(332) PLACES TO GO THINGS TO DO : ELVIS & HIS GUYS

I was a frequent guest at Elvis' when he lived in Los Angeles which was during his movie making years. I had some of the best times of my life in those years! I was also a staff song writer at American Music and involved in the demo making process for American Music and Pat Boone's company, Cooga-Mooga. Seems my whole life had become about music by then!

When Elvis' guys came down into town from Bel Air, we'd meet up to watch a show, have a meal, sit around a talk or play music after work. The guys were called "His Guys" or "The Entourage" then. These guys were a lot of fun to be with, and some of them had active interest in songwriting or acting, though most of them lived their lives around their working for Elvis. They were living the life of a millionaire, but once in a while they would take a break and get away.

We had favorite clubs and restaurants where we met up with my songwriter colleagues. We liked the Palomino Club in the Valley, which became one of our hang outs. Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood was where we hung out. Cliff Gleaves prefered it and Trini Lopez would come in. We liked the Carolina Pines restaurant. We liked the Whisky A Go Go on Sunset.

Elvis was now too famous to just stop into a diner or a club, though there were a few he still went to. Sometimes he would just drive Sunset in his Rolls Royce.

(331) RED WEST SINGER-SONGWRITER ACTOR and FEROCIOUS ELVIS BODYGUARD

RED WEST wrote about thirteen ELVIS PRESLEY'S songs... including a few for VIVA LAS VEGAS... He and I also wrote a few.

I've always admired Red's creative spirit and versatility. He had his own band at Hume highschool and could play chords up the neck of a guitar that even Elvis didn't know and was a lot of fun and part of the entertainment at the parties.

But back in the day, the thing that RED WEST was most known for was skipping the karate and getting right into wrapping a guy around a pole! He did what he had to do to bodyguard Elvis and talked about doing so after the fact.

Here is an interview of Red West that Elvis' all time friend GEORGE KLEIN did on his MEMPHIS SOUNDS show. I'm proud to say that Red continued to pursue his dream of being an actor after Elvis died, and he is well regarded and successful at it.

This video has some scenes of Elvis and the guys horsing around and Elvis throwing in a few karate moves. At the time I was also taking karate. Sometimes Elvis and I had a few rounds.

(330) ELVIS PRESLEY FUN IN ACAPULCO

I went on the set when Elvis was making FUN IN ACAPULCO in 1963!

First the camera crew had entourage member, musician, and songwriter Red West (who now has a great acting career of his own going!) sit and ride on a bike. They had some huge cameras - from the floor up - and a background of Acapulco that had already been filmed and then synchronized it with Elvis riding. In the movie it looks like he's riding in that Mexican city, but he never left the soundstage.

That was the state of movie magic at the time!

The movie also starred actress Ursula Andress, who had once briefly dated James Dean, and who went on to marry Producer John Derek.

The movie title song was first demo'ed by P.J. Proby. When a songwriter wrote a song with a singer in mind and in this case a song for an Elvis Movie so Elvis, the demo was made to sound as much as possible as that singer.

P.J. who has a strong voice and could sound much like Elvis, was chosen. Here is a Youtube video that features both! I think they both sound great.



This Youtube video has more than one song on it. Elvis looks terrific and towards the end there you can see the blonde beauty, who is Ursula.


Christine here: I'm catching up slowly on Elvis movies. This year I saw Jail House Rock, Double Trouble, and - just the other day - Fun in Alcapulco.

THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF THIS BLOG !

We've come so far from the day when we just had the idea that we would blog.

We started out with the basic template that Google Blogger offered, and over time changed the look of this blog three or four times. We feel settled with the customized look we use these days- the baby blue- but you never know...

This past year, because of YouTube contributers we've been able to link to some of Wes Bryan's early recordings, and we want to THANK YOU for that. It's a thrill for me, believe me...

We've also enjoyed experimenting with the Photobucket slideshow and the fun Wes Bryan Meez avatar; I really look a lot like him!

Hubba! Hubba!

Most of all, I have enjoyed hearing from old friends and making some new ones...

THANK YOU for reading WES BRYAN- MY LIFE IN MUSIC

Wes Bryan

and Christine Trzyna

RARE FOOTAGE OF ELVIS' DEATH in 1977

THERE WERE SO MANY VIDEOS TO CHOOSE FROM but we decided on this one... George Klein was friends with Elvis since high-school and very loyal.

(329) BILLBOARD MAGAZINE : C.A.R.E. : ADS TO HONOR ELVIS PRESLEY

C.A.R.E. was an organization I started (with Currie Grant, who met Elvis when Elvis was in Germany, in the army) to honor Elvis Presley, by posting ads in BILLBOARD magazine, to celebrate our friend Elvis' birthdays and the anniversaries of his death. Those who's names appeared in the ads - which I think we posted for at least a decade - paid for the ad out of their own pockets (and believe me these ads were not inexpensive.) I headed up the effort, calling people I knew, collecting the money, designing the ads.

Although Elvis was an incredible talent from the very beginning, and today it seems he will never be forgotten (one third of all Elvis fans were born after his death!), in the years right before and then after his death... I know you may not believe this... but Elvis was remembered mostly for his illness and his early demise, and it almost seemed as if he would be forgotten.

WE COULDN'T LET THAT HAPPEN!

We remembered ELVIS PRESLEY, with love.

... Yes for his talent, his hard work, the dedication he had to his fans and his family, his generosity and loyalty... and most of all the fun we had with him ...


Friends, this is something new to us, linking to GOOGLE BOOKS, which has some old Billboard Magazines in it, and we're sorry about the popup ads above,which you can click off. (If the Billboard page does not come up on your computer, try clicking on the link at the post title instead!) The Billboard ad can be moved up and down...

This C.A.R.E. ad is from 1982. We're guessing you know at least some of the names on it, and from this blog you recognize Rick Nelson, Cliff Gleaves, Frankie Avalon, Tom Jones, Pat Boone, and Ann Margret.

ELVIS PRESLEY LAST STAGE PERFORMANCE

JERRY WIENTRAUB MEMOIR "WHEN I STOP TALKING YOU'LL KNOW I'M DEAD" is terrific!

JERRY WIENTRAUB has been one of the hardest and smartest working guys in music history and it's true that he succeeded first with a new model for concert promotions. Closer to home here, he got Joe Esposito, one of Elvis' long term guys, a job after Elvis died. Jerry's a good guy, so of course we wanted to read his memoir.

Here's a excerpt from page 80, concerning Colonel Parker, who Jerry held in esteem.

"ELVIS MADE ALL THE ARTISTIC DECISIONS and DID EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTED TO DO. Business and promotion was what Colonel cared about. As for the movies, which some people didn't like, Colonel Parker had just two rules: One: It has to have ten songs because 10 songs made a record. Two: Elvis got paid one million dollars. This neat sum, one million, the Colonel loved it. It rolled off his tongue."


by Jerry Weintraub with Rich Cohen
Twelve Books publishers

(328) JAMES BURTON GUITAR MASTER

JAMES BURTON played guitar for Rick Nelson first, and by 1963 he was my favorite, working for me as a session man. He used to borrow the XKG Jaguar that I bought from song writing residuals and take it for a little ride.

I played demos I did for Elvis and when he heard Burton on them, he said, "Wes, would you mind if I used Burton too?" James started working for Elvis by 1969 and did so famously!

We're linking to THE OFFICIAL JAMES BURTON WEB SITE - He's still so busy! And he now has his own charitable foundation as well.

WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC IS OPEN-ID ENABLED

We've enabled OPEN-ID members (millions of members!) to leave comments on our blog. We have also enabled verification to cut down on comment spam!

THANK YOU FOR READING, listening, and making WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC a little bit of your life!

Wes Bryan and Christine Trzyna

LITTLE RICHARD Quote on ELVIS PRESLEY

"He was an integrator, Elvis was a blessing. They wouldn't let black music through. He opened the door for black music." Little Richard

BEATLES COVER JOHNNY BURNETTE'S LONESOME TEARS IN MY EYES (Live at the BBC)

This is a find! The Beatles live on the BBC radio singing a Johnny Burnett song, July 1963... You know one of the themes of this blog is THE AMERICAN INVASION OF BRITAIN!