TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

The TCBCast crew sits down after taking time to process the first full trailer for "Baz Luhrmann's ELVIS," starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, releasing June 24, 2022. You want historical fact checks from actual Elvis experts? We got 'em. You wanna know the moments that got us emotional? Double check. Questioning how certain topics might be broached? Us too. Need to be pulled back down to earth...

Justin and Ryan crack open the drinks and sit down in front of the TV for an afternoon of watching race cars drive the same huge oval hundreds of times in a row. They happen to spy Elvis as Steve Grayson, stock car driver, in 1968's Speedway, as voted by our TCBCast Patreon supporters. Co-starring Nancy Sinatra and Bill Bixby among a cast of mid-60s guest stars, including several real stock car/NA...

Director Baz Luhrmann dropped a dense 15 second teaser for the still officially untitled Elvis biopic Monday, February 14, 2022 ahead of the full trailer release on Thursday, so Gurdip & Justin got together quickly to give initial reactions to this second glimpse at the film. Alongside our normal weekly episode, expect the TCBCast crew back Thursday after the trailer drops with an extensive breakd...

This week, Gurdip guides Justin through what was happening in the world of popular music the week that Elvis's last #1 US hit, Suspicious Minds, peaked on the Billboard Hot 100, exploring the context around and stories behind some of the other hits that it was in competition with. From Sly and the Family Stone and The Beatles to the artificial bands The Cuff-Links and The Archies, it's peak 1969!...

Andreas van Kuijk. Thomas A. Parker. The Colonel. As selected by TCBCast Patreon supporters, Justin and Gurdip finally address the never-ending debate of the good and bad of Colonel Parker's management decisions for his client, examining his influence on Elvis's career and the entertainment industry overall. For Song of the Week, Gurdip shines a light on the second half of Elvis's first single, "B...

This week, Justin and Gurdip are taking a look at the 1970 compilation "Almost in Love," released on the budget Camden label. It's arguably Elvis's strongest release on Camden, with a retrospectively strong tracklist featuring groovy recordings like A Little Less Conversation, Rubberneckin', Clean Up Your Own Back Yard, and Edge of Reality. For Song of the Week, Justin draw attention the leak in t...

Episode 201 continues the discussion on Gurdip, Justin and Bec's hand-picked Elvis fan "starter kits," focusing in on documentaries, biopics and movies starring Elvis from during his career recommended for newer fans. Then, for Song of the Week, histories behind three well-loved Elvis songs are covered, from different eras of Elvis's career: Bec starts us off in the 1970s with Elvis's live cover o...

New to Elvis? Start here. For TCBCast's 200th (and 201st) episode, Gurdip Ladhar, Justin Gausman and Bec Wyles, three longtime Elvis fans, are presenting their hand-picked starter kits for newer Elvis fans who might just be coming into the fandom: albums, movies, biographies, even things as fundamental as important names that you will find popping up in and around the Elvis story. There's no wrong...

For the first episode of 2022, Justin and Gurdip catch up on a month's worth of listener emails and messages, and dig into any topics that happen to come up, from Seattle landmarks remaining from the 1962 World's Fair to everyone's input on "It's Easy for You" and everything in between. Plus there's a brief & unexpected return of Trivia as Justin quizzes Gurdip on TCBCast's 2021 stats. For Song of...

Just in time for your New Year's celebration, Gurdip, Bec & Justin join forces to explore the histories behind six all-new submitted Songs of the Week from this year's Patreon polls, including: -Let Yourself Go from Speedway -Hey Hey Hey from Clambake -What'd I Say from Viva Las Vegas -It's Now or Never, from 1960, Elvis's best selling single of all time -City by Night from Double Trouble -The Twe...

Ryan Droste returns to TCBCast for a holiday-appropriate look at "His Hand In Mine," Elvis's first full-length gospel album from 1960. Ryan & Justin dip a little into where the songs originated, and touch on the lengthy overnight marathon session that delivered two single A-sides and the full album of spirituals. For Song of the Week, Ryan puts on his jingle bells and Santa cap to explore the 1971...

Justin is joined this week by Tony Plews, author of Walk a Lonely Street: Elvis Presley, Country Music and the True Story of Heartbreak Hotel , to explore Elvis's impact on the United Kingdom: on the charts, in culture, and on future generations of British acts. Then, Justin forgoes a Song of the Week to let Tony tell the heartbreaking true story behind Irving Berlin's "White Christmas."  Tony's b...

Justin is joined by special guest Rabia for a broad discussion and re-assessment of Elvis's time in Hollywood. They cover some of Elvis's best and most underwhelming performances, memorable costars, scenes and songs, insights on history and cultural changes be mined from the films and their crews, and how to contend with acknowledging the elephant in the room that is 1968's "Stay Away, Joe." (Spoi...

For this month's Patreon-picked topic, Justin ropes Bec back in for a relaxed, loosely chronological listen to Elvis's progression as a vocal performer in his first decade of making recordings: from the thin-voiced teenager whose only real training consisted of timidly singing along with pop records, to the full-throated man who works himself up to the semi-operatic final notes of "Surrender," and...

Justin is joined this week by special guest co-host Bec Wyles! They talk a little bit about her history and perspective as an international Elvis fan, then jump right into the deep end with a look back at the Nashville 1971 sessions, as featured in the recently released "Back in Nashville" set by Sony Legacy. (We STRONGLY recommend picking up or listening to this collection on your platform of cho...

On November 22, 1961, 60 years ago to the day from the release of this podcast, "Blue Hawaii" released into theatres. Its soundtrack album had already come out one month earlier and both were destined to become among the most commercially successful and well-loved of all narrative films and soundtracks featuring Elvis Presley. On this very special 60th anniversary bonus, TCBCast listeners get to h...

This week, Justin and Gurdip are digging into the tragically short-lived life and career of R&B songwriter and singer Chuck Willis, whose "I Feel So Bad" and "See See Rider" wove in and out of Elvis's career. Also, initial reactions to the new Back in Nashville set and answering a listener email about the Jethro-Tull-esque flute part that dominates the 1968 version of "Don't Be Cruel." Then, for S...

Director Baz Luhrmann has revealed the first initial glimpses of the new biographical film, apparently titled "TCB," set to be released on his social media accounts as part of his Elvis Monday series of posts, so Justin & Gurdip immediately hopped on a call as soon as possible to record initial reactions and speculations.

Due to a family emergency, Justin is out this week, so this episode brings you a collection of previous Songs of the Week, comprising almost two hours of dedicated Elvis song history, including: I'll Remember You, Runaway, I Don't Want To Be Tied, Inherit the Wind, Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me, Promised Land, Let It Be Me and I Need You So. The guys will be back next week as usual but don't forg...

This week, as voted by TCBCast Patreon supporters, Justin and Gurdip are diving into the 1974 spoken word release "Having Fun With Elvis On Stage"... is it as bad as everyone has said or has it been misunderstood all these decades? (Spoiler alert: yeah... yeah, it's bad.) For Song of the Week, the winning patron-poll songs both happen to be from the same 1970 session and same album, Elvis Country,...

Justin's out this week due to a scheduling hiccup, so Gurdip and his guest of choice Jaime Kay are content to just sit back and celebrate the fact that, hey, Elvis's music is REALLY good! They reflect on some of their all-time favorites, as well as personal memories of becoming Elvis fans through their family members. No featured Songs of the Week this week due to the last minute schedule change....

First up this week is a farewell to the heartbeat of the TCB Band: the incomparable Ronnie Tutt, who passed away this week. Then, inspired by TCBCast Patreon supporters' recent topic suggestion covering The Milton Berle Show, Justin & Gurdip head right into Elvis' next TV appearance on The Steve Allen Show on July 1, 1956 (as well as briefly touch on his appearance on Hy Gardner Calling later that...

After threatening to review it since nearly the start of the show's run, just in time for Halloween, Justin & Gurdip finally review Don Coscarelli's 2002 horror-comedy-drama cult hit "Bubba Ho-Tep," starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. It leads to a heated debate over whether protagonist Sebastian Haff is really supposed to be Elvis, and which host believes what might surprise you! Then, for S...

65 years ago this year, Elvis made two appearances on Milton Berle's popular variety program, once on board the U.S.S. Hancock and another back in Los Angeles. As voted by the TCBCast patrons, Justin & Gurdip are looking at both, and offering perspectives on the fallout from the latter performance, which gave way to the first major wave of controversy and backlash against Elvis. The two Songs of t...

The guys are off this week for Justin's birthday, but we're canonizing a re-edited audio version of a livestream Justin did back in April, but never released on the main feed, discussing Elvis's less-considered hits that charted between #31-#40 on the Billboard charts, reading a section of Albert Goldman's Elvis biography for TCBCast Book Club, and spotlighting "Angelica," the song Elvis was origi...