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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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.