On one of the pages of the site I wrote about Elvis' 68 J200 and him breaking a string and throwing it during a show in Springfiled, MA in 1975. I received a couple of emails from another fan in attendance in Springfield that evening that offered another "interesting" recollection of the event and I quoted it here and added it to the page. http://scottymoore.net/ep68J200.html
Hi James,
In regards to the Springfield Civic Center incident regarding Elvis Presley’s guitar throwing episode that I just saw on your web site, I was sitting in row A directly in front of the woman who got the guitar. I went to the show with my friend Peter Robare and his wife. I was a poor student at U-Mass Amherst then!!!
I can tell you that Elvis was not upset over a broken string. A man about 6 rows over from us was heckling Elvis all night. He said something very very obnoxious that finally set Elvis off. I usually do not quote obnoxious stuff, but I want to set the record straight. The man after screaming at Elvis finally yelled, “Elvis, my wife would have been here to go to the concert but she had to take a sh** instead”.
Elvis then turned around and whipped the guitar at him. The guitar hit the metal bar and bounced over my head (I was in Row A and the bar was right in front of me). It was then grabbed by the 2 people sitting right behind me. The neck was cracked, but looked repairable. The scowl that Elvis gave to the guy who was heckling him was something I will never forget!! I can tell you that Elvis really threw that guitar hard because it literally bounced over my head.
The guy who was heckling Elvis was really really obnoxious. You could see Elvis scowl at him after he through the guitar. I thought he was going to come into the stands and hit him. You just don’t forget things like that!!!
Elvis then said, “ I hope nobody was hurt”. This is the true story. I don’t have my ticket stub. I don’t know if Peter still has his. We never thought to keep those things. I’m sure Peter could collaborate the entire story. Like I say I was sitting on the rail and the guitar hit the rail and bounced over my head. The woman who got the guitar was directly behind me. Also those seats were awesome, not as bad as reported. Great views of Elvis (you were looking down on him) and they had speakers back there so you could hear the sound. We thought it was cool.
The weirdest thing about the show were these women who would run up to the stage and kiss Elvis to get a scarf. They even had a guy on stage following elvis around replacing the scarfs. Here we are music fans of Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Alllman Brothers and we got a bit taken aback by the women rushing the stage. We never saw that at other concerts!!! Little did I know that Ron Tutt, Elvis’s drummer would be Jerry Garcia’s drummer in his band.
PS – I also got to shake the hand of Eddie Shore, the Edmonton Express who was checking ID’s that night at the bar and who owned the Springfield Indians Hockey Team. He is an NHL Hall of Famer
Michael J. Schwartz
Regional Sales Manager
epsi
WOW way to go Elvis - it's a good job Elvis didn't get his hands that guy - he'd have whipped his butt. GREAT story and I don't know how I missed that page on your site.
I saw Elvis live in concert the year before he died. Even then, he was bigger than life, and had amazing charisma. Haven't seen anything like it since, ....until Adam.........Nocturnal 2010 No matter how old you are, no matter who you sleep with, no matter what color your skin is, we can all party together.” - Adam Lambert 2010
When (and why) did Charlie begin following Elvis onstage handing him his scarves??
"If the songs don't go over, we can do a medley of costumes!" - Elvis Presley (August 10, 1970 backstage in his dressing room before the first show of the August, 10, 1970/September 8, 1970 season in Vegas).
When (and why) did Charlie begin following Elvis onstage handing him his scarves??
Just a guess, but that's about all he could do? Honestly though, I don't know. I'm not much of a fan of that era or even the non musical/instrument aspects of the whole thing. Its a very large culture and there are fans of varied and all aspects of it Aside from a few things my interests are limited to the things I write/wrote about on the site. Someone here though probably could answer that.
When (and why) did Charlie begin following Elvis on stage handing him his scarves??
well, Elvis 'really' started giving the scarfs away during 1972(he gave a few away during '71 but only about 4 a show i have read) and i think Charlie started following him around the stage in about late 1973.
JamesVRoy wrote:On one of the pages of the site I wrote about Elvis' 68 J200 and him breaking a string and throwing it during a show in Springfield, MA in 1975.
One assumes this is the July 15, 1975 performance -- did he take any photographs? The ones on the page are pretty cool.
Great story -- and very believable. Elvis was quite volatile in July -- IIRC, he almost accidentally killed Dr. Nick.
. Dr. John Carpenter, M.D. Stop, look and listen, baby <<--->> that's my philosophy!
I think that's a bit harsh. Charile soemtimes sang great harmony with Elvis - listen to Don't Cry Daddy from 69, or watch them together doing I Just Can't Help Believing in the TTWII rehearsals.
Great story though - definitely believable at this time.
When (and why) did Charlie begin following Elvis on stage handing him his scarves??
well, Elvis 'really' started giving the scarfs away during 1972(he gave a few away during '71 but only about 4 a show i have read) and i think Charlie started following him around the stage in about late 1973.
Ben,
That doesn't answer me question. I had a feeling that Elvis began giving scarves out around that time frame but it has always befuddled me as to why Charlie began following Elvis around on stage handing his scarves to him.
"If the songs don't go over, we can do a medley of costumes!" - Elvis Presley (August 10, 1970 backstage in his dressing room before the first show of the August, 10, 1970/September 8, 1970 season in Vegas).
JamesVRoy wrote:On one of the pages of the site I wrote about Elvis' 68 J200 and him breaking a string and throwing it during a show in Springfield, MA in 1975.
One assumes this is the July 15, 1975 performance -- did he take any photographs? The ones on the page are pretty cool.
Great story -- and very believable. Elvis was quite volatile in July -- IIRC, he almost accidentally killed Dr. Nick.
That's not an assumption, that was the July 15th show. The guy that caught the guitar is the one that took the photo of it in the air. I beleive he said he has his stubs still. As for Mike, I can't say his version is true only that that's his version. I asked if he still had the stubs and he didn't. He asked for pix though and I found a couple from Brian on the Elvis concerts site and that seems to match the clothing in the one the other guy took. Their local paper wrote up the event a couple of times and gave me the pic (for a samll fee) they took of the couple with the guitar.
Also, that page has been up for a couple of years, I only added Mike's story today (and the cropped photo from Brian)
Last edited by JamesVRoy on Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
I think that's a bit harsh. Charile soemtimes sang great harmony with Elvis - listen to Don't Cry Daddy from 69, or watch them together doing I Just Can't Help Believing in the TTWII rehearsals.
Great story though - definitely believable at this time.
I have nothing against Charlie. I've heard plenty though but that's between those that knew him and him and not for me to relay. Personnaly though I don't feel he brought anything to the table.
Little Darlin wrote:WOW way to go Elvis - it's a good job Elvis didn't get his hands that guy - he'd have whipped his butt. GREAT story and I don't know how I missed that page on your site.
I don't know either, but possibly because that page is part of a section which is sort of a subsection of the guitar section since the instruments in it weren't used by Elvis when Scotty was with him. I added that a few years ago because it was something that interested me and there was a lot of misinfo about them out there.
the parent section for it is http://scottymoore.net/epguitars.html (be sure to scroll)
Little Darlin wrote:WOW way to go Elvis - it's a good job Elvis didn't get his hands that guy - he'd have whipped his butt. GREAT story and I don't know how I missed that page on your site.
I don't know either, but possibly because that page is part of a section which is sort of a subsection of the guitar section since the instruments in it weren't used by Elvis when Scotty was with him. I added that a few years ago because it was something that interested me and there was a lot of misinfo about them out there.
the parent section for it is http://scottymoore.net/epguitars.html (be sure to scroll)
That's why I missed it then. I have a keen interest in Guitars as my Son plays one and has several but when I grow up I want one of these little babies
Not to play it -- just to have it on display in my Dining Room -- I think it's a work of Art.
I saw Elvis live in concert the year before he died. Even then, he was bigger than life, and had amazing charisma. Haven't seen anything like it since, ....until Adam.........Nocturnal 2010 No matter how old you are, no matter who you sleep with, no matter what color your skin is, we can all party together.” - Adam Lambert 2010
JamesVRoy wrote:I have nothing against Charlie. I've heard plenty though but that's between those that knew him and him and not for me to relay. Personnaly though I don't feel he brought anything to the table.
There were a lot of those who brought nothing to the table. I don't think Charlie was one of them. He was there for Elvis while he was in the service. Elvis needed a friend to talk to and Charlie provided that. Elvis never forgot it. He also worked his ass off for Elvis on stage many a night. Could he have done without him? Yes. Did he want to? Obviously not. Charlie was Elvis' friend when the stage lights were turned off as well. He had his faults like everyone else, but he was loyal to his boss until the end. Luckily, I was afforded the opportunity to talk with Charlie about a year before he died. I shook his hand and thanked him for his loyalty. I looked him in the eye and told him that I appreciated the fact that he has remained loyal and has never uttered a negative word about Elvis. He looked at me and said, "Why would I? He was my friend." That is a hell of a lot more than many others could say.
Charlie Hodge was one of the good ones and deserves much better than he often gets here.
Interesting story, I'm a little surprised anyone would go to one of Elvis' concerts in the 70's where they would end up heckling him, but it has happen for sure just like the "I Hate You Elvis" comment made in Vegas in 74'.
I'm sure that guy was just trying to be funny, at the same time I'm sure the guy in the audience didn't expect the response he got from Elvis which was F@@k You.
Rob wrote:He had his faults like everyone else, but he was loyal to his boss until the endand after he was gone from what i have heard.
I looked him in the eye and told him that I appreciated the fact that he has remained loyal and has never uttered a negative word about Elvis. He looked at me and said, "Why would I? He was my friend."
them two quotes are great Rob, i don't like many of the MM's but i have never read a bad word about Charlie that i can believe, some of them(Joe, Marty and a couple others were money grabbers IMO) but there was a couple(Charlie, Red, Sonny) that were with him and helping him 'cos he was there friend not for what they could get off him.
It's amazing that after all these years, a fresh and controversial story emerges.
Let's say this happened a few days later, in New York. The Daily News headline might have blared, "Angry Elvis Hurls Guitar at Fans." He's lucky to have gotten away with it in an out-of-the-way place like Springfield.
"Don't tell me to play it. I will when I get ready. Do you understand me?"
Little Darlin wrote:
That's why I missed it then. I have a keen interest in Guitars as my Son plays one and has several but when I grow up I want one of these little babies
Not to play it -- just to have it on display in my Dining Room -- I think it's a work of Art.
Carol,
I actually have looked for one of those guitars for a long time, myself, to go with my reissue paisley telecaster. The only two things I dislike 'bout it is the extremely large headstock....and the color scheme is incorrect. The reissue paisley teles and strats look nothing like their original ancestors. I saw an original '68 paisley tele going on Ebay for nearly $20,000.00 US dollars the other day. It's been my dream to own one but being on a fixed income and disability, I'll most likely never own one in this lifetime, sadly....unless someone is extremely generous.
Here are pics of my paisley tele both before & during & after a Parsons White/SteelBender B/G StringBender Installation:
"If the songs don't go over, we can do a medley of costumes!" - Elvis Presley (August 10, 1970 backstage in his dressing room before the first show of the August, 10, 1970/September 8, 1970 season in Vegas).
PEP wrote:Interesting story, I'm a little surprised anyone would go to one of Elvis' concerts in the 70's where they would end up heckling him, but it has happen for sure just like the "I Hate You Elvis" comment made in Vegas in 74'. I'm sure that guy was just trying to be funny, at the same time I'm sure the guy in the audience didn't expect the response he got from Elvis which was F@@k You.
Alcohol tends to raise the level of obnoxiousness in some.
elvisjock wrote:It's amazing that after all these years, a fresh and controversial story emerges.
Let's say this happened a few days later, in New York. The Daily News headline might have blared, "Angry Elvis Hurls Guitar at Fans." He's lucky to have gotten away with it in an out-of-the-way place like Springfield.
I think people from New York would have loved the fact that he didn't any crap from that idiot!
Last edited by Joe Car on Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
