated the Water Gate Break In, the Plumbers would not have been caught, but if Alanna Nash had written the book about it, she’d have figured out who Deep Throat was, 3 weeks after it happened. Elvis may well have left the building, but thanks the Nash, Parker never made it passed the door.

2003/06/01 Ken Vrana / Ep.Gold.Com.