Elvis and the Boxers

Jackie Wilson -- 2 Wins 8 Losses Higher and Higher
Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. was born on June 9, 1934, in Detroit, Michigan. Although Jackie was born in Detroit, his parents had moved up from Columbus, Mississippi in the 1920s . Like Elvis, Jackie had a very close relationship with his mother they virtually lived for each other. Jackie, too, was an only son. His mum, made him get out of boxing because she feared he would get hurt. His stagecraft in his live shows inspired James Brown, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, as well as a host of other artists that followed. Presley was so impressed with Jackie that he made it a point to meet him, and the two instantly became good friends. In a photo of the two posing together, Presley's caption in the photo reads "You got you a friend for life." Wilson was sometimes called "The Black Elvis" . Elvis used to say "I guess that makes me the white Jackie Wilson".  Elvis can be heard talking about Jackie Wilson during 'The Million Dollar Quartet' session in 1956. Elvis talks about a group he'd seen in Las Vegas, Billy Ward And The Dominoes." There's a guy out there who's doin' a take-off of me 'Don't Be Cruel'. He tried so hard, till he got much better, boy, much better than that record of mine". Elvis over the years went to see, Jackie's shows many times and the two stayed in contact regularly.Jackie would often visit Graceland and movie sets to see Elvis up until  he suffered a heart attack on stage in New jersey, in September 1975. Then for the next eight years he was in a state between life and death, unable to communicate for the entire period. He died in January 1984 and was buried in an unmarked grave outside his home city of Detroit. Elvis was said to have sent cheques to Jackie's mum to help with the medical bills at the time. Don't Be Cruel million dollar quartet

Bossanova Baby with his Jackie Wilson moves. 

Roy Hamilton -- 6 Wins 1 Defeat You Can Have Her
Roy Hamilton was born on April 16, 1929 and died July 20, 1969. Roy gave up boxing to take on a singing career in the early 1950's and by combining semi-classical technique with traditional black gospel , Roy gave soul to popular music of the 50's. He is best known for his recordings of "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Unchained Melody" and "Pledging My Love". Hamilton's style and sound directly influenced later artists such as Elvis , Jackie Wilson and The Righteous Brothers, all of whom covered his music. Hamilton recalled  his early venture into the music industry. "I really had nothing different to offer. They were seeking blues singers at the time, and I didn’t know any blues at all." So, to support himself while he developed the different sound and singing style he wanted, Hamilton took a job as an electronics technician during the day and became an amateur heavyweight boxer at night. His influence on Elvis cannot be under estimated and if you listen to Elvis recordings of many of Roy's songs you can hear the same bluesy/operatic vocals of which Roy was so famous. Songs like Hurt, Pledging my Love,The Impossible Dream, and You Can Have Her. It was'nt until January 1969 at Memphis Sound Studios that the two met and became friends. A song called Angelica written by Barry Mann was on Elvis's short list for recording but as the story goes he decided it would be a good song for Roy. It would become Roy's final single before his passing in July 1969.

You'll Never Walk Alone only time performed live 
Uniondale 1975 .

Lionel Rose -- 42 wins 11 losses Pick Me Up on Your Way Down
Australias Champion boxer who became the first aboriginal recipient of the Australian of the year award in 1968 and it was in this year he would, meet the king at the studio lot where Elvis was filming, Trouble with Girls. Elvis had requested the meeting because he was a big fan of Lionel's . Lionel got the message the day before his title fight in Los Angeles,while he was at the gym, practicing  and was a bit stunned at the request. Then the next day a car arrived to take him to the lot.  Born and raised at Jacksons Track in Victoria, Australia. Rose grew up in hardship and learned to box from his father. His father, Roy was a skilled fighter at local shows. Lionel followed his father into boxing. He would often fight larger opponents and was badly injured in his first amateur boxing match against one such opponent. He won the Australian amateur flyweight title at 15. In 1967 saw him win eight bouts including a thirteenth-round knockout win against Rocky Gattellari to defend his Australian championship before fighting, Harada for the world bantamweight title on 26 February 1968 in Tokyo. Rose was the first Aboriginal Australian to be a world champion boxer when he defeated Harada in the 15-round decision. This win made Rose an instant national hero in Australia and an icon among Aboriginal Australians. He also had a dabble in the music industry charting with Pick Me Up on your Way Down and I Thank You. Lionel's words on his own experiences with racial prejudice, condemns Anglo-Australians who are intolerant of diversity. He suggests that this discrimination is also connected with class, as he did not suffer from it when he became a world champion.

Lionels Autographed photo of Elvis and him.

Mohammad Ali -- 56 wins 5 losses The Gangs All Here
Ali was probably the one who had the closest relationship with Elvis which continued on until Elvis's death in 1977. Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and activist. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1942, Muhammad Ali became an Olympic gold medalist in 1960 and the world heavyweight boxing champion in 1964. Following his suspension for refusing military service, Ali reclaimed the heavyweight title two more times during the 1970s, winning famed bouts against Joe Frazier and George Foreman along the way. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1984, Ali devoted much of his time to philanthropy, earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. He died on June 3, 2016, in Phoenix, Arizona.
   Mohammad Ali on Elvis -- "Elvis Presley was the sweetest, most humble and nicest man you'd want to know'. 'Elvis was my close personal friend. He came to my Deer Lake training camp about two years before he died. He told us he didn't want nobody to bother us. He wanted peace and quiet and I gave him a cabin in my camp and nobody even knew it. When the cameras started watching me train, he was up on the hill sleeping in the cabin. Elvis had a robe made for me. I don't admire nobody, but Elvis Presley was the sweetest, most humble and nicest man you'd want to know'. There is conflicting dates as to when Ali first wore the robe. Elvis first presented the robe to Ali before the fight against Joe Bugner but they say he never wore it until the Norton fight which he lost. New footage actually shows Ali wearing it at the Bugner fight. 

 Mohammad Ali and the Robe

Mushy Callahan --  67 fights 48 wins 
Mushy Callahan November 3 1904 to June 18 1986 was the ring name of Vincent Morris Scheer, a Los Angeles based boxing champion in the World Light Welterweight Division for five years from 1926-30. He took the ring name of Mushy Callahan.  He was nicknamed Mushy from his Hebrew name Moishe, or Moses. Callahan retired from professional boxing around 1932 after his last fight he began to referee boxing matches, in fact, over four hundred between December 1932, until November 1960. He stayed close to the Los Angeles area, so he could pursue his career in the movie industry, during this period. In 1937, he would appear in the original movie Kid Galahad, starring Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis. Also working as the trainer and advisor as he did in the Elvis musical remake of 1962 which was filmed in the location of Idyllwyld. There is more connections to be made here with the director, of the Elvis remake was also the director of the original Kid Galahad movie and possibly Presley's finest movie, King Creole, Mike Curtiz. Elvis plays the part of Walter Gulick and his love interest is Joan Blackman who also appears with Elvis in Blue Hawaii and of course was a love connection that dates back to 1956.

Kid Galahad and Idyllwyld and the old oak tree.

Elvis and Mushy Callahan photos

Trivia

Ruby Rose is Lionel Roses Goddaughter

Elvis and Spain

Las Vegas

 Never Been To Spain June 10th 1972 Madison Square Garden
So I headed for Las Vegas only made it out to needles.

       On this day, in 1905 in the U.S. state of Nevada, the City of Las Vegas, aka Sin City was founded. The name of the state and the city came from the Spanish language. Las Vegas means the meadows! Water from underground artesian wells in the desert region,help form the green meadows from where Las Vegas gets its name. The water enabled the foundation of the city in the desert and Vegas became one of the railroad stops, built to connect Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. 

          In 1931, Nevada legalized casino gambling and also witnessed the beginning of construction on nearby hoover dam. The influx of construction workers and their families helped Las Vegas avoid economic disaster during the Great Depression. The construction work was completed in 1935. Then, following World War II, lavishly decorated hotels, gambling casinos, and big-name entertainment became synonymous with Las Vegas

       In 1951  City residents and visitors were to witness the mushroom clouds and be exposed to  fallout from the nuclear tests carried out on a site northwest of Las Vegas. these continued until 1963.

During the 1960s, corporations and business powerhouses such as Howard Hughes were building and buying hotel-casino properties. Gambling was referred to as "gaming" which transitioned into legitimate business.  Elvis Presley made his Las Vegas debut in 1956 at the New Frontier Hotel and returned to Vegas to make the movie Viva Las Vegas,” which was filmed in and around the Flamingo Hotel in the summer of 1963. Elvis is a singing racecar driver Lucky Jackson, who''s love interest,is the Flamingo’s pool manager, Rusty Martin, played by Ann Margret. The movie shows scenes of a younger, roomier Las Vegas and the climactic race scenes were filmed from Fremont Street to Hoover Dam and Mount Charleston.

 Images from behind the scenes in Viva Las Vegas

         Then on May 1, 1967 Elvis 32 and Priscilla 21, married at the new Aladdin hotel. Colonel Parker organized it with the owner Mr Prell. The ceremony was performed before a few friends and relatives, in Prell’s private suite before the party opened up to a celebration breakfast of 100 friends and guests. Exactly nine months later on February 1st was the birth of daughter Lisa Marie.

The summer of 1969, Kirk Kerkorian was ready to open the International Hotel. With 1,519 rooms, it was the largest resort hotel in the world. To give it a proper opening, Kerkorian hired two of the day’s biggest stars: Barbra Streisand and Elvis Presley. The story goes that the Colonel wanted Barbra to perform first to iron out any problems with the new venue. Elvis followed and strode onstage at the International on July 31, 1969. Now he was an all-round entertainer fronting a rock band polished and magnified by horns and strings. Elvis last performance in vegas was on December 12th 1976.

El Toro --- The Bull

Ole -- Bravo

The red cape -- The red cape is not used to make the bull charge . Bulls are actually colour blind. It is used to mask the blood of the bull and somewhat, disguise the cruelty of the kill .

The song El Toro, I believe, has Elvis taking the bull, El Toro''s side. The bull is the hero of this song defeating the Matador. 

The God Bull 

Because of its virility, power and regal presence, the bull has been an icon for worship in many ancient cultures. The bull was considered a sacred animal in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome and Egypt to name a few. It is common to see the bull offered as a blood sacrifice in these cultures.

Greeks

 The bull was an attribute of  Zeus represented by the constellation of Taurus. He transformed himself into a glistening white bull. Zeus (in the guise of the white bull) unassumingly planted himself amongst the herds in an effort to capture the attention of the lovely Europa with whom Zeus was completely smitten. Classic art will show Europa riding a white bull. This is Zeus in the form of a bull, and touches on symbolism of passion, transformation, virility, strength and fulfillment.

Hebrew

The bull symbol is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It is thought this symbol was derived originally from the Semitic word for bull, and it is based on a pictograph that looks very much like a bull or ox head.

Celtic

In Celtic symbolism the bull represented physical strength and power. To the Celtic way of thought, the bull was also extremely virile, and so symbolized fertility and the power to procreate to extend the life of the clans. Druids associated the bull with solar energy and the female cow with earth energy. 

Ban the Bullfighting! Bullfighting the Facts 

La Paloma -- The Dove

La is the feminine in Spanish ! Where El is the masculine .

"La Paloma" belongs to a genre of songs called "Habaneras," a musical style developed in 19th-century Spain that is very much present today in the form of folk songs. The Habaneras, characteristic and distinct rhythm reflects the fusion of the local Cuban songs that the Spanish sailors brought back with them from their travels to the islands, with the rhythm structure of the Andalusian, flamenco. "La Paloma" became popular outside of Spain and is one of  the most-recorded Spanish songs. The original lyrics are a sailors lament after leaving his woman, he asks her to cherish his spirit if it returns to her window as a dove. Then he fantasizes that if he does return safely, they will marry and have seven, or even fifteen, children. Elvis version of La Paloma was titled, No More and first recorded for the Blue Hawaii soundtrack. The lyrics were written by Don Robertson. Don talking on how the song came about, "Ï received a letter from RCA asking me if i could write another adaption of a classical song similar to Its Now or Never for the movie Blue Hawaii. La Paloma came straight to mind but  I didn't have a copy of the music, so I worked it out from memory. This was probably a blessing in disguise, because it took on a unique quality, different from the song I had learned as a child. Hal Blair and I spent most of the day in my office in Hollywood. I sat at the piano and he pulled up a chair next to me and we followed our usual procedure, both of us coming up with lyric phrases and trying them out as I worked on the arrangement and sang in Elvis' style. The lyric and the arrangement gradually evolved until we had a song we thought would fit Elvis and that we felt he might like". March 21st 1961, elvis recorded No More at the Hollywood Studios.The following  recording was made for the Hawaii Benefit Concert , January 1973 production.

No More

Spanish Eyes  or  Moon Over Naples
Music written by Bert Kaemfert

      The earliest vocal version was recorded by Freddy Quinn in 1965 after its release, the single was pulled from the market, when Decca, Kaemfert's label, threatened to sue, claiming ownership of the song. A version by Sergio Franchi with lyrics by Charles Singleton was recorded in late 1965 titled "Moon Over Naples", but did not chart. It would become a hit single in 1966 for Al Martino when a new set of lyrics were written by composer Eddie Snyder, now titled "Spanish Eyes". Since then Kaemfert,Snyder and Singleton have had their names on the composition, as writers.

Elvis performed this song on rare ocassions, in concert and at rehearsals . His studio recording was released on the 1974 Good Times Album. There is also home recordings of Elvis singing this song.

 Si Si
Si, when it is written with an accent, it is pronounced using higher harmonics (in terms of frequencies), and generally with higher intensity, i.e. with stress. It means "yes

Si, if it is written without an accent, and it is pronounced using lower harmonics (in terms of frequencies), and much lower intensity than any typical word with a stress. It means "if"

Spanish Eyes and Spain 

Padre -- Father
In a late fifties interview Elvis is heard mentioning this song as one of his favorites.

Flamenco Dance

      It most likely originated in Andalusia from the 13th  to the 15th centuries, when Spain was under Arab domination, their music and musical instruments were modified and adapted by Christians and Jews, and later by gypsies. The flamenco dance and music that we see today are the results of centuries of amalgamating together, elements of the diverse cultures. Greek, Roman and later from Indian, Moorish, and Jewish cultures .

Flamenco consists of three distinct parts: the 'cante' or song, the 'toque' or playing of the guitar, and the 'baile' or dance.

The period, from 1869 to 1910, saw the appearance of cafes cantantes. These small venues organised, ticketed performances of Flamenco. Thanks to them,  Flamenco became a public attraction and increased in popularity amongst the general public.

Trivia
The bird Flamingo gets its name from Flamenco.
Los Angeles -- The Angels
Vega --- The brightest star in the constellation Lyra, approximately 26 light years from Earth. Vega is one of the stars that make up the Summer Triangle.
Charro -- A Mexican Cowboy

Elvis and Blue Hawaii

     Hawaii or Hawaiki ---  "Place of the Gods"  

    Captain Cook on January 18, 1778, became the first European to discover the Hawaiin Islands when he sailed past the island of Oahu. It was an independent kingdom from 1810 - 1893 and became a U.S. territory in 1898 and then the 50th state of the USA in August, 1959. The Union Jack, flew unofficially as the flag of Hawaii until 1816.

Todays Flag of  Hawaii 

was designed at the request of  King Kamehemeka 1, who  united the islands into a single state . It has eight stripes of white, red and blue that represent the eight main islands. The flag of Great Britain remains in the upper left corner.One of  Hawaii's most famous sons, Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu.

 

    The Elvis Hawaiin relationship began in 1957 and continued through to the year of his death when he holidayed there in March of 1977. Lets begin this journey in 1957, Elvis was now a huge star and set sail to Hawaii on the  SS Matsonia for a concert in Honolulu and footage from this concert is some of the best of his fifties concert period. It amazes me that so little footage has surfaced from the beginning of his career. You can see him performing with the exaggerated leg movements and moving around on stage, at one point,with just the top section of the mic stand reminiscent of Freddy Mercury in the 70's.

Following is a clip of him on the SS Matsonia and a clip of the performance.

Elvis in his Gold Lame Suit Honolulu November 1957

     Our next stop is Blue Hawaii and Chad Gates . This movie was the first of the Hawaii influenced productions for Elvis . Girls Girls Girls and Paradise Hawaiin Style would follow but this movie is full of interesting trivia, people of note and mysteries. Chad's mum was the well loved british actress Angela Landsbury and she was later, to become, the star of Murder She Wrote. Which leads us into an interesting Hollywood murder mystery as Jenny Maxwell, who played Ellie Corbett or the girl who got her bottom spanked by the King and who starred in 77 Sunset Strip,Route 66 and The Twilight Zone was later the victim of a famous unsolved murder. When in June of 1981 Jenny 39 and her husband, attorney Ervin  Roeder 60 were gunned down at the entrance of their home in Beverley Hills. Police never got any leads on suspects or reason for the killings. It was eventually written off as a botched robbery but it is worth noting that at the time of the murder , Roeder, was aggressively campaigning to reopen the investigation into the death under mysterious circumstances of another prominent actor, Nick Adams. Adams death was ruled an accidental drug overdose but many of his friends, including Roeder who was Nick's attorney, didn't accept this explanation believing that Adams had probably been murdered. Elvis and Nick had been good friends for a number of years.

 Elvis and Nick Adams both had an interest in Bikes and James Dean

Elvis ,Nick and Natalie Wood

   Their friendship began in the fifties and many photos exist of the two together, with the Presley family or the most famous shots, I think, would be with Natalie Wood and the fortnight Elvis ,Nick and Natalie enjoyed together in early 1956. Natalie of course was a victim of a possible murder herself . When she apparently slipped from a boat and drowned.  Nick would eventually be hired for a short time as part of Elvis entourage by Colonel Parker. Nick had a close friendship with another legend of the fifties, James Dean, before Dean's death in 1955.They used to do impersonations together at parties and joke around . The movie, Giant still had'nt been finished when Dean died in a car crash so Nick's voice was used to dub Deans lines at the end of the film. Nick died on February 7th 1968. A manuscript found by Adams daughter about his friendship with Elvis was published in 2012 called The Rebel and The King.

   The soundtrack of Blue Hawaii was also full of interesting songs like, Cant Help Falling In Love, which became Elvis's closing tune on stage and the last song he ever performed on stage on June 26th 1977. Last year 2016, the song had a resurgence with many covers performed by young upcoming artists. The Hawaiin Wedding Song originally sung by Andy Williams in 1958, was another, and
which became an on stage regular in the seventies. Often sung to the ladies in his band like Kathy Westmoreland or in the audience.

 Hawaiin Wedding Song 

Elvis Final Live performance on June 21st 1977
At the end he places a scarf around Kathy's neck while poking his tongue at her 

    Another song from the soundtrack of interest was Aloha Oe. A traditional Hawaiin song written by Hawaiin Queen  Lilioukalani who was born September 2, 1838 and died  November 11, 1917. She was a composer of Hawaiin music, an author, and the last reigning monarch of the Islands. She reigned from January 29, 1891, until the kingdom was overthrown on January 17, 1893. Aloha ‘Oe or Farewell to Thee became one of the first Hawaiian songs to achieve recognition outside of the Islands. Today, it remains Hawaii''s most famous composition and often heard, performed or played at funerals.
  The story goes like this, the queen would often go horseback riding with Colonel James Harbottle Boyd, a British naval officer and a female friend. During, the trios rides, he sung or hummed an old folk song by the name of Rock Beside The Sea. This song is believed to be close to the melody of  Aloha Oe .
    Following the making of Blue Hawaii, Elvis was once again in Hawaii for his final live performance for a considerable time. At the Bloch Arena Honolulu in March of 1961 for the USS Arizona Benefit Concert. Then we jump forward to January of 1973. Where Elvis performed his last concert on the Islands of Hawaii for the Kui Lee Cancer Appeal. He actually performed twice. The rehearsal show in front of 6000 people on January 12th and the worldwide live broadcast show on January the 14th, all proceeds went to the Kui Lee cancer appeal. Kui Lee was an Hawaiin songwriter who wrote I'll Remember You for the famous Hawaiin singer Don Ho. Kui Lee had died from cancer and Don had approached Elvis if he could do something for the appeal. Here is a photo of  Don and Elvis on stage. Don always played a prank on Elvis when they met, requesting him to greet with a kiss to the cheek but every time, Don would turn his head. Here is one of them times.

 

American Trilogy Hawaiin Rehearsal Show January 12th 1973

Look Away !

Trivia 

Maile Duval played by Joan Blackman in Blue Hawaii . The name Maile pronounced Mylee is a vine which is used to make Leis in Hawaii.
Joan Blackman also played in Kid Galahad with Elvis and had dated Elvis back in 1956.
The Lei Hawaiin Garland 
Jenny Maxwell was a cousin of Marilyn Monroes.
Island of Lanai is known as Pineapple Island . It is the sixth largest Hawaiin Island. Bill Gates was married here 1994 and  Gates was outbid, for the Island by fellow tech Billionaire, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who paid 500 million for it in 2012.
Blue Hawaii was Elvis's eigth film and filmed on the Islands of Oahu and Kauai .

Elvis and Chuck Berry

•     Charles Edward Anderson or Chuck Berry was born October 18, 1926  died March 18, 2017 and known as the father of rock'n'roll . The American guitarist, singer and songwriter was a pioneer of rock and roll music. In 1944, at the age of 17, Berry and two friends set off on road trip to California but when reaching Kansas City they decided to go on a robbing spree. Which included the stealing of a vehicle.The three young men were arrested and received the maximum penalty 10 years in jail, despite being minors .Berry served three years before being released on good behavior on October 18, 1947, which was his 21st birthday. After his release Berry wrote and recorded Maybellene and took it to the executives at Chess Records. Maybellene reached No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 5 on the pop charts in 1955. The song is considered as one of the first rock'n'roll songs. Elvis performed this song live at the Louisianna Hayride in August 1955. A couple months before Elvis's Cadillac had caught fire at the top of a hill while traveling to a gig. I can see Elvis as a teen being a bit of a rev head . He loved his cars and Harleys. 

 Elvis's burnt out Cadillac June 1955

•   Chuck and Elvis's career both took off in 1955 with Elvis going to number one on the country charts with I Forgot To Remember To Forget. Elvis mentions seeing Chuck in 1955/56 in the Million Dollar Quartet recordings but the first actual known meeting of the two,wasnt until 1972 in Vegas.

Maybellene live recording 20th of August 1955 at the Louisiana Hayride

•    In 1956 Elvis again performed a Berry composition at the famous million dollar quartet sessions at Sun studio. Its in these sessions you can hear Elvis talk about Chuck Berry's music and how awesome his songs were. The song was Brown Eyed Handsome Man which originally had the title of Brown Skinned Handsome Man. It was written by Berry after seeing an altercation between a Hispanic man and a woman at a baseball game he was attending. 

•     In 1963 Elvis recorded the Berry composition, Memphis Tennessee. In the song the singer is trying to find out the number of a girl named Marie, who lives in Memphis Tennessee, on the southside, high upon a ridge, just a half a mile from the Mississippi bridge. It seemed so prophetic, recorded 5 years before Lisa Marie was born and ten years before Elvis and Priscilla's divorce.  He sings how he misses Marie and that they were separated by Marie's mother. The final verse reveals that Marie is, in fact, the singer's six-year-old daughter and her mother, presumably the singers ex-wife, left their home and took Marie with her.

 

 Memphis Tennessee with rare pics.

 

•      The first of Berry's hit protest songs was Too Much Monkey Business it was the flipside to his 1956 hit, Brown Eyed Handsome Man . "I realized i needed about a hundred verses to cover the major areas that bugged people the most" Berry, said about the song in his autobiography. Well he certainly included the main ones salesman,telecommunication and fuel companies.

Too Much Monkey Business Elvis outtake

•      Jerry Schilling, Elvis long time bodyguard said that Sammy Davis and Elvis went to see Chuck  together in 1972 and he can remember Elvis shouting out song names for Chuck to play. Elvis loved Chuck Berry from when he first started out, Jerry said. A couple of years later Elvis would record Promised Land. Which was another Berry composition  written in Midwest prison and was recorded by Berry on his release, at Chess studios in Chicago, in 1964. Elvis Presley''s version was used in the tunnel scene in Men In Black where they were chasing down the key to the universe around Orion's neck. Presley's Promised Land Album  was his final complete studio album before his death.

Men in Black Tunnel Scene

•     Chuck Berry's signature song would have to be Johnny Be Good and Elvis first live version comes from his first shows at the International Hotel in 1969. Johnny lived in the backwoods probably with Polk Salad Annie or Poke Salet/ salad Annie. LOL My bit of trivia for this month is a Poke Salad recipe. Its made from Pokeweed . Pokeweed leaves and roots have been used in folk medicine for the following  of chronic rheumatism and arthritis. The plant has also been used to treat edema, skin cancers, catarrh, dysmenorrhea, mumps, ringworm, scabies, tonsillitis, and syphilis. Poke greens, the young immature leaves, are commercially sold under the name “poke salet".

Johnny Be Good live International Hotel 1969

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/latest-news/article12273290.html#storylink=cpy

Elvis and Bowie

     Elvis Presley born 8 January 1935 ! Twelve years later David Bowie is born on 8th January 1947 !The sharing of January 8th as their birthdays was a big connection for Bowie to Elvis as Bowie himself said "I thought that it meant something". Eventually taking a plane trip in 1972 to New York to watch Elvis perform and then penning Golden Years for Elvis a couple of years later. Elvis rejected Golden Years, but according to Bowie, he did get a call from Elvis late in 1976, asking him if he could produce a new Elvis album but of course this was never to be, as Elvis was spiraling to an early demise, passing on August 16th 1977. 
    Lets go back to when David was first making it on the London rock scene around the mid sixties. It was at the La Gionconda Club, where David and his band the Lower Third played nightly gigs. It was here they came in contact with a performer called Vince Taylor. Vince, originally born in England but at an early age had moved to New Jersey USA. Dressed in black leather, Vince performed mainly Elvis covers and his obsession with Elvis, stemmed back to him seeing the king perform back in the mid fifties.In an interview with the BBC back in 1996 Bowie talked about the man who inspired Ziggy Stardust referring to him as not playing with a full deck and how he used to carry maps of Europe around with him pointing out sites where UFO's were going to land. He was preoccupied with Jesus and Aliens. David told the interviewer.  Vince was the inspiration for Ziggy Stardust.

Vince Taylor Too Much

David Bowie Starman 

  In 1968 Also Sprach Zarathustra, Richard Strauss's composition was included in the musical score for Space Odyssey 2001 and probably had a big impact on both Bowie and Elvis . It was inspired by the Friedric Nietzsche's philosopical novel of the same name and first recorded by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1935.  Ground control to Major Tom ! Space Oddity was written, by Bowie ,after seeing this movie, and of course Elvis stage entrance was always accompanied by the Strauss composition . After the Space Oddity album came The Man Who Sold the World and then Hunky Dory which included the song Andy Warhol . David sent the song to Andy in New York and then traveled over to meet him. I wanted to connect Warhol here because I find it curious that one of his most famous pieces of art is the Eight Elvis's which a couple years backed fetched over 100 million dollars at auction. This was a still taken from Flaming Star overlaid eight times. 

   The movie Flaming Star had a working title of Black Star and portrayed Elvis as Pacer Burton son of a Kiowa mother and Texan father. The movie originally had four songs but two were cut after Elvis had protested about them. The original title song Black Star was not released until the early 1980s. This is the song that David told one of his work colleagues that had a connection to his final song released in his lifetime. David Bowies, Black Star was released on his 69th birthday January 8th 2016, three days prior to his death on January 10th. I cant help but think Black Star leads back to Ziggy, then to Vince, and finally to the Golden Years of the mid fifties and even maybe further back to the birth of these two rock icons on the 8th of January.

Elvis Black Star 

Interesting Trivia 

 

Morning White Dove was Cherokee Indian and Elvis great great great grandmother born 1800 died 1835.  

Cane and a High Starch Collar was the only other song in Flaming Star

A black star is a gravitational object composed of matter.

The movie prior to Flaming Star was GI Blues and following it was Blue Hawaii both hugely successful.

Vince Taylor was known as the Black Leather Rebel because he always performed in black leather ! If he was performing in black leather early sixties. I was curious if Elvis had ever performed in black leather in the fifties.  
Colonel Tom Parker Elvis"s manager diedi at the age of 88 and his first job on USA soil was working with the Chautauqua.  

 Golden Years

Bowies Black Star

Elvis and Mary

  After the recent death of Mary Tyler Moore (MTM Meow ) . I thought i would do a post on Elvis''s music and the connections it had to Mary. Whether it be a riverboat, Virgin Mary or Mary T herself. I could of gone a bit deeper and gone into the close association between Marie and Mary but that would have got a bit messy so I might leave that to another day !
   Our first destination is down to the river where the people are happy to give. The song Proud Mary was written in the 60's by a worker on the Mary Elizabeth or once known as the Queen Mother of Memphis Tugboats and the song then found its way into the hands of John Fogerty, who published and performed it and the rest is rock history. Built in 1905 the tug once transported prisoners up the Hudson River to Sing Sing State Prison. Then in 1915, the boat was used to transport mail up the Mississippi from Greenville to Luna Landing. Thirteen years later it was purchased by a Memphis Tennessee businessman and given the name Mary Elizabeth to be used as a tugboat. Im afraid Proud Mary is no more it was towed away in 1986 from the Memphis riverbank for scrap metal.
   Elvis performed this song many times in concert in the early 1970's my memory as a child was on the Madison Square Garden record.Where it was played often, in our household .We also had the Tina Turner version.Which was very popular at that time during the mid seventies, Rollin on the River . 
I thought i would post some rare footage of his Boston show 1971, here he is wearing his black conquistador suit, with cape and the recording of Proud Mary is from this show.
 

 Mary Tyler Moore and a Change of Habit 

        Doctor John Carpenter and Sister Michele in the movie Change of Habit. This was one of my favorite Elvis movies growing up being made around the time of the 1968 TV Special and the birth of Lisa Marie This was when Elvis was on a high, and enthused about performing again. In the movie Mary was trying to make the decision, whether to throw away her habit and faith to join Doctor John. This movie also starred Mary Tyler Moore show co star Edward Asner. Ed had appeared with Elvis in an earlier movie Kid Galahad. The soundtrack had some good recordings without being outstanding. The title track Change of Habit, Have A Happy,Let Us Pray and Rubberneckin , The later being a hit for Elvis after the milenium, in 2003. It was also the B side of Dont Cry Daddy which reached number 6 on the billboard charts in 1970. Let's Be Friends was also recorded for the movie at the Change of Habit sessions . These sessions started a couple of days after Elvis had done his marathon  American Sound Studios cuts of  In The Ghetto, Suspicious Minds and others. Darlene Love and the Blossoms were the backup singers for these sessions.  Lets Be Friends still remains one of my favorite Elvis recordings.
      Barbara Mcnair co star spoke about the visit of Mahalia Jackson on the set one day and how Elvis just loved her and how him and Mahalia discussed the charity show she was organizing. Barbara said Mary was a little stand offish but Elvis had been so friendly . This clip of Elvis and Mary ! Property of Notre Dame (our Mother) Sister Michele lead us into Mother Mary ! Miracle of Your Rosary Hail Mary full of grace ! 

   Miracle of Your Rosary 

This song is often referred to as the Hail Mary or Ave Maria (latin).

Written by Lee Denison and recorded by Elvis in May 1971 first released on the Elvis Now album in the 70's.  Some Elvis trivia ! In early 1955 Elvis performed at a Catholic club in Arkansas and the Priest Father Keller was not impressed and later witnessing Elvis signing a young girls leg, had said to Elvis "you are a disgrace to manhood, dont come back here". 

   Yet another connection to the Catholic church was Sister Dolores Hart, who was Mario Lanza's niece co starred with Elvis in Loving You and went on to become a Catholic Nun.  This clip of her talking about her relationship with Elvis and God !

Miss Hart talking about being on set with Elvis. I was mesmerized by his charisma and voice. That voice is for the people of GOD. 

   

     The last clip i am going to share is Mary in the Morning, a song written in 1967 and first recorded, by Al Martino. Elvis incorporated this into his live performances in the early 1970's. Always thought this song had a mystical feel about it ! I've always wondered who was Mary the woman with golden hair and chasing rainbows in her dreams.

More Trivia
In the middle ages mary or mare was was often referred to the sea ! Stella Maris or star of the sea a name given to the Virgin Mary !
The Vatican also known as the Holy See !
See of Rome or Central Government of the Catholic Church
Lateran Treaty of 1929
  Name Marie --- French cognate of Mary, which is derived from the Hebrew Miryām. Many believe it to mean "sea of bitterness" or "sea of sorrow." However, some sources cite the alternative definitions of "rebellion," "wished-for child," and "mistress or lady of the sea

Elvis and Mac Davis

    Mac Davis born 21st January 1942.His biggest hit was Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me and he first saw Elvis perform way back in 1956 on the back of a truck in Lubbock Texas . Lubbock being the home of Buddy Holly and as Mac said Buddy and Elvis were his two inspirations to write music. Another of Macs biggest hits Hooked on Music has in the first verse a reference to the first time he saw Elvis. Mac started writing for Elvis in 1967 in partnership with Billy Strange who worked with Elvis on the movie songs in the sixties. Billy and Mac wrote songs like Charro , A Little Less Conversation, Clean Up Your Own Backyard , Nothingville ,Dont Cry Daddy , Memories and his most famous In The Ghetto. I loved hearing Mac's story about the success of A Little Less Conversation going to number one in 2002. He said I was in shock i could'nt believe it. A friend of mine called me and said , hey Mac one of your songs has gone to number one in the UK. I knew nothing about the Nike promotion. Then later, my wife and I were watching Oceans Eleven and didnt realize they had used this version in the movie. It sounds so good. I thought the revamp they did was amazing. It was originally written for the 68 special but not used.
    Interested to hear Mac say that the lyrics were changed in A Little Less Conversation by Elvis or by those in Hollywood to fit the scene in Live A Little Love A Little and he said at the time he was a bit annoyed that they had changed his favorite verse in the song. Its a groovy night and i can show you how to use it. .Here is the original movie version with Elvis and the beautiful Celeste Yarnall . This computer will prove to you that the planets are wrong.

         
                 “Elvis’ records were always lesser than what he was vocally,”Billy Strange

   Charro a western had Elvis as Jess Wade a role originally offered to Clint Eastwood. The title song written by Mac , was the only song Elvis performed in the movie. Mac told a story about hearing a guy whistling this tune in a bathroom one time and was amazed, because it had always been a dream of his, to hear some person, unknown to him whistling a song he had written and I couldnt believe the song would be Charro as i dont remember much about that song myself. I had to ask him the name of the song because i couldnt remember the name.

    Clean Up Your Own Backard was a song performed in Trouble with Girls . Interesting to note alot of the songs recorded for this movie stayed unreleased for a considerable amount of time bar this one. Songs like Signs of the Zodiac and Swing Down Sweet Chariot, Almost and Violet.

   Nothingville or as I think it was referring to Hollywoodville. They treat me like a country clown. Its a Rats race at a snails pace ! Mac said he always thought that was one of his favorite lines in any song he had written. It was specificly written for the TV Special with Memories.

Poor Mans Gold another written by Mac but Elvis only ever sung one line from it in the studio. I loved how Pete Storm completed it and thought i would add it here for a novelty song .