{"id":2343,"date":"2021-10-17T22:42:06","date_gmt":"2021-10-17T22:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2343"},"modified":"2021-10-17T22:45:11","modified_gmt":"2021-10-17T22:45:11","slug":"from-the-vaults-elton-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2343","title":{"rendered":"From the Vaults: Elton John"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the 2017 movie, <\/span>Kingsman:\u00a0 The Golden Circle<\/span><\/i>, Elton John plays himself, at least he does a spot on parody of the \u2018Chicken Suit Elton John\u2019.\u00a0 I do not recall exactly if John had really worn the chicken outfit on stage in the past, but it resembled a cross between the mass of feathers he sported on the Muppet Show in 1977 and the Donald Duck outfit he wore performing in New York City\u2019s Central Park in 1980.\u00a0 The star of <\/span>The Golden Circle, <\/span><\/i>Taron Egerton, would go on to be cast as EJ himself in the 2019 biopic <\/span>Rocketman.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Though I have only seen the trailer for <\/span>Rocketman<\/span><\/i>, the iconic stage outfit that stuck with me was the bejewelled LA Dodgers uniform Taron \/ Elton donned to recreate a concert held at Dodgers Stadium (where else?).\u00a0 One can do a short search on the WWW and find dozens upon dozens of costumes worn by Sir Elton from the early 1970s on.\u00a0 Strangely enough, the three examples cited above are rather tame when compared to some of the other getups he wore.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Elton John is no stranger to making news.\u00a0 Of late, his stage clothes tend toward sequined tuxes and tails for his residency performances in Las Vegas.\u00a0 A little farther back in time, his reworking of <\/span>A Candle in the Wind<\/span><\/i> after the death of Princess Diana dominated the airwaves, print media, and news sites.\u00a0 For the last thirty years, extensive media coverage has painted a picture of John as a confident, top of the A-list performer.\u00a0 Famous (and even everyday folk) have their ups and downs, but over time, memories of the low spots in a career (or life) tend to fade and the glitzy parts seem to grow a life of their own.\u00a0 I would like to take you back a little farther in time and look at the very beginning of Elton John\u2019s career, back before the polished performer emerged.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0According to <\/span>Classic Rock Magazine <\/span><\/i>(Johnny Black\u2019s August 2021 article <\/span>Captain Fantastic<\/span><\/i>), Elton\u2019s first album (<\/span>Empty Sky<\/span><\/i>) made but a ripple across the pond.\u00a0 Regardless, he was still voted the fifth-most promising pop act in the United Kingdom that year.\u00a0 His self-titled second record did climb to No. 5 in the UK but he wasn\u2019t a star by any means.\u00a0 His singles failed to chart and John was playing gigs at universities and small clubs.\u00a0 Interest in signing Elton John in America was limited to MCA affiliate UNI Records (home to Neil Diamond, more on him in a bit) who offered to, and then signed him for an advance of . . . exactly nothing.\u00a0 Before he tossed in the towel completely, John\u2019s business manager, Dick James, decided to invest $10,000 to try and break his client in the United States.\u00a0 Booking agent Vic Lewis worked the phones relentlessly but John\u2019s status as an unknown resulted in lackluster offers like a $50 per night gig in New York.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0James had one promising lead that would have had Elton open for Jeff Beck at LA\u2019s famed Troubadour.\u00a0 Beck\u2019s management noted that Jeff was getting $10,000 a night so the split would have to be 90 percent for him and 10 percent for the unknown John.\u00a0 John recalled following the conversation:\u00a0 \u201cSo I am sitting there, wanting, thinking, \u2018Ten thousand dollars a night, wow!\u2019\u00a0 And I hear Dick saying, \u2018Listen, I guarantee you this boy will be earning that much in six months!\u2019\u00a0 And I say to myself, \u2018Dick, what a dippy old fart you are!\u2019\u00a0 So the Jeff Beck thing fell through and I was sulking.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Beck deal was off the table, but apparently a gig at The Troubadour was not.\u00a0 The club\u2019s talent coordinator, Travis Holder, had met John in London earlier when Elton was in the process of recording <\/span>Your Song<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Holder went to battle with Troubadour owner Doug Weston who was not at all in favor of booking a no-name artist from England.\u00a0 Holder persisted and eventually signed Elton to open for Jerry Jeff Walker, but with a little side hustle in mind.\u00a0 Walker was slated to appear to support the new album he had not quite finished.\u00a0 Holder booked John thinking that if Walker\u2019s album was not finished, he would rebook and Elton would end up the headliner.\u00a0 As for the calculated risk he took, Holder told <\/span>CRM<\/span><\/i>, \u201cI don\u2019t know if Doug ever fully realized my treachery, but the resulting notoriety of that one historic appearance brought the Troub great clout – and gave my employer a new respect for me.\u201d \u00a0 With a six-night stand booked for $500 for the trio (including drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray), Vic Lewis also lined up six more nights at the Troubadour North in San Francisco, a one-nighter at the NYC Playboy Club, and two nights at The Electric Factory in Philadelphia.\u00a0 It sounds simple enough now, but how did it play with Elton?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0John\u2019s reaction when they arrived in LA is a good place to start:\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019d flown to Los Angeles thirteen hours over the pole in this jumbo jet, and we arrived to find this bloody great bus (a rented double-decker London bus) with \u2018Elton John has arrived!\u2019 plastered on the side.\u201d\u00a0 The UNI Records publicist later said, \u201cWe picked him up in an authentic English bus.\u00a0 I kid you not.\u00a0 I rented a bright red English bus, with the two decks, and I put a big sign on it, \u2018Elton John has arrived.\u2019\u00a0 It just blew his mind.\u201d\u00a0 John told <\/span>Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i>, \u201cI found that extremely embarrassing.\u00a0 Everyone was sort of getting into a crouch and trying to hide below the windows.\u00a0 I mean, I\u2019m a great lover of things that are done with taste…and double-decker buses don\u2019t qualify.\u201d\u00a0 They dropped their gear at the Continental Hyatt House (yes, the fabled Riot House) and were whisked off to see The Dillards perform at the Troub.\u00a0 \u201cThey were incredible, just knocked me out completely,\u201d John recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night had met Elton in London in 1969.\u00a0 Hutton invited him out for dinner and then to his house where he had arranged to have him meet songwriter Van Dyke Parks.\u00a0 During this visit, John was given a couple of more surprises.\u00a0 First, he was informed that David Ackles would be opening the show.\u00a0 Ackles was well respected in London and Elton was shocked to learn that he was not more high profile in America.\u00a0 He was equally surprised to learn neither Tom Paxton or Tim Buckley were household names here.\u00a0 Secondly, he found his label mate at UNI, Neil Diamond, would be introducing him on opening night.\u00a0 As Diamond recalled, \u201cI\u2019d got a call from my old friend David Rosner, who was working with Elton\u2019s publisher, Dick James.\u00a0 I\u2019d just come off three years of hits, and David wanted to know if I\u2019d introduce the totally unknown Elton John.\u00a0 I agreed to do it, based on David\u2019s and Russ Regan\u2019s word that Elton had the makings of a big star. [During a hastily arranged visit to Diamond\u2019s Coldwater Canyon home, Diamond remembered] He sat in my living room holding his cap in his lap.\u00a0 He was super-quiet and shy.\u00a0 I thought to myself:\u00a0 \u2018This kid\u2019s never gonna make it.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The band was excited and according to Olsson, \u201cWe were freaking out.\u00a0 I mean, Neil Diamond, for god\u2019s sake.\u201d\u00a0 In need of scoring a hair dryer for Olsson, Elton\u2019s personal manager Ray Williams called an old girlfriend to see if she could help them out.\u00a0 She was out of the country but her sister came over instead in the company of her friend, Maxine Feibelman.\u00a0 To ease the pressure on the day before the first show, the girls offered to drive them to Palm Springs for the day.\u00a0 It worked out well for Elton\u2019s song writing partner Bernie Taupin as he and Maxine hit it off, eventually marrying in 1971.\u00a0 John wasn\u2019t so keen on the trip so he stayed behind and worked himself into a\u00a0 nervous snit about the gig.\u00a0 He convinced himself he was too inexperienced to play for the \u2018LA in crowd\u2019 and by the time the entourage returned, he was ready to bolt back to London.\u00a0 A transatlantic phone call from Dick James brought him back to Earth and the next thing the band knew, they were at the Troubadour doing a four song sound check.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Unable to be there for the sound check, Regan sent one of his minions, Rick Frio, in his place.\u00a0 Frio said, \u201cThe three guys were on stage, and the first thing I thought was that they were playing the record behind them.\u00a0 There was so much music coming out of those three fellas that it was incredible.\u201d\u00a0 Frio called Regan immediately to assure him that if he had any doubts about John\u2019s American debut, they could be laid to rest.\u00a0 When the band returned for the opening night,\u00a0 they found it as Elton describes,\u00a0 \u201cPacked to the brim with people from the record industry (thanks to a massive phone campaign designed to bring in a celebrity-heavy crowd), who expected me to come on with this fifteen-piece orchestra and reproduce the sound of the album, which had recently been released there.\u201d\u00a0 Regan estimates, \u201cThere were maybe three hundred people in that room Tuesday night, but everybody I talk to says:\u00a0 \u2018Yeah, I was there!\u2019 so there must have been thirty thousand at the Troubadour that night.\u201d\u00a0 There weren\u2019t that many there, but John\u2019s nerves certainly were.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The crowd over the six-night stand was a veritable who’s-who of LA\u2019s finest, all ready to see the newest offering from across the pond.\u00a0 From the whole of C,S,N,&Y to Carole King, Gordon Lightfoot, Randy Newman, Don Henley, Brian Jones, Micky Dolenz, and scenester Rodney Bingenheimer, they were all there.\u00a0 At 10 pm Niel Diamond proclaimed, \u201cI\u2019m like the rest of you.\u00a0 I\u2019m here because of having listened to Elton John\u2019s album.\u00a0 So I\u2019m going to take my seat with you now and enjoy the show.\u201d\u00a0 In <\/span>Rocketman,<\/span><\/i> Hollywood license has Egreton \/ John break into a rollicking version of <\/span>Crocodile Rock<\/span><\/i>, which the fact checkers may or may not have realized had not yet been written.\u00a0 The opening song was <\/span>Your Song<\/span><\/i> and it was met with \u2018polite applause.\u201d\u00a0 Robert Hilburn of the <\/span>LA Times <\/span><\/i>wrote:\u00a0 \u201cHe started going through his songs in a somewhat distant, businesslike\u00a0 manner.\u00a0 He looked scared, keeping his eyes on the piano.\u201d\u00a0 Sensing the room was expecting more Randy Newman or James Taylor than Jerry Lee Lewis, Elton yelled, \u201cRight!\u00a0 If you won\u2019t listen, perhaps you\u2019ll bloody-well listen to this!\u201d as he kicked back his piano stool and kicked things into a higher gear.\u00a0 Hilburn\u2019s review concluded, \u201cRejoice!\u00a0 Rock music, which has been going through a rather uneventful period recently, has a new star, \u00a0 He\u2019s Elton John, a 23-year old Englishman, whose debut Tuesday night at the Troubadour was, in almost every way, magnificient.\u00a0 He\u2019s going to be one of rock\u2019s biggest and most important stars.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bill Graham called and offered John $5000 to play New York City\u2019s Fillmore East, the highest amount ever offered a first timer at Graham\u2019s music palace.\u00a0 The second night at the Troub,\u00a0 Elton\u2019s hero, Leon Russell was in the front row but went unnoticed until the last song:\u00a0 \u201cI saw him and just stopped.\u00a0 [Russell] shouted, \u2018Keep on.\u00a0 Come up to the house tomorrow.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Bernie and Elton did indeed visit Russell and were impressed with the rock star\u2019s living conditions.\u00a0 They noted the sign on the piano that said, \u201cDon\u2019t shoot the piano player.\u201d\u00a0 The meeting with Leon was a personal high point for the duo, as later releases (<\/span>Tumbleweed Connection, Don\u2019t Shoot Me I\u2019m Only the Piano Player, <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Madman Across the Water<\/span><\/i>) would bear out.\u00a0 Danny Hutton also invited them to go over and meet another hero, but he was not in his best mental shape.\u00a0 Although Brian Wilson said he was as nervous to meet Elton and Bernie as they were to visit him, he managed to sing \u2018<\/span>It\u2019s a little bit funny\u2019 <\/span><\/i>from <\/span>Your Song<\/span><\/i> into the intercom when they rang at the gate. The Brits were a little concerned for Brian:\u00a0 \u201cHe was not well at the time.\u00a0 We had dinner, and the dining room was filled with sand…Bernie and I were freaking out.\u00a0 We hadn\u2019t taken a drug in our lives…we were absolutely in awe of this man, but freaking out because we\u2019d never been in such a weird situation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Troubadour stand was a complete success.\u00a0 In owner Doug Weston\u2019s opinion, \u201cIn the whole eighteen years of Troubadour history, no artist had ever captured the town as completely and thoroughly.\u201d\u00a0 The six nights in San Francisco was \u201calright\u201d according to Russ Regan, but there wasn\u2019t the same magic.\u00a0 The Playboy Club was a total mistake as a booking;\u00a0 half the audience left before he even took the stage.\u00a0 Disheartened, he vowed to, \u201cBurn the city of Philadelphia down\u201d when he learned Regan was taking heat for the lackluster album sales.\u00a0 The record company suits were not sure how hot a commodity John was.\u00a0 Only 3,000 records moved in the early part of his tour and the MCA brass started calling him \u2018Regan\u2019s Folly\u2019.\u00a0 After a two night, blistering stand in Philly, the local record shops put in orders for 10,000 Elton John albums.\u00a0 Regan called the main MCA office to say, \u201cRegan\u2019s folly is coming home,\u201d while suggesting they perform a vulgar, anatomically difficult procedure…and then he hung up on them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When UNI released <\/span>Your Song<\/span><\/i> in October, it went to No.8 on the <\/span>Billboard Hot 100<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Elton would score an amazing 16 Top 10 singles and seven consecutive No.1 albums in the 1970s.\u00a0 As he summed it all up years later, \u201cI think the start of all the success was the Troubadour thing.\u00a0 It was just amazing.\u00a0 It\u2019s an incredibly funky little place, the best club of its kind anywhere, and all it is is some wooden tables and chairs and good acoustics.\u201d\u00a0 Looking back, it is a good thing that Dick James was able to talk him out of skipping the gig altogether when his nerves got the better of him.\u00a0 That is what good representation can do for an artist and why they are well worth their percentage.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Strangely enough, it was Elton John\u2019s appearance in<\/span> Kingsman – The Golden Circle <\/span><\/i>that got the ball rolling for Egerton to appear as Elton in <\/span>Rocket Man.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>John had been approached to be in the first <\/span>Kingsman<\/span><\/i> movie and declined;\u00a0 a move he regretted once he saw the finished product.\u00a0 When a second chance was offered to be in <\/span>The Golden Circle<\/span><\/i> appearing at his campy 1970 best at the whims of the villainous Poppy, he jumped at it.\u00a0 That he and Taron got along great can be inferred by his selection to play Elton in the biopic with John\u2019s blessings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Regardless of what the movie showed, Elton John opened his set at the Troubadour with YOUR SONG, not CROCODILE ROCK . . . hard to open with a song that hasn’t been written yet!\u00a0 Ah, Hollywood!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the 2017 movie, Kingsman:\u00a0 The Golden Circle, Elton John plays himself, at least he does a spot on parody of the \u2018Chicken Suit Elton John\u2019.\u00a0 I do not recall exactly if John had really worn the chicken outfit on stage in the past, but it resembled a cross between the mass of feathers he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2343"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2346,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343\/revisions\/2346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}