"NFL LOCKER ROOM CONFESSIONS"

This is being written on June 28, 2011, which is 143 days since there was any professional football played in the USA. Yes,” last year’s” 2010 National Football League season ended at approximately 9:45 p.m. EST on Sunday, February 6. 2011, in Cowboy Stadium, Arlington, Texas . The Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-26, to win Super Bowl XLV, i.e., the forty-fifth one played since Vince Lombardi’s Packers won Super Bowl I in 1967. (Don’t these recent Roman numerals look more and more like T-shirt sizes?)

The 2010 Packers never trailed in XLV, building a 21-3 lead with thirty-nine seconds remaining in the first half before the Steelers scored their first touchdown. The game was somewhat in doubt until around the third minute of the fourth quarter when Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers threw his third TD pass of the game. It was a spectacular day for Rogers: he became only the fourth quarterback in SB history to throw for three TD’s, 300 yards and no interceptions. The Pack beat the odds, the opposition and went all the way. The Lombardi trophy went back to Green Bay, Wisconsin for the first time in fourteen years.



All in NFL World was groovy and gravy until March 11, 2011. Then the league’s “billionaire owners” and “millionaire players” could not agree on how to divvy up their reported nine billion dollars in annual revenues. How many US dollars is that? More than the Gross National Products of Algeria, Romania, Nigeria, Peru, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Morocco, Viet Nam, Puerto Rico, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Croatia, Ecuador, Slovenia, Libya, Guatemala or Luxembourg. Regardless of the of economic shifting smorgasbords in these countries nothing on the scale of the NFL’s present impasse has occurred there. What has become the longest work stoppage in pro sports began 110 days ago and counting as I type this.



When asked if and when there will be NFL games this year my reply, based on what I’ve heard from league “insiders,” is that the first exhibition contest will take place on August 8, 2011, at the annual Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio. I was informed by those in-the-know that, “The St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears will suit up, play, and get paid for that game on just one day’s practice if that’s the deal.”



By karmic coincidence or as an act of “The Football Gods” I’ve “followed” one of these teams since 1965: the Cleveland/Los Angeles/Anaheim/St. Louis Rams. Between the team's crumby last game and the lack of NFL news, there's been no story about the Rams in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch since June 20 and that is civil litigation news about a player best-known as "Mister Irrelevant."



Plummeting from appearances in two of the first three Super Bowls in this century, the former “Fastest Show on Turf” finished the 2009 season under a rookie head coach with a record of one win and fifteen losses. The only legitimately good thing about finishing last among the NFL’s thirty-two teams is that the franchise with the absolute worst record receives the overall number one draft choice for the coming year.

Slingin' Sam Joins The Rams

Last year’s NFL draft was held on April 22, 2010. Most observers figured that Sam Bradford, All-American quarterback from Oklahoma, or All-Everything defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska would be the first pick. The Rams, owners of the lousiest record from the previous season, held the number one choice. If they focused on their offense, which had been wretchedly declining for several years, they would opt for Bradford. If they hoped to add instant punch to an equally poor defense the choice would be Suh. Of all the players available St. Louis selected Sam Bradford. Great! The rookie QB never missed a snap during his first pro season and was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. (Suh played brilliantly for the Detroit Lions and won the defensive rookie award.)



But even with Bradford’s spectacular play the Rams struggled, losing some close games by frustratingly close scores, games that could have easily gone either way. Of the Rams first five losses of 2010 the total margin of defeat was ten points. But heading into the sixteenth and final game of the season with a seven win, eight loss record, the Rams were still in the running to make the playoffs as champions of the worst division in pro football, the NFC West. The winner of final regular season game between the Rams and the Seahawks would move on to the first round of the playoffs and actually host the first game. The loser would go home, pack it all in, do exit interviews and watch the remainder of the season as spectators, if at all.



Dwelling on details of that dreadful debacle still sends me into pissed off paroxysms of pessimism. The Rams, particularly because of some inexplicable/insane decisions by their head coach, managed to score a total of six points in their final outing. The Rams tallied two field goals by kicker Josh Brown, who played his first five seasons for Seattle and tormented the Rams along the way before joining the club in 2008.



Mark Twain once said, “Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.” No matter how one spins the stats on the Rams last defeat in what should not have been the final game of their 2010 season there are no numbers flexible enough to deny the facts. One touchdown was scored that day in Seattle by the home team during the first five minutes of play. Seahawks kickers past and present made all the other points on field goals. The Rams were crushed in total yards gained: 184 to the winner’s 333. Bradford’s passing performance was his second worst of the season: 19 of 36 completed plus one interception.

But most disappointing and distressing to Rams fans, players and staff was the use (actually non-use) of running back Steven Jackson, one of the NFL’s elite ball carriers. The Rams coaching brain trust (or is it “no brains, no trust?”) allowed Jackson carry the ball eleven times in the entire game.



Put in context, this was the most critical matchup for the team in nine years since they played in and lost Super Bowl XXXVI to the New England Patriots by a score of 20-17 on a field goal as the final gun ended the game. The Rams dreams of a dominant dynasty vanished. Since that day, February 3, 2002, Rams partisans and many “experts” debated the Rams coaching “wisdom” that called for the incorrectly labeled “prevent defense” to stop Pats quarterback Tom Brady from marching his team down the field into three-point field goal range as the clock (and the season) ran out.



But this Monday morning speculation was wiped away when football fans consider the haphazard, seemingly random play calling by the Rams coaching staff headed by second-year head coach Steve “Little Caesar” Spagnuolo. Ironically his lone win in his rookie year put the team in position to draft Sam Bradford. Then in what turned out to be Bradford’s last appearance of the year he was never put in position to win this game. Rams lose, 16-6. “Spags” coaching record of eight wins against twenty-four losses leaves him with a winning (losing?) percentage of .250. That is the worst record of any Rams head coach since Hugo Bezdek won one game and lost thirteen, a career .071 percentage. That was in 1937, the first year of the franchise, eight decades prior to the meltdown on the day after New Year's 2011.

The Todd Hewitt Family

So how did the Rams boss man handle the ignominious conclusion to last season? Did he consider reevaluating personnel, strategy, tactics or his own role in the matter? Did he own up to any responsibility for the crash-and-burn climax of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been a magic year? No.



Spagnuolo returned to St. Louis. Five days later, about 120 hours after the fact, he fired the team’s equipment manager, Todd Hewitt. Huh? Todd began helping his dad and predecessor, Don Hewitt, back in 1967, XLIV years earlier. (Don’t these Roman numerals look like the call letters of Mexican radio stations?)



Reporter John H. Tucker of the Riverfront Times conducted the first in-depth interview with Hewitt on January 12. For the facts of the matter (and a great photo of Todd), you might want to check outhttp://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/01/todd_hewitt_fired_from_rams.php.



Nearly 1400 words into this blog/rant brings me to the point of the above back story: Although Todd Hewitt was ignominiously released by the Rams at year’s end, he is one of a very few NFL team employees who has been working since he was literally tossed out of the Rams facility and into the snow.



In addition to Hewitt the team released a handful of other longtime, loyal employees who, like Todd, would soon qualify for full medical coverage until they become eligible for Social Security and other government benefits. Many of them are bringing legal action against the St. Louis Rams for a variety of alleged violations.



When it comes to the dismissal of Hewitt and the others to this day the Rams have assiduously issued versions of “No Comment” on the subject. Spagnuolo’s most pertinent quote on the matter is something like, “We are moving in another direction.”



I met Todd’s father in 1967 when he was hired away from the University of Southern California to accept the similar position, head equipment manager, of the then-Los Angeles Rams.

Todd and I became friends in 1997

when I moved back home to Hawaii

and he had been in St. Louis for two years,

having moved there with the team in 1995.

We hit it off from the start. Todd has been here in Honolulu often enough to know the territory better than most visitors; besides vacationing here with his family he also worked at several Pro Bowls played in Aloha Stadium. And, by now, the obsessive maniac that I am know more about the Rams than the “average” fan.



Put it this way: I can spend the rest of my days wearing clothing by “Van Hewitt of St. Louis,” which is what former Rams Pro Bowl defensive end Fred Dryer called all the Rams clothing when he joined the team in 1972.



That aside, the question is “What has Todd Hewitt been doing since his (and the league’s) season ended?” Answer: Writing his book NFL LOCKER ROOM CONFESSIONS © 2011.



I am along for the ride as co-author. It is my fourth book. If you think you “know about” professional football and its players, coaches and fans, then hang on. Most all of this book is about the off-field adventures of Sunday’s Heroes during the 164 hours or so during each week of the season when they are not playing on the gridiron but just playing. Big boys with expensive toys. Muy grande amigos with mammoth egos. Millionaires just out of their teenage years. Rolexes to Rolls-Royces to rock’n’roll and rolls in the hay (or wherever they could tackle a feminine fan).

Here you go, the first official word about what Todd and I have been working on for nearly six months. Like most of America’s sports fans you are ready for some football (presuming you have read this far.) And whether or not there will be NFL this fall there will exist one of the most revealing and outright hilarious books about pro football coming your way, hopefully by the Thanksgiving Day doubleheader. For any and all other info, feel free to contact me at rj@hawaii.rr.com.



Item: Here’s one fact you might find strange or contradictory to what you have thought about the game: Hardly any NFL players wear jock straps. Or “cups.” Just a glimpse of the naked truth coming your way.

© 2011 Todd Hewitt & Ron Jacobs

LETTER TO LESLIE WILCOX, PBS HAWAII

Original Halekulani Hotel

An Open Letter to Leslie Wilcox, PBS Hawaii and whoever wrote,

researched and directed the recent musical special taped at the Halekulani Hotel.

Contrary to the reviews, which were full of oohs, aahs and platitudes as often is the case in Hawaii, more so by the day as Old Timers pass on and others like yourself try to maintain some semblance of professionalism when it comes to the one commodity in our islands that is sweeter than malasadas, cooler than the trade winds (the ones that can weave their way through the cement jungle sections of town), more fun than mahjong, betting on high school football or even a trip to Vegas itself. What could that possibly be?

It is Nostalgia. We who lived it rather than heard about it second or thirdhand or “learned” it on Wikipedia or manifest some of the other symptoms of the semi-informed when it comes to the subject of what happened, where, when, how and who was involved. It is a measure of the weakness of the University of Hawaii’s journalism and communications curriculum and methods that becomes obvious when their graduates assume responsibility for accurately and fairly reporting on what is happening today let alone venture into the slipstream of our kama’aina lives, those of us who lived the events, smelled the lei, were friends with legends many have only heard of nowadays and doing the stuff that is now purveyed in “media” as The Old Days.

When I was born seventy-three years ago my parents lived in a cottage a Kuhio and Seaside Avenues in Waikiki. I read recently in the sad remnants of what used to be our daily newspapers that, “The most dangerous spot in Hawaii,” is now located at that very intersection.

Growing up I did not see picture postcards of Diamond Head, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Kapiolani Park, the Ala Wai and so on. No all that was my playground. I grew up with my dad constantly reminding me, “When you were born we didn’t need to lock the doors at night.”

Back then the two only hotels on the beach across Kalakaua Avenue were the Moana (1901) and Royal (1927). A long hike to the ewa end of the beach took you to the Halekulani and the Niumalu. I was in and out of these hotels and those that followed. The ice cold pineapple juice in the public fountain in the lobby of the Royal. The coming and going of the Waikiki Biltmore built with a missing elevator shaft. Signing off the air every morning I met Henry J. Kaiser while he was building the Hawaiian Village Hotel in 1957. I witnessed the changes, for the most part all for the worst: the honking for tourist dollars in gaudy ways that remind me of Tijuana or Kowloon, the street hustles and the other intrusions on the Aloha Spirit that must be dealt with to even park and get inside any of these formerly grand hostelries. But how would anyone your age, or younger, know, Leslie?

As you are aware I worked with and was friends with your father, Paul Wilcox, back at KPOA in 1958 when Tom Moffatt and I first joined that station. Not only was Paul a fine broadcaster but in his autumn years he became a great teller of tales of the way it used to be here. As it really was. So too did Don Blanding, Armine von Tempski, Franklin Marshall Davis, Ed Sheehan, Bob Krauss, Dave Donnelly and the others who have passed on. They have not passed on much of a torch to those who succeeded them.

I related scores of stories about those days now called nostalgic on radio, TV and my writings including four books. The second one is called “Back Door Waikiki.” Within are word pictures and photographs from the 1940s through the 1980s of my old neighborhood. If there is one thing I know it is the truth about what happened. And, of course, I know what didn’t.

In life there are actions and omissions. All have consequences, many of which these days are preserved on a gazillion memory chips and the devices to which they connect. I did not watch your Halekulani special. From the names mentioned it was obvious that no one had done sufficient research into the history of the Halekulani Hotel, specifically those who contributed to its musical heritage, which was from what could tell the purpose of the program along with paying tribute to Emma Veary. And running commercials for the not-very-much-owned-by-Hawaiians Hawaiian Airlines.

Ms. Veary is a nice person whom I’ve known for decades along with members of her families. But I cannot find anywhere online or otherwise the production credits for your program saluting her. I did read one blog entry by you, Leslie, that apparently confused the identity of which of the two Cazimero brothers participated in your program. Surely you know the difference between Roland and Robert. The first of which, Bozo, is a good guy who’s never let success go to his head; not the case with his toploftical brother. The preceding sentence is not the type to be found in print locally of since the media and some entertainers have been doing their circle-jerk for years madly patting one another on the back.

I see from the lineup (assuming you had no further misinformation) that there were some fine performers with long-established records of excellence featured on your program. Nina Keali’iwahamana and I started doing teenage radio show on KIKI-AM in 1952. There is no one finer. Will there ever be? Jimmy Borges was and always will be a sweetheart and a hell of a hip vocalist. Your “Hawaiian music historian” (and my Aina Haina ex-paper boy) Harry Soria like yourself has a name to maintain along with the tradition of his grandfather and father who I knew, worked with and wrote about.

From what I’ve heard (from friends not the fuzzy-wuzzy “reviews”) there were some musicians with less of a key than the House of the same name. I see that beautiful Beverly Noa performed. I remember Bev from her 1952 Miss Hawaii days and her husband, Freddie Noa, The Flyin’ Hawaiian. We worked together at the Roller Derby in the old Civic. (How many people reading this remember either Fred or the Civic?)

I recall small kid time when the Halekulani was on our family’s Sunday Dinner A-List along with the Sky Room, Canlis, Alexander Young Hotel, Lau Yee Chai, Tropics, Trader Vic's, Ciro’s, South Seas, Wagon Wheel and a few others. I spent hours laboring over the jigsaw puzzle in the Halekulani’s original lobby back when the main building was on the beach with cottages flanking the driveway. One thing that remains monumentally sumptuous there are the hotel's ono Sunday brunches.

Nalani Olds

Then an akamai friend emailed that this program of yours did not include or make mention of Aunty Lei Collins (noted singer, dancer, composer of Hawaiian songs and Halekulani program director), Mamo Howell (who at the age of three danced at the Royal with Aunty Lou Beamer) and most grievously absent: Nalani Olds. Among her many other achievements Nalani was one of the original Halekulani Girls. While still attending Punahou, Nalani sang there once and was hired on the spot.

“Of course you know Nalani.” But apparently not. If you are unaware of Nalani and her many accomplishments since high school consider this segment from Punahou’s 1955 class notes from two years ago when Nalani was named a "Living Treasure of Hawaii": “The recognition marked a lifetime of entertaining, honoring a woman who expresses her enduring love for Hawaii by sharing its culture the best way she knows how, with humility and grace.”

I’ve known no more modest person than Nalani, who I first met when we were in third grade. This woman never mentions that she founded the Prince Lot Hula Festival in 1979. Or that at eighteen she travelled to New York City for a few months and performed at the famous Luau 400 restaurant in the theater district. She appeared in places such as the Biltmore Hotel along with Haunani Kahalewai and at the Kahala Hilton years ago.

Nalani never tosses about her deep knowledge and expertise of Hawaiian culture that has kept her busy, including spending years traveling throughout the state, the US and abroad lecturing and performing.

Your promise when you were hired to run our Hawaii public television channel stated, “[Wilcox is] committed to ‘breaking the glass’ of the TV monitor to engage with people in all of our communities, including online.” Well, it’s four years. When I click on Channel 11 (or whatever it is on DirecTv) the only progress of note is the upgrading of nationally produced programming.

If the best you can come up with is commercial-oozing, saccharine-dripping shows such as that from the Halekulani then it gives my pause to consider if the public funding upon which you rely is being used to the best effect to inform and entertain the public. I always encourage bosses to read their own company’s Mission Statement often. Do you?

By the way, the Leahey boys are the one lively exception to PBS Hawaii's otherwise slumber-inducing local programming.

Being in the communications business professionally for fifty-eight years I am familiar with the limitations induced by advertising agencies, sponsors, promotional partners, boards of directors, corporate mandates and so on, all of which suck the air out of what we called The Creative Ones. Compared with many mainland publicly financed television that I watched and worked with on the mainland what you are transmitting now only furthers Honolulu’s image as a bush league “media market.”

That is not said without some background. I hosted and produced my first local TV show for KHVH-TV in 1957. One of my programs, “Pictures of Paradise” on KGMB-TV, was Hawaii’s first “magazine” format television show, winning many awards when it debuted in 1979. The program morphed into something called “The Hawaiian Moving Company” hosted by two announcers, Kamasami Kong and later Mike Perry, one of whom I hired and the other I didn’t fire when I programmed KKUA Radio in the 1970s.

It is unfair to mention mainland and global experience when discussing local media product and talent. Some of your best employees, particularly Steven Komori and Paula Rapoza, are longtime friends and professional colleagues. I know that they were not responsible for what was and was not on the Halekulani show.

That effort was as if one were covering Hawaii sports rather than music and had chosen a host with a huge profile but as uniformed in the deep history of local sports as say Robert Kekaula to host a program that failed to included Pump Searle, Herman Wedemeyer, Wally Yonamine, Red Rocha, Bobo Olson and so many others worthy of at least a mention.

First, since I cannot seem to locate the information online I would like to know who was responsible for the research and writing of your Emma Veary tribute? And second, rather than humbly apologize to Nalani I suggest PBS Hawaii devote serious resources to producing a program about Nalani Olds and her lifetime, which has always been blessed with the true spirit of Aloha—something that regretfully does not come across on the TV channel for which you are responsible.

Kūlia i kō ikaika,

Ron Jacobs

Kaneohe, Hawaii

July 14, 2011

ALOHA & MAHALO, HARI KOJIMA

Describing Hari Kojima as a “fish cutter” is like calling Jim Leahey a “word reader” or “Jesse Kuhaulua” a “big guy.”

I first met Hari in the 1970s. We were both involved in those still-pioneer days of Hawaii television. I sold myself as “Whodaguy?” Hari told the world about Tamashiro Market. Thanks mostly to the tube I became bigger than just KKUA Radio and Hari himself evolved into a brand name, way beyond just a worker at a North King Street fish store. It was even easier in those days to become a “celebrity” in our little home town.

My choice memory of Hari at his finest is from the summer of 1978. It was my daughter’s baby luau, my first and only as a proud papa. Plenty musician-friends volunteered to play at the party. They usually brought their instruments to luau for the informal cha-lang-a-lang that inevitably breaks out when you bring a bunch of entertainers together on their day off, feed them non-stop and provide continuous beverage service.

I wouldn't put that chore on the performers who comprised more than half the guest list. Neighbor Don Ho had an off-island gig that afternoon. He dropped by early in the morning and spent a half-hour with adoring grandparents and so on. That afternoon the crowd of musicians and civilians were entertained by one group that volunteered to play for the entire luau: The Makaha Sons of Ni’ihau. I first met the boys when Skippy and Israel were teenagers; they performed live on one of my first Aloha Friday morning radio shows in 1976.

The guys stopped by my Diamond Head home the day before the big party. They wanted to be sure that I had chairs strong enough to hold them without collapsing for what turned out to be five straight hours. No moving to go to the lua. No changing seats. The quartet just plopped into the heavy wood and leather chairs and never moved. Guests enchanted by the music fought for the chance to bring them plates of food to Skip, Iz, Moon and Jerome, all of which came from one of the best lunch wagons in Kaka’ako. And they never repeated a song. Just one humongous medley, from "Hi'ilawe" to "Sloop John B." As awesome as the taste treats.

Besides ono plate lunch of every variety there were chocolate chip cookies freshly baked by my friend Wally Amos. We met during my Hollywood days in the Sixties when he was becoming the very Famous Amos. Standing beside Wally's commandeered oven was brother Hari Kojima. “I’ll handle the fish, RJ,” Hari volunteered when I invited him to what I hoped would be Keiki Luau of the Year.

On luau day Hari was at the dock before the sun came up. Of course Hari had first crack at everything hauled from the sea. He arrived at our house by 8:00 a.m. and began doing delicious things to ultra-fresh fish that he showed us on TV all those years. Fresh aku poke made by Kojima-san himself, served by a beautiful wahine dancer from the Makaha Sons halau (that they brought along as a surprise), placed under the nose of Israel Kamakawiwi’ole while singing and strumming was a scene that I’ll never forget, ever.

Hari and Wally did all this out of the goodness of their hearts—both as large and generous as anyone I’ve ever known. When I brought up the subject of even reimbursing the Makaha Sons for gasoline, Skippy replied “no way” with a stink eye.

“But, you guys played six hours straight, no break, brought dancers and everything, bra,” I told the older Kamakawiwi’ole brother. Skip replied, “No sweat, RJ. We already did two hours at OCCC before coming over here.” (For the uninformed that is The Oahu Community Correctional Center, the largest jail facility in the State of Hawaii.)

So now Hari is off with the brothers and so many others there that day nearly thirty years ago, dear folks waiting to share again in his love of life and people. The pioneer group Videololo shot much of Miki’ala’s luau on then-new Betamax tape. The images flicker by. Hari is there, cheerful as ever. Not on TV, but in my kitchen, slicing, dicing and smiling. Along with Skippy & Iz, Dave Donnelly, Teddy Randazzo, and so many other friends who have moved on. How happy they will be when Hari shows up.

ON EBAY ~ FROM MY INTERESTING ARCHIVES

You are bidding on producer-director Ron Jacobs' personal archival copy of the complete and final thirteen-hour original Elvis Presley Story radio documentary. It has been transferred from unused copies of the original vinyl records using the highest quality 2011 professional audio technology.

http://tinyurl.com/3tjequl

The Elvis Presley Story
Remembering the 1970s Radio Bio

I first heard the radio documentary The Elvis Presley Story in the fall of 1971. As a college graduation present my father had given me my first “boombox” (although that term hadn’t been coined yet). Besides having an AM/FM radio it played and remotely recorded on newfangled tapes called cassettes.

One day my roommate pointed out that my mini-stereo could actually record radio broadcasts onto cassette tape. Amazing! So when I heard a radio station announcing its coming broadcast of a twelve-hour documentary called The Elvis Presley Story, I ran out to K-Mart and bought a cheap package of blank cassette tapes. When the broadcast began early on a Sunday morning, I was ready to record The Elvis Presley Story all day long.

The documentary was the work of noted rock author Jerry Hopkins and legendary producer Ron Jacobs, at the time VP of Watermark, Inc. Although many of Elvis’s songs were included, the dozens of interview segments in it were the heart of the program. First, Hopkins culled these excerpts from his two years of recorded research for his Presley biography to be published in 1972. Then he and Jacobs hit the road to Tupelo, Memphis and Nashville to conduct first-hand field-recorded testimony about Elvis by his friends, relatives and colleagues dating back to the day he was born

Listening to The Elvis Presley Story for the first time was a revelation to me. Although I had been an Elvis fan for eight years at that point, I knew very little about his life and work. The up coming Hopkins’ biography would be the first serious attempt to document Presley’s life. Assorted biographical sketches on segments of Elvis’s life comprised all that I had previously known about him.

Suddenly, heretofore shadowy figures in Presley’s career came to life as I heard their voices on the radio that Sunday in October—Colonel Tom Parker, Bob Neal, Sam Phillips, Scotty Moore, Marion Keisker, George Klein, D.J. Fontana, Gordon Stoker, Ray Walker, Alan Fortas, Otis Blackwell, Bones Howe, Marty Lacker, and many, many others. Wink Martindale, a famous Memphis DJ and TV host with ties to Elvis in the fifties, enthusiastically narrated the The Elvis Presley Story originally and on all following updates.

Watermark promoted The Elvis Presley Story in a full-page Variety ad on August 21, 1971. “A twelve-hour radio documentary on the most spectacular figure in the history of rock and roll,” the headline read. The text added, “Until now The Elvis Presley Story has gone untold, cloaked in legend and mystery. But now Elvis’s life, his music and his impact have been documented in twelve hour-long taped chapters for exclusive radio broadcast rights. In this radio biography you’ll hear over 70 voices—the people who know Elvis best from his childhood to the present. You’ll hear dozens of rare tapes. You’ll hear the music that made him, and nearly 150 of the songs he made. You’ll hear the legend and how it was created and sustained. You’ll know Elvis Presley, The King, and the man.”

The Elvis Presley Story was been offered in July to stations that carried Watermark’s weekly “American Top 40 with Casey Kasem” program. Ninety-nine radio stations around the U.S. had booked the exciting new Elvis program for their markets. Billboardannounced that The Elvis Presley Story had been licensed to the British Broadcasting Corporation, which planned to air it exclusively in the U.K. beginning in January 1972.

So fascinating to me was The Elvis Presley Story, when it first aired on September 4, 1971, I listened to it several more times in the following months. During the summer of 1972, I drove from Biloxi to Washington D.C. for a reunion with some of my fraternity brothers. I brought my boombox along and listened to my recorded tapes of the Elvis documentary in the car until the batteries ran out.

Another time in Biloxi, a radio DJ friend of mine showed me the box set of Watermark vinyl LPs his station used to broadcast The Elvis Presley Story. Decades later, these radio masters have virtually disappeared or are of poor audio quaiity. A thirteenth chapter was added in 1975 to update the Elvis documentary

In January 1975, Watermark marketed an expanded version of The Elvis Presley Story. Hopkins, Jacobs, and Martindale gathered in Los Angeles to record a thirteenth chapter to cover the three years that had passed in Presley’s career since the original version aired. The show now comprised thirteen chapters of 51-minutes each, with 60-second commercial slots available. Radio stations could order the program in stereo or monaural. Included now were more than 80 interviews and 18 new songs, bringing the total number of tunes in The Elvis Presley Story to nearly 180.

Watermark announced that The Elvis Presley Story had been revamped in honor of Elvis’s 20th year in show business and his 40th birthday. Billboard reported that radio stations in over 300 markets had already ordered the program and that orders were still pouring in.

The third and final version of The Elvis Presley Story was rushed out soon after Presley’s death in August 1977. Among those who offered tributes to Elvis in the revamped final chapter were D.J. Fontana, J.D. Sumner, Carl Perkins, Alan Fortas, George Klein, and Sammy Davis Jr. It’s been more than 40 years now since the original The Elvis Presley Story was first heard on radio airwaves. Over the decades there have been attempts to recreate, duplicate or achieve the depth and quality of the original. Many people who offered revealing interviews have since passed on. But, just listening occasionally to sections of those tapes that I’ve kept for all these years can still bring back that special feeling I knew as a young Elvis Presley fan.

In the final analysis, Jerry Hopkins and Ron Jacobs monumental production of The Elvis Presley Story accentuated the Presley myth, the fairytale that all was bright and beautiful in his life at a time when his seduction by the dark side was well underway. I don’t know if The Elvis Presley Story is commercially available these days. Until it is I’ll keep my old tapes and listen to them occasionally through the years when the mood strikes me. After all, fairytales have their place in life. It’s nice to recall the days when Elvis’s life appeared to be one and when being an Elvis fan felt like being an extra in a movie with a happy ending. Alan Hanson, 2008

OFFERED FOR PERSONAL HOME USE ONLY. NOT TO BE RE SOLD, DUPLICATED OR OTHERWISE USED FOR ANY AND ALL COMMERCIAL AND/OR PUBLIC PURPOSES.

Ron Jacobs' ORIGINAL LEATHER-BOUND SCRIPT for The Elvis Presley Story complete with production notes, full text, discography with detailed song information, publicity photos, radio broadcast operations manual, ad layouts and a press kit is now for the first time being made available from Jacobs' personal collection of one-of-a-kind pop cultural memorabilia.

If you are seriously interested in acquiring this unique Elvis Presley collector's item for personal or institutional use please contact:makuahe@gmail.com for full details. THERE IS ONLY ONE COPY AVAILABLE--SINCE IT IS THE ONLY ONE IN EXISTENCE.

MEET MY PERSONAL ASTROLOGER ...

	Hi RJ! Here is your Daily VIRGO Horoscope for Thursday, June 2 Your left brain is working so smoothly it feels like a high-speed computer -- and you should reach some interesting conclusions. Make sure you're ready to act, as you might not have much time to work.

(Note from Ron Jacobs, born September Third: I am not responsible for the sloppy, off-the margin, inconsistencies of this blog entry, but the people who designed and made it, BLOGGER.COM, are the most fucked-up "communications" corporation on the planet. Aloha.)

People who are left brain dominant are usually good with with things that left brained people are good at or they like and things that are done in the left brain.

• Prefer Classical Music BACH ON TOP
• Your Left-Brain controls the right side of your body GOOD, MY LEFT IS IN PIECES
• Prefer things like instructions to be done verbally MOVE THAT SENTENCE!
• Good at math THAT’S FOUR THINGS
• Like to read EASIER THAN WRITING
• Follow Western Thought* FROM MIDDLE OF PACIFIC
• Very Logical WHY INSANITY MAKES SENSE
• Dog lovers MY OWN AND ONLY RIGBY, RIP
• Don't enjoy clowning around MUCH
• Can't be hypnotized SO FAR
• Usually remember things only specifically studied WHAT?
• Need total quiet to read or study HUH?
• Like to read realistic stories ONLY
• Like to write non-fiction DITTO
• Prefer individual counseling THIRTY YEARS OF SHRINKAGE
• Enjoy copying or tracing pictures and filling in details FOR MONEY
• Also like to read action stories BRACHHH! WRONG!
• Usually rational USUALLY
• Usually do things in a planned orderly way USUALLY
• If you have to answer someone's question, you won't let your peronal feelings get in the way UNFORTUNATELY
• Good at algebra PLEASE ADVISE PUNAHOU SCHOOL
• Can remember verbal material OUR FATHER WHO, WHO …
• Almost never absent minded ART IN HEAVEN, FOR GOD’S SAKE!
• Like to tell stories but not act them out UNLESS FOR MONEY
• Can think better sitting down HOLY OKOLE
• Like to be a music critic OF MELE O PAKALOLO NO KA OE
• Attentive during long verbal explanations PLEASE ADVISE ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL
• Prefer well structured assignments over open ended ones RATINGS SWEEPS
• Read for specific details and facts BETTER WHEN PAID
• Skilled at sequencing ideas “PROGRAM DIRECTOR”
• Likes to be Organized BY SOMEONE ELSE