TCBCast: An Unofficial Elvis Presley Fan Podcast

The second part of Gurdip & Justin's overview of Elvis' 1973 recording sessions, as voted upon by the TCBCast Patreon community. This week's episode takes a look at the December 1973 recording sessions at Stax Studios in Memphis following Elvis' hospitalization in the fall of 1973, as well as touching on the subsequent album releases, Good Times and Promised Land, amid RCA's spat of Elvis releases...

The first part of Gurdip & Justin's lengthy, two-part overview of Elvis' 1973 recording sessions, as voted upon by the TCBCast Patreon community, primarily focusing on Elvis' time at the legendary Stax Studios in Memphis. This first part features a deep dive into the July 1973 session and the subsequent follow-up session at Elvis' home in California. The resulting recordings led to the Raised on R...

Gurdip's back this week and we pick up the topic we had originally intended for last week, an Elvis-tinted overview of the life & music of BJ Thomas, who passed away last month at the age of 78 and whose music often occupied the same musical space as Elvis's (sometimes literally, in the case of Elvis' 1969 American Sound recordings).  For Song of the Week, Justin will "Never Again" have to pick a...

Before he could even pull out of the proverbial parking lot, Ryan Droste got pulled back in for this week's TCBCast! Justin & Ryan sit down to walk through another round of miscellaneous Elvis reworkings, remixes and mash-ups for the year, including recent official remixes and two new unofficial mixes from DJ Josh Wildfire, who most notably did a viral "Viva Las Vegas" mix in the mid-00s that rose...

Ryan, Gurdip and Justin wrap up their two-part review of the 1963 rom-com "It Happened at the World's Fair" before giving their final thoughts. FYI - "World's Fair" is releasing on Blu-Ray on June 22, 2021 from Warner Archives. If you enjoyed this review, we strongly encourage you to pick up this new release to encourage Warner to release more of their Elvis films on Blu-Ray! Then for Song of the...

Gurdip & Justin sit down to finish the last few chapters of the 1977 book "Elvis What Happened" by Steve Dunleavy, Red West, Sonny West and Dave Hebler as a special bonus mini-episode of TCBCast. It ends about how you'd probably expect after 22 chapters & epilogue. Credit to the documentary film "This Time" for the excerpt of Myrna Smith talking about Elvis. We recommend checking out the finished...

Ryan Droste returns to join Justin & Gurdip looking at the 1963 movie "It Happened At the World's Fair." Starring Elvis, Vicky Tiu, Gary Lockwood, and Joan O'Brien, and set again the real Century 21 Exposition in Seattle, does this forward-looking film hold up when looking back?  Songs of the Week and the conclusion to our review will come next week but our finale to the TCBCast Book Club will be...

This week, Gurdip & Justin are joined by Mary Patricia, an enthusiastic young Elvis fan and mutual acquaintance of TCBCast regular Jaime Kay. Mary's representing an even younger generation of Elvis fan, and a wide variety of topics are discussed ranging from visiting Graceland to Elvis' feature films and beyond. Then, for Song of the Week, we're covering songs suggested & voted upon by TCBCast Pat...

This episode, Gurdip & Justin are tackling a topic selected by TCBCast Patreon supporters. Since over the years so many Elvis fans have often pinned business decisions on his estate when there are many other stakeholders, the suggestion was to do an explainer of who owns what in the Elvis world, from his personal effects to his music publishing interests, from his movies to his mansion, it's all c...

NOTE: This episode was recorded before news broke that early rock legend Lloyd Price (Stagger Lee, Lawdy Miss Clawdy) had passed away May 9, 2021. We will be addressing this on our next episode.  Also - those familiar to the show will note that there is a cold open this week. This is deliberate, you will understand once you hear our news section as we have some sad news to report. This week, Profe...

Justin & Gurdip are taking a one-week break, so now's the perfect time to revisit some of our earliest Songs of the Week in one go! Whether you've just recently began listening or haven't gone back in a while, here are the histories behind songs from TCBCasts 31-34, including Ryan Droste's first appearance on the show with Pocketful of Rainbows, as well as Thrill of Your Love, I'll Be There, Dark...

As selected by the TCBCast Patreon community, this week, Gurdip & Justin are covering not only Elvis's famous As Recorded At Madison Square Garden album from 1972, but the surrounding activities, including the press conference Elvis gave, and the afternoon show released later on. For Song of the Week, also picked by patrons, Gurdip is rolling on the river in Elvis' cover of Creedence Clearwater Re...

Gurdip's off this week but Justin is joined by guest (and TCBCast patron!) Darin Evans to take a (not remotely comprehensive) look at the contributions of soprano backing vocalist Millie Kirkham to Elvis' recording career. Millie's distinctive high voice sound is audible on Elvis classics like "Blue Christmas," "She's Not You" and "The Wonder of You" as well as many recordings by other Nashville r...

This week, Gurdip & Justin are joined by Jaime Kay from the Jungle Room podcast to review the 1981 biopic "Elvis & The Beauty Queen," about Linda Thompson and her relationship with Elvis. As always with Jaime Kay, it's a ton of fun and you never know where it's going to go! For Song of the Week, Jaime Kay picked the movie track "A Whistling Tune," Gurdip went back to his favorite album for "Girl N...

After almost two months of research- & thematically-heavy topics (including this week's chapter of our TCBCast Book Club), Justin & Gurdip go for something a little more lighthearted and set about "scientifically" ranking all the scenes from Elvis movies where Elvis is driving/piloting and singing while doing it! The totally scientific ranking system utilized means this list's order is both a ton...

This week, Justin & Gurdip are doing a topic selected by the TCBCast Patreon community, examining the time between Elvis' 1956 and 1969 Vegas engagements, what other acts (including the Rat Pack) were up to through the 60s, and how Elvis' show at the International was different in tone and audience from what had come before. For Song of the Week, both this week were voted on by Patreon supporters...

This week, Justin & Gurdip are joined by Joe Shooman, author of "An A-Z of Elvis: Infrequently Asked Questions," a new short book highlighting trivia ranging from conspiracy theories to Elvis' genealogy, from ETAs to collectors and producers. Fittingly, our chapter of "Elvis What Happened" to cover this week as part of our TCBCast Book Club segment tackled some of Elvis' own interests in the unusu...

Ryan Droste makes his return to TCBCast to join Justin & Gurdip in reviewing the 1960 TV Special "The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: It's Nice to Go Traveling or, Welcome Home Elvis." Packed with celebrity cameos, then-contemporary pop culture references and musical performances, this program served as Elvis' first major appearance after his return from the US Army. We all know the Elvis performances h...

Justin continues the discussion with Tony Plews, author of "Walk A Lonely Street: Elvis Presley, Country Music and the True Story of Heartbreak Hotel," digging deep not only into the foundations of "Heartbreak Hotel" as written by Mae Boren Axton & Tommy Durden, but the genesis of the song itself: the tragic life, and end, of criminal Alvin Krolik. Amazing connections and tales uncovered by Tony a...

After Justin & Gurdip discuss the official release of the Peloton Elvis remixes, Gurdip sets Justin loose with author Tony Plews to talk about his new book "Walk A Lonely Street: Elvis Presley, Country Music, & The True Story of Heartbreak Hotel." Tony's book is a sweeping, nearly 700-page epic, spanning from just after the US Civil War through the 20th Century, with a cast of real life-characters...

This week we're joined by Elvis researcher Giacomo "Jay" Viviano to discuss his and his colleagues' work uncovering stories, interviews and other research relating to Elvis's connections with people of color.  For Song of the Week, Justin takes Mark Potter's Patreon request song "I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water" and tries to show how Elvis and others slowly moved it from its fairly restrictive co...

This week, Justin & Gurdip highlight five songs apiece that Elvis recorded written by Black songwriters - whether they have interesting stories behind them, are iconic tunes of Elvis' musical career, or the guys just happen to like the songs a whole hell of a lot. Then, for Song of the Week, Gurdip is all pooped out after picking the fiery "Dixieland Rock" from 1958's "King Creole" soundtrack. Jus...

Justin & Gurdip explore the life and music of pianist Dudley Brooks, the jazz pianist who came into Elvis' life through his feature films, and put his own distinctive stamp on Elvis' sound in the 50s and early 60s. We also explore Dudley's a few non-Elvis cuts from his career as a songwriter, most famously the holiday hit "Everybody's Waiting for the Man with the Bag." Then, for Song of the Week,...

This week, Justin & Gurdip dig into a little bit of information on Elvis' attendance at a Juneteenth celebration night at Libertyland in Memphis on June 19, 1956, and then look at his chart placement with "Heartbreak Hotel" and "I Want You I Need You I Love You" among his peers on the R&B best sellers chart from three days earlier, June 16. Gurdip's right at home listening to classics by Little Ri...

This week marks the third anniversary of TCBCast, and we start off wrapping up our in-depth discussion about Elvis & the Beatles with Antony Rotunno from Glass Onion: On John Lennon. We finally dig into all the various songs Elvis did that were originally written & recorded by the Beatles, some of the Elvis-related songs The Beatles performed, and compare their feature film acting performances bef...