Take a virtual tour of Circle G Ranch:

 

The Elvis Ranch is for sale for a cool $6.5 million, but anyone with an Internet connection can take a virtual tour.

 

The 155-acre property just across the Tennessee-Mississippi state line in Horn Lake, Miss., is officially known as the Circle G Ranch. Elvis Presley owned it from 1966 to 1971. He and Priscilla honeymooned there in 1968, and the building known as the "honeymoon cottage" still stands today.

 

Prudential Collins-Maury Realtors agent Rodger Motz, who is handling the sale, said calls have come from as far away as Denmark.

 

To see the ranch, go to http://www.visualtour.com/ and type in property number 0201-2316.

 

(News, Source: Sanja Meegin)

 

Nice to see it all and would love to have it as a holiday home :yahoo: Better fill out that lottery ticket for Saturday's draw B)

 

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/...e-fit-for-king/

 

Article includes a photo taken from a memorial held at the ranch on the 1st anniversary of Elvis’ death. B)

 

Interesting article, primarily about John Lennon, but Elvis features quite a lot :cheer:

 

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/...0230,full.story

 

and another article :-

 

Elvis's popularity stifled by poor management and blinkered record company marketing:

 

Several years ago, music writer Brian W. Fairbanks wrote a thoughtful article about Elvis’ pervasive presence in society, “Elvis is Everywhere”. In it, Fairbanks directed criticism at both Colonel Parker and RCA........

His unrivaled popularity, even in death, is proof that talent and charisma are more important to stardom than marketing or management. Elvis had the worst manager of them all in the form of Colonel Tom Parker, a con man to whom many give undue credit for Presley’s success. But Parker latched on to Presley only after the star had conquered the South in ways unseen since the Civil War. Parker rode Presley’s coattails to glory while creating hurdles that his client had to overcome.

The long string of mindless movies that wasted the star’s talent for almost a decade were Parker’s idea. And if Parker had had his way, the 1968 TV special that rescued Elvis from

 

Hollywood’s manipulative and destructive claws would have been a cozy, mild-mannered hour of Christmas carols rather than the dynamic showcase for Elvis’s talents that it became.

 

Nor did RCA Victor, the record company that bought his contract from Sun Records, provide him with much support. The label treated its biggest star as little more than a steady source of predictable profits. Knowing his records would always sell a minimum number of copies, the company rarely gave his albums and singles the promotional push that would have increased his existing fan base. Until his death, his RCA contract required him to crank out three albums a year at a time when major artists were considered prolific if they released only one in the same time period. With Presley product flooding the market, it’s little wonder that after 1972’s “Burning Love,” his singles consistently failed to crack the top ten and his albums stalled below the half million mark needed for gold certification.

 

(News, Source: EIN Archives)

 

A thought provoking article indeed. My own take on it is, I think the Colonel was good for Elvis in the early years. Thanks to him, Elvis was kept in the spotlight throughout his time in Germany, but after that? Without the Colonel in charge, I believe things would have been very different. Elvis needed a challenge and maybe a new manager could have taken Elvis in a different direction and perhaps the story wouldn’t have ended as it did that August day in 1977. That would have all depended on Elvis, though, and sadly, we’ll never know the answer. :(

 

This is such a great site and here’s yet another cool article :cheer:

 

http://scottymoore.net/booneville.html

 

Vote for Elvis as best ever act at Madison Square Garden in New York:

 

MSG has a poll on its site to decide which of the acts that performed there is the best.

Of course Elvis is listed (in the 1970s category), and we can all vote for him.

 

http://msg.com/photos/100-best-madison-squ...-1970s/slide/1/

(News, Source: Elvis News)

 

I'm sure we had a similar poll to this not so long ago B) Anyway, I voted and (naturally) Elvis is in the lead :cheer: :yahoo:

Here's another poll ;) Interesting as you can actually have a listen to clips of the 50 finalists.

 

NPR Invites Listeners to Vote for Music’s ‘50 Great Voices’: Who would win in a dulcet-toned grudge match between Judy Garland and Otis Redding? What voice would crack first if Stevie Wonder took on Dolly Parton?

The musical minds over at NPR are asking those questions with their new 50 Great Voices online vote. Pooling more than 100 historic sets of vocal cords from around the world and through the genres and decades of recording arts, NPR asks you to pick your favorite five singers of all time. You can also learn something about the lesser-known international acts included in the nomination list.

There are some surprising choices in the initial lists. No Barry White? No Art Garfunkel? Few contemporary jazz vocalists or modern country performers, but a bunch of rappers? Still, these lists exist to trigger debate.

Online votes will go toward selecting which 50 artists NPR eventually profiles on air as part of the “50 Great Voices” radio series in 2010.

This reporter’s five? In no particular order (except for The King): Elvis Presley, Maria Callas, Roy Orbison, Robert Plant and K.D. Lang. Obviously, my selections betray a generally 20th century, Western popular music slant (Callas not withstanding). But your choices will be different. After you pick your five, check into the comment section and tell us your nominees.

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...oryId=114013402

 

(News, Source: John Scott Lewinski, wired.com)

 

 

Here’s an excerpt from the article I posted about John Lennon last week B)

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/john_lenno...s_presley.shtml

 

The MSG Votes Are In

 

MSG had a poll on its site to decide which of the acts that performed there is the best. Of course Elvis is listed, and the results are in. More than 1 million votes were tallied.

 

Here's the top 10:

1. Rolling Stones 53.9%

2. Led Zeppelin 20.9%

3. Elvis Presley, 20.6% :cheer:

4. Village People, 3.0%

5. Concert for Bangladesh, 0.30%

6. Fleetwood Mac, 0.28%

7. The Who, 0.19%

8. Bruce Springsteen, 0.15%

9. KISS, 0.11%

10. Johnny Cash, 0.10%

 

The top-10 finishers will move on to the next round, which begins December 3.

 

Source: Madison Square Garden: 100 Best / Updated: Nov 11, 2009

The MSG Votes Are In

 

MSG had a poll on its site to decide which of the acts that performed there is the best. Of course Elvis is listed, and the results are in. More than 1 million votes were tallied.

 

Here's the top 10:

1. Rolling Stones 53.9%

2. Led Zeppelin 20.9%

3. Elvis Presley, 20.6% :cheer:

4. Village People, 3.0%

5. Concert for Bangladesh, 0.30%

6. Fleetwood Mac, 0.28%

7. The Who, 0.19%

8. Bruce Springsteen, 0.15%

9. KISS, 0.11%

10. Johnny Cash, 0.10%

 

The top-10 finishers will move on to the next round, which begins December 3.

 

Source: Madison Square Garden: 100 Best / Updated: Nov 11, 2009

 

 

 

Wooo, thats brilliant. Well done Elvis :yahoo:

Some sad news to begin with :(

 

Elvis 1956 Tupelo Concert Photographer, Terry Wood has died:

 

James Terry Wood, 79, long-time Tupelo resident, died Sunday Nov 15, 2009, at the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo following an extended illness. An accomplished photographer, he is perhaps best known as the former owner of Terry Wood Photography, founded in 1954. His award-winning works were well known both nationally and throughout Mississippi. His homecoming photos taken in 1956 of Elvis Presley have been used in media and books worldwide. He loved to tell people, "the entire world recognized two words, Coca Cola, and Elvis Presley"

From 1954 until retiring from photography in 1993, he became a nationally recognized figure in the photographic profession. Wood was a founder of the North Mississippi Photographers Association and a lifetime member since 1949 of the Professional Photographers of Mississippi and Alabama. In 1976, he was chosen president of the American Society of Photographers and became an honorary lifetime member in 1987. Approximately 250 of Terry’s photos from the 1950’s and 1960’s were chosen in a Harvard University project.

He was actively involved locally in several organizations and was a senior member of Tupelo Rotary Club. He had a beautiful bass voice and sang in a local quartet several years. On Feb. 14, 1987, he married Peggy Robinson of Tupelo.

Condolences may be e-mailed to hollandfuneraldirectors@comcast.net.

(News, Source;TupeloNews)

 

 

Ron Brandon - Elvis In Tupelo Interview PART 2:

 

With the release of the MRS ‘Tupelo Welcomes Elvis’ book/cd, Ron Brandon who recorded the concert sent EIN this message.

"I received the new Tupelo MRS release today and I am sure I am not the first to tell you that it is outstanding. And to everyone involved, I (and Charlie Watts) are indebted to each of you for finally making it possible for us to get a bit of recognition for being there way back all those years ago. I have sent one along to Charlie, and I'm sure he will be as impressed as I am.

I am now really looking forward to my return trip to Tupelo next spring & meeting up with Roy Turner.

Thanks again fellows... I really appreciate it." - Ron Brandon.

Our original interview with Ron Brandon received a lot of positive feedback from EIN readers. We were therefore delighted that Ron agreed to answer a few more follow-up questions about his time in Tupelo.

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/interview_ron_brandon.html

(Interviews, Source:EIN)

Interview With Elvis Presley - August 28, 1956, Location: 20th Century-Fox studios, Hollywood, California. :cheer:

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview_...t_28_1956.shtml

 

Elvis Articles, Elvis Interviews November 20, 2009

Interview With Elvis Presley - August 28, 1956, Location: 20th Century-Fox studios, Hollywood, California. :cheer:

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview_...t_28_1956.shtml

 

Elvis Articles, Elvis Interviews November 20, 2009

 

 

 

Wow, he looks very young and hunky. Great Interview as well. :cheer: :yahoo: :wub:

Interview with Rita Rogers

 

Elvis was gonna perform at the Armory and my friend and I, we were so excited to go and we went and everybody was screaming and all the girls and everything and then my friend wanted me to go back stage to get his autograph and I wouldn't go and she goes, 'Are you crazy?' and I go, 'I don't want to'. She goes, 'Why not?' I said, 'Because I'm gonna go to Hollywood and he is gonna be my friend' ... And she goes, 'You're crazy ...', because my name Aidieme, 'You're crazy Aidieme, you're never gonna be a movie star and you should go back. At least you get to see him in person'. And I wouldn't do it.

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview_rita_rogers.shtml

 

Elvis Articles, Elvis Interviews November 27, 2009

Interview with Elvis Presley: October 28, 1957, Los Angeles

 

Interview with Elvis Presley just after the general press conference, but prior to his debut at the Pan-Pacific in Los Angeles. How do you write music if you don't read it? It's all a big hoax, honey. I never wrote a song in my life. I get one-third of the credit for recording it. It makes me look smarter than I am. I've never even had an idea for a song. Just once, maybe. When? I went to bed one night, had quite a dream, and woke up all shook up. I phoned a pal and told him about it. By morning, he had a new song, 'All Shook Up'. :lol:

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview_...r_28_1957.shtml

 

Elvis Interviews, Elvis Articles December 9, 2009

The King is dead. Long Live the King.....Elvis is back. As if he ever went away!: Ernst Jorgensen is calling from a farmhouse an hour outside Copenhagen to talk about his passion. For the past two decades he has been curator of the Elvis Presley vault – no simple task at first after decades of exploiting the recordings. He helped get the vault organized and worked with RCA Records to do releases that make sense.

 

So what’s the sense in the latest – “Elvis 75: Good Rockin’ Tonight,” 100 Elvis cuts on a four-disc box set? Ernst Jorgensen explains...

Elvis' music on this box has been remastered yet again. Could a casual fan tell the difference?

 

“If you had the ideal way to listen to this you’d have it in the recording studio with the actual analog tape playing back on the machine it was recorded on and the speakers it was recorded on. This is the constant struggle for us, to get closer and closer to that. With the new technology we can transfer the tape with a higher resolution. We can work with it in 24-bit, 32-bit environment, and make sure we get as close to the exact sound as the analog tape. … We’ve taken every one of Elvis’ 711 masters and tried to do a better job on them. On some the improvement will be more important than on others. It all depends on how well we did before. It’s interesting to do it. It’s a joy to do it. I think that most people, unless they sit there and A/B it versus what they had before, they’re just gonna say ‘Wow, this sounds great.’”

 

What’s the purpose in putting out all this music again?

 

“We’re a little bit on a mission. We always try to see if we can get new devotees for our little project, get people to look beyond the 30 number-one hits. This box set is really what that’s all about. Maybe it’s even more about that than it is about getting a better sound. … it gives us the opportunity to put a package out that’s tempting because it has all the hits. And then fans go in … and find all these songs that are nowhere near as famous but that we think are aesthetically just as important and see if we can get people excited about the Elvis they didn’t know.”

 

What songs in particular?

 

“Some of Elvis’ best-known songs in America like ‘Love Me Tender,’ ‘Hound Dog,’ ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ – they’ve sold 40 million copies in the U.S. Haven’t you then covered everything? But if you look at his Sun recordings, to many people … those are some of the greatest of his recordings. Sales figures on those titles are like three, four, five million. There’s plenty of room for our mission to get more people to look beyond the hits.”

 

That’s true. Some people know “My Baby Left Me” only through the Creedence Clearwater Revival version, not Elvis’.

 

“Yep. That’s a very good example. If you listen to ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ that was the fist hit on RCA, that’s about the most unusual hit you could ever imagine – a slow, bluesy song with a morbid theme. That became a hit. Who could have expected that? But during the same week he recorded ‘My Baby Left Me’ and ‘One-Sided Love Affair.’ This is the kick I get from it – to choose 100 songs where 30 or 40 of them are already major hits. You have to choose ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy’ or ‘Shake Rattle and Roll’ – the idea of having people listening to songs they don’t know that well….that’s the fun part of it.”

 

What's the state of the Elvis tape vault – is it Beatles-neat or a total mess?

 

“It was somewhere in the middle when I started, but pretty good today. We’d had a lot of tapes that developed legs and walked away from our various premises. We’ve gotten them back. We found out where they disappeared, and let them know they needed to come back. By 2001, 2002 we had all the masters that could be found in our vaults. But it was a long, long process of detective work. We had to go back and find out when tapes got lost, who was around in those days, what studios were used, then start hunting down people.”

 

What's the condition of the tapes? How are they holding up?

 

“There’s a problem with tapes in the mid to late ‘70s. I think Ampex tapes were one of the brands that were really, really bad. We realized very early on – that’s not what was missing in our vaults. The tapes that disappeared seemed to be the historically more interesting tapes like the master of ‘Heartbreak Hotel.’ We made safeties back then. I don’t think that our ‘70s tapes are as bad as the average. Some of our multi-tracks need baking every time we play them. In general we’re doing well with the Elvis tapes. There was a tendency earlier on in the early days of CDs where people put whatever master was there that included a certain track instead of going back and finding the originals. There was a sloppiness during a decade or two where business didn’t prioritize catalog releases. They didn’t go that extra mile to find the generation before."

 

What's missing?

 

"Some of the Sun masters don’t exist and seem to have never existed. When RCA took over Sun we got tapes from Sam Phillips but there were at least four songs where we never got a tape. What we put out on record in the ‘50s was taken from 45s and 78s. I love Sam Phillips, I think he’s a genius, but he was a mess with his tapes! Tape was expensive. They recorded over it because money was scarce at the time. By the mid-‘50s RCA was a major record company and they had procedures on how to do things that ensured it was done properly. What happened later was the tapes were not controlled well enough and were allowed to leave the house.”

 

Are you still finding Elvis rarities?

 

“If we were to find anything today it may be a private recording of Elvis. I’m dreaming here, but if somebody said they had tape for two or three of Elvis’ Louisiana Hayride performances back in ’55, that’d be wonderful. In principal that could happen. From the RCA standpoints there are no sessions where we don’t have the tapes or the masters. I can’t see we’d ever find anything on that level. Ten or 15 years ago if you found rare recordings by an artist like Elvis or the Beatles it would be a sensation in the media when it came out. Today if we would find two Elvis songs people haven’t heard before it wouldn’t be.”

 

Why?

 

“Because it’s been done so many times. We’ve found so many rare releases it’s like the 'Cry wolf' logic. Is the world really gonna go nuts hearing Elvis sing ‘Rock Around the Clock’ at the Louisiana Hayride in 1955?”

 

It reminds me of the Jimi Hendrix estate, where a lot of shoddy releases followed his death, but these days it’s controlled better.

 

“That’s a very good point. When I came in in the late ‘80s there was market research done at RCA, which was a pretty hip thing to do in the ‘80s. They went out and defined who the Elvis customer was – a woman between 35 and 55, a housewife, married to a blue-collar worker, living in the south, not willing to pay more than $8 for an Elvis item. One of the first things we did was a box set called ‘The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and sold it for $80 dollars, which was 10 times what the market research said we should do. And it sold 400,000 boxes in America. The one thing we learned from that was the perception of who likes Elvis is utterly wrong.”

 

(News, Source: Amber Smith/Reverb)

 

 

Memories Of Opening Graceland To The World - I

 

http://www.elvisnews.com/articles.aspx/mem...e-world--i/1407

 

Memories Of Opening Graceland To The World - II

 

http://www.elvisnews.com/articles.aspx/mem...-world--ii/1408

Marty Lacker talks about Elvis and The Grammys:

 

Elvis' close friend Marty Lacker responded to our story (see yesterday news below) about the Wertheimer exhibition at the Grammy's museum. The lack of respect that Elvis received in his lifetime from this institution still upsets Marty Lacker to this day.

 

Marty Lacker > "Reading your story about the Elvis Grammys exhibit in a way makes my stomach turn because of the way the Grammys treated Elvis while he was alive and now they're acting like they have been/are his champion.

 

To begin with other than the Living Legend Award, the only Grammys Elvis ever won was for 2 or 3 of his Gospel Records. None of his records from the 50's or 60's, the ones that changed the world's music was ever awarded a Grammy. Even though they were some of the most important and biggest records in music history and if he hadn't come along there might not be any Grammys or much of today's music.

However the biggest injustice done by the Grammys happened in the early 70's. This story was told to us by Colonel Parker. He received a call from Pierre Cossette the longtime producer of the Annual Grammys Award Shows he told Parker that the

Grammys would like to present to Elvis A Lifetime Legend Award. Parker told them that was nice of them. Pierre then said,"We'd like Elvis to do one song on the show after we present him the award." Parker asked him how much they were paying. Cossette told him the Grammys (NARAS), which stands for The National Academy Of Recording Arts and Sciences, does not pay performers for performing on the Awards Shows. Parker then told him, Elvis does not perform without being paid and he couldn't guarantee that Elvis would be at the show either. Parker said Pierre then coughed and said he'd get back to him.

 

A week later, Parker got a call, this time from Pierre's assistant telling him that since Elvis wouldn't sing they no longer were going to give him the award. How petty and chicken$h!t was that?

 

During the 70's I had made a name for myself in the national music industry and in addition to that I was the co-founder of the Memphis NARAS Chapter, (Grammys) and I was on the National Board Of Governors of NARAS representing Memphis. One of my good friends, Ron Alexburg who at the time was VP of Columbia/Epic Records in NY, came to Memphis for a meeting with me and my partner as our company represented his records in the south. I told him the story and he got mad and he and I went on a tirade to NARAS about the shabby treatment to Elvis and that of all people he should get a Living Legend Award.

 

Two weeks later, on a Monday, when I received the big music magazine issues for the week, I open Cash Box magazine and lo and behold there's a picture of Bobby Vinton and national promotion man, Pete Bennett presenting Elvis The Living Legend Award on behalf of the Grammys in his Vegas dressing room. They didn't even have the decency to give it to him on the next awards show. I never told Elvis about what I did.

- -- I just wanted to set the record straight with the truth of the matter. - Marty, January 2010.

 

EIN thanks Marty for his contribution

 

(News, Source;EIN)

'Suspicious Minds' - Elvis' Greatest Single?:

 

'Suspicious Minds' was released on August 26th 1969. While the NBC '68 TV Special, along with the single 'In the Ghetto' had pushed Elvis back to the forefront of popular culture, it would be the release of Elvis' last US Number 1 single that would ultimately prove to all the critics that Elvis was a still relevant contemporary musical force.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary EIN looks back in detail at the history of this classic song, including new interviews with Marty Lacker and Bobby Wood, as well as insights from composer Mark James and producer Chips Moman.

 

Go here for this fascinating spotlight

 

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/spotlight_suspicious_minds.html

 

(Spotlight, Source; EIN)

 

I've never made a secret of the fact that Suspicious Minds was recorded during my fave Elvis sessions at American Sound studios in Memphis :wub:

Thought I would post this, it's a rehearsal for Suspicious Minds and Take 6 :dance: I love to hear how the songs develop through the takes :cheer:

 

Thought I would post this, it's a rehearsal for Suspicious Minds and Take 6 :dance: I love to hear how the songs develop through the takes :cheer:

 

 

 

 

Absolutly great song :wub: :yahoo:

Looks like George Klein is putting the cat among the pigeons ;) I must admit, I've always understood that it was Marty Lacker who suggested recording at ASS and if you follow the link at the end of this post to the Australian Elvis site, they agree B)

 

The truth about Elvis at the American Sound Studio:

 

Marty Lacker has told EIN that stories included in George Klein's recently published memoir have more than just stretched the truth. Marty says:

 

Speaking of books and some of the fiction that has been written in regards to Elvis and his world, I was just sent an excerpt from George Klein's book by a fan in Ireland that was on the Fox News' Fox & friends website and in all my years I have never heard such outright lies.

Basically what George has done has taken part of my description of the night I talked Elvis into recording at American Studios in January, '69 and replaced me with himself plus some unbelievable and totally untrue embellishments. He has even conveniently added a couple of dead people to the scene who cannot contradict him by saying Tom Diskin and Freddy Bienstock was at the Graceland dining room table when he said he told Elvis about Chips Moman and got him to record there. Diskin and Bienstock were not there.

 

He also said Priscilla and Esposito were at the table and they weren't and he completely leaves out the part that I had talked to Elvis about it in what is known as the Jungle Room before everyone went into the dining room, in which he was silently present along with Sonny,Lamar and Felton Jarvis. He even put himself sitting next to Elvis at the table when it was actually me sitting there after I called Chips at home and talked to him about recording Elvis with Felton standing next to me.

Sadly what Klein forgets that there were witnesses to the whole event who will further make him a liar. If this is a sample of what is in his book, I suggest that if you really want to waste your money on it, look for it in the Fiction section of your favorite bookstore. My complete description of that entire night was written years ago in my two books, Elvis: Portrait Of A Friend and ELVIS AARON PRESLEY: Revelations From the Memphis Mafia and anyone who is familiar with both books will see that my recollection is word for word in both books.

 

I am fortunate to have what is known as a photographic memory, not only do I remember the words spoken at the same time I am experiencing a pictorial rerun in my mind while I'm telling the story. I remember conversations word for word as well as who is present and where they are standing or sitting. I have no need to make things up to make myself feel better. I am just happy and proud that I was a close longtime friend of Elvis' and we both shared each others lives with the other original MM. I'm equally as proud to have had the opportunity to do things for him that made his life and career more enjoyable for him and better. I'm also happy that he was aware of things I did and was very verbally appreciative of it.

 

How sad and miserable George's life must be that he has to constantly lie about things. It's a shame he can't be happy just to have been a good friend of Elvis' instead of coming up with the lies to either make the fans or himself look and feel better about him.

Marty goes on to say: This is exactly how it happened word for word, blow by blow and Sonny and Lamar are my witnesses. Unfortunately Felton is no longer with us or he'd verify it. Chips has publicly stated a number of times that it was me who did it.

The time was the evening of Thursday January 9, 1969 the day after Elvis' birthday. We were sitting in what is now known as the Jungle Room although we called it The Den. Elvis was sitting in the big chair next to the window facing the waterfall stone wall. Felton Jarvis was sitting on an ottoman in front of and facing Elvis. On the couch next to Elvis' chair sat George Klein, Lamar Fike and Sonny West. I was sitting in the chair up against the

wall to the left of them.

 

Much to my chagrin Felton was discussing with Elvis about his session coming up the next Monday in Nashville and Felton was asking Elvis what musicians he wanted. Because I was tired of Elvis continuing to record with those same old tired Nashville musicians who were primarily country and played the same old licks on almost every record I wanted Elvis to record with Chips Moman and his American Studio rhythm section because after becoming part of the Memphis Music Industry a couple of years before then I had quickly realized how creatively great those guys were which is why by that time they had produced over 100 big hits in that tiny studio using the same six man rhythm section. It's also where I produced Rita Coolidge's,(who I had discovered and signed to my new record label) first couple of hits using those guys. I felt that Elvis and them would be a perfect match because they all came from the same southern background. I just wanted Elvis to once again have big hit records and be back on top of the charts where he belonged.

 

So while listening to Felton, I unconsciously was shaking my head back and forth as if to say, "Oh NO not again!"

Elvis saw me and looked over and said,"What the hell's wrong with you?" I once again, as I had mention Chips to him before said,"I just wish for once you'd try Chips Moman and his rhythm section, they're great Elvis." he gave

me his usual answer, "Maybe someday." Not once did George make a peep. The comment George makes in the book about none of us would speak up to Elvis because he gets mad, is a crock. That was solely George's mentality because he was scared that if he said something Elvis might not like it and cut George off when it was gift giving time. Some of the rest of us original guys had no problem suggesting things to Elvis especially if we thought it would benefit him. Most of all we weren't there for gifts or money.

 

Just then Lottie the maid came out of the kitchen and said dinner was ready. Everyone got up to go in the dining room but me because I did not want to go in there and listen to them discuss the Nashville session. Elvis said to me,"C'mon, let's go eat." I told him I wasn't hungry and he knew I was lying because he knew I never saw a meal I didn't like,especially steak which was being served that night. So I kept sitting in the chair talking to myself

about that session.

 

It wasn't more than thirty seconds when Felton came out and said, "Elvis wants to see you in the dining room." I told him,"With all due respect Felton I have no desire to sit there and hear any more about your Nashville session." He then said,"No, Elvis wants to cut in Memphis." I asked if he was kidding me and he said no. With that I was out of that chair in a flash and in the dining room. With Felton standing next to me I said to Elvis,"Is

he kidding me, you want to cut in Memphis?" he said,"Yes, but I have to start Monday night." He then said,"You and Felton set it up with Chips Moman."

 

Felton and I went to the front hallway to the phone and I called the studio,they told me Chips was at home so I called him there. I said, "Lincoln,(his real name), do you still want to cut Elvis", he said, "Hell yes." I then said,"Well you got him but you have a problem. He has to start Monday night and you already have Neil Diamond booked." Chips said,"Screw Neil, he'll just have to be postponed." I then told him the session had to be a closed one and nobody who does not have anything to do with it cannot be invited. He said,"No problem, you can handle that." He said that even though I was not working for him at that time I didn't become General Manager of the studio until a few months later when he asked me to. I then handed the phone to Felton who made the financial deal with Chips on behalf of RCA.

 

When he got through with that we went and sat at the table where I sat next to Elvis on the right. The chair that George now says Elvis told him to sit in. I waited until he finished eating and then I said, "Elvis would you do me a favor?" He asked what. I then said, " With this session you're gonna have a great and talented producer and some of the most creative and talented musicians, the sound of the studio is fantastic and we all know you

can sing, would you please get some good songs this time?"He looked at me and said, "Well I was waiting to finish eating and then I wanted you to come upstairs and listen to some new songs by this new songwriter, Scott Davis."that was Mac Davis' real first name. We went upstairs to his room and he played a tape of songs to me and the guys including, "In The Ghetto" and "Don't Cry Daddy." I was happy because they sounded like hits to me. there was also another song I liked called,"Home" but he didn't do that one, I wish he did.

 

That is the full and complete story of how Elvis got to record at American Studios in 1969.

________________________________________

Unfair comments made about the Kings Ranson Exhibit and Sonny West: Marty is also angry about a review of the Kings Ranson Exhibit:

 

I read with interest your article on Friday (8th) regarding Elvis Matters review of the Kings Ransom exhibit in Vegas and I think it was totally unfair and a dis-service to the efforts of two super Elvis fans and genuine nice guys, Russ Howe and Bud Glass.

 

These two guys have collected good Elvis memorabilia over the years even though they have regular jobs just like everyone else and had very little money to pay the exorbitant prices for memorabilia that some have charged. All they wanted to do is provide fans and the public a regular opportunity to see some of Elvis' stuff but most of all their efforts have really been to help keep Elvis' memory alive.

 

I would like to recommend that anyone who visits Vegas and has any slight or great interest in Elvis and his life should go see the Exhibit and I'm kind of surprised at Elvis Matters for downing it.

As for their remark that Sonny is a traitor, they need to grow up and get real! Sonny is not a traitor and he's someone who put his life on the line for Elvis for many years and his great love for Elvis has not diminished one iota since then. A traitor for telling the truth in hopes that Elvis would stop doing what he was doing to himself? There should have been more willing to do it.

 

EIN Note: Marty's perspective on the Kings Ransom Exhibit is supported by others who have posted on the message boards.

 

For more about the American Sound Sessions in 1969 :dance:

 

http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/reinventin...phis_1969.shtml

 

Elvis : The King of Rock ‘N’ Roll turns 75

 

Teenagers in the 1950s and '60s turned Elvis Presley into an icon. His shaking hips and curled lips sent rock 'n' roll shockwaves reverberating around the world and challenged prevailing notions about sex, race and class. As we celebrated what would have been his 75th birthday on January 8th, we should take note of the impact he had on the culture.

He emerged from his impoverished childhood in Tupelo, Mississippi to become America's pop culture superstar in the wake of the US Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education on May 5, 1954 which rocked the South. His controversial singing style, mixing blues, country (at the time called "hillbilly"), and black and white gospel music with a sexually charged stage presence, made Presley "Public Enemy Number One" for those who felt threatened by the tsunami of the changes that were occurring.

Presley unwittingly became the poster boy for the first round of the culture wars.

"Without meaning to, and really without understanding it, he's a point of conflict because it's not just the mingling of blues and rock, it's also his reliance on a music that is in the minds of some really sinful," said John Seigenthaler, the retired founding editorial director of USA Today, who covered him as a young reporter for The Tennessean

Elvis was a target of preachers and segregationists such as Asa Carter who headed the White Citizens Councils. Carter had been using his Birmingham, Alabama radio show since 1954 to talk about how the Jews and blacks were bringing down the South. In early 1956, he targeted the growing popularity of the music made popular by Elvis. Carter's views about music were captured in a short film.

While preachers, parents and the Council warned about the evils of Elvis, the kids couldn't get enough.

It started to become clear that things were changing when Elvis came back home to Memphis for a July 4th concert for the Cynthia Milk Fund in Memphis at the Russwood baseball park. The crowd of 14,000 people at his benefit dwarfed the audience that Senator Eastland drew for a segregationist rally held across town that same night.

 

Click here to the complete article. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rose...n_b_414211.html

 

Michael Rose director of the celebrated DVD 'Elvis: Return To Tupelo' wrote this excellent article for Elvis' recent birthday.

 

(News, Source;MichaelRose/ArjanDeelen)