Status of Elvis Sessions IV by JAT Productions

[colonel snow]

AFM papers / contracts could be interesting when it’s limited in the book. It confirms the presence of the musicians at a recording session.
Are William Morris Agency contracts with the musicians included when on tour in the 70’s?
In my opinion it’s not necessary to include all contracts from every tour / engagement in the 70's.

No divorce papers etc because it has nothing to do with recording sessions.


colonel snow

[DarylR]

AFM papers / contracts could be interesting when it’s limited in the book. It confirms the presence of the musicians at a recording session.
Are William Morris Agency contracts with the musicians included when on tour in the 70’s?
In my opinion it’s not necessary to include all contracts from every tour / engagement in the 70's.

No divorce papers etc because it has nothing to do with recording sessions.


colonel snow

Joe and I never really pursued the William Morris Agency contracts from the tours and engagements from the 1970s. Part of the reason is that on the recordings, Elvis introduced his rhythm section and backup vocal groups by name. Another reason is that from my understanding, these agreements were made out for each member of the rhythm section and the various backup vocal groups for each tour and engagement. We did locate copies of some William Morris Agency contracts, such as the first Milton Berle television appearance, the April / May 1956 Las Vegas engagement, the 1969 Las Vegas engagement and I think a few others.

That said, we do have the AFM contracts / paperwork for most instances in which Elvis was professionally recorded live from 1970-1977. These would include things such as TTWII - August 1970, February 1972 - Las Vegas, April 1972 tour, Madison Square Garden, Aloha (along with the AFM contract for the re-airing of the Aloha television special in 1977), Live On Stage In Memphis. We didn't really find much for Elvis In Concert, so we will have to rely on the information listed on the RCA recording pages. We never did find the orchestra reports for the August 1969 Las Vegas recordings. We were told that the reason the local AFM (local 369, I believe) didn't have them is because at the time Elvis did those shows in August 1969, the local 369 did not belong to AFM pension fund. This was voted on by their members in November 1969, approved and went into effect in January 1970. Local 369 was then required to maintain these records for perpetuity. We did find many of the weekly orchestra reports for the Las Vegas engagements from 1970-1976, though there are a few that we never did find. These would include the January and August 1971 Las Vegas engagements (though we did find documentation for the rhythm section for the January / February 1971 engagement) and the January and August 1974 engagements. Again we did find documentation pertaining to the rhythm sections in both of these instances as well. What is interesting about these documents is that they show the different acts that played in both the main showroom and the lounge and the musicians they used during their act. For example, after Elvis' January / February 1971 engagement, Ann-Margret was booked at the International Hotel and on the document listing Elvis' musicians that he used during his engagement are the musicians that she used during her engagement. One of the people listed is comedian Steve Martin. I believe there's a video somewhere where he talks about meeting Elvis.

For the Lake Tahoe engagements (1971, 1973, 1974, 1976), we did locate what are supposed to be the orchestra reports but they only list the members of the rhythm section, Joe Guercio, and the name of the orchestra that Elvis used (Al Tronti).

I don't necessarily agree with colonel snow about not including some of the documents pertaining to the divorce proceedings and the property settlement. There's some interesting things that we came across in those documents, such as Elvis stating that he was a registered voter in the state of Tennessee in 1973. I tried looking into finding out which party he was registered as, but in the state of Tennessee, you don't have to declare a party to vote in primary elections. Some states require you register for a party to be able to. If you are registered as an independent, you cannot vote in the primary election, though you can still vote in the general election. The other things that are interesting are some of the letters from the property settlement. One of the coolest things I ever found in researching this book is a letter dated from my birthday (March 18, 1977) in which Priscilla's lawyer writes to one of Elvis' lawyers asking about the payment of around $500,000 that was due to be paid to her in December 1976 from the property settlement of the house in California. Priscilla's lawyer was also asking for her copies of the stock certificate ownership in Elvis' music publishing company, Elvis Music. This agreement for the payment was made in December 1974. We have a letter from that date as well as letters from December 1976 and April 1977 over the payment, or lack thereof.

I think these kind of things are pretty cool and also show the frame of mind that Elvis was in just prior to the July 1973 Stax recording sessions and the January 1977 Creative Workshop cancelled sessions. You also get to read some things that are in Elvis' own words.

Daryl R

[colonel snow]

Thanks Daryl for your explanation. With no divorce papers I meant: obligations for payments to Priscilla - Lisa Marie and other payments for living etc.


colonel snow

[John Coctostan]

Great info Daryl, thanks for sharing it here.

Have you managed to uncover any new studio photos from the 60s/70s?

[DarylR]

Great info Daryl, thanks for sharing it here.

Have you managed to uncover any new studio photos from the 60s/70s?

To answer your question, yes would be an understatement. In fact, one would have made an excellent cover photo for a recent CD release. Much better and from the actual period that was being covered on the release.

DarylR

[John Coctostan]

Great info Daryl, thanks for sharing it here.

Have you managed to uncover any new studio photos from the 60s/70s?

To answer your question, yes would be an understatement. In fact, one would have made an excellent cover photo for a recent CD release. Much better and from the actual period that was being covered on the release.

DarylR

To say I'm eagerly awaiting this release, would be an understatement!

[bluehawaii]

Great info Daryl, thanks for sharing it here.

Have you managed to uncover any new studio photos from the 60s/70s?

To answer your question, yes would be an understatement. In fact, one would have made an excellent cover photo for a recent CD release. Much better and from the actual period that was being covered on the release.

DarylR

Thank you for giving us all these well-written insights. I'm absolutely hyped about this release, thanks to you
What are the chances that some of the newly discovered documentation and imagery will be featured in future FTD products?

[Yin Yang]

Anyone any idea when this book will be vailable?

[John Coctostan]

One of the people listed is comedian Steve Martin. I believe there's a video somewhere where he talks about meeting Elvis.
Daryl R

https://youtu.be/qsvsT7nOKvQ?si=C1E_xyOJ3KFszgZL

[colonel snow]

Anyone any idea when this book will be vailable?

Rumours about the publication of this book are circulating for around ten or more years. It looks with some details / information now the publication come closer and closer.



colonel snow

[colonel snow]

It would be interesting to read more (scans and documents) about the aborted plan for recording a Christmas album in 1966. It’s known a few wellknown songwriting teams have sent in various demo acetates with Christmas songs. These demos were not used in 1966 or later on.



colonel snow

[DarylR]

Hello,

I just wanted to provide a brief update on the status of "Elvis Sessions IV." Yesterday, we submitted (uploaded) a portion of the manuscript (up to 130,000 words) for an Editor's Manuscript Evaluation. We were able to submit the recording session years from 1953 through 1967. This came out to be 129,788 words. After I formatted the .docx files to the requested font style, size, and spacing, that came out to be 465 pages. We should know more in about three weeks. At the beginning of May, we probably will be having another telephone conference call where we will likely discuss an Editor consultation in determining who the editor of our book will be.

DarylR

[colonel snow]

Described is the period 1953-1967 with 465 pages; I expect period 1968-1977 is around 400-500 pages too.
But as I stated in a previous post I’m not a photo-collector. I hope to see included all kind scans of related documents.


colonel snow

[cadillac-elvis]

I am curious if there will be any documentation included on unreleased concerts, home recordings, rehearsals or songs?

In the last book, there were lists but nothing to substantiate their existance.

Anyone can make up a rumor list.

And will there be any notations on material in private hands?

Also, will there be any new discoveries as far as footage goes? (this might be outside the scope of the book).

[DarylR]

Described is the period 1953-1967 with 465 pages; I expect period 1968-1977 is around 400-500 pages too.
But as I stated in a previous post I’m not a photo-collector. I hope to see included all kind scans of related documents.


colonel snow

That 465 pages is just a .docx file formatted to Times New-Roman 11 point and spaced at 1 1/2, which is what was requested before uploading. No photographs or documents included in any of that. That's just text. I did a word count last night covering 1968-1977 and it came out to be 203,121 words, as it stands now. This doesn't include any of the other chapters of the book, such as discography, RIAA gold & platinum, Grammy nominations, Songs & Songwriters Index, etc.

I believe that I originally had it at Times New Roman 10 point and the spacing was much less. Changing these drastically changed the number of pages, so I wouldn't look at the page count. I would look at the word count.

DarylR