Elvis
and the marble - Joe Guercio remembers:
We
found this amusing story in an interview with Joe Guercio
published on the ElvisWorldJapan site.
Q
: Tell us of any funny incidents between you and Elvis.
Joe
Guercio: Oh, the marble story. That goes back to the first
two days of the gig. You know, it was never a set show in
those days. He would just want to pull a tune out and sing
it. And it was great, because everybody behind him was immediate
group. And that was Ronnie and the rhythm section. He'd say,
so and so, and they'd turn around, and they'd start.
Well,
you can say that to five guys. I'm sitting up there with 32.
You know, when am I going to start. So, it was always a scuffle.
Let's do this and bam. And I'd stop and... Or they would start
his orchestra and the introduction and show, and suddenly
I'd say, "Here we go, guys. Bar 12".
And
I'd bring him in on bar 12, and we'd be locked in. And first
couple of times I did that, he really turned around and acknowledged
it because, you know, we didn't leave him on the desert. We
just jumped in the pool, a little late, but we jumped in the
pool.
And
somebody came to me and asked me how I enjoyed working, conducting
for Elvis Presley. I said, "It's like a marble rolling down
concrete steps, you know, dinkle, dinkle, dinkle". You know,
one of those kind of things. So, that was it.
And
next day, I'd come in and open my dressing room door. And
I hear all this strange noise. I turn the lights on. It's
marbles all over the floor. There's marbles in every one of
my pockets. There's marbles in the sink loaded. I could see
he had all his slaves go out the night before and buy all
the marbles in the world.
And
the sign on the mirror said, "Follow the marble. E.P."
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