Can you tell me
a little about your background?
I was born in 1945
in Baltimore, Md (where I lived until I wised up in 1995 and
came here to Siesta Key, Fl and have never left)! I have one
sister who still lives in Baltimore. My father was a high school
principal (not the high school I went to!) and he sent me to
a very hard private boys school where basically all I did was
study all the time. After I graduated I went to college but
I think I just had too much studying in high school that I kind
rebelled and decided that I was going to take my time getting
out of college so....for the next eight years, I ended up taking
my time graduating. I ended up with a business degree which
of course then meant that I had to enter the real world and
look for a job, something I honestly didn't want to do as I
think I wanted to avoid reality as much as I possibly could!!
Actually, except for a few summer jobs and 6 months as a substitute
high school teacher (in other words, a glorified babysitter!),
I have never had a real job! If I didn't luck out and get into
Elvis, I have no idea what I'd be doing now for a living!!
Anyway, I discovered
Elvis in the early 60's (no idea what I was doing in the late
50's!) when a friend wanted me to see "Follow That Dream"
with him. It was then that I realized that I loved his music
and even the movie was good but I was still in high school and
had no money so I didn't go out and buy any of his records.
I guess I really started getting into him in 1963 and 1964 which
was a really weird time to start liking Elvis when all of my
friends and the entire world was Beatle crazy!! But in Baltimore,
every night from 7-8, a local radio station had an Elvis hour
and I taped each show with the reel to reel recorder I had and
I got more and more into him each week! They gave an address
of Elvis Monthly so I subscribed to this magazine which opened
up a totally different and new world to me. I think it was an
EM article in 1969 that turned my world around! This was a fairly
detailed, in depth listing of many RCA Elvis LP's released in
countries such as England, France, South Africa, etc. Up until
then I had absolutely no idea about this exciting new world
out there and I had no idea that this was to be the start of
an addictive hobby as well as a full time job!
For unknown reasons,
the fact that other countries either put out the same LP (or
single or EP!) with a different cover than the US or issued
their own compilations intrigued me. I knew then that - somehow
- I wanted to try and get as many different releases from as
many countries as I possibly could but, unfortunately, at that
time (1969) I had no idea as to where to start or who to write
to IF these long deleted records could even be found! It wasn't
until late 1972 when I subscribed to Elvis Weekly, without question
the best Elvis publication to ever exist (which brings up the
question - what ever happened to the guy behind it - Rex Martin?),
that all of my dreams were about to come true as, in this great
newsletter pub, there were addresses of people in every country
imaginable who also were into what I wanted to be into and who
could help me make my "impossible dreams" come true (of trying
to get everything that was different as far as vinyl from every
country in the world!).
So this began the
constant corresponding with now famous and legendary figures
in the Elvis world - the great Wayne "Pretty Boy" Hawthorne
(Australia); Livio Monari (Italy); the wild Frenchman Jean Marc
"Moe" Gargiulo; Carlos " The Beast" Ares and Ariel Gonzalez
Llorente (Argentina) and many, many others, I'll never forget
that day in March 1973 when my FIRST Elvis package arrived and
what a package!! Thanks to my great friend now of almost 30
years (Haruo Hirose, the man behind one of the if not THE best
Elvis websites today
Elvis World I received the incredible Japanese LP's -Elvis'
Golden Story Vol. 1 and 2 and 2 LP's; Golden Hymns; Girl Happy;
etc. I literally looked up at the sky and thanked God for these
presents and I knew then that my life would never be the same.
Elvis vinyl collecting
had me addicted! But having an addiction costs money and it
was tough to buy these records without a job so I was at first
borrowing money from my mother and sister and then decided I
needed to try and make money selling extras of the records I
was collecting so I started putting out small lists and mailing
out to people who had written to magazines at that time like
Strictly Elvis and Elvis Monthly. By late June 1977 I had been
able to put aside some money and I decided to take a chance
and buy a mailing list of 500,000 people. At that time there
was a company ( Brookville Marketing in New York) who had sold
around 10,000,000 copies of an Elvis Greatest Hits LP and who
offered their names for sale for 3.5¢ each. I somehow convinced
my mother into lending me $20,000 (the biggest con of my life!!),
bought a half as million names, printed a catalog (which contained
all kinds of things like foreign and US records; pictures; mags;
etc.), and mailed them out by bulk mail!!
Well, believe it
or not, these catalogs were arriving in people's home's the
week of Elvis' death!! To tell you what happened after that
would take too long now but I'll just say that the next week
(as I was still in shock after Elvis' passing) I went to the
post office and I must have had 10,000 or more orders!!! I was
totally stunned as we all were with what had happened - losing
our idol, a friend whom we had never met but still felt close
to - but now I had to deal with these orders and with the 1000
a day that kept coming in for 3 months or more. Well, that's
another story but that's how WORLDWIDE ELVIS actually began
and I've been doing it ever since!! I used to issue a catalog
a year but I developed my web site in 1997 WorldWideElvis
and this is how I operate now!
What was your
reaction emotionally the day Elvis died on August 16 1977?
Here's how I found
out about it! Jean Marc Gargiulo and some of his fan club members
were at my home (they were over here to see Elvis on tour) and
I was showing them 16mm films of the Sullivan TV shows; a Dorsey
TV Show; and the 68 TV Special when someone called and told
me that Elvis had died! I couldn't believe it was true but then
the phones were ringing like crazy with calls from radio stations,
TV stations, newspapers asking me to do interviews with them
plus I had to tell Jean Marc who of course was, like me, in
utter shock to learn that our idol had passed away! To tell
you the truth Andylon, the next few weeks are still a blur to
me. I do know that all I seemed to be doing was to be trying
to fill orders and to try and get my mind off the horrible thing
that happened plus trying to avoid the seemingly never ending
barrage of calls from the press. It was not the best time of
my life. It was like losing a relative which was strange since
I never met Elvis but still he had this thing that I think endeared
him to all of us. I know that Jean Marc and I will never forget
that day as will all of us that were around at that time will
never forget.
You began helping
RCA in the early 90's, didn't you? Tell us more about this and
what you have done?
A long story but
to shorten it...I began working on a book on every known Elvis
RCA vinyl release from every country in the world in 1989. I
had become friends with Bernadette Moore in late 1991. She ran
the RCA / BMG archives in New York and she was very helpful
in getting me information on older releases from the US. Anyway,
she invited me to come to New York anytime to go through her
vast archives whenever I wanted to and, at around the same time,
my good friend since the mid 70's (Ernst Jorgensen) invited
me to come to RCA NEW YORK in Jan. 1992 to help with the 50's
Master's box Set. This started everything with RCA and from
then on I helped on the 60's and 70's box sets, most of the
double features CD's plus even the Mobile Fidelity release of
the That's The Way It Is CD. Plus later I did the two colored
vinyl singles; CD Fans Only CD; and the recent American Trilogy
(or "Patriot"
CD as it's also called!).
When and where
was the first time you saw Elvis live on stage ?
If I could go back
in time I would go back to the 50's and see every Elvis concert!
The 50's (in my opinion) was the real Elvis as far as his stage
performances. I would give anything to have seen a concert then.
The closest I've come is to seeing a color film of a few songs
he did at the Hayride! Anyway, yes, I saw Elvis four times -
the first in Baltimore (Nov.10, 1971) which was the best concert
of the four! Obviously he looked fantastic and the feeling I
got when he walked across the stage was the exact feeling that
I thought or hoped I'd have! Then I saw him at the Univ. Of
Md Sept 27, 1974 which was the worst show I ever saw . Elvis'
hair looked gray, he talked more than he sang and slurred his
words, and just looked fat and bloated! The last two shows were
on May22, 1977 in Largo, Md and May 29 in Baltimore (the show
where he left the stage for 30 min.). Both shows really weren't
that bad despite what people have reported.
When did you really
started to be a serious collector. Was it with vinyl?
Well my love , I
have already kinda answered this but to talk a little more about
my collection! Right now I think I have 7000 or so 78's, singles,
EP's, and LP's - all RCA as I'm really not a serious bootleg
collector! Most of these are different covers, compilations,
labels, etc. I started doing a book in 1989 devoted to detailing
every known vinyl release from over 60 countries that issued
RCA Elvis records but this became a monster of an undertaking
and, what I thought was going to be 500 pages, turned into a
3,000 + page book which may never come out for a lot of reasons!
I did come out with that Ultimate Album Cover (note that I hate
the title - the publisher insisted on it! - and I wanted more
text) which gave a glimpse into what was released but this is
really just a fraction of my collection!
Up until now,
what is you favourite project that you did on Elvis ?
Hmm, good question!!
Possibly the red and gold vinyl "King Of The Whole Wide
World / King Creole" singles I did in 1997 but only because
I always wanted to do a vinyl project with RCA and this was
my first so it was a special thing for me. Actually, I think
that the CD that was turned down last year (The First Time Ever)
would have been my favorite but of course that was not meant
to be because of various things that were happening with Joe
Tunzi and the estate at the time and BMG didn't want to get
involved and therefore cancelled the CD!
When can we expect
something else in the future, you are doing on a special
product
I am currently working
on a CD project Andylon, however there may be a problem as BMG
in the US may be putting a freeze on anyone outside of the main
label doing anything this year because they want to be the only
outlet selling Elvis during this 25th Anniversary. I am hoping
to find out more about this soon and of course I will announce
it on my web site (http://www.worldwideelvis.com) if it happens.
Why are you so
expensive ?(Well, this is not all true, I always get them cheap
from you lol).
It's good that you
ask this because I think all of us dealers get this question
(well, maybe not you my love because you have been mainly into
wholesaling!) at one time or another! Anyway, I guess it depends
on what item (s) you're referring to. Sure, I am higher than
some dealers on certain items but, on others I'm lower or about
the same. Sometimes we get things cheaper than others so we
can sell them cheaper. Sometimes we get things in trade so we
can obviously sell them cheaper. But sometimes we get items
and honestly have no idea what price to sell them for and sometimes
we pick prices that some people think are high. If you mentioned
specific items I could go into detail better. I do know that
I sell the FTD's for as low as $25 each whereas Graceland sells
them for $26 plus they hit you for $7 postage for one CD! But
hey, that's great for me as you won't believe how many customers
I have gotten as a result of their prices!! So they have helped
me out a lot.
I wish you had been
specific so I could talk about other items but I guess it doesn't
matter as I do know what you are saying and I have read that
my prices (again, never really anything specific!) are high.
You know, I used to think a certain individual years ago was
ripping people off by charging high prices for things that I
was selling for a lot less but one day I realized that this
is not a rip off! Why? Well, think about it! If you go to a
K Mart or Walmart or some large volume store here in the states
(and I'm sure in Holland) you're going to be able to buy say
a VCR for $30 (or whatever!) cheaper than say a department store
or even a store specializing in video recorders! Do people complain
that the specialized store is ripping them off? If you drive
down the road and look at gas prices here you'll see gas for
$1.55 a gallon and maybe the next gas station will have the
same grade for $1.35! Do you call the first place a rip off?
I could go on and on.
The bottom line is:
what do you do in cases like these? simple! You simply make
your choice and buy from whoever you want to and I assume that
would be the cheapest one! This applies to me or you or any
other Elvis dealer we know. Customers should always look around
first, compare prices and then buy. As you well know, the prices
we charge depend on our suppliers. So if I have a supplier who
charges $10 more for the item than your supplier, obviously
your price will then be lower. What the customer should do is
to shop around always before buying and also make sure the dealer
is honest and reputable! Customers should complain about people
whom they ordered from who don't send anything or send things
in bad condition but they shouldn't complain about dealers just
because their price may be higher than someone else's. I hope
this answers your question!!
What is you opinion
on the latest "Long Lost Home Recording" release?
Well, I heard the
songs and of course it's not Elvis Presley and not even close.
I have no idea how anyone can listen to Elvis' voice for 40
+ years and think this is Elvis! It's simply mind boggling but
I guess some people are just living in a dream world! I can't
believe the people doing this really truly believe it's Elvis.
They probably got conned and paid money for the tape and now
are just trying to make their money back!! That's just my opinion!
What is your favorite
single - L.P. and film of Elvis and why ?
Probably my favorite
LP is either "Elvis Is Back" or "Something For
Everybody!" Of course this is not an "easy question".
I guess I like them because I love Elvis' voice in the early
60's! My favorite film is really tough to decide on but "King
Creole", "Loving You", "Jailhouse Rock",
Follow That Dream" and "Viva Las Vegas" are the
top 5.
What is your favourite
Elvis website?
Well, even though
I sometimes have issues with things that they print as far as
accuracy is concerned, without question my favorite web site
is EPGold.com.
My next favorite would be Haruo's Elvis World.
Paul you don't
mean this !! those fanatic Elvis fans nutcase morons ???
C'mon ??They crucified everyone like Ernst Jorgenson, you, Joe
Tunzi ,Gerry Rijff, Geller etcetera, yes, and even me !!!
I guess it's like...why
do people sometimes read the INQUIRER or the STAR! Seriously,
I only go to this messageboard when someone tells me that there
may be some absurd story on me and I guess I just like to have
a good laugh but I guess I must only visit this once a month
as I have better things to do. Also, for recording session
info I like Master And Sessions which is an incredible site
with a wealth of great info. I recommend this one!
