THE LEGEND WILL STILL LIVE ON!!

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THE LEGEND WILL STILL LIVE ON!!

#1653716

Post by wwelvis »

My good friend of 42 years Sam Theaker (aka VIC COLONNA) has passed away after many years battling with cancer. I heard the news today and was very very saddened to hear it as Sam had been a part of my life since we met in 1976 and became partners and great friends. He put up a great fight as a few years ago it looked like he had won but unfortunately he didn't. We had last spoken a little over a week ago and he sounded great and it seemed like he was doing very well. I just called him I think on Monday of this week and left a message but never heard back from him. It is just so hard to imagine my world without him and I wanted to write something here to let the Elvis world know more about this great guy.

WHERE TO BEGIN?

Honestly it's not easy as there is so much to tell but I think that maybe the best thing to do here is to tell everyone how everything started. Some of you know but I'm sure most of you don't so here is the beginning of what was to be a FANTASTIC partnership with Sam and myself.

STARTING TODAY
I had no idea who Elvis Presley was until around 1962 when my next door neighbor Bruce Marpel convinced me to see the movie FOLLOW THAT DREAM which starred Elvis in a comedy as a dumb, likeable, charming hillbilly. This was not the typical Elvis movie where he would do twelve songs (just enough for an LP). This had only six and, in my opinion, it was one of the best and most underrated movies he ever made. Little did I know how watching my first Elvis film that day would completely change my life a decade later!

I soon learned that being an Elvis fan was not just a passing fancy and was not something that would go away. To help expand my interest in the King, in 1965 a local radio station aired an Elvis hour every night (Monday - Friday) from 7-8PM and I never missed it and even taped a good portion of the shows on the reel to reel tape recorded I had. This was heaven as they played songs that I had never heard and it seemed that there was a "never ending" supply of them. I simply loved it. All I could think about was Elvis music. Thanks to that same radio show, I learned about an English magazine (ELVIS MONTHLY) which had been around since 1959 and was enjoying a huge increase in sales even though 1965 was the pinnacle of the Beatles era. Luckily I caught the address of that publication and started subscribing to it.

That was the beginning of my lifelong fascination with Elvis Presley.

FROM A COLLECTOR TO A DEALER
Turning a hobby into a business wasn't accomplished overnight. In fact, it wasn't even thought about! I first had to deal with my newly found addiction which consumed my entire life - morning, noon, and night and even in my dreams. No, this was not alcohol or drugs or any "normal" addiction. For some reason I found myself becoming a totally obsessed Elvis Presley record collector which may have been WORSE than any of the well known bad habits. After reading an article in a late 1969 edition of my bible at the time - ELVIS MONTHLY - about other countries releasing different Elvis records than the U.S. I was hooked! And by "different" I mean different picture covers and / or different song compilations. Why this fascinated me I can't say for sure although I guess I was always a collector of something – comic books, baseball / football cards and even TV GUIDE magazines!

This article opened a whole new world for me as it gave information on records from Australia, England, France, Germany, South Africa, Japan, and many, many other countries. I just fell in love with the dreamlike idea of seeing (let alone owning) any of these. Little did I know what would be in store for me but unfortunately I had to wait a few years because there was no address to write to to buy them and, even if there had been, the article clearly stated that a good portion of these had been deleted for years so how could I even hope to get any.

Luckily, again thanks to the MONTHLY, I found an address sometime in late 1972 of one of the best Elvis publications that ever came out - Rex Martin's ELVIS WEEKLY from England. This was a typed eight or twelve page informative newsletter that Rex sent out by subscription every week and, contained information on what releases were coming out on Elvis worldwide, reviews of Elvis' "live" shows BUT, most important, it had what I had been looking for - names and addresses of Elvis record collectors from all over the world! I had discovered literally a goldmine and my life was never to be the same again!

THE BEGINNING

I’ll never forget the day I received my first “fix”. It was March of 1973. Thinking back on it I couldn’t have started my lifelong hobby of collecting Elvis’s worldwide records in a better way. Two months earlier I had ordered some Japanese LP’s from Haruo Hirose by SEA MAIL which is why it took so long to arrive but….WOW!!…was it worth the wait! I had no idea what to expect as I carefully opened that unbelievably well packed box. It was almost like opening your first present on Christmas when you were a kid but actually maybe even better because what I saw and what was in front of me were four of the most beautiful records I had ever seen in my life – ELVIS’ GOLDEN STORY VOLS. 1 & 2; GOLDEN HYMNS; and GIRL HAPPY.

The quest to collect became an obsession and I was constantly ordering different releases from Haruo, Wayne, Livio Monari in Italy, HT Long in Malaysia, Cathy Prinsloo in South Africa and just about anyone from any country that issued something different. I wanted everything. One of the major problems I started running into as I got deeper and deeper into this was trying to find out what 78’s, singles, EP’s, or LP’s that were actually different than the United States. Some of my new collector friends overseas knew but even ones who had be into it for years weren’t 100% sure and it became pretty expensive buying GI BLUES from every country in the world only to find out that there was nothing radically unusual about it. But, thank God Peter J. Milne from Aberdeen , Scotland entered my life.

PLEASE RELEASE ME
I didn't just wake up one day and decide to become a bootlegger! It was something that just happened and was a result of a phone call sometime in the cold winter of early 1975. At this point of my life I was so obsessed with collecting Elvis' record releases from every country in the world that this was literally all I could think about. It was all I cared about in those days and everything I did centered around this hobby or more accurately this fanatical Elvis vinyl habit I had. But one fateful Sunday the phone rang and it was a call from a record dealer Wayne Rogers from North Carolina of all places. Apparently he somehow had seen either that day's copy of my ad in the BALTIMORE SUN or one from a previous time. All I know is that this phone call began a new phase of my life!

THE DORSEY SINGLE
I have no idea how Wayne came across a tape of Elvis' first appearance on the Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey TV show on January 28, 1956 but he definitely did. When he played it for me I couldn’t believe it. Up until that day I thought that TV shows Elvis did in the 50's were lost forever especially the Dorsey shows. I had seen a kinescope that Bob Anderson in Virginia showed me of the three Ed Sullivan shows and found it incredible that something this old that was on “live TV” could still exist but the Dorsey shows in my opinion were a lot rarer as most people had never heard of them so, as I listened to Elvis singing I GOT A WOMAN and SHAKE RATTLE AND ROLL with the different and somewhat controversial verse that no one had ever heard before, I was floored. It's hard to remember how much I paid for this piece of history although $15 comes to mind but it hardly mattered. I couldn't wait to get it and when it did arrive a few days later I played it for Ed Bayes (a non Elvis record collecting friend of mine) whose first comment was “why don't you boot it?”.

“Boot it”!!! Huh? What did Ed mean by that? Sure I had been aware that there had been a few Elvis bootleg LP's made but was Ed really suggesting that I actually somehow put this tape on record? And if so...how? Well, good old Ed answered this pretty quick as he suggested I contact Les Moskowitz who owned an oldies vinyl store ROADHOUSE OLDIES in Silver Spring, Md. and who had issued loads of 45’s on Doo Wop and 50’s blues groups. I called Les and he recommended a pressing plant that was ten minutes (if that!) from where I lived in Ruxton, Md. So I went there, got a price for one thousand 45 RPM singles, conned my mother into “lending” (try GIVING!!) me the $500 to have these pressed. I then made up a label using the name “WHITE KNIGHT”. I wanted a normal picture cover but that became too complicated to do so I ended up buying a plain white mailing envelope with a flap on the back and went to a printer to get a Dorsey photo on both sides and lettering. The pressing plant would not let me put “Elvis Presley” on the label so I used “The Blue Moon Boys” and that apparently was ok with them even though of course it was no secret who was singing!

I was offering the Dorsey 45 boot for $10 each so my profit was $9.50 on each one although profit was NOT my objective. I know some people will find this hard to believe but I never made this or any of the other bootlegs I did for the money. In thinking back on this part of my life, I think I probably used the “WHITE KNIGHT” label to signify that I was some kind of a knight in shining armor giving something to the Elvis fans that they had never heard before. And actually that philosophy was really behind all of the bootleg LP's Sam and I did for the next five years!

TV GUIDE PRESENTS ELVIS
Not only did I produce a very historic release and an Elvis performance that no one had ever heard before but I had amazingly invented a way to support my worldwide Elvis RCA habit. After I had traded as many DORSEY singles as I could, I realized I needed something new - another record - but this time an LP with more material that RCA had not released! This turned out to be maybe one of the first concept bootleg LP's ever as it contained material taken only from television performances.

When I went back to the local pressing plant that I used for the DORSEY single I was unfortunately told that they could no longer do anything for me if it involved Elvis. I never knew why. All I knew is that I had to find someone who could press my first LP. I finally did. I was told about a pressing plant in Nashville, Tn - NASHVILLE RECORD PLATING – so I contacted them and they gladly took my business. 1000 copies of this LP were made making it one of the hardest-to-find of all the Elvis bootleg LP's.

The name TV GUIDE PRESENTS ELVIS came from a very rare promotional interview 45RPM EP that RCA in the U.S. made for the magazine - TV GUIDE in 1956. It contained only very short excerpts of the complete interview but, at that time, this promo was one of the hardest to find of any of Elvis' U.S. Records and, except for the few people who owned this, hardly anyone had ever heard it. The label was ridiculous! It was “designed” by a local record collector who just wanted to be a part of it and I have absolutely no idea why I allowed myself to use this!

The rest of the LP (with the “TV theme”) contained the Elvis portion of the STEVE ALLEN SHOW from July 1, 1956; the 1960 FRANK SINATRA TIMEX show; and a very rare interview Elvis did with Hy Gardner on TV in 1956. I forget where I found the cover photo but it seemed to fit. I added the “TV GUIDE” magazine logo which I thought would be the perfect finishing touch without of course realizing that I was infringing upon their logo copyright although I was soon be made aware of this when I received a “cease and desist” letter from, you guessed it, TV GUIDE. Anyway, more on this coming up.

I wasn't completely ignorant that what I was doing was not “legal” although I found out later, thanks to an FBI agent, that RCA could not have done anything to me for the songs I used because they had not copyrighted any TV shows; “live”performances; and interviews (which were public domain). Of course I could have probably been sued by the songwriters and / or publishing companies and maybe Steve Allen, Sinatra, or Hy Gardner but I obviously didn’t care. Hey, at least I did not copy the RCA logo!

There were some “firsts” with this LP. It was the first Elvis bootleg LP to be shrink wrapped. The cover was a hard cardboard one unlike the thin paper ones used before. Plus, as mentioned before, it may have been the first concept bootleg Elvis LP. And you’ll never guess who was one of my first customers? Joan Deary who, at the time, was in charge of Elvis in New York! I was told who she was but her letters seemed so nice that I just didn’t care.

THE DORSEY LP

Just like with the DORSEY single, I used the TV GUIDE LP for trading purposes to obtain more Elvis records from around the world. But of course things started to slow down sometime in mid 1976 so I needed a new project and as luck would have it, thanks to my Elvis contacts that had been increasing, I had found people who had the other five Dorsey TV shows so a complete Dorsey LP with all six of Elvis’ appearances just had to be my next bootleg release. I wish I could remember where I found the other five shows but unfortunately I can’t although it’s possible I took one or two from 16mm film copies of shows that I had managed to find. At any rate this LP was also done by the same NASHVILLE RECORD PLATING plant.

I never considered myself any kind of graphic arts designer and I readily admit that my design efforts on these early bootlegs were pretty lame and this LP was no exception. I simply took nine small black and white pictures from the various shows and grouped them in three rows of three with blue title lettering. No big artistic achievement but the LP was a resounding success and it didn’t take me that long to exhaust the 1000 copies I had made. (NOTE: As most ardent boot collectors will know, when I got Sam involved in this world later on we changed the cover slightly and even re mastered the LP after finding better quality on most of the shows!).

As had been the case with the previous three ’legs I had done, the demand kept increasing for more records to come out and, as the supply of the DORSEY also became less and less, I knew I needed to start thinking about a follow up.

THE ‘68’ COMBACK LP
In the Elvis vinyl collecting world at that time the major big time collectors were mostly from the North Eastern United States – Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and some from the Mid West but the West Coast, especially California, was an unknown territory. I recall that some people were talking about a collector from California who was supposedly heavily into this hobby but no one knew who he (she) was. Well, one day in probably early 1976 I found out when I received a call from Sam who said he had a bunch of things to trade - SUN records and maybe RCA promos. It’s hard to remember exactly. But I was thrilled, thinking that I had just discovered and opened a new path for me to expand my still increasing appetite for Elvis vinyl but I had no idea what meeting Sam Theaker would lead to.

I eventually told Sam that I was the person responsible for these Elvis bootlegs and he in fact had heard of them and I sent him a copy of each. It’s hard to recall exactly the time sequence now but I do know that trading was the initial part of our history. A few months later he called and said he had found some acetates simply labeled “ELVIS- GUITAR MAN” at a garage sale. Amazingly, these were test pressings of songs from Elvis’ 1968 NBC TV SPECIAL and contained material that had not been released by RCA! Needless to say, an enterprising bootlegger like myself was extremely interested in this material and I immediately saw another LP!

This LP was a monster and it changed the world of Elvis bootlegging and maybe bootlegging in general! Not only did it contain completely unreleased material from the best TV special Elvis ever did but the quality was perfect as it was taken directly from the original acetate. And maybe as important it featured a cover photo that was simply gorgeously breathtaking and far better than anything RCA ever used…..well, at least anything RCA in the U.S. used as this picture was taken from the BACK COVER of the booklet in the Japanese original ELVIS GOLD 30 LP! My new LP was just about flawless except for the spelling mistake on the back cover! I used the same Nashville pressing plant and I mistakenly did not notice that I misspelled “Comeback” so the first 1000 copies had “THE ’68 COMBACK” without the “E”! The title was perfect also but it was not mine but given to me by Elvis collector the late Jim Curtin.

BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS
I firmly believe that good things usually come out of bad things . The 68 COMEBACK LP was huge for me. I had no idea it would be that much in demand but it sure was. I couldn’t keep it in stock. I ran out of the initial amount real quick so I called my Nashville people to do a repress but they turned me down and said that they could not do anymore Elvis LP’s for me anymore. This all sounded familiar as I had been there before. I never found out why and they never gave me a good reason but of course they obviously didn’t want any possible lawsuits from RCA so they told me to find somewhere else.

I now had a big problem! I had just produced the ultimate Elvis LP! It was my masterpiece. Collectors were ordering like crazy but now I literally only had a handful left with no way of making more. Plus I was still getting orders for the DORSEY LP which was now sold out. What was I going to do?

ENTER SAM THEAKER IN 1976 1976!!
I think my new Elvis collector friend Sam apparently always had a secret desire to be a bootlegger. After I told him my problem he told me to hang in there while he did some pressing plant searches in his area and not only did he find a place literally around the corner from him but their prices were A LOT CHEAPER than the plant I had used before in Nashville.This began my partnership with Sam!

If it weren’t for that phone call I got in 1975 the Elvis bootlegging world would surely not have been as exciting. And who knew that being turned down by a Tennessee pressing plant would begin a great partnership

RCA people told me many years later that, because of the records we did, they realized that “live” concerts and unreleased outtakes and rehearsals were what the Elvis fans wanted to hear and this is why they began to release material like ours. The ELVIS ARON PRESLEY eight LP box set issued in 1980 was a perfect example of something that probably would not have come out if Paul and Sam hadn’t pioneered the new outtakes world. Of course it’s impossible to say this 100% but all signs point to it.

This is the end of MY story for now. But it was the beginning of my collaboration with SAM THEAKER and together we put out 20 + bootleg LP's which have become very famous in our Elvis world.

We continued as partners (with the MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET LP being our last bootleg) until the early 1980's when Sam decided to move back to Philadelphia from Glendale, Ca to try and reconcile with his wife Vicky (the REAL VIC COLONNA as "Colonna" was her maiden name!).

I will miss Sam terribly. I just can't believe he is no longer with us. All of us will miss him and especially his son Patrick and his daughter Lisa as he adored both of them.

The title of one of our LP's says it all - THE LEGEND LIVES ON!!!





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Re: THE LEGEND WILL STILL LIVE ON!!

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Post by jessewade »

thank you


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Re: THE LEGEND WILL STILL LIVE ON!!

#1653722

Post by alan9 »

Paul. Many Thanks. Those were exciting times in the Elvis World.



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Re: THE LEGEND WILL STILL LIVE ON!!

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Post by YDKM »

:D Thanks for this very much!~


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Re: THE LEGEND WILL STILL LIVE ON!!

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Post by Mike C »

Well said, Paul. I am sorry for your loss. My sympathies to you and Sam's family.


"You go to school. I'm going out to make a buck!"
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Post by stevelecher »

I came aboard in 1977. Thank God for these guys in that era, though they did consume a lot of my disposable income at the time. :D




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Post by BobDylan »

I could read your stories all night. Sam sent me a copy of his unpublished book and I still read it from time to time. Now of course I can read it while listening to any number of the wonderful albums you guys put out.

I'm sorry for your loss and you and his family are in my thoughts.




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Post by wwelvis »

BobDylan on Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:49 pm wrote:I could read your stories all night. Sam sent me a copy of his unpublished book and I still read it from time to time. Now of course I can read it while listening to any number of the wonderful albums you guys put out.

I'm sorry for your loss and you and his family are in my thoughts.
The book is great and I hope it will be published someday!

What a terrible shock this was to me today. I will miss him greatly!



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Re: THE LEGEND WILL STILL LIVE ON!!

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Post by drjohncarpenter »

Oh, this was a wonderful read, such vital and exciting history to any Elvis fan who lived through those days of collecting rare Elvis LPs!

This day wasn't too good, though.


830616_Hanover Evening Sun_p04.JPG
Hanover Evening Sun - Sunday, June 16, 1983
https://newspaperarchive.com/hanover-evening-sun-jun-16-1983-p-4/


But, in the end, it all worked out, and I agree your work definitely influenced how RCA regarded Elvis and his musical legacy.



Sam Theaker's somewhat ... fanciful look at those days was pursued as a book idea. Believe me I know all too well.

In any case, it is online and worth a read:

Prologue.jpg
Elvis Bootlegs – The Vic Colonna Story
How I made records for fun, profit, and one–to–five.

http://altomelvis.dk/temaer/elvis-bootlegs-2/

Here is Sam after scoring more than a dozen tickets for Elvis' December 1976 engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton:


761200_Vic Colonna w 14 concert tickets.JPG
761200_Las Vegas Hilton concert ticket.JPG

Those were the days.


R.I.P., Sam.


wwelvis on Fri Mar 23, 2018 11:39 am wrote:My good friend of 42 years Sam Theaker (aka VIC COLONNA) has passed away after many years battling with cancer. I heard the news today and was very very saddened to hear it as Sam had been a part of my life since we met in 1976 and became partners and great friends. He put up a great fight as a few years ago it looked like he had won but unfortunately he didn't. We had last spoken a little over a week ago and he sounded great and it seemed like he was doing very well. I just called him I think on Monday of this week and left a message but never heard back from him. It is just so hard to imagine my world without him and I wanted to write something here to let the Elvis world know more about this great guy.

WHERE TO BEGIN?

Honestly it's not easy as there is so much to tell but I think that maybe the best thing to do here is to tell everyone how everything started. Some of you know but I'm sure most of you don't so here is the beginning of what was to be a FANTASTIC partnership with Sam and myself.

STARTING TODAY
I had no idea who Elvis Presley was until around 1962 when my next door neighbor Bruce Marpel convinced me to see the movie FOLLOW THAT DREAM which starred Elvis in a comedy as a dumb, likeable, charming hillbilly. This was not the typical Elvis movie where he would do twelve songs (just enough for an LP). This had only six and, in my opinion, it was one of the best and most underrated movies he ever made. Little did I know how watching my first Elvis film that day would completely change my life a decade later!

I soon learned that being an Elvis fan was not just a passing fancy and was not something that would go away. To help expand my interest in the King, in 1965 a local radio station aired an Elvis hour every night (Monday - Friday) from 7-8PM and I never missed it and even taped a good portion of the shows on the reel to reel tape recorded I had. This was heaven as they played songs that I had never heard and it seemed that there was a "never ending" supply of them. I simply loved it. All I could think about was Elvis music. Thanks to that same radio show, I learned about an English magazine (ELVIS MONTHLY) which had been around since 1959 and was enjoying a huge increase in sales even though 1965 was the pinnacle of the Beatles era. Luckily I caught the address of that publication and started subscribing to it.

That was the beginning of my lifelong fascination with Elvis Presley.

FROM A COLLECTOR TO A DEALER
Turning a hobby into a business wasn't accomplished overnight. In fact, it wasn't even thought about! I first had to deal with my newly found addiction which consumed my entire life - morning, noon, and night and even in my dreams. No, this was not alcohol or drugs or any "normal" addiction. For some reason I found myself becoming a totally obsessed Elvis Presley record collector which may have been WORSE than any of the well known bad habits. After reading an article in a late 1969 edition of my bible at the time - ELVIS MONTHLY - about other countries releasing different Elvis records than the U.S. I was hooked! And by "different" I mean different picture covers and / or different song compilations. Why this fascinated me I can't say for sure although I guess I was always a collector of something – comic books, baseball / football cards and even TV GUIDE magazines!

This article opened a whole new world for me as it gave information on records from Australia, England, France, Germany, South Africa, Japan, and many, many other countries. I just fell in love with the dreamlike idea of seeing (let alone owning) any of these. Little did I know what would be in store for me but unfortunately I had to wait a few years because there was no address to write to to buy them and, even if there had been, the article clearly stated that a good portion of these had been deleted for years so how could I even hope to get any.

Luckily, again thanks to the MONTHLY, I found an address sometime in late 1972 of one of the best Elvis publications that ever came out - Rex Martin's ELVIS WEEKLY from England. This was a typed eight or twelve page informative newsletter that Rex sent out by subscription every week and, contained information on what releases were coming out on Elvis worldwide, reviews of Elvis' "live" shows BUT, most important, it had what I had been looking for - names and addresses of Elvis record collectors from all over the world! I had discovered literally a goldmine and my life was never to be the same again!

THE BEGINNING

I’ll never forget the day I received my first “fix”. It was March of 1973. Thinking back on it I couldn’t have started my lifelong hobby of collecting Elvis’s worldwide records in a better way. Two months earlier I had ordered some Japanese LP’s from Haruo Hirose by SEA MAIL which is why it took so long to arrive but….WOW!!…was it worth the wait! I had no idea what to expect as I carefully opened that unbelievably well packed box. It was almost like opening your first present on Christmas when you were a kid but actually maybe even better because what I saw and what was in front of me were four of the most beautiful records I had ever seen in my life – ELVIS’ GOLDEN STORY VOLS. 1 & 2; GOLDEN HYMNS; and GIRL HAPPY.

The quest to collect became an obsession and I was constantly ordering different releases from Haruo, Wayne, Livio Monari in Italy, HT Long in Malaysia, Cathy Prinsloo in South Africa and just about anyone from any country that issued something different. I wanted everything. One of the major problems I started running into as I got deeper and deeper into this was trying to find out what 78’s, singles, EP’s, or LP’s that were actually different than the United States. Some of my new collector friends overseas knew but even ones who had be into it for years weren’t 100% sure and it became pretty expensive buying GI BLUES from every country in the world only to find out that there was nothing radically unusual about it. But, thank God Peter J. Milne from Aberdeen , Scotland entered my life.

PLEASE RELEASE ME
I didn't just wake up one day and decide to become a bootlegger! It was something that just happened and was a result of a phone call sometime in the cold winter of early 1975. At this point of my life I was so obsessed with collecting Elvis' record releases from every country in the world that this was literally all I could think about. It was all I cared about in those days and everything I did centered around this hobby or more accurately this fanatical Elvis vinyl habit I had. But one fateful Sunday the phone rang and it was a call from a record dealer Wayne Rogers from North Carolina of all places. Apparently he somehow had seen either that day's copy of my ad in the BALTIMORE SUN or one from a previous time. All I know is that this phone call began a new phase of my life!

THE DORSEY SINGLE
I have no idea how Wayne came across a tape of Elvis' first appearance on the Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey TV show on January 28, 1956 but he definitely did. When he played it for me I couldn’t believe it. Up until that day I thought that TV shows Elvis did in the 50's were lost forever especially the Dorsey shows. I had seen a kinescope that Bob Anderson in Virginia showed me of the three Ed Sullivan shows and found it incredible that something this old that was on “live TV” could still exist but the Dorsey shows in my opinion were a lot rarer as most people had never heard of them so, as I listened to Elvis singing I GOT A WOMAN and SHAKE RATTLE AND ROLL with the different and somewhat controversial verse that no one had ever heard before, I was floored. It's hard to remember how much I paid for this piece of history although $15 comes to mind but it hardly mattered. I couldn't wait to get it and when it did arrive a few days later I played it for Ed Bayes (a non Elvis record collecting friend of mine) whose first comment was “why don't you boot it?”.

“Boot it”!!! Huh? What did Ed mean by that? Sure I had been aware that there had been a few Elvis bootleg LP's made but was Ed really suggesting that I actually somehow put this tape on record? And if so...how? Well, good old Ed answered this pretty quick as he suggested I contact Les Moskowitz who owned an oldies vinyl store ROADHOUSE OLDIES in Silver Spring, Md. and who had issued loads of 45’s on Doo Wop and 50’s blues groups. I called Les and he recommended a pressing plant that was ten minutes (if that!) from where I lived in Ruxton, Md. So I went there, got a price for one thousand 45 RPM singles, conned my mother into “lending” (try GIVING!!) me the $500 to have these pressed. I then made up a label using the name “WHITE KNIGHT”. I wanted a normal picture cover but that became too complicated to do so I ended up buying a plain white mailing envelope with a flap on the back and went to a printer to get a Dorsey photo on both sides and lettering. The pressing plant would not let me put “Elvis Presley” on the label so I used “The Blue Moon Boys” and that apparently was ok with them even though of course it was no secret who was singing!

I was offering the Dorsey 45 boot for $10 each so my profit was $9.50 on each one although profit was NOT my objective. I know some people will find this hard to believe but I never made this or any of the other bootlegs I did for the money. In thinking back on this part of my life, I think I probably used the “WHITE KNIGHT” label to signify that I was some kind of a knight in shining armor giving something to the Elvis fans that they had never heard before. And actually that philosophy was really behind all of the bootleg LP's Sam and I did for the next five years!

TV GUIDE PRESENTS ELVIS
Not only did I produce a very historic release and an Elvis performance that no one had ever heard before but I had amazingly invented a way to support my worldwide Elvis RCA habit. After I had traded as many DORSEY singles as I could, I realized I needed something new - another record - but this time an LP with more material that RCA had not released! This turned out to be maybe one of the first concept bootleg LP's ever as it contained material taken only from television performances.

When I went back to the local pressing plant that I used for the DORSEY single I was unfortunately told that they could no longer do anything for me if it involved Elvis. I never knew why. All I knew is that I had to find someone who could press my first LP. I finally did. I was told about a pressing plant in Nashville, Tn - NASHVILLE RECORD PLATING – so I contacted them and they gladly took my business. 1000 copies of this LP were made making it one of the hardest-to-find of all the Elvis bootleg LP's.

The name TV GUIDE PRESENTS ELVIS came from a very rare promotional interview 45RPM EP that RCA in the U.S. made for the magazine - TV GUIDE in 1956. It contained only very short excerpts of the complete interview but, at that time, this promo was one of the hardest to find of any of Elvis' U.S. Records and, except for the few people who owned this, hardly anyone had ever heard it. The label was ridiculous! It was “designed” by a local record collector who just wanted to be a part of it and I have absolutely no idea why I allowed myself to use this!

The rest of the LP (with the “TV theme”) contained the Elvis portion of the STEVE ALLEN SHOW from July 1, 1956; the 1960 FRANK SINATRA TIMEX show; and a very rare interview Elvis did with Hy Gardner on TV in 1956. I forget where I found the cover photo but it seemed to fit. I added the “TV GUIDE” magazine logo which I thought would be the perfect finishing touch without of course realizing that I was infringing upon their logo copyright although I was soon be made aware of this when I received a “cease and desist” letter from, you guessed it, TV GUIDE. Anyway, more on this coming up.

I wasn't completely ignorant that what I was doing was not “legal” although I found out later, thanks to an FBI agent, that RCA could not have done anything to me for the songs I used because they had not copyrighted any TV shows; “live”performances; and interviews (which were public domain). Of course I could have probably been sued by the songwriters and / or publishing companies and maybe Steve Allen, Sinatra, or Hy Gardner but I obviously didn’t care. Hey, at least I did not copy the RCA logo!

There were some “firsts” with this LP. It was the first Elvis bootleg LP to be shrink wrapped. The cover was a hard cardboard one unlike the thin paper ones used before. Plus, as mentioned before, it may have been the first concept bootleg Elvis LP. And you’ll never guess who was one of my first customers? Joan Deary who, at the time, was in charge of Elvis in New York! I was told who she was but her letters seemed so nice that I just didn’t care.

THE DORSEY LP

Just like with the DORSEY single, I used the TV GUIDE LP for trading purposes to obtain more Elvis records from around the world. But of course things started to slow down sometime in mid 1976 so I needed a new project and as luck would have it, thanks to my Elvis contacts that had been increasing, I had found people who had the other five Dorsey TV shows so a complete Dorsey LP with all six of Elvis’ appearances just had to be my next bootleg release. I wish I could remember where I found the other five shows but unfortunately I can’t although it’s possible I took one or two from 16mm film copies of shows that I had managed to find. At any rate this LP was also done by the same NASHVILLE RECORD PLATING plant.

I never considered myself any kind of graphic arts designer and I readily admit that my design efforts on these early bootlegs were pretty lame and this LP was no exception. I simply took nine small black and white pictures from the various shows and grouped them in three rows of three with blue title lettering. No big artistic achievement but the LP was a resounding success and it didn’t take me that long to exhaust the 1000 copies I had made. (NOTE: As most ardent boot collectors will know, when I got Sam involved in this world later on we changed the cover slightly and even re mastered the LP after finding better quality on most of the shows!).

As had been the case with the previous three ’legs I had done, the demand kept increasing for more records to come out and, as the supply of the DORSEY also became less and less, I knew I needed to start thinking about a follow up.

THE ‘68’ COMBACK LP
In the Elvis vinyl collecting world at that time the major big time collectors were mostly from the North Eastern United States – Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and some from the Mid West but the West Coast, especially California, was an unknown territory. I recall that some people were talking about a collector from California who was supposedly heavily into this hobby but no one knew who he (she) was. Well, one day in probably early 1976 I found out when I received a call from Sam who said he had a bunch of things to trade - SUN records and maybe RCA promos. It’s hard to remember exactly. But I was thrilled, thinking that I had just discovered and opened a new path for me to expand my still increasing appetite for Elvis vinyl but I had no idea what meeting Sam Theaker would lead to.

I eventually told Sam that I was the person responsible for these Elvis bootlegs and he in fact had heard of them and I sent him a copy of each. It’s hard to recall exactly the time sequence now but I do know that trading was the initial part of our history. A few months later he called and said he had found some acetates simply labeled “ELVIS- GUITAR MAN” at a garage sale. Amazingly, these were test pressings of songs from Elvis’ 1968 NBC TV SPECIAL and contained material that had not been released by RCA! Needless to say, an enterprising bootlegger like myself was extremely interested in this material and I immediately saw another LP!

This LP was a monster and it changed the world of Elvis bootlegging and maybe bootlegging in general! Not only did it contain completely unreleased material from the best TV special Elvis ever did but the quality was perfect as it was taken directly from the original acetate. And maybe as important it featured a cover photo that was simply gorgeously breathtaking and far better than anything RCA ever used…..well, at least anything RCA in the U.S. used as this picture was taken from the BACK COVER of the booklet in the Japanese original ELVIS GOLD 30 LP! My new LP was just about flawless except for the spelling mistake on the back cover! I used the same Nashville pressing plant and I mistakenly did not notice that I misspelled “Comeback” so the first 1000 copies had “THE ’68 COMBACK” without the “E”! The title was perfect also but it was not mine but given to me by Elvis collector the late Jim Curtin.

BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS
I firmly believe that good things usually come out of bad things . The 68 COMEBACK LP was huge for me. I had no idea it would be that much in demand but it sure was. I couldn’t keep it in stock. I ran out of the initial amount real quick so I called my Nashville people to do a repress but they turned me down and said that they could not do anymore Elvis LP’s for me anymore. This all sounded familiar as I had been there before. I never found out why and they never gave me a good reason but of course they obviously didn’t want any possible lawsuits from RCA so they told me to find somewhere else.

I now had a big problem! I had just produced the ultimate Elvis LP! It was my masterpiece. Collectors were ordering like crazy but now I literally only had a handful left with no way of making more. Plus I was still getting orders for the DORSEY LP which was now sold out. What was I going to do?

ENTER SAM THEAKER IN 1976 1976!!
I think my new Elvis collector friend Sam apparently always had a secret desire to be a bootlegger. After I told him my problem he told me to hang in there while he did some pressing plant searches in his area and not only did he find a place literally around the corner from him but their prices were A LOT CHEAPER than the plant I had used before in Nashville.This began my partnership with Sam!

If it weren’t for that phone call I got in 1975 the Elvis bootlegging world would surely not have been as exciting. And who knew that being turned down by a Tennessee pressing plant would begin a great partnership

RCA people told me many years later that, because of the records we did, they realized that “live” concerts and unreleased outtakes and rehearsals were what the Elvis fans wanted to hear and this is why they began to release material like ours. The ELVIS ARON PRESLEY eight LP box set issued in 1980 was a perfect example of something that probably would not have come out if Paul and Sam hadn’t pioneered the new outtakes world. Of course it’s impossible to say this 100% but all signs point to it.

This is the end of MY story for now. But it was the beginning of my collaboration with SAM THEAKER and together we put out 20 + bootleg LP's which have become very famous in our Elvis world.

We continued as partners (with the MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET LP being our last bootleg) until the early 1980's when Sam decided to move back to Philadelphia from Glendale, Ca to try and reconcile with his wife Vicky (the REAL VIC COLONNA as "Colonna" was her maiden name!).

I will miss Sam terribly. I just can't believe he is no longer with us. All of us will miss him and especially his son Patrick and his daughter Lisa as he adored both of them.

The title of one of our LP's says it all - THE LEGEND LIVES ON!!!

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Post by keninlincs »

Thanks Paul,sorry for the loss of your friend.RIP Sam.


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R.I.P Sam




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Post by Juan Luis »

Sorry for your loss Paul. Much of what you wrote rung a bell in our decades long friendship. You always smiled and or laughed when you spoke to me about your adventures with Sam.




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Juan Luis on Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:49 pm wrote:Sorry for your loss Paul. Much of what you wrote rung a bell in our decades long friendship. You always smiled and or laughed when you spoke to me about your adventures with Sam.
Yes Juanie it was very sad to hear about this today. And to think we just talked about a week ago. This will take some time to digest as I had known Sam for 42 years and even though I had been selling Elvis for a living for 2 years before we met things didn't really take off until we became partners! It's incredible how time fast but still HIS LEGEND LIVES ON!!




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Post by Deleted User 1099 »

Thank you for sharing that wonderful story, Paul. Absolutely first class stuff. I knew Sam for well over a decade. He sent me his manuscript many moons ago, and I helped him in his attempt to get it published. Unfortunately, that was never to be. Shame, because he weaved a good and entertaining tale.

Requiescat in pace, Sam.




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Ken Jensen on Sat Mar 24, 2018 10:55 am wrote:Thank you for sharing that wonderful story, Paul. Absolutely first class stuff. I knew Sam for well over a decade. He sent me his manuscript many moons ago, and I helped him in his attempt to get it published. Unfortunately, that was never to be. Shame, because he weaved a good and entertaining tale.

Requiescat in pace, Sam.
Thanks Ken. I still can't believe it. I thought Sam would be with us forever. But we had some great fun times and since you've read the book you know more than others. Thanks for trying to get it published. I'm sure someone will do so one of these days. THE LEGEND LIVES ON!!




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Post by Deleted User 1099 »

wwelvis on Sat Mar 24, 2018 6:44 pm wrote:
Ken Jensen on Sat Mar 24, 2018 10:55 am wrote:Thank you for sharing that wonderful story, Paul. Absolutely first class stuff. I knew Sam for well over a decade. He sent me his manuscript many moons ago, and I helped him in his attempt to get it published. Unfortunately, that was never to be. Shame, because he weaved a good and entertaining tale.

Requiescat in pace, Sam.
Thanks Ken. I still can't believe it. I thought Sam would be with us forever. But we had some great fun times and since you've read the book you know more than others. Thanks for trying to get it published. I'm sure someone will do so one of these days. THE LEGEND LIVES ON!!
I sent the manuscript to two of my contacts. One wasn’t interested at all, whereas the other one found the manuscript highly interesting, but he felt that it would be a conflict of interest to publish a book on bootlegs on his label, which is perfectly understandable. I then recommended Sam to self-publish, but he didn’t want to.



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Post by karlos »

Thanks so much Paul for your fitting tribute to a great person / fan / collector named Vic Colonna aka Sam Theaker
We have lost a great person who opened the doors in our lives with great items entitled rarities of Elvis in vinyl that surfaced
I will say a prayer and send heartfelt condolences to his family at this sad period felt by many including myself of his untimely passing
He is now with his maker and Elvis by his side standing steadfast and loyal as most who have gone before him
R.I.P. Vic Colonna aka Sam Theaker
We will always remember you
You're always in our heart and minds forever

Thanks so much for the great memories you bestowed upon us all as we grew up listening to the King of Rock n Roll Elvis Aron Presley :smt006




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karlos on Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:25 pm wrote:Thanks so much Paul for your fitting tribute to a great person / fan / collector named Vic Colonna aka Sam Theaker
We have lost a great person who opened the doors in our lives with great items entitled rarities of Elvis in vinyl that surfaced
I will say a prayer and send heartfelt condolences to his family at this sad period felt by many including myself of his untimely passing
He is now with his maker and Elvis by his side standing steadfast and loyal as most who have gone before him
R.I.P. Vic Colonna aka Sam Theaker
We will always remember you
You're always in our heart and minds forever

Thanks so much for the great memories you bestowed upon us all as we grew up listening to the King of Rock n Roll Elvis Aron Presley :smt006
My pleasure! I didn't really want to say that much about myself because the subject is really Sam but I thought people would like to know the beginnings and how our friendship and partnership started and I'm glad you liked it.

Sam was one of a kind. We both loved making this material available to fans and I'm so glad people appreciated it!

As I said....THE LEGEND LIVES ON!!! Sam and Vic will never truly be gone!!




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I keep forgetting to put this picture up. I'm sure a lot of you have seen it before but just in case I think it's very interesting!

As you can see by this black & white picture Elton John must have been a VIC fan too as you can see the NEW YEARS EVE boot in his collection.

That reminds me that we had some famous people ordering our boots from us!! Sammy Davis Jr, Eddie Murphy (these two had friends order from them but we did find out that it was for these famous people!); John WIlkinson; Alan Fortas; Felton Jarvis (he personally called me and would order!), Anita Bryant and others that I can't think of now.
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Post by karlos »

Yvw Paul
Our friend Vic Colanna will always be remembered by us all I'm sure
Many thanks for the pics that you have inserted I love them all
Have a great week and keep safe
Taking Care Of Elvis Forever :smt006



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Post by L Ray »

Vic used to come to the Fan club conventions in the SF Bay area so I used to talk to him back in the 70's. He told me about the New Year's Eve LP before it came out. I think I bought all of his boots. Some I still and many have gone on to be sold on Ebay.



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Post by Delboy »

Thank you Paul for sharing your thoughts. That was a great tribute to your friend and your history. R.I.P. Sam.




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Delboy on Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:16 pm wrote:Thank you Paul for sharing your thoughts. That was a great tribute to your friend and your history. R.I.P. Sam.
Glad you liked it. Still can't believe he's not here to talk to! Damnit!!



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Post by Barbie »

A great tribute to your good friend Paul.........lots of great memories, I still have all my great vinyl Elvis bootlegs.............my condolences to you and to his family.......think of the good times...........R.I.P. Sam.......................



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Post by elvislady1964 »

Thanks, for sharing these wonderful memories, What an amazing time this must have been for you...R.I.P. Sam.


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