“He was jumping”: Corsair.
“We were impressed”: ibid.
“We just lost control”: Kirk.
“The man should be ashamed”: author’s interview with Louise Sherouse, High’s daughter, February 12, 2014.
“The fella who managed”: Kirk.
“He was the damnedest”: ibid.
“Muni-Aud”: an oft-used nickname for Orlando’s Municipal Auditorium.
“I didn’t really know”: author’s correspondence with Larry Grimes, August 2013.
“Could you teach me”: ibid.
“He seemed to enjoy it”: ibid.
“Awkward”: ibid.
“To me, he was just”: ibid.
“Janet and I stayed up”: ibid.
“Could we get a picture”: ibid.
“Sure, but you’re gonna”: ibid.
“I never had the nerve”: ibid.
“To be part of that audience”: Rowland Stiteler, “Gamble’s Winning Bet,” Orlando Sentinel, August 2, 1987.
“What really stole the show”: Jean Yothers, “On the Town,” Orlando Sentinel-Star, May 14, 1955.
“They ate it up”: ibid.
“What Hillbilly music does”: ibid.
“His clothes were a little freaky”: Mae Boren Axton, Country Singers as I Know ’Em (Self-Published, 1972), 245 (hereafter cited as Axton).
“We felt Elvis was on the wrong show”: www.706unionavenue.nl (hereafter cited as Union Avenue).
“I was just getting acquainted with life”: author’s interview with Ardys Bell, August 2013 (hereafter cited as Bell).
“He was watching the entertainers”: Union Avenue.
“The crowd came over”: ibid.
“Thanks you ladies and gentlemen”: Axton.
“It was like a sudden”: ibid.
“Ripped to pieces”: ibid.
“Well, he’s just a great big”: ibid.
“When we saw him”: Bell.
“Dollar marks”: Axton.
Chapter 4. July 25–27: Fort Myers, Orlando
“Elvis Presley continues to gather speed”: Cecil Holifield, Billboard, June 4, 1955.
“A little cocky”: Union Avenue.
“He’ll never make it”: ibid.
“I only know seven songs”: ibid.
“Where are you going?”: Nash, “Interview with June Juanico,” www.elvis.com.au, August 22, 2015.
“Blue-eyed”: ibid.
“The first thing I said”: ibid.
“What do you mean”: ibid.
“Moonglow with Martin”: Arjan Deelan, “Interview with Scotty Moore,” Scottymoore.net, March 28, 1998 (hereafter cited as Deelan).
“Hi to you big doc”: www.old-time.com.
“If you let Elvis drive”: Deelan.
“Mom and Dad won a Jitterbug contest”: author’s interview with Diane Maddox, December 15, 2013 (hereafter cited as Maddox).
“funny lookin’ little punkin”: Deacon Andy Griffith, What It Was Was Football (New York: Capitol Records, 1953).
“And I know friends”: ibid.
“The town was so small”: Maddox.
“I don’t remember”: ibid.
“Cmon’ they’re playing music”: ibid.
“Come on let’s dance”: ibid.
“He could have been”: ibid.
“That Presley boy”: Jean Yothers, “On the Town,” Orlando Sentinel-Star, July 31, 1955.
“The little mother’s club”: ibid.
“Andy’s preacher act”: ibid.
“I’ll give it to you”: ibid.
“I’m still waiting”: ibid.
“I fully realize”: ibid.
“Now, it’s none of my business”: ibid.
Chapter 5. July 28–29: Jacksonville
“Don’t worry, work hard”: Marshall Rowland, Fertilizer ’Tween My Toes (IUniverse, 2013), 42 (hereafter cited as Rowland).
“You’re more of a bebop artist”: Mae Axton, Presley radio interview, July 29, 1955, youtube.com.
“Well I never have”: ibid.
“We musn’t forget”: ibid.
“They sure do”: ibid.
“What I don’t understand”: ibid.
“It just automatically”: ibid.
“We were the only band in the world”: Moore, 97.
“The damndest freak storm”: Bill Foley, Jacksonville.com, August 8, 1997.
“I just stood there laughing”: ibid.
“Elvis Presley was recently presented”: Cash Box magazine, August 1955.
“Roses are red”: Moore, 98.
“I was holding my breath”: Rowland, 45.
“When we got to his room”: ibid. 45–46.
“Inherent sense of rightness”: Axton, 248.
“I’ll write your”: ibid., 252.
Chapter 6. July 30–31: Daytona Beach, Tampa
“I never looked at him as a son”: Nash, The Colonel, 337.
“Parker is nothing short”: Fred Goodman, “Without You I’m Nothing” (review of Nash, The Colonel), New York Times, August 24, 2003.
“Oh how proud they were”: Axton, 249.
“Elvis was sold”: ibid.
“His rise to fame”: Tampa Tribune, July 29, 1955.
“This will be”: ibid.
“Tonsil photo”: elvispresleymusic.com.
“Elvis you have to stand up”: Moore, 93.
Chapter 7. A New Place to Dwell
“I walk a lonely street”: Durden video interview for Michigan Magazine, 1991 (hereafter cited as Durden).
“That just struck me”: ibid.
“There is something”: ibid.
“It worries me”: ibid.
“Think of the heartbreak”: William McKeen, Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2000), 247.
“She sat down at the piano”: Durden.
“I’ll be back in about thirty minutes”: Axton, 253.
“Elvis was even breathing”: Durden.
“Morbid mess”: Lydia Hutchinson, “The Story Behind Heartbreak Hotel,” www.performingsongwriter.com.
“Hot darn Mae”: Axton, 253.
“Sole and exclusive Advisor”: Nash, 115.
“I’ll have about”: Union Avenue.
“At the time I couldn’t”: Moore, 78.
“As bad are things”: ibid, 94.
“I thought hey”: Nash, 188.
“I feel Elvis”: Robert Johnson, Memphis Press-Scimitar, November 21, 1955.
“My biggest thrill”: Jerry Osborne, Elvis Word for Word: What He Said, Exactly As He Said It (New York: Harmony Publishers, 2000), 10 (hereafter cited as Osborne).
“Semi-skilled”: Elvis Presley’s Employment History, www.elvispresley.com.au.
“In January, 1956”: William McKeen, “What We Talk About, When We Talk About Elvis,” in Other Writing, www.williammckeen.com.
Chapter 8. February 19–21: Tampa, West Palm Beach, Sarasota
“The most talked about”: February 1956, Presley concert advertisement, www.elvisrecords.com.
“Blue Moon Boys”: ibid.
“We think tonight”: Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis, 245.
“When I’m back here”: author’s interview with Charlie Louvin, September 2009 (hereafter cited as Louvin).
“We went by her house”: ibid.
“That cost our catalogue”: ibid.
“All we knew was drive”: Moore, 251.
“Booking him in to all”: Nash, 136.
“All the girls were hooting and hollering”: West Palm Beach Memories, www.elvis-collectors.com.
“Where can someone get a beer?”: author’s interview with Jim Ponce (hereafter cited as Ponce), August 19, 2013.
“Can I go with you”: ibid.
“Don’t you know who this is?”: ibid.
“He came on”: ibid.
“Two block walk”: ibid.
“I’m ninety-seven”: ibid.
“I thought my God”: ibid.
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��When I turned that young man down”: ibid.
“The biggest commotion Elvis created”: Mark D. Smith, “Elvis Barely Rocks Sarasota,” www.sarasostahistoryalive.com.
“There are naturally an abundance”: editorial, Sarasota Journal, February 23, 1956.
“If you give me”: Billy Cox, “Waffle Stops Queen Served the King,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, August 13, 2007.
“Your skirt should be shorter”: ibid.
“If you remember what I ordered”: ibid.
“Queen of the Waffle Stop”: ibid.
“I thought he was conceited”: ibid.
Chapter 9. The Florida-Georgia Line, February 22–26: Waycross, Jacksonville, Pensacola
“He prowled the stage like a big jungle cat”: Jim Dickinson, “The Search for Blind Lemon,” Oxford American Magazine, April 20, 2015.
“I talked about the show for months”: ibid.
“He was my first bass hero”: Norbert Putnam, “We Had It All,” Oxford American Magazine, December 8, 2013.
“Scotty Moore was my icon”: Keith Richards and James Fox, Life (Boston: Back Bay Books, 2010), 72.
“From that day on”: author’s correspondence with Billy Ray Herrin, March 23, 2014.
“To say Gram Parsons was impressed”: author’s correspondence with Dave Griffin, March 26, 2014.
“I always thought Elvis was a fad”: Louvin.
Chapter 10. The Promoter and Deserter: February 26, 1956
“Emotional instability”: Nash, image from Parker medical records dated August 19, 1933.
“Heartbreak Hotel zoomed Elvis’ star”: Axton, 255.
Chapter 11. A Tsunami Storms Ashore: August 3–4, Miami
Photos in this chapter are from http://www.miamibeach411.com/news/index.php?/news/comments/elvis-presley/.
“Who wasn’t aware of Elvis in 1956?”: Graham.
“Just being alive, breathing”: ibid.
“He’s already told me”: June Juanico, Elvis in the Twilight of Memory (New York: Arcade Publishing, 1997), 140 (hereafter cited as Juanico).
“He’ll shit a brick if he sees you”: ibid.
“I’m the first one to say”: Binder.
“Bully is a good word”: ibid.
“Miami bustles under a golden sun”: Jack Kofeod, Moon Over Miami excerpt, www.cuban-exile.com.
“His kind of music is deplorable”: Alan Hanson, “Did Sinatra Really Bad Mouth Elvis and His Music in ’57?” www.elvis-history-blog.com.
“Sinatra was on his way out”: author’s interview with Linda Moscato, August 30, 2013 (hereafter cited as Moscato).
“Elvis was a breaking out”: ibid.
“Every delinquent kid in town”: Herb Rau, quoted in Bill Cooke, “Elvis Presley’s Miami Connection,” www.miamibeach411.com.
“To prevent the kind”: ibid.
“The Pelvis is due to arrive in Miami”: ibid.
“We’ve had the biggest advance sale of tickets”: Herb Rau, “Protection for the Pelvis,” Miami Herald, August 1, 1956.
“Don’t expect him for a rehearsal”: www.randompixels.blogspot.com.
“He’ll never last”: Moscato.
“Just don’t end up in the newspaper”: ibid.
“The Pelvis”: www.miamibeach411.com.
“For one hell of a favor”: Ponce.
“It was an exciting night”: Graham.
“I don’t wear ’em”: www.miamibeach411.com.
“Except for his gold and brown sideburns”: ibid.
“He knew he was being heckled”: Gwen Harrison, “It’s the Same Old Hysteria,” www.brian56.dk.com.
“Golly Presley doesn’t know anything about the news”: ibid.
“Velvet curtains”: Moscato.
“But it did add an element”: ibid.
“Like a drunken Brando”: Denne Petitclerk, taken from www.scottymoore.net.
“Believe me, I wasn’t ready”: Ponce.
“I knew the effect it had on me”: Juanico, 167.
“It’s imprinted on my mind”: Moscato.
“His legs were like rubber”: ibid.
“Had seen me on television”: Moore, 115.
“I and other band members were not sharing”: ibid.
“We went outside and the crowd was in a frenzy”: Moscato.
“Lots of times if I’m in a crowd”: Osborne, 8.
“Held my hand in a death grip”: Juanico, 168.
“It was hot in Miami, Elvis was hot”: Graham.
“I don’t know if I’m No. 1”: “June Juanico … The Day Elvis’s Girlfriend Talked Too Much,” www.elvis-history-blog.com.
“In stormed the Colonel”: Juanico, 169.
“Son we can’t have this kind of publicity”: ibid.
“His relationship with his manager”: ibid., 140.
“I’ve got about 25 girls”: Alan Hanson, “Parade of ‘Elvis Girls’ in the 50s Boosted Presley’s Sex Appeal,” www.elvis-history-blog.com.
“When he’s in Biloxi”: Nash, “Interview with June Juanico,” www.elvis.com.au, August 22, 2015.
“If only your mother hadn’t talked to that damn reporter”: Juanico, 169.
“Idol of the infantile”: Damon Runyon Jr., “They Rock-n-Riot for Elvis,” Miami News, August 4, 1956.
“His pelvis performance is clearly contrived”: ibid.
“It was apparent the teen agers present”: Bob Posnak, “Letters to the Editor,” Miami News, August 1956.
“Elvis can’t sing, can’t play guitar”: Alan Hanson, “Some Elvis Critics in the Fifties Urged Parents to React Violently,” www.elvis-history-blog-com.
“A gift, A SOLID SLAP ACROSS THE MOUTH”: ibid.
“It was a totally unforgettable experience”: Moscato.
Chapter 12. Home Away from Home: August 5, Tampa
“She’s not good for you son”: Juanico, 177.
“And what do you think”: ibid.
“He was a prisoner of his own career”: Red West Interview, May 2008, www.elvisinfo.net.
“What’d you kids do, rob a bank?”: Juanico, 180.
“Yes maam”: ibid.
“That aint the only thing”: ibid.
“Reputation”: Anne Rowe, “Broom-Sweeping Elvis a Regular Guy,” St. Petersburg Times, August 6, 1956.
“The king of rock ‘n’ roll”: ibid.
“One minute he’s out on the make”: Ger Rijff and Jan Van Gestle, Elvis the Cool King (Wilmington, DE: Atomium Books, 1990).
“Like a regular guy”: Rowe, “Broom-Sweeping Elvis.”
“It has the most meaning”: ibid.
“All I thought about that suit”: ibid.
“I’ll probably sit back”: ibid.
“I won’t give up singing for acting”: ibid.
“Those people have a job to do”: ibid.
“Elvis displayed his terrific showmanship”: ibid.
“America’s only male hootchy-kootch dancer”: Paul Wilder and Harry Roberts, “Shouting, Pushing Mass of Youngsters Stampedes Elvis Presley Show Here,” Tampa Tribune, August 6, 1956.
“Ordinary, suburban-type”: ibid.
“The weird pulsating rock and roll song”: ibid.
“With a masculine version”: ibid.
“Stupid”: ibid.
“A mad rush of hundreds”: ibid.
“Attractive”: ibid.
“That drew stares”: ibid.
“I can take him or leave him”: ibid.
“A dozen jumping, frenzied teenagers”: ibid.
“The negro section”: ibid.
“Only twelve negroes attended”: ibid.
Chapter 13. They’re Somebody’s Kids: August 6, Lakeland
“Finally, Elvis and his entourage drove up”: Elvalee Donaldson, “Real Gone: Presley Is Really Gone but the Aroma of His Day Lingers,” Lakeland Ledger, August 7, 1956.
“Honey, you’ll have to come inside”: ibid.
“I’m a reporter for the Lakeland Ledger”: ibid.
“Oh, I just thought”
: ibid.
“His girlfriend of the moment”: ibid.
“Four Cadillacs”: Elvalee Donaldson, “The Cool Cat in the Cadillac,” Lakeland Ledger, August 6, 1956.
“We were parked”: ibid.
“His latest is lamps”: ibid.
“He aint nothin’ but an idiot”: Paul Wilder, interview of Elvis Presley, www.youtube.com, August 6, 1956.
“Do you shake your pelvis”: ibid.
“He should know”: ibid.
“I just don’t see that he should call”: ibid.
“My pelvis had nothing to do”: ibid.
“There is also gossip”: Elvis Presley de-classified FBI File, www.fbi.gov.
“Rivals for the attention”: ibid.
“The bureau has no specific information”: ibid.
“Elvis Presley, Memphis Tennessee”: ibid.
“Crank”: ibid.
“He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke”: Elvalee Donaldson, “How Different Is Elvis?” Lakeland Ledger, August 1, 1956 (hereafter cited as Donaldson).
“Overly polite, extremely self-conscious”: ibid.
“Actually this guy is just sorta different you know?”: ibid.
“The first male burlesque dancer”: “Three Unbiased Males Give Views of Elvis,” Lakeland Ledger, August 7, 1956.
“Well worth”: ibid.
“As the tumult rages”: “Presley and the Frenzy,” Lakeland Ledger, August 6, 1956.
“Presley is a fad”: ibid.
“Not because he is an important figure”: ibid.
“The thought of him”: “Elvis Played to Swooning Fans in Lakeland 40 Years Ago,” Lakeland Ledger, August 4, 1996.
“He lumbered from behind the curtain”: Donaldson.
“It was just absolutely fascinating”: Steve Turner, “The Day Elvis Played the Polk Theater,” Lakeland Ledger, February 21, 1982.
“He was such an egotist”: ibid.
“He went out with the mike”: ibid.
“Is June just one of your 25 regulars?”: Donaldson.
“She means more to me”: ibid.
“Surely Elvis”: ibid.
“Part of it is put on”: ibid.
“I don’t know if they tore them apart”: ibid.
“It’s hard to make a clear cut statement”: ibid.
“Who never took a guitar lesson”: ibid.
“To set a new all-time high”: ibid.
“To Elvy, from Elvis the Pelvis”: Presley autograph information provided by Elvalee Donaldson family.
“What’s it like being loved”: Juanico, 196.
“It’s almost like”: ibid.
“Point of no return”: Juanico, 197.
Chapter 14. A Real Test: August 7, St. Petersburg
Elvis Ignited Page 22
