February 1961 Charity Shows -> Mysterious!

[acmeruya]

February 24 Graceland rehearsal? What happened there?

Great article, Doc. Very informative.

Phil

[pjdlibra]

I have to say this is the most informative thread yet.
I had absolutely no idea there was more than one show. Thank you so much for this great Elvis education
phyllis

This might make few a good magazine article, eh?

Would have to say most definitley buddy

[drjohncarpenter]

February 24 Graceland rehearsal? What happened there?

Great article, Doc. Very informative.

Phil

Thanks, Phil.

There was a somewhat haphazard, casual rehearsal held at Elvis' home the day before the show -- since most of the musicians were familiar, and the songs well-ingrained in the minds of the assembled, there was apparently not a lot of worry about the next day's events!

I have to say this is the most informative thread yet.
I had absolutely no idea there was more than one show. Thank you so much for this great Elvis education
phyllis

Thank you very much Phyllis -- this is what the doc does!

[ekenee]

Wasn't there a 3rd show in which he was sitting down?

[davide]

Davide

[the full sp]

Very interesting old thread here. And nice addition there from Davide. Boy I'd love to hear a live version of Doin' the Best I Can!

[drjohncarpenter]

David - neat document.

Jessel introduced Elvis at the ES only, so the notes were written for that performance.

Gene Smith as "choreographer" is an amazing credit.

Oh, why didn't they record these gigs?

[sgt bilko]

Oh, why didn't they record these gigs?

I previously gave detailed information on where, when ,with who and how it came about.This does mean that there is still a chance that a tape is laying around somewhere although in terrible quality. Before anybody else says it . No I was not mistaken in what I heard all those years ago.

[the full sp]

Oh, why didn't they record these gigs?

I previously gave detailed information on where, when ,with who and how it came about.This does mean that there is still a chance that a tape is laying around somewhere although in terrible quality. Before anybody else says it . No I was not mistaken in what I heard all those years ago.

Would you care to re-post this detailed information.

[davide]

Davide

[hli]

David - neat document.

Jessel introduced Elvis at the ES only, so the notes were written for that performance.

Gene Smith as "choreographer" is an amazing credit.

Oh, why didn't they record these gigs?

I also would like to know.....? one tape survived altough in bad quality,
Can't imagine these shows were note taped or at least partly filmed.
it was his first performances since his army period, secondly it was charity purpose so i would
assume the press was on top of it either taping or filming some parts of the show.
Anyone why.....?

[drjohncarpenter]

I also would like to know.....? one tape survived altough in bad quality,
Can't imagine these shows were note taped or at least partly filmed.
it was his first performances since his army period, secondly it was charity purpose so i would
assume the press was on top of it either taping or filming some parts of the show.
Anyone why.....?

We're almost FIFTY years past the date of these gigs, and not a shred of film or audio from either the afternoon or evening performance has surfaced. Photos? Yes. But nothing else.

BTW, Gene Smith's "choreographer" credit is likely calling the light scheme, a job Lamar Fike would undertake when EP returned to the stage later on.

[ekenee]

I also would like to know.....? one tape survived altough in bad quality,
Can't imagine these shows were note taped or at least partly filmed.
it was his first performances since his army period, secondly it was charity purpose so i would
assume the press was on top of it either taping or filming some parts of the show.
Anyone why.....?

We're almost FIFTY years past the date of these gigs, and not a shred of film or audio from either the afternoon or evening performance has surfaced. Photos? Yes. But nothing else.

BTW, Gene Smith's "choreographer" credit is likely calling the light scheme, a job Lamar Fike would undertake when EP returned to the stage later on.

Just a note. As one other poster suggested, there has been a rumor of a tape going back some 30 years.
Again, my source is the old "Discoveries" collector mags that used to do articles
on unreleased Elvis recordings.
Over the years many of those songs listed have come out, including the live "Danny boy" that
everyone was so surprised about.
So, there is still hope.

[drjohncarpenter]

As one other poster suggested, there has been a rumor of a tape going back some 30 years.

And to date, only one person has claimed to hear it. That's one rough rumour.

[ekenee]

As one other poster suggested, there has been a rumor of a tape going back some 30 years.

And to date, only one person has claimed to hear it. That's one rough rumour.

Well, if it's locked up somewhere, or in someone's garage( I hate to imagine), then no one will hear it.

[drjohncarpenter]

Well, if it's locked up somewhere, or in someone's garage( I hate to imagine), then no one will hear it.

If?

[KiwiAlan]

Davide

Any thoughts on why no white spotlight on Elvis.

Did he have eye trouble back then?

[ritchie valens]

anybody know the history behind the 3-25-61 tape? how was it found etc.

[Greybeard]

Outstanding post Dr.Carpenter.

[drjohncarpenter]

Outstanding post Dr.Carpenter.

Thank you kindly!

[sgt bilko]

Oh, why didn't they record these gigs?

I previously gave detailed information on where, when ,with who and how it came about.This does mean that there is still a chance that a tape is laying around somewhere although in terrible quality. Before anybody else says it . No I was not mistaken in what I heard all those years ago.

Would you care to re-post this detailed information.

Copied from a previous post in 2007

Yes it was a live version , and it was very bad quality. I never thought too much about it until RCA released the Hawaii concert and while listening to it I realised Doin The Best I can was not included, as I presumed at first that this was the concert I had heard on the tape. At this point I thought that RCA had left off DTBAC but further research led me to the fact that this song was actually performed in Memphis and not in Hawaii, hence the tape I heard was one of the Memphis shows.

In my previous posts on this I have never fully explained where and how , although I did send details to various members by PM, however as I have decided to post again what I heard I think it is only fair to fill in a bit of detail and background.

I heard the tape in a house in Birchfield Road , Northampton and the guy who lived there I knew very well at that time, his name was Giorgio Serra.(I lived in the next street Cedar Road). We met when Lings Forum (small local cinema) showed Elvis On Tour for several nights. He did at one time put out a couple of interview discs on Tiger Records. He had hundreds of concert tapes and various other material, and one day he played me this , I remember commenting that hopefully one day RCA would bring out a decent copy !!! At this time I heard and saw a lot of unreleased stuff (for then that is). Me and this guy and a couple more friends used to go every Wednesday to visit a bloke called Mick Heyward in Leicester to see and hear stuff from his collection. I only mention the visits to Mick to back up my claim that at this time I knew people who did have access to rarer stuff. The guy who had the tape was fairly secretive where it had come from and stated that he had promised not to copy or play it to anyone. In the end I lost touch with the bloke in question as he just sort of fell off the map.

The only thing I really want to get over is that at one time it did exist all be it in terrible quality. Hopefully it is still out there somewhere.

End of copied post.

I have absolutely nothing to gain in saying this and giving people false hopes that one day something will surface however I think it is important to know that at some point a recording was made. Whenever I post on this topic I always promise myself that it will be the last time I bother to do it , but when I see certain posters always stating that no recording was made I have to step in and say that they are mistaken in their belief and that there is still some hope.

Nick.

[drjohncarpenter]

No comment on the rumoured tape from me -- only suffice to say the story used to be it had been heard on an obscure bootleg LP. Quite obscure, it seems.

---

David -->
Your documents have compelled me to make a small change. Larry Muhoberac is misremembering his credit in 1961. The internal paperwork as well as the newspaper reviews make clear he was billed as Larry Owens, not Larry Gordon.

I'm going to edit the original post now. Again, thanks for the extra info!

[sgt bilko]

[quote="drjohncarpenter"]No comment on the rumoured tape from me -- only suffice to say the story used to be it had been heard on an obscure bootleg LP. Quite obscure, it seems.

quote]

There you go again , the poster who said about the LP was a different person to me and he was mistaken . This was in fact pointed out to you before in previous posts on this topic from several years ago when you insisted it was me that made the comment about the LP and I can't believe you have said it again. Do you suffer from memory loss as you do not remember that the LP story was dismissed long ago and it also appears you do not remember when promoting a certain session site to other less knowledgable fans that it is well out of date and another more complete site is available. Is Grannies problem creeping up on you !!

[davide]

Afternoon show 3pm











Rare photo of Boots Randolph and Elvis



Gay McRae, 51, is a self-described Elvis fanatic. Born in Smithville, Miss., she has been a resident of Memphis since age 7 : In 1961 I saw Elvis do a benefit show at the Ellis Auditorium. It was the first time he'd performed in Memphis since 1957. There was two shows-one at 2 in the afternoon an' one at 8. I went with my girlfriend Charlotte Roberts an' we bought the tickets for $3. Can you imagine?! Oh yeah, it was somethin'-Boots Randolph, Floyd Cramer an' Brother Dave Gardner was all on the bill. An' I remember Charlotte, who had this very jealous husband, said, `If Melvin finds out I came here he'll kill me.' She's dead now, bless her heart. Anyway, we was sittin' there an' sayin' how we hoped these dumb teen-agers didn't start screamin' an' actin' like a buncha idiots so we could hear Elvis. An' then he came out. . . . He was wearin' a plain black suit . . . an' all of a sudden we were both yellin' our fool heads off!










Photo Jim Reid



Photo Jim Reid


Photo Jim Reid


Photo Jim Reid





Evening Show 8pm












Elvis singing a song that Ray has a Bass lead on. He surprises Ray by taking his mic and doubles up
with him when Ray's time comes to sing his part - Would you believe "A Fool Such As I"??
http://www.jordanaires.net/RayWalker/yesterday/rw10.htm




From the Gary Pepper collection (shame about the size) including a couple not from these shows

with thanks
Davide


Ticket stub from here : http://www.elvis.net/index.html

[Chris Roberts]

Thank you Doc for that great origional post that I, thanks to Davide and his excellent recent post, have only just seen. so interesting and informative in particuler the info on the additional band members.

As someone else pointed out, it is a great sin that the proposed 1962 tour wasn't forthcomming, after these great 1961 shows, but then I supose we might have missed out on 'Girls, Girls, Girls'!! Don't get me wrong 'Girls' is certainly far from being the worst movie, but a tour would have been far nore fullfilling for Elvis and his career I feel sure.