Tag: Priscilla Presley

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We Saw You: Jerry Schilling on “Elvis” the Movie

Jerry Schilling at the Memphis premiere of Elvis at The Guest House at Graceland (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Jerry Schilling was Elvis’ buddy for 23 years after he played football with the King one hot Memphis afternoon on July 11, 1954.  

Schilling, who was 12 at the time, went on to become part of Elvis’s entourage, a business associate, and a long-time friend.

Now Schilling  is watching himself being portrayed on screen in Elvis. The motion picture, which opens June 24th, was directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars Austin Butler as Elvis. “I think the movie, overall, is the best piece of work in a project done on Elvis,” Schilling says. “One, I think it answers a lot of questions by just telling the story of misconceptions of my friend.”

And, he says, Luhrmann, “put his heart and soul into it and put together an unbelievable cast.”

The project took 11 years from the idea to the finished movie, Schilling says. “There were sets burning up in Australia, Covid, you name it.”

But the delays “gave them time to really marinate this story. And everybody went back and rethought it and made it a much better film.”

Schilling now is manager of The Beach Boys, who recently released Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys box set. 

Author of the 2006 book, Me and a Guy Named Elvis, Schilling also has been involved in numerous Elvis-related projects. “Over the years, I have produced more shows on Elvis than I think anybody can count. I’ve cast or been part of casting various actors to play Elvis over the years. And I’ve worked with others cast by other people.”

He thought Michael St. Gerard, who played the King in the 1990 Elvis TV series, was “innately Elvis, because he was playing the younger Elvis and he didn’t have the high collars and jumpsuits and everything. But when I saw Austin Butler, he had the young Elvis down. He had the middle. He had the end. He didn’t overdo it.”

Austin Butler at the Memphis premiere of Elvis (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Butler concentrated on the part, Schilling says. “For years he did nothing but become Elvis. He was not a performer, not a singer, but a terrific actor. It was Denzel Washington who brought Butler to Baz Lurhmann. They had done something on Broadway — The Iceman Cometh. Denzel was so impressed with his work ethic.”

Butler’s role as Elvis was “multi-faceted,” Schilling says. “He did a lot of his own singing, which Michael didn’t do. I will never take anything away from Michael St. Gerard. I was in awe of him.”

But Butler was “so sincere. He fell in love with the character. He said it was like, ‘I can climb Mt. Everest.’ That was the challenge.”

But, Schilling says, “He doesn’t overdo  it. He does it subtly. None of that curling the lip, ‘Thank you very much,’ all the bullshit. He’s got charisma. You want to be around him. You like him. And, you know what? When he walks in the room he’s got that little shyness Elvis had as well. It’s like a magnetic attraction goes to him.”

And, he says, Butler “fell in love with Memphis.”

Butler and Lurhmann spent time in Memphis and Tupelo, Schilling says. “They really put their heart and soul into this movie and I think it shows on the screen.”

Schilling met Lurhmann three years ago at dinner with an RCA executive during the promotional tour of the Elvis Presley: The Searcher at HBO documentary that Schilling conceived. “I think he was still looking for his Elvis at this point. He just said, ‘If this ship pulls anchor, I want you on it.’”

Baz Luhrmann at the Memphis premier of Elvis (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Schilling and Priscilla Presley got together with Tom Hanks — who plays Elvis’ manager, Col. Tom Parker — before filming began. “Priscilla ran into Tom Hanks’ wife, Rita Wilson, at the grocery store and Rita said, ‘Why don’t you and Jerry Schilling come over for dinner?’ This is two weeks before Tom went to Australia to start filming. So, we go there and Tom opens the door and the first thing he says is,  ‘Jerry, are we going to talk about the Beach Boys or Elvis?’”

Hanks is a huge Beach Boys fan, Schilling says. But they spent the next three or four hours talking about Elvis and Parker. “Priscilla and I really wanted to give a full picture of Colonel Parker to Tom.”

The movie was “pretty much finished” when Schilling met Butler. “Priscilla and I went to New York for the Metropolitan Gala that Baz Luhrmann invited us to.”

They met Butler in a revolving door at The Carlyle hotel on their way out to dinner a few days before the gala. “He comes in and says, ‘Hi,’ to both of us. Seems like a nice guy. Good looking guy. It’s Austin. So, he goes, ‘Oh, my God.’ He’s really nervous. He says, ‘I want you two guys to be happy with this.’”

Schilling and Priscilla wouldn’t commit to going to the Cannes Film Festival for a showing of  Elvis until they saw the movie. So, Lurhmann arranged a special screening of the film for the two of them.  “I purposely didn’t sit next to her. I sat down, wanting to have my own thoughts. I wanted her to have her own thoughts. Half way through, I’m beside her. By the end, Priscilla looked at me and said, ‘Well, I guess we’re going to Cannes.’”

Priscilla Presley at the Memphis premier of Elvis (Credit: Michael Donahue)

They knew Luhrmann was going to make his type of movie. “Baz is a very private filmmaker. He’s going to do what he wants to do. So, you never know” — like the Russwood Park concert scene, where Elvis/Butler pulls out all the stops with his seductive gyrations, shakes, and wiggles. Schilling was 14 when he went to that show. “In real life,  it was much more subtle than they make it in the movie ‘cause you’re making a movie. But he did make the statement and he did his own show. And it was a ‘wow’ show.”

Elvis had recently appeared in a tuxedo singing “Hound Dog” to a dog on TV’s The Steve Allen Show after being introduced by Allen as “the new Elvis Presley.” Elvis, Schilling says, told the Russwood audience, “I’m not going to let those people in New York change me. That was his way of saying, ‘You’re going to get the real Elvis.’” 

Was Parker a villain in real life? “The film is really difficult for me because I know the controlling side of the Colonel. I know the bullying side.  But I also know the human side of the Colonel. I don’t think he was dishonest at all. The only concern I have was when Elvis wanted to do A Star is Born and travel overseas and have his own production company.”

Tom Hanks at the Memphis premier of Elvis (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Elvis eventually started his own production company with himself and Schilling as heads of the company. But he never got to travel overseas. “The Colonel didn’t want it known he wasn’t an American citizen. But, creatively, the Colonel was really holding Elvis back.”

Elvis did “some good movies,” but most of them were the same type of musical. “I think I lost my friend at an early age because of creative disappointments. He was embarrassed and he tried to fight. And the machinery was too big.”

As for Elvis’s ambitions, including doing more serious roles, Shilling says Parker and other business associates “killed all that.”

With every Elvis musical, there was a soundtrack, “no matter how good or bad the music might be. At one point, Elvis said, ‘I’m not doing any more of this stuff.’ And the Colonel said, ‘You’ll fulfill your contract or you’re not doing anything.’”

As for Schilling talking back to Parker in the early days, he says, “Listen, I wasn’t in a position most of the time to be telling Colonel Parker what to do, or any of that.”

Schilling stopped working for Elvis for a time and went into film editing. “Because I quit working for him, I didn’t have to be under the Colonel’s supervision. For me, idolizing, looking up to Elvis as a 12 year old, and him not having a hit record when I met him, to be able, years later, to discuss a movie of his or a tour of his, that’s full circle.”

But, Schilling says,  “There was a human side of Colonel Parker. Did he love Elvis Presley? Yes. Did Elvis love the Colonel? Yes.”

And, he says, “It was the best team. Elvis never forgot what the Colonel did for him in the beginning. It’s hard to get all that in the film.”

Schilling is portrayed in the movie by Luke Bracey. But Schilling hadn’t met Bracey when he, Priscilla, Hanks, and Butler flew to Cannes. “I asked Tom Hanks, ‘So, how was Luke Bracey playing me? I haven’t met him.’ He said, ‘He was the voice of reason through the whole thing.’ And Austin said, ‘Yep. He really was.’”

“I think what it means to me — and I think what the message they were trying to give me — is so many times the guys around Elvis were these hangers-on who laughed when Elvis laughed. And were just ‘yes’ men.”

Schilling wasn’t one of those. He remembered when he “challenged” one of Elvis’s decisions. “And he goes, ‘Okay, you can go back to Memphis if you don’t like it.’ Over the 23 years I knew him, we had three or four arguments. It wouldn’t have been a real friendship if we hadn’t.”

Schilling was “totally pleased” with Bracey’s portrayal of him, which he says was respectful and based on facts. “They read my book, I’m sure, more than once. Austin told me they read everything.”

Schilling says Bracey “doesn’t overdo anything. And yet when it was time to maybe have a difference of opinion whether it was Elvis or it was the Colonel, he played it right. He didn’t come back and do a big argument, which I wouldn’t have done either. He got me down.”

In trying to put Elvis’s life in perspective, Schilling says, “We’re all familiar with the ‘68 Comeback Special’ and what that did to Elvis’s career when it was really, as the movie says, in the toilet.”

 Elvis, the movie, is “the ‘’68 Legacy Comeback,’” Schilling says. “I think this is going go do for his legacy what the ‘’68 Comeback Special’ did for his career while he was alive. It gives viewers an understanding of how special this man was.”

Schilling adds, “Ironically, 68 years ago in July was when Elvis’ first record was played, and when I met him.”

When I interviewed him, Schilling was headed to see the Elvis movie with Priscilla for his fourth time, and Priscilla’s fifth. “I’m glad this movie will be a record years from now for the history of Elvis, the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, and of Tupelo, of Memphis. It really needed to be documented. If this was written and not filmed, I would put it in the National Archives.”

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Elvis

Austin Butler’s performance as Elvis is electrifying.

The most insightful film I’ve ever seen about Elvis Presley is “The Singing Canary,” a five-minute experimental short by Memphis director Adam Remsen. It contains neither images of Elvis nor his music, only footage of astronauts and rocket launches. Remsen’s voice-over casts Elvis not as a singer or entertainer or idol, but as an explorer of new psychic spaces.

Yes, Elvis was supremely talented, superhumanly good looking, and unbelievably charismatic. But it was sheer luck that he came along at exactly the moment in history when a combination of rhythm and blues, amphetamines, and television could transform a penniless truck driver into the most famous person who had ever lived. “No one had ever been in his position before. He did the best he could,” said Remsen. “He was just living his life, making the best choices he could. As it happened, he was unprepared to make those choices, in one way or another.”

Who could have been prepared? The only people who had been as famous as Elvis circa 1957 were pharaohs. A decade later, The Beatles would express relief that, when they were thrown into the maelstrom of modern fame, at least they had one another. Elvis was alone, going through stuff no one in the entire 300,000-year history of Homo sapiens had ever gone through before. “He was the singing canary we sent into the gold mine. And when the singing stopped, we learned it was dangerous in there.”

The latest big screen attempt to tell The King’s story shares this view of Elvis as a martyr for the information age. Baz Luhrmann is one of a handful of directors with an instantly recognizable style. As technically exacting as he is bombastic, Luhrmann’s films are the closest thing we have to the lavish MGM musicals of Old Hollywood. Emotions are heightened, the cutting is frenetic, and realism is an afterthought. Music and montage are Luhrmann’s love language, and everything else is in service of maintaining the momentum. When he’s on his game, Luhrmann can sweep you up and transport you to another place like the tornado in The Wizard of Oz.

This film rises above the simple jukebox musical I feared we would get when I heard Luhrmann was taking on the story of The King. Credit for much of its success must go to Austin Butler, who has the unenviable task of trying to bring to life the most impersonated man in history. On the Louisiana Hayride and at the triumphant July 4, 1956, Russwood Park homecoming show, Butler is electrifying. He’s got the cheekbones, and he knows how to use them.

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley.

The racial politics of the era are never far from the surface. In Luhrmann’s vision, Elvis’ smoking-hot sexuality was what made him dangerous. But what scared The Establishment about this poor white kid singing Black music was not how he danced — it was that Elvis represented a crack in the South’s Jim Crow apartheid. He didn’t just laugh at the minstrel show; he identified with B.B. King, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Little Richard. Some of the white kids who followed him would go on to discover The Bar-Kays, Sam Cooke, and Aretha Franklin, and begin to think, “Hey, maybe these Black people are humans, just like me.”

But the protean summer of ’56, which has for so long formed the fetish of rock-and-roll, doesn’t interest Luhrmann as much as the Vegas era. It begins with an elaborate staging of the ’68 Comeback Special. Instead of focusing on the in-the-round jam session, which remains one of the greatest live musical performances ever put before a camera, Luhrmann finds meaning in Elvis’ selection of “If I Can Dream” as his closing number. Butler delivers the moment with maximum gravitas.

Col. Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) advises Elvis (Austin Butler).

Luhrmann’s most polarizing decision is to tell the story from Col. Tom Parker’s perspective — and not just because of Tom Hanks’ accent. Having the villain as the narrator is a very Shakespearean choice, intended to make Parker into Iago, a malignant influence confiding to us about the lies he’s whispering in the hero’s ear. Parker was the consummate confidence man and a natural-born carny barker. In the early days, he and Elvis were an unstoppable team. When Elvis was languishing in Vegas, it would have been better if he were alone. Parker gets the blame for Elvis sitting out the Civil Rights fights of the late ’60s and for missing opportunities to tour the world. He gets credit for the groundbreaking Aloha from Hawaii concert, the definitive document of Elvis’ late period. But Luhrmann declines to use the first satellite broadcast to a global audience of one billion as a climax, like Queen at Live Aid in Bohemian Rhapsody. As for Hanks’ performance as the shady Dutch immigrant, let’s just say that the veteran actor knows when to put the ham on the sandwich.

Elvis (Austin Bulter) and Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge).

The standouts in the sprawling supporting cast include Helen Thomson’s sad turn as the alcoholic Gladys and Olivia DeJonge’s uncanny Priscilla. The Power of the Dog’s Kodi Smit-McPhee gets a standout cameo as Jimmie Rodgers Snow, one of the first people to understand the depth of Elvis’ power. During the early film’s frequent digressions into the Beale Street music scene, Yola Quartey and Shonka Dukureh each get show-stopping moments as Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Big Mama Thornton.

Ultimately, your reaction to Elvis is going to depend on whether or not you can vibrate on Luhrmann’s frequency. I was a fan of the director’s early work, like Romeo + Juliet, but found The Great Gatsby off-putting and snoozed through Australia. Elvis is a return to the explosive Luhrmann of Moulin Rouge. He freely twists the songs, sometimes in ways that are insightful, and sometimes in ways that betray a lack of trust in the material, like using anachronistic hip-hop beats whenever we return to Beale. The film is massively overstuffed with striking images, but that kind of sounds like complaining because you have too many scoops of delicious ice cream. It’s understandable if you find the constant barrage of visual information disorienting or the constant dance on the edge of camp cloying. But when Elvis is on stage, and Luhrmann is on fire, you understand why The King will live forever.

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We Saw You: The Elvis Memphis Movie Premiere

Austin Butler, who plays Elvis, and Michael Donahue at the Memphis premiere of “Elvis.” (Credit: Austin Butler)

If Priscilla Presley gives her seal of approval to your portrayal of Elvis in a movie, that’s all you need.

And that’s exactly what Priscilla, who was married to The King and is the mother of their child, Lisa Marie Presley, did during the Memphis premiere of the Baz Luhrmann movie Elvis, which stars Austin Butler as Elvis, on June 11th at The Guest House at Graceland.

“Elvis morphed into you,” Presley told Butler on stage before the movie started. “You had his guidance.”

Stars from the movie, director Luhrmann, and members of the Presley family, including Lisa Marie and her daughter, Riley Keough, and Elvis’ buddy and business associate, Jerry Schilling, were at the premiere. They all gathered on stage at one point. The movie is slated to open nationwide June 24th.

The Memphis premiere of Elvis. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Earlier, I talked to Priscilla and people involved in the film.

I asked Priscilla what sets Elvis apart from other movies and documentaries about the performer. “It’s very sensitive to me and the family,” she says. “Baz has done an amazing job in this film. This has been two years. I know he’s been wanting to do this forever, do a movie on Elvis. But, with Baz, I get a little nervous because Baz does what he wants. He’s got an eye. He’s got such style. But now dealing with such a sensitive story was a bit worrisome [as to] where he’s going to take it.”

But, she says, “It is a true story between the ups and downs of Elvis and Col. Parker, but with his stylized way, beautiful way. Especially with Austin Butler, who plays Elvis so realistically. He had him down pat to the point of a gesture. He studied him for two years. And the story will prove it. When you see it, you think you’re seeing Elvis Presley. But, again, he is not Elvis Presley. He is an actor playing Elvis Presley. And that’s what I like about it, too. He’s not trying to be Elvis. He is his own person.

“But the story is a wonderful story and I think it’s a different take on what we normally see.”

Priscilla Presley at the Memphis premiere of Elvis. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

I asked Butler, who described Elvis as “such a complex human being,” what was the most difficult part of Elvis for him to play. “One of the most challenging things is the fact that he has been held up as either a god-like iconic figure or as this caricature that is not the real man,” Butler says. “So, for me, it was stripping all that away and getting down to his humanity. 

“And the challenging part about that is you want to be incredibly technical. You want to be meticulous about all the details. But it could never be the details sacrificing the humanity.”

Luhrmann told me Elvis movies were shown at the theater in the small town where he grew up. “The matinees were the Elvis movies,” he says. “So, like as a 10-year-old, he was the coolest guy in the world. And then I grew on and all that. He was always present.”

As for making Elvis, Luhrmann says, “I didn’t do this so much out of fandom, although I have a great respect for him. I did this because I really believe he is at the center of America in the ’50s, ’60s, and the ’70s. And he is a way of exploring America. To understand that he was this rebel in the ’50s and it was dangerous to do what he was doing.  And his relationship to Beale Street and people like B. B. King and then him being put in a bubble in Hollywood and then finding himself again in the [Elvis] ’68 [Comeback] Special and reconnecting with gospel, his great, great love. And then, to put it bluntly and to quote one of his songs, being caught in a trap in Vegas. That’s the sort of tragedy of that.

“And yet, what he’s left behind, as you see in that last great performance of him is still the voice and still the spirit. To me, whatever you say about Elvis, he was a spiritual person. And that comes from his love of gospel.”

I received direction from Baz Luhrmann, who showed me how to properly take a selfie, at the Memphis premiere of Elvis. (Credit: Baz Luhrmann)

Kelvin Harrison Jr., who plays B.B. King in Elvis, told me what drew him to the role. “For me, it was just how smart he was and how savvy he was with his business,” he says. “This was a very strategic man, in my opinion, but also [he had] so much heart and soul. And a simple man. He literally was working in the fields, and literally put up a wire on a post and started learning how to play and find sounds playing one string. That is so incredible to me. So I was just so inspired by the tenacity that he had, and just the rawness.”

Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Jerry Schilling at the Memphis premiere of Elvis. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

In the movie, Elvis is astonished at the stage presence, complete with the most amazing moves, of Little Richard. Alton Mason plays Richard in the film. What attracted him to the role was “how powerful, how outspoken and loud he was,” Mason told me. “How sexy he was. How fly he was. And his aura.”

Mason, who said the revered gospel singer Mahalia Jackson is his great-great-great-great aunt, also told me, “I had to develop empathy for not only who he was, but the period and the time that he was in. And him being that in that time, it takes a lot of power, a lot of fearlessness, to choose to be so different in a time like this. It was an amazing learning experience for me, too.”

Michael Donahue and Alton Mason at the Elvis premiere. (Credit: Alton Mason)

I loved what Tom Hanks, who plays Col. Tom Parker, said on stage before the movie began: “As an actor I found myself shooting in castles in which kings once lived in. I shot in palaces that have been turned into museums that were the homes of kings. I shot in museums in which kings and queens have lived in.”

But he told the audience to notice that all of those kings and queens “have an ‘s’ on the end of them. Meaning that there were more than one. At Graceland, we are visiting the home of The King.”

Tom Hanks at the Elvis Memphis movie premiere. (Credit: Michael Donahue)
President and CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises Jack Soden and his wife, Leighann, at the Memphis premiere of Elvis. (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Joel Weinshanker, majority owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises and managing partner of Graceland Holdings LLC and EPE, and Kim Laughlin at the Memphis premiere of Elvis. (Credit: Michael Donahue)
Hal and Geri Lansky and their daughter, Lia Lansky, at the Memphis premiere of Elvis. (Credit: Michael Donahue)
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Priscilla Presley to be Honored at Theatre Memphis

Priscilla Presley (Credit: Christopher Ameruoso)

Priscilla Presley will be honored at a black tie celebration, “Priscilla Presley: The Artist, The Woman,”  July 22nd at Theatre Memphis.

“This is a community thank you to Priscilla for all she has done for the Memphis community,” says Dabney Coors, Theatre Memphis board member and a friend of Priscilla, who was married to Elvis Presley.

The evening will include a formal presentation in the theater with music followed by a dinner and music in the lobby.

 “I truly am honored by this,” Priscilla says in a phone interview. “Gosh. I’m a little overwhelmed because I love Memphis. I love the city. I love Tennessee.”

And, she says, “I never expected this. It’s just taken me back a bit.”

Coors, immediate past president of the Theatre Memphis board, came up with the idea for the celebration. “The idea has been in my head for the last eight years,” Coors says. “I said to Priscilla when she opened the Guest House (at Graceland), ‘Priscilla, you give and give and give to Memphis.  And one day we’re going to turn this around and we’re going to give to you.’”

Why this year? “Because this is the 40th anniversary of Priscilla opening Graceland,” Coors says. “She saved Graceland from being sold. When she was 34 years old and she became the executor of the estate, it fell to her to decide what to do with Graceland. And the bankers, the lawyers, and the IRS told her she had one option and that was to sell.

Says Priscilla: “When I was told that, I made a comment: ‘That will never happen.’ And those were fighting words for me. I searched for someone who could help me. I had a lot of people to choose from.”

She looked “from New York to Kansas City to here in Los Angeles. And Jack Soden (president and CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises), for me, was the best as far as helping me open it up. And here we are today.  And thank God he is still with us and a wonderful partner.”

 “She has brought 22 million international tourists to Memphis,” Coors says. “And impacted our Memphis economy more than six billion dollars over 40 years. Every queen, president, and rock and roll star who comes anywhere close to Memphis wants to go to Graceland. Graceland is considered the second most famous home in America after the White House.”

 Priscilla says, “When we opened Graceland, I never thought it would be the success that it is today. And people of all ages are coming to Graceland.”

One of her missions is to bring younger people to Elvis, she says. “You know our generation loved and cared for Elvis. My concern was that the younger generation learn and know who Elvis Presley was.”

Now, that generation is “passing it down to the next generation. Keeping the Elvis tours at Graceland certainly helped. People can’t believe his accomplishments.”

She and Elvis had “a wonderful relationship,” Priscilla says. “We never had the normal divorce. We still remained friends and cared for each other very much.”

Priscilla now lives in California, but she says, “I do not really consider California a part of me. Both my kids were born here and they live here. That’s the only reason I stick around. If I had my choice, I would be there in a minute. I would. I miss Memphis. I miss my friends. I miss the laughs. I miss the stories.”

 When she comes to Memphis, Priscilla likes to “go over to The Peabody hotel and hang out a little in there. Get a bite to eat and go over to Lansky’s. Check in and see how they’re doing. It’s always nice to keep the friends you had from the beginning.”

As a non-profit, Theatre Memphis has to raise money for the event, Coors says, and they already have 50 sponsors. “Memphis has stepped up.”

Debbie Litch, Theatre Memphis executive producer, says, “Theatre Memphis is privileged and honored to pay tribute to Memphis’ national and international ambassador Priscilla Presley.”

And, she says,  “As Theatre Memphis celebrates our 100th anniversary on May 20, 2022 as one of the nation’s most recognized and oldest community theaters in the nation, we want to recognize an extraordinary lady who has championed our Memphis community for over a half century.

“We are also excited to establish the Priscilla Presley Theatre Memphis Scholarship that will be awarded annually in honor of this outstanding woman to help an established or aspiring artist to achieve their artistic dream.”

Tickets are $300 apiece. Other seats will be reserved for the “community member status” section.

Among the entertainers taking part in the event will be Gary Beard, John Paul Keith, and Mario Monterosso. A special VIP area will be included.

For tickets and more information, call Theatre Memphis at (901) 682-8323.

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Graceland Offers Event-Filled Elvis B-Day Bash

Elvis, dressed for January (Photo courtesy Elvis Presley Enterprises)

Somehow, the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death gets more attention than that of his birth. That’s partly because he happened to be born in the middle of winter, while his death in August 1977 was in the heart of the tourist season.

Still, there are plenty of music aficionados who recognize his birthday every January 8th. Indeed, one can even view a timeline of how the King spent his birthday each year from 1955 to 1977. It’s impressive that on his 20th birthday, Elvis was in Shreveport, Louisiana, for his eighth appearance on the Louisiana Hayride. His third record on Sun Records, “Milkcow Blues Boogie” / “You’re a Heartbreaker,” had been released just 10 days earlier.

Of course, as keepers of the Elvis flame, the good folks at Elvis Presley’s Graceland have always honored the day handsomely. We have one such celebration, back in 1988, to thank for jump starting the definitive biography of Elvis by Peter Guralnick.

Yet this year’s celebrations at Graceland may be the biggest yet, and Priscilla Presley herself will appear here and there. Called ELVIS 45, in commemoration of the 45th anniversary of his passing in 1977, the programming will include special events, giveaways, new exhibit openings, and concerts at Graceland, not only from January 6th through 9th, but during the entire year.

In conjunction with the ongoing celebration, Graceland is offering the ELVIS 45: The Sapphire Collection, featuring a 2022 Graceland Annual Pass and a limited-edition collection of Elvis’ 45 RPM singles in a collectible case. Additionally, Elvis Presley’s Graceland in Memphis will be giving out 1,000 special Elvis 45s to visitors who tour on six select days in 2022. All records will feature an Elvis 45 custom jacket — and the record giveaways on three of the dates will be custom-pressings with a one-of-a-kind A/B side combination that is unavailable anywhere in the world. Visit Graceland.com/Elvis45 for details.

Young Elvis in front of Graceland (Photo courtesy Elvis Presley Enterprises).

The birthday festivities begin on January 6th include the Elvis Birthday Bash at Elvis Presley’s Memphis and private evening tours of Graceland Mansion decorated for the holidays. The special evening tour of Graceland Mansion will include live tour guides inside Graceland and Elvis Christmas music playing throughout the rest of the mansion grounds. At Elvis Presley’s Memphis, attendees can attend self-guided tours of the exhibits and an Elvis dance party with SiriusXM’s Elvis Radio DJ Argo at Presley Motors, and photo ops, Elvis trivia, scavenger hunts, and more.

January 7th features an afternoon screening and sing-along with the film Viva Las Vegas, and a gospel dinner with Elvis gospel music by Terry Blackwood and The Imperials in the Guest House ballroom.

The celebration continues on January 8th — Elvis’ birthday. At 8:30 a.m., the annual Elvis Birthday Proclamation Ceremony will take place on Graceland’s north lawn. The special ceremony will feature Priscilla Presley, a birthday cake cutting, and proclamation of Elvis Presley Day by Memphis and Shelby County officials. Fans who are unable to attend can watch the ceremony online for free via Graceland’s Livestream page or at Elvis Presley’s Graceland Facebook page. The afternoon includes Conversations on Elvis in the Guest House theater with stories from those who knew the King of Rock-and-Roll best, including a special appearance by Priscilla Presley; Terry Blackwood, who performed with Elvis as part of The Imperials; and Elvis’ jeweler, Lowell Hays. The evening of January 8th features members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra presenting their annual Elvis Pops Concert live at the Graceland Soundstage with musician and singer Terry Mike Jeffrey and his band joining them.

Graceland will also open four new exhibits in 2022, including Rock On, a pop-up replica guitar exhibit in partnership with Gibson Guitars in early January; Elvis: Dressed to Rock on May 7th, featuring jumpsuits and Elvis’ stage wear from 1969-1977; Graceland: Welcome to My World on June 7th, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Graceland opening to the public; and Dear Elvis, an exhibit honoring Elvis fans, which will open in August, just in time for Elvis Week 2022.

Elvis 45 events planned for 2022 include Graceland traditional annual events like Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Weekend in March, Graceland Performing Arts Camp in June, Elvis Week 2022 in August, Holiday Lighting Weekend in November, and Christmas Tours in December: plus, one-time events including a Valentine’s Day Package in February, Jailhouse Rock Party in April, Memphis Music Weekend in September, and more. Visit the Graceland.com calendar of events for a full listing.

Categories
Food & Wine Food & Drink

Pizza is King at Coletta’s

CREDIT: Coletta's Italian Restaurant/Facebook

Coletta’s Italian Restaurant/Facebook

What’s the best seller at Coletta’s restaurants during the quarantine?

“That’s very easy,” says owner Jerry Coletta. “Pizza, pizza, pizza.”

But their famous barbecue pizza — the logical choice — isn’t No. 1. Round the World, which has everything on it, is No. 1, followed by the All Meat, which has sausage and beef, pepperoni, and Canadian bacon, Coletta says. Their barbecue pizza is No. 3.

Coletta’s, which has been doing takeout, recently reopened its dining rooms with limited seating at both of its locations.

I asked Coletta about the history of the pizzas. “When Pizza Hut started advertising ‘Meat Lovers Pizza,’ we started getting deluged with orders for Meat Lover’s Pizza. So, we call it ‘All Meat.’ It’s really a Meat Lover’s Pizza.” That’s been 15 or 20 years ago, Coletta says. Round the World is much older. “My dad came up with that back in the ’50s.”

Coletta’s is a pizza pioneer in Memphis. “Back in the early ‘50s we had sailors coming in from the Navy base when they had the Navy base in Millington. They had had pizza in New York and Chicago and they were asking my dad why he didn’t put pizza on our menu. Of course, he didn’t know anything about pizza, but he actually went to Chicago to learn how to make pizzas.

“When he came back, he put pizza on the menu, but it wasn’t going over too well ‘cause it was a new type of food. People didn’t know what it was. Then he came up with the idea of the barbecue pizza. Of course, in Memphis everyone knows barbecue, and it sparked an interest in pizza. Barbecue pizza remains our signature item today.”

And that was Elvis’ favorite, Coletta says. The King dined on barbecue pizza at Coletta’s on South Parkway. Priscilla Presley, who likes Coletta’s lasagna and spaghetti and meatballs, used to pick up barbecue pizzas to-go.

The old Coletta’s on Summer was one of my go-to date-night places for dinner, but that restaurant burned a while back and didn’t reopen. Coletta’s has a location on Appling Road, but my all-time favorite is the restaurant on South Parkway. That was the original location of Coletta’s.

 Jerry’s grandfather, Emil Coletta, opened Coletta’s in 1923. His father, Horest Coletta, ran the restaurant for years. “In three years we’ll be celebrating our 100th anniversary.”

The South Parkway restaurant originally was much smaller. “The room where the bar is used to be the whole restaurant,” Coletta says. ”The door opened on the Parkway.”

I love that iconic drinking spot with its red vinyl bar. “We put the bar in in 1971,” he adds. ”Liquor by the drink became legal in 1970.” Lots of people love that bar, according to Coletta. “Well, it’s a combination of the black tables and the red. It just lends to a relaxing atmosphere.”

But you can’t kick back with a cocktail in the bar these days. “It’s still against the rules right now to open the bar,” Coletta says. “Just the dining room may be open now.” They opened the dining room May 4th. “We’re taking out of service every other table so the people are eight to ten feet apart. All the servers are wearing gloves and masks.”

Dining in hasn’t been popular, Coletta says. “We’re not having a lot of dine-in business. Some days we only have five or six tables. It hasn’t come near what it was, but the takeout business has been good.”

Coletta never experienced anything like the quarantine during his career. “Oh, this is unreal. Every day is a challenge. I have enough sausage to last me another week. I can’t seem to get enough meat to make my sausage. It’s a challenge to find supplies.”

Patrons still can visit another unusual feature of the South Parkway location: the small dining room at the far South side. “We added on that dining room in 1971. It’s supposed to look like an outdoor patio with the blue sky and the stars at night. That’s the effect we try to make back there.”

That dining room reopened this week. “It was a good time to do some remodeling. We repainted the whole room, repainted the statues. It was just a good time to do some maintenance that had been deferred.”

If you don’t want to order one of the top three Coletta’s pizzas, you’ve got many more to choose from. “I would say the possibilities are endless, ” Coletta says. “We list only about 20.”

Is there a Coletta’s pizza that isn’t popular? “We have an onion pizza. Onion and mushroom. It’s one of my favorites, but not too many people order that one.”

His favorite is their sausage, onion, and peppers pizza.

“People ask me if I get tired of eating pizza and I tell them, ‘No, there’s so much variety. You can order a different topping and you get a different meal. I probably eat pizza two or three times a week. And no, I don’t get tired of eating it.’”

Coletta’s is at 1063 South Parkway East (901) 948-7652; and at 2850 Appling Road, (901) 383-1122.

Categories
Music Music Blog

Elvis Turns 85: Rare Show by TCB Band & Other Events Mark King’s Birthday

CREDIT: Photo Courtesy Graceland/Elvis Presley Enterprises

Photo Courtesy Graceland/Elvis Presley Enterprises

Last year, the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s triumphant first residency in Las Vegas was memorialized with an extravagant 11-CD box set, Elvis: Live 1969, and it was a revelation. While “Las Vegas Elvis” suggests a rather kitschy affair to some, these recordings (remixed by Memphis’ own Matt Ross-Spang) revealed a crack band, a quintet fired up by new arrangements, embellished with a small orchestra and background singers, with a new lease on rock history, post-’68 Comeback. It was the first iteration of the soon-to-be-legendary TCB Band.

It’s such an intense listening experience, one can’t help imagining hearing it live. Astoundingly, in that embarrassment of riches that Memphians know well, the classic version of the TCB Band will be in our midst this week, when guitarist James Burton, pianist Glen Hardin and drummer Ronnie Tutt appear together at the Soundstage at Graceland on January 11.

Described as “a special concert experience featuring amazing on-screen performances from the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” the footage will have the distinction of being backed live on stage by the TCB Band, plus Terry Blackwood & the Imperials, who also sang with the King in that first residency in Las Vegas. Then, none other than Priscilla Presley and long-term Memphis Mafia member Jerry Schilling will make appearances.

It’s all part of Graceland’s grand celebration of what would have been Presley’s 85th birthday. With such a focus on the passage of time, one can’t help reflecting on the fact that Elvis was 34 when the iconic Las Vegas concerts began: seemingly washed up to the youth-fixated rockers, but in truth more full of energy and wit than he had been for many years previous.

Now, with a generous segment of the TCB Band still alive and picking, such concerns with time seem meaningless. See them now before time rears its ugly head again.

Other grand events for this special anniversary “birth week” include, on the morning of January 8th (the King’s birthday), the Elvis Birthday Proclamation Ceremony on Graceland’s North Lawn. Of course there will be a birthday cake.

Later, The Auction at Graceland will feature artifacts authenticated by Graceland Authenticated. (All the items in the auction will be offered from third-party collectors and none of the items included in the auction will come from the Graceland Archives).

Then, on January 10th, the full dynamic range of Elvis’ repertoire can be heard in force, when The Memphis Symphony Orchestra brings their annual Elvis Pops Concert home to the Graceland Soundstage. Musician and singer Terry Mike Jeffrey and his band will join the Memphis Symphony Orchestra for a birthday salute that will “take you from Memphis to Las Vegas to Hawaii all in one evening.”  It’s a fitting tribute to the King, as we imagine how he might be celebrating this milestone if things had worked out differently.

Categories
News News Feature

Southern Hospitality: Priscilla Presley Hosts a Weekend at Graceland

Priscilla Presley — actor, producer, and one-time wife to Elvis Presley — still fields a lot of questions about her former husband. One question she gets with remarkable frequency is, “Why didn’t Elvis stay in Hollywood?”

“I get asked that quite a bit,” Presley muses. “It all comes down to not only is it his home, but it’s in his blood, the South. It’s in him as far as the friendships [and] his history in Memphis.”

That’s why Presley is hosting an Elegant Southern Style Weekend at Graceland Friday, September 27th, through Sunday, September 29th. Presley realized the best way to answer that recurring question once and for all was to show fans what drew the King of Rock-and-Roll back home time and again — the friendship, familiarity, and food (for starters) that Memphis is known for. “I just want to share that,” Presley explains. “I want to share that with our visitors.” The event will celebrate the fashion, food, architecture, design, and culture of the South with expert-led seminars, lively parties and events, workshops, and more.

Priscilla Presley

“We have five seminars, every one of them including somebody that touched Elvis’ life in many ways, his friendships. I know he missed that very much when he was here in Hollywood,” Presley says.

“When I first arrived in Memphis on Christmas 1962, all of his friends were there to greet me at Graceland. It was my surprise, all the people that he talked about in Germany were there. I was overwhelmed by the hospitality; I was overwhelmed by the warmth.”

That first show of Southern hospitality struck a chord with Presley, a chord that still resonates. “I’ve lived quite a few places because my father was in the military. I never really had that kind of bonding because I was a young kid going every three years, sometimes two, to a different school. So I embraced that and still do.”

The jam-packed lineup of Presley’s weekend includes several of her friends, as well. Presley’s longtime friend, Memphis fashion icon Pat Kerr, will be a special guest. “I went to Patricia Stevens’ finishing school. I just turned 18 and met Pat Kerr there,” Presley says. “We became instant friends, and she actually taught me how to [wear] makeup back in the day.”

Fashion plays a prominent role in the proceedings, as well it should. As recognizable for his jet-black hair and Lansky Bros. suits as for his voice and hips, Elvis was, after all, one of the first American performers to shatter the mold when it came to crafting his signature look. “I helped Elvis with a lot of his clothing, not that he needed it because he had such style. But I would out go out and get things that I felt that he would like, especially in Vegas. I brought him the belt that he wore in his jumpsuit. I would shop in SoHo in New York. I would take a couple of trips a year and look for things for him that he might want to include in his style and his wardrobe.”

Priscilla Presley

Hitting a little closer to home is special guest Hal Lansky of Lansky Bros. “We know the story about Elvis,” Presley says. “That was his favorite place on Beale Street, Lansky Bros., and he went in because the styles were so different. I really am looking forward to talking about that and what was important to him and why. He never wanted to look or be common in dress. He knew that style really was a part of not only yourself but expression.”

Another cause for excitement for Presley is the selection of guests. Emmy Award-winning costume designer Janie Bryant is scheduled to attend the event. “She is just the perfect person for our first time out,” Presley says. “She did Mad Men and HBO’s Deadwood.” Additional guests include Chef Kelly English of Restaurant Iris, motivational speaker and the inspiration behind the film The Blind Side Leigh Anne Tuohy, and Zoe Gowan, senior home editor for Southern Living magazine.

In short, Presley puts it best when she says, “I really believe that making something an event really makes memories.” Priscilla Presley hosts A Southern Style Weekend at Graceland Friday, September 27th, through Sunday, September 29th.

Categories
News News Blog

Priscilla Presley, Jerry Schilling, and their friend, George Klein

George Klein, Cindy Schilling, Dara Klein and Jerry Schilling at The Blues Ball.

George Klein. Two words you just know if you live or ever lived in Memphis. Or if you’re an Elvis fan.

Klein, a radio and TV personality – and the King’s buddy – died Feb. 5 at the age of 83.

He was a deejay. He had his own TV show. He made personal appearances seemingly everywhere, including Graceland during the commemorations of Elvis’s death in August. He was even in Elvis movies, including “Jailhouse Rock.”

I remember him as gracious and kind. The first time I saw him was in the 1970s at the old Tadpole discotheque. It was like seeing a movie star. I don’t think I said a word to him that night.

Over the years I called him at his home or work to verify something about Elvis or find out something about the King for a newspaper story. He always called me back and he told me everything I wanted to know.

George Klein

One of the last times I called him was to see if he thought Elvis ever ate the meatloaf at the Arcade restaurant. It was for a food story. Klein said he never went with him to eat at the Arcade, but he told me about the type food Elvis liked to eat. I think Klein knew everything about Elvis.

But nobody knew Elvis like his close friends Priscilla Presley and Jerry Schilling.

The first time Priscilla heard about Klein was when she was in Germany, she says. Elvis was telling her who his friends were. “And George, of course, was at the top of his list,” Priscilla says.

“The first time I met him was when I went to Graceland in 1962 for Christmas. When he (Elvis) had asked me to come there for Christmas. And we drove up the drive of Graceland and he opened up the door and all of his friends were there that he wanted me to meet. And he introduced me to family and friends. People that he thought were very special. George, of course, was right there among them.”

Elvis, she says, “really thought George to be a great friend. They had gone to Humes High School.”

Elvis and Klein “kept their friends close to their hearts over the years.”

And, she says, ‘And beyond with George.”

What made Klein special? “His loyalty. His friendship. His support. I don’t think I’ve ever heard George say a bad word about anyone. He remembered everyone. He was charitable. He would emcee foundations. He was just a great human being.

“You loved having him around. His sense of humor. His relationships with all his friends. He had so many friends that embraced him and vice versa.”

Elvis and Klein “had their own language,” Priscilla says. She recalls them saying to each other, “You Got it right, Mister.”

Priscilla, who kept in touch with Klein, spoke to him two days before he died. “I’ve been speaking with him at the hospital.”

The last time she saw him was when she presented him his Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame Award. “I went and brought it to his home.

“It’s just hard to believe that he’s gone. I don’t know what Memphis will be like without George Klein.

“He’s an icon.”

Schilling, a close friend and business associate of Elvis, and Klein were friends for decades. “He has been my dear friend since the beginning – when my mother was his babysitter and we lived across the street from each other on Leath Street in North Memphis – 777 and 780.

“At Humes High School, George was the president of the class. Elvis didn’t have any real friends at that time in school ‘cause he came up from Mississippi. George was just nice to him. It wasn’t like they were best friends in high school, but George was nice to him. And so right out of high school when Elvis made the record and everything, he trusted George.”

And, he says, the “people Elvis remembered who were nice to him in high school” became the “nucleus of the start of the Memphis Mafia.”

Elvis “didn’t hire like an accountant or a bodyguard or a bookkeeper. He hired people he trusted. Because you weren’t just working for him at that time. You were living with him.”
And, he says, “It was a family. We were all brothers. George was really kind of the glue of all the friends and stuff of Elvis. He knew everyone from every era, whether it was Hollywood, Memphis, early days, later days, George was right there.”

George, he says, “was always nice to me. In later years he called me his ‘West Coast manager.’”

Schilling got Klein a writer for his book, “Elvis: My Best Man: Radio Days, Rock ‘n’ Roll Nights, and My LIfelong Friendship with Elvis Presley.”

“I was his friend sounding board. We never had an official management relationship. We were too good of friends for that.”

George Klein was always George Klein, Schilling says. “George was the same George that he was when we lived across the street from each other. He was six years older when I got to know Elvis in ‘54. George never changed. I think he changed a lot of things.”

Klein, he says, was “a pioneer on rock and roll radio. And when he had the TV show at WHBQ he was the first person in Memphis to have black artists on his station. I think Fats Domino was the first artist.”

Along with disk jockey Dewey Phillips, Klein “was right at the heart of it all.”

The last time Schilling saw Klein was two weeks ago. “Cindy (Schilling’s wife) and I went out to the Memphis Jewish Home. George knew we were coming and, thank God, he was having a good day. Which was not a good day normally. But a good day for George. We held hands. We talked almost every weekend of our lives whether on the air or off the air. But we always talked about basketball.”

Schilling became president of the Memphis Music Commission when Coach John Calipari became University of Memphis basketball coach. “He and George and I became really good friends along with R. C. Johnson, the athletic director. Coach Cal, when he went back after the game to talk to the team brought me and George back and we would listen.”

Schilling loved basketball, but he would defer to Klein when somebody would ask them what they thought about the game. Schilling would say, “Yeah, George, tell Coach Cal what we think.”

All the basketball players knew Klein and called him “GK” and “The Geeker.’ He was loved across the board.”

People outside of Memphis knew him, too, Schilling says. “I can talk to U2 or anybody about George Klein. They all know who he is.”

Klein, Schilling says, “never wanted to leave Memphis. He loved Memphis. And he had opportunities out here in Hollywood with the top radio station. He just didn’t want to leave Memphis.”

Then there’s the unmistakable George Klein voice. “Elvis would call it his ‘radio voice:’ ‘Oh, George, knock off that damn radio voice.”

Schilling says he told Priscilla, “I don’t think the bang of George leaving has hit me yet. He was truly for the last 40 years or whatever my best friend.”

Those days when he and Klein lived on Leath Street don’t seem so long ago, Schilling says. “I can hear his mother calling ‘George Boy, get in this house.’ I hope GK hears her calling now.””

Michael Donahue

Priscilla Presley and Jerry Schilling

George Klein with Cindy Schilling, former Shelby County Mayor Bill Morris, Pat Kerr Tigrett and Jerry Schilling at The Guest House at Graceland.

Categories
We Recommend We Saw You

Priscilla Presley, Stuntarious Vol. III, The Lifter, 40 Watt Moon

CREDIT: Harold Graeter

Harold Graeter

I had the pleasure of having my photo taken with Priscilla Presley the night she received the AutoZone Liberty Bowl Distinguished Citizen Award.

Priscilla Presley’s visit to Memphis drew a crowd of almost 500 June 24th at the Hilton Memphis. She was here to accept the AutoZone Liberty Bowl Distinguished Citizen Award.

The event, along with the 24th annual AutoZone Liberty Bowl Golf Classic (held June 25th at Ridgeway Country Club), and Liberty Bowl’s partnership with the College Playoff Foundation, raised a record amount of about $250,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“I’m truly honored to be here,” Presley told the audience. “I’m a bit taken aback by all the honors. And it’s very hard for me to take that. But I’ll do whatever I can to help Memphis. I now feel officially a Memphian with this honor.”


Past recipients of the Distinguished Citizen Award include Danny Thomas, Frederick W. Smith, Kemmons Wilson, Paul “Bear” Bryant, Lou Holtz, Archie Manning, and Tim McCarver.

The 60th AutoZone Liberty Bowl will be at 2:45 p.m. Dec. 31 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium and will feature teams from the SEC and Big 12.

………

Michael Donahue

Maricus Windless

Wearing a pair of knickers with long red-and-white-striped socks, Maricus Windless waited for customers in his golf cart.

No, he’s not a caddy. He and Donte Jones operate “The Lifter” shuttle service. It provides quick rides to local destinations, including restaurants, bars, sporting events, and concerts, to people in the Downtown area.

“We’re trying to revolutionize the way people commute Downtown,” Windless says.

People can call him at 901-GOLIFTS and he’ll take them where they want to go. “Each ride is two to three minutes anywhere in the Downtown area, including Sun Studios.”

If people just have a 30-minute lunch break, they “have the option to go further” with his service, he says. They don’t have to eat close to where they work or pay to park. They also can do emails and text on their phones will they ride. “It’s saving them time.”

His service also takes out “a lot of the guesswork” for tourists, he says. “I’m the first person they see for recommendations.”

They began with a soft opening last year, but went full-time during the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Windless says.

They now operate between 7 a.m. and 12 a.m. during the week and 7 a.m. until 2 a.m. on weekends.

And “The Lifter” is expanding. “We’ve already purchased two more carts.”

The knickers and red-and-white socks are part of his weekend outfit, which also includes a cap, a red and white polka dot bowtie and Chuck Taylors, Windless says. During the week he wears khakis and blue jeans, but everything else stays the same.

His headgear either will be a Memphis Redbirds or Memphis Grizzlies cap, Windless says. “I’m always going to be representing Memphis.”

………………….

Michael Donahue

IMAKEMADBEATS and PreauXX at the release of Stuntarious Vol. III at Railgarten.

Unapologetic released “Stuntarious Vol. III” July 30th at Railgarten. It’s the third volume of a series of compilations dropped by Unapologetic every summer since 2016.

The EP features Cameron Bethany, IMAKEMADBEATS, AWFM, Kid Maestro, PreauXX, Aaron James, ISpeakWIthaFift, Idi Aah Que, MIIDAS, Blueprint, Mean Joe Scheme, R.U.D.Y., C Major, and Coldway.

“It went great,” says Unapologetic producer/founder IMAKEMADBEATS. “Some of the stuff we tried, we’d never tried before. It worked out very well.”

As for its meaning, “Stuntarious” is “a word we created,” he says.

Most of the material was recorded at Dirty Socks studio.

…….
Michael Donahue

Chip Googe performs with his band, 40 Watt Moon, at Lafayette’s Music Room.

My colleague, Memphis Flyer senior account executive Chip Googe, and his band 40 Watt Moon, have a show booked for August 10th at The Blue Monkey on Madison.

I’d recommend going. I saw his show June 12th at Lafayette’s Music Room.

“The best way to describe us is power pop,” Googe says.

The band performed music from its first album, August in Grace, which was released in 2006. The group currently is recording its next album at Young Avenue Sound and American Recording Studios. That album is slated to be released in a few months.

In addition to Googe, who plays lead guitar and is background vocalist, are guitarist/lead vocalist Kevin Pusey; bass player/songwriter Michael Duncan; and drummer Vince Hood.

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