THE FOLLOWING IS A PHONE INTERVIEW THAT I DI WITH MY FRIEND CHARLES STONE.

JOE KREIN: can you tell me a little about yourself. where were you born?

CHARLES STONE : I was born in Pensacola Florida .

Any brothers or sisters?

CHARLES STONE :I have two sisters.

What did you want to do for a living?

CHARLES STONE :Well when i was in school I originally wanted to be a lawyer. But that was to much work. (laughing)

When did you get in to the music business?

CHARLES STONE :In 1963 , that's when I moved to Dallas Texas. I was working at Texas Instruments and I was going to school at night. I was working on the dock. My next door neighbors were in a band , and one night they asked me to book them two or three jobs. I did and I made more money in one night then I did working a full week at Texas Instruments.

Did the band that your neighbors were in ever make it?

CHARLES STONE :Well they made it to the American Bandstand. There name was the Five Americans. They had one hit , "Western Union" from there someone named  Tomy Pappa,contacted me. He worked for  for the Associated Booking Company. He asked me to go to work for him. They represented most of the people in the music business at that time. I started out booking people like Little Richard, Fats Domino, etc.

Now was that Concerts West?

CHARLES STONE :No that came later. Terry Bassett one of the founders of Concerts West came to Dallas. He wanted to check out the music in this area. He went to Abnack music . witch was the label for the Five Americans. John Abner recommended me ,to take him around to all the clubs. I spent a week with Terry ,and he asked me to go to work for him. The numbers was a lot more then what i was making at Associated Booking .So I went to work for Concerts West.

Concerts west did shows like Chicago, Three Dog Night, Led Zeppelin.

What was your job for Concerts West?

CHARLES STONE :My job was to liaise with Colonel Parker and, when we toured I would book the arenas and route the tours so the sound men and equipment could get there by driving if possible...as the show involved planes and we all flew to the cities the tours were booked in.

When did you start doing  Elvis Presley shows?

CHARLES STONE :I was up in Providence Rode Island. I was there doing a Frank Sinatra Tour. I got a call back stage ,I was told  to go to Montgomery Alabama the next day. Elvis wanted to go out and work, the colonel wanted to work Montgomery .I was the only one in the Company that ever worked Montgomery Alabama. Now remember this was pre computer ticket. Every thing was a do it yourself.  Montgomery you had to hire bank tellers to work the box office. You don't just go in there and say I want ticket sellers , you had to go hire them yourself. They chose me because i had already done some of the big shows like Chicago , and I new the market. So I flew to Montgomery. It was nothing really because three hours later you were sold out. I called a phone number that was giving me, I had to report in that i was sold out. Well the Colonel answered. well that  scared me. I don't know why , i had only heard some stories. it was because I was talking to whom I feel was the greatest manager in the business.

He asked me if I was all sold out? I said yes sir. Then he asked me if i was in the box office? I said yes sir .He said go look in all the drawers and see if there are any tickets left? Colonel I balanced my money to the tickets and they balanced. Mr. Stone! (laughing)

When he gets serious he always calls you Mr. Will you go and look in every drawer? So I stand there and close the same drawer six times.

i mean I balanced so there was no way there would be anymore tickets. No sir Colonel . there are no more tickets. Well you have done a good job Mr. Stone! Com on out to California, come tonight! I said I am suppose to go back to Rohde Island. I was needed at the Sinatra Tour. Colonel said just a minute. so he goes and gets Tom Hulett and he puts him on the phone. tom says don't worry about the Sinatra tour. we will get someone else to do that. you come to California. so I took the next flight out to California and from that day forward i was with the Colonel . We took a immediate liking to each other.

From that day forward all i did was Elvis Tours.

Charles , were you ever a employee of Elvis Presley or Colonel Parker?

CHARLES STONE :No I worked for Concerts West .

You have to remember if the colonel didn't have to pay you and he could get you to do the work without costing him anything. then that's what he did.

You spent a lot of time with the colonel didn't you?

CHARLES STONE :Yes I did , you see the colonel got all his labor for free. (laughing)  but it was also smart for Concerts West , because they had me as a buffer. I could pacify the colonel while Hulett went out and made more deals .I basically lived with him 24 hours a day. I also went to his house in between tours and stayed there sometimes.

So when did you first meet Elvis?

CHARLES STONE :The very first tour, you see I  was told not to speak to Elvis. It was alright to speak with the other guys like Joe ,Dick  and the others. but no talking to Elvis. My job was to meet him by the dressing room door. so it was maybe 15 shows in . so I was standing there one day and Elvis was standing about two feet from me,. I mean i never once said a word to him. He said who are you? I said well i'm Charles stone. he said well i'm Elvis Presley. like i didn't know that. he shook my hand. from that point on he would say hi Charlie and it was hi Elvis. we spoke and we became friends. i mean we weren't buddy buddies but we were friends.

Who was it that told you not to speak to Elvis?

CHARLES STONE :Tom Hullett told me.

you know I have heard that from others. so i am just curious why?  i mean Myna Smith was told the same thing.

CHARLES STONE :Those were the rules. when Elvis came into the arena he didn't want anybody he didn't know back there, and he didn't want anybody coming up to him.

Did  that a rule that came from Elvis?

CHARLES STONE :I'm sure it was. I don't think it came from the Colonel

Now there are those in the Elvis world who are saying , who is Charles Stone. why now does he now say i was there. what would you like to say to these people that say you weren't there.

CHARLES STONE :Personally Joe I don't care what they think. or what they say. I was there , there are pictures of me there. look on the CBS Elvis concert , you will see my name in credits. i can show you papers talking about me with ticket sales. i can document it all if i want to. I have a "snowman's card" and a "tcb".

But why did you keep a low profile?

CHARLES STONE :I was in charge of all the concert tickets. by keeping a low profile , i was not bombarded with a bunch of phone calls from people wanting tickets.

But after Elvis died, you still stayed out of the Elvis world.

CHARLES STONE :After he died  I just did other things. Elvis tours was a part of my life , then it was over. I didn't need Elvis to make a living for my self. i just went on with my life. i managed some country acts .i just did other things.

Charles can you tell me the story about the colonel and the Beatles.

CHARLES STONE :Yes , when the Beatles toured America and Brian Epstein died. The colonel handled apart of the tour for them. I didn't learn about that until many years later . concert west was not involved in the Beatle tours. so when Brian died , the colonel got a telegram from the Beatles asking him to be there manager. Now i have seen this telegram with my own eyes. today it could be anywhere, i think  Graceland has it..

Dear colonel Parker

        do to the resent death of our manager Brian Epstein. Would you consider being our manager?

signed  John ,Paul, Ringo ,George

 

I have seen this telegram.

 

His return telegram read.

 

Boys,

Thank you very much for the offer, but i only handle one artist at a time.

Colonel Parker

Could you imagine the colonel being in control of the two biggest acts in the music business. goodness. but he chose to be the manager of just Elvis. he cared for Elvis.

JOE KREIN Is there one concert that sticks out in your memory that Elvis did?

There was a concert in Ashville north Carolina, we got a call from Joe . he told us to have people write down there favorite  song. Elvis then did a all request show. he had them all in a 5 gallon bucket. if Elvis didn't know the song he still tried it. The band new all of them . to me that was the greatest show . you know after a while the shows were all the same to me. so it was a good change .

Whose idea was it to take requests?

CHARLES STONE :It was Elvis's

Did it ever happen again?

CHARLES STONE :I think it may have happened in Vegas. I was not at all the Vegas shows. Some times I would fly a head with the colonel and get started on the show.

CHARLES STONE :The most memorable concert for me was a show in Madison, Wisconsin. When I arrived at the venue in the early afternoon, everything was normal.... piano was there, tuned... drums there, etc. It seemed like another day at the office. Well, not so fast.... about 5 pm when I asked for the chief of security for the stage, I was informed that no security had been ordered for the show. This was the first time we had worked this venue and I had gone over this with the venue manager but at 5 pm the day of the show with doors opening at 7 what did or didn’t get done was really not so important at that moment. What was important was that I find some security from somewhere... and the police (our usual security) could not put it together in time. Luckily, the manager and I did find enough private security to get by. I told Dick Grob that we had a small security staff and to be careful. Fortunately for me, the show went off without any problems, but that was the scariest moment I had at a show. And the Colonel never did know about it....only Dick Grob.

Since you were with the colonel more then you were Elvis, could you tell me some funny stories about the colonel?

CHARLES STONE : I WAS DRIVING THE COLONEL TO VEGAS FROM LA IN ELVIS'S CADILLAC STATION WAGON. I WAS MOVING RIGHT A LONG AT A GOOD CLIP, I HIT A GULLY. THE COLONEL WAS SMOKING A CIGAR, AND BITE THE CIGAR IN HALF. THE END THAT WAS LIT FELL IN HIS LAP. I REMEMBER SAYING TO MYSELF. THAT'S IT ,I AM HISTORY. HE'S GOING TO FIRE ME FOR SURE. THE COLONEL PICKED UP THE CIGAR FROM HIS LAP ,PUT IT BACK IN HIS MOUTH AND SAID, YOU MITE WANT TO SLOW DOWN A BIT.

There was another time in Tahoe .

 CHARLES STONE :People would give the colonel gifts. so we get there and there is this big cart . full of stereos and radios TVs and other gifts for VIPS. so they said we want you to have a gift colonel. he said well bring it on in.

lol he took the whole cart. he was suppose to pick one. lol. but the colonel get a way with something like that. I went home that night with a TV.

Its been said by some that Elvis was a god and the colonel was the devil.

CHARLES STONE :well that's how the fans see him, yes. is that the truth? absolutely not. nothing can be farther from the truth. The colonel not only respected Elvis , he loved him. he told me he loved him. I think Elvis totally respected the colonel and also loved him. both of those guys were pretty much alike.

in my personal opinion ,there wasn't any other manager that could have managed  Elvis Presley. Elvis was not a easy person to handle. he was a grown man , he could have fired the colonel anytime he wanted .

Were there people trying to get to Elvis ,trying to get him away from Colonel Parker?

CHARLES STONE :No ,because there wasn't any access to Elvis. there wasn't any access to the Colonel either. Nobody got into our very tight circle. I was just lucky enough to be in both camps.

There was also a book written ,that said he killed someone in his native country?

CHARLES STONE :Well Joe there is only so many ways you can spell garbage!

So where did all these negative stories about the colonel come from?

CHARLES STONE : I will try and give you a couple  scenario's

Number one. nobody from the colonels camp . ever talked. so how does someone know what the colonel did or didn't do. every thing you read is third hand forth hand hear say. . no body talked so everybody had the speculate. nobody is going to let Elvis take responsibility for his own short comings.

The Colonel was secretive . he didn't want anybody knowing his business.  the TCB Circle had quit a few guys around .the colonels circle was no more then six or eight people.

So they kept quiet.

CHARLES STONE :Yes we never spoke about the colonel. that's  another reason you didn't know about me. (laughing)

Can you tell me how you heard Elvis had passed away.

CHARLES STONE :I was in Portland Maine , we were at the Sheraton in the colonels  suite. I was on the phone with Hershey Pennsavania booking another tour. when a call came in ,the colonel said Charlie never mind. so I hung up the phone ,I was told that Elvis had passed away .we were all devastated. especially the colonel.

I have a a sheet of ten tickets that was sent to me , by the printing company. on the tickets is savannah Georgia. remember I made all the tickets. so the company sent me this sheet. on it it has the venue and then it goes to a blank ticket. the last ones for Elvis Presley.

was there a lot of money lost because of the tickets that was sold?

CHARLES STONE :No there was money made. if i remember correctly. 60 percent of the people turned them back in. so 40 percent kept them. as a collectable. I don't know what they are worth today. but i am sure its more then the 10 or 15 dollars . that they originally cost.

 Looking back on Elvis' legacy, how do you see his impact on the world

today?

CHARLES STONE :Greatest entertainer of all time and will remain so...

Charles what are you doing now?

CHARLES STONE :I am the manager of one of the top Elvis Tribute artists.  Kraig Parker.

Why would you want to take on a tribute artist when you worked with the real deal?

CHARLES STONE :that's a good question.  because many years i refused to see any . then one day I saw kraig. he was so good. I couldn't not do it. my wife actually pushed me to do it. since I have . we have head lined Vegas , we toured Europe. we will also be touring Asia next year.

I know you were also a co producer for the "TCB GANG" "That's the way it was "DVD. is there another DVD in the future?

CHARLES STONE :yes there is .we are looking into doing a film documentary on Colonel Parker. We will be using a top rock artist as the host.

well thank you very much Charles for taking time out of your busy schedule and doing this interview for me.

 

CHARLES STONE :your welcome Joe