Brand New Cadillac

In "Me and a Guy Named Elvis," which hits stores next month, author Jerry Schilling, a key member of Presley's "Memphis Mafia," recalls one night when John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin stopped by with a few friends to meet Elvis and found him decked out in pajamas. Elvis "stood, eyed John, and said, 'Let's swap pants,' while simultaneously, in expert [Monty] Python fashion, letting his pajama bottoms drop beneath his robe . . . John burst out laughing. Nobody accepted Elvis' offer."
Elvis loved to tweak performers who did his act. One night in Las Vegas, he passed a lounge where a burly singer was "overdoing the Elvis vibrato just a bit," the author says. 'Without breaking stride, Elvis . . . stormed into the lounge, walked right up onstage, hoisted his cane like he was going clobber the guy and said, 'If you're going to do it, do it right.' He gave the crowd . . . a great big wink, hopped off-stage, and zoomed right out of there. But the big singer didn't see the wink - he'd been so startled that he'd fallen off the stage."
Presley celebrated his 41st birthday by telling friends about his favorite blaxploitation flick -"Across 110th Street," starring Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn. "He began to act out the whole movie, setting up each scene and then presenting just about every line of dialogue in the script," Schilling says. "He brought each character to life with walks, vocal mannerisms and the subtlest of gestures. [He] didn't stop until he got to the final scene of the film." Other movies in Elvis' repertoire were "Dr. Strangelove" and Monty Python flicks.
One habit of Elvis' that was not a joke was his insistence that his own music never be played inside Graceland. Schilling remembers one day when somebody put on "All Shook Up" during a party. "Who's the wise guy that put that goddamn music on? Get that crap off!" Presley roared.
"There was no doubt he was really angry," Schilling writes. "He was proud of his work, but it was just that - his work. He lived with his music outside of the house - he didn't need to hear it while he was trying to relax in his own basement."