The debt we owe Cliff Richard - his generosity kick started 1960's popular music - here's why

1959, the Pink Jacket, the Fiesta Red Stratocaster - 

Cliff Richard at the early height of his fame

If you've ever been fortunate to meet Cliff Richard in person, he's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, regardless of who you are - whether you are a celebrity, royalty or just a plain, ordinary citizen.

So why do we owe Cliff such a great and perhaps unrealised thanks? Its quite simple really, because without his generosity, the course of popular music and our way of life might have been very different.

Cliff on his ATV show in 1960, with the Shadows

Before Beatlemania, there was Cliffmania. Many commentators and writers who put pen to paper about 1960's popular music, miss out one very important fact, that there was musical life before the Beatles. There was a phenomena that virtually dominated the musical charts from 1959-63. Cliff Richard and his backing band The Shadows. Both together and separately.

Cliff on the set of Expresso Bongo with the Shadows

Cliff was just one of a number of 'faces' of the late 1950's that came through the conduit of the legendary 2I's club in Old Compton Street, Soho, London to find fame and fortune in the music industry. At that time, it was the place to be seen, heard and  also hired. 

Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde, Wee Willie Harris, The Vipers - all names that in 1958 became household names due to an unprecedented growth in music came through this legendary coffee bar. 

The teenager was now a major player financially as well as socially in society. The old guard of tweed jacketed people in authority was now giving way to modernity. Suddenly progress was being made and the past was history.

This is the guitar and the player that made musical history  - 

Hank B. Marvin and the famous Stratocaster Cliff bought him

Backing Cliff in 1958 were schoolfriends from his hometown of Cheshunt, in Hertfordshire. Soon it became obvious that a quartet of players who orbited around the 2I's club should become Cliff's backing group. The Drifters as was, changed line-up and in 1959 became the Shadows, displacing Cliff's former schoolfriends.

Lead guitarist Hank B Marvin of the Shadows (as the Drifters name was changed to in early 1959), needed a guitar to show off his obvious talent. Cliff organised the import of the first Fender Stratocaster into the UK. A Fiesta red painted guitar, with Birdseye maple neck and gold plated hardware. Perhaps one of the most important guitars in the history of music.

It was a sensation then, in Hank's hands it became a guitar that launched the careers of thousands of guitarists who either became famous, or in most cases just enjoyed playing and still do.

Hank Marvin in 1961 with his second Red Stratocaster - 

George Harrison stated years later - 'No Shadows, no Beatles.'

Hank Marvin took the Fender Stratocaster, the Vox AC15 amplifier and the Meazzi echo machine and blended those into a cocktail of sound that remains unique. 

Hank's signature sound, whether backing Cliff or on the Shadows recordings was amazing, it was the sound to emulate, his technique the thing to follow. Even in 1964, Beatlemania had not diminished the presence in the charts of Cliff and the Shadows.

As early as 1960, Cliff had plenty to write about

Cliff was in 1960 about to help change the music scene in Britain forever. He pushed for his Recording Manager Norrie Paramor, to record the Shadows in their own right. They had a tune in mind called 'Apache' that Jerry Lordan had offered them.

When they recorded it in 1960, Cliff was on the session as a musician. The track was sensational, suddenly and indeed overnight, many bands seemed to discard their singer and reform as an instrumental band, intent on getting Hank's sound.

The Shadows continued to perform continually with Cliff until 1968

a series of reunions have also occurred over the years since.

The gift of that guitar to Hank led Hank to develop a technique that gave him a career and also helped Cliff enjoy such longevity in the music business. From that seed of generosity, you can count off a whole line of people who are famous today who were inspired by what Hank was doing - Players including Brian May, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton and many more.

Brian Epstein took the Beatles to watch the Shadows in 1963 so that they could see their stagecraft, such was their impact on music. The combined talent of the various Shadows line-ups over the years enabled both Cliff and the Shadows to enjoy lasting fame and appreciation, but their musical legacy also pushed others forward too.

In 1983 I was at last able to afford a decent guitar that fitted the bill and started to play along to Cliff and the Shadows old material, they were at the time still releasing records and doing the occasional reunion, it was a revelation and has provided me with music I still play today.

It all started with that red guitar Cliff bought for Hank Marvin.

So we have a lot to thank Cliff for. Besides that, he's a very nice chap too.

Buddy Holly - Remembered 60 years on

Buddy Holly's legacy - 60 years on

Colourised picture of Buddy Holly, England 1958

February 3rd 1959, the day the music died but didn't.

The legacy of Buddy Holly's musical life remains strong and rightly so. If you dig into the past, here was a performer whose music shaped much that followed.

Buddy Holly was in the right place at the right time, in post WW2 America. America emerged from WW2 in a better position than countries in the European region devastated by 6 years of war.

Bill Haley's Comets - Hot Rods and rock n' roll - 

ingredients that lit the fuse for a generation

In the Texas state, in 50's America, Western Swing, Hillbilly mountain music and country music were ingredients waiting when Bill Hailey lit the fuse commercially in 1954 with Rock around the clock.

Buddy Holly's journey through musical styles led to country and as soon as Elvis played Lubbock, Buddy's style changed overnight. In 1955, Texas Rockabilly became an important local style of music - like jazz, it moved forward gaining and developing as new players emerged on the scene.

Being able to pick up music from Mexican radio stations had an influence on Buddy and the Crickets too, Heartbeat being just one of Buddy's songs, with the Latin beat combined with a country music double-stop intro and solo. 'Tex-Mex' they called it.

Norman Petty the genius musical producer

Whilst Buddy Holly was emerging as a songwriter and evolving his musical group into the Crickets, another catalysing force was about to enter the story. 

Norman Petty had learned about electronics during his WW2 military service and became the Texas answer to Sam Phillips who ran the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis producing Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and countless other stars.

Like Sam Phillips and Les Paul, Norman Petty was pushing the technological and music recording boundaries. All three were using echo, microphone effects and multi tracking and producing ground-breaking sound.

Fender Sunburst Stratocaster

In 1954, Leo Fender put his legendary Fender Stratocaster guitar into production and Buddy Holly purchased one in 1956 with the help of his brother. This guitar looked futuristic then and has not dated really since, seeing off many imitators and copies.

In the studio, Buddy Holly's style and songs combined with the studio production and use of the then basic studio effects produced legendary music. The Stratocaster and his 4x10 Fender Bassman amplifier were integral to this process too.

Use of tripping echo by Petty, where Buddy's vocal line was decaying as he was starting to sing a new one sound very effective. Flipping the drums through a natural sound and echo chamber sound during the solo, was simple but effective. 

Buddy Holly used his guitar as more than just accompaniment. His guitar was used more dynamically, like a piano and right out at the forefront. 

Although Buddy did play lead runs on the guitar, various Crickets line-ups did include lead guitarists such as Sonny Curtis or Tommy Allsup for example.

Hank Marvin in 1960 - the influence extended to the glasses!

However the end result was arrived at, the legacy of this great music continues. You only have to play one of the tracks and the sound is just electric. There is something that just sets it apart from a lot of other music. It never dates.

Play along to Buddy Holly's songs and something mystical happens, you start playing things that you wouldn't normally play, phrases, notes, chord variations - it is mystical and plain spooky. It is almost like the legacy is pushing you on, evolving.

The Buddy Holly legacy even in its early days influenced guitarists who would influence others. In Britain, guitarist Hank Marvin who would find fame with the Shadows wanted a Stratocaster after seeing one on the Chirping Crickets LP cover, going on to play the first new one imported into the UK in 1959.

The Buddy Holly statue in Lubbock Texas

The Shadows (then the Drifters) backing Cliff Richard, recorded a live LP at Abbey Road studios including a Buddy Holly track the day before Buddy died. Hank Marvin developed an instrumental style of playing and covered a number of Buddy Holly tracks on his Hank plays Holly CD.

Although Buddy Holly never was able to use the tremolo arm in his playing, Hank Marvin did, incorporating it into his style, to help the guitar emulate a singing human voice.

Players including Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler, Andy Summers and George Harrison amongst many, cited Hank Marvin as a major influence.Keith Richards was also influenced by Buddy Holly's music too, 'he had everything' Richards said on a television program about Buddy Holly. Indeed he did. 

Bobby Vee - who stepped in to play on Feb 3rd 1959

The immediate vacuum left by Buddy Holly's death was filled by artists such as Bobby Vee, who would later play with a version of the Crickets and put out some catchy hits such as 'Rubber Ball'. 

The music that followed was in retrospect syrupy and often bland, succumbing to a 'Bobby syndrome'  - a singer often named 'Bobby' whether their original name or not, usually wearing a sport jacket, driving a Ford Thunderbird and with an immaculately coiffured hair.

This fitted the direction America was going in the 1950's towards a consumer society of white picket fence, white middle class citizens living in a land of plenty and opportunity. And safe. Like something out of a 1950's soap series.

Long gone was the now out of fashion wild and leather clad style of Gene Vincent or MArlon Brando's 'Wild one'. Eddie Cochran's 'Something else' predated Punk Rock by twenty years, but was way ahead of its time. It didn't fit with the preppy and acceptable saccharine mush of the new decade of the 1960s.

Buddy Holly was in his last months refining his songwriting style and moving and developing his career into something bigger. His move to Manhattan in New York, a cosmopolitan 24-hour town, away from the staid and conservative Lubbock, was opening up new possibilities for him including acting. 

Interestingly, John Lennon, another performer greatly influenced by Buddy Holly also lived in New York in his final months. If you compare one of Lennon's last tracks 'Nobody told me,' you can hear a 'Holly-esque' echo laden sound, it is almost like the whole thing came full circle.

The simple memorial stone to Buddy Holly at Lubbock

With Buddy Holly's death, we are fortunate that Maria Elena Holly and Buddy's family have allowed the legacy of work and his life to be accessible.

With a Buddy Holly Centre and a museum devoted to artefacts Buddy owned in his life, we are thankfully able to see the legacy large as life and not hidden away for the privileged few or family to see.

Rave On - a great compilation album

In 1983 I bought a double cassette tape that was called 'Then came rock n' roll.' I still have it, on that was 'That'll be the day' by Buddy Holly and it was just such a great sound. 

Around that time I was in a band with some friends I had been at school with and I was in a second hand shop that also sold guitars and I found 'Rave on' a compilation of Buddy Holly's songs. It opened with 'Rave on'.

When I heard that song I was blown away, I played it again to appreciate the sound and what was going on. It sounded immense. Having tracked down many of Buddy's songs over the years, what is apparent is there was so much potential in that music, intensely written and recorded. Who knows where it would have gone onto?

In 1992 I saw the Buddy Holly stage show in London and bought the cassette tape, on that was a track I hadn't heard called  'Its so easy' and what a great track that is. In the round, there are just so many great tracks to choose from them in this legacy that is Buddy Holly. 

Can you choose a definitive Buddy Holly track? Difficult. There are so many. Everyone has a favourite. That's the great thing, the songs sound fresh as though they were recorded yesterday and people still love them.

Buddy Holly remembered - not fading away

The late great Buddy Holly

Every February 3rd, I take a Sunburst Stratocaster from the guitar rack and play along to some Buddy Holly songs.

The music is great and something strange happens, I often find that some really magical playing comes out of this.

Feb 3rd 1959

Sadly, one of Buddy Holly's players in his last line up Tommy Allsup died recently, his playing on 'Its so easy' is one of my favourite guitar solos from the Buddy Holly musical legacy.

Elvis rocks - on a piece of rock on the road to Aberystwyth, Wales

Although I like Elvis, Buddy Holly was a songwriter and performer which I think gave Buddy the edge, what would have been the situation if Buddy had lived on? Regardless of this, we still have a great musical legacy from both of these artists.

I really like to play along to their music and we are fortunate to have so many of their performances on film to watch.

Always on our minds - Elvis Presley, 40 years on

Elvis remembered - on the road to Aberystwyth, Wales -

Elvis still rocks, on a rock

This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, perhaps the most famous popular music star of all time.

At the end, but still popular despite his demise

I was only young when Elvis died, I had only seen him and his music through odd glimpses of his films that were put on television during the school holidays. This was the post 'Sun' Elvis, but even so, when his death was announced on the television news, it did have meaning to me, even at that age. I was yet to discover the 'Sun' records era and when I did, this was a game changer.

Elvis in 1954 at the Sun Studios

The real Elvis to most people isn't the singer of saccharine material that was foisted on him in the course of the films he made or the latter Vegas years, no the real deal to most was the material recorded at the Sun Studios with Scotty Moore, Bill Black and DJ Fontana.

The Elvis that was Hound dog, That's all right, My Baby left me and Mystery train, to name but a few of his landmark early records.

The raw energy of this music was so different from anything else at the time and everything changed overnight. It eclipsed Bill Haley, one of the founding fathers of Rock and Roll. Although I am a great fan of Bill, Elvis and his group were raw firepower.

Bill Haley was an important artist and catalyst, he came along at the time through Western Swing and from a jazz background and was part of the evolvement of music that came to be Rock and Roll. Rock around the Clock was catchy and it was musical 'Pop Art.'

Roy Lichtenstein's 'Pop Art' was simple, impact heavy and immediate -

Just like 'Hound Dog,' if it had been done on paper

The music fulfilled the 'Pop Art' ethos that would come along with Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol around the same era. It had dynamic, but simple impact.

Tracks like Hound Dog with the explosive drum phrasing and the Scotty Moore sharp and echo laden guitar sound even today sound fresh, over 60 years later. 

Elvis - the 68 comeback

It was like he never went away

The syrupy early 60's allowed Elvis to star in the films and produce more middle of the road appealing material which kept him popular, but to many, Elvis was that stripped down hard edge of roots music from 1954.

Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones often references the sound of Scotty Moore in his musical education, but also the 'stripped down' nature of the Sun Studio set up.

Often all the Sun studio performers were in one studio with the inevitable overspill of sound into other performer's own microphones, helping to create that unique sound.

These players were all mixed onto a one track recording in the main, although Sam Phillips of Sun was a technical innovator in those early days of 'modern' music recording.

Keith Richards still performing and enjoying it

Keith Richards said in an interview how these days the Rolling Stones had the luxury of a studio with the capacity of almost infinite amount of tracks for each song. He lamented that in the Sun days how they achieved so much with so few tracks and that helped with the immediacy of the music.

No years in the studio making an album, likely it would be concluded in a day or two, with little if any possibility for adding on to existing tracks. It was then a case of play, record, press out the record for sale.

Scotty Moore with Elvis, on stage in the Sun days

Even on some of those early records that made the record shops, they are often not the 'best cut,' but Sam Phillips instinctively knew that some takes, mistakes included were superior to others. But it was just 'that sound' that Sam Phillips got.

The sum of the parts, unrelated as they were just came together. Elvis, the band, the acoustics of the room. Today we are spoilt with modern technology to play and record music with.

Back in the day, many musicians often used what was available -

Not everyone could afford top of the line Gretsch, Gibson or Fender guitars

A whole industry caters for 'vintage' equipment but is that actually the way to find that sound? Cheque book musicianship is not the way to get a good sound, you need the ability and talent in the first place.

The other factors required are talent and the artist's individuality. Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and hundreds of others did it their way. And that was what made them unique. 

Elvis in the Vegas years - some wrote him off as a rhinestone parody

He however produced some landmark records in this era

The 68 'Comeback Special' that Elvis appeared in, was a situation that showed that Elvis was still lean and could do the music. This led onto the Vegas circuit, Elvis managed to get material like 'Suspicious minds' and make it his own during this era.

The important thing was he was still performing, even if others from the 50's were largely now no longer performing or even alive.

Vegas topped off a wealth of music, Vegas also proved that Elvis was not stuck in a time warp, reissuing old hits, no, he was carving a new path and the Vegas type material also showed his breadth of talent, tackling material and arrangements that showed how good he was as a performer. 

However you remember Elvis, he was good.

Rockabilly - the Frankenstein music - and why it refuses to die!

Rockabilly - the true Frankenstein of music

a right old lash up and mash up of styles and sounds!

Define Rockabilly - not an easy job.

Ask any non-specialist DJ to define the genre and the examples they'd probably state as being worth mentioning might be a revival group or two.

So what are the roots? Well, its a right old melange of musical styles. The structure is usually around a blues type of sequence of 3 chords. The music is hard to define, it sort of was like adding different bits into a cement mixer and eventually you got something you could say 'well there's a bit of that in it.'.... 

The real down home roots of it is the Hill Billy and Western swing style, plus an injection of black blues music, which had suggestive lyrics, sometime but not always, toned down for the white folks.

That's where Bill Haley came from, as one of the originators of Rock and Roll, he served up a slightly cleaned up version of the original meaty music styles. Shake, Rattle and Roll, is one such number, slightly amended so as not to shock the local Vicar.

Ike Turner came along with his Rhythm and Blues style in his song Rocket 88, which came from the opposite side of the screen and then when Elvis jigged up the country music songs like you'd hear on the Louisiana Hayride television program, you were starting to get the cocktail stirred and built.

The real Howdy Doody of the music though, was the new sound. The electric sound.

Gretsch, one of the new breed of guitar makers 'gone electric'

a 6118 Anniversary model guitar, based on the earlier Electromatics

Rockabilly came along bang on cue with the new developments in music technology, namely the practical and purpose made electrical guitar and amplifier situation. Developments such as the echo chamber, tape echo machine, reverb tank and multi track recording all had their exposure around the start of the 1950's.

Elvis Presley with his 1942 Martin guitar

at the famous Sun Studios c. 1954

The first commercially made 'electric' guitars had appeared in the 1930's and after the hiatus of WW2, production started up again, building on new technology developed in the war.

The dedicated electric guitar, not merely an existing acoustic with a pickup lashed on to the body was now a recognised tool for the working musician. More likely to be found in the conservative venues of jazz and swing dives, being be-bopped in a Charlie Christian style.  

A 2015 Fender Stratocaster, little changed from the 1954 original

one of those 'right first time' designs

In 1954, California radio engineer Leo Fender came up with the guitar that changed music forever, the Fender Stratocaster. Building on the success of the Precision Bass and the Telecaster, his bolt together guitars took the Henry Ford production line approach.

Over in Memphis, Scotty Moore and friends were asked to back a young singer called Elvis Presley. Sam Phillips, the Sun owner had been looking for a white man who could sing like a black man and when Elvis jived up an old Bill Monroe song Blue Moon of Kentucky between studio takes, Phillips had found valhalla.

Scotty Moore on guitar, Bill Black on bass and later DJ Fontana on drums, backed Elvis on guitar, in what would be some of the embryonic rockabilly into rock and roll music. It sounded alive and exciting, it still does over 60 years later.

Gretsch guitars in the 50's were rarer than they are today

Sam Phillips, Norman Petty and Les Paul were three movers in the music technology world of the 1950's. Sam and Norman, both record producers developed ways to get unique sounds from their artists, Les Paul, was a great innovator both on musical instrument technology and music recording fronts, besides his excellent playing ability and style.

Norman Petty did for Buddy Holly, what Sam did for Elvis. Gave him a great studio sound. This was a young man's music and both Buddy Holly and Elvis were young and vibrant, that's why the music sounds fresh, even today.

What Elvis and Buddy did, was to originally take old music and shake it up. Borrowing from the Western swing, giving it a harder edge and more pace.

But then it changed, Elvis was provided with songs and Buddy Holly started writing his own, the divergent paths away from the roots had started, the music was evolving. Inevitably, record labels wanted 'their' Elvis or 'their' Buddy and anyone young with a modicum of talent started to get into music, to be the 'next whoever.

It is interesting now to look back at the diverse plethora of artists from the 1954-57 era that had a go and put their efforts onto Shellac. Many were the classic 'one hit wonders' but some survived to move out into more 'acceptable' music styles in later years.

Rockabilly started to get the harder edge and a harder look. Gone were the check shirt ploughboy cowboy hicks of 1954 and in came black leather, greased pomps and loud motorcycles of the 'Wild One' era.

Oh, and public outrage. Much as would emerge 20 years later in the Punk Rock era.

So what about the modern rockabilly scene? Well, its a varied bag of groceries, that's for sure.

After the deaths of Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and the call up of Elvis into the Army, Rock n Roll as a hard edge sound gave way to a pappy, preppy, bobby soxin' bubble gum music, where it was a Bobby this or Bobby that singing it. The sort of toned down pomp haired boy next door look, in a pastel sport coat and tie look that'd probably get you called a queer a few years earlier.

Yep, public outrage and corporate America cleaned it up... but not for long.

Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats, Gretschmaniac

In the 1970's, a movement started to gather ground to revive the corpse of the old music. At that time, many of the original 50's stars were still young enough to perform and made appearances on the circuit. They were probably amazed at the level of renewed interest.

The untimely death of Elvis Presley, likely sparked the interest in the music again and that brought the music back up. A number of bands who had been on the fringes of the pop world were now 'booked' to record and fill the new fashion.

The UK had a big following for the music, some of its late 50's stars such as Cliff Richard, Billy Fury and others were still making records and new 'revival' acts followed, bands like Matchbox, Darts and the 'Cod Rock' set of others 'sort of in the style of'. Many were performing their own material, some covered old hits.

The movie 'Grease' came out in 1978 and further ignited the interest, although it featured music written originally for the stage show version, which starred Shakin' Stevens for a while I beleive?

In 1980, a band called the Stray Cats hit the scene and they sounded more authentic than some of the revival offerings. Their debut hit 'Runaway Boys' sounded like a train coming past you, it was exciting, vibrant and they looked the part.

With this 70's revival, in the shadows, people started to buy up the old early 50's records, usually imported in from America by the bucket load. A scene started, reviving the clothes and bands started their own efforts at the music going.

These days it has all become rather 'serious.' People are adopting rockabilly as a 'lifestyle' not old geezers, but young people. Fitting out a house with old style furniture, dressing the part and prices for some of the artefacts and clothing from the era are getting out of reach.

A Gretsch 6120 Brian Setzer Hot Rod model

In the 1970's, the revivalists often never used the 'real' guitars the music was originally made on. The great fallacy was that everyone played a Gretsch or a Fender guitar on early recordings.

The reality was that in the 1950's, many couldn't afford one of these guitars at the time, a Gretsch 6120 being around $500USD.

The reality was that many used catalog bought guitars from the Kay range and others from Sears catalogs and the like. Often, they might not have a high fidelity amplifier and use an adapted unit someone with a bit of savvy had bodged up from what radio parts were around. Ironic that many are trying to emulate a crusty old sound with much better equipment!

So, some of our Roots Rockabilly fanciers of today adopt this 'down home' way and dig out the check shirts and strap on an old Sears guitar or something similar. That's what the hardcore does. Most others go for a Gretsch, because they give you the best sound I think.

A search on YouTube will get you any number of modern revival bands who are out there servicing a willing band of followers, not just in the UK and US but all over Europe and into Japan.

It is surprising to see how serious these people are about the music and the lifestyle.

Rockabilly, the original Frankenstein music.

And there's life in the old beast yet, just crank up the volts and bring the creation to life. Again.

But watch out for the angry villagers with their flaming torches....

Roswell, with a chance of Elvis - 2017 The 70th Anniversary of the Roswell Crash and 30th Anniversary of the death if Elvis Presley - how they are connected!

Roswell is always a popular hot potato and I found a recent story on the subject, with a connection to Elvis Presley. Oh, and it is the 70th anniversary of Roswell, next year in 2017.

This came up by chance or was it meant to have been so? I thought I should investigate. Investigation and coincidence, seem to be things that I can't shake off. Perhaps part of my purpose on this planet.

A young Elvis Presley at the Sun Studios 1954

Yes folks, Elvis Presley may have left the building in 1977, but he has a spooky connection to the Roswell UFO incident of 1947.

2017 marks the 70^th anniversary of the Roswell UFO crash and also the 30^th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. Elvis was 12 when Roswell happened.

So you're saying how are those related? In quite a few ways. But there's a twist and we'll put that out for you to look at a bit further down the page. A twist, yes and not in the Chubby Checker sense of the word.

So Elvis lived near to Memphis, of which there is also a place in Egypt called Memphis, where at a place called Abydos, there is an empty Sarcophagus for the Pharaoh Manesh, who died and was buried in Ireland, home of the Celtic people. So what was an ancient Pharaoh doing in Ireland? Well, Thoth, an early Egyptian Pharaoh was an Atlantean and believed to be sharing that connection.

The Egyptian Pyramid Extra Terrestrial

In one of the Pyramids, a mummified extra terrestrial was found in a burial chamber in recent years. The physical appearance of this creature was as some might ascribe to the Star People, that many Indians have encountered, as I have read in Ardy Sixkiller Clarke's book.

In Abydos, a Pyramid there contains the Abydos lintel panel, shown here, which has many futuristic images on it, although it is verified as being from about 5000BC. (Abydos being where Manesh should be buried, had he not died from a Wasp sting in Ireland.)

The Abydos lintel c. 5000BC

And strangely enough, the panel has no machining or carving marks, even today that would be very difficult to achieve, but back then they did not have the metallurgy to make the tools to do this work in the first place!

Elvis was 1/16^th Cherokee and we can go back a long way to a Hopi rock glyph of a UFO crash, so a bit of a connection in genetics.

The Hopi were given clay tablets of wisdom, much in the way that the Sumerians were given thieir information by the Anunnaki. Nibiru, their home planet is due to make an appearance soon, so could it coincide with 2017 and the Roswell anniversary?

I always knew Elvis was 'different'. Now I know why he had that star quality, he was partly one of the 'star people' from another era. Almost like some sort of modern messiah.

Hopi Indian glyph of a crashed UFO

Artist's rendering of the Roswell UFO, similar aren't they?

But it gets stranger.

In 1970, a fan gave Elvis Presley as a gift some pieces of materiel he claimed to have found at the Roswell crash site, before the military and police arrived on the scene. Mac Braesel was the rancher who found the original Roswell crash site and debris.

Metal artefact from the Roswell Crash, said to have been given to Elvis Presley

Braesel is also a name found in Ireland, home of the Celtic people who had strong links to Brazil. The Atlanteans are said to have set up a community in Brazil. Connection? Surely a coincidence that cannot be ignored?

The Atlanteans are said to have passed on certain psychic gifts to the American Indian peoples, plus some spiritual ideas like care of the planet, not harming animals etc.

Now back to Elvis and the gift of the artefact in 1970.

This was a piece of metal about the size of a paperback book, which framed a piece of glass. The metal immediately attracted Elvis to it. The metal seemed to give off a white glow. But it was the glass that was more interesting.

He said looking through it, the world looked more beautiful.

Elvis kept the metal pieces from which the 'glass' was extracted. He thought about having rings made from the metal pieces, but the metal seemed to have its own 'memory' and couldn't be worked with.

I have heard this about Roswell metal too, Jesse Marcel Jr said this about metal he had examined from the crash that his father showed him, it seemed to have 'memory'. Also that it could not be cut, burnt or worked.

Elvis had the glass put into a pair of sunglasses by his personal optician

When he looked through the glasses, he could see the past and the future, Paiute Indians and Buffalo on meadows and also Dinosaurs. He could also see the universe and billions of stars. He also foresaw his own demise and threw the sunglasses away. This is not the first time I have heard of this type of glass from out of our world having these sorts of future and past viewing properties.

In a roundabout way, all things are connected as we know.

Lets see if anything returns in July 2017.