Transcript of telephone conversation between Red West and Elvis
[IMGl]http://www.tcb-files.com/articles/541dd489d96d5c.jpg[/IMGl]"This is red west, you are about to hear a telephone conversation between Elvis presley and myself that I recorded sometime in october 1976 while I was in los angeles writing the book ?Elvis what happened?, along with my cousin sonny west and dave hebler.
It was no secret that we were writing the book and knowing Elvis as I did I knew he would try to contact us. I also knew we would be called liars, judas?, traders and any other expletives by fans and even some people around him who we had been close to up until this time. I knew that he would reveal in this conversation enough information that would substantiate what we said in the book.
It was even more than I had expected. And more than I wanted to hear. By this I mean I heard a sad and lonely man. A man I had grown up with and watched rise from near poverty to become the greatest entertainer this world we?ll ever see. A boy in a mans body who could not handle the celebrity that he had now become. I had a sinking feeling that I would never see my best friend again and I didn?t"
*** start of conversation ***
Elvis: how you doing man?
Red West: I just woke up.
Elvis: I was just on one of those singing binges. I got a couple new guitars and singing my *** off. Watching little kids marvel. I?m by myself, linda is in l.a. she?s changing apartments. We had that apartment, the people found I was in back of it and raised the rent double. She got another one right down the street. Charlie told me about the talk you all had, I guess I do owe an explanation.
Red West: I wish you had come to me and told me.
Elvis: you don?t do things like that cause that?s my daddy?s business.
Red West: no it?s not.
Elvis: I was getting a lot of excess pressure. You know that racquet thing. Two courts for a million three hundred thousand dollars? My understanding was that we were going to just use my name. And that?s all and that was the contract I signed. I did it as a favor for dr. Nick and joe. I?m just trying to tell some of the things that led up to it. I was wrong about hebler. Just a bad thing on my part. He was very undermining and sneaky.
He hated all you guys and everybody else and I kept this ****. It just burned into my ear. And those deleted - see guidelines #2 lawsuits in two years. I don?t know whether you heard it, but they were trying to prove us insane. I?m talking about some influential people who were checking psychiatrist reports. They were trying to prove us insane. The whole bunch.
Red West: I could not believe it. You had left town. Your daddy called us and talked about cutting down expenses and giving us one week?s notice. They give Chinese coolies two weeks.
Elvis: I didn?t know anything about it. The one week thing.
Red West: the bottom fell out. I got a little hurt at first.
Red West: but anyway, where were we?
Elvis: you know my voice is so low. I can make j.d. sumner sound like a tenor. We sang so long, I got a new martin guitar, my **** fingers are blistered from playing.
Red West: yeah, that?s the way mine used to get when I?d sit up and try to write songs. My three first fingers were just too big. I mean, just had big blisters on the end of them. But ah, ah ****, I wish I could get my mind cleared, just waking up. But ah, talking about, oh yeah.
Elvis: I have ah, ah, yunno, I?m operating on but one cylinder.
Red West: but like I said ah, I?ve gotta ah, that show is doing pretty good, I?ve got a regular running part in it. It starts in the next three or four weeks, I think. And I think I?m just gonna hang with that.
Elvis: well, yunno, one thing that happened was a combination of a whole lot of things building up. It wasn?t necessarily personal, or even the god****ed lawsuits. It was like a fuse burning, yunno. Just because of a lot of things that piled up on me.
Red West: yeah, well.
Elvis: and ah, maybe I did lose sight of... Especially you, your family and everything.
Red West: yeah. It was cold Elvis. (interrupted)
Elvis: I love pat.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: and ah, you got a good family and everything
Red West: well, I?ve had a lot of time to think about it, I mean, yunno, I can sit here and people say ?oh, the old days? and all that ****, but it did cross my mind. And all I?ve ever done is try to ah, maybe sometimes I overprotect you. And that?s the gods truth.
Elvis: yeah.
Red West: and ah...
Elvis: well, I know that.
Red West: and here I was. Here I was. And, but that, yunno, Elvis, like you say you had problems.
Elvis: well, you know what it is. That old guy said in cool hand luke, a failure to communicate.
Red West: yeah, well that?s the god?s truth we sure the hell didn?t communicate in the last year or so.
Elvis: yeah. And it was just like I said, it was just a series of things. If I could lay them out to you one by one...
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: to show you the reasons why the separatism?s. Lack of communication.
Red West: right.
Elvis: my daddy was sick. Nearly dead. My family is strung all over the face of the united states. It?s the deleted - see guidelines #2 lawyers and law-suits making a mountain out of a molehill.
Red West: yeah. Yeah, I know, yunno, that was some rough times going through that. One lawsuit came along and then everybody else saw a chance to jump on it. It mushroomed and then boy everybody and his cousin was after our ***.
Elvis: yeah, that?s what I mean. One gets away with it or thinks they do. What they try to do is establish a pattern of insanity and violence.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: like condemn me for shooting out that lamp up there in....
Red West: what the hell was that?
Elvis: the hilton hotel with a .22 target pistol.
Red West: yeah, oh yeah, well we was known as the wild bunch.
Elvis: yeah, that?s for sure. But the good old days are still a fact.
Red West: they?re definitely a fact and always will be. I mean, what?s done was done. We had a lot of good times man, there for a while, like you said, things got real serious. A lot of problems came up.
I don?t know we just lost sight of a lot of things. A lot of the good things. I don?t know. Just the fun, the fun left.
Elvis: the fun ceased to exist.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: I couldn?t pinpoint it. Just couldn?t quite figure it out. Yunno. Deleted - see guidelines #2, shhhhhh, deleted - see guidelines #2 racquetball courts.
Red West: yeah, I passed by there the other day, well, I passed by for a while while you all were gone and it was still presleys center court and then...............
Elvis: they ought to take that down cause...............
Red West: huh?
Elvis: they oughtta take that down.
Red West: they already have, yeah, I was gonna say, just before I came out here I didn?t see that sign anymore.
Elvis: oh well, the last I heard it was still up. I dont know, but you know, a good conman, when its my name... They got these builders and they got themselves bound to a contract. Two courts, there up to a half a million dollars each?
Red West: that?s too expensive.
Elvis: what the **** man! Poor old joe had his mother to hock her house. To get a loan on her house, to get the money.
Red West: I could tell you about going into business with sharp, sharpies. They don?t care, you could hock your mother?s ***.
Elvis: that?s what he had to do.
Red West: yeah. Did joe get out of it?
Elvis: huh?
Red West: is joe out of it, is?
Elvis: um yeah, he?s in the process of trying to get out of it. The builders, who were contracted to build the **** thing are the ones holding up the ballgame. But I pulled out of it, yunno, I just.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: I had to. Cause I saw that it was a con job. I had a sneaky feeling, yunno.
Red West: well, I didn?t know, yunno, I didn?t know if it was or not. I just had a feeling it was.
Elvis: it started off kinda innocent. I was told one thing, like I wouldn?t have to put up a dime, yunno. Wouldn?t be no money or nothing.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: well, that was the contract that I signed. I talked to daddy about it just after he came out of the hospital. We talked over a period of time, but yunno, if it will help joe and nick, they could use my name because I couldn?t benefit nothing from it.
Red West: right, it was just something to help them out. Nick, yunno, nick didn?t, I don?t think nick knew the guy that well. The guy was.....
Elvis: I don?t think he did either.
Red West: no, he just got sucked in. He saw a chance to make some money, hoping, and joe did too. But this other guy is the one I was leery of.
Elvis: oh, that son of a *****, I dunno, I?ve talked to my attorney?s yesterday about the racquetball thing, you know mr. Davis died.
Red West: yeah, I know. I saw that in the paper just before I left.
Elvis: well the guy thats taking his place. Just ah, said that, he said that ah, he started telling me, to help, all this lawyer stuff, and then he said, he said, Elvis, this sonofa***** is a con artist, rigged up. Ya see, they came running in and said one thing... Well ya see, what started happening would be ah, they started hitting me up for ten thousand, twenty thousand.
Red West: start hitting you up for it?
Elvis: yeah.
Red West: oh yeah, well there?s a pattern.
Elvis: thats what I thought well, I said, you guys putting up that kind of money? Yunno. They said, yeah, we?re in, so its all mine. Lawyers, they?ll **** you blind.
Red West: yeah, I remember he was on one of the tours with us............
Elvis: on the tour, pretending to be interested in numerology books and stuff. But it all falls into place. But were smart enough to do that. Alright. Then ah, it amounted to they needed eighty thousand dollars. And I said ok, for what? For a secretary.
Red West: god ****! Boy I?ll tell you, those secretaries, they gotta union there or something?
Elvis: thats exactly what I said. I said how in the hell is a secretary going to cost eighty thousand dollars?
Red West: ****, naw, in this town you gotta get out of that ****.
Elvis: yeah, I mean I tried to hang in there with them, you know.
I didn?t want to crush their enthusiasm, their dreams or whatever.
Red West: just crush the secretaries.
Elvis: eighty thousand dollar secretary.
Red West: almighty, how much does the president of the board make?
Elvis: yeah, well you know they?ve got all these cards and **** printed up......chairman of the board. It started off presley center courts and they changed that to Elvis presley center courts without ever even asking me one thing about it.
Red West: ah ha, ****.
Elvis: they had all these cards and **** made up, president, vice-president. Still, didn?t even come to me and ask me.
Red West: oh hell, once they?ve gotcha your name on it. Once this mike got your name on there. I heard him yunno, he went to nashville and everywhere just saying well I represent mr. Elvis presley and this racquetball venture. Just on your name alone, yunno. He just ah, got just what the hell he wanted. But ah, I don?t know what I?m trying to say, e. We?ve got to get back to my problem. Man, I?ve never done that. Just old red trying to do a job, man, and....
Elvis: no, I wasn?t using that as an example. I was just telling you.
Red West: yeah, ah-no, no, I know it. I just we?re talking about something I don?t know about is that racquetball court. I just know about my problems.
Elvis: what started out as a friendship and a favor and they turned into a million three-hundred-thousand dollar project.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: do you realize how long it would take to realize a profit, after putting that money into it?
Red West: yeah, I am afraid so. It would take...
Elvis: they?d be so old, until they think the racquet resembles a ****ing banjo. Hey, what is this? I?m trying to play it.
Red West: plaster falling off the walls. Ah ****, well, like, nick,
poor old nick, everybody?s trying to make a buck.... Like nick?s chips he went into man, hell, that was a flop. They had everything figured but the **** truck that hauled them over from arkansas. That fell through like.....
Elvis: nick?s chips, ****...
Red West: well, that fell through, like.....
Elvis: I never seen anybody drive to a hospital in something.
Deleted - see guidelines #2 I mean, I had mixed emotions; I hit the floor the first night, just rolled there. Nick?s chip, ****, my ***. The first thing I conjured up in my mind was a gambler saying he was in vegas and nick the greek, yunno. He?s the gambler. That?s what I created in my mind. Nicks chips, ****. He just don?t. He obviously just don?t know, yunno. And these ****ing contractors up there are just cold hearted business men. I mean.
Red West: oh sure. Look, you start messin with a guy like that, I mean that dollars talk and that?s it.
Elvis: still, but the way it was done, I mean, they led, they led their calf to slaughter.
Red West: yeah, well, you got out of it. You?re out of it then right?
Elvis: yeah, I?m in the process of getting....
Red West: yeah, I don?t blame you ?cause...you start going into business with a bunch of people, if you do it yourself then you know what?s happening, but you get two or three other guys, then.
Elvis: with my signature they all must have just went stark raving mad.
Red West: sure they did, I know that mike did.
Elvis: the lawyer read to me the contract, yesterday. Where it said that if anything happened to it, Elvis stands goods for the whole thing.
Red West: oh, oh. Yeah, well see there. They didn?t tell ya (interrupted)..
Elvis: you know good ****ed and I don?t even care that much about racquetball.
Red West: yeah, right.
Elvis: um. Yeah, I would stand good for the whole thing. So that was news to me. Also, I just found out yesterday that this guy mike had set him up, management fee was fifty thousand dollars a year.
Red West: sure.
Elvis: uh, extra. Um, joe didn?t know anything about it, nick didn?t know a **** thing about it. But yet, the lawyers had it rightthere.
Red West: yeah. Well, that?s what I figured, this mike conned nick and everybody else into it. He?s getting well on it, yunno. That?s a shame man, nick always man, I thought he was smart and I thought joe was smart.
Elvis: not when it comes to business.
Red West: no. I think we?re on a party line or something.
Elvis: and my whole thing, see, I can never possibly realize any kind of a profit out of it. I did it just as a friendship thing yunno. I didnt think it was..there was no harm, yunno, in helping these guys get a couple of racquetball courts, one here, and one in nashville, however it was fine with me. I didnt see no harm.
Red West: yeah, no, not (interrupted)
Elvis: but you see, the paper that I signed had nothing of that mentioned. So my lawyer figures that this **** was put in there after I signed it. Yunno what I mean.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: uh, because, you know **** near well, I wouldn?t have signed it. After a while, stand good for a couple of ****in racquet, half a million dollar racquetball courts.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: that just totally surprised me too. A half a million dollars for a racquetball court? Why hell, I can get earl in with a hammer, and albert let him construct one. Dont give the woodpeckers long enough.
Red West: really for $39.98. Oh, well they must have gone for the sauna, the whole health club bit, or something. They had to, it don?t cost that much to build no **** two racquetball courts. I don?t know. Well.
Elvis: well ah, I think it?s gonna be ten courts at each place.
Red West: oh, well, huh, oh!
Elvis: I mean, ten places to play like out at memphis state.
Red West: yeah well.
Elvis: but still......
Red West: that?s...
Elvis: you take that, you take a man and a woman?s showers, it can?t add up to no half a million dollars.
Red West: that?s a lot of money.
Elvis: well ****. Yunno I got one built here in the back, yunno the one I got. That son of a ***** was only eighty thousand. Yunno how plush it is.
Red West: yeah, you **** right. Yeah, it?s ah.
Elvis: these people just, it?s like you said they saw my signature and went stark raving mad.
Red West: yeah, yes sir. Everybody was taken in after they got your signature, plus when was this **** guys salary supposed to start, already? Mike and the secretary and all that ****.
Elvis: yeah.
Red West: and you are supposed to pay for that huh? Yeah, bull****, bull****. Just get the hell out.
Elvis: merchandise and things. Little cards, little pamphlets, little advertisements, and this and that. And all without my acknowledge, yunno without consulting me, without asking me about it, yunno.
Red West: well.
Elvis: so it just built up into a ****ing monster.
Red West: right. You?re **** right they did. They?re trying to take advantage of you. I don?t blame you for gettin? the hell out of it. But ah, then I guess yunno all that pressure and everything, lawsuits, everything led up to our demise, yunno whatever. But ah, it was a shock to all of us. Old dave was out here. He was flat *** broke, well we?re all broke! Course I had some property and stuff. I sold my house, I hated to do that, yunno. But when you got to do something, you gotta do it.
Elvis: you sold your house?
Red West: oh yeah. Sold my house, both cars and everything. And uh, hebler, he?s flat *** broke and sonny was down to the, well you know it was a bad time by all, I tell ya.
Elvis: well, I guess there never is any really good time. It was a bad time for me, too.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: I hadn?t been out of the hospital long enough to start rolling.
Red West: yeah, but uh.
Elvis: my daddy was, I almost lost him. He?s my daddy regardless of anything else.
Red West: oh yeah. Listen, I can understand. But ah, yeah, we were just, we were in shock there for awhile. What do we do? Yunno. But then we thought about it, and all the pressure and everything and said well I guess he?s got his point too. It?s just, I wish, yunno, we?ve always been able to talk, a lot, most of the times. There has been sometimes we couldn?t. But ah, if I just had heard it from you, it would have been easier to take.
Elvis: well, in doing business and things of that nature, I don?t,
I don?t do that.
Red West: you mean about firing us and everything?
Elvis: yeah.
Red West: well.
Elvis: I had to go to palm springs, analyze and weigh...deleted - see guidelines #2 racquetball courts. I?m still seeing little fuzzy balls.
Red West: well.
Elvis: but uh, charlie was telling, charlie talked to you and you thought I was on the line.
Red West: uh, uh. Well I thought. I heard that....
Elvis: I was over at my daddy?s house going through these figures.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: yunno, if I wanted to hear something, I wouldn?t do that. I would go another way.
Red West: well you know how paranoid everybody gets about...
Elvis: oh, sure.
Red West: something like that. I just, I don?t know why, I just thought....
Elvis: oh sure, like looking over your shoulder and not knowing who the hell it is, regardless of what.
Red West: yeah. But, uh, anyway?s, yunno, it?s all done and that?s it, I guess now, yunno, cause ah.
Elvis: how?s pat and the kids and stuff?
Red West: they?re all fine. They just hanging on until I get something going.
Elvis: well.
Red West: but ah, it?s been kind of rough.
Elvis: I was very disillusioned by hebler. He faked me off something terrible. I thought he was the way the both of us understood.
Red West: well, what did he do, what did he do?
Elvis: well he just, he would say little things to me, who he hated.
Red West: (laughing) who he hated?
Elvis: yeah.
Red West: ****.
Elvis: and uh, this went on over a period of two years. Ed parker told me to keep him at arms length. But I still didn?t catch on. Dumb *** me, yunno.
Red West: I really don?t know what you?re talking about, ah.
Elvis: well. It?s hard to explain. I don?t think that he liked anybody in this group, except maybe dean.
Red West: yeah, well, i....
Elvis: I think that I?d become a dollar sign to him, red. I think in the process he lost sight of Elvis, first, yunno. That can easily happen.
Red West: oh, yeah, I guess so, um.
Elvis: yunno, ah, when that happened, red, I?d become an object, not a person.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: but ah, yunno, I?m not that sign, I mean that rouge touring down there. I?m not an image to build up. I?m myself.
Red West: yeah, that?s the way I always tried to like to think of it.
Elvis: and uh, you?re so wrong on one thing and listen, don?t get paranoid. Because I?m just talking to you as a friend. Now we?re on a private line and there is not a ****in soul but us.
Red West: right.
Elvis: I am not ****ed up by no means. On the contrary, I?ve never been in better condition in my life.
Red West: well, what I was talking about then you had been pretty ****ed up, what I was talking about.
Elvis: well, I went through a divorce, you know, you were there.
Red West: yeah, what I was saying...
Elvis: that wedding thing, that wedding thing, I had nothing to do with that. That was railroaded through. Uh, I didn?t even know who was there. It was all in a little room ?bout the size of a bathroom with a supreme court justice. It was in there over and done with so quick I didn?t realize I was married.
Red West: oh yeah, you?re talking about your wedding.
Elvis: yeah.
Red West: right. Well yunno, like you don?t think about these things. But at the time, it, it, once again, that, it?s that old, I been with you and all of a sudden I was held back and told one, that I wasn?t supposed to come in.
Elvis: I ****ed that up. I could see it, I could see it back then, but see it wasn?t my doing.
Red West: right.
Elvis: wasn?t my doing.
Red West: yunno, I figured that was the colonel and....
Elvis: it was a ramrod type thing. I had nothing to do with...you know, all of a sudden I was getting married.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: yunno, when you go through that, you keep your mind on one thing.
Red West: yeah, yeah right....
Elvis: it was pretty tough.
Red West: well I can understand that. That was a long time ago, but that was just a point I was bringing up to charlie, and uh, but let?s get back to, to the last couple three years. Let?s face it man, you haven?t enjoyed yourself. You just been...you do your work, you go work and then ah...
Elvis: I enjoy my work.
Red West: yeah, I know that, thats the only time we really see you, I really see you anymore. The rest of the time, it?s just ah, I don?t know. It?s just ah......
Elvis: we had a pretty good time up in vail.
Red West: oh yeah, we had a ball in vail. That was the, man, that was the one time out of the last few years that we really got back to the, back to the, well, whatever, back to knowing how to enjoy ourselves. And I mean everybody just had a ball.
Elvis: yeah, I know I did.
Red West: yeah, I know I did too. Cause that was something we?d all been wanting to do, just to get out away from it all, man and...
Elvis: yeah, yunno, that?s ok, because uh, yunno, they just want me to have a house up there.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: and they want to buy food and everything. So, these real estate guys get a hold of that. I mean its a beautiful place but my thinking is not along those lines right now.
Red West: right. I don?t blame you, you can always go up there and rent something.
Elvis: yeah, exactly.
Red West: but um, I don?t want to get real upset yunno, it?s been so long since I talked to you. I don?t want to get real serious on the conversation. But, we were all worried about you, I?ve always been worried about you. About taking quite a few things, I thought.
Elvis: you worried about me so much until you turned around and tried to hurt me. But see, I know what that is.
Red West: well, that?s after you hurt me. You already hurt me and my family very bad. Yunno, you left us out in the cold. So lets don?t talk about me trying to hurt you.
Elvis: things went on that you didn?t know about.
Red West: yeah, well all I know is I was out in the cold and couldnt understand.
Elvis: all I know is there was friction created in this group. The vibes were so bad, people were scared to move and everything.
Red West: yeah that?s true too.
Elvis: so who knows, ah, what the hell they were hearing and being told. I just know it got to be very, very tense. A situation where it could have been a fun and a relaxed kinda thing.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: something went wrong.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: and ah, then on top of the racquetball thing and everything else all the personal things. I was upset too. It was a fact, ya know, but a, we did have to cut down on expenses.
Red West: yeah, well (interrupted)
Elvis: I had the feeling ...(interrupted)
Red West: whatever you had to do, you?re the dude. I told your daddy, yunno you gotta do what you gotta do. If you need to cut down on expenses by firing me, yunno, that?s a little weird to me. Seems like you could have cut somewhere else. I thought I was important to the organization. But I?m glad I finally found out I wasn?t. Cause then, I still got a little life left. I?m gonna, I?m gonna enjoy that. I?m still young enough I can find something else, yunno.
Elvis: oh, yeah.
Red West: but ah, it was just, cutting down on expenses. I just couldn?t understand that. All the other, a lot of guys around I thought I
was more important to the organization then they were, but I guess I wasn?t. But I?m glad I found that out. So.....
Elvis: well, its just an unfortunate situation. He?s just now, he?s starting to get back on his feet. My daddy has lost down to one hundred and sixty-five pounds.
Red West: yeah, you mean now?
Elvis: I think he?s up to one hundred and seventy, eighty, something like that. That just shocked and scared me to death. Because you know how I feel you know how you felt about your daddy.
Red West: yeah, thats right. Well.....
Elvis: well suspicion, red, was cast on this group. I couldn?t figure out the source of it. Suspicion. Just like that song we did, ?we can?t go on together with suspicious minds?.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: so ah, maybe I did act abruptly. First one to admit it. Without thinking.
Red West: yeah, well.
Elvis: you know sonny was never around, red.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: yunno, we?ve talked about that.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: ah, he?s a great guy but he never shared anything with us. I ain?t, I ain?t got nothing against sonny. Just ah, hebler tried to bully his way through everything with scare, scare tactics......
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: with some of these young guys.
Red West: well.
Elvis: they would ask questions like...and they never could get a straight answer...they were just turned dean, yunno, down at every corner.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: that?s the only way they could find out. I know, yunno, what it was like, yunno, when I was twenty four years old, ****. I mean my mind was just scattered to the four winds.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: they need some kind of guidance. Some things just weren?t being done, yunno, just little things just weren?t being done. Red, you know how they train for the service. Regimentation. Doing the same thing everyday and night. I mean we knew by god, yunno, you did in the service what everybody else had served legitimately. But by god at seven o?clock we had to do this and at three we had to do that. And they do that by repetition.
Red West: sure.
Elvis: that?s how they train. And all their energy and youth and everything without proper guidances is wasted.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: I just felt I should talk to you and let you see my side of it.
Red West: yeah, I appreciate that. Yunno, that?s what I wish we had done at the very first. Yunno. Maybe I could have understood it a little bit better. But ah, what?s done is done. You go on from there. I mean, I just, believe me when I tell you I wish you all the luck. I hope you go, right, stay right where you are, right on top for ah, forty more years man. I really do, I mean it with all my heart.
Elvis: I?m working on it.
Red West: but I would like to see you get healthier, e. You hadn?t been healthy in awhile.
Elvis: oh yes I am.
Red West: no you?re not.
Elvis: yes I am.
Red West: well, ok you say that.
Elvis: I just had an absolute complete physical head to toe, in the last ah, two weeks.
Red West: ok, well then I?m glad to hear you?re healthy.
Elvis: one of those things that is required by lloyds of london, the insurance office.
Red West: well, then I don?t need to worry about it then.
Elvis: that ah, that thing that I had, that lower intestinal blockage corrected itself, thank god.
Red West: good.
Elvis: I just, I went on a weird liquid diet. That big intestine down there has to have bulk.
Red West: yeah, that?s been discussed.
Elvis: went on a diet. Twenty days was ridiculous. Then I heard that was another mistake.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: turns out that large intestine had nothing to work with so as a result it stopped working. I keep hearing that **** about being fat and middle-aged, yunno.
Red West: no, no, I knew that wasn?t it. I knewyou weren?t, you ate a lot but you weren?t fat, like people are fat. You could tell there was something else wrong. That?s what I mean, you hadn?t, you wasn?t healthy. Something was wrong inside. That?s what I?ve been trying...when I try to talk to you about it you get mad, just you done awhile ago. You wouldn?t listen to it. That?s what I?m talking about man. You were, something was wrong inside of you. We didnt know what we were worried about, we didn?t know what it was. We new it wasn?t fat though, it was something else. And you just....
Elvis: you know, I thought that I told y?all it was the lower intestine. I supposed to undergo surgery and take part of it out.
Red West: yeah, right I was there I remember when we were going to do it. I?m just saying...
Elvis: that was psyching me out because I didnt know what it was.
Red West: yeah. Well, I am glad to hear its all straightened out. I really am.
Elvis: it?s been straightened out for a long time. It?s just a failure to communicate. What we had red was crazy. Like that song roy hamilton did, ?understanding solves all problems.?
Red West: yeah, we didnt...
Elvis: its a good folk song.
Red West: yeah, that?s right. We didn?t have much understanding there for a long time.
Elvis: well, I don?t know if it was you and I as much as it could have been coming from somebody else. You know negative vibes.
Red West: right. Well that could very well be too. I?m, I?m not really into the psychic thing.
Elvis: well I?m not either, but I do know, ah that ah, we are constantly sending and receiving. All the time.
Red West: right. Yeah, we?ve discussed this. Minds, if they can put a picture through the air I guess they can put a thought wave through the air too.
Elvis: so that?s why I was feeling, I was feeling the negative things but and I couldn?t exactly pinpoint what it was. So I just reached a boiling point, hoped that ah you?d understand. It was a temporary thing.
Red West: well.
Elvis: that was what it was. Red see, I didn?t try to get communi-cate with anybody. I felt terribly lonely. You know like that num-ber eight. The thing that says they?re intensely alone at heart. For this reason they feel very lonely when in reality that have warm hearts toward the oppressed. But hide their feelings in life but do what they please. Well, I?m a number eight person and so are you.
Red West: yeah, that?s true. And it?s been lonely. It?s been lonely man, I tell ya. It?s been down right scary.
Elvis: well, I can see it.
Red West: but listen, ah I just, I?m old enough, I just chalk it up to life. It?s another step down that railroad, yunno. I have to learn to cope with it. Go on and try and do something. What can I say. I don?t want to feel sorry for myself. I?m a grown man. I can do something else, other things. Like you said there was a failure to communicate there at the last. Maybe I didn?t, I wasn?t around enough when you wanted to talk to somebody or whatever.
Elvis: well all that and maybe I was absent and listening too fast. But, ah it just kinda bugged me when you said, that was a cruel thing or whatever to charlie.
Red West: I can?t hear you, e. I?m sorry.
Elvis: said I was ****ed up.
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: cause I?m not. I got a daughter and a life. What profiteth a man if he gains the world and loses his own soul?
Red West: yeah.
Elvis: I love to sing for my fans, since I was two years old.
Red West: yeah, I know.
Elvis: we were sitting here playing the guitar and everything singing some songs, ?love is a many splendored thing,? and me and charlie talked about that harmony part, missing that harmony part.
Red West: yeah. Well, what I can say, I miss singing it, yunno. But that?s the way the ball bounces.
Elvis: well, look, you take care of yourself and your family. And if you need me for anything I would be more than happy to help out.
Red West: I appreciate that. I appreciate that.
Elvis: I mean it. I dont give a deleted - see guidelines #2, the articles or publications or none of that ****, that I?ve heard. I?ve just heard rumors, bits and pieces. I don?t know nothing. I was on tour and I have never really sat down with anybody and had it laid out to me. I don?t even know I just know that you as a person and pat, if there is anything I can do, anyway of getting a job, anything else. Let me know. I?m still here, son.
Red West: I appreciate that. I really do. I?ll tell pat what you said that will make her feel better she was hurt. She couldn?t understand it. My kids really, especially (interrupted) .....
Elvis: all of us were hurt. It?s like the song ?desada deraida,? listen to the dull and the ignorant because they too have a story. And then hank williams wrote. ?you never walked in that mans shoes and saw things through his eyes.?
Red West: right, that?s true.
Elvis: after analyzing the blame thing, I can see it clearly. That?s why I?m saying, anything I can do at all I?ll be more than happy.
Red West: ok, I appreciate it.
Elvis: you take care of yourselves.
Red West: ok, let me say one more thing before you hang up. If everybody is worried about the book tell them not to? Man, I mean including yourself. We?re writing the good stuff Elvis. People.....
Elvis: worried about the book? I don?t think so.
Red West: ok.
Elvis: not on my part.
Red West: ok. Good. Because I was out, I was broke. I was made an offer to write the book. I said I?ll write the book if I can tell all from day one the good days. He said alright, whatever.
Elvis: well, you do whatever you have to do. I just want you and pat to know I?m still here.
Red West: ok. I appreciate that. And you take care of yourself.
Elvis: ok.
Red West: ok.
Elvis: take it easy.
Red West: bye-bye
*** end of conversation ***
Man, that recording is soooo sad to listen to. You get the feeling that Elvis is so tired and run down. What he needed was a loyal and trusting friend and he gets stabbed in the back. He didn't owe any of those guys anything. They knew why they were let go! Man, talk about kicking a man when he's down! He calls to talk to a friend and still Red kicks him by secretly recording the conversation. I bet he made a few bucks from this tape as well! Nice, Red!
Greetings,
I suggest that you exercise the Search option on this forum & read the other threads discussing this topic - in detail (not sure why the threads on this topic are so scattered, because it only adds to the confusion).
Doing so, ......... might be of interest to you ............. and clear up some of your misunderstandings on this topic.
- Capt. "EL."
I love E but he dissapoints me
It seems Elvis had a lack of balls. He was very self-centered in many ways. He let the colonel screw Scotty, Bill and DJ. He lets his daddy fire Red and the boys. He liked to act like a bad *** but deep down he was scared to death of everything. Why do you think he took the drugs? I'm sure he started taking them for the right reasons but he found that they would help him cope with his problems. There's no doubt that E was very screwed up in the '70's. I don't blame Red for feeling hurt and making some money writing a book.
I agree (but with other words) that Elvis let the bad side of business over to others (but don't blame him for that). But to write a book in revenge for the firing -to make some quick bucks- cannot be compared to what Elvis did to them.
Elvis paid for their services over the years, Elvis gave them tons of presents and gave them a place on the worldmap (would they have met the president without Elvis, would they still travel the world without being able to talk about Elvis?).
And don't forget all the lawsuits that were taken care of by Elvis.
"A year from now, you'll wish you had started today"
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"waymore44" -Originally Posted by waymore44
Scotty, Bill, DJ, The Wests, et al. -----------> all needed EP, .......... not the other way around.
TTWII & was.
Their names would not even be as interesting or remembered today, .............. if it were not for their EP connection.
------------------------------------------
In all cases, except for DJ, ...................... all parties basically attacked Elvis in public, ............ and were left permanently out in the cold as a result of it (either before or after the event).
Scotty & Bill criticized EP in print (newspaper / interview / etc.) .............. The Wests did it via a book.
EP had a tendency to eventually hire people back ............... it was his way of reminding them who was The Boss.
Scotty (& DJ) were eventually invited back for the '68 Special, in Scotty's case ........... he was even invited back to open with E in Vegas in '69. He & others declined.
E's telephone call above, was his way of reaching out the Red. Unfortunately, neither was able to patch it up in just a single telephone call (which is hardly surprising).
Had The Wests not published their book or never ventured down that unfortunate road, ......... they would have eventually been hired back. Everyone around Elvis had been fired / re-hired countless times (Lamar Fike the most) in their years with E.
JMO, but you have a lot of bile & misunderstanding towards Elvis. As a result, I think your argument is skewed towards the negative at EP's expense.
- Capt. "EL."
Re: Scotty and Bill, Didn't RCA want to get rid of them as early as 1956 as they didn't think they were up to scratch and Elvis wouldn't hear of it?
I have always felt for Red West but maybe co-writing a book about EP's bad habit's/misdemeaners perhaps wasn't the best thing he could have done...
even then, after all Red has done to hurt him, Elvis tells him that if he (Red) or his family wants anything all they have to do is call . THAT for me speaks volumes of the kind of man Elvis was = a genuinely, decent ,good person.
don't you think that 's why we are all still here almost 30 years after he died?
"When You Let Your Head get Too Big, It'll Break your Neck" Elvis Presley.
Correct.
EP also kept them on much longer than if The Col. had ever had his way to begin with.
EP also fought for them to have extra-added roles in his early movies (the same can also be said of most of the MMM's, especially Red, who later went on to have his own small "Hollywood" career as a result).
EP also told Scotty & Bill when he let them go, had they come to him ............ instead of going public with the wage dispute, they could have worked things out. Hardly sounds like somebody with "a lack of balls." It's also quite possible, given EP's total lack of concern regarding financial matters, ............. he might have been entirely ignorant about how Scotty & Bill were being treated all along.
EP is basically saying, .................. there was a failure to communicate, lots of misunderstandings, & I'm still here for you.
By then, however, it was too late, on multiple levels.
This telephone conversation, in the end, .............. does not detract my from my opinion / view of EP. It increases the appeal & depth of understanding for hardcore fans by making the man more human.
- Capt. "EL."
Basically what I'm saying is this. Scotty and Bill started out with him. They obviously were not the show and were sidemen. That makes them disposable. They were irritated about the pay situation. They had families and felt like that they deserved more. If Elvis wasn't aware of what they were getting paid then it's because he didn't handle those things. That's probably why the guys didn't go to Elvis with it, if that's true. Either way he had the ability to give them a raise and it didn't happen. The guys were continuously out of the loop and probably getting really frustrated. Managers are the worst thing that a musician can deal with. They are usually treated as sub-human and I expect no less from Col. Parker. The Red West thing is still crappy to me. After all that time, he has his father fire them. That's avoiding confrontation. As far as the earlier comments that EP didn't need them they needed EP that is true because they had given the formative years of their lives to him. Imagine working for Elvis for all of that time and being friends since high school, then your friend loses control on drugs and becomes a different person, then has his father fire you leaving you with no career and a family to support. You hear Red say that he had to sell stuff. Elvis says something like "yeah it's been bad around here too". Really? How bad could it be? Is it as bad as being a 42 yr old man trying to figure out what he's going to do to make a living? Bills must be paid. That's where the book comes in. I know Elvis says if you need anything let me know. Why would Elvis think he WOULDN'T need anything? I'm sure Red was thinking, "Yeah I need my job". If he cared so much, why did he fire him like that? I love Elvis, but if I was Red I can't say I wouldn't have felt the same way.
"I always liked that hillbilly."
-Waymore
I detect a tinge of jealousy here.
This was also part of the problem -----> too many expected Elvis to be their paid meal ticket forever.
---------------------------------------------
"How bad could it be?"
Well, I don't for a minute pretend to know what it was like to walk in EP's shoes (anymore than Red's or anybody else's for that matter).
- Capt. "EL."
Personally, that this tape even exsist proves Elvis was right about Red and his group of buddies. Did Elvis go about it right, no. Was Elvis messed up, yes.
Let's not forget Elvis is being taped without his knowledge to further support Red's book and slander campaign that is coming. Though Red at the end of his conversation tells Elvis nothing bad is going to be writen in this book!
What do you do for a friend who is at the end of his rope? A friend you fear is going to die? Sure lets write a book and freak the crap out of him more. Push him further into his depression and yup thats going to help. Then lets tell everyone you were doing it for his own good?
It's just bull all the way around. Done out of anger, plain and simple. They can try to call it anything else they want but it's spite and revenge all the way.
Don't get me wrong, they have good reason to be upset for how it was handled.
But, that's all i'll give em.
Trish
Just some additional food for thought:
As they say, two sides to every story & both parties have their valid points.
Red taped as a precaution against threats (to document & use for further action if necessary). Turns out none were made (which I also think says a lot), but I guarantee you that E could make some threats that would curdle your blood.
At the time of the telephone conversation, it was Red's naive assumption that the book was going to be something different than it turned out to be.
What do you do for a friend that puts a gun to your head when you try to help save a man from himself .... ? (Yes, it did indeed happen that way).
They have admitted that it was done out of sadness & revenge in the beginning, ...... but they have also discussed the other reasons as well.
-- -------------------
Just being objective by adding further comments for you & the consideration of all readers.
- Capt. "EL."
Hello-
That's fine, atleast tell the person your being taped. I just thinks it sneaky and wrong. Shoot Elvis gets pissed enough he probably would say what ever the heck he wanted anyway taped or not. In all the years Red was with Elvis, dont you think he'd know that he did alot of barking and not that much bitting anyway? Threats and all his other antics, crazy as they could be, are one thing. I find it kind of hard to believe Red was actually afraid. He doesnt strike me as a man who scares easily.
What? Are you saying that Red had no idea what road he was going to go down before the pen went to paper? That's the first time i'd ever heard anyone make that statement. From what i understood, or thought i understood, it had been their idea of opening the whole can of worms from the start about his adictions? Hoping to shock him into some kind of soberness, so to speak? Is this some fact you know or your oppinion your speaking of?
First off, you can't save a man from himself. But Lord knows when its someone you love you try. However you do not need to help push him further to the edge either! I know because until a few years ago i had no idea what someone in Elvis' circle could of felt, until a family member of mine became an addict. It's the worse thing to be so helpless. I used to feel, someone could of done more for Elvis, but truly he had to want it. Not to say i don't see area's that could of been changed that would of helped. It was a disfunctional circle either way you cut it!
Well, what ever the reason for doing the book doesn't really matter. The fact is the timing was just horrible. His health is so bad and his mental health is also bad. I've never said they didn't have reason to be upset. But you just have to wonder how mad does someone have to be to know all this and yet push even harder on someone who already has one foot in the grave.
However, i will give em one thing. That is, i've always felt that it might of taken a really good public down fall to get his attention. Get boo'd off the stage by his fans or just have something really scare him. I don't think he was ready to handle what they were trying to dish out however at the time.
I'd once heard that he actually had some words thought out, if the fans ever did boo him off the stage. To admit his problems and such. Had you ever heard this? Seems maybe, Dick Grob? Hmmm, can't recall.
I love talking all this stuff out. Hearing other's views and sides of things. The why's and who's of his last years are interesting.
T
Greetings again,
I myself admit, I cringe whenever I listen to the tape portion of Red denying to Elvis that nobody else is listening to the conversation and that it is just between the two of them.
(..... gulp ......) -----> is my own personal reaction.
JMO, but I don't think Red was afraid of E, ..... just loved him like a brother.
Red thought that the good would be discussed along with the bad. The book, it turned out, was heavily skewed towards the negative. Nothing in the book is untrue, .... just one-side of the story.
Not Grob, ........ it was Billy Smith (whose word, is absolutely solid in my experience).
Hope this helps.
-------------------
The full audio was originally made available (in cassette form) with the "All The King's Men" VHS set of the "Original" (TRUE) MMM's discussing their memories / times with Elvis. It was a pricey release & the audio tape of the telephone conversation was included in some packages as an extra-added incentive or bonus. Audio is very difficult to make out without the transcript. Transcript later came along when Osborne published his "Elvis - Word By Word" book (and now appears all over the worldwide web for all to read).
I, for one, was blown away by the contents. Very, very edifying for hardcore fans.
- Capt. "EL."
this just proves that RED, SONNY, DAVE,And even JOE took advantage of ELVIS, this became a job not a frienship. I'm not alone in telling you that RED was a real ASSWHOLE, if you were in the vegas show room and even approached EP on stage he and JOE would litterally stare you down and cuss at you before aproaching. I n DETROIT 1974 I saw this performance with friends, and we decided to bring a super 8mm camera and film the show, well ELVIS was not in the best of shape mentally/physically, he was pretty tired, as JOHN my friend got closer to the front of the stage to film ELVIS , RED and DICK GROB[ANOTHER PRICK] AND 2 UNIFORM COPS turned around and pushed the camera to the floor, ELVIS was singing fever, and the comotion happened right in front of him that he stopped the song and asked is it broken[the canmera] lucky for us it wasn't, and he told DICK, to 'LET EM GO" Elvis words exactly and JOHN kept filming and i kept taking photos 117 in all 8 rolls, Anyway ELVIS truly was the best, And these guys over did it at times, now that he's gone they all claim how great he was and how they protected him, and how they love the fans all of this is BULLSHIT, Just ask the many fans who followed ELVIS shows etc...
here's the conversation: link (Jordan's World)
"A year from now, you'll wish you had started today"
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And he almost implies (Osborne, that is) that it's a bit different interpretation than Red's.
Red wasn't afraid of Elvis, to be sure, but in EWH - and the author was a bit over the top in the drama department - Elvis was just a Pied Piper for Red and the others.
Just pretend, I'm holding you, and whispering things soft and low.
And think of me, how it's gonna be and just pretend I didn't go
wow.
never thought i'd read that.
I think Red West has gotten a bad rap over the years. I think of all the people that were with him over the years, he was one that truly cared for Elvis. Lets face facts, by 1977 Elvis' career was starting to slow down a little and I think everyone was on edge, Elvis included. Things got hairy and some of the boys were let go. I will say this: Red West has stayed close mouthed about this for the most part since Elvis passed away. Having defended a member of the Memphis Mafia, I am preparing myself for the Apocalypto style ritual sacrifice lol.
I'm the king of the jungle, they call me Tiger Man. If you cross my path, you take your own life in your hands.
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