A Gig
Notes Excerpt from our Musical
Odyssey
2. Stars
Behind the Sun ~ Once in a Blue Moon
We attended a special early
'70s Elvis show in a much more intimate Vegas showroom setting than the
one we saw over in the huge International. Instead of the King's big show
band, with full orchestra and large array of backup singers, this show
featured the stripped down band that had backed Elvis in the '50s: Scotty
Moore, DJ Fontana and The Jordanaires.
Scotty, one of my guitar idols,
played all the famous Sun records echo guitar riffs. The Jordanaires sang
the backup vocals we had heard so many times on so
many hit records in their
perfect gospel/pop harmonies. There was no Bill Black on doghouse bass
-- he had died back in 1965 -- but original drummer DJ
Fontana and a fill-in
bass player kicked out the rhythms that had supercharged Elvis on so many
tours of the Southland, the Louisiana Hayride shows and his historic TV
appearances all through the '50s.
There were numerous authentic
costume changes, the vocals were right on for all the hits, and all the
familiar moves were there. For anyone who had come under Elvis's magic
in the '50s this was a dream come true -- a trip back in time to the glory
days of rock 'n' roll. There was only one small problem with this show.
Elvis was played by look-alike, sound-alike, move-alike tribute artist
Rick Saucedo. . . but. . . "It was a night oo-oo what a night, It
was it really was such a night." . . .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
