Excellent point... I'll add... Elvis doing any shows a day on tour was crazy.Joe Car wrote:You are talking about a period of Elvis' life when arguably he shouldn't have been working at all. He needed time off, not to work more!zolderopruiming1 wrote:Elvis working in 1976 and 1977:jurasic1968 wrote:Let's count 1976 and 1977 from march 1976 to june 1977: in this period Elvis did close to 200 concerts. Except January 1977, Elvis was on tour every month. He was a very sick man but the Colonel put him in a frenetic schedule and overworked him. These are facts from statistic, not personal views.
(source: All shook up, Elvis day by day 1954-1977 by Lee Cotten and not from the mind of people who are programmed to say The Colonel overworked Elvis)
January 1976: no work
February 1976: recording for 5 days at Graceland, remainder of the month no work, just fun
March 1976: concert tour, the first since July 1975, from March 17 to March 22. Remainder of the month no work, just fun.
So the first quarter of 1976 Elvis worked 10 days out of 90.
April 1976: concert tour from April 21 to April 27 plus opening at the Sahara Tahoe on April 30. This month Elvis worked 8 days out of 30.
May 1976: Sahara Tahoe opened April 30 and ended May 9. Touring from May 27 onwards. Elvis worked 15 days out of 31.
June 1976: Tour ended June 6, new tour starts on June 25. Elvis worked 12 days out of 30.
Second quarter of 1976 Elvis worked 35 days out of 91.
July 1976: touring continued until July 5. Next tour started July 23. Elvis worked 14 days out of 31.
August 1976: touring continued until August 5. Tour number 6 starts August 27. Elvis worked 10 days out of 31.
September 1976: touring continued until September 8.
Third quarter of 1976 Elvis worked 32 days out of 92.
October 1976: touring from October 14 to October 27. Sessions at Graceland on October 30 & 31. Elvis worked 16 days out of 31.
November 1976: touring from November 24 to November 30. Elvis worked 7 days out of 30.
December 1976: Las Vegas shows from December 2 to December 12 plus touring December 27 to December 31. Elvis worked 16 days out of 31.
Fourth quarter of 1976 Elvis worked 16 days out of 31.
In 1976 Elvis worked 93 days.
January 1977: no work!
February 1977: touring from February 12 to February 21. Elvis worked 10 days out of 28.
March 1977: touring from March 23 to March 30. Elvis worked 8 days out of 31. There was a concert scheduled for March 31 but Elvis flew back to Memphis being ill.
First quarter 1977 Elvis worked 18 days out of 90.
April 1977: touring from April 21 to April 30. Elvis worked 10 days out of 30.
May 1977: touring continued from May 1 to May 3. Another tour from May 20 to May 31. Elvis worked 15 days out of 31.
June 1977: touring continued from June 1 to June 2, Final tour from June 17 to June 26. Elvis worked 12 days out of 30.
Second quarter of 1977 Elvis worked 37 days out of 91.
July 1977: no work!
August 1-16: no work!
In 1977 Elvis worked 55 days out of 227 days.
Please let me know where and when Elvis was overworked!?!
From an EIN interview in 2005 with Lamar Fike...
EIN..."Do you feel the Vegas schedule of 4 weeks with 2 shows a night contributed to Elvis' physical and emotional decline in the 1970's?"
Lamar... "Absolutely. It sapped his motivation and desire to perform. Nobody goes to Vegas and plays four weeks anymore, they usually only do a week. Four weeks is a marathon and the repetition of cramming 60 shows into that period can be really monotonous and mind and body sapping."
EIN... "A few days before Elvis died you had an almost prophetic conversation with Joe Esposito. Can you share it with us?"
Lamar... "I'd been talking to Elvis and he told me he was tired and didn't feel good. I told him he could cancel the tour but he said he needed the money. What he really needed was a long break, six months in Hawaii or Europe or something. I suggested that to him but he felt obligated."