drjohncarpenter wrote:monkboughtlunch wrote:Supposedly this meeting occurred in July 1974 at General Cinema in Memphis according Memphis Mafia accounts.
Apparently, Clapton came in one day before his show to meet Elvis.
It seems more likely Eric Clapton met Elvis
after his Sunday, July 28, 1974 show in Memphis.
Clapton was in Davenport, Iowa on Saturday, July 27, 1974. He had to fly 550 miles to make his show on Sunday, July 28, 1974 in Memphis, and on Monday, July 29 he had a gig 237 miles away in Birmingham, Alabama.
Presley might have enjoyed Clapton's Memphis set lists on this first leg of his 1974 U.S. tour. These were the songs Clapton played that Sunday in Memphis:
Smile
Easy Now
Let It Rain
Willie and the Hand Jive / Get Ready
Tell the Truth
I Can't Hold Out
Badge
I Shot The Sheriff
Layla
Crossroads
Revisiting one of the posted Schilling sources above, it's clear memories are somewhat blurred, and the fabled meeting perhaps coming in 1975.
Not much has ever been reported about Elvis meeting one of rock's greatest guitar players, Eric Clapton.
That happened through my friend, Richard Cole, who was Led Zeppelin's road manager. After Zeppelin met Elvis, I became pretty good friends with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and Richard Cole. I hung out a lot with all of them. I hadn't seen Richard in a year or so, and he called me and said he was doing the 'I Shot The Sheriff' tour with Eric Clapton.
Richard said, 'We're doing this big show at the Mid-South Coliseum, and we're supposed to fly in and fly out, but Eric will come in the night before if he can meet Elvis'. I said, 'Richard, Elvis doesn't really meet many people'. I really felt bad because when I went to a Led Zeppelin concert I'd sit on the side of the stage with Peter Grant bringing me Dom Perignon champagne. I said, 'We go to movies quite a bit, so let me see if it's okay with Elvis if he comes to one of the movies'. I said to Elvis, 'You remember Richard Cole?' And he said, 'Crazy Richard'. I told him he was the tour manager for this tour and that Eric Clapton was this great guitar player. Is it okay if we go to the movies that I bring him by and introduce him?' He said, 'Yeah, that would be okay'. We were down at the Circle G Ranch in cowboy boots and cowboy hats driving our trucks.
Was the Circle G Ranch a place Elvis still had in 1975? Or 1974?
It's interesting that in Jerry's book, he recalls taking Myrna Smith to see Clapton at an afternoon show at Memphis' Liberty Bell Stadium after the famous meeting. As already noted, Clapton played a show there in July 1974.
But . . .
We just read from that interview it's a
Mid-South Coliseum show Eric has upcoming. In fact, Clapton returned to Memphis on Wednesday, June 18, 1975. And this tour would have been a case of "fly in, fly out," as in 1974:
Clapton played Mobile, Alabama on Tuesday, June 17, 1975, Memphis on Wednesday, and was booked for a show in Knoxville on Thursday, June 19, 1975.
Some other tidbits in that interview which intrigue include Jerry speaking of seeing Led Zeppelin in concert. This had to have occurred in 1975, as they did not tour the US in 1974.
Zeppelin played 7 shows in southern California in March 1975, and this is the same period where Richard Cole and John Bonham visited Elvis in Los Angeles. Elvis would remember "Crazy Richard" from this visit, and Schilling had to have seen his Led Zeppelin gig during this time as well.
Thus, given
all the information (however conflicting), it seems possible Eric may have caught a flick with Elvis on late Tuesday evening, June 17, 1975 or late Wednesday evening, June 18, 1975.
But . . .
Elvis had just finished a tour on Tuesday, June 10,1975 in Memphis, and quietly gotten eye surgery in town on Monday, June 16, 1975 by Dr. Asghar Koleyni, MD.
So, would Presley have been up to see movies with "Slowhand" just two or three days later?