Friday, March 14, 2008

Todd's memorial service will be Apr 1st, 2008

I have booked my flights and reserved a room and a car.

It has been almost 2 weeks since we got the news, but I'm still not over the shock of Todd's untimely passing. I hope it helps his family to know how much Todd was loved, admired and respected by friends, coworkers and thousands of people who only knew him a little, or just knew his work.

He will be irreplaceable but he will also be unforgettable

I will be blogging about my trip to Memphis.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Todd Morgan RIP


Some of you may have no idea who Todd is- was. He worked for 25 years at Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE). He was responsible for the deluxe re-editing of 2 major Elvis shows, the '68 Special and the Aloha concert. He was the personification of EPE to the press and to the fans. And he was as big an Elvis fan as any of us. For him it was a dream job. He loved what he did and it showed.

Todd had just been promoted to a new position and was to report directly to Gary Hovey in Los Angeles, though he would remain in Memphis. He was due to go out to dinner Saturday night with friends to celebrate his promotion, but did not show. He had died, apparently of a massive heart attack, at the obscenely young age of 45.

I remember watching Todd watch us a few years ago in Memphis as we took in the revised version of "Aloha" before its release. The look on his face was combined pride and anxiety as he waited to hear our reactions. He was so proud of the work he'd done - and, of course, rightly so. He'd seen every inch of the raw footage of that show and the '68 Special and was such a fount of information he will be impossible to replace.

We got lots of support from many people at EPE, and Todd bent over backwards to help us release "200 Cadillacs". He allowed us to film at the car museum - for free. He (in cooperation with Gary Hovey) got me the names and phone numbers of the people at the Frank Sinatra Estate, SOFA Entertainment, Warner, etc. where we needs rights and clearances. This help was priceless.

For the next project he told me to be sure to use his name with the contacts he gave me. We had talked about this project during Elvis Week and I was supposed to call him when I had some news. Two emails from Todd have been sitting in my inbox - at the top of the list - waiting for news so I could just hit 'reply'.

Last August, during the Elvis Week celebrations, I loved watching his excitement as he told us to anticipate something really cool at the big Elvis concert. It was so cute when he tried to keep all the camera flashes from going off so we could see the special effects at the beginning of the show. His enthusiasm was always contagious.

There is so much more.

I didn't know him all that well, but he was the kind of guy that made everyone feel important when he was with them. I have surprised myself by how deeply this is affecting me. He was quite a guy.

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I changed the picture. Isn't this a great one of Todd?