ELVIS PRESLEY 500 MILES

Listening to this song reminded me of being at Elvis' parties when the guests started singing along with Elvis. Elvis loved to sing. He's known for the massive audiences he performed in front of at the end of his life, but he loved singing to one or a few people too.

Members of The Entourage were also musical and so many of us - me, Johnny Rivers, P.J. Proby, and so many other people also brought our guitars and our own songs as well as songs we covered with us as part of the entertainment. And on the piano - Cliff Gleaves!

One of the most wonderful memories I have of Elvis and his parties in Los Angeles is the outbreaks of performance that happened spontaneously.

We want to thank the Youtuber "Jackiej61too" who posted this! What a find! Jackie told us that IT WOULD BE AN HONOR TO HAVE HER VIDEO POSTED ON OUR BLOG and says "ELVIS FOREVER!"

(110) LISTENING TO DEMOS WITH ELVIS PRESLEY

I became a regular at Elvis' house parties by 1961, sometimes spending entire weekends there, using a guest room when I needed to. But I didn't use the occasion to pitch my songs or songs written by American Music peers. There was an understanding there about keeping a separation between friendship and business, just like there was an understanding among Elvis' friends and his entourage-employees, about the conduct expected when it came to women.

But Elvis respected songwriters greatly. He knew there were no songs without them because one thing Elvis didn't concentrate on was writing his own songs. Discovering great songs - songs that he loved - was his thing.

Johnny Rivers and I used to get over to Bel Air by three Saturday afternoon on a typical weekend. And it was Elvis who played demos for us, to get our opinion. These were demos he had been sent by various artists, some which made it into his hands through friends or Colonel Parker, his manager, and other demos which he himself had recorded. There was confidentiality expected, privacy to be maintained, about the music Elvis was considering recording himself. Elvis playing demos became a bit of a ritual for us. I was honored that he cared about my opinion.