From a Canadian newspaper: Sun, April 17, 2005 Daddy's Girl Lisa Marie Presley says her deceased dad Elvis 'saved my life recently' By Jim Slotek You'd think at this point in Lisa Marie Presley's life, there isn't much new to learn about her late father (a guy named Elvis, you may have heard of him). And you'd be wrong. "It was like he actually saved my life recently," the blunt-speaking Lisa Marie, 36, says over the phone from her L.A. hometown in an exclusive interview with The Sun. "There's a new documentary coming out in May, and I was watching a rough cut and heard a quote I'd never heard before. "There was a scene where he's being asked about being perfect and having a perfect life with money and fame, like they were trying to put him on a pedestal. And he said, 'There's no such thing as a perfect human being. The closest was Jesus Christ, and look what they did to him.' "And I was like, 'Wow, he said that way back then. He must have felt the pressure of having things put on him that he didn't want to have to live up to.' "Y'know, as a performer, I have to contend with him. But he had all of America to contend with in a very conservative time in the 1950s. He had that cross to bear, that stress. At one time I didn't think my appreciation and respect and admiration for him could go higher, but it's gone to the sky." She's been thinking a lot about Elvis lately, what with the recent release of her decidedly rocky second album Now What, and the media barrage to which she's exposed herself -- Oprah, Good Morning America, Letterman, Howard Stern and a slew of other outlets from Toronto to Tallahassee to Timbuktu. Ironically, she says she's mainly asked about someone she claims to seldom think about -- Michael Jackson, to whom she was married for 20 months in the mid-'90s. She's owned up to feeling used in that marriage, and claims to know nothing about the behaviour that led to his molestation trial. "It's not so much the interviews, it's the take on them after," she says. "It's running me into somebody else's problems, you know what I mean? My ex-husband happens to be fouled up right now for whatever reason. I have nothing to do with that. "It's been 12 years, and it seems to be that every time I put a record out I'm conglomerated into his thing and I can't focus on what I'm doing." How does she avoid media coverage of the Jacko trial? "It's really, really easy," she says. "For one thing, I'm very busy. I've probably slept six hours in the last four days. If the radio's on with it, I don't listen. If it's on TV, I don't look. I'm so bored with it, I'm so done with it, I can't even look -- I'm not with him, nor have I been for a very long time." The two most important men in her life now are in her band -- her bass player is her ex, Danny Keough (father of her kids Riley and Benjamin). Her new beau is guitarist Michael Lockhart -- to whom she writes in her liner notes, 'It took me 26 years to find you and DAMMIT if your (sic) not perfect in every way!' "It's great, it's really good," she says of the troika. "They were friends before Danny joined the band and they're friends now." Friends are a recurring theme in Presley's take on life. Now What includes a song she wrote called When You Go, dedicated to her friend Johnny Ramone, who died during the recording of the album. In fact, he died on the day she began recording a cover of The Ramones song Here, Now (it's included on Now What as a bonus track). Her "little sister" Pink joins her on the song Shine. Ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones and songwriter Linda Perry (Four Non Blondes) also pitched in. There's also a shout-out in the liner notes to her good friend, shock rocker Marilyn Manson. It occurs to me that Lisa Marie is attracted to people who tend to be misunderstood. "With my history? Yeah!" she says. "I'm attracted to people who don't go with the status quo, who don't conform to mediocrity, who don't conform to broad, widespread popular ideas. I'm attracted to artists who are artists." They also tend to share the morbid sense she displays in her lyrics. "Oh yeah," she says, when I mention her dark muse. "Definitely, when I've gone through something, I've written songs that have got me through. I purge by writing; it's a puke thing. I'm addressing things other than butterflies and dandelions." She and her mother Priscilla have publicly made nice recently (appearing on Oprah together last week), after a lifetime relationship that Lisa Marie describes as "oil and water." Mom's disapproval seemed focused on her love life (the Jackson marriage and another to Nicolas Cage). "We took time, we had to find our place with each other. We now accept that we're complete opposites and can grant the other person importance, even though they're not necessarily what you expected them to be. "The only regret I have with my own children is having raised them in Los Angeles, Calif. I really don't like that soulless city. You get caught up in all kinds of crazy stuff. "I'm definitely thinking of moving, though it might be too late, because they're already been bitten by the bug -- y'know, they've checked into the Hotel California (her daughter Riley, a teenage model, was recently named the new face of Dior Perfume). "Nothing is meaningful there. It's who looks like what, what celebrity is going to what club. I'm uncomfortable having my kids around that. It's still home, I guess, my friends and family are there. But I'm a recluse in L.A. I'm photographed everywhere, so I don't go out. I'm definitely planning to leave in exile." home | new | the man | lisa marie | priscilla & others | fun | clothes | photos | records | movies | concerts | gifts | web | guide | e-cards | today | facts Click here for more info on the book The Girls' Guide to Elvis Click here to check out sister book The Girls' Guide to Country Click here to check out the latest sister book The Ultimate Guide to Chick Flicks