R.I.P. — Elvis Aaron Presley (1935-1977)
Elvis passed on this date at his home in Graceland at the age of 42. “The King” had last graced the stage six weeks prior and was was due to start a concert tour the following day. Click here to check out a high quality Elvis show from ’69.
32 Years ago today…
From the King of Pop to the King of Rock, Elvis Presley performed his last concert on this date in ’77 in Indianaoplis. The song is “Can’t Help Falling In Love”. Elvis would die 7 weeks later on 8/16.
42 Years ago today…
Elvis married ‘cilla at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. The couple split in October of ’73.
Elvis Presley — Las Vegas, NV (8/1/69)
Here’s a great Elvis show, post ’68 comeback and pre “fat Elvis”.
01. blue suede shoes
02. i got a woman
03. all shook up
04. love me tender
05. jailhouse rock/dont be cruel
06. heartbreak hotel
07. hound dog
08. memories
09. mystery train/tiger man
10. life story(dialogue)
11. baby what you want me to do
12. are you lonesome tonight
13. yesterday
14. hey jude
15. band introductions
16. in the ghetto
17. suspicious minds
18. whatd i say
19. cant help falling in love
32 Years ago today…
Elvis Presley kicked off his last concert tour in Tempe, AZ. This was the first date of 49 date US tour over three months and Presley’s last ever tour. (His last ever show was on 26th June 1977 at the Indianapolis Indiana Market Square Arena).
Want to dress like a king?
Check out this auction lot at GottaHaveRockandRoll.com. You can pick up such desirable items as a signed by Elvis stuffed hound dog, stage costumes worn by Elvis, a 14K gold and diamond owl ring and much, much more. Oh yeah, bring lots of $$$.
Did You Know??
Elvis! Don't eat that microphone!!
Elvis’ favorite “delicacy” was deep fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches prepared by his housekeeper, Pauline. Mmmmm-mmmm! Perfect for achieving that highly desirable bloated, obese, “I-don’t-give-a-shit-anymore” look. Here’s the recipe:
Elvis Presley’s Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich
Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———— ——————————–
1 small ripe banana
2 slices white bread
3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons butterIn a small bowl, mash the banana with the back of a spoon. Toast the bread lightly. Spread the peanut butter on one slice of toast and the mashed banana on the other. Fry the sandwich in melted butter until each side is golden brown. Cut diagonally and serve hot.
Happy Birthday — Elvis Presley
“The King” was born on this date in 1935. Click here for more info on Elvis Aaron Presley, including a couple of great shows and some trivia. Here he is performing “Suspicious Minds” in 1970:
Did You Know??
President Bill Clinton requested an all access, private tour of Elvis Presley’s home at Graceland when he was president in 1996. He was denied. Lisa Marie and Priscilla Presley are the only ones allowed in the hallowed halls on the second floor. Two armed guards man the stairs and and allow no one but them into the private inner sanctum.
Did You Know??
Elvis Presley once ascertained the assistance of a hit man to take out his ex-wife’s current lover. In 1973, Elvis was enraged to find that Priscilla Presley was moving in with her karate instructor, Mike Stone. Elvis declared that Mike had to die and asked confidante and de facto leader of The Memphis Mafia, Red West, to find someone to rub him out.
“You will do it for me. You must. He has no right to live. Red, find someone, somebody to wipe him out,” Elvis commanded.
The going rate at the time was $10,000 and West found someone to do the job. Elvis relented, much to Red’s (and Mike’s!) relief at the eleventh hour. A tale of tragedy narrowly averted indeed.
Here’s Elvis with “Suspicious Minds” in 1973:
37 Years Ago Today…
Announcer Al Dvorin uttered what would become a well known phrase: “Elvis has left the building” at the end of a Minneapolis concert by the King. He was asked to make the announcement in an effort to quiet the fans who continued to call for an encore.
Led Zeppelin Meet The King
I remember reading about this in Stephen Davis’ Hammer Of The Gods, back in the late 80′s. Well, here’s a little more info:
On May 11, 1974, Led Zeppelin attended (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham) Elvis Presley’s evening concert at the Los Angeles Forum. During the concert, Elvis stopped a song and jokingly said: ‘Wait a minute… If we can start together fellas, because we’ve got Led Zeppelin out there… let’s try to look like we know what we’re doing, whether we do or not’.
Their mutual promoter at the time, Jerry Weintraub, took Jimmy Page and Robert Plant up to Presley’s Las Vegas hotel suite. For the first few minutes, Elvis ignored them.
Jimmy Page—who had first picked up a guitar after hearing ‘Baby Let’s Play House‘ on overseas radio—began to fidget. What was going on? Did he really want to meet them? Should they say something? Elvis finally turned to them. ‘Is it true’, he said, ‘these stories about you boys on the road?’ Plant answered, ‘Of course not. We’re family men. I get the most pleasure out of walking the hotel corridors, singing your songs’. Plant offered his best Elvis impersonation. ‘Treat me like a fool, treat me mean and cruuuuel, but looooove me…’. For a moment Elvis Presley eyed them both very carefully. Then he burst out laughing. Then his bodyguards burst out laughing. For two hours he entertained them in his suite. He had never heard their records, he said, except for when his stepbrother played him ‘Stairway to Heaven’. ‘I liked it’, said Presley.
Elvis Presley — Memphis, TN (3/16/1974)
01| Also Sprach Zarathustra
02| See See Rider
03| I Got A Woman / Amen
04| Love Me
05| Trying To Get To You
06| All Shook Up
07| Steamroller Blues
08| Teddy Bear / Don’t Be Cruel
09| Love Me Tender
10| Johnny B. Goode
11| Hound Dog
12| Fever
13| Polk Salad Annie
14| Why Me Lord?
15| Suspicious Minds
16| Introductions
17| I Can’t Stop Loving You
18| Help Me
19| An American Trilogy
20| Let Me Be There
21| Funny How Time Slips Away
22| Can’t Help Falling In Love
23| Closing Riff
The Beatles, Hendrix & Elvis Items To Be Auctioned
From AP:
LONDON – A guitar burned onstage by Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles‘ first contract with Brian Epstein are up for sale Thursday, and auctioneers predict bidding could run to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Elvis Presley’s fingerprints and the audio archive of legendary music producer Joe Meek are also included in the big-bucks London sale, which suggests the market in rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia is booming.
The star lot at the sale, run by specialist auctioneer Fame Bureau, is a Fender Stratocaster that Hendrix set alight during a concert at London’s Astoria in March 1967. The musician burned another guitar at the Monterey Pop festival later the same year, where the stunt was caught on film.
The Fame Bureau says the scorched guitar was found last year in a garage at the home of a relative of one of Hendrix’s business associates. It is predicted to sell for up to 500,000 pounds (US$900,000).
Also going under the hammer is Epstein’s copy of his management contract with The Beatles, a pact that proved to be worth millions.
Fame Bureau managing director Ted Owen said the contract was “the most important music contract to have ever appeared.”
The four-page document, signed on Jan. 24, 1962 by John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Richard Starkey — Ringo Starr‘s real name — is expected to sell for 250,000 pounds (US$450,000).
The contract, also signed by Harold Hargreaves Harrison and James McCartney on behalf of their underage sons, marked the moment when all the pieces were in place for a global outbreak of Beatlemania.
The contract entitled Epstein to 25 percent of the group’s earnings once each band member was making more than 200 pounds (US$360) a week. Epstein did not sign it until Oct, 1, 1962 — after he had fulfilled a promise to get the band a deal with a record label. The Beatles signed to EMI, and their first single, “Love Me Do,” was released Oct. 5. Continue Reading….
43 Years Ago Today…
The Beatles met Elvis! I can’t find any images that capture this meeting, but it took place in Bel-Air during the Beatles second tour of the USA. The meeting lasted roughly 4 hours and Paul gave Elvis a bass lesson, as he was trying to learn the instrument and had a bass set-up in his den.
George Harrison elaborates:
Meeting Elvis was one of the high-lights of the tour. It was funny, because by the time we got near his house we’d forgotten where we were going. We were in a Cadillac going round and round along Mulholland, and we’d had a couple of “cups of tea” in the back of the car. It didn’t really matter where we were going – it’s like the comedian Lord Buckley says, “We go into a native village and take a couple of peyote buds, we might not find out where we is, but we’ll sure find out who we is.” Anyway, we were just having fun, we were all in hysterics. (We laughed a lot. That’s one thing we forgot about for a few years – laughing. When we went through all the lawsuits, it looked as if everything was bleak, but when I think back to before that, I remember we used to laugh all the time.) We pulled up at some big gates and someone said, “Oh yeah, we’re going to see Elvis,” and we all fell out of the car laughing, trying to pretend we weren’t silly, just like a Beatles cartoon.
Elvis Presley — Las Vegas, NV (8/3/1969)
Check out the real “King”, hot off the heels of his ’68 Comeback Special.
01 Opening Theme – Blue Suede Shoes
02 I Got A Woman
03 All Shook Up
04 Love Me Tender
05 Jailhouse Rock – Don’t Be Cruel
06 Heartbreak Hotel
07 Hound Dog
08 Memories
09 Mystery Train – Tiger Man
10 Monologue
11 Baby, What You Want Me To Do
12 Are You Lonesome Tonight ?
13 Yesterday
14 Hey Jude
15 Band Introductions
16 In The Ghetto
17 Suspicious Minds
18 What’d I Say
19 Can’t Help Falling In Love
Phish — 10 Years Ago (2001 Or Also Sprach Zarathustra)
It never fails. Anytime I mention 2001 in certain Phish circles, I am immediately corrected. The proper name is Also Sprach Zarathustra. I would almost bet that Richard Strauss (the composer) would appreciate the brevity of 2001 over the long and pretentious sounding ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA (named after German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzche’s book). Since he’s been dead since the late 1940′s, I don’t think he’d mind either way.
ASZ was ultimately used in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, 2001. Eumir Deodato dusted it off, layed down a funky bass line and re-composed the song to a disco beat. His version was used in the Peter Sellers film, Being There.
Tying everything together, Phish performed this version 10 years ago in Limestone, ME at their Lemonwheel festival. Elvis Presley, who coincidentally died on this date in 1977, would use ASZ as his entrance somg from 1969 until his last concert in late June of 1977.
Thank ya…thank ya very much.
Elvis Presley — RIP (1935-1942)
Elvis Aaron Presley left our world on this date in 1977. Love him, hate him, whatever, his mark on rock and roll and rhythym and blues is undeniable. Here’s a classic clip of “The King” performing Suspicious Minds.
Funny Friday — Eddie Murphy
Today, 31 years ago, Elvis Presley spent his last day on earth. Eddie Murphy captured fat Elvis in all of his late glory in his Delirious concert film. (Note: Vulgar language)
Elvis Presley — Peacock Suit Goes For A Cool $300K
Elvis Presley‘s favorite performance costume, the peacock jumpsuit, has sold for $300,000, making it the most expensive piece of Elvis memorabilia sold at auction.
The online sale by auctioneer Gotta Have It! ended at 3 a.m. Thursday. The pre-sale estimate was $275,000 to $325,000.
The white outfit with a plunging V-neck and high collar features a blue-and-gold peacock design hand-embroidered on the front and back and along the pant legs.
The previous record for an Elvis collectible is $295,000 for one of his classic cars. The most ever paid previously for one of his stage costumes, a bejeweled cape, was $105,250. Both were sold at a 1999 auction at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, run by Guernsey’s.
Elvis Presley — In The Ghetto
Can you believe The King’s been dead for over 30 years? On August 16th it will be 31 years. Yep, 31.
