By Justin Flynn
There’s not much Geelong’s Colin Mockett hasn’t done in the field of writing, but his latest venture is one of a kind.
A self-confessed “literary journeyman”, Mockettn took six months to research his latest project, The Elvis Presley Story.
He narrates the show and All Shook Up! performs all the hits in a show that he’s “very, very pleased with” even though he’s not a huge fan of The King himself.
“I never really put myself down as being an Elvis fan,” Mockett said.
“That allowed me to take a hands-off view of it all, but mind you a couple of the blokes in the band are full-on Elvis fans.
“I’ve got to appreciate much more about him for sure. When you dig this deep, you get inside of the mind of the person and get to understand them quite well.”
Patrons would learn something new in the Elvis show, Mockett promised.
“One of the biggest ones is that he is far bigger now than when he was alive and in life he was the biggest entertainer around,” Mockett said.
“He sells 10 million albums every year even now and that’s far more than he ever sold during the time he was around.
“He was very much manipulated by Colonel (Tom) Parker. He (Parker) earned $100 million from Elvis and gambled almost all of it away in Las Vegas and that’s why Elvis worked so often in Las Vegas – he was paying off the colonel’s gambling debts.”
Mockett said another surprising fact to Presley was that his stint in the army was completely staged.
“All the time Elvis was in the army he was making films and making records and was flying back to America anytime he wanted to,” Mockett said.
“It was all window dressing on behalf of the American army.”
Mockett said his show was meticulously researched and contained some “incredible” music.
“He was a musical phenomenal like no other, so I thought it was a story worth telling.
“I’m very pleased with it, it’s a really strong story and it’s got some great music and it’s something that everybody knows but we only know the surface and this is a chance to get below the surface.”
Mockett’s The Elvis Presley Story plays Drysdale’s Potato Shed on 3 September.
