11th November 1970, Wednesday

[Graeme]

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[Alan]

The source for both the FTD and the SA release was the Richard "Rick" Rennie tape.
According to the liner notes for the SA release "the Portland, November 11th 1970 show was taken directly from the original audience recording as captured by Richard Rennie, using Sony C-120 Compact Cassette (type I). To make this show 100% complete, small bits (the opening vamp and the "Elvis has left the building" announcement) have been restored, using an alternate original tape as recorded by another audience member.

The April 27th show was taken from the better of the two existing 1st generation tape copies made by Richard back in the 70s, using Memorex MRX-I 120 (type I) audio cassette. According to Richard, his original Sony C-120 tape got lost thru the years.

Both concerts were recorded with a Sony Stereo-corder portable stereo cassette recorder in an attached case with speakers and an omni-directional stereo microphone."

[Alan]

Old Elvis Comes Through To Delight Of Devotees

      
      By John Wendeborn
      The Oregonian
      November 12, 1970
      
Any questions aimed at establishing the existence of one Elvis Presley, a former musician-entertainer, will have to be relayed to the young man in
white who ruled the stage at Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday night and performed a rather poor imitation of theman some claim is an art-form all by himself.
      
Elvis, a man of 34 [sic] now, showed an occasional flash of the old genius that made him the great white father of rock "n’ roll (a title that should be contested by Chuck Berry, the great black father of the same) but most of his concert was nothing more than a put- on or rip-off, to be a little more contemporary.
      
Elvis worked hard, there’s no doubt about that. Unfortunately, the work he did could have been done by any clown in P.T. Barnum’s entourage and the $10 price-tag of the tickets proved the value of another of Barnum’s wise adages — you know, the one about lollipops and timepieces.
      
To be sure, Mr Presley can still do those leg-splits and can still crouch in his tight show-suit. He can even sing well — when he wants to. A hymn, ‘How Great Thou Art’, was done nicely and he actually sang most of the slower tempo pieces all the way through with some semblance of feeling for the music.
      

Elvis Works Hard

      
And when he broke into those Elvis anthems, such as ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ and ‘Hound Dog’, the old fire caught on for an instant and the screaming girls got their licks in — even if many of those screamers were now mothers and matrons. Except Elvis never did finish one of the type of songs that many of those in the audience came to hear — raucous blues with the driving beat and flashing electric guitar giving Presley the solid background he once thrived on.
      
Every tune was a lush production that sounded like the previous one. Elvis started out laughing and being a general fool while splashing musicians and the audience with Gatorade every song. On the second chorus the Sweet Temptations (four girls) and Imperials (four boys) elevated the decibels and on the third chorus the young lady charged with singing four octaves above high C joined in for an ear-shattering conclusion. All this while an otherwise fine stage-band crescendoed out of sight. Even though each tune received this treatment, the natural beauty of Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ was there and ‘Suspicious Minds’ received a creditable treatment.
      
Presley, of course, is a legend in his own time, to quote somebody’s line about some hero of the Wild West. but he’s trying to rewrite it. He did Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny B. Goode’ and it was the best tune of the night. It was done in the old Presley style.
      
It was fast and incorporated the fabulous back-up quintet before falling back on the regimental band and choir and the sound system. Elvis gained respect a decade ago because he worked hard, both on his vocals and his guitar. He gave up the guitar early and relied on a horde of musicians to get his sound across. In 1970, Elvis Presley still works up a sweat on-stage but many of his movements are unnecessary. He directs the band with arm-jerks, and he runs around the stage like a long-haired Pagliacci eager to keep the stage-crew happy but yearning to get back to the introverted security that hasn’t been shattered by the outside world in years.
      
The first half of the show included the gospelish Imperials who gave way to the Sweet Temptations, backed up by a four-piece rock group that got the girls into a nicely-done groove on ‘Freedom’. The bass man in the group was excellent and, although the girls sounded most like the Supremes of old, they were well-disciplined and talented. Some 12,000 Elvis fans came to see the master; it’'s doubtful many went away disappointed though. Even a tarnished legend can be brightened up in time.
      

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Sold-Out Coliseum Only Way To Know Elvis Presley In Town

      
      By Early Deane
      The Oregonian
      November 12, 1970
      
The last anyone saw of the girl reporter from the suburban paper in the mouth-watering mini-skirt, she was seated on a couch in the Benson Hotel
lobby writing yet another note to Elvis Presley. Presley — if he exists — had sent word down from the remote vastness of the seventh-floor that he was not granting interviews.
      
“Furthermore,” said Darrell G. Swezey, areca manager of the Wachenhut Corporation, a security firm charged with keeping Presley pure and uninterviewed, “Presley said he hasn’t granted any interviews for 15 years.” Swezey said Presley and his party, including his father and manager
Colonel Parker, had taken over the entire seventh-floor of the hotel.
      
“I’ve got three uniformed officers up there,” Swezey said, “and two plain-clothesmen in addition to myself. We’re going to have 43 officers at the
Memorial Coliseum to keep things in order.”
      
Presley — if he exists — was to give a concert at the Coliseum on Wednesday night.
      
“Not only are we supposed to keep fans and reporters from bothering Mr Presley,” Swezey said, “we are supposed to keep some members of his own party on the same floor from bothering him.” The girl reporter suggested that this sort of precaution would have been appropriate 15 years ago when Presley was swivel-hipping to a younger beat, but that it seemed a little intense today.
      
“Not so,” Swezey said. “You'd be surprised how many gitls have tried to bust out on the seventh-floor. And this is without anybody supposing to know what floor he’s on.” Downstairs in the grill, Presley’s father, a husky, gray-haired man with a gentle Southern accent, said anybody who wanted to see his son would have to clear themselves through Colonel Parker. The Colonel, however, didn’t answer his telephone or a page.
            [/Indent]
The girl reporter had pressed an earlier note into Swezey’s hands. The note told Presley she was a reporter and suggested he might give her a few minutes because, at the age of 13, she had been an avid collector of his recordings. “I was a fan, all right,” she said. “I saw him in Love Me Tender at least four times. My mother wouldn’t let me watch him on television — even after we heard the television cameramen had been warned to keep Presley’s hips out of view. I had to go across the street to watch him.”
      
Basil Miaullis, general manager of the Benson, said the security precautions set up for Presley were more stringent than those for Nixon or Atty. Gen. John Mitchell. “He’s safe. I’ll say that for him,” Miaullis said. “And secure.”
      
Presley — if he exists — sold out the Coliseum.
      

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BARB DOBIE: After seeing Elvis at the International Hotel in Las Vegas in August and September 1970 (in eight fabulous shows), we found out that he was coming to Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon. He was so close to home that we couldn’t believe it.        Of course, we had to get tickets right away. Through connections with other fans in Oregon, we managed to get front-row tickets for the Portland show — wow! So, away we went — myself and two girlfriends — roaring down the 1-5 in a 65 Dodge Charger to Portland.        On Tuesday, November 11, 1970 we saw a fantastic show with Elvis in top form. He was gorgeous, sounded great and was in a real funny mood. After singing ‘Hound Dog’, Elvis twirled his scarf in a circular motion and flung it out to the audience — this is when he only threw one scarf per show — and it went right into my lap. All the girls around jumped on top of me, grabbing for the scarf, but I still ended up with it. It was a beautiful colour — royal blue.        I soon discovered that, in the pile-up, I had literally flipped my wig. It was only after all the girls had got off me that I realised that I didn’t have my wig on. I couldn’t retrieve it until after the show had finished. We found it two rows back. We still laugh at that story.

      

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Elvis In Portland

      By Carl Obermeier
      Hound Dogs Fan Club Newsletter
      December 1970
      
November 11, 1970 will go down as ‘Elvis Day’ in Portland as Elvis appeared live on stage at the Memorial Coliseum before a turned-on audience of 12,000. The Coliseum is ten years old and, in that time. every pop singer or group has come and gone, including the Beatles who, in 1966, couldn’t fill it to capacity. But, on November 11, 1970, Elvis did fill it with the ‘Sold Out’ sign up a week before.
      
Two advertisements appeared in the local paper a few weeks ahead of Elvis’ appearance — not very much publicity for anyone. Then again, Elvis doesn’t need advance publicity because, if you’re an Elvis fan, you’ll make it your business to find out where he is appearing even if it means travelling hundreds of miles. Radio stations were giving away free tickets to sce Elvis, plus other gimmicks were being used for people to win tickets.
      
The night of November 11 came and my wife and I were at the Coliseum an hour early, hoping to get in ahead of everyone. However, we could hardly get a place to stand as there were thousands of people already ahead of us, all trying to get inside out of the rain. We finally got in and got to our seats, five rows from the front with an excellent view of the stage.
      
The Imperials opened the show followed by the Sweet Inspirations and the comic Sammy Shore. He finished and silence came from the audience. Everyone expected Elvis, but out came the announcer who said that a 15-minute intermission would follow. During the intermission, Elvis’ musicians set up their equipment.
      
The lights dimmed and out walked Elvis. He picked up his guitar (with his name on it) and went into ‘That’s All Right’. He was constantly clowning around and really enjoying himsell. Elvis was on stage for just over fifty minutes. He went through 17 songs and left the stage as quickly as he came on. Disappointing to some, but it was a truly great show and I doubt if anyone left with any second thoughts on who the King is.
      
While in Portland, Elvis stayed at the Benson Hotel and occupied the whole seventh-floor.
      

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KATHY WESTMORELAND: For some reason, it felt good to be on the road — and touring by plane seemed to add to the excitement of going to a different place. On this tour, we used Conrad Hilton’s personal plane, a G-2 jet, which seemed to take off more like a rocket than a plane, and Elvis loved it. He talked about the plane and how he relished going at great speeds. We were sitting together in the back of the G-2 and I can still see Elvis in black, leaning back in his seat during take-off and making faces as if he could feel the racing wind on his face. It was really comical to watch him. Another memory that stands out for me was when, on the way to Portland, we both saw a double-rainbow. Elvis and I held hands and watched those brilliant colours and knew that just seeing such a spectacular sight meant that we were destined to have good luck.
      

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DOTTY AYERS: In Portland, Oregon, in 1970, I went up to Elvis’ hotel after a show. It had been about five years or so since I had seen him, and I didn’t even know if he wanted to see me. So I sent a telegram to Joe Esposito and told him that I was in Portland and would love to see Elvis and talk to him. I gave him my phone number. Well, that afternoon Joe called me about an hour after their plane landed and said, “Elvis told me to call.” Joe told me the hotel that they were staying at and to come up after the show.
      
Priscilla was there with Elvis, and I didn’t know they were having trouble. Elvis seemed to be really tired. He got up and hugged me. Then Dr Nick came in. This was the first time that I had ever seen Dr Nick. They went into Elvis’ bedroom with a little bag. Elvis was real slim then, almost skinny.
      
I was sitting there on the couch with Vernon and I said, “Vernon, what’s wrong with Elvis?” He said, “Nothing — there’s nothing wrong with him. He’s just tired from the show. He just did a show of about sixty-five minutes on that stage.” Vernon told me that Dr Nick was going to give Elvis a B-12 shot. In a few minutes Elvis came back out, and he was just pacing. He just kept pacing and walking. It seemed like he was getting to feel better and better. Elvis brought out all those jumpsuits to show me. He then started talking about old times — the times at Graceland and the kids that he used to run around with. He mentioned everybody’s name and he said, “We had fun back then — didn’t we?”
      

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Gyrating Elvis Magnetizes 11,800

      By Dennis McCarthy P
      Oregon Journal
      November 12, 1970
      
The magnetism of Elvis Presley hit Portland’s Memorial Coliseum like a bolt of lightning on Wednesday night. But chances are many of those who ‘experienced’ the event will be feeling the vibrations for some time to come.
      
Indeed, it was an electrifying experiehce. For 51 electrifying minutes, a capacity crowd of 11,800 admirers cheerfully laughed, clapped and even screamed at the gyrating antics which have made the 34-year-old [sic] Tupelo, Miss. crooner a legend in his time.
      
So what if he accidentally tripped over the lyrics of ‘The Wonder Of You’ and nearly blurted out the word ‘constipation” instead of ‘constellation’? Anyone can make a mistake, right?
      
Most of those who turned out at the Coliseum on Wednesday night came to see Elvis, to watch their idol perform, to hear these memorable tunes — both old and new — which have made Presley their idol. They did not go away disappointed. Reaching back in his own ‘oldies but goodies’ bag, Elvis came up with such million-sellers as “Hound Dog’, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and ‘I Got A Woman’. Judging from the screams which echoed through the cavernous Coliseum arena, a few of the 14,000 refugees from Presley’s Multnomah Stadium concert of 1957 must still be around.
      
Although occasionally drowned out by an unnecessarily loud orchestra, Presley managed to hold his audience attention by turning up his own volume. The unfortunate result, however, was such that lyrical songs like ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’ came across as a distant roar.
      
But no-one can really question the Presley stamina. You won’t find many performers today who can twitch and gyrate their way through 15 fast-beat tunes such as ‘Polk Salad Annie’ and ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ in a short span of 51 minutes and still be able to walk off stage. Most would have to be carried off on a stretcher. Not Elvis.
      
The Coliseum show on Wednesday also featured the Sweet Inspirations, a better-than-average female vocal group, which unfortunately suffered the same orchestration problems that later plagued Presley. Then again, the crowd seemed too busy fussing about Elvis to pay much attention to any accompanying acts. The same held true for comedian Sammy Shore. The audience gasped when they heard the master of ceremonies say “We’re proud to present..” thinking Presley’s name would surely follow. But the gasps changed to groans when Shore’s name was announced instead. Unfortunately for Shore, many were still groaning 20 minutes later when he finished his act. In this case, Elvis was a tough act to precede.
      

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