Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Making her own impression

Who: Lisa Marie Presley with John Eddie.

When: 7 p.m. Saturday.

Where: House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.

Admission: $20, $25.

Information: 632-7600.

Lisa Marie Presley expects to run across a few Elvis impersonators whenever she visits Las Vegas.

But she never counted on seeing them as she made her way across America on her recent tour with Chris Isaak.

"They came to the show, probably three times on the tour, and I think that they think they're doing something that's honoring me," Presley said in a recent phone interview from her Los Angeles home.

"But I'm trying to figure out what they're doing. Why are you completely dressed up in a gold suit in the front row with sideburns looking straight at me? I don't think they're mal-intended, so it doesn't exactly upset me. But at the same time I do have to wonder what the point is, exactly."

Saturday night the 35-year-old Presley kicks off her first headlining tour with a 7 p.m. concert at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.

After her recent experience as Isaak's opening act, Presley is prepared for Elvis impersonators at Saturday's show. That won't make it any easier for her to stomach, however.

"I'm being completely honest right now, and I might get my ass kicked, but would you honestly want someone dressed like your dead mother or father in front of you while you're working?" Presley said.

"Yes, there's a tribute to be paid, and they have their place, definitely. But at the same time, it's kind of odd. It's the kind of thing where my friends get very protective (when they see it), and I have to remind them that in some way, in their head, it's an honoring of some sort."

Though she has never attended an Elvis tribute show, Presley does have plenty of childhood memories from her father's days as a Vegas headliner.

"I remember a lot from being there, because I was there a lot with him," she said. "I remember the top floor of the Hilton (then called the International). I lost my first tooth up there. There was a slot machine up there. And I had a birthday party up there, too. I think it was my seventh or sixth."

Presley launched her own music career in April with the release of her debut album, "To Whom it May Concern," which debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's album charts and quickly earned gold certification.

Prior to that, most of the world knew her simply as the King's only child, or through her short-lived marriages to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage.

Presley said that after years of listening to others speculate about her life, she felt a growing desire to have her own voice heard.

"Truthfully, anybody has several mishaps in their personal life, but mine's glorified," she said. "The tabloids have taken some sort of liking to me. I can't quite figure that one out yet."

That bizarre public image has made it difficult for many to embrace Presley's music, she said.

"That's a big pain in the ass, and it definitely worked against me on the record," Presley said. "It's like trying to overcome this weird tabloid phantom person who's actually trying to do an album and do something productive with her life. I have to combat all that, and I don't even think that battle's over."

Presley is also quick to point out that her love of music, and no other concerns, led her to go public with her music this year.

"It wasn't to get more attention or more money. I haven't been paid yet, and I've been working my ass off (laughs). That's the music business," she said. "Nobody told me about any of that. I didn't really care about it anyway. As long as I've got people out there that are moved by the music then it's well worth that for me."

The 12 tracks on Presley's Capitol Records release -- all co-written by Presley -- are intensely personal, featuring lyrics about her father, Jackson and Cage, among others.

The album, which leans more toward rock than pop, also features some decidedly dark themes. The chorus from first single "Lights Out" is one example:

"Someone turned the lights out there in Memphis / That's where my family's buried and gone / Last time I was there I noticed a space left / Next to them there in Memphis / In the damn back lawn."

But Presley said she hasn't found it difficult baring her soul, or reliving her past, night after night on the road.

"Not at all, because they're really cathartic (songs) for me, and each one of those songs represents something," she said. "When I finish a song, magically the situation itself also disappears. I purge and then I'm done and the situation's done, so it really works like that."

Presley admits she felt some stage fright when she initially began performing. But after warming up with her Isaak support dates, she said she's ready to tackle her upcoming 15-concert schedule.

"I've gotten much more at ease with the idea of a crowd," she said. "I'm brand new at it, just starting, trying to do it like everybody else, but yet I get thrown into the frying pan a lot more than anybody else just trying to start. I definitely had a lot more critics and reviews there than your average opening act."

Presley said she's not sure what type of reception to expect in Las Vegas. If it's anything like the one waiting for her on Aug. 1 in Memphis -- her birthplace and part-time home until her father's 1977 death -- it could be a truly wild scene.

"It was an amazing turnout. I think the capacity was 4,000 and they overflowed to five or six (thousand)," she said. "It was a little nerve-racking. I went to do an interview at a radio station that day and there were helicopters (overhead). I didn't anticipate it being that big an ordeal, so it did sort of throw me a bit."

Presley's live set includes songs from her CD, along with a couple of covers. Her last tour featured the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker."

Don't plan on hearing her tackle any of her father's classic material, however. That's strictly off-limits, for now anyway.

"I don't plan on doing that, not right now. I just kind of want to make my own way," Presley said, though she added that she still finds her father's music "quite comforting."

Presley said that during the holiday season she will begin writing songs for her sophomore effort. And listening to her talk, it sounds as if the next album could go in a number of directions.

"I didn't do any kind of particular genre. It's kind of general, so I don't think I'm stuck anywhere," she said. "And I didn't sell out. It's not a pop record, and I didn't want it to be. And I didn't want to be huge off the bat, so big that I can't follow it up, you know?"

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