He was a very fine singer with a wonderful voice and a good entertainer right up until the end (I saw one his last shows and, though he was in no condition to swivel his hips, the show was very good. People like to pile on, but his period of virtual self parody was actually pretty brief.) He also had the courage to champion race music and I'm sure that wasn't always a picnic. OTOH, my visit to Graceland was educational. It's so over the top that it's funny. The extreme indulgence I saw there leads me to believe that he was basically an unsophisticated kid who fell into a ton of money and eventually got overwhelmed.
Marty
