The Elvis I Knew - Charlie Hodge

Anyone here who knows where to find this video, it was first released on VHS in 1994, and later supposedly also on DVD. Featured are also George Klein, J.D. Sumner, Gordon Stoker, with 250 still photos, live film footage etc.

Is it any good ?

Recently bought the DVD from his widow off ebay......she was niced enough to autograph it, without asking.

I don't remember this being on DVD. Yes, it's quite good and features little snippets of rare concert footage.

I bought it from him in Gatlinburg at a show. He was rude to deal with. But I enjoyed the video. Here is the link to eBay;
http://cgi.ebay.com/ELVIS-KNEW-DVD-CHAR ... 727wt_1398

Anyone here who knows where to find this video, it was first released on VHS in 1994, and later supposedly also on DVD. Featured are also George Klein, J.D. Sumner, Gordon Stoker, with 250 still photos, live film footage etc.

Is it any good ?

http://www.ueps.be/Webshop2.php?Srt=26& ... BNr=&Tc=NL

Is this the one filmed by the stream?

I had this on VHS and all that running water, I had to go to the toilet 6 times while watchingit.

Apparently elvis died of bone cancer. Charlie TCBing away there.

Affectionate fluff.

Geoff

Thanks everybody, I've gone with that eBay dvd/book combo deal...

Charlie's stories are a little too positive for my taste and his fabrication of Elvis having cancer is downright silly. But I believe he was one of the few real friends Elvis had and I also believe that Charlie really cared about him. It seems, that he was trying to protect the image of his friend and tried to make him look better than he actually was.

On the DVD Charlie gives the impression of being a nice guy and the disc also features some very interesting 8mm footage. If you don't take everything Charlie says serious, it's a nice production and certainly worth having.

Elvis Australia has the DVD but it's in PAL
only:

http://shop.elvis.com.au/prod681.htm

The video is pretty good, in my opinion. Glad I picked that up many years ago. The book? It's nothing special. Hard to explain the format, but it's a little unusual.

I have it and enjoyed it for some of the stories. I found the whole thing a little too "scripted" though...

I bought it from him in Gatlinburg at a show. He was rude to deal with. But I enjoyed the video. Here is the link to eBay;
http://cgi.ebay.com/ELVIS-KNEW-DVD-CHAR ... 727wt_1398

HE WAS TRULY AN friend IN PERSON , and if you challenged his stories/memory he was even worse. I remember at the AKWAYS ELVIS convention he had a boothe set up with him selling his photo and autograph for 10.00 , needless to say he was lonley. I would imagine there wasn't much demand for a scarf guy/general flunky.

On the other side of the coin was a show in 1994 in Memphis called "Good Rockin' Tonight V." Charlie appeared with Terry Mike Jeffrey, Jordanaires, D.J. Fontana, and some others. Afterwards, several of the guests had booths set up where they signed autographs and had pics taken. Charlie's was by far the most active. The fans were flooded around him. So, at least on that night, there was a huge demand for him.

Is this the one filmed by the stream?

I had this on VHS and all that running water, I had to go to the toilet 6 times while watchingit.

Apparently elvis died of bone cancer. Charlie TCBing away there.

Affectionate fluff.

Geoff

Yeah i had this (probably still in the Attic) on video back in the day, it was always quite hard to obtain here in the UK and i think it may well have only been NTSC too which didnt help!
It was the one with charlie by the stream, i didnt really like it and think i only watched it once !
not something id chase down in 2011 !

I do think charlie served a great purpose for elvis during the trip to germany & in germany itself
and i presume because off this, elvis never forgot his loyalty and attempts to keep elvis UP during his time of grief for his mother !

However, why he ever ended up on stage in 69 is beyond me, well for the water & scarfs i guess !

but i wish he didnt have his own MIC !!! i do think elvis probably leaned on charlie in his insecure times & probably sought his musical advice to some degree thinking he was one of the more musical of the MM -
though i dare say, he'd have been far better off using RED West as his musical muse !

but elvis wanted him there & clearly kept him there until the very end so i guess we should respect that to some degree !

but i dont really like charlie, far prefer the wests for starters !
charlie likes to claim he was key to orgainising the set-list(s) and 'taking care' off ALOHA etc -
thats where he starts to get annoying !

what i didnt like about his video - aside from the sugar-coating off everything is that above mentioned quote about 'bone cancer' - i understand he was 'PROTECTING the boss' but we all know elvis didnt die from cancer & thats where charlie loses all credibility with me !
aside from that, he was supposedly quite the drinker & i honestly doubt he remembers much of the 70's anyway !

you can say hes never expolited the seedier side of elvis and kept it clean but its all out there now anyway
and just plain bullshitting is no better ! thats why i really like billy cos he doesnt shy away from the truth but he tells his storys in a sincere manner w/out exaggerating his importance (though i honestly believe at the end he spent more time with elvis than anyone) or sugar-coating the reality !

to summise - i wouldnt bother with this video/dvd

what i didnt like about his video - aside from the sugar-coating off everything is that above mentioned quote about 'bone cancer' - i understand he was 'PROTECTING the boss' but we all know elvis didnt die from cancer & thats where charlie loses all credibility with me !

Maybe Charlie didn't know...

aside from that, he was supposedly quite the drinker & i honestly doubt he remembers much of the 70's anyway !

That's a bit of an unfair statement to make. We don't really know how much of a "drinker" Hodge was, or how much he recalled.

Besides, plenty of alcoholics have great memories. Just ask my Uncle Jed.

That's a bit of an unfair statement to make. We don't really know how much of a "drinker" Hodge was, or how much he recalled.

Besides, plenty of alcoholics have great memories. Just ask my Uncle Jed.

lol

no your right, it probably is unfair - its heavy presumption on my part though it seems to be the general suspicion , maybe his recall is fine - i just dont like the BS spin he put on everything!

As your avatar states, " a long way from EP Blvd". Charlie was as close a friend as Elvis would allow".

what i didnt like about his video - aside from the sugar-coating off everything is that above mentioned quote about 'bone cancer' - i understand he was 'PROTECTING the boss' but we all know elvis didnt die from cancer & thats where charlie loses all credibility with me !

Maybe Charlie didn't know....

I think that's it in a nut shell, he didn't know!

Back in the 1980's, maybe 1984 I spent quite a bit of time with Charlie Hodge. He was hanging out at a place called Stage 45 across the street from Graceland which was owned by Dennis Wise. Richard Davis was the barman. Charlie had a lot of his own unanswered questions and really came over as a real lost soul who really didn't know what he was going to do next. He told me some pretty far-out things which I think he'd convinced himself about, purely on assumption. Anyway, as I said, he hung around there a lot and I didn't get the impression that he was drinking a lot. One night we gambled on some small kind of miniature 'one armed bandit' machine which sat upon the bar. The deal was the looser would buy Chinese take-out. In the end I think we all paid for our own and I remember Charlie put the plastic fork in his pocket, he said to save for later, he'd wear his red Elvis In Concert jacket, watch Dennis Wise do his act from the dark shadows of the corner of the club and slip out almost dejected with his hands in his pockets. It was actually really quite sad.

...these guys were all bums , to afraid to get a real job and support their families and theselves.

That's a bit unfair. Without having lived what they lived, you shouldn't judge. If you and I chummed around with the Golden Goose, there would be no reason to believe there was a need to do anything beyond what they were doing. Especially being the ages they were at the time.

I would wager that many of us would likely have ended up in a similar way.

...these guys were all bums , to afraid to get a real job and support their families and theselves.

That's a bit unfair. Without having lived what they lived, you shouldn't judge. If you and I chummed around with the Golden Goose, there would be no reason to believe there was a need to do anything beyond what they were doing. Especially being the ages they were at the time.

I would wager that many of us would likely have ended up in a similar way.

I agree, wholeheartely, Keith. I wish people that post crap like that would stop because NONE of us here EVER walked in their shoes!! When they tried to talk to Elvis about the drug problem - they got their ass thrown out on the street. Joe got fired for being a snitch for Colonel Parker (and, I dare say, if Parker and Elvis were both still alive, Elvis wouldn't have ever hired Joe back).

The reason they (to alot of you) seemed to never try to confront Elvis was because they were scared that they would lose their job! Most of them (Joe ran a limo service after Elvis died, Sonny became tour manager for the country music group "Alabama" for a time, Charlie worked at "Memories" theatre doing the same stuff with impersonators that he did with Elvis, Red worked in the movies as early as the 1970s) DID actually find real work - even while Elvis was alive! Red appeared in one of the original "Walking Tall" movies, if I'm not mistaken - and this was in 1973! So the assumption that they couldn't find jobs is B.S.!

Anyone here who knows where to find this video, it was first released on VHS in 1994, and later supposedly also on DVD. Featured are also George Klein, J.D. Sumner, Gordon Stoker, with 250 still photos, live film footage etc.

Is it any good ?

I remember this video and thought it was worth it at the time purely for the compilation of live footage of EP tossing his Gibson to Charlie in concert. Stories were OK, but as with everything with Hodge . . . . it's all sugar coated (Hodge omits the harsh reality and his role in it all). I particularly remember disliking the impersonator commercial at the end (the one Hodge happened to be working with at the time).


N8

...these guys were all bums , to afraid to get a real job and support their families and theselves.

That's a bit unfair. Without having lived what they lived, you shouldn't judge. If you and I chummed around with the Golden Goose, there would be no reason to believe there was a need to do anything beyond what they were doing. Especially being the ages they were at the time.

I would wager that many of us would likely have ended up in a similar way.

So true. It would be very interesting to see the members here stand up to Elvis whenever they disagreed with him

I met Charlie twice when he came to England in 1985. He seemed a very nice guy to me on both occasions. He autographed my vinyl LPs Raised on Rock and Promised Land (and no, he didn't charge ). I've got fond memories of Charlie dancing away to Elvis with us fans down at Presley's, which was a bar in London we had regular Elvis events at. I'll always love Charlie,

x Bless

I met Charlie twice when he came to England in 1985. He seemed a very nice guy to me on both occasions. He autographed my vinyl LPs Raised on Rock and Promised Land (and no, he didn't charge ). I've got fond memories of Charlie dancing away to Elvis with us fans down at Presley's, which was a bar in London we had regular Elvis events at. I'll always love Charlie,

x Bless

.....................................................................................................
Like Andy I too have met Charlie and thought he was great - At one event we had a great conversation about Elvis -
I saw and met Charlie At a convention many years ago when I was younger - He told me about his Life with Elvis -''The King '' - Great Memories - Indeed 4 me - I will never forget that
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I bought it from him in Gatlinburg at a show. He was rude to deal with. But I enjoyed the video. Here is the link to eBay;
http://cgi.ebay.com/ELVIS-KNEW-DVD-CHAR ... 727wt_1398

charlie being rude. That is strange.