1978 - Entertainer of the Year

As my days on stage waned I became more involved in the sound engineering side of the business transitioning from infrequent studio jobs to full-time live sound. The sound and light people are not obvious performers but, the job done right, their accompaniment is just as important to a quality show as any of the musicians.

1978 – Entertainer Of The Year

“Thank-ya, ladies and gentlemen, Thank-ya.” Lip curled, his huge black pompadour shone in the lights. The odor of Aramis drifted from the stage choking anyone within 10 feet of the performer. The scarf around his neck slid off as he pulled and handed it to an admiring fan. His road manager quickly replaced it around the upturned collar with one of dozens waiting by his side. The white jumpsuit was lined in red silk and shone dramatically in the lights. Microphone clutched in his left hand, his right arm began wind milling around widely as he dropped into a slight crouch, legs splayed ready for action as the band launched into the Patriotic America medley. A woman sitting close to the stage moaned in an expression of uncontrollable excitement as he touched her cheek and whipped another scarf off and into her hand. Kettle drums sounded out their bang…boom…bang…boom…bang…boom…bangggggg. The horn section, consisting of a trumpet, a trombone and a sax, swelled in the background as the bass guitar began to echo the drum beat in deep harmony with the horns. The B3 organ-chord grew in volume with a drone that backed up the other music in preparation for the first ringing guitar chord. I gradually picked the volume up as I blended the horns, the bass & the organ as they backed the rhythm introduced by a guitar that erupted in a shuffle that managed to up the excitement factor with a desperate but controlled and irresistible chugga-chugga-chugga. The horns jumped in with Rutt-it-tut- -tut…Rutt-it-tut- - tut…bowww-owww. I brought the horn section up slightly and dropped the guitar & bass in preparation for Bubba’s vocals. “Um-er-i-ka…um-er-i-ka,” rang out over the PA as he belted out the first few notes of the song. I nudged the reverb knowing Bubba would be holding the next note but would, as usual, drift flat the longer he held. I nudged the organ mid-range to blend with the voice and edged the reverb up on the organ to better blend the two. We managed to seamlessly transition from the weaker vocal to the strength and solidity of the organ. The organ note held steady and sustained, I killed the reverb on the organ and began fading it as the lead vocal stopped for the backup singers. A tight harmony rode the background sounding as much like Elvis’ actual backup group, the Jordanaires, as anyone except the actual. Bubba ran through the various selections until he began the final section of the song which was America the Beautiful. I began edging the volume and the reverb up as the song reached its emotional peak. I dragged the audience along by the ear with the swelling of the chorus and the dramatic organ chords coupled with the horn section which was declaring its presence with harmonic flair that matched the other instruments. Cymbals and tympani sang a muted song that grew as the finish approached. Cloth-covered rubber-mallets hit with solid rhythm that sounded muted despite the high volume that was subtly controlled from my sound-board.

The final words rang out “From sea to shining seaaaaa.” I brought the volume on the entire board up as the music swelled on the final note fading Bubba out as his notes began to drift. I brought up the vocals on the guitarist and the bass-player, who was also the bass-singer. The guitarist dropped out of his harmony to take over the final lead note as we had rehearsed. Bubba’s volume dropped as the guitarist came up to take over the final note. This subtitle editing was done purely by the band who had discussed Bubba inability to hold a sustained note and determined this solution was the best. Bubba also gave instructions for no reverb and no vocal fading but it didn’t take much time for me to overrule this with my fingers when I realized his lack of control. The entire band swelled into the last note which we held for 10-beats, suddenly cutting off vocals and instruments in a very tight and abrupt finish. Simultaneously I killed the master volume bringing half-a-second of complete silence as the final note rang off the walls of the medium-sized nightclub room.

The room erupted into chaos.

Bubba left the stage gifting scarves and hand-touches to his loyal fans. The room was packed to standing room only. The fellow sitting by my side, Kurt, said “Wow! That was pretty impressive!”

“Set’s over. Want to come on back to the dressing room?

“Love to,” was his reply.

We entered the dressing room to find a card-game starting up between members of the horn-section with the bass-player and guitarist. Terry, the keyboard player sat in front of a fan, shirt open enjoying the breeze with the drummer. They both were soaked with sweat. “You guys look like you’ve been working,” said Kurt who had not yet met any of the band or Bubba as, until this moment, they weren’t aware of who had been accompanying me at the board. Bubba rose to his feet “What is this, Larry? Ya know ah don’t allow viz’ters inta the dressin’ room.” Bubba’s Memphis accent was exaggerated as usual. It was now much more pronounced than it had been when we first met some months before.

“Excuse me, sir, but I just had to meet you. Kurt Russell, sir.”

Bubba jaw dropped but he recovered quickly. “Well, so nass to meet chew.” He replied. “Didja enjoy the show?”

“Yessir.” Said Kurt. “I’ve actually seen several different Elvis shows in the last couple of weeks and, I have to say, this is the best I’ve seen so far.” Bubba beamed.

I turned to Kurt and said “We’ve got one more set after this. Are you gonna hang around?”

“No, I’ve got to get back to Goldie tonight. I just had to come down and see the act after all I heard about it. This easily equals any of the Vegas acts I’ve seen – in fact the costuming is superior to any I’ve seen.” Kurt Russell had spent the last hour & ½ listening to Bubba and watching me run the sound board. He had shown up as the first notes of the second set began. He was gathering information in preparation for a movie about the life of Elvis Presley. It would be filmed the next year and was planned for release sometime early ’79. “It’s actually kinda funny.” He said. “When I was 10 I was in an Elvis movie (It Happened At the World’s Fair) now here I am playing the King himself.” He shook his head and smiled, “He was a great gentleman.”

I walked Kurt out to the little sports number he had parked in the lot. “I really enjoyed this act. I can tell you are a big fan, too. That’s quite an ear. I would have thought the King was still alive when I closed my eyes.”

“Yeah,” I said, “I had all his albums until he went in the service. After getting out I think the Colonel held him back a little as all the movies and records became the same old formula but until then I was a huge fan. But I still KNOW what Elvis is supposed to sound like.”

“Thanks again,” said Kurt. I was hoping for an invite like “Anytime you’re in Burbank drop in.” Didn’t happen. Suppose I could say it did but…

A few weeks later we received surprising news from Bubba when he walked into rehearsal, “We’ve been nominated for San Diego’s Entertainer of the Year!” It seems we had sold out every performance we had given over the last few months and someone had noticed. We all realized this was cheating a little bit as we were always sold out from the same people night-after-night…but it counted. Bubba had a good-sized fan club most of who showed up at every performance. Band members observed that it appeared to be an audience consisting mostly of older women and their middle-aged daughters. Same faces every night. And all I have to say about that is… “Thanks, ladies!”

We all had an invite to the award dinner and ceremony sometime the next month.

The band all sat at the same table near the back of the room. Bubba had staked out a spot center stage at the front table. Although the table was reserved for the judges and officials of the Entertainer of the Year Committee, Bubba managed to keep his seat citing the fact that there were 2 more chairs than judges and members. He spent the dinner regaling his table with tales of Elvis. Apparently, from overheard conversation later, he was “a lot of fun until he started obsessing about Elvis.” This was pretty typical of Bubba as he doted on the fact that “His momma and Elvis’ momma was best friends.” He always managed to mention “Elvis’ mamma and my mamma lived across the fence from each other and my momma used to baby-sit for Elvis when he was a baby.” We all had our doubts but left him to his history or illusions as the case may be.

Personally, I think we had more fun at our table. Accompanying us at our table were local musicians, some of whom we knew and some we didn’t until this evening. The meal was good. The drinks were reasonable. The company was great. After everyone had eaten and a few recognitions and acknowledgments were made it was time for the awards. A few minor awards were awarded and speeches were made.

“And now, the grand winner…San Diego’s 1977 Entertainer of the Year…Bubba Cauldren’s Memories of Elvis.” The room erupted in applause. I sat in shock. We had won!! Bubba stood from his position at the front of the room and turned toward the audience. He was, of course, dressed in full Elvis regalia. He waved at the room and caught the eye of the band whom he motioned forward. As the sound-man I remained seated with the roadie and the makeup girl.

“Thank-ya, thank-ya.” Bubba said in his deep Elvis voice. “Ladies and gentl’men, Ah am honored to accept this award on behalf of myself and my band. Ah would laak to introduce the fin’l member of our band that gave us the sau’nd we had been a-looking for…we just didn’t know it ‘til he joined our little group. Ah’d laak Larra Was-ion to join us up here.” In shock I arose and started toward the stage as Bubba said, “We all thank Larra was the answer to our prayers and showed up at juss the rot time.” I stood next to Terry as I turned bright-red. This was an unexpected honor. I prepared to speak.

“Ah’d laak ta thank ya’ll again for this great honor,” Bubba said. Applause sounded and we left the stage.

There were several other awards that evening although, of course, I don’t remember any of them. We partied into the night closing the bar in the hotel where the ceremony was held and then preceded to the ‘bone player’s house where we continued until the sun came up.

3-Weeks later, on a Friday night, the band broke up for reasons I won’t go into here as there was betrayal and falsehoods abounding coming from a major mover in the band. As professionals we told Bubba we would finish out the weekend then he was on his own. As I understand he moved to Vegas and disappeared.

Suffice to say, for some reason I still can not STAND the smell of Arimis.