Inside Henrik Knudsen And G.I. Blues

We go "Inside Henrik Knudsen" and "Inside G.I. Blues" through this interview with the President of the well known Danish Elvis Unlimited fan club.

EN: Can you tell us something about Henrik Knudsen, the person?

HK: I’m 42, married and father to Pernille and Nicolai. Been a fan since I was 13 years old. Today many years later we have published 100 + magazines, about 10 books, some CDs and DVD’s. We got a shop in Denmark, Sweden & Norway. At Elvis Unlimited we are all Elvis Fans and we try to deliver an service and products, that we would like ourself, this is my personal goal and its now our companys.

EN: O.k. to get an idea of you as an “Elvis person”, what, in general, is your favorite Elvis stuff? Can you tell us your favorite, song, album and movie?

HK: Its so difficult as there is so many good things to pick from. But after working with Megan and the crew on this book, GI Blues really mean something special to me at this moment.

EN: Can you tell us in short about your "Elvis history"?

HK: Think this is covered in #1.

EN: Can you tell us something about your work and how you found the Elvis author?

HK: As said earlier, we have published a lot of Magazines and for a long time Megan Murphy from Bayonne, NJ. have done a splendid job with our Elvis Unlimited Magazine and website. She had the idea to do this book and did everything from researching, writing, to find some of the rarest picture in the book. Both Lars Gjeding, Henryk Martraszek and myself, more or less got the directions what to do from Megan. But this said this book could not have been the same without help from so many people around the would. We got so much stuff, that it’s unbelievable. Also a big thank you to Ger Rijff, for support and allowing us to use the “Inside” in title.

EN: Your upcoming (new) book "Inside “G.I. Blues" is done together with other fanclubs. We enjoy that fans from all over the world work together. Can you tell us something about the background of this co-operation?

HK: This have been fantastic. From around the world fan clubs and fans have been so supportive, that its mind blowing, and there is no way we can really show how much we appreciate the support, enough. So it’s been fantastic to work with all these great Elvis fans. This is the prove, that despite race, politic and religion when it comes to Elvis people stand together.

EN: Where did the idea for this book come from and could you tell us something about the book?

HK: The idea came from Megan Murphy, and I’ve to say that the outcome is some of the best I’ve seen for the longest time. There is no nonsense about what someone think of the movie ect. Only facts, and lots of them I may say. Funny to read about the actors, what they have done and to see that even an, until now, unknown actor from Denmark was in the movie, but also a lot of European actors were used. Interesting reading.

EN: What is your favourite story from the book?

HK: I like the day by day section and the Julie Prowse interview. And yes we are proud that Sid Tepper took the time to write the foreword. This only happened with Megan’s great connections.

EN: Do you have personal memories of watching “G.I. Blues”?

HK: It’s not his best, but I think the movie have a special meaning to a lot of people, and I think it’s a fairly good movie. I like a lot of the songs, and enjoy Julie Prowse a lot.

EN: To be honest, when we first heard about this book, we thought that it was taking advantage of Ger Rijff’s successful series. Aren’t you afraid for that reaction?

HK: Sure, but I just know everyone did their best and with our new designer Kenneth Dokkeberg, this book is one of the finest we’ve ever done. Plus the fact that we can offer footage, that have never been released before. Also the promotion single, that until now was unknown. It was an Australian promotion single for Radio stations. The DVD and single are only to be found in the fast selling Limited Box-set version.

EN: Did Ger Rijff’s releases inspire you?

HK: Ger is a very good friend of mine and he always inspire me, no matter what I do. He’s a living legend in the Elvis world and I can’t wait to do another project with him. Actually we are currently working on 2 new projects.

EN: What is your "own" favourite Elvis book and what is your favourite Elvis book written by somebody else?

HK: It have to be this new Inside GI Blues. I got all of Ernst Jørgensens books and like them all, plus of course Ger’s and most of Tunzi’s. All of them made great books. They are all my heroes, people that I admire in the Elvis world.

EN: What kind of books do you read yourself?

HK: I like books with facts and unseen pictures.

EN: Probably you have told the story a million times before, but how do you remember Elvis' passing (if you’re old enough :-)?

HK: I sure do. I watched the news the day after, in B/W TV, yes in Denmark at that time a lot of programs was still in B/W. Remember talking about it in school the next day and from that day on everything is history as some may say.

EN: If you’d meet Elvis today, what would you ask him?

HK: I would ask if he was happy and doing okay. But I never had the chance, I only wish. I have met Priscilla and Lisa Marie. Made shows in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and USA, with TCB BAND, Jordanaires, JD Sumner and the Stamps, Memphis Boys, Scotty Moore, DJ Fontana, The Sweet Inspirations, Imperials, Sherrill Nielsen, Bob Moore, Jerry Carrigan, Bill Baize, Larry Geller, Red West, Ed Bonja, Sam Thompson, Al Dvorin, Charlie Hodge, John Wilkinson ect.. It has been fantastic and I thank God everyday for that I’m able to make a living out of my hobby and to have the best customers in the world, Elvis fans.

EN: Thank you for the inside view on Henrik Knudsen.

HK: I gladly "opened up" :-)

The latest Elvis Unlimited production "Inside G.I. Blues" is available from Elvis Unlimited and you can win a copy of this latest production later this week on ElvisNews. Elvis Unlimited kindly provided a Limited Edition box set for the first prize and another copy of the book for the runner up.