(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!

(327) ELVIS PRESLEY THOUGHT THE WORLD of RICK NELSON

Elvis said to me, "Wes, Rick is a true person."

Elvis liked Rick Nelson as a human being and that's why he made friends with him and invited him to play football on his team, EP Enterprises. Johnny Rivers is the person who first introduced me to Rick Nelson and his brother David Nelson. Soon I was playing on the team with Rick.

This song MAD MAD WORLD which came out in 1963 still has so much innocence in it, but by the end of 1963 we as American's would loose our innocence...



Earlier we blogged on the contribution of songwriter JERRY FULLER on Rick's career. Rick also recorded songs written by JOHNNY and DORSEY BURNETT like this one... and by the way, two great studio musicians who worked a bit for me (I like to say they were once part of my "Wrecking Crew") and went on to back ELVIS PRESLEY as musicians are on this recording, Joe Osborne, and James Burton.

(326) DORSEY and JOHNNY BURNETT and RICK NELSON

Both Dorsey and Johnny became really good friends of mine, Johnny especially; he was the younger brother. They were both nice guys. They treated people well and that always counts. They had both worked at Crown Electric where Elvis worked before he turned to music as his way to make a living. Elvis felt a loyalty there and they agreed not to record the same song.

JOHNNY AND DORSEY BURNETT WROTE A GOOD NUMBER OF SONGS THAT RICK NELSON RECORDED.

The link above is to THE HISTORY OF ROCK.COM article about THE BURNETTES

50th ANNIVERSARY of the HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME

was celebrated yesterday... We're linking to the official site so you can find out what stars will be receiving stars soon!

(325) JOHNNY RIVERS INTRODUCED ME TO JOHNNY and DORSEY BURNETT

JOHNNY RIVERS came out to Los Angeles from New York... following what seemed to be an exodus of talent to the West Coast from the East. Seemed like only Ersel Hickey remained behind. Johnny taught Ersel some guitar chords back in New York and then the two of them wrote a song for me. And when Johnny came out he stayed with me and my brother for some time while he tried and tried again... I've said it before and I'll say it again "JOHNNY RIVERS WOULD NOT QUIT!"

Though I met a lot of great artists in New York and on my tours, there were others I really wanted to meet that I met through Johnny.

Johnny is the person who introduced me to Johnny and Dorsey Burnett. Another song that Johnny liked to cover at Elvis' house parties is this one by Dorsey, "Hey Little One."

(323) SOUNDS OF AN ELVIS PRESLEY HOUSE PARTY : WES BRYAN

When I was playing the performer at Elvis Presley's house parties, I usually did a couple of my songs like "Melodie D' Amour" and "The Dying Ember." I had played these songs, and so many more on my promotional tours for United Artists as well as on the Buddy Knox tour.

I also remember singing a song that Elvis harmonized with me on, "Because of You," a cover of a song by Tony Bennett.


Update with new video? Searching...

(322) SOUNDS OF AN ELVIS PRESLEY HOUSE PARTY : ELVIS SINGS UNCHAINED MELODY

THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS are one of my favorites and Elvis Presley's too. At the time the sound of two men harmonizing and singing together was popular. When Buddy Knox and I were on tour together sometimes women fans would ask us if we were brothers (!) Elvis liked to sing his version of this song at his house parties. Can you imagine! So many times all the other music and the dancing and talking stopped and people would trickle into the room and sit quietly to hear him sing.


BOBBY HATFIELD did the lead on this song.

(321) JOHNNY RIVERS: SOUNDS OF AN ELVIS PRESLEY HOUSE PARTY : THE TALL OAK TREE

DORSEY BURNETT'S 1960 "Tall Oak Tree" was a favorite cover for JOHNNY RIVERS. I can still see Johnny sitting on the sofa in his Capri Pants (which we made fun of him for wearing at the time - they were just too fashionable!) playing and singing this song.

Here's Dorsey's version:


Dorsey sounds like the blues singer Brook Benton when he sings.

And the Johnny Rivers version:



We're linking here to the JOHNNY RIVERS official web site!

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE...

(320) SOUNDS OF AN ELVIS PRESLEY HOUSEPARTY : RAGS TO RICHES

TONY BENNETT'S version of RAGS to RICHES was one of the songs that Elvis loved to cover when he sang at his parties. We were lucky to find the 1950's version of Tony's song and a good Elvis version on Youtube. Elvis was always amazed that he had become rich. He felt that it had been God's will that he become an entertainer and that was the way he could make a difference in people's lives. As the years passed Elvis began a spiritual search in earnest but he was a Christian first and foremost.





When Elvis sang this song for us at the house, he accompanied himself, playing the piano... The acoustics were good in the big living room on Perugio Way.

PAM MURPHY - ANGEL TO THE VETERANS

PAM MURPHY was a friend to all the veterans who came through the Veterans Hospital in Los Angeles. I recently had my routine check up and as usual, I was hoping to talk to Pam. It was another sadness for me to learn that another friend of mine had passed on. I guess that's the inevitable hazard of getting older yourself.

Pam was the widow of AUDI MURPHY, the most decorated soldier in World War II, a war hero. (You can link to the Veteran's Today article about her here!) and as I understand it, she started as a volunteer and then was given a job of her own, which she performed for years with a smile. Word got out that if you wanted to get through the bureaucracy down there faster, let Pam help you.

Growing up AUDI MURPHY was one of my heroes. I was surprised and pleased to learn, when Christine did my genealogy, that he and I share a great great great grandfather! I told Pam about it, and she thought it was funny. God is surely blessing Pam for all the work she did to help our soldiers.

ELBERT HUBBARD Quote on Friendship

"Never explain. Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway." - Elbert Hubbard

(319) SOUNDS OF AN ELVIS PRESLEY HOUSE PARTY : DANNY BOY

This Youtube video was a real find and we (and thousands of other Youtube listeners) want to thank the person who posted this... not a fancy video but an Elvis private recording circa 1959. THE REASON WE'RE POSTING THIS IS THAT ELVIS PRESLEY USED TO SING DANNY BOY to us at the parties and it brought tears to our eyes.


Elvis did his thing with my song "The Dying Ember" presenting my song just like this, him and his guitar.