DEC4 Podcast: Elvis and the Press - St Paul, Minnesota, April 30th, 1977
With Gary Wells and featuring Alistair McMillan
In this latest episode in our podcast series, we’re looking at a particular Elvis show from April 1977, as part of a wider discussion about how Elvis’ live performances at that time were being reviewed in the press. This is a companion episode to our recent written Q & A with Francesc Lopez, pioneering webmaster of elvisconcerts.com.
Our leading contributor, Gary Wells, joins us to take a close look at Elvis' concert at the St Paul (MN) Civic Centre, on April 30th 1977, which was the subject of a devastating review in the St Paul Pioneer Press, by a very well regarded sports reporter named Charley Hallman. Many claims in the article are open to question, and it's an interesting chapter in the saga of Elvis and Colonel Parker's relationship, or deliberate lack thereof, with local press while on tour; there was no special access granted, no backstage hospitality, and Elvis was not made available for interviews. As the Baltimore Sun later noted, "The media have to buy tickets if they want to review him or take his picture, he doesn’t need them."
In a pre-internet and social media age, with no other available context or information, these reviews tended to be taken at face value, many have been quoted as authoritative sources in subsequent biographies and have, as a result, become the definitive account. Peter Guralnick's Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, while a fine, impeccably researched bio, is arguably a classic case in point. Fortunately for us, this show, like many others, was recorded from within the audience and subsequently bootlegged, and these are now widely available online, so we can make up our own minds.
Gary gives us his thoughts on the show based on the available audio, and we then look in detail at the Pioneer Press review. We also examine some other unwelcome publicity surrounding Elvis and the Colonel around this time, and consider whether or not it was Colonel Parker's own policy of keeping the press at arm's length that left them open to misrepresentation and misunderstanding, accidental or otherwise.
We're delighted that supremely talented voiceover artist, Alistair McMillan, has joined us to read some of the background information.
In our post-credits segment right at the end, we revisit our earlier episode, From Memphis to Vegas: A Vintage Leisure Tour, in which Gary takes us on an audio journey to some of the important cultural sites in Memphis. In this clip we recall Gary's visit to 1034 Audubon Drive (the Presley family' first home in Memphis), and to Sun Records.
The complete and expanded companion newsletter for this episode is to be found at our podcast website, but this topic also featured on a previous interim post here on Substack;
The more detailed website edition also features some additional background, including how, while in St Paul, Colonel Parker was forced to deny that Elvis’ contract was up for sale, the saga of Presley Center Courts - another legal mess Elvis had been drawn into - and more on Elvis and Colonel Parker’s relationship with local press while on tour.
Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to us here and to our growing audience of readers and listeners. Future companion newsletters will now be available on our website, www.dec4podcast.com. You can subscribe through WordPress, or just check in with us from time to time. Our news page is updated frequently, with information about upcoming episodes and what our friends and supporters are up to.
Thanks to Steve Collins, and to Gainesville.