Interview With Sandi Miller

In this section you can submit questions to people that knew Elvis, or to other important people in the Elvis World.

Moderators: Moderator5, Moderator3, FECC-Moderator, Site Mechanic

Post Reply

User avatar

YDKM
Posts: 13447
Registered for: 21 years 4 months
Location: Nothingville, Sydney, N.S.W.Australia
Has thanked: 7266 times
Been thanked: 3035 times
Age: 63

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599394

Post by YDKM »

DutchLA wrote:Tried to post this before but it didn't go thru.

Anyway, regarding seeing him in June of 77, I checked my journal and unfortunately no exact date was written- I just wrote *June 1977.* I do remember that Elvis flew in one day and left the next day - short trip! He was with two men I'd never seen before and although he introduced them, it wasn't important enough to me at the time to make note of it. If I had it to do over, I'd do more than just write down the month and the year - I'd be putting down exact dates and times NOW. Hindsight sucks! Anyway, sorry I couldn't be more specific.
Great Interview and what comes across is that although(obviously) NOT well in June he was STILL Elvis wasn't he! he must have flown to Palm Springs very briefly BEFORE the CBS 'special' and i bet soon after the previous tour ended on June 2nd. :roll:


Bruce Jackson Born June 3rd 1949- Died January 29th 2011 Elvis's Sound Engineer from 1971-1977.
You Don't Know Me!


rickeap
Posts: 7409
Registered for: 18 years 7 months
Has thanked: 686 times
Been thanked: 1059 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599415

Post by rickeap »

Great interview with some new information
Thanks for sharing
Rick




DutchLA
Posts: 277
Registered for: 16 years 2 months
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599678

Post by DutchLA »

Question: did you see any shows on the last tour (June 17-26)? Or the one before (May 20-June 2)?[/quote]


No, I didn't see any of his later shows. In fact, didn't see many road concerts at all - only Anaheim, LA Forum, San Bernadino, Chicago and a show he did in Mpls, Minnesota. Did go to Vegas every time he was there however.

Question: what's your secret to staying young and gorgeous? I may be a bloke, but I still wanna know!

Aren't you sweet! Thank you! I guess I just haven't grown up yet! Besides, 60's are the new 40's, right??



User avatar

Cryogenic
Posts: 6109
Registered for: 18 years 7 months
Has thanked: 871 times
Been thanked: 623 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599704

Post by Cryogenic »

DutchLA wrote:Aren't you sweet! Thank you! I guess I just haven't grown up yet! Besides, 60's are the new 40's, right??
In your case, the new 30's!

OK, I do have a proper question:

Can you remember any books or movies Elvis was into when you were around him? I noted the autopsy book anecdote and I just wondered if you can recall any specific books and movies that jazzed him up in any way.



User avatar

JamesVRoy
Posts: 7140
Registered for: 18 years 11 months
Has thanked: 118 times
Been thanked: 564 times
Contact:

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599709

Post by JamesVRoy »

cool interview. Thanks for posting it



User avatar

Monique
Posts: 1663
Registered for: 15 years 11 months
Location: The Netherlands
Been thanked: 1 time
Age: 55

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599710

Post by Monique »

Little Darlin wrote:That was brilliant Sergio -- thanks to you and Sandi.

Sandi's stories are the reason I renew my Insiders membership every year.
Same here! :lol:

Love the interview! :D Thanks for sharing.


Always Elvis on my mind

User avatar

Little Darlin
Posts: 14015
Registered for: 17 years 4 months
Location: Being Entertained By Grammy Nominated Artist Adam Lambert.
Been thanked: 12 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599764

Post by Little Darlin »

::rocks
Last edited by Little Darlin on Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.


I saw Elvis live in concert the year before he died. Even then, he was bigger than life, and had amazing charisma. Haven't seen anything like it since, ....until Adam.........Nocturnal 2010
No matter how old you are, no matter who you sleep with, no matter what color your skin is, we can all party together.” - Adam Lambert 2010

User avatar

Little Darlin
Posts: 14015
Registered for: 17 years 4 months
Location: Being Entertained By Grammy Nominated Artist Adam Lambert.
Been thanked: 12 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599766

Post by Little Darlin »

Sandi....

Would you share the story of Elvis, Charlie and the Reporters and the you know what here? I think they would get a laugh out of it.


I saw Elvis live in concert the year before he died. Even then, he was bigger than life, and had amazing charisma. Haven't seen anything like it since, ....until Adam.........Nocturnal 2010
No matter how old you are, no matter who you sleep with, no matter what color your skin is, we can all party together.” - Adam Lambert 2010

User avatar

drjohncarpenter
Posts: 108678
Registered for: 21 years 4 months
Location: United States of America
Has thanked: 11999 times
Been thanked: 36051 times
Age: 89

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599789

Post by drjohncarpenter »

DutchLA wrote:
drjohncarpenter wrote:Question: did you see any shows on the last tour (June 17-26)? Or the one before (May 20-June 2)?
No, I didn't see any of his later shows. In fact, didn't see many road concerts at all - only Anaheim, LA Forum, San Bernadino, Chicago and a show he did in Mpls, Minnesota. Did go to Vegas every time he was there however.
Thank you for the information!

Does this mean your last Elvis concert was in Las Vegas, in December of 1976?


.
Dr. John Carpenter, M.D.
Stop, look and listen, baby <<--->> that's my philosophy!

User avatar

acmeruya
Posts: 295
Registered for: 18 years 11 months
Location: Bali, Indonesia
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599906

Post by acmeruya »

What a delightful read. Would love to hear more.

Thanks Sergio and Sandi

Phil




DutchLA
Posts: 277
Registered for: 16 years 2 months
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599928

Post by DutchLA »

Cryogenic wrote:
DutchLA wrote:Aren't you sweet! Thank you! I guess I just haven't grown up yet! Besides, 60's are the new 40's, right??
In your case, the new 30's!

OK, I do have a proper question:

Can you remember any books or movies Elvis was into when you were around him? I noted the autopsy book anecdote and I just wondered if you can recall any specific books and movies that jazzed him up in any way.
There was a movie he played over and over at the Memphian one night- I'm pretty sure the name of the movie was Blow Up. It was about a photographer who unknowingly caught a murder on his camera but only discovered the evidence when he was making enlargements of a photo shoot - or something like that. THe other movies he liked have all been written about already (Cool Hand Luke, Patton,Peter Sellers etc.) There were more movies he didn't like the times I got to go to the Memphian and you could pretty much tell if he was going to turn off the movie in the first ten minutes of screen play. If it didn't grab him in the first 10 minutes - then forget it!

Oh gosh, he was forever reading something but do you think I can remember any titles now? Brain freeze! The exception is the Leaves Of Gold Book -- he liked reading passages out of that and then he'd ask "what do you think this means?" I hated it when he did that...I didn't want to think...just wanted him to keep reading! He gave me a copy of that book after reading out of it several times over the course of about 6 months and I still have it. I believe he gave out quite a few copies to other people over the years because he liked the book so much.

One thing, when he was reading to himself and he came across something that really interested him, he'd stop and re read it aloud to everyone - sometimes several times...then he'd analyze!

On the frivilous side, the boys would sometimes bring the rag mags and he'd read those. One paper, the Enquirer I think, had a photo of Elvis leaving the Hillcrest house in his Rolls Royce. Elvis was sitting in the back seat with his new "mystery blond" (the photo only showed the back of the Rolls Royce as it was heading down the street which means you only saw the back of Elvis' head and the back of the blond's head. ) A big juicy story followed about the mystery blond...........(who happend to be Rick Stanley when he had long hair! Elvis was hysterical over that and laughed about it for a week! )

Well, it's late and that's all my brain can crank out right now.




DutchLA
Posts: 277
Registered for: 16 years 2 months
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599929

Post by DutchLA »

drjohncarpenter wrote:
DutchLA wrote:
drjohncarpenter wrote:Question: did you see any shows on the last tour (June 17-26)? Or the one before (May 20-June 2)?
No, I didn't see any of his later shows. In fact, didn't see many road concerts at all - only Anaheim, LA Forum, San Bernadino, Chicago and a show he did in Mpls, Minnesota. Did go to Vegas every time he was there however.
Thank you for the information!

Does this mean your last Elvis concert was in Las Vegas, in December of 1976?
**Yes I did attend that show...he did several songs sitting on a stool if I remember correctly.



User avatar

drjohncarpenter
Posts: 108678
Registered for: 21 years 4 months
Location: United States of America
Has thanked: 11999 times
Been thanked: 36051 times
Age: 89

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599931

Post by drjohncarpenter »

Thanks, Sandi!


.
Dr. John Carpenter, M.D.
Stop, look and listen, baby <<--->> that's my philosophy!

User avatar

Joe Car
Posts: 11590
Registered for: 21 years 4 months
Location: Canada
Has thanked: 41 times
Been thanked: 500 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599938

Post by Joe Car »

DutchLA wrote:
drjohncarpenter wrote:
DutchLA wrote:
drjohncarpenter wrote:Question: did you see any shows on the last tour (June 17-26)? Or the one before (May 20-June 2)?
No, I didn't see any of his later shows. In fact, didn't see many road concerts at all - only Anaheim, LA Forum, San Bernadino, Chicago and a show he did in Mpls, Minnesota. Did go to Vegas every time he was there however.
Thank you for the information!

Does this mean your last Elvis concert was in Las Vegas, in December of 1976?
**Yes I did attend that show...he did several songs sitting on a stool if I remember correctly.
Sandi, we are lucky to have you on this site, incredible! Thanks for sharing your stories, they're awesome!



User avatar

Cryogenic
Posts: 6109
Registered for: 18 years 7 months
Has thanked: 871 times
Been thanked: 623 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599940

Post by Cryogenic »

DutchLA wrote:
Cryogenic wrote:
DutchLA wrote:Aren't you sweet! Thank you! I guess I just haven't grown up yet! Besides, 60's are the new 40's, right??
In your case, the new 30's!

OK, I do have a proper question:

Can you remember any books or movies Elvis was into when you were around him? I noted the autopsy book anecdote and I just wondered if you can recall any specific books and movies that jazzed him up in any way.
There was a movie he played over and over at the Memphian one night- I'm pretty sure the name of the movie was Blow Up. It was about a photographer who unknowingly caught a murder on his camera but only discovered the evidence when he was making enlargements of a photo shoot - or something like that. THe other movies he liked have all been written about already (Cool Hand Luke, Patton,Peter Sellers etc.) There were more movies he didn't like the times I got to go to the Memphian and you could pretty much tell if he was going to turn off the movie in the first ten minutes of screen play. If it didn't grab him in the first 10 minutes - then forget it!

Oh gosh, he was forever reading something but do you think I can remember any titles now? Brain freeze! The exception is the Leaves Of Gold Book -- he liked reading passages out of that and then he'd ask "what do you think this means?" I hated it when he did that...I didn't want to think...just wanted him to keep reading! He gave me a copy of that book after reading out of it several times over the course of about 6 months and I still have it. I believe he gave out quite a few copies to other people over the years because he liked the book so much.

One thing, when he was reading to himself and he came across something that really interested him, he'd stop and re read it aloud to everyone - sometimes several times...then he'd analyze!

On the frivilous side, the boys would sometimes bring the rag mags and he'd read those. One paper, the Enquirer I think, had a photo of Elvis leaving the Hillcrest house in his Rolls Royce. Elvis was sitting in the back seat with his new "mystery blond" (the photo only showed the back of the Rolls Royce as it was heading down the street which means you only saw the back of Elvis' head and the back of the blond's head. ) A big juicy story followed about the mystery blond...........(who happend to be Rick Stanley when he had long hair! Elvis was hysterical over that and laughed about it for a week! )

Well, it's late and that's all my brain can crank out right now.
Sandi, you're a star!

"Blowup" (1966) is a sterling film by legendary director Michelangelo Antonioni! It is not out of the ordinary to hear it compared to "Citizen Kane", "2001" and other landmark works of cinema. Of course, it's had a big effect on many filmmakers -- including Francis Ford and daughter Sofia Coppola, the latter of whom made my favourite film, "Lost In Translation". Oh, joy!

Yes, the other movies you cite, as you yourself said, have all been named. You're not only perceptive, articulate and hot, but well-read on your Elvis Presley. But then, I'd expect nothing less! :P

Thanks for all the other stuff, too. You may not have been able to remember many specifics, but you sure compensated with detail. That last anecdote is very funny, too! Reminds me of the George Bush Sr gaffe. LOL.



User avatar

PEP
Posts: 4602
Registered for: 21 years 4 months
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 205 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599960

Post by PEP »

Thank you Sergio for posting your interview with Sandi.

Interesting reading.

Met Sandi once a number or year's ago. I believe because of Megan Murphy if I am not mistaken, anyway, somehow, she ended up allowing or inviting me and my wife to her home in Las Vegas, where we got to see her personal photo's of Elvis first hand. We also talked about Elvis all night of course.

Very pretty and nice lady.

PEP 8)



User avatar

Monique
Posts: 1663
Registered for: 15 years 11 months
Location: The Netherlands
Been thanked: 1 time
Age: 55

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599961

Post by Monique »

Great stories again! Thank you!

@ PEP: that must have been very special; seeing all those pictures and hearing all those stories. One has to admit that Sandi is a very special person. Not only because of her friendship with Elvis, but also because she's sharing her memories with all of us.


Always Elvis on my mind

User avatar

PEP
Posts: 4602
Registered for: 21 years 4 months
Has thanked: 10 times
Been thanked: 205 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599967

Post by PEP »

Monique wrote: PEP: that must have been very special; seeing all those pictures and hearing all those stories.
It was a very nice evening. With regard's to the photo's, believe it or not, she was a little disorganized at the time..I think one of the reason's why, was because she had just moved into her new home....., Still just the same, I was a little surprise to find a lot, if not all of her Elvis photo's were in boxes instead of photo albums. From what I remember. Nothing was really in any kind of order, plus, sadly, I had seen a lot of her pictures before, at least the ones I got to see that night, mainly, I guess, because Shawn Shaver had used alot of them over the year's, as well as other fan clubs and other book authors, up until that point.
Bud Glass I think, helped her get her photo's in some kind of order and he was able to come up with some very interesting alternate photo's from her collection that nobody had really used before, for his book series "Behind The I M A G E" which I really liked.
I should point out too, I think the reason Sandi kept her photo's like that is because her friendship and her personal Elvis memories, I think were more important to her than the photo's.
Anyway, like I said it was a very nice evening, Sandi was, a very gracious host.

PEP 8)




User avatar

Monique
Posts: 1663
Registered for: 15 years 11 months
Location: The Netherlands
Been thanked: 1 time
Age: 55

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#599975

Post by Monique »

PEP wrote:
Monique wrote: PEP: that must have been very special; seeing all those pictures and hearing all those stories.
It was a very nice evening. With regard's to the photo's, believe it or not, she was a little disorganized at the time....I was a little surprise to find a lot, if not all of her Elvis photo's were in boxes, from what I remember. Nothing was really in any kind of order, plus, sadly, I had seen a lot of her pictures before, at least the ones I got to see that night, mainly, I guess, because Shawn Shaver had used alot of them over the year's, as well as other fan clubs and other book authors, up until that point.
Bud Glass I think, helped her get her photo's in some kind of order and he was able to come up with some very interesting alternate photo's from her collection, that nobody had really used before, for his book series "Behind The I M A G E" which I really liked.
I should point out, I think the reason Sandi kept her photo's like that is because her friendship and her personal Elvis memories, I think were more important to her.

Anyway, like I said, it was a very nice evening, Sandi was a very gracious host.

PEP 8)

That's what makes Sandi even more special to me; she was just busy being a fan and a friend and enjoying her time with Elvis. And now she's sharing all those wonderful memories with us. Who needs exact dates?


Always Elvis on my mind

User avatar

Renan
Posts: 5129
Registered for: 19 years 9 months
Location: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL
Has thanked: 232 times
Been thanked: 246 times
Age: 39
Contact:

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#600041

Post by Renan »

Congratulations Sergio. Fantastic interview!

And Sandy, you are so cute!


"Ain't it funny how time slips away...."


DutchLA
Posts: 277
Registered for: 16 years 2 months
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#600139

Post by DutchLA »

Ok, now I'm laughing and now everyone knows how disorganized I am when it comes to my Elvis things but it so sooo true! While other fans took their photos and so meticulousy catagorized them, and numbered them, and then put them in albums,with loving care, I'd get my rolls developed, have prints made up for my friends and Elvis (who always got a copy of everything), and then I'd throw the originals in a shoebox or whatever along with the negatives because "I'd put them in a album later"....but when you're turning in a roll or more of film every week, *later* never seemed to come. I "named" all my photos based on whatever happened that day...the "squirrel" photo, the "wolfman jack" photo, etc. etc. Looking back, I think other fans had the better method of actually numbering sets but numbering to me made no sense at the time and it was too time consuming for my purposes.!

Same with the journals - they were written for my own pleasure and I never dreamed anyone else would ever be interested in the least as far as all the silliness that went on, or the goofy things that Elvis did or said, or who was there,or when, or what Elvis was wearing. Both my friend Jann and I kept journals and then after we'd write in them , we'd compare our thoughts of the day. The basics always stayed the same but we'd have different views on various people that were guests in the house, and sometimes even differed in our assessment of Elvis' mood. I'd think he was being funny, and she'd think he was being sarcastic. Jann would think he was tired, I'd think he was just being a brat. We'd usually meow about any female Elvis was with too IF he had one at the time. I think Cybill Shepherd was my least favorite (he brought her to Palm Springs) So yes, Martha Stewart I'm not when it comes to my Elvis things which is odd because I'm basically a neat freak. For the most part though, I know where everything is and can haul out one of his cigar butts, receipts, or any other "trash items" from wherever they might be in the house (trash items being things I retrieved from his trash) I know, I know...tacky tacky but what the heck- they were "his" things so to me they were not trash and only once did I jump the gun in grabbing something. Elvis had been smoking his little cigar and put it in the ashtray--there wasn't much left of it so I presumed he was done with it and so I just popped it in my purse only to have him come back later and ask what happened to it. Oh the stress!!!! I know he thought I was totally nuts!


I know the photos in boxes drives everyone that visits me crazy but I figure at this point in my life, I probably am not going to change, although doing the book with Bud did force me to get the photos organized into "sets" and get them on disc. and I did put all my 8xl0's in an album! I'm proud of me for getting that much done! :)

Ok, that was probably way too much irrelevant information! ZZzzzzz

PEP wrote:
Monique wrote: PEP: that must have been very special; seeing all those pictures and hearing all those stories.
It was a very nice evening. With regard's to the photo's, believe it or not, she was a little disorganized at the time..I think one of the reason's why, was because she had just moved into her new home....., Still just the same, I was a little surprise to find a lot, if not all of her Elvis photo's were in boxes instead of photo albums. From what I remember. Nothing was really in any kind of order, plus, sadly, I had seen a lot of her pictures before, at least the ones I got to see that night, mainly, I guess, because Shawn Shaver had used alot of them over the year's, as well as other fan clubs and other book authors, up until that point.
Bud Glass I think, helped her get her photo's in some kind of order and he was able to come up with some very interesting alternate photo's from her collection that nobody had really used before, for his book series "Behind The I M A G E" which I really liked.
I should point out too, I think the reason Sandi kept her photo's like that is because her friendship and her personal Elvis memories, I think were more important to her than the photo's.
Anyway, like I said it was a very nice evening, Sandi was, a very gracious host.

PEP 8)





DutchLA
Posts: 277
Registered for: 16 years 2 months
Been thanked: 8 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#600145

Post by DutchLA »

Sandi....

Would you share the story of Elvis, Charlie and the Reporters here and the you know what here? I think they would get a laugh out of it.[/quote]

Ok - here goes!


Before Elvis got married, occasionally rumors would fly that he was gay because he lived in a house full of guys and he didn't appear to have a serious love life that anyone knew about (back then no one around Elvis spilled the beans about anything!) . Rona Barrett took it upon herself to try and put forth that entire concept and wrote several articles hinting about Elvis' personal life.

Several fans brought the magazine articles to Elvis' attention and he actually thought they were funny. Rona had these two reporters (men) that she used to send up to the Rocca house to try and get "info" from the fans and see what they could see. We had a pretty good nose for reporters and the fact that both these guys had very expensive cameras vs the little junkie ones we carried, was another huge tip off plus they didn't ask the usual questions new fans at the gate would ask. We usually any reporters wrong information and played total mind games with them anyway /

Elvis was informed also of these two guys so now he too knew they were sniffing around...and being the practical joker he was, he decided to play along with what they were hoping to find out.


One day after coming home from the studio, Elvis drove in and after parking his car and going inside for a few minutes...both he and Charlie came out in the doorway together. Once Elvis saw that the "reporters" were watching he grabbed Charlie and laid one on him...OMG it was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen- especially since Charlie "wiped it off" and Elvis then "spit it out" We almost fell over laughing so hard and those poor reporters didn't know how to take it! They just stood there in shock as both Elvis and Charlie went back inside laughing their heads off. Funny thing - those reporters didn't come back to the house for weeks and weeks!



User avatar

Little Darlin
Posts: 14015
Registered for: 17 years 4 months
Location: Being Entertained By Grammy Nominated Artist Adam Lambert.
Been thanked: 12 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#600372

Post by Little Darlin »

Ha!! There's no photos is there??

There's some of the magazines from way back in the Picture Section -- I'll see if I can find them -- you may remember the headlines. They had some really far out ones were Elvis was concerned.

Thanks Sandi.

* here you go click the link*

http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=41693&p=558332&hilit=+magazines#p558332


I saw Elvis live in concert the year before he died. Even then, he was bigger than life, and had amazing charisma. Haven't seen anything like it since, ....until Adam.........Nocturnal 2010
No matter how old you are, no matter who you sleep with, no matter what color your skin is, we can all party together.” - Adam Lambert 2010

User avatar

bethann
Posts: 362
Registered for: 15 years 10 months
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#600374

Post by bethann »

That is TOO funny Sandi!!!!! And that would be a visual....not the kissing part, but what they did afterwards...... :D


"More people today should see him not simply as a performer, but as an artist with a great soul."

John Bakke, professor emeritus
University of Memphis

User avatar

Cryogenic
Posts: 6109
Registered for: 18 years 7 months
Has thanked: 871 times
Been thanked: 623 times

Re: Interview With Sandi Miller

#600392

Post by Cryogenic »

bethann wrote:That is TOO funny Sandi!!!!! And that would be a visual....not the kissing part, but what they did afterwards...... :D
I'm getting a visual or two of Clint in "Gran Torino". :lol:

What would have made it picture-perfect in my head is if Elvis came out with a rifle and told the reporters to get off his lawn. (Even if they were behind a gate). LOL.

Another great story, Sandi!


Post Reply