Stories:

Story on the Opening show of 19th of August 1974
In 1974 Elvis heard that some people were complaining that he only did regular songs and hardly included any new stuff in his shows.
Elvis talked to Charlie and that's why they did some stage rehearsals in Vegas just before the opening show in August 1974. During this stage rehearsal Elvis did "If you love me" and then "Promised land". Elvis changed the lyrics of Promised land at the end into: "motherfuckers on the line. After this Elvis says "what can we screw up next" and Charlie replies by singing a piece of "Down in the alley". Elvis thinks they can indeed do that and they do two versions of this song.
After this they continue with: It's midnight and Your love's been a long time coming. Elvis throws in some impersonations of Peter Sellers in between. Then it goes on with Good time Charlie's got the blues. After that the following songs are sung: Softly as I leave you, I'm leavin', The first time ever I saw your face, Proud Mary, If you talk in your sleep, 12th of never, Faded love and Just pretend.

As you can see a lot of these songs were performed during the opening show of August 19th 1974. Because that contained the following songs:
Big boss man - Proud Mary - Down in the alley - Good time CharlieÕs got the blues - Never been to Spain - ItÕs midnight - If you talk in your sleep - IÕm leavinÕ - Let me be there - Reprise - Softly as I leave you - If you love me - Love me tender - Polk salad Annie - Introductions - Introducing Garther Gefell Williams - Promised land - Introducing Telly Savalis (Kojak) - My baby left me - Bridge over troubled water - Fever - Hound dog - CanÕt help falling in love.

I have marked black all the songs that were sung at both instances.

However during the show Elvis closely looked at the reactions of the audience to these songs. And he found out that people were clapping as loudly as they did when he sung Hound dog or Love me tender. Therefore this new enthusiasm to sing new songs vanished quite quickly.
In the Dinner show on the next day he still sang "Promised land" and "Proud Mary". But by the time of the Midnight show of the 20th these were also gone.
Remarkable though is that he sang "The first time ever I saw your face" a few times after that. And also during one show a version of "Spanish eyes" popped up.
Elvis in a quit good mood during the first half of this engagement. He reacts to the fact that a boulevard in Memphis has been named after him!! He jokes, someone got raped on Elvis Presley boulevard.
The rest of the engagement knows some highlights: some excerpts: Higher and higher, Guadalajara, We shall overcome, humming Strauss' Blue Danube, performing kata's (karate series of movements of punches, kicks), very long dialogues about karate and the symbolics in that.
However at the end the mood changes. Due to sickness Elvis has to cancel two shows and Elvis more and more starts to be offended by what magazines write and the summit of this is the closing show of September 2nd 1974. Where he is raging mad about it.
 

 

 

Story of the Black Angel
First I've got to tell you a little about the showroom. It's a big hall and on the ceiling there are hanging some funky angels. Statues in the shape of angels.

As I wrote in the segment of the Opening show of 1974 during the first part of the Vegas engagement Elvis was in a very good mood. Just a few days after the opening on Friday 23rd of August 1974 at 4:00 am in the morning ...

Elvis, Red West, Jerry Schilling, David Stanley sneak into the Vegas showroom at night carrying a bucket of black paint. Red climbs the fence and takes the paint with him.
Red paints this angel black. Then they go to bed as if nothing happened.
The next day during the introductions Elvis starts talking to the audience:
He tells the audience how he likes the decoration of the showroom (not). And he has them to look at the left half of the room and points them to the angels. Then he says: "have a look at the right.. notice any difference?"

On recordings of this show you can now hear the complete showroom laughing.
Elvis continues with the story that he and some other guys at 4 am in the morning sneaked into the showroom and that Red climbed the fence and painted the angel.

So that is why one of the angels is now black.
Unfortunately nowadays the showroom has been teared down. Too bad, I would have loved to see this Black angel.

 

 

 

Story of the TCB logo/ Comic book
Where does the TCB logo come from?

In 1971 Elvis himself actually answers this question. In a speech for the award of one of the ten most outsnading men he says:
When I was achild, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer.
I read comic books and I was the hero of the comic book.

Now what comic books did Elvis read?

Elvis read Captain Marvel comics.

I have printed the cover of one issue from 1948. Elvis even might have read this issue himself!!

 

Elvis took quite some ideas from this comic.
First in his early years the hairlook. (see the second image).
The idea of the capes. By the way notice in how many movies they use capes, even nowadays!
 

And also the idea of the TCB logo. Some say Elvis got the ID from the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department), however that's not true. Elvis already had seen the pictures in the comics.

Because when there was someone in need the main character in the story would pronounce the name of the hero and then with a crash and a lightning bolt the hero would change into Captain Marvel Junior (sort of like the idea of Superman).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Story of Green green grass of home
Now this is actually a sad story.

Most people just find Green green grass of home just a nice song, or just a slow song. Which I did for a number of years.

But then I found out the true story about this song. And that changed my opinion.
Let's have a look at the lines: In the first two verses some joyful memories are relived, but then in the third verse:

Then I awake and look around me.
Cold grey walls surround me.
And I realize, I was only dreamin'.
There's a guard and there's a sad old padre.
Arm in arm we'll walk at daybreak -
Again I'll touch the green green grass of home

Yes, they'll all be there to meet you.
In the shade of that old oak tree,
as they lay me beneath the green green grass of home.

It's the story of a man who is in jail waiting for his death sentence to be carried out. He dreams of old joyful times. But then he wakes and he is still in prison.
Surrounded by a guard and by a padre who has come for his last prayer.
In the morning they walk outside where the sentence will be carried out.
His family comes to his funeral and sees him being burried.

So that's why it is a sad story. And by the way this is still happening in some countries (and in Texas).