The Next Step

The Ryman Auditorium, home to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN, was built as a grand place of worship by Captain Thomas Ryan who first led a rather questionable life but later became a Christian.

After his passing in 1904, his namesake building eventually became one of the most legendary music venues in the world.

Fast forward to 1954. Elvis' first professional appearance is at the Overton Shell Park in Memphis. It goes well. He's a hit.

The next step is national attention via a try out at the Grand Ole Opry. It's a 300 km ride. To Elvis, Scotty and Bill the Ryman Auditorium is like a shrine. None of them has ever attended a show there and they wander around the dilapidated building in a daze, overwhelmed by the sense of history in the room.

Backstage, Elvis is insecure and scared stiff. He confesses to upcoming 20-year-old bass player Buddy Killen: They're going to hate me. If they'd just let me leave, I'd go right now. There are two more surprises for the band: Marion Keisker, supposed to be on duty at SUN, has left her post and driven all the way to appear backstage for support, plus Bill and Scotty's wives are in the front row.

Hank Snow introduces Elvis as "a new young and upcoming singer", but forget Elvis' name in the process! Elvis bounces out on stage the same way that he always does, as if he's just fallen off a fast-moving train, and does his one number. Scotty and Bill are more nervous than Elvis; to them it seems, there is nowhere to go but down from here, and they can sense by the polite, but tepid reception that this is exactly where they are going.

Elvis never performs on the Opry again but visits friends backstage at the Ryman in 1957.

Red Robinson

Robert "Red" Robertson is part of the 50s Elvis story. Red was a Canadian disc jockey and Elvis fan. He was the first DJ to play rock 'n' roll music in Vancouver, Canada. On 31 August 1957 he was also the MC for Elvis' rock 'n' roll concert at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver in front of 25,000 fans.

Robinson taped Elvis' dressing room press conference before the concert. It was released on an album in 1977, named The ELVIS Tapes. 

Red described the Elvis concert in Vancouver as troublesome pandemonium: 

There were policemen there, but not enough of them. Fans furthest away from every corner of the stadium came to the front to get a better look at Elvis and then returned to their seats. However, the gathering in front of the stage, the first five or six people deep, was where the problem was; that was where the fear was. At the end Elvis finished his set and tore down the back stairs. He took off his jacket and handed it to his cousin Gene, who got into the limo. The kids followed the limo while Elvis stayed behind till it was safe for him to get out. 

Elvis Live On CD (1971)

Via FTD we previously had two live 1971 Elvis concerts:

1. Dinner Show, 28-10-71, Las Vegas, NV, (The Impossible Dream) 
2. Evening Show, 28-11-71, Boston, MA, (Elvis As Recorded at Boston Garden)

As part of its ongoing live on tour series, FTD Records has released Elvis: Live In Vegas '71 as a 3-CD 5" digipak, featuring three 1971 shows recorded in Vegas, respectively on Jan 27-29.

FTD refer to this release as "having imperfections", but "the historic importance and rarity of these recordings were prioritized". Translated, it means "some of the sound quality might be poor."

To buy or not to buy...

CONS:

1. Some sound quality might ruin the listening experience.

PROS:

1. Directly from the original master tapes

2. Rare live songs are included

3. Elvis give the songs respectful treatments 

THE FINAL VERDICT might be a toss up between quality and rarity.

EVEN if these shows are of more historical importance than anything else, finally we have at least 5 concerts from 1971, making it no longer a "missing year!"

Thanks To Bill Porter

In November 2022 The Elvis Collector's label, FTD Records, released Elvis: Live In Vegas '71. Turns out the initial recording engineer was Bill Porter. 

CROSSING PATHS WITH ELVIS

After the '68 NBC-TV Special, Elvis recorded some songs at the beginning of 1969 to get into the charts again and cemented his comeback. There was a mixing problem on Suspicious Minds, around the unusual fade out. Elvis' record producer Felton Jarvis asked sound engineer Bill Porter to help. Bill helped and left.

A few months later Elvis returned to live performances in Vegas. Afterwards he called Porter and asked him to help fix the sound in the main showroom as he could not hear himself and a new Vegas run was scheduled for the beginning of the next year. 

When Elvis started rehearsals in January 1970 Porter attended and fixed the sound by replacing the stage monitors (that the hotel's engineers could not get working) with his own sound equipment and laying the column speakers on their sides on the lip of the stage, propping them up to aim at Elvis, who was very happy with the result.

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER ELVIS COULD HEAR HIMSELF ON STAGE.

Elvis insisted that Porter mixed the sound of these January 1970 shows (even though Bill had no previous experience recording live sound). He quickly learned about acoustic feedback during the first song but backstage after the show film stars and musical artists kept complimenting Elvis that Porter's sound was "just like the album."

From then on Bill Porter mixed all of Elvis' live concerts.  

Aloha From Hawaii

In 2023 we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1st worldwide satellite concert by ONE man. 

Some interesting tidbits surrounding this historical broadcast:

1. There were other satellite concerts before and after Elvis. 
2. The satellite transmitting the concert signal belonged to NBC and was very costly to hire.  
3. The stage was made in L.A. and shipped to Hawaii.  
4. When Nani Lee, the wife of Kui Lee, heard of Elvis' concert for her charity foundation, she went  straight to the doctor for tranquilizers.
5. No money is to be charged for a TV audience, so donations were asked for each ticket.        
6. Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite was the most expensive TV concert of its time at $2,5 million.
7. The rehearsal concert would be recorded at 20h30 on January 12, 1973 but by 19h00 6,000 fans had already stormed the venue and crammed into the available 5,300 seats. 
8. Elvis wanted a suit that said America. Ideas included the outline of a map or the star-spangled banner, but eventually the decision went to the national bird. 
9. The live broadcast had to be shy of 1 hour, after which the satellite feed would be cut off, so Elvis organised for Joe Esposito to be at the side of the stage with a flashlight to indicate when 10 minutes were left.
10. The sound equipment of NBC and RCA combined overloaded the power. Two hours before the rehearsal concert the lights flickered on and off and the sound engineers went to borrow extra equipment from the Navy. A few minutes before the start of the show, there was a hum in the sound system, caused by the stage lights, and lead plates were obtained, again from the Navy, to counteract this.

There are many more fun facts, especially the 1.5 billion people having watched the broadcast, amongst others South Africa. (NOT!) At this point in time? Sure! The Parker marketing machine did the trick, though, and it's all now part of Elvis lore.

Best. Elvis. Tribute. Ever.

A BIG thank you to The Steyn Family Band, for bringing the Nicholis Louw Elvis On My Mind Show to Cape Town. Boy, did the Quarry rock!

This morning, spontaneous feedback from EPFCA members found their way to our local Whatsapp group:

Was I pleasantly surprised by the Elvis Tribute yesterday evening! Thank you for encouraging us to attend the show. Nicholis is actually a really good singer.

It was awesome. The band is incredible. I yearn for more tributes to Elvis' music where nary a jumpsuit is in sight. We have to support such rarities in bigger numbers.

I loved the show and now have a different perspective on Nicholis.

Recently the following tongue-in-cheek saying did the rounds on the social media: "I don't judge people based on race, religion, gender or sexuality. I judge people on whether or not they're an ELVIS fan!" In the same vein I want to add that I like and admire any performer in their own right in our country who is a fan of Elvis and his music, because anyone who "gets it", must be a great human being.  

On Saturday night, Nicholis' love and respect for his musical hero came to the forefront in what he said about Elvis, as well as how he said it, coupled with the unique presentation of the music. Elvis was the punk rocker of his time and Nicholis and The Steyn Family Band proved it!

Photo: The Steyn Family Band

Spell-bound In London

Annemarie and I jetted off to London for two weeks on 26 April 2005 to see Elvis - The Concert and meet VIPs in the Elvis World. The first few days we did the tourist thing to show Annemarie all the wonderful sites the city has to offer, as it was her first time overseas.

We attended an Elvis Nite at a pub in London where we met up with well-known Elvis author Julie Yeardye who invited us to her and hubby Trevor's home in Tring. They showed us the beautiful countryside surrounding Tring. Then came the big night ... Annemarie and I were so excited, we counted the minutes to the show. At about 6.30 p.m. we took the tube to Hammersmith where the concert was held. We were surrounded by thousands of Elvis fans, young and still young at heart.

Not wanting to miss anything we took our seats and immediately felt the energy in the air. Just before spontaneously combusted with anticipation, the lights dimmed and the first few notes of Also Sprach Zarathustra began to play. We almost jumped out of our seats.

The curtains lifted and there they were, the band members who shared Elvis' stage and life: The Sweets, The Stamps, James Burton, Jerry Scheff, Glen Hardin and Joe Guercio. Then, larger than life, Elvis appeared on the big screen in the middle of the stage. That voice and music captured us and let us experience a magnificent, spell-bound performance!

Soon everybody were rocking in the isles to the rhythm of Suspicious Minds, and, holding hands, swaying to Can't Help Falling In Love. All too soon the evening was over, but the memories of that evening will stay in our hearts forever.

Nicolette Meades © EPFCA