Rick Marino

The 7th visit April 25th 1975 as I wrote about above! He came in by private plane from Macon Ga. a little before midnight not having many people with him and went strait to the Hilton! Where he rested overnight till the show, which was scheduled at 8:30pm the next night! In attendance were over 10,000 people as extra seats were added! Tickets were $10 and were sold 5000 advance mail order and 5000 at the counter at the coliseum in less than 2 days beginning on Feb. 15 1975! Now what what makes this visit to Jacksonville so notable is that many tickets were scalped [sold for more than face value] for $150 or more! We are talking about thousands of tickets scalped here not hundreds and the kind of money we are talking about for that day and time is amazing considering inflation! Which was at the time, easily about 5 to 7 times or $750 to 1050 bucks people were getting for a ticket by today’s standards! And the demand was greater than the supply! And I'm being modest here with my figures! I believe Elvis could have charged $100 a ticket and sold out easily! People today do not understand just how popular he was! 100 times more than he is today which makes me laugh when people say he is more famous dead than alive! No one is considering inflation! Look at Barbara Streisand, she gets $2000 a ticket and sells out today and she was Elvis's opening act, as was Bill Cosby! For this concert inn 1975 you could win 2 free tickets if you gave blood at the Phillips Mall April 12th 10 am-6 pm plus the first 100 got an Autographed 8x10 of Elvis [not a real signed autograph but one that was printed] the next 200 got a free 45 rpm of Elvis's new record "My Boy" courtesy of WMBR radio! Hey where are they today? The Col. Always made you know Elvis was coming, kind of like, "The Circus is coming to town where they have a big parade down main street to advertise the Greatest Show on Earth! As it has always been billed!

The 8th visit To Jacksonville Florida was for a show on Wednesday, September 1st. 1976 at 8:00 pm. Elvis hit the stage at exactly 9:40 pm after intermission! The cost of a ticket was $12.75 and the state attorney was cracking down on scalpers as it was now said to be illegal [where in 1975 is wasn't illegal] and people were warned, as scalpers were asking $200 plus for tickets! Because of the 1975 Elvis concert and all the scalping, an ordinance was pushed through for this show to prevent the same from happening making scalping illegal if tickets were sold for more than $10 over their face value! All this because of Elvis! The over 10,200 tickets that were sold in just hours after they went on sale were a very hot commodity! Elvis again had flew in from Macon Ga. on the Lisa Marie where he and the more than 20 people who accompanied him deplaned early Wednesday morning, they went strait to the Hilton by motorcade where they were staying occupying the top two floors of the hotel! Elvis looked very bad at this show, I would say his worst ever and obviously didn't feel well cutting his show short! Elvis wore his Bicentennial suite for this performance as he did often that year! Nobody at the time seemed to care, they were just thrilled to see him! Seeing Elvis had an effect on people like nothing else, if you were not there you can not explain it to someone! The funny thing about this particular show is that 256 tickets suddenly became available a few days [Friday] before the show, when this group from Canada canceled their trip, boycotting the scalpers! The tickets, a gift from the Canadians went on sale Monday August 30th. it was crazy! People actually started lining up Friday, when the story came out in the newspaper [which at the time was unheard of] and spent the weekend on the concrete steps of the Jacksonville Coliseum till 9 am Monday morning when the 256 tickets were to go on sale on a cash basis only and only 4 per person! They were gone in less than 20 minutes! I was one of the people, about 7th in line! There were everywhere watching and protecting us and our spot in line. Every one knew who was in front of them and in back of them! Actually it was fun, we ordered pizza and shared stories, that was till it rained! The next day I was pictured on the front page of the news paper sleeping when the story came out about the whole event which I still have! I laugh when I see it today as I'm sure Elvis must have laughed [and I'm sure, it's more than likely] when he got a look at the article in the paper that morning when he came in.

The 9th and final appearance in Jacksonville was suppose to have taken place on April 3rd. 1977 but was canceled due to Illness or so we were told! The tickets for this show, that was again as always "sold out" were still good, as we were told for a make-up show that would be scheduled at a later date [and was almost immediately]! None of the tickets were returned for a refund, even though one was offered! The cost for the 10,300 plus tickets sold had gone up to $15.00 for most with a few available at $12.50 and $10 dollars with a new .25 cent surcharge added on top of that for the city! Amazing huh! Everyone sucking off Elvis which is what killed him in the long run! The make-up show was on May 30th 1977 on a Monday night at 8:30 pm. Elvis as usual leaves the Hilton 15 minutes before having to be on stage and leaves immediately after the show back to the Hilton! No muss no fuss or dressing room! He looks good, not puffy or sick like before [ in 76]! He puts on what I would call an outstanding show, twice as long as the 76 show! Elvis even commented fairly early in the show saying; "that he didn't feel well last year and was sorry about canceling the April show and that he was going to do his best to make it up to us tonight"! Continuing by adding; I'm gonna sing ‘em all, even if it takes all night! The crowd roared! And Elvis did just as he stated by doing about an extra 45 minutes more than his usual 55 min to 1 hr. 10 min show! Staying on stage for what I would say was close to 2 hours! In closing Elvis said; that he had many memories concerning his career in Jacksonville, and because of these memories Jacksonville would always be a special place to him! Closing by saying firmly;“As long as I am breathing! Jacksonville will always, be a stop on my tour! Adding with his fingers pointed up; "I shall return, So Till we meet again, adios" and went into Can't help falling in love! Singing it very strong and after the song shaking hands with everyone and in what seemed no hurry to get off the stage, in fact he did something I never seen him do before except in Las Vegas! He left the stage and came back taking one final bow and leaving for what would be his last appearance in Florida! And that's the way I like to remember him. Saying thank you for everything and how much he appreciated everything as he did so many times to so many people! Elvis loved being on the stage, not because his fans loved him so much. But because he loved his fans so very very much and he wanted to make sure each and every one of them knew it! Elvis only did 13 more shows after the May 30th 1977 show in Jacksonville Florida! The 4 make-up shows originally scheduled 3/31/77-Baton Rouge La., 4/1/77- Mobile Ala., 4/2/77- Macon Ga., and Jacksonville Florida 4/3/77 which were made-up, with Jacksonville Fla. now being 1st. instead of last as was on the original schedule which makes me feel Jacksonville Florida was indeed a special place to him!!! The 9 other appearances began June 17th 1977 on what was to be his final tour at; Springfield Mo. ending at; The recently destroyed Market Square Arena in Indianapolis Ind. June 26th 1977! It was this final tour which provided us with our last look at "The King" in the CBS-TV Special: "Elvis In Concert" that was filmed in the middle of the schedule!

So lets see that's 8 appearances 17 shows or performances as they should be called and 2 stops on a train! For a total of 135,000+ in attendance over his career here in Jacksonville with Ticket sales at an estimated amount of $630,000 1955-1977 dollars! About what Graceland was worth when he died in 1977!

To date and the best of my knowledge there have been about 25 local Elvis Impersonators in Jacksonville starting with myself first; Rick Marino in 1973, followed by Charlie Armonas and the Blue Sky Band 1977, Frank Weatherly 1977, Doug McGinnis 1980, Doug Manley 1981, Eric Olson 1985, T.W. Gibbons 1985, Elvis Wayne [Kauffman] 1985, Tommy Monohan 1986, Hans Vige 1986, Rusty Dickerson 1989, Garry Howren 1989, Jimmy Harrison 1990, A local policeman Mike Oliver 1991, Vernon Larson 1992, Steve Hoye1993, Tim Yoder 1994, Tony Arron 1995, Karaoke Moose 1996, J.P. 1999, another young man here who just started and a few others I failed to mention! Plus the hundreds of closet Elvis impersonators who I wrote my book "Be Elvis!" for... as a matter of fact they say in 1977 when Elvis was still alive there were less than 50 known Elvis impersonators! Twenty years later in the year of 1997, there was an estimated 35,000+ known Elvis impersonators and or Tribute Artist as they are now called! So if you do the math, in the year 2017 - One out of every four people will be Elvis Impersonator/Tribute Artist's... So I hope you have a lot of space on your web site here at LadyLuckMusic.com - because it looks like your gonna need it..... Sorry guys, I had to include that one... just for fun!

Which brings us to the 2 movies "Elvis On Tour! - 1972 and This is Elvis! - 1981" where a lot of footage was shot right here in Jacksonville! All the scenes you see of Elvis riding in the back seat of a black limousine were taken here! You can see him walking through the above mentioned Hilton and walking outside into the Jacksonville Coliseum before the afternoon show in the White and Gold Suite! You can also see him on stage in the Powder Blue suite and riding over the main street bridge talking about the Gator Bowl and you can see the Hilton in the back window! Elvis also bought some jewelry here at the downtown Underwood Jewlers! If you wish you can call them, I'm sure they are aware or it! I have a copy of his check and the bill, I'm sure they do as well! So I hope this is helpful, and was as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write. I encourage all Elvis fans to look up The Kings history in their home town, and find out all the facts about his connections to where you live! It's a lot of fun! I hope you all are doing well and have peace in your lives! My sincere best to you all!

Thanks, Rick Marino