June 23rd

 

In 1968 Elvis records the Earl Brown composition If I Can Dream in several impassioned takes, and the band completes an instrumental track of Memories, a new Mac Davis composition on which Elvis will overdub studio vocals the following day for the LP version while singing it live to the backing track for the show.

 

 

June 24th

 

In 1968, Elvis rehearses at the NBC studio from 11.00am to 4.00pm, then begins work on the informal sequence with Scotty and D.J. who flew in from Nashville two days before.

In the late afternoon, Elvis returns to Western Recorders, where he lays down vocals for Memories. Bones Howe has spent the day mixing the recordings that will be used as the soundtrack for the production numbers in the show.

 

 

June 25th

 

In 1968, from 10.00am to 1.00pm, Elvis again rehearses for the informal segment, then spends two hours with the dancers and the Blossoms practicing the gospel medley. From 3.00pm to 5.00pm, the entire ensemble rehearse the Guitar Man segment, and then Elvis holds a 6.00pm press conference. Asked why he is finally doing a television special now, he says, ‘We figured it was about time. Besides, I figured I’d better do it before I got too old.’ The day ends for Elvis with a meeting with Steve Binder and the two writers.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/68presscon.jpg :heart:

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/68presscon2.jpg

 

My God, he looked fantastic :wub:

 

June 26th

 

It was on Sunday 26th June 1977 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis that Elvis gave, what was to be his final concert. It was the Colonel’s 68th birthday and Elvis gave, what many remember as his finest performance in months, remaining on stage for approximately 80 minutes and ending with strong versions of Hurt and Bridge Over Troubled Water. He wore the Mexican Sundial Suit.

On his arrival in Indianapolis, he had been presented with a plaque commemorating the pressing of the two billionth record at RCA’s Indianapolis pressing plant, which comes during the manufacture of Elvis’ new album, Moody Blue.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/062677.jpg

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/26_jun_77_01.jpg

 

Set List for the 8.30pm show

 

Also Sprach Zarathustra

See See Rider

I Got A Woman/Amen

Love Me

Fairytale

You Gave Me A Mountain

Jailhouse Rock

It's Now Or Never

Little Sister

TeddyBear/Don't Be Cruel

Please Release Me

I Can't Stop Loving You

Bridge Over Troubled Water

[band introductions]

Early Morning Rain

What'd I Say

Johnny B. Goode

I Really Don't Want To Know

Hurt

Hound dog

Can't Help Falling In Love

Closing vamp

 

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/26_jun_77_06.jpg

 

The next day's review by Rita Rose in the Indianapolis Star told the story, "And then he appeared, in a gold and white jumpsuit with white boots, bounding on stage with energy that was a relief to everyone. At 42, Elvis still has some excess baggage on his midsection, but it doesn't stop him from giving a performance in true Presley style....Just about everything he did created mass hysteria."

 

Lee Cotten reflects: During C.C. Rider, flashbulbs popped wildly and by the time he had segued into Amen, he had everyone clapping in unison...Toward the end of the show, he mesmerised the crowd with Hurt. He asked Vernon, who was looking frail, to come on stage to be introduced to the fans....Then, for the final time, he sang Can't Help Falling In Love. Even as the music faded, he wouldn't leave the stage. He walked back and forth, shaking his head in disbelief at the roar as more than 18,000 fans stomped and cheered.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/26_jun_77_07.jpg

 

Sadly, two years later, on this day in 1979, Elvis' father Vernon passed away :(

 

 

 

June 27th

 

In 1968, at 9.00am, Elvis rehearses the gospel medley, with taping of the amusement park scene, beginning at 1.00pm. In this segment, Elvis lip-synchs Guitar Man, Big Boss Man and It Hurts Me to a pre-recorded tape. Six pm marks the beginning of the first of the two-one hour ‘informal’ sets in front of a live audience, with just Scotty on guitar, D.J beating sticks on an upside-down guitar case, Charlie Hodge on rhythm guitar and harmony vocals, Alan Fortas banging on the back of a guitar, and Lance LeGault shaking a tambourine as accompaniment to Elvis’ own singing and guitar playing. As he is about to go on, Elvis panics, and Steve Binder and Joe Esposito momentarily wonder if he will go on at all.What if he freezes up, Elvis demands of Binder. ‘Then you go out, sit down, look at everyone, get up and walk off,’says Binder. ‘But you are going out there.’ His performance on this night marks a high-water point that is still riveting today; the fear that he has expressed translates into a degree of engagement rarely revealed on stage. Costume designer Bill Belew recalls that after the first show, Elvis was so drenched in perspiration that he practically had to be cut out of his leather suit, which then had to be cleaned and reshaped between shows. :wub:

(from Elvis – Day By Day by Peter Guralnik and Ernst Jorgensen)

 

Elvis talking about music :dance:

 

 

Baby What You Want Me To Do

 

:wub:

 

Trying To Get To You

 

:wub:

 

What a Comeback :dance: :yahoo:

June 28th

 

In 1968, work begins again at 9.00am with the taping of the gospel medley, which is performed to pre-recorded tracks, such as the bordello scene featuring Let Yourself Go. Meanwhile Claude Thompson is rehearsing the Elvis ‘look-alikes’ who will be featured in the giant Guitar Man frame that makes up the opening shot. :D

 

June 29th

 

In 1971, the Memphis City Council votes to change the name of Highway 51 South, from South Parkway to the Mississippi state line, to Elvis Presley Boulevard. (Graceland’s official address will change from 3764 Highway South to 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard). The formal renaming ceremony will take place in January 1972. :cheer:

 

In 1968, at 6.00pm and 8.00pm, Elvis tapes the two ‘stand-up’ segments where he appears alone once again in the same small boxing ring stage, surrounded this time, not just by a live audience, but by a full orchestra conducted by Billy Goldenberg.

 

 

How can one man look so gorgeous :wub:

 

Edited June 30, 200718 yr by tilly

June 30th

 

In 1966, Elvis is working on the soundtrack for Double Trouble. From 7.00pm until midnight, on MGM’s recording stage, Elvis overdubs vocals for three more songs.

 

In 1956, Elvis is at the Mosque Theater in Richmond, Virginia for two evening shows. Immediately after the last show, Elvis climbs aboard the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad train, returning to New York for the Steve Allen Show on the following day.

July 1st

 

In 1956, Elvis is on The Steve Allen Show at the Hudson Theater in New York City at 8.00pm.

Elvis opens with I Want You, I Need You, I Love You, backed by the Jordanaires, then performs his yet-to-be-recorded showstopper, Hound Dog, to a nervous basset hound, while wearing the tuxedo that Steve Allen has presented him with. Later, he appears in a comedy skit titled ‘Range Round-Up’ with Andy Griffith, Imogene Coca and Allen. His pay for the night is $5,000.

At some point in the day, Steve Sholes takes the opportunity to play some demos for Elvis, among which is a ballad, Any Way You Want Me, and a rocker, Too Much, which he will go on to record. :dance:

 

 

At 11.30, Elvis appears live on the popular television interview show Hy Gardner Calling! Asked if he has learned anything from his critics, he responds, ‘No, I haven’t. I don’t feel like I’m doing anything wrong.’ Discussing his effect to teenagers, Elvis reiterates what he has been saying all along, ‘I don’t see how any type of music would have any bad influence on people when it’s only music……I mean, how would rock ‘n’ roll music make anyone rebel against their parents?’ It is his sleepy, almost doped-up appearance though, almost certainly a conscious evocation of James Dean, that leaves the most lasting impression. :wub:

 

 

 

July 2nd

 

In 1956, Elvis reports to the RCA studio at 2.00pm where he records three songs, Hound Dog, Don’t Be Cruel and Any Way You Want Me over the next seven hours. This is the first time that Elvis has taken over full leadership of a session, and he insists on completing each song to his own satisfaction, continuing with Hound Dog (thirty-one takes) and Don’t Be Cruel (twenty-eight), well past the point that producer Steve Sholes would have quit. Elvis’ band is augmented by pianist Shorty Long and the Jordanaires.

While the session is going on, fans outside the studio hold up signs for ‘The Real Elvis,’ as apposed to the ‘homogenized’ Elvis who had appeared on Steve Allen the night before. :dance:

 

Don't Be Cruel

 

 

July 3rd

 

In 1960, Vernon, Elvis’ father marries Dee Stanley in Huntsville, Alabama. Elvis does not attend, but chooses instead, to go boating on McKellar Lake at Riverside Park in Memphis.

 

In 1954, in the evening, Scotty Moore, a local guitar player who has secured a recording deal with Sam Phillips for his own band, the Starlite Wranglers, calls Elvis’ house and identifies himself as a scout for Sun. Elvis is at the movies, but his mother goes to fetch him and when he calls Scotty back, Scotty explains that he got his name from Sam Phillips and wonders if he would be interested in an audition. :dance:

 

July 4th

 

In 1955, Elvis appears, first at Hodges Park, De Leon in Texas at a family picnic put on by gospel promoter W.D. Nowlin, and, influenced by the presence of two of his favourite gospel quartets, the Statesman and the Blackwood Brothers, sings nothing but gospel music. Later, at Recreation Hall in Stephenville, then Memorial Hall in Brownwood, he does his regular show.

 

The following year, in 1956, upon arriving in Memphis from New York, he disembarks at a small signal stop called White Station and walks home to Audubon Drive, arriving just in time to see his new swimming pool being filled up. Later that evening, during a show at Russwood Park in Memphis, Elvis tells cheering hometown fans, ‘You know those people in New York are not going to change me none. I’m gonna show you what the real Elvis is like tonight.’

July 5th

 

A monumental day in Elvis Presley history and in fact, the history of music in general!! :cheer: B)

 

In 1954, Elvis, Scotty and Starlite Wrangler bass player, Bill Black report to Sun Studios after work. The previous day, they had met up at Scotty’s apartment and Elvis had run through nearly every song he knew. After talking with Sam Phillips, Scotty agreed it would be worth a try in the studios. Once there, they attempt one ballad after another without sparking Phillips’ interest. Then, during a break in what has been technically termed a ‘rehearsal session,’ and with everyone feeling pretty discouraged, Elvis launches, without warning, into blues singer Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup’s That’s All Right.’ The other musicians quickly fall into line, and Sam Phillips finally hears what he has been waiting for all along. They do several takes of That’s All Right, and while Scotty and Bill remain sceptical, Phillips is convinced that all they need at this point is a second side to make up Elvis Presley’s first single. :yahoo: :dance:

 

 

 

July 6th

 

In 1961, Elvis arrives in a chartered bus at the Port Paradise Hotel in Crystal River, Florida for the start of filming of Follow That Dream. The new movie will be produced by Love Me Tender producer David Weisbart and directed by Gordon Douglas.

 

In 1972, through George Klein, Elvis is introduced to the present Miss Tennessee, a twenty-two year old Memphis State student named Linda Thompson at the Memphian.

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/linda73air.jpg

And it’s assumed that on this day in 1954, Sam Phillips plays an acetate of That’s All Right to DJ Dewy Phillips of WHBQ who flips over the song and vows to play it on his Red Hot And Blue radio show the following evening

July 7th

 

In 1969, in preparation for his return to Las Vegas at the end of the month, Elvis, with the help of Charlie Hodge, continues to work up material for the shows. Joe Esposito shuttles song titles to the Colonel’s office so that publishing rights can be cleared.

 

In 1957, George Klein introduces Elvis to Anita Wood, a nineteen year old beauty contest winner, whom Elvis has spotted on Wink Martindale’s Memphis show, Top Ten Dance Party.

 

Elvis and Anita

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48/elvis1959/anita.jpg

 

July 8th

 

The day the world (well Memphis anyway B) ) got to hear our man :yahoo: :cheer:

In 1954, Sam brings Dewy Phillips two one-sided acetates of That’s All Right to the WHBQ studio in the Hotel Chisca downtown. Gladys and Vernon listen to Dewy’s evening show in anticipation of hearing their son on the radio, but Elvis goes to the movies a few blocks away. When Dewey plays the acetate, the switchboards light up and he continues to play the song over and over again, calling the Presley home to try to get Elvis down to the studio. Gladys and Vernon go up and down the aisles at the Suzore #2, finally locating Elvis and sending him down to the radio station. When a nervous Elvis finally appears, Dewey makes casual conversation with him, not informing him until afterward that they have been on the air. :wub:

 

And in 1972, the Colonel announces that there will be a worldwide satellite broadcast of an Elvis concert from Hawaii in October or November. (Of course it actually turned out to be January 1973) ‘It is the intention of Elvis to please all of his fans throughout the world,’ the Colonel is quoted in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, and ‘since it is impossible for us to play in every major city,’ this, by implication, is the next best thing.

July 9th

 

In 1954, while the exact date of the session that produced the B-side for Elvis’ first record is not known, the urgent need for a second side is reemphasised by the sensation that Dewey’s show has created. Once again, almost by accident, Elvis, Scotty and Bill improvise a free-wheeling, up-tempo, backbeat-laden version of a familiar song, in this case, Bill Monroe’s bluegrass classic in waltz time, Blue Moon Of Kentucky. B)

 

 

July 10th

 

In 1956, Elvis, along with Red West, Gene and Junior Smith and friend Arthur Hooton, had unexpectedly shown up at June Juanico’s house in Biloxi the previous day. His presence in Biloxi fuels escalating rumours (which will continue throughout the summer) that he is engaged to June. After hearing this rumour articulated on a New Orleans radio station, he and June drive to New Orleans with the rest of the gang to try to dispel it then visit the Ponchartrain Beach Amusement Park before heading back to Biloxi. The following morning, June is awakened by a phone call from a New Orleans Item reporter. ‘Did I kiss him goodnight? What do you think?’ she says. ‘He’s wonderful!’ :wub:

 

Lucky girl, I'm so jealous :cry:

July 11th

 

In 1966, principal photography begins on Double Trouble. Either this week or possibly, the last one, Jackie Wilson visits Elvis on the set. Wilson will carry around an autographed print of the picture taken on the set until stricken with illness eight years later. B)

 

In 1955, Elvis successfully records three new songs at Sun. They are I Forgot To Remember To Forget, an original compostion written once again for him by Stan Kesler, Little Junior Parker’s Mystery Train, which Sam Phillips originally produced on Parker in 1953 and a number by the Washington, DC, r & b group the Eagles, Trying To Get To You. Memphis drummer Johnny Bernero plays on all but Mystery Train, and the first two songs will become the next single. :dance:

 

I Forgot To Remember To Forget

 

 

Mystery Train

 

 

 

July 12th

 

In New York on this day in 1956, Ed Sullivan, who had previously declared that he wouldn’t touch Elvis Presley with a ten-foot pole, announces that he has booked Elvis on his variety show, one of the highest-rated shows on television. The Colonel insists to Harry Kalcheim that Elvis must retain complete control of the presentation of his songs and adds that mail is running ten to one against any restriction of Elvis’ movements. :dance:

 

In 1967, on the movie set of Speedway, Elvis announces that Priscilla is pregnant, and tells reporters, ’This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.’ :wub: