For the past several weeks, I have been watching Dancing With The Stars and rooting for Priscilla Presley.  Give the woman some credit.  She is sixty-two years old and has already out-danced four other competitors.  It did get a little hairy last Tuesday when she came in next-to-last, but the week before Priscilla and partner earned the second-highest score by the panel of judges.  It looks like Kristi Yamaguchi would have to screw up big time not to win this thing, but Priscilla is already a winner in my book.

Priscilla and her Dancing With The Stars partner

After Boots Randolph passed away last week, I checked out several large websites devoted to Elvis and didn’t find much delving deep into the connection between Boots and Elvis.  That was surprising, because there was a significant relationship between these two music legends. 

There was certainly much more than just “Reconsider Baby” and “Return To Sender,” the two Elvis songs on which Boots played that were mentioned in most news reports.  Between 1960 and 1967, Boots actually played on twenty Elvis recording sessions.  These produced three rock albums, two gospel albums, eleven movie soundtracks, and dozens of songs for later use in albums or singles releases. 

After Elvis returned from the Army, the vault of unreleased songs was empty, and it was imperative to record some good material quickly.  On March 20,1960, at RCA’s Studio B in Nashville, producer Chet Atkins assembled a familiar group of musicians to play behind Elvis:  Scotty Moore on guitar, DJ Fontana on drums, the Jordanaires on vocals, Floyd Cramer on piano, and Bob Moore on bass.  They recorded six songs, including the hit “Stuck On You.”

On April 3, the group reassembled with three notable additions: Hank Garland on guitar, Buddy Harmon on drums, and Boots Randolph on sax.  They recorded twelve songs, nine of which ended up in the album Elvis Is Back.  Some critics acclaim this album as Elvis’ best (I agree), and it contained the exalted blues number “Reconsider Baby.”  On it, Boots had the distinction of doing the first sax solo on an Elvis song.  There is no telling how many times Boots performed “Reconsider Baby” during the last 47 years, but I have heard him do it four times, and he was great each time.  If you are tempted to pull out Elvis Is Back and give it another listen, check out “Like A Baby.”  It is another classic Elvis blues number, and Boots’ sax part is masterful.

In November 1960, Boots joined Elvis again at the session to record songs for the gospel album His Hand In Mind.  If you have trouble imagining a sax part in a gospel song, “Milky White Way” will show you how it’s done.

March 1961 was an intense period of musical activity for Elvis -- and Boots Randolph was there for all of it.  First, there was another regular album to do as Elvis and the guys gathered in Nashville for the Something For Everybody sessions.  A week later, the whole group traveled to Hollywood to record the Blue Hawaii soundtrack.  As soon as they finished, everyone took off for Hawaii to perform in the benefit concert to raise money for the Pearl Harbor USS Arizona Memorial Fund.  This was Elvis’ last live performance for eight years.

Later in 1961, Boots played at the soundtrack recording sessions for two more movies, Follow That Dream and Kid Galahad, plus a Nashville studio session that produced the hit single “Good Luck Charm.”

Boots continued to record with Elvis in 1962.  In March there were the Nashville recording sessions for the next studio album Pot Luck, and the Hollywood recording sessions for the movie Girls, Girls, Girls.  Boots has an extended sax solo on the title song as well as on “Return To Sender,” the hit from the movie.

In 1963, Boots recorded with Elvis on two more movie soundtracks, Viva Las Vegas and Kissin’ Cousins.  In March of that year, Boots joined Elvis for a recording session that was supposed to be for another studio album, but the songs ended up on four different movie soundtracks, two regular albums, and five 45RPM single cuts.  As I mentioned in a 2/18/07 blog article, RCA finally did release all fourteen songs in 1991 on an album called The Lost Album.  Later, it was released on CD titled For The Asking (The Lost Album).  If you have it, check out Boots’ solo on “Witchcraft.

From 1964 to 1967, Boots continued to record with Elvis.  There were two general sessions in Nashville that produced singles and album cuts.  There were five more movie soundtrack sessions in Hollywood: Roustabout, Girl Happy, Spinout, Double Trouble, and Speedway.  And, there was one more gospel album How Great Thou Art.

The final tally of Boots Randolph’s recorded work with Elvis comes to eleven sessions in Nashville and nine in Hollywood, plus that one live concert performance in Hawaii.  Both men left a huge musical legacy.  If there is music in Heaven, you know they are up there singing and playing together again.

©  2007   Philip R Arnold   All Rights Reserved   www.elvisblog.net

If you read Elvisblog, you probably also visit other websites devoted to Elvis.  So, it is safe to assume you have already read articles recounting the death of Boots Randolph and the connection between him and Elvis.  Rather than retread that same ground, I would like to reminisce about my one occasion to get close and personal with Mr. Yackety Sax.

It was back in 2004 during Elvis Week in Memphis.  The big celebration that year was the 50^th anniversary of Elvis’ first recording “That’s All Right.”  During those years with special significance (25^th anniversary of Elvis’ death, etc.), Darwin Lamm, Editor and Publisher of Elvis…The Magazine. always presents his famous “Good Rockin’ Tonight” concerts.  These concerts have been held in a variety of venues from Mud Island to the Orpheum Theater to the Peabody Hotel Grand Ballroom.  In 2004, Lamm upgraded considerably and staged his events at the prestigious Cannon Center.  This is the home of the Memphis Opera Company, and it featured superb acoustics.  I worked backstage doing any kind of “gofer” duties that came up.  I got to go for ice, bottled water, extra Xerox copies of the song list, and so forth.  It was a great job, because I rubbed elbows with dozens of people with real Elvis connections.

The Cannon Center didn’t come cheap, so Lamm used the facility for two concerts the same day.  On August 13, he presented “The Legends” at 6:30PM and “The TCB Band" featuring Terry Mike Jeffrey” at 10PM.  “The Legends” concert was built around Elvis’ original guitarist Scotty Moore, his original drummer D J Fontana, and his original background vocalists The Jordanaires.  Boots Randolph was the big-name guest artist.  Singing duties were handled by an impressive list of talents: Billy Swan, Lee Rocker, Eddie Miles, Stan Perkins, and the unannounced surprise guest, Ronnie McDowell.

McDowell’s band joined the other musicians for the show, and, in my opinion, this resulted in a special addition to the sound,.  Steve Shepherd was McDowell’s keyboard player, and once they started playing, I truly loved the sounds Shepherd produced on that keyboard.

“The Legends” concert turned out to be a superb event, and the hit of the show, without question, was Boots Randolph.  He came out to do one of Elvis’ best blues numbers, “Reconsider Baby,” and he nailed it.  For a man from the heart of the Nashville country-music community, he could really wail the blues.  The audience just ate it up, and they gave Boots a huge ovation.  Next he jumped into his signature song, “Yackety Sax,” and it was just a magic moment.  You would have never guessed this was a seventy-seven-year-old man blasting away on stage.

I watched from stage-right, as did Terry Mike Jeffrey, the vocalist for the second concert with the TCB Band.  He was just as impressed with Boots’ performance as I was.  After the show, I noticed Terry Mike talking to Boots backstage.  I quietly moved within hearing range and overheard the best news.  Terry Mike asked Boots to perform during the second concert as well -- and Boots agreed.  I don’t think any compensation was involved, but Boots was a showman and he was on a roll.  He was happy just to perform before another group of music lovers.

When the second concert started later, I was again on stage-right.  After the first song or two, Boots Randolph showed up and took a seat on a folding chair near me.  The chair next to him was empty, so I jumped at the opportunity to sit next to a celebrity.  Boots was certainly dressed like one.  He was impeccable in a sharp suit and tie.  However, he didn’t act like a celebrity.  He was very friendly to me, and we chatted softly about a few things between songs.

The main topic that stands out in my memory was a question I asked him about the difference in the two bands.  “The Legends” had Steve Shepherd on keyboard, while "The TCB Band" had Glen D. Hardin on piano.  Hardin is an excellent musician, but I was struck by how much more I liked Shepherd’s keyboard work.  So, without leading the question, I asked Boots’ which he liked best, the keyboard sound in the first concert or the piano sound going on in the second.  He started out saying he liked them both equally, but the longer he talked, the more he leaned toward the keyboard.  I was pleased this respected music giant thought the same way I did on a musical matter.

Soon it was time for Boots to go on stage, and he went out there and wowed them again.  I had been in the presence of a true legend and was thrilled that he was kind enough to chat with me briefly.

Boots Randolph was scheduled to be part of this year’s Elvis Week concert, “Scotty Moore – The Last Man Standing” on August 15^th.  His death will leave a huge void on stage and in the hearts of many people.  I was so looking forward to hanging out with him again backstage.  We’ll miss you, Boots.

©  2007   Philip R Arnold   All Rights Reserved   www.elvisblog.net

Last week I praised and highly recommended the new triple DVD set Elvis – The Ed Sullivan Shows.  There was some interesting history leading up to Elvis’ appearances with Sullivan, just the kind of stuff that makes a good blog article.

Early in 1956, as Elvis’ career took off, Ed Sullivan was not interested in booking Elvis on his show. Sullivan even stated to the press, “He is not my cup of tea.”  So, when Col. Parker offered to book Elvis for $5,000, Sullivan turned it down.

Another reason for Sullivan’s rejection was the famous Bo Diddley incident that turned Sullivan against all rock & rollers.  In November of ’55, two of the hottest songs in the country were “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford and “Bo Diddley” by Bo Diddley.  Sullivan booked both singers on the same show, but Ford had to cancel at the last minute.  For some reason, Sullivan thought the song was more important than the artist, and he pressed Bo Diddley to sing “Sixteen Tons” on the live show. 

If you remember “Sixteen Tons” and the music of Bo Diddley, you know how ridiculous that notion was.  Bo Diddley certainly must have thought so, but he was just starting out and needed the exposure.  He didn’t fight with Sullivan’s producer.  They printed up cue cards with the lyrics to “Sixteen Tons” for Diddley, and he did the song in rehearsal.  However, when it was show time, Diddley performed his own song.  This enraged Sullivan, and he vowed to see that Diddley would never appear again on TV.  Of course, this did not happen, but he was banned from ever appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show again (as were The Doors and comedian Jackie Mason in the 60s).

With Sullivan showing no interest in booking Elvis, Col. Parker cut a deal with Milton Berle for two shows at $5,000 each.  Berle was finishing up his eight-year reign as the king of comedy on TV.  Elvis’ second appearance on June 5, 1956, was Berle’s last show, and, whether he planned it or not, Berle went out with a bang.  Elvis’ wild gyrations while singing “Hound Dog” totally freaked out the nation.  Teenagers loved it, parents hated it, and newspapers across the nation condemned it with lines like this:

New York Journal American – “primitive physical movement difficult to describe in terms suitable for a family newspaper.”

New York Daily News – Elvis “gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos.”

San Francisco Chronicle – “in appalling taste.”

No doubt, this just reinforced Ed Sullivan’s determination to never have Elvis on his show.  However, by then, Elvis was already signed to appear on The Steve Allen Show on July 1, 1956.  This was in the Sunday night slot directly opposite The Ed Sullivan Show.  Allen thought about canceling Elvis’ appearance, but instead had him wear tails and a top hat and sing to a basset hound.

So how did Steve Allen with Elvis do in head-to-head competition with Ed Sullivan?  Allen clobbered the king of Sunday night TV with 55% of the nation’s viewing audience.  The ratings war went to Allen by a 20.2 to 14.8 margin.  Sullivan threw in the towel and negotiated with Col. Parker to get Elvis on his show.  Parker knew he was holding all the cards and muscled $50,000 from Sullivan, an unheard of amount at the time.  So, Sullivan passed on Elvis when the tab was $5,000, and had to shell out ten times that amount to get him later.  At least it was for three shows.  Here’s a thought.  Eight months earlier RCA paid Sam Phillips $35,000 for Elvis’ recording contract, and now he was getting $50,000 for three TV shows.  Did RCA get a good deal or what?

I have read several reviews and commentaries that express how important it was for Elvis’ career for him to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show.  I beg to differ.  By the date of the first show, Elvis already had three #1 hits.  His first album Elvis Presley was a million-seller and the first rock & roll album to go to the top of the charts.  He was already filming his first movie and was under contract for several more.  His live shows were jam-packed with screaming girls, and hardly a day went by without stories and photos of Elvis appearing in newspapers and magazines. 

For the first show, anyway, I think Ed Sullivan needed Elvis more than Elvis needed him.  About all Sullivan did for Elvis was make him more acceptable to the parents of his adoring fans.  At the end of Elvis’ third appearance, Sullivan came out and called him “a real decent, fine boy.”  Sullivan closed with, “We’ve never had a pleasanter experience on our show with a big name than we’ve had with you; you’re thoroughly all right.”  That may have allowed the parents to breathe easier, but it had no notable impact on Elvis’ career, which was already cruising on overdrive.

©  2007   Philip R Arnold   All Rights Reserved   www.elvisblog.net

In the late 50’s and early 60’s there were three blond bombshells sometimes referred to as “The 3 M’s”: ”Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van Doren.  Howard Hughes discovered Mamie Van Doren at age 16, and she signed a contract with Universal Studios in 1953. 

On her web site, www.mamievandoren.com, she talkes about herself in the third person: “Mamie starred as the “bad girl” in some of Hollywood’s most enduring teenage cult films.”  Her signature film was the 1960 feature “Sex Kittens Go To College.

“Off the screen, Mamie was a maverick in her personal life as well, often following her heart in torrid off-screen romances.”  According to http://allmovie.com, her autobiography Playing The Field claims she slept with nearly every male in the entertainment industry

OK, would you like to know if Elvis was one of those lovers?

Mamievandoren.com has a section called Bedtime Stories, and Elvis is in there.  So are Burt Reynolds, Tony Curtis, and a bunch of other famous men.  Mamie goes into quite graphic detail of her sexual liaisons.  Sometimes, the Bedroom Stories almost read like pages from a romance novel.  Here’s one sample about Elvis and her:  “He French kissed me deeply and I responded passionately to him, barely able to hold myself back.”

So, the question is, did she hold back or not.  Or did Elvis hold back like he did with Elvira?  You’ll have to check out Mamie’s web site to find out.  It’s a better place than Elvisblog for that kind of stuff.  Let’s just say they had quite a night.   Elvis took her to the Frontier Hotel, the Sahara, and the Desert Inn before they started necking in his Cadillac.

There are two other interesting things of note.  Mamie proudly admits she stole Elvis’ wiggle when she danced and sang in the 1957 movie Untamed Youth.  Also, her site has present-day photographs of her in revealing outfits.  For a woman in her 70’s, she looks great.  Sort of makes you of wish you had been in those Bedtime Stories.

© 2005   Philip R Arnold

The host of a very popular comic book blog recently posted a four-part series advocating the idea that super-hero Captain Marvel Jr. influenced much of Elvis’ life and appearance.  If you’d like to read the long and very complete essays, with lots of pictures, go to www.dialbforblog.com.  If not, here’s the short version.

Do you recall ever reading about the origin of the lightning bolt in Elvis’ TCB jewelry?  I have numerous reference books that say it was inspired by the lightning bolt worn on the chest of Captain Marvel Jr., Elvis’ favorite comic book hero.  This fact is emphasized in the blog articles, of course, but many other connections are offered as well.  For example, that same lightning bolt (without the letters T.C.B) is part of the wall decorations at Graceland’s basement game room.

The author asserts that Elvis read Captain Marvel Jr. comics from September 1949 to January 1953 while living at the Lauderdale Court.  In fact, the Presley’s apartment has been preserved as a historic site, and a copy of Captain Marvel Jr. #51 sits on a desk in Elvis’ old room.

In her book “Elvis Presley: The Man, The Life, The legend,” author Pamela Clarke Keough states, “Elvis used comics as an escape… Around the age of 12, Elvis discovered Captain Marvel Jr. and quickly became almost obsessed with him.”  Billy Smith, longtime Elvis friend, said that Elvis admired the dual image of Captain Marvel Jr.  -- normal everyday guy and super crime-fighter.   The everyday guy is poor teenager Freddy Freeman, the alter ego who turned into Captain Marvel Jr. when he spoke the magic words.

The author takes this one step farther.  He says, “This is why Elvis idolized Cap Jr. – because the Freddy Freeman/Captain Marvel Jr. character was a perfect mirror image of the once and future Elvis.  Freddy represented Elvis as he was, and Captain Marvel Jr. represented Elvis as he wished to be.”

Pictures of Captain Marvel Jr. in the early fifties do indeed show a hairstyle ultimately affected by Elvis: long, glistening, black, with unruly locks hanging down over his forehead.  Also, there is a distinct similarity between Captain Marvel Jr.’s outfit and the seventies Elvis.  The argument certainly can be made that Elvis copied his one-piece jumpsuit, wide belt, boots, and most of all, the cape from his boyhood hero.  Finally, young Freddy Freeman was often seen wearing white scarves, and we all know how Elvis would go through dozens of them at every concert.

I think the host of Dial B For Blog did a good job presenting his case that Captain Marvel Jr. helped shape Elvis’ entire lifestyle.  He also calls his blog “The World’s Greatest Comic Blogazine.”   I like that.  I wonder if he’s sue me if I called Elvisblog the “World’s Greatest Elvis Blogazine.”

© 2005   Philip R Arnold

Stories about Elvis and Ann-Margret have floated around for years, but there’s no way to verify the accuracy of them.  Ann-Margret has certainly kept mum about her relationship with Elvis, allowing only that she and Elvis were close friends.  One story we can put some credence in comes from Alan Fortas, a member of Elvis’ Memphis Mafia.  Here is his story as told on the website of Elvis International, the Magazine some years ago.

One night, during the filming of Viva Las Vegas in 1963, Elvis invited Ann-Margret over to his house.  He specifically told all his buddies to disappear before she arrived, but Alan and George Klein asked if they could stay if they promised not to leave their rooms.  Elvis agreed, but he should have known better.

After Ann-Margret had been there awhile, Alan and George snuck on to the patio and peeked into the den.  According to Alan, “They were dancing and cuddling and talking, and George and I were going crazy.”

Then, Elvis left the room to get something and walked around to another part of the house.  From this vantage point, he could see the two spies plain as day. When Alan and George realized they had been caught peeping, they panicked.  George tried to run off and slammed right into the glass patio door, nearly breaking his nose.

Elvis got a good laugh about the whole ruckus, but you have to wonder about its effect on the rest of the evening.  Do you think Elvis was able to recapture that warm and fuzzy mood with Ann-Margret?  I guess we’ll never know, but I’ll give odds he did.

© 2005  Philip R Arnold

Elvira, the campy Mistress of the Dark, has an interesting website, and she waits until only line six in her bio to mention her “evening with Elvis.”  She’s not telling much, however.  Just that he saw her perform as a Las Vegas showgirl and encouraged her to pursue a singing career.  Boy, did she leave out the good part.

Cassandra Peterson created her Elvira persona in 1981, but back in 1969 she was just a 17 year old, struggling showgirl.  According to an August 3, 1997 article by Ruthe Stein in the San Francisco Chronicle, a friend of Cassandra’s managed to get them both invited to a party at Elvis’ penthouse suite.  Elvis liked to be around showgirls, and on this night he took an interest in Cassandra.  “Elvis singled me out,” she said.  “I sat at the piano and he played songs for me.”

Later, in a more private setting, they talked all night, and a variety of subjects were broached.  Elvis told her he was very spiritual and discussed numerology.  He showed her a jewel-encrusted belt buckle – a present from President Richard Nixon.  “It was the biggest, gaudiest thing I had ever seen, and he was just so thrilled with it, like he was a little kid.”

She told him she smoked marijuana and that she was a virgin, and both revelations had an effect on Elvis.  He lectured her on the evils of pot and marveled that there actually was a showgirl virgin in Las Vegas.  After a while, she came to a realization.  “It was clear that he was not going to, like, hit on me.  I could kick myself now for telling him.”  Twenty-eight years after that night, Elvira admitted, “It would have been great to have him as my first lover.  If it’s got to be somebody, it might as well be Elvis.” 

How’s that for an understatement?

© 2005  Philip R Arnold

Michael Jackson is not the only person being painted as a slime ball at his current trial. Some of the prosecution’s witnesses have less than stellar histories, too.  Take for example, Adrian McManus, a maid for Jackson from 1990 to1994.  She and four other former employees sued Jackson for $16 million back in the mid-1990’s.

When these five people first approached a lawyer about filing their civil suit, they apparently had little money between them.  Based on the lawyer’s advice, they sold stories to the tabloids to come up with his $17,000 fee. 

The case was so flimsy that Michael Jackson countersued.  He not only won, he was awarded $1.5 million to cover his legal costs.  On top of that, the former maid was ordered to repay Jackson $30,000 for stealing a sketch of Elvis Presley that Jackson had drawn.

The former maid said she found the Elvis drawing in the trash and thought it had been thrown away.  She said she didn’t consider its worth.  It is my opinion the prosecution will regret ever putting her on the stand in the current trial.  The jury will know she is a liar.   They know there’s no way an Elvis drawing gets thrown away.  And when she said she saw no value in an Elvis drawing, she deserved to be cited for contempt of court.

© 2005  Philip R Arnold