JK: Let me understand this - the Sweets were already with Elvis when you started to play with the Sweets?
Stump: No, I was with the Sweets twelve years.
JK: Ok
Stump: The Sweet Inspirations, we used to go over to Germany, Trinidad and perform all the time. Then they came up to me and said Elvis wanted us to perform with him. I said, “Wow, that’s a big deal, he’s the greatest!” He was the only star that I knew that was that big. So we got with Elvis. I used to play with Joe Guercio and the Sweet Inspirations, JD Sumner. At the time they were named Voice and then the Imperials. So I used to play for all them. Mr. Tom Diskin said to me, “You know, we need a drummer to play for everybody.” I said, “For everybody?” We had three drummers on the show. Ronnie wasn’t going nowhere, so it was between me and Billy Blackwood. I think that’s who it was. So they picked me as the second drummer. I played for nine years. I was with the Sweets for twelve years. I just stayed with it. After a while I got to know what Elvis was all about. He was a hell of an entertainer and a very nice person. To me he was. I’m not saying he was like that with everybody. People are like that. If they don’t like somebody they’re not nice to them. But to me, the experience I had with the man, he really treated me good. I really enjoyed working with him.
JK: Stump, can you tell me the first time you met Elvis?
Stump: I think the first time I met him, I think was 1970. I think it was that. He was downstairs in the Hilton. He had a black hat on with a black coat that looked like a cape. I mean he was cool looking. I looked at him and I said, “Wow!” Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not gay! I’m all man but I have to admit one thing - that was the only man that I have ever seen that looked that nice! I mean he was cool looking. But I’ve never been that type of person that was a friend of somebody and you just have to touch them. I’ve met people like Sammy. He came to my house for dinner. I’ve met a whole lot of big stars. Wilson Pickett, a whole bunch of them. But nobody ever grabbed me a certain way. Elvis grabbed me a certain way, I mean when I looked at me. He used to come and talk to me before he went on stage. I said, “Hey Elvis, how you doing?” We would shake each other’s hands. But he could look right through you. That’s the way I felt. He would look right through me. Like he had a certain kind of power, you know.
JK: Can you remember any of the things that you used to talk about? The show or the attendance?
Stump: Well mainly about the show - If it was a good show, the audience, the crowd of fans. He loved his fans. He would always worry about how his fans felt; if they were enjoying the show. But he had nothing to worry about. Because every show, that man did a show, except when he started to get sick.
JK: Now what was your role for the show? You played with the Sweets and if you were needed you would play for Ronnie Tutt?
Stump: Well my job was playing the first opening number for Jackie Kahane or Sammy Shore whoever it was. They would do their show, JD Sumner and then we would come on the Sweets. We were like co-stars. Then Elvis would come on. They would take an intermission, then Elvis would come on. I wouldn’t play behind Elvis. That was never even in my mind. I said, “Me play behind Elvis, no way.” Ronnie was a mad man. He was a very good drummer. He showed me how to hold my sticks a certain way so I would not get sores on my
After a while I got to know what Elvis was all about. He was a hell of an entertainer and a very nice person. To me he was. I’m not saying he was like that with everybody. People are like that. If they don’t like somebody they’re not nice to them. But to me, the experience I had with the man, he really treated me good. I really enjoyed working with him.
JK: Stump, can you tell me the first time you met Elvis?
Stump: I think the first time I met him, I think was 1970. I think it was that. He was downstairs in the Hilton. He had a black hat on with a black coat that looked like a cape. I mean he was cool looking. I looked at him and I said, “Wow!” Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not gay! I’m all man but I have to admit one thing - that was the only man that I have ever seen that looked that nice! I mean he was cool looking. But I’ve never been that type of person that was a friend of somebody and you just have to touch them. I’ve met people like Sammy. He came to my house for dinner. I’ve met a whole lot of big stars. Wilson Pickett, a whole bunch of them. But nobody ever grabbed me a certain way. Elvis grabbed me a certain way, I mean when I looked at me. He used to come and talk to me before he went on stage. I said, “Hey Elvis, how you doing?” We would shake each other’s hands. But he could look right through you. That’s the way I felt. He would look right through me. Like he had a certain kind of power, you know.
JK: Can you remember any of the things that you used to talk about? The show or the attendance?
Stump: Well mainly about the show - If it was a good show, the audience, the crowd of fans. He loved his fans. He would always worry about how his fans felt; if they were enjoying the show. But he had nothing to worry about. Because every show, that man did a show, except when he started to get sick.
JK: Now what was your role for the show? You played with the Sweets and if you were needed you would play for Ronnie Tutt?
Stump: Well my job was playing the first opening number for Jackie Kahane or Sammy Shore whoever it was. They would do their show, JD Sumner and then we would come on the Sweets. We were like co-stars. Then Elvis would come on. They would take an intermission, then Elvis would come on. I wouldn’t play behind Elvis. That was never even in my mind. I said, “Me play behind Elvis, no way.” Ronnie was a mad man. He was a very good drummer. He showed me how to hold my sticks a certain way so I would not get sores on my