Elvis and Duke Bardwell

[elvis himselvis]

Does somebody know more abou their relation??
I thought I read somewhere that Elvis didn't liked him very much,and at the moment I'm listening to the bootleg If you talk in your sleep,the opening night in August '74 and he introduced him as ''another weirdo''...
Somebody have more information???

[toffe]

Elvis did not like Duke Bardwell
When Elvis introducted Duke sometimes he called him things like you said "Another Weirdo" and so on, I have read one place that one time, Elvis was jusing a water gun, and shooted on Duke, just for fun, but that was not fun for Duke.
Then Duke took a water gun on stage, Just in case Elvis shooted on him, but he never did anymore.
Duke can be heard on one song, T-R-O-U-B-L-E from Today.
When Duke was finished with Elvis ( Early 75 ? ), he took his TCB neclare and throw it away

I don`t think Elvis and Duke was best friends, but Duke can play the Bass that is sure :)

Sorry for English!

Toffe

[Elvis_Priestly]

From the excellent Elvis: The Man and His Music magazine, an answer during an interview the editor did with Duke in 1996:


Ronnie Tutt knew that I was not happy, but I just couldn't understand how the whole organization was the way it was. I didn't understand why he was pickin' on me on stage the way he was, and I told Ronnie, "if they don't like the way I play then let them get somebody else". Well I had been workin' with Fender, field-testing amplifiers and stuff for 'em, and on the last night of the show one of the people from the company was there..and it's really funny how I kinda' got my last lick in on my way out. They guy came in with some water pistols and ended up givin' Elvis a water gun. Well man, you don't do that - that can cause all sorts of trouble. And you never knew about Elvis on stage with water, y'know. He'd be takin' a drink from a cup of water and then he'd just turn around and throw it on somebody. He thought that was a big laugh. He would nearly always do it to Glen D., but Glen D had his eye on him and he'd duck behind the piano and the water would go right on by him.

He threw water on me one time and I asked him not to ever do it again. He tried to throw it on my crotch to make it look like I'd pissed on myself. Just throwing the water would've been bad enough, but it was an insult - he wanted to see me standing there like I'd pissed down my leg, except it hit my bass. You're talkin' about water directly on my electric bass, and boy that's dangerous. After he did that something else was goin' on, I think somebody else was singin' and as he stood there on the riser I leaned forward to him and I said, "Man, I'd really appreciate it if you kept the water off my instrument" and he never acknowledged that I had said anything, but I was furious about it. He could've fried my *** up there, and if he didn't care anymore about the whole thing then the writing was on the wall for me.

This was not bein' fun anymore. But anyway on that last show this guy gives him a god****************ed water pistol, and you know how he became with the introductions - everybody had to play a solo now. And I am not a solo player, but I tried because that's what he wanted us to do, but he was never satisfied with it. On one show he even said, "Now this guy, I could play bass better than him when I was a kid with a broom. Take it, Duke." So you could see the writing was on the wall. I played for him as good as I could possibly know how and Ronnie Tutt made me play better than I ever really was. Jerry Scheff was a 'busy' bass player and they liked that, so I became a 'busy' bass player - I played a lot of notes because evidently that's what he liked. But he started getting a little abusive and that wasn't right, it wasn't necessary. But anyway, I'm rambling on here and I'm supposed to be tellin' you about the water gun thing.

This was the last night, the last show I did with him in Vegas. Now he's arrived with a friggin' water pistol and he's comin' down the line startin' the introductions, and I know he's just gonna humiliate me with that god****************ed gun. And I look at the guy I know from Fender and I flipped him the bird, like "You son-of-a-********************, I can't believe you did this'. And he smiled, he reached into his pocket and he pulled out one that was twice as big as the one he gave Elvis. Everybody on stage knew he was gonna be abusive with that thing he'd already started squirtin' The Stamps - and it was obvious that when he got down to me he was gonna have a big time with my ***. Well the guy from Fender slid the pistol across the stage behind his back over into the corner where Kathy Westmoreland was standing. Kathy knew he was gonna get me, and as Elvis turned his back on us to say something to the audience, Kathy just heaved it across the stage to me. I was still playin' this point, but I laid my right hand out and it landed right in my hand - boy, it was like somethin' out of a movie. So I hid it behind my back, stuck it in my waistband, and never missed a beat - he never suspected a thing! So he goes through the whole introduction thing, dragging it all out and making everybody play a solo. I had to follow Ronnie every **************** time end, jesus, how do you follow something like that? The man's just a monster drummer.

But Elvis comes up to me and he has the gun and he says, "and this guy..." and he's pointing the gun at me. He says. "And this guy.", and I stop playing, reach behind me and pull my gun out. Well his face just dropped and he said, "Oh, that's the way it's gonna be, is it?" I said, "Yeah, that's the way it's gonna be". So he put his gun down by his side and I put my gun down, and he's still got the microphone - he never knew when to take that microphone away from his mouth, that's why so much odd stuff would get picked up every now and then. He starts to count, he's obviously gonna count to three and then we're gonna draw. Well as soon as he got to two, I picked up my gun and I squirted his ***. I had him all in the face, all in the eyes took him by complete surprise. Over the microphone he's sayin'. "You son-of-a-********************!" I just kept squirtin' him and it was wonderful! He could've dumped water on me, he could've come and karate-plucked my eyes out or anything, but I had my moment. I fought dirty, I didn't wait for him to get to three, but I was always taught to get the first punch in!


Full interview http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/3123/dbint3.html

[elvis himselvis]

thanks for you replies

[toffe]

Ahh..thanks for the interview Elvis_Priestly
It was here i have read that with the gun!! :)

[rocknroll]

"karate plucked my eyes out". That is funny.

I don't think he threw away his TCB, if I remember correctly I think he said he was proud to still have it.

Obviously they did not get along well and it doesn't look like, by all accounts, Elvis handled it in a very professional or mature manner.

[toffe]

I am not sure about that info with the TCB, but i have read it some place, but i am not 100 Sure about it!! ;)

[Lisarose]

Great interview, good to read one that seems to be fair, in spite of their unfriendly relationship. Duke doesn't feel the need to run Elvis down into ground, just state the facts as he knew them. Thanks, Conor!

[elvis himselvis]

Yes he's honest...he said what happened but isn't very mad...maybe he is but he don't show it...

[elvis himselvis]

I read an interview and in that interview he stated that Red West didn't liked him and they had some fights...maybe that's why Elvis was not very nice to Duke...