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| One of my favorite shots of Ronnie Tutt and Elvis together. "I emulated and accented everything that he did just instinctively," Ronnie later said in an interview. |
And perhaps even better, I also had a chance to say hello to him in 2016 after a show called Aloha from Copenhagen that celebrated Elvis' 81st birthday and the 44th anniversary of the historical Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite concert. On stage were, besides Ronnie Tutt, two other members of the TCB Band (James Burton and Glen D. Hardin) as well as Terry Blackwood from the Imperials and Austrian singer Dennis Jale.
As Ronnie signed my copy of the double LP Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite, I remember my brother asking him if the TCB necklace he wore was the original one given to him by Elvis. Turned out it wasn't.
When we sat on the train taking us home to Sweden, we told each other that we would probably never have the opportunity to see the TCB Band play live again. Unfortunately, that proved to be true.
But as I look at Ronnie Tutt's autograph right now, I am reminded of how much he, like the rest of the TCB Band, meant not only to Elvis, but to me as well. And I'd like to end where it all began for Elvis and Ronnie, back in 1970, during the auditions for the 1969 Las Vegas engagement. In an interview that Arjan Deelen conducted in 1999, Ronnie Tutt had, among other things, this to say when he was asked why Elvis picked him as his drummer:
It wasn't just a matter of expertise, but a matter of rapport. It was a matter of sensing, and watching his eyes, and watching everything he did. I emulated and accented everything that he did just instinctively. Every move, almost like a glorified stripper! And he loved that.
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