Jerry Hopkins (photo by William Waterfall)
JERRY HOPKINS WELL KNOWN AUTHOR TO ELVISFANS HAS GIVEN US THIS EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW FOR EP.GOLD.
About the author:
Jerry Hopkins has published more than 1,000 magazine articles and 27 books, including three international best-sellers.
Best known for his books and stories about popular music, in the past eight years as a Bangkok resident he developed a strong reputation writing about food and travel, appearing in numerous airline magazines and in such diverse publications as Condé Nast Traveler, GQ, Islands, Bizarre, Far Eastern Economic Review, Wine Spectator, Asian Wall Street Journal, Maxim, and The Village Voice.
His biography of rock singer Jim Morrison, No One Here Gets Out Alive, was a No. 1 bestseller (New York Times) in 1980, went back to No. 2 in 1991, selling more than 2 million copies,
and was a primary source for Oliver Stone’s film The Doors. Other biographical subjects include Elvis Presley (Elvis: A Biography, published in 1971, and Elvis: The Final Years in 1980; total sold 3.5 million copies), Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Raquel Welch, and Yoko Ono, earning him the title "dean of the pop biographers." The Morrison and Hendrix books were updated for re-release in 1995 and 1996.
His other books consider a wide range of subjects---music history, the environment, humor, journalism, food, behavior modification, and Polynesian culture among them, the latter including
a prize-winning (illustrated) history of the hula.These books were published in 23 countries and 14 languages, bestsellers in many of them. Strange Foods: Bush Meat, Bats & Butterflies, An Epicurean Adventure Around the World, was published in 1999 by Periplus Editions (Singapore) and in 2000 by Komet (Germany) and a history of the Hmong hilltribe is scheduled for later this year, along with a third book about The King, "Elvis in Hawaii."
For 20 years Hopkins was on the Rolling Stone masthead as a correspondent in London and Los Angeles and as a contributing editor. He also has worked as a feature writer, reporter, and music critic for daily and weekly newspapers and as a writer-producer in television for Mike Wallace, Steve Allen, and Mort Sahl, as well as for ABC Television and Universal Studios.
He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Author’s Guild, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.
Click here
to read the complete review about the MAKING of this incredible book by the author Jerry Hopkins.
Jerry Hopkins is well-known to Elvis fans. He published the first Elvis biography ("Elvis," Simon & Schuster,1971) and a
sequel ("Elvis: The Final Years," St. Martin's, 1980) while serving as a correspondent and contributing editor of Rolling Stone. He's just
published a third book, "Elvis in Hawaii" (Bess Press). He has given us this exclusive interview for Ep.Gold conducted by Andylon
Lensen..
2002/11/09 Jerry Hopkins / Andylon Lensen / Ep.Gold.Com.
Q. How did you become active in the Elvis world?
A. I was born in New Jersey the same year Elvis was born and it was
while I was in university in Virginia that Elvis began recording.
Initially, I didn't listen to his music. At the time I was a jazzfan.
Then in 1963, when I was living in Los Angeles and working for Steve
Allen, Steve asked me to write and produce a television show that
would introduce jazz to teenagers. I thought the way to do that would
be to show that rock and roll and jazz had the same roots in the blues.
I started listening to rock radio...and I never went back. Later, I
started playing "catch-up," listening to some of the early recordings
and that's when I discovered Elvis. A few years later, still in
Los Angeles, when I was writing for Rolling Stone and interviewing Jim
Morrison, he said he'd read a small history of rock that I'd recently
published and asked what I was planning to do next. I said I wanted to
write a biography but I hadn't decided who it would be about. Jim
said, simply, "I'd like to read a book about Elvis." Thus, the book was
dedicated to Jim, although, unfortunately, he didn't live to see
it published.
Q. Did you ever meet Elvis or see him live?
A. I never met him, although I asked. The Colonel said no. I wasn't
offended. By the late 1960s, the Colonel was turning away all such
requests. I figured it was easier to say no to everyone than to
give interviews to some and therefore offend those left out. Also, I
don't think Elvis enjoyed being interviewed...and there was value in the
mystery that went with his inaccessibility. I did see him in concert,
however. Several times, starting with his first Vegas engagement,
last one in Los Angeles.
Q. Did the idea of writing this new book come because you lived in
Hawaii?
A. Yes, although I didn't move there until shortly before he died.
It was while researching the first two books that I came to realize
the importance of Hawaii in Elvis's career. Half a dozen concerts,
including the Arizona Memorial and the satellite show (both of which
were benefits for island causes)...three movies...and it was his
favorite vacation spot because island residents left him alone. Outside
local entertainers, he was the only performer who appeared in Hawaii in
the 1950s,1960s and 1970s. He also became a sort of unofficial
ambassador for the islands; his movies helped put Hawaii on the tourist
map. So it was a two-way love affair. I'd planned to do the book
in 1993, but dropped the project when I moved to Thailand, where I
still live. Last year, my publisher in Honolulu asked me to revive the
project and I did.
Q. Was the new book hard to write while living in Thailand?
A, Before the Internet, it would've been far more difficult. The
Net allowed me to communicate with my publisher and Elvis fans instantly.
With the fans' guidance,I was directed to several websites where I
found information I needed and many contributed photographs and other
material from their personal collections. My own files and early contacts
in Hawaii provided more and I conducted several interviews from Thailand by
phone. I could not have done it without the fans.
Q. Do you have favorite recordings or films or books or websites?
A. I have unending respect for Peter Guralnick's two-volume biography,
"Last Train to Memphis" and "Careless Love." I don't like to choose
between the films and recordings, although I'd probably watch the
movies made in Hawaii on television if I noticed them on the schedule,
but that would be more for the scenery than for Elvis. I do prefer the
music he recorded in the 1950s, as a body of work, but there were many
other songs throughout his career that stood out for me: "Suspicious
Minds," "Can't Help Loving You," and "In the Ghetto," to name just three.
I also like his gospel recordings---a lot. As for a favorite
website, I'd say Martin Nolet's elvisinhawaii.com and yours, but I also
have to admit that I'm not familiar with many other sites, or, for that matter, much of
the Elvis world. I'm not a typical Elvis fan. I'm a 67-year-old
fulltime freelance writer with great appreciation for what Elvis did and
represented, as one of the great creators and icons of the 20th century,
and I still enjoy listening to him sing, but in all I've published
nearly 30 books and more than a thousand magazine articles and most
didn't have anything to do with music. My interests have always
been varied and my writing has ranged from travel and food---my present
main subjects---to history, humor, and the environment.
Q. What is your next project?
A. I'm always working on several. A book of stories and essays about
Thailand and a history of the Hmong hill tribe will be published
next year and I'm currently collaborating with a University of Hawaii
professor on a book about sexual identity and with an American Catholic
priest who's lived and worked for more than 30 years in the Bangkok
slums, another biography.
Q. Do you plan to write another book about Elvis?
A. Only if I might think of a very good reason. Right now, I can
imagine only one unwritten book worth publishing, and that's the
Colonel's side of the story. A writer was contracted to work with
the Colonel's widow and he wrote two sample chapters, but Mrs. Parker,
who was paying him, decided not to go ahead, without explaining why.
The writer, a friend of mine, is a noted biographer and historian, and
he told me that after looking into the Colonel's files and writing
those two chapters, the book would have had many surprises to even the
most knowledgeable fans, but I guess Mrs. Parker, in the end, wanted to
keep the secrets to herself.
Q. Thank you for this interview Jerry, really appreciated..
Is there anything you would like to say to our readers?
A. I can't wait to hear or read on your site what they think about my latest book
"Elvis In Hawaii" .
Let's stay in touch...........Andylon.
2002/11/09 Jerry Hopkins / Ep.Gold.Com.