On October 11, 1974 Elvis was back at Del Webb's Sahara Tahoe Hotel. This time it was some kind of blitz stint with eight concerts within four days. The king appeared at 8:15 pm and midnight, a ticket cost $17.00 and included two drinks.
Musicians
James Burton (guitar), John Wilkinson (guitar), Charlie Hodge (guitar and harmony vocals), Duke Bardwell (bass), Ronnie Tutt (drums), Glen D. Hardin (piano)and The Al Tronti Orchestra (conducted by Joe Guercio). The harmony vocals were provided by The Sweet Inspirations (Myrna Smith, Sylvia Shemwell & Estelle Brown), J.D. Sumner & The Stamps (Bill Baize, Ed Enoch & Ed Hill), Voice (Donnie Sumner, Tim Baty & Sherrill Nielsen) as well as Kathy Westmoreland.
About The Engagement
In early 1973 Elvis had missed several shows at the Las Vegas Hilton and at Del Webb's Sahara Tahoe Hotel. In contrast to the management of the Vegas resort, the executives in Stateline insisted on compensation. It took them a while to come to terms with the Presley camp, but finally Elvis and Colonel Parker agreed to make up for the missed shows after the concert tour in the fall of 1974. After the final show the crew flew to Stateline to get done with the claim as fast as possible. But it was a different Elvis, who returned to Lake Tahoe. In May he had presented himself in good health, fine voice and high spirits. Now he was high, too, but mostly on his "medication" and liquid cocaine. The king had wrecked several shows of the previous tour and even during the better ones he was noticably under the influence of something. In Stateline Elvis also didn't appear to be straight, but at least Dr. Nicopoulos and Linda Thompson managed to avoid embarrassing events like the concerts in College Park. Even though the king behaved somewhat hyped up and his swollen eyes could be seen as a sign of intoxication, the performances were acceptable. The program was made up of oldies with just a few recent songs thrown in here and there. At least the visual presentation offered something new. The "Embroidered Arabian Suit" and the "Aztec Sundial Suit" had just been delivered, the "Chinese Dragon Suit" and the "Mad Tiger Suit" had been in use since late September. The only older costume was the "Peacock Suit". Of course the fans were delighted, they laughed about Elvis' jokes, considered his behavior to be energetic and didn't listen too closely to his somewhat hoarse voice. But inside of the Presley camp it became clear, that the boss was about to kill himself. As soon as the engagement was over, Elvis left the care of Dr. Nicopolous and Linda Thompson and flew to Vegas. Here he met with his "inofficial girlfriend" Shila and the doctors of Sin City, who provided him with every substance he requested.
Audio
