U.S.S. Arizona Memorial Benefit Show --> Golden Anniversary!

[drjohncarpenter]

Great topic. Just imagine if Elvis had taken this dynamic show on the road....

It would have been incredible.

[JamesVRoy]

It's also cool to note a stage right rear view of the seated audience, a sold-out crowd of about 5,500 people.

that looks like a stage but its actually just the floor with no seats on it.

The photo is definitely a stage right, rear view of the seated audience:



A = seated audience, main section, facing towards the stage
B = stage

"Stage right" is parlance for the performer's view (their right).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_(theatre)#Stage_terminology

Ok then I don't really understand what it is you're pointing out relative to a right rear view. What is significant here about the right rear as opposed to any other view visible in the photo?

[drjohncarpenter]

Ok then I don't really understand what it is you're pointing out relative to a right rear view. What is significant here about the right rear as opposed to any other view visible in the photo?

It's cool to see a clear view of the March 1961 audience and arena, after more than 30 years of digging this amazing performance.

It also means there must be many more images from this spectacular evening that remain buried.

[JamesVRoy]

Ok then I don't really understand what it is you're pointing out relative to a right rear view. What is significant here about the right rear as opposed to any other view visible in the photo?

It's cool to see a clear view of the March 1961 audience and arena, after more than 30 years of digging this amazing performance.

It also means there must be many more images from this spectacular evening that remain buried.

Ah, yes. Great pix definitely. Who know what else is out there. I saw them on Elvis.com last week in the first current thread. I too wish they were a little bigger, it gives a better scope of the layout of the arena. Its allways surprised me though that they didn't actually pursue a larger venue like the Honolulu stadium which probably would've afforded the opportunity for a bigger gate.

[Mike C]

Ok then I don't really understand what it is you're pointing out relative to a right rear view. What is significant here about the right rear as opposed to any other view visible in the photo?

It's cool to see a clear view of the March 1961 audience and arena, after more than 30 years of digging this amazing performance.

It also means there must be many more images from this spectacular evening that remain buried.

Ah, yes. Great pix definitely. Who know what else is out there. I saw them on Elvis.com last week in the first current thread. I too wish they were a little bigger, it gives a better scope of the layout of the arena. Its allways surprised me though that they didn't actually pursue a larger venue like the Honolulu stadium which probably would've afforded the opportunity for a bigger gate.

Maybe the stadium's owners wouldn't donate their faciity for free like the Nvay did with the Bloch Arena.

[JamesVRoy]

Ok then I don't really understand what it is you're pointing out relative to a right rear view. What is significant here about the right rear as opposed to any other view visible in the photo?

It's cool to see a clear view of the March 1961 audience and arena, after more than 30 years of digging this amazing performance.

It also means there must be many more images from this spectacular evening that remain buried.

Ah, yes. Great pix definitely. Who know what else is out there. I saw them on Elvis.com last week in the first current thread. I too wish they were a little bigger, it gives a better scope of the layout of the arena. Its allways surprised me though that they didn't actually pursue a larger venue like the Honolulu stadium which probably would've afforded the opportunity for a bigger gate.

Maybe the stadium's owners wouldn't donate their faciity for free like the Nvay did with the Bloch Arena.

Possibly, but there was still $10k of expenses they had to come up with so I don't know what was free and what wasn't. RCA is the one that wound up picking up most of the tab. It was definitely a win / win for most except RCA who should've been at least able to get a live album out of it.

[davide]

I posted this before here : http://www.elvis-collectors.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=46905&hilit

But Is the letter below thought to be genuine?






Davide

[drjohncarpenter]

I'm no expert, but why would he send a set list that also mentioned the introductions?

Also, the crossed-out song just seems a little too perfectly placed.

[ekenee]

Note also, where "doin the best I can" is written, there is already enough room to write in the replacement song, and that
its known that the former song was used in Memphis.

[paulsweeney]

Great post Doc, thanks

[monkboughtlunch]

Cool, Doc, didn't notice the overhead mic on first glance. Does anyone know how to contact Tom Moffatt?

Moffatt may still be in Hawaii, still doing radio and promotions, who knows?

You can see Bob Moore's bass is also mic'd up, and the mic the Jordanaires used. There was some effort to get a good sound mix for the audience, and maybe for recording purposes as well. The tape we have does not seem to be a "recorder pointed at the PA speaker" source.

Does anyone have definitive answers as to how this show was actually recorded?

Who recorded it?

Was an inline recording made from a soundboard? Or only a mic pointed at a PA speaker? Who has the master source tape/s now? What generation tape did RCA use on the EAP 1980 box?

Why doesn't FTD reissue this (giving us a welcome respite from 1976 concerts)?

This performance demands a reissue in the best sound possible. Has Jorgensen commented on the absence of this performance in the commercial marketplace while Dragon Heart remains in print?

[drjohncarpenter]

Good questions, some of which have been posed in this thread.

I'll try to see if I can get any more info on the existing materials.

[Good Time Charlie]

Why doesn't FTD reissue this (giving us a welcome respite from 1976 concerts)?

Give them time. They can't release all the goodies at once. It gives us a lot to still look forward to. Elvis collecting would be no fun if we had it all by now.

[Delboy]

http://www.sify.com/finance/elvis-presley-s-1961-benefit-concert-remembered-news-hollywood-ld2dEcbdfdb.html

[drjohncarpenter]

http://www.sify.com/finance/elvis-presley-s-1961-benefit-concert-remembered-news-hollywood-ld2dEcbdfdb.html

Neat article and charity idea. It was first published by the Associated Press:

Elvis Presley's 1961 benefit concert remembered
By JAYMES SONG, Associated Press, March 24, 2011 - 6:01 PM EDT
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ELVIS_PEARL_HARBOR

[drjohncarpenter]

For what it's worth, I have put out two different "feelers" to see if I can dig out more information on this performance and the recording of it.

[Good Time Charlie]

For what it's worth, I have put out two different "feelers" to see if I can dig out more information on this performance and the recording of it.

Great to hear. Do you think the main reason Ernst has held of from releasing this so far is in the hope a better source can be found? Especially considering Joan Deary was once offered the original tape or something.

[drjohncarpenter]

Do you think the main reason Ernst has held of from releasing this so far is in the hope a better source can be found? Especially considering Joan Deary was once offered the original tape or something.

Maybe -- that is one thing I am hoping to find out!

Meanwhile, according to Jerry Hopkins, the show was set to be televised by NBC-TV, but the plan fell through by January 1961.




Jerry Hopkins, Elvis In Hawaii (Honolulu: Bess Press, 2002)


Just think, in addition to NBC-TV Special (1968), we could have had NBC-TV Special (1961).

Here's a nice shot from the press conference, also from Hopkins' book:




Elvis, Carousel Room, Post-Press Conference, Saturday, March 25, 1961

[rickeap]

Great photos DavidE and thanks for the One Night link Doc. Tremendous!
I love the artwork on the old bootleg too

[monkboughtlunch]

For what it's worth, I have put out two different "feelers" to see if I can dig out more information on this performance and the recording of it.

Thanks! Looking forward to background on this important recording and when folks might be able to expect an upgrade from FTD.

[rickeap]

And why wasn't this event properly captured, at least on audio, in a professional way?/

[midnightx]

And why wasn't this event properly captured, at least on audio, in a professional way?/

Money? No way Parker was going to finance it himself. This wasn't the era of "live" albums being a common practice, so it is doubtful RCA would have shown any interest. Once the TV deal fell through, any hopes of professionally capturing this stellar show vanished.

[drjohncarpenter]

And to think, this is what we missed:

Glowing praise came from Peter Guralnick in his biography Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. "Even with the very poorest home recorder-quality sound, you have only to listen to the tape of the performance that has survived to sense the energy that was coming off the stage, to get a whiff of the ferocity of feeling that the music unleashed ... here is a sheer joyousness, a guttural exuberance of expression that refuses to be denied.

"By now the band had been playing together off and on for just over four weeks and Elvis eggs them on with an enthusiasm not just for what they are able to do, but for what they permit hims to do. Again and again he urges guitarist Hank Garland to solo, indicating his appreciation with grunts and exclamations that have nothing to do with the audience. The music crests and surges with an impulse all its own, and Elvis calls for Hank to solo again, he demands another sax solo from Boots, he forgets the words, even loses the structure of the song, but embraces the moment with pure, uninhibited feeling. To Boots it was 'one of the highlights' of his life, and to Jordanaire Gordon Stoker, who had worked with Elvis steadily since 1956, there was a spontaneity to his performance that most closely resembled a man being let out of jail."

Gordon Stoker recalled that at one point Elvis feel to his knees and slid twenty feet to the front of the stage with the microphone in his hands, never missing a note. "We thought he was going right off the edge," he said. "Ray Walker was so surprised, he didn't come in harmonically where he was supposed to. He just stood there with his mouth open, and nothing was coming out."

Jerry Hopkins, Elvis In Hawaii (Honolulu: Bess Press, 2002)

[monkboughtlunch]

For what it's worth, I have put out two different "feelers" to see if I can dig out more information on this performance and the recording of it.

Did you get any feedback?

[drjohncarpenter]

For what it's worth, I have put out two different "feelers" to see if I can dig out more information on this performance and the recording of it.

Did you get any feedback?

Not yet.