Did Elvis ever meet Paul Lichter?

The notorious Paul Lichter claims that he's met Elvis. But until today -there is NO proof. What do you think??

Yes, they met.

Yes, there are supposedly pics, but who knows if they are real pics. As with anything pertaining to Lichter ............... it's hard to separate the truth from fiction (ie: lies).

Yes, Lichter has had some genuine items from Elvis ............. but he has had equally, if not more, bogus items as well.

Lichter has ripped off lots & lots of fans, dating back to the 70's. He continues that tradition to this day ........... he committed FRAUD in the 1997 Bonhams Auction - proven fraud - by selling personal Elvis items that were reproductions.

Given Lichter's reputation, anything from him is tainted. If anybody is so inclined as to visit his website, be sure to take a look at all of the bogus Elvis autographs he has up for sale. ALL, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, ARE FAKE. After you look at his memorabilia prices, you will also have a good laugh.

Let the word go out to a new generation of Elvis fans.

N8
...just a fan....

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Last edited by vinyljunkie on Thu Jan 22, 2004 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

in the book "The boy who dared to rock". This discography in the back is full of sh*t (home made labels) and he even manage to label some releases to issued in the wrong country.

I'm not enough of a collector to know of any mistakes in discography in "The Boy Who Dared To Rock," but I must say I was very glad to have that book when it came out. I'm sure there were other discographies out there for big time collectors, but that was the first one I had ever seen, as the book was widely available.

Getting my first look at a decent sessionography was a real revelation, and I referred to that book many many times, using it to compile my own Elvis collections and so forth. Only once A Life In Music came out was it obsolote for me.

I still enjoy seeing the many reproductions of record labels, jackets, sleeves, especially the bootlegs. It's just too bad they're in b&w only.

I'm not saying Litchter isn't a fraud, he well may be, and he's obviously not a good writer; his book copy is almost unreadable. But I do give him credit for publishing what is, unless I'm mistaken, the first mass-published elvis sessionography and a nice reasonably complete (at the time) discography. I personally got a lot out of it as a fan.

BIA[/quote]

Actually, Ernst Jorgensen published a great sessionography back in 73'. He was THE ONE who actually went to RCA(Felton Jarvis, I think) to get session data. Paul Lichter probably got his information from Ernst's publication.

I was also impressed with "The Boy Who Dared To Rock - The Definitive" - it was one of my favorites as a young fan.

As usual, with Lichter, ...... things are not as they appear.

Lichter based his work on that of others - heavily. In fact, the word, "plagiarism" springs to mind.


N8
...just a fan....

Talking of 'The Boy Who Dared To Rock' what's all that ........lead in to a study in hair stuff on the bit about P.L. at the back........anyone else find that hilarious.

Well you are talking about Postal Workers there UF...LOL


Sorry to any Postal Workers out there reading this.

p.p., being a big fan of Ernst's work, I am now aware that he published the first sessionographies, so groundbreaking that people at RCA started referring to his work (a sad indication of how poorly things were run there, surprise surprise.)

How widely available was Ernst's 1973 session list? Was it in commonly found in book stores, or was this something you would find only in collectors magazines and at Elvis/record shows? I was only 7 at the time, and though already an avid fan, I wouldn't have known about it even if it was in stores.

I agree it's obvious Lichter copied others' work to put his together. But in a way I'm grateful he did it because I personally never even knew of the existence of any others until many years later.

And obviously having it be in a book with many photographs was what made it a commercial release. In fact, Lichter's use of photos was probably his shrewdest move as a publisher; I also recall as a youngster being fascinated by getting to see all of Elvis' movie posters together in Elvis In Hollywood. I had never seen a complete song list for each title before either, which the book included. Again, terrible writting by Lichter in this book, but it was a useful book to a young fan at the time.

It sounds like many have legitimate gripes with Paul, but I did enjoy these books immensely in my youth.

If Lichter had actually met Elvis, one would think that he would've had the picture(s) posted on his site, and in his books. If I had met Elvis, I would CERTAINLY have it posted on my site.

I do like the photos in Lichter's books. I will give him credit for that.
In one of his books, there were some photos from Elvis' 1971 concert in Cleveland, Ohio (at Public Hall) that I hadn't seen before. (Too bad the photos were not in color).

Tom (from Ohio)

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Last edited by vinyljunkie on Thu Jan 22, 2004 3:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.

the boy who dared to rock was also the first discography i ever had that and the jerry osbourne magazine the complete elvis got me hooked on collecting. i don't think lichter is a bad guy i think he lives in a world of his own, not to be confused with a world of our own from it happened at the world's fair, hee hee

I agree with BIA on this. Whatever Lichter may be, I did very much enjoy The Boy Who Dared To Rock. I also enjoyed W.A. Harbison's the illustrated Elvis. I got (and still have) the earlier edition from when Elvis was still alive.
To this day I have never seen Ernst's Elvis Recording Sessions book. If memory serves, he wrote this with two other Scandinavian guys, I think their last names were Rasmussen and Mikkelson? How does this book compare to A Life In Music?
The first, and for a long time only, serious sessions book widely available was Roy Carr and Mick Farren's (I still have this terrific book, but I can't recall the title - is it Elvis: The Illustrated Record?).

..........i don't think lichter is a bad guy i think he lives in a world of his own, .........

One of the most ignorant statements I have ever read on this MB.


N8
...just a fan....

Getting my first look at a decent sessionography was a real revelation, and I referred to that book many many times, using it to compile my own Elvis collections and so forth. Only once A Life In Music came out was it obsolote for me.

Brian -

Ernst published "Elvis Recording Sessions" in 1977. Paul Lichter completely stole its contents and research for 1979's "The Boy Who Dared To Rock." It was beyond egregious.

A 1984 Dutch edition of "Elvis Recording Sessions" by Ernst -- issued in the US in 1985 -- improved on the previous version and was the standard bearer for session research until Tunzi's "Sessions" in 1993/1996 and 1998's "A Life In Music" from Ernst.

Hope this helps.

dr john do you mean 1997 and 1999 ??

No, I do not. The publication dates I cite are correct.

Have a good day.

Ernst's first sessions book was available through collectors channels at the time. Not particularly Elvis collectors channels but Record Collecting channels. I bought them, when they came out, when I found them.

I really don't remember exactly when was the earliest, and although I THINK I have TWO editions (slim softcover) plus the US Popular Culture Ink hardcover (which was a different company name first, Pierian Press, which is probably the one I have), they are buried in boxes I have not unsealed since I moved in 1987.

The Pierian Press edition, circa 1985, is still listed on Amazon as a used item at an incredible price ($77.00+). That company also had an early website, but I can't find it in Google now.

I wonder what the original softcover versions are worth?

"A Life In Music" draws HEAVILY on Ernst's earlier books.

[I also see that Amazon, at this moment, has Day By Day for "Bargain Price" $12.99, which someone mentioned seeing in a Books-A-Million store on some other message a few days ago]

Ernst's first book, at least the earliest one I have, was published well before Elvis died and did not include the 76 recordings. It did include photos of the 1957 two-track tape box. (This is from my memory.) And the constant misunderstanding about the word "binaural" as used for those TWO-TRACK recordings began there (which has irritated me for some TWENTY EIGHT YEARS now).

When Lichter's book came out anyone who had Ernst's book could see the sessionography was a complete steal from Ernst. But also, it was basic info which RCA obviously would provide. But Lichter clearly copied Ernst.

Not to reduce the impact of Ernst's EARLY work, but RCA did indeed have the basic MASTER information intact--master number/title/date--that's THEIR BUSINESS--which is what Ernst printed, with his analysis and interesting investigations and GUESSES.

I damn near memorized Ernst's book - BEFORE Elvis died.

Discographies of that type, more or less, were very common at the time for many "cult" type artists. I have a few others for other artists. All pretty much self-published by the respective fanatics of the particular artist. Ernst was the first to do it for Elvis, and everyone following has copied him.