The King lives on

Ed Bonja photographed hundreds of Elvis shows during the 1970s. He will exhibit 150 images of the King at the Commercial Club this weekend.

A NEW exhibition featuring 150 rare and original photographs of Elvis Presley opens at the Commercial Club tomorrow (Saturday).

Ed Bonja was The King’s tour manager and offi cial photographer from 1970-’77, taking thousands of images of the famous performer during hundreds of concerts.

His work has appeared on the cover of dozens of Elvis albums as well as souvenir books, posters and publicity shots.

It’s the fi rst time the exhibition has come to Australia.

“We’ve been getting a really good response,” event organiser Adam Nicholson said.

“Ed was the only stage photographer at these shows and the photos take people back to that time.

“Ed was with Elvis when he fl ew in by helicopter for a show in Hawaii, and I was talking to one lady that said it took her straight back, she remembered where she was when that was shown live on TV.”

While plenty of members of the older generation have visited the exhibition during its Australian tour, it appears the King’s music is reaching a new audience.

“I thought I was a young Elvis fan but we’ve been getting kids as young as nine coming through,” Mr Nicholson said.

“We’ve even had some elderly people leave the show in tears.”

Mr Bonja will attend the exhibition for its duration to chat with those in attendance.

“Another good thing is that Ed is probably one of the last people that’s still alive that worked will Colonel Tom Parker,” Mr Nicholson said.

“He clears up some things about the Colonel, that he wasn’t the monster he has been made out to be.

“He spends a lot of time chatting to all the people that come along and as you can probably imagine, he fields a lot of questions.”

The exhibition will be shown at the Commercial Club on Saturday and Sunday with tickets at the door.

By BLAIR THOMSON

Short URL: http://www.awnw.com.au/?p=12034

Posted by admin on Jan 19 2012. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry