Charlie Hodge speaks ... wonderful tribute on Sirius

[elvissessions]

I'm posting the interview audio from the excellent tribute to Charlie Hodge that aired Sunday on Sirius Elvis Radio. This was a generous 45-plus minutes of interviews and tributes. Besides Charlie himself, you'll hear Jerry Schilling, John Wilkinson, Gordon Stoker, Ed Bonja and others.

Click here.

(This is a long one, so you'll probably want to right click on the link and save it to your desktop.)

The excellent two hours of programming these interviews are drawn from is yet a further example of why every Elvis fan who can should subscribe to Sirius.

[JEFF d]

Thanks again for postin Mr E. Sessions!

That was a great tribute indeed!

JEFF d
Elvis fan

[MissClawdy]

Simply gorgeous!

Thank you very much for this wonderful link to the tribute.

[Renan]

Thank you for that!

[Susan]

thank you very very much.

[Keith Richards, Jr.]

Thanks, man. I'm listening to it right now. Charlie Hodge is one of my favourite characters in the Elvis story and seemed to be a very nice man. May he rest in peace.

Keith Richards, Jr.

[Melanie]

Wonderful tribute! Thank you for making it available to all of us.

[Dave the Rave]

Thank you for us that can't recieve Sirius!

[Old Shep]

Thank you very much for that great tribute!

O.S

[KHoots]

Very nice. Thanks for posting.

[PEP]

elvissessions.com....thanks for posting....

PEP

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

Thanks, ES. I look forward to listening to all of this.

[dovey]

Thank you for posting this great trubute!!! Dovey

[tcb4]

thank you very much

[elvispresleyfan1935]

Yes, thanks alot for posting this interview I missed it..

[YDKM]

hey thanks very much for posting this very fine tribute

[Francesc]

Am I gonna be a little bit off if I talk about this ? Isn't weird that when you hear Hodge talking seems like he was calling the shots or he was really important or better say "involved" but when you see the pictures he had an odd looking, stearing (sp) at Elvis like afraid to say anything, like out of place .... At least the comments about they put me in the Comeback 68 becuase they knew I was on TV before, they put him as safety .... This is not intented as bashing him.

Francesc

[elvissessions]

First, I think others' comments in the program support every word he says.

Second, I think others' comments go even further in bolstering his role because -- in my opinion -- he seems quite self-effacing in the interview.

I guess we all hear different things, but surely we can agree that the other people who were interviewed described a far larger role for Charlie than exists in the popular imagination.

[Francesc]

To be honest I stopped listening when he said that about Comeback 68. I was not even remotely close to the "insiders" so mine is only perception.

[Gregory Nolan Jr.]

I agree with ES. It's a nice piece worth listening closely to.

I saw nothing objectionable or hard to believe about it.

[Rob]

The excellent two hours of programming these interviews are drawn from is
yet a further example of why every Elvis fan who can should subscribe to Sirius.

If I weren't already a Sirius customer, you would have sold me.
You're not by any chance getting a commission from them are you?

[elvissessions]

You're not by any chance getting a commission from them are you?

Yeah, me and Howard Stern are cashing in.

But really, no I don't get a dime. Just spreading the good word.

[Hav-A-Tampa]

It has been very easy, even for fans, to not really appriciate (sp?) Charlie's talent. For me, the image that was stuck in my brain for a long time was unfortunately of the little guy chasing Elvis around the stage with a bunch of scarves the last few years. That job would make anyone look a bit silly, don't you agree? But watching TTWII it's nice to see the musician, harmony singer and most of all buddy to Elvis (check out "Twenty Days", for example). Charlie maybe wasn't the strongest personality of the guys and he certainly wasn't the best musician in the TCB band, but he nevertheless played an important role during 17 years of being with Elvis.

Thanks for posting the interview, elvissessions!

[Keith Richards, Jr.]

It has been very easy, even for fans, to not really appriciate (sp?) Charlie's talent. For me, the image that was stuck in my brain for a long time was unfortunately of the little guy chasing Elvis around the stage with a bunch of scarves the last few years. That job would make anyone look a bit silly, don't you agree? But watching TTWII it's nice to see the musician, harmony singer and most of all buddy to Elvis (check out "Twenty Days", for example). Charlie maybe wasn't the strongest personality of the guys and he certainly wasn't the best musician in the TCB band, but he nevertheless played an important role during 17 years of being with Elvis.

Nice post, Mr. Tampa, and I agree 100% with you on this. It's not that easy to shine as a musician or singer when you're surrounded by people like James Burton, Elvis, Ronnie Tutt, Jerry Sheff and The Sweet Inspirations! I mean this was the best band in the business. But Charlie did have talent, and if you check out the "Closing Night" FTD (I think it is), it's obvious that Elvis appreciated his harmony singing very much. He says that he and Charlie sing so well together it's almost like one voice.

It is indeed hard to earn respect when you spend most of your time in the spotlight handing out scarves and water to the main attraction. Then again, many people don't take Elvis seriously either, they think all he did was messing around in a ridiculous jumpsiut. I'm not comparing Charlie to Elvis but I guess you get my point: don't get fooled by a distorted image.

Keith Richards, Jr.

[Rob]

Charlie pulled for Elvis on every song. The next time you check out the Omaha '77 show, watch Charlie as Elvis hits the extra high note on Hurt.

It is very obvious that he was always giving support to his boss.