The Diary of Elvis' bass player

Chapter 21 - The Jordanaires - Orpheum Theater, Galesburg, IL April 2, 2008

2008-06-29T17:22:00.005-05:00

As of right now, this is the highlight of my musical career.

When Elvis was a rising young star, he got paired up with a vocal group
The Jordanaires. Here is a clip from their website http://www.jordanaires.net

One Sunday afternoon, in 1955, the Jordanaires played a show in Memphis with Eddy Arnold. They had just completed the "Eddy Arnold Show" for TV. When the show was over a young man, quiet and courteous with plenty of combed-back hair, came backstage to meet them. He was Elvis Presley, a young, practically unheard of singer, just getting his start in the area. There were a few polite exchanges, then Elvis said, "If I ever get a recording contract with a major company, I want you guys to back me up." He was on "Sun" at that time. Thinking back to that night, The Jordanaires' first tenor, Gordon Stoker, remembers wishing Elvis well, "But we never expected to hear from him again," he said. "People were always coming up and saying that. We're still told that."
Sure enough!! Elvis recorded his first session with RCA on January 10, 1956, with Scotty, Bill, and, D. J. That day, "I Got A Woman", "Heartbreak Hotel", and, "Money Honey" were recorded. On January 11, 1956, Gordon Stoker was called by Chet Atkins to do a session with a "new-probably-wouldn't-be-around-long kid, named Elvis Presley"---oily hair, pink shirt, black trousers. RCA had, also, just signed "The Speer Family". Chet asked Gordon to sing with Ben and Brock Speer so he could use them. On that day, "I'm Counting On You" and "I Was The One" made history by being the first recording session that Elvis did with vocal background. By April 1956, "Heartbreak Hotel" was No. 1 on the charts. After having done several more recording sessions in New York with Scotty, Bill and D. J., Elvis flew to Nashville on April 14, 1956, to record "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You". Gordon was called, again, to sing a vocal trio with Ben and Brock. After the session, Elvis took Gordon aside and told him (not knowing, at the time, why all the Jordanaires were not there) that he wanted "the" Jordanaires on all his future recording sessions. This time, Stoker saw to it that it was known - and - true to his word - Elvis used the Jordanaires on nearly every one of his recording sessions for the next 14 years. At a time when no backing musicians, producers, or engineers received a name recognition on any records, Elvis insisted that he have the "Jordanaires" on the "labels" of his records.

These guys were with Elvis during his rise to fame. And on April 2, 2008, in The Orpheum Theater in Galesburg, IL, I got to play a show with them.

Here is our Elvis - Al Hull, looking out at the crowd.

We had our normal show opening, and played for about 30 to 45 minutes. Then, we left the stage as Dan O'Brien (local Radio Talent and Sirius Radio Host) introduced The Jordanaires. They had sang four or five songs over the top of some backing tracks they had.

Then we came back out and jammed with them. We did "Teddy Bear", "Don't Be Cruel", "Suspicious Minds", "A Hunk of Burnin' Love" and many other hits.

These guys were on Elvis' original recordings. They played live shows with the King. And here I was, a white boy from Illinois, jamming with them. They joked with Al and told stories. It was a really fun and powerful evening.

Here are some shots I took before the show.

This is the Orpheum Theater, in Downtown Galesburg, IL

Here is the fancy ballroom. What a great place to put on a show!!

Bruce is reflecting on Life...

Sound Check

Dad and Elvis

Chapter 20 - The Isle Of Capri - Bettendorf, Iowa Jan 18, 19, 20th 2008

2008-06-29T17:19:00.003-05:00

The Isle Of Capri - Bettendorf, Iowa

In January 2008, we traveled by Bus and Explorer to Bettendorf, Iowa, where we played five shows in three days at the Isle Of Capri Casino. Here's what the fancy Hotel lobby looks like

And here's what a keyboardist looks like after two shows and three Blue Moons.

There is a fancy restaurant in the hotel, as well as what used to be a comedy club. You walk into a bar that has a ticket booth in it, and a door leading into the room with the stage, where we set up

Not only were these shows fun, the hotel was first class. They really treated us well, and we hope we can return real soon.

2007

2008-06-29T16:25:00.009-05:00

Well folks, sorry I have not kept up with my blog. I enjoyed taking care of it when I started. Then there was a spell where we had no shows, and hence no blogging of the shows. Silly me, once the shows picked up, my blogging did not. I have lost my blogging way.

Again folks, sorry for the inconvience.

2007 held some good shows for the band. Each of them deserves their own post, however, seeing that it is halfway through 2008, I am going to downsize. We played at the Lincoln Square Theater in Decatur, IL. In Rock Island's downtown district we split the bill with The Rat Pack and Neil Diamond. We played at the Prime Beef Festival in Monmouth. Our first ever Elvis Gospel Show was at Galesburg High School in October.

We had a special Elvis Christmas show at Legends. We have played at some really cool places, but Legend's is like our home turf. The show there are always more comfortable than anywhere else. I guess it's like that until you headline in Vegas.

The next six pictures are of the Lincoln Theater in Decatur, IL. It's such a beautiful place, you can't help but want to take pictures of it!

This is the Lincoln Square Theater in Deactur, Il.

They were auctioning off this Mustang for charity.

This is what the theater looks like from the stage. They had just opened the doors, in a few minutes that theater was PACKED with people. It's hard not to get excited when you look out at all those seats. Now imagine what it feels like to walk out on stage and there's a person sitting in each of these seats.

I tried to capture how cool the ceiling above the seats looks.

Here is the stage at the Lincoln Theater. I love these old Theaters. They hold this immense feeling that some great entertainment has taken place there over the years.

In Rock Island's downtown district we split the bill with The Rat Pack and Neil Diamond.

In Downtown Rock Island, a place they call The District, is a really cool place. They took this six block section of downtown, and permanately closed off the roads. There are park benches where there were stoplights, and local artist's murals on the street where there was once only pavement. There are all sorts of bars, restaurants, food vendors and even two of Chicago's best known bluesmen, Jake and Elwood Blues

The first stage act was The Rat Pack. These guys were a riot. They were drinking and smoking on stage, just being out of control all around. It was a lot of fun.

Again, I'm sorry but I don't have any picutures of our show, but it was just starting to get dark, a pretty large crowd showed up, and we rocked the house!!

Here is the Neil Diamond Impersonator from Las Vegas. Him and his band were great.

We played at the Prime Beef Festival in Monmouth. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of that show.

Our first ever Elvis Gospel Show was at Galesburg High School in October.

More Pictures!!

2007-04-19T21:37:00.000-05:00

Jason, doing what he do

My dad does this trick where he plays guitar and sings from his forehead at the same time. Took him years to get it down.....

New Year's

2007-01-01T17:43:00.000-06:00

Hey there, race fans!! Isaac's back, comin' at cha live one more time here. Let me start off by saying Happy New Years to all of you. We were hired by the Isle of Caprice, a very nice hotel/casino Riverboat in Bettendorf, Iowa. The room we played to had a state of the art, computer controlled lighting system, and it was decked out with a tiki-bar bamboo hut. We didn't get to put the mural into the show, but it still was a good time. We played two 1-hour shows instead of our normal 2-hour show. During one of the normal, two hours shows, time seems to go by quickly. But, these 1-hour shows really fly by!

During the hour in between the two shows, I took a stroll through the casino floor. I was all smiles until I saw the Bears game of the big screen TV. I'm a huge Bears fan, in case you didn't know. It was in the third quarter and they were losing by 20 points. I didn't have much time to grieve. After I cried out loud for a moment or two, it was back to the tiki bar to get ready for the second show.

The crowd was great, Al was having fun, and the Trilogy went over really well. My brother Jordan, his girlfriend Sarah, and my girlfriend Karen drove up for the second show. It being New Years and all, the four of us went to a little neighborhood bar across the street afterwards. We had been hauling out equipment at the stroke of midnight, so we decided to celebrate an hour later. We were treated to some unexpectedly good kareoke singers. This woman surprised us all with her Amy Lee impression, singing "Wake Me Up". And a man serenated us to David Allen Coe's "The Rodeo Song", witch is always a treat. Jordan knew every word!

All in all, it was one of the most fun times I've had in a long, long time. The Isle of Caprice is great, and I can't wait to go back.

Chapter 16, Elvis Christmas Show

2006-12-29T14:54:00.000-06:00

This was our best show to date. We added some Christmas songs to our set list and had a ball with them. Jason started the show playing "Mary did you know?" on the acoutic guitar, while we all waited behind the closed curtains. When he was done, he began calling out all the names of the reindeer before the curtains opened and we went into a rockin, uptempo version of Ruldolf the Red-nosed Reindeer, which I sang.
Then we had the Elvis show opening, with Space Oddessy, then CC Rider into That's Alright Mama. We had Christmas tunes sprinkled throughout the set. We did Blue Christmas, White Christmas, Silent Night, Jingle Bell Rock, Silver Bells, then a powerful version of O Holy Night. That one really rocked.
Before the American Trilogy, Dad usually says something about my brother Jordan being in the Marines. He tells the audience that we're playing these songs for our veterans. Only during this show, Jordan was there. Dad pointed him out, and they put the spotlight on him for a second. Then he pointed out our brother Chris, who just finished with Basic Training in the Army. As we started the Trilogy, I saw people walking up to Jordan, thanking him for serving.
At the finishing of the Trilogy, we unrolled this huge flag, and also had our 'statue of liberty' come out. It's a really powerful point in the show, just seeing and feeling the people really get into it.
Our show is really strong right now.

Chapter 15, Pajamas Attack!

2006-12-01T11:56:00.000-06:00

Howdy, Y'all. This is Al coming to you live from Big Al's Cowboy Round-Up!! We're offering the finest in entertainment this side of the Mississippi! If that's not enough for you, Redneck Jason is going to show you his sweet new speakers in his 1981 Z-28. Try to tell him that Molly Hatchet isn't the coolest band in the world!

Chapter 14, The Par-a-dice Peoria, IL

2006-12-01T11:12:00.000-06:00

Here is the stage setup for the show we did at the Hotel by the Par-a-dice Casino. They have a very nice ballroom set up for this kind of thing.

Here's what the lights look like from across the room.

They have this display called "Harvest of Cash". Apparently, they want everyone to think they are giving away money this weekend.

This show was one of the scariest days of my life. About ten years ago, my Dad had a heart attack. Almost two years ago, he started having these heart problems that were affecting him. The doctors decided to put a defibulator inside him. You know on your favorite Hospital Drama, when they rub the two paddles together, shout out "Clear" and zap the crap out of someone? Well, my Dad has one of those devices in his body.

It's not like Robo-cop or Darth Vader, where he's part human, part machine. He can't use it to jumpstart his truck or anything. But, it monitors his heart, and if he has an arrest, it will shock his heart back to where it should be. Dad was about to be the test subject in a test of his emergency broadcast system.

Due to time restraints, we cut the show openers down from four songs to one song. Al decided he wanted Dad to sing Cara Mia, then start with the Elvis show. Dad sang the song, while Al waited backstage for his big entrance. As soon as Dad was finshed, Jason goes into Space Oddessy:2001, at the end of which, Al makes his big appearance.

Dad turned from the microphone, yelled "Ouch!" real loud and jumped, like he got the piss shocked out of him. He looked at his guitar, then looked at me, as if to say, "I think my guitar rig just shocked me."

Four or five seconds later, He yelled out and jumped again. He quickly threw his guitar off his shoulder, and let it drop to the floor. He walked off stage, where some people started gathering to see if he was okay. As he cried out again, he grabbed at his chest and I knew it was his heart, not his guitar. He sat down for a minute, while security called the paramedics. In the mean time, Al was making his entrance, having no idea what was going on with Dad.

Dad returned to the stage, and we played one song. By then the paramedics had arrived (we were minutes from downtown Peoria, where there are two major hosptials), and security asked him to leave the stage so he could talk to them. We have a section of the show where Al and Jason play by themselves and the rest of us leave the stage. We went to that part of the show, so Dad could go talk to the paramedics.

Well, the paramedics told Dad that he had to go to the hosptial for testing. So, he they carted him off. I called my Step Mom and told her what happened, then went back to the stage to finish the show.

It was tough playing without Dad. He's a key part in what we do, musically and vocally. One of the members of Dad's old band, Gene and The Pushrods, was there. He called Gene and asked if he could fill in so we could finish the show. We played what songs we could while we waited for Gene. Once he got there, we played a few songs with the famous 1-4-5 pattern that we felt would be easy for Gene to play along with. He did just fine and we got through the show.

No sooner then I hit the last note in the show, I had my bass unplugged and put away. I changed quickly, and rushed down to the hospital to check on Dad. He was okay. We didn't know this until the next day, but it turns out that the machine kicked off unnecessarily. It was set to sensitive. They changed a setting on it, then changed one of Dad's prescriptions, and told him that he'd be fine.

Later, Dad joked with Al on the phone, telling him, "Yeah, some guys will do anything to steal the show....."

Chapter 13, Terrible's Lakeside Casino Osceola, IA November 9-12, 2006

2006-11-18T01:43:00.000-06:00

The Elvis Oddessy Tour rolls into Osceola, Iowa

This is the main foyer. The gift shop is on the left, the buffet and hotel is to the right. The casino is straight ahead.

Ah, yes. The palace where many doth feed their bellies. Many an evening did I find myself eating until I could nary stand up.

Wow. What else can I say? We were treated like Rock Stars for four days. There was a multi-cultural food buffet. Oriental, Italian, American. One day they had Cajun. I swear to you that they had an entire crocodile, seasoned and baked to perfection. He was looking at you, while the chef was cutting meat off his tail on the other side.
We each had our own rooms for four days. A family of four could have comfortably stayed in the room I had to myself. I'm so busy these days between work and family, it was nice to have some time to myself for a few days.
Not that I sat around by myself for four days, mind you! Three of the four nights, we did a walk through the casino with Elvis. Shaking hands and taking pictures, we strolled through the rows of slot machines and card tables. Elvis seemed to bring luck, as several of the people he approached won on the next lever pull, or button press.
We played eight shows, two each day. They first show was always one hour long, but the second show tended to go a bit longer. We played eight sets and they were all different. We tried something new on stage during one show.
During a normal length show, Bruce, Jason and I all leave the stage. Dad pulls out his acoustic guitar, and him and Al sing an acoustic set. One of the songs they do is "In the Ghetto". During one of the shows, someone called out, "Play 'In The Ghetto'!" And we did it. I just watched Dad, tried to follow his chord changes. Bruce threw in tiny taps, keeping the beat going, while Jason kept it light, and played little fills in between the vocal lines. The fact that we hadn't played the song together before that gave us this kind of hesitant feel that you hear on really good slow songs. It was almost as if we had practiced the song so much, and we were so tight on it, that we could just play soft notes and get away with it. But really, we just didn't quite know how the song went, and we were trying not to screw it up!
A couple of really funny things happened during these shows. One was when Al answered one of the ticket holders obnoxiously loud cell phone. He had the audience cracking up when he acted like it was a sexy women he was talking to. He asked caller for thier name and acted shocked when it was "Dave".
The other funny thing was when this woman kept calling out "My Way. MY WAY!!!" Well, we didn't know My Way, so Al side-stepped the request by saying "What do you think this is, Burger King?" He got a laugh, we went on with the next song and the show proceded. No sooner did we stop between songs, did this woman yell out, "Play MY WAY" again. Again, Al turned it into a joke. The next song we were planning on playing started out with a few chords, then a pause before the vocals start. We played the few chords, then, just as Al was about to start singing this lovely ballad, he shreiks out in mock fanaticism "MY WAY!!!", then goes into his normal, deep, relaxed voice. It was perfect and got big laughs, both from the audience and the band.
There's so much that happened that weekend, I couldn't begin to tell you everything. So, I will just finish by saying that Terrible's Lakeside Casino is great, they have top notch people, a clean, comfortable hotel, a delicious buffet and a beautiful sunset on the lake is hard to beat.
See ya!
Isaac

The world according to Bruce....

The world according to Jason....

The world according to me....

Chapter 12, Monmouth Rivoli Theater

2006-11-18T01:40:00.000-06:00

This is the Historic Court House on Main St, across from the Rivoli

Here's the theater from outside. Apparently the next week, a band named Left 4 Dead was playing there. Ah, sweet variety. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there probably wasn't a lot of people that came to both shows.

Here's our stage setup.

This is the second time we've played the Rivoli Theater. It's great. It reminds me of the Madison Theater in Peoria, where I live. Just playing in a room like this makes me grin from ear to ear.

Chapter 11, Morton Pumpkin Festival

2006-10-03T21:19:00.000-05:00

This show was our best to date. Jason and his family have recently moved to Morton. I have been working in this town since March of 2005. So, we were all pretty excited to be playing at Morton's Pumpkin Festival.

The local community access channel was filming us. They had several cameras, both mobile and stationary. I've not seen the finished show, but I hear they play it on Morton Public Access (Channel 20).

What woman doesn't want Elvis to sing directly to her?

I'll tell you who. This girl. She wanted no part of this deal. Her friend pushed her to the stage and Al unknowingly hooked her with a scarf while he sang the twenty five minute version of "I Just Can't Help Believing". But other than that, it was a good show.

Here is what the band sees when Al paints his mural. He warned us that if we watch him paint, we might lose track of the chords we're playing.

We told him, "Relax, Al. We're professionals." And that was that.

During the finale of the show, a fight broke out in the audience. It was quickly contained but later we found out that the two guys fighting were brothers. One of them had a prostetic leg. Apparently it stayed in place for the length of the scuffle. Like I said, We're Professionals. :)

Chapter 10, Opening night for the Pajamas Band. August 26, 2006

2006-09-03T10:21:00.000-05:00

We turned on the lights. We tuned our guitars. We tapped on the microphones and said, "Check one, two, three, four, Check one, two, Check" into them. We got our giant floppy cowboy hats ready. We got into our Pajamas. We opened the doors. And they came. All of them came, just to see us.
It was The First Public Apearance of The Pajamas Band, and Man!, was it a show! We gave a discount to anyone wearing Pajamas, and they did! You should have seen it. You would have thought that an apartment building had a false fire alarm in the middle of the night, and when the people gathered outside, they all decided to go see a band instead of go back to sleep. Okay, maybe you wouldn'd have thought that exactly that way, but you probably would wonder why a big crowd of people are dancing in their pajamas!
Besides the silky pajamas, Al got us all hosptial scrubs. He had The Pajamas Band logo pressed onto the shirts. They look really cool. We look like a mental ward on the stage. What a hoot!
Dad had a black sportcoat that he wore when we did our Johnny Cash songs. We all had on these giant cowboy hats.

Real men wear chicken heads.

Esteban

The Vikings were well known for smoking Camels

Chatper 9, Elvis at Legend's August 19th

2006-09-03T10:12:00.000-05:00

They must have been hungry for Elvis in Galesburg. After playing out of town and for private parties for the last month or so, we had a show open to the public, and it sold out. We had been cramming for the Pajamas Band, learing a bunch of new songs, that it felt good to be playing the Elvis shows again. The crowd was excited to us, as we were to see them. We started feeding off their energy and getting more and more into the performance. Al was hilarious. He was telling stories and jokes that had the audience hanging on his every word. The man just knows how to keep and entertain a crowd.

Chapter 8, Ladies and Gentleman......The Pajamas Band!!

2006-09-03T09:45:00.000-05:00

Whew.........The last month has been nothing short of amazing. Since my last blog entry, the Sheffield Homcoming, we have played every weekend. On August 5th, we performed as The Pajamas Band to a private party, at Legend's in Galesburg. It's the same group as the Elvis show, it's just a different show. This one showcases the many talents in our band more than the Elvis show. We each take turns singing songs, switching instruments, and acting goofy on stage, all the while wearing Pajamas.

Lemme guess, you've never heard of such a show? We like to think we're pioneers into this sort of thing. We were all a bit nervous before the show. Al told me that it was the first time in years he'd gone onstage not dressed as Elvis. It helped that it was for a private party. It was kind of like a practice audience for the public show we had just last week.

Al got us some sweet silky pajamas. I don't have any pictures from that first show (the private party), but let me tell you what......we were nothing short of striking in our sleepytime gear. They were very comfortable, and the show was a lot of fun.

The next weekend, August 12 was an Elvis show for another private party. It was also at Legend's. There are two really nice things about playing at the Boss's place.

Number One is that, since we practiced our songs on that stage for months, it's our "Home Turf". We're the Home Team when we play here.

Number Two is that we don't have to tear down our equipment when we're done playing. We just shut the amps off and go home. Anyone who's played in a band would appreciate that luxury!

Chapter 7, 87th Annual Sheffield Homecoming, July 29th 2006

2006-07-30T03:51:00.000-05:00

At first, the crowd kept their distance. Except for one young girl (Who just happens to be Bruce's daughter). Her mother walked her to the stairway you see, but she walked onstage by herself. Al started singing "If You Love Me", but the little one was stealing the show.

It was very hot today, luckily we didn't start until 8, and the sun was just going down. By the end of the show, it had cooled down some. But, it was a slight some.

We ended up throwing in a bunch of songs that we hadn't originally planned on doing. The show went right around two and a half hours long.

This is the American Trilogy, we just got finished unrolling the flag, and everyone in the house was standing. We hit a few more dramatic notes, I hit the pyro button, and POW! The lights flash and another good show is in the history books. Right after we.......

I swear to God, there was a food vendor that was selling Deep Fried Twinkies for $2.50. I had to ask her about them. She smilied and said, "Oh yes, we sell a lot of them." I asked another food vendor about them and he told me that they take a regular twinkie, put it on a corn dog stick, dip it in batter, and deep fry it. Basically like having a corn dog, but with a twinkie in the middle instead. I wasn't brave enough to try one, maybe next year....

This was our Encore. We start off with "A Little Less Conversation" and end with "Blue Suede Shoes", during which we each take a little solo section. Dad's and Jason's solo's were good, Mine was alright, but when it got to Bruce, he just lit 'em up! He just exploded and started playing the hell out of that drumkit. It was great! I wish I had it on tape.

Chapter 6, Part II - Lakeview Musuem, Peoria, IL

2006-06-08T22:10:00.000-05:00

This is a few hours before we started playing. It was a beautiful afternoon and people were enjoying it. About fifty people were there at this point. As it got closer to show time, more people showed up. Lots More!

Bruce, Myself, and Dad. We opened the set with Jason singing "Soul Man" and here, Dad is singing "Cara Mia"

Here is Al when he took stage. People were dancing and clapping. They made it easy for us to enjoy ourselves and really rock out. Lots of people that I knew were there, although I didn't see many of them when we took stage. I was just concentrating on playing my parts. Once my mind starts to wander, it oft never comes back.

Here is a good shot of the whole band.

Like I said, "Lots of people came to see us"

Here is the acoustic set. Bruce, Jason and I leave the stage, and Dad switches to Acoustic guitar.

Chapter 6, Part I - The Old State Capitol, Springfield, IL

2006-06-01T17:47:00.000-05:00

On Thurday, we all met at Fastenal in Morton, where I work. Al pulls up in his tour bus. It was the first time I had seen it, and damn was I impressed. We drove to Springfield under some grey clouds and dark skies. When we pulled into the State Capital, it started raining. We found the Old State Capitol building, where the concert was to take place. They had the road next to it blocked off, and a giant stage set up. We sat in the bus for a minute while Al called the agent who booked us. Al asked him if he would like us to set up indoors somewhere.
Next thing I hear is Al telling him, "OK, we'll see you tomorrow night." We left town, stopped at a truck stop and ate lunch, then went home. Nothing bums you out like having a show rained out. But, nothing cheers you up as fast as realizing that you just got paid to take a nice bus ride, eat lunch and go home. Here's some shots of Al's Bus.

Here's us chillin' like some villians.

Here's the kitchen and dining room area, which leads into the bathroom.

This is the back room, where Al has all his suits ready to go. There is a VCR/DVD combo that plays here and on the TV in the front of the bus (See the first picture)

Chapter 5, Part I - Rivoli Theater, Monmouth, IL

2006-05-02T20:07:00.000-05:00

Our second show was last Saturday at the Rivoli Theater on Main St. in Monmouth, IL. It is an old theater complete with Lighted Marquee, Ticket Booth, and a Balcony. This guy Paul, bought it and now he has all sorts of music shows there. Other than a few glitches, the show went great. For one thing we had an equipment failure before the show started. Let me explain...

At the first show, the American Trilogy was the climax of the show. Al's outfit has an american flag on it. We play three patriotic songs, and during the final one, there is this huge flag that unrolls from the ceiling. We hit a few more dramatic notes and BOOM, the pyrotechnics go off. The crowd is standing and clapping. Let me tell you, there's not a dry eye in the place. Well okay, there were maybe one or two dry eyes, ............................but that's all!

But, at Legends, we have the luxury of the garage door opener thing that unrolls the flag. At this second show, we spent a fair amount of time wondering how we were going to unveil the flag. We finally decided to hang the flag up behind us, and cover it with a black tarp. Then one of us would just reach up, and pull the tarp off. Great idea, right?

The flag is huge, so we had it lowered while we hung the tarp over it. Then we would pull the ropes that the flag was hanging from, and it would raise up to the height we wanted it. As soon as we would pull up, however, the tarp would decide that it would stick with gravity and stay on the ground. We, would lower the flag, re-equip the flag with the tarp, and begin the process all over again.

We used Clamps and Velcro at first, but it kept falling off. Once it did hold alright, but then Al decided that it wasn't straight. He pulled on one side of the tarp and it came back down. Hey, this is why Elvis never set up his own shows. Elvis had people. Al has us. He's in trouble. :)

So, we finally used this extra wide duct tape, and it held pretty well. Until about twenty minutes before the show! I kept telling Al that if the tarp fell while we were playing, we should just go straight into the American Trilogy. We got a good laugh out of that. At 6:45, As we were sitting down in the dungeon (think Silence of the Lambs) getting ready, someone came downstairs and told us that the tarp had fallen off the flag. The crowd had gathered, and some of the people had been there since 6:00. Al was in full costume, and we were all getting dressed. So we sent Paul out to recover the lost tarp. We just decided to play the whole show with the flag showing. It's all good.

The Second thing that went wrong was that as I was playing and singing Wild World I found out why Dad always runs his guitar cord through his strap. First off, let me tell you that During the first show, Wild World was the most difficult part for me. It was right at the beginning, and the show was all cake after that. So, I was looking forward to just singing the song and getting it done with already.

It starts off fine. At the end of the first verse, I stepped on my cord and pulled it out of my bass. My first reaction was to stop singing and reach down, grab the cord and plug it back in. But, I resisted, and finished singing the line. Before the start of the next line, I reached down and grabbed the cord. As I started singing again, I casually plugged the bass back in just in time for the chorus.

After that, the show went great. Al had the crowd in the palm of his hand. Jason was excellent, as usual. There were a few parts that he played that I didn't remember hearing the first show. Maybe the mix was just different, or maybe he changed the parts around. Maybe a little of both. Bruce rocked the house. Literally. The drums were on this riser-on-wheels. At one point, I looked at it, and the whole thing was jumping and bouncing to the beat he was playing. Dad was rockin' it out, as well. There was this solo he played where for the last few beats of the section, the band stays silent. Some guitarists would love to fill that break with the fastest lick they know, but my Dad, at the end of this killer guitar solo, played one final chord and stayed silent with the rest of us. It was tasteful, and made the song sound sweet when we all kicked in seconds later.

There were parts that were more sloppy than the first show, but it sounded tighter in others. All in all I think it was just as good of a show. Of course this is only the second one, I'm sure after a hundred shows, I will be a little more critical. Hopefully you'll stick around and listen to me tell stories about them all.

Thanks fer tha read, yuck, yuck!
Isaac

Chapter 4, Part 2 Elvis is in the Building

2006-04-16T13:49:00.000-05:00

After we wrap up "Cara Mia", the lights in the house go down. Jason ques up the "Space Oddessy 2001" into to the Elvis show. Bruce throws down the drum fill leading into "CC Rider". The band jumps in, and spotlight stage right, Al-vis makes his appearance. The crowd goes nuts. It was a sold out show, 300+ people, and man, were they excited. Al walks the stage from left to right a few times, smiling and pointing and dancing before starting to sing. We just keep the song looped until he starts singing. The stage lights are going off in every color and direction. There's fog coming up from the floor, covering the stage.
After opening the show with singing a song and the spotlight being on me, I was not nervous about the Elvis show at all. It was almost like we were a baseball team, and we were leading 5 to nothing in the 9th inning. As long as I can keep focused, it was all but won. I played my bass and danced a little white boy jig onstage.

From "CC Rider," we go straight into "That's Alright Mamma". When that's over, we stop for a minute. About 20 women left their seats and lined up in front of the stage. Al thanks everyone for coming and we slow things down a bit with "I Just Can't Help Believin'" He walks to the edge of the stage and leans down and sings to a woman, gives her a scarf and kisses her cheek. She smiles and blushes and turns to her friends and laughs.
Al has a special talent for entertaining. He's telling jokes and stories in between songs. He's spontaneous and funny. Some of the stories he tells, I've heard him tell before, but some were new. He definately doesn't have a 'set in stone', rigid schpiel. I think he just gets the energy from the crowd. He genuinely wants them to have a good time and they love him for it.
The rest of the set list went like this:

Walk a Mile In My Shoes
If You Love Me, Let Me Know
Runaway
Suspicious Minds

Acoustic Set: (Dad and Al)

Hawaiian Wedding Song
Welcome to My World
In The Ghetto
Something
Love Me Tender

Back to the full band

I Got A Woman
Are You Lonesome Tonight
Viva Las Vegas

Then He does something amazing. Bruce and I go off the stage and bring out a canvas. Al gets a can of spray paint. As we play "Memories," he spray paints a shadowy profile of Elvis. It takes about five minutes and looks awesome. He's a hell of an artist. When he's done, he steps behind the mural, and I kick on a light that back lights the canopy. The people in the crowd can see Elvis' shadow through the mural. He strikes an Elvis pose and it really has a cool effect.

Then, he leaves stage to change. Dad get on the mic and auctions the painting off. The person with the highest bid makes out a check to the charity of his or her choice. After the show, they get their picture with Elvis by the mural. It's a great show piece, the crowd loves it.

Then, we get back to jammin'

I Can't Help Falling In Love
Little Sister (this was a request. Dad and I knew the song, but we hadn't played it was a band before. But, you wouldn't know that. We nailed it)
Teddy Bear
Don't Be Cruel
Green Grass Of Home
Burnin' Love
Kentucky Rain
Fever
Johnny B Goode
Wear My Ring

Then Bruce, Dad and I leave the stage. Jason and Al do a gospel set, just vocals and keyboards.

Bridge Over Troubled Water
Peace In The Valley
How Great Thou Art
Amazing Grace (Dad returns to the stage to sing background for this one)

Then, the full band returns for the show ending

Promised Land
Love Me
One Night With You
Rubberneckin'
American Trilogy (This is the show highlight, I'll have to explain it to you sometime)
A Little Less Conversation
Blue Suede Shoes

Wow. Looking at this list is a litte mind boggling. To think that two months ago I didn't know any of these songs! Now I'm an Elvis Artist, Yeah, Baby!!!

After the show, we did a Meet and Greet the band. Everyone was very excited. People were asking me to sign their flyers, like I'm some big rock star. It was a trip! The first show was a success!

Chapter 4, Part I Opening Night

2006-04-14T23:56:00.000-05:00

I may be able to get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow is opening night. We have practiced, together and on our own. But all in all, I think we're really going to rock out and have a blast. There's going to be around 300 people there. It will be the biggest show I've ever played.

And, at the start of the whole show, Each of the band members (Minus Al, who will be getting ready for the show) will sing a Non-Elvis song. Jason is going to do 'Soul Man', Bruce is doing 'Bad, Bad Leroy Brown', I'm doing 'Wild World', and Dad is doing 'Cara Mia'. I have played to some decent sized crowds, but I was just playing. I'm going to be singing at the start of the biggest show I've ever played. Oy!

I'm trying not to get too nervous about it. We sound pretty damn good in practice. If we can just do what we do, it will be just fine to all but the most decerning ears.

Well, I'll let y'all know how it went. Thanks fer readin'

Chapter 3, The Elvis Family Album

2006-04-05T20:33:00.000-05:00

This is Bruce, our drummer. Not only can Bruce pat his head, rub his belly and whistle 'Dixie' all at the same time, he's the only person I know who has a full collection of David Hasselhoff CD's. Bruce, you rock!

Jason, our keyboardist. In this picture, Jason was telling us all about his worst nightmare, in which his keyboards burst into flames during his solo in the middle of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vita." I shudder just thinking about it.

This is Steve, but I call him 'Dad' for short. Notice his trusty blue axe within quick reach? You better not come around here and accuse US of having no one in our band who can play "The Boxer."
You'd likely get showed, real quick.

This is Randy. Everyone should have a Randy, even Randy.

This is Al. We make him dance and he buys us Pizza.

And here is Lovable Grover!

Chapter 2, part II Crash course in Elvis

2006-03-06T21:45:00.000-06:00

So, my first practice went pretty well. I had worked on a couple of the songs with Dad, so I didn't look like a COMPLETE fool. Al must have liked me and my playing, because he gave me a big 'ol Texas handshake and a Memphis smile as I left. At one point in the practice, I suggested that we end a certain song a certain way. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Let's play it that way once" we did and he said, "I like it. Let's end it that way." After that, I had it made in the shade.
Except that I still had all these Elvis songs to learn. So, I went to work. Tim, the drummer who asked "Which one of these guys is the Bass Player?", only came to one practice. Once Dad heard that we didn't have a drummer, he asked Bruce Moser, whom he works with, if he wanted to come and jam. Bruce came in the next week and rocked out the house! He was better than Tim, and Tim had been playing these songs for Years! Sucka!

Two weeks in a row, Dad came over on Friday night and we'd practice. He would show me some songs and we'd work on them a bit. Then, the following Saturday morning, I really looked like I was on the ball, because we were working on new songs and I wasnt' completly lost, like I would have been. This is a good thing.

Now it's Early March and Opening Night is only a month or so away. I know 85% of the songs, and the others will be a breeze. We've played, sang, talked, laughed, ate lots of Pizza and drank lots of soda, but we are really starting to sound good. I'm very excited about this. On a few songs, I actually set aside my fear of public singing and put my vocal cords to work. Next thing you know, I'll just be singing my wittle heart out on stage. Tom Jones can just plant his pickled old leathery lips firmly upon my pale underside.

Chapter 2, part I I'm about to get an education in Elvis

2006-02-28T20:36:00.000-06:00

I've fallen behind on my Elvis blog, so I need to get y'all up to speed. I have around 25 Elvis songs to learn, only three of which I've played before. I can improvise pretty well, but my problem is that I don't know how most of these songs go. That doesn't intimidate me much. When Dad and I played the Fulton County Fair, I learned more songs than that on fairly short notice. But, I had at least heard most of those songs, and could hum them, if you asked me to. I'd probably ask you why you were asking me to hum songs for you, but it could be done. :) These songs are different. A month ago I could have counted, on one hand mind you, the number of Elvis songs I could name. But all that has changed, my friend.
Around the end of January, Dad, Jason(our keyboardist) and I all drove to Galesburg for our first practice. Dad and Jason have been in a band together for a long time (I want to say five years or more....?), so they know each other, musically, pretty well. It's pretty easy for me to play bass along with Dad's guitar playing, so that's not a problem, either. But none of us really knew Tim, the drummer. Tim had been in Al's last Elvis tribute band for years and years. So he knew the material, and I'm just learning it. I may have been a bit nervous.
We get to Galesburg and from the moment I saw Legends, I was impressed. I walk in the back door and there is this huge, aluminum ramp going up to the stage. Al and Tim were standing on the ramp, however, so I couldn't really see the stage just yet. They all say 'Hello', and Tim asks, "Which one of these guys is the bass player?"
I stepped forward, told him I was as I shook his hand. He said, "Good, you'll set up right next to me. I'm going to be playing off of you."
I'm thinking to myself, "Oh Crap! I don't really know these songs. I was just going to try to follow along with Dad and not mess up too bad!!This guy knows how the songs all go and he's going to be listening to my every note!"
Then, we walk up the ramp onto the stage and my jaw about hit floor. I've played on risers that were a foot off the ground, but this is a Professional Job. Rockin' sound system, Professional lighting, all on a theater type stage. Big dance floor, tables and chairs, huge bar, a 50's diner style seating area complete with pool table and vintage advertisment tins on the walls. Every where was memoribilia. Mostly Elvis, some James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles. I was Tres Empressed! I'm also a little nervous. I'm thinking that we will play, they will smile and shake my hand, then call me the next day and say "Sorry Isaac, it isn't going to work out." Could picture Al and Tim after we left and Tim saying to Al, "That kid can't play these songs. I can't follow him. We need to get someone who knows this stuff." I remember thinking to myself "I'm about to play myself right out of a job"
But after we warmed up with a few songs, Tim turns to me and says, "I like your playing." That was all it took. I have so much more to say, but my fingers hurt and you need to get up and get away from your computer for a while. :)

Chapter 1, part II What you gonna do, man?

2006-02-13T22:48:00.000-06:00

Dad has played in lots of bands. He got me started on guitar way back and we've jammed off and on throughout the years. Him and my Mom have told me all about this guy, Al Hull who has done an Elvis show for years now. Al and his band have come to a crossroads and Al went one way and his band went the other. He's known Dad for a while and he knows that my old man is a musical encyclopedia. So it doesn't surprise me when Al asked Dad to join in a new band, in a new Elvis show.

It did surprise me, however, when Dad asked me if I would be interested in joining and playing bass. I had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I'm not really an Elvis fan. I mean I know how "Blue Suede Shoes" goes, but that's about it. Once when I was little my Mom accused my brother and I of taking her Elvis Christmas cassette tape. We laughed and said, "What the hell would we do with that? Use the tape to dub a Motley Crue album, maybe, but not listen to it!" But I'm pretty open minded about music. Once I only listened to hard rock, but now I listen to all kinds of stuff.

On the OTHER hand:

It's a paying gig!
I'll be part of a show (I know how to play bass, so I'm not really blazing new trails there, at least musically I'm not, but now I'm learning about putting on a real show, not just playing chords and solos)
I'm going to sing here and there in the show. I think that will help me get my confidence up about singing in front of people.

I thought it over and decided that, hell yeah, I wanted to do it!

Chapter 1, part I My musical background

2006-02-12T23:45:00.000-06:00

Hey, y'all. This is the story of how one 27 year old white boy named Isaac became Elvis' bass player. Let me start by telling you just a little about me. I started playing guitar in grade school. By eighth grade I was taking lessons and practicing daily. I was pretty good in High School, but I was a little nervous about playing for people. It's not that I have stage fright or anything, It's a little more complex than that.

See, if I'm around a group of people I don't know really well, say in a party situation, I may SAY that I play guitar, but I usually don't actually play the guitar, unless someone is asking or telling me to. It's like I have to feel like people WANT me to play for me to actually play. Half of being a musician is learning chords and scales, but the other half is learning how to sit in a room of people you don't know and play a song on the guitar wether they're listening or not. I know chords and scales.

So, although I am a pretty talented guitarist, I haven't really done much with my talent. I should have started, quit, followed or tried to destroy 20 or 30 bands by now. I have played a couple of really cool gigs. My dad was in a 50's-60's band called Gene and the Pushrods that played shows around Central Illinois. The drummer, Terry booked a show that the rest of the band couldn't play. So, my Dad on guitar, Terry on drums and me on Bass filled the bill! It was at the Fulton County Fair and I was so excited because I got $150 for doing it. My Dad and I have played some other shows, but that was the best one.

I've also had an on-again/off-again relationship with a group of guys that I've known for a long time. We had some good times and we had some not-so-good times, but all in all I think that (again going back to my shy persona) I wasn't enough of a leader. I didn't want to be pushy because we were all friends, but either way, I wasn't happy with the way things were turning out, but I didn't do anything to try to remedy the situation. I guess you can't put zero effort into something and expect it to work.
But other than that, I've mostly just played at my house. I've no audience and when I'm done playing, only the walls and me remember what I created.