April 2001
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Frank Sinatra Tops BBC Singer's Poll
(Excite news / Associated Press, April 14, 2001)
Frank Sinatra has beaten Elvis Presley in a poll of the 20th century's greatest voices, the British Broadcasting Corp. said Saturday Sinatra topped the list of the 100 voices of the century, compiled by BBC Radio 2 using a variety of data including votes by listeners and a panel of singers and music experts. The full Top 10: 1. Frank Sinatra; 2. Elvis Presley; 3. Nat "King" Cole; 4. Ella Fitzgerald; 5. Bing Crosby; 6. John Lennon; 7. Aretha Franklin; 8. Billie Holiday; 9. Barbra Streisand; and 10. Freddie Mercury.
If you wish to register a comment, e-mail radio2website@bbc.co.uk.
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The Hardships of Making It
by Leah Garchik
(San Francisco Chronicle, Page C - 18, April 13, 2001)
(short sentence near the end)
" ... And online gossip Ted Casablanca says that Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley (reported herein to have been spotted at the Blue Bar recently) are an item.
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Gagarin still an Elvis idol to many Russian stargazers
by Seamus Martin
(Irish Times, April 12, 2001)
Soviet Space-Man Yuri Gagarin is beloved by Russians as a human hero who "very much liked vodka and ... very much liked women". He was tragically killed in a plane crash at the age of 34. "The Western figure who compares most closely in terms of adulation is undoubtedly Elvis Presley".
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Daily music news: Setzer Revisits The Trio With '68 Comeback Special
by Jonathan Cohen
(Billboard, April 10, 2001)
Brian Selzer: He led the rockabilly revival as a member of three-piece hitmakers the Stray Cats in the1980s, and in the '90s led the swing revival fronting the Brian Setzer Orchestra (BSO). Now, the tattooed and pompadoured musician will return to the trio format for some stripped-down rockabilly roots music as the Brian Setzer '68 Comeback Special. Setzer chose the name '68 Comeback Special - which conjures memories of a black-leather clad Elvis Presley performing a raw, stripped-down performance for a television audience - "because it's cool". Asked if this album and tour are a tribute to the King or the1968 "Elvis" special, Setzer responds, "Isn't all music an Elvis Presley tribute?"
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STILL CATCHING FIRE: Bob Marley's icon status is as lively as ever
by SHAWN PRICE
(Kansas City Star, April 9, 2001)
With apologies to John Lennon, Bob Marley, who died at age 36 in May 1981, is now bigger than Jesus. And, believe it or not, he's bigger than Elvis, too. While 50,000 fans couldn't be wrong about Elvis Presley, millions around the globe venerate a man who lifted the world's poor with his music and broke their hearts when he died. "Are you going to have another Elvis? Another John Lennon? Another Bob Dylan? Forget about it. But in some ways, Marley was a more universal artist than they.
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Flindt, Petit on San Jose Bill
By Octavio Roca
(San Francisco Chronicle, April 9, 2001)
"Blue Suede Shoes," danced to 36 Elvis Presley songs, will return to San Jose on April 11-14, 2002, with Donald McKayle's jazz ballet "District Storyville." The season will close May 2-5, 2002, with Petit's "Carmen" paired with Balanchine's popular "Who Cares?"
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Theodore McCarty; Key Figure in Electric Guitar's Development
by JON THURBER
(Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2001)
Theodore M. "Ted" McCarty, who as president of the Gibson Guitar Co. played a pivotal role in the development of the electric guitar, has died. McCarty died April 1 in Twin Falls, Idaho, at the age of 91. The firm's turnaround was partly because of McCarty's strong business acumen and partly because of the folk boom of the late 1950s and '60s, along with the popularity of rock stars such as Elvis Presley and the Beatles.
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SMALL FACES
(Journal Sentinel, April 8, 2001)
Apparently the Beastie Boys will sit out this year's Tibetan Freedom Concert-the eighth year for the event the group founded. But plans are being made for a September concert in the U.K., with Radiohead, Robert Plant, the Cult and Eddie Vedder among those expected to perform .... "Ally McBeal" regular Robert Downey Jr. not only is featured as a singer and songwriter on the upcoming show tie-in album, "For Once in My Life Featuring Vonda Shepard," but he and Shepard will also make an in-store appearance signing CDs at the Virgin Megastore in West Hollywood on April 24. Downey wrote a song titled "Snakes," and sings with Sting on "Every Breath You Take" and with Shepard on a version of Bob Seger's "Chances Are." ... In a nod to Elvis Presley's late-'60s back-to-basics telecast, Brian Setzer had given the name '68 Comeback Special to his latest project, a three-piece band featuring drummer Bernie Dresel and bassist Mark Winchester of his swing-oriented Brian Setzer Orchestra.
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'Hurry up and wait'
by JAMES H. BURNETT III
(Journal Sentinel, April 7, 2001)
Firefighters of Engine 32 Firehouse rely on training - and each other. The blue, red and green crews take shifts in turn. ... In between Ladder 9 calls, crew member Pat Norton, the Engine 32 driver, is about to sit down in a basement room by the exercise area. It's got an ancient console television, a huge velvet painting of Elvis Presley, an Elvis wall clock with legs that swivel as the seconds tick off, a broken Ormaii surfboard (the kind Elvis used), an Elvis jigsaw puzzle, numerous tabloid Elvis-sighting articles and a set of collectible Elvis dishes. Everything's lit by the purplish glow of a black light. Dave Rickert created the Elvis shrine several years ago in another station house to poke fun at a few curmudgeonly firefighters who scolded him for leaving the door to his personal locker open. After the scolding, he found an old gawdy picture of Elvis, mounted it inside his locker door and left the door open again. That move got such a rise out of Rickert's critics that word spread. Other firefighters began donating Elvis paraphernalia until the collection outgrew the locker and needed its own room. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't even a fan of Elvis before that," Rickert said. "Since then we've actually been to Graceland a couple of times to barbecue at 'Elvis land.' "
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OBITUARIES: LITHONIA: Paul Peek Jr., 63, guitarist, singer in Rockabilly Hall of Fame
by Kay Powell
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 7, 2001)
Guitarist and singer Paul Edward Peek Jr., 63, died today. Paul Peek's music earned him a spot in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the devotion of his fans and admiration from fellow musicians. In the early 1950s, Mr. Peek was opening shows for Hank Snow with Sun Records star Elvis Presley, said his sister, Jacqueline Peace of Greenville, S.C. "He and Elvis got to singing hymns and went to sing them for Hank Snow, and he threw them out".
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ELVIS lives -- and his fans at the library are thrilled
by Jim Farrell
(The Edmonton Journal, April 6, 2001)
Some local booklovers rejoiced Thursday when ELVIS rolled out of his sickbed in Boston and boarded a FedEx flight for Edmonton. "I think we should send him some flowers," said lifetime library lover Jean Mucha. "We'll all be so happy to have ELVIS with us again. It's a great Easter present." That's ELVIS, as in Electronic Library Voice Information System. Since 1994, this boxful of software, circuit boards and modems has manned the phones at the Edmonton Public Library. Until he took ill, ELVIS phoned library users to let them know that book they placed on hold had arrived. Two weeks ago, ELVIS was packed on a plane and shipped to Peripheral Parts Support Inc. "He came out of final test this afternoon, 'ready to return to his fans' as only the King can," company salesperson Roger Donoghue reported Thursday. "He is on schedule to arrive at the Edmonton Public Library tomorrow morning (Friday)."
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Library customers doing without 'missing' ELVIS:
Voice of The King grew on borrowers after early gaffes
by Jim Farrell
(The Edmonton Journal, April 5, 2001)
Book lovers were saddened this week when they learned why their favourite library employee hasn't phoned them lately. "ELVIS is dead," a staff member at the downtown branch of the Edmonton Public Library said. Not dead, but ELVIS has definitely left the building. That's ELVIS, as in Electronic Library Voice Information System. Extremely ill and needing major surgery or the electronic equivalent of an organ transplant, ELVIS is resting on a shelf at Peripheral Parts Support Inc. in Boston. During the early stages of his six-year tenure with our library system, ELVIS misbehaved and made crank calls to Edmonton pensioners. As he matured, he grew into a much-loved member of the staff and an efficient civil servant, doing fine and working overtime whiletuning up his vocal chords in the bowels of the Stanley A. Milner library. ELVIS is an otherworldly, computerized voice messaging system which phones library users to let them know that book they've placed a hold on has arrived.
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PRESLEY ELECTED IN PHILLIPS (2nd news item)
(Pioneer Planet / ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 5, 2001)
An Elvis impersonator who legally changed his name to Elvis Aron Presley in honor of the late rock 'n roll singer has been elected to the Phillips City Council. He beat Dorothy Hanish by a single vote, 42-to-41. Presley unsuccessfully sought to be elected mayor of the Price County community last year as a write-in candidate.
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Ricky Martin to Play Elvis
by Public Domain via Lea Frydman
(Elvis Presley News, April 3, 2001)
Warner Bros has embarked on a new project in the remaking of the Elvis Presley and Ann Margret 1964 classic, 'Viva Las Vegas' with a Latin touch, starring Ricky Martin.
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Elvis Video Game
by Public Domain via Lea Frydman
(Elvis Presley News, April 3, 2001)
The American McGee team is busy working on the news video game called: Elvis! Elvis has been put into a parallel universe where the future of music is threatened by aliens, the Beatles, and Richard Nixon. This hunka-hunka-burning gameplay will be available on January 8th, 2002, rated M for Mature Players.
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Emma Bunton on course to topple Hear'say from top of UK singles chart
(NME.com/New Musical Express, April 3, 2001)
Item about Emma Bunton, includes: 'Elsewhere ... the re-released "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley is at No. Thirteen.'
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Lisa Marie Presley Is Single Again
(International Herald Tribune, April 3, 2001)
Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis's twice-married daughter and sole heir to the king of rock and roll's fortune, is single again. Presley, 33, and her musician fiance, John Oszajca, have parted ways, People magazine online reported. Presley, who has two children, divorced Danny Keough, another musician, in 1994 and later married the pop singer Michael Jackson. She met Oszajca in May 1999, and the two were engaged by Christmas after receiving permission from her mother, Priscilla.
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People in the news: It's heartbreak hotel for Presley's fiance
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 2, 2001)
The third time might've been the charm for twice-divorced Lisa Marie Presley. But she'll never know. Reuters reports that the sole heir to papa Elvis' estate has called it quits with her fiance, rock musician John Oszajca. Her publicist said he didn't know why Presley broke it off, but that she's not seeing anyone else right now. Presley, 33, became engaged to Oszajca in 1999. She first married musician Danny Keough in 1988. She divorced him 1994 and married Michael Jackson that same year, only to file for divorce two years later. Presley is currently working on her first album, for which no release date is set.
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Daily Music News: Madonna Ties Fab Four On Singles Honor Roll
Edited by Jonathan Cohen
(Billboard, April 2, 2001)
With a Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) -certified gold single (for U.S. sales of 500,000 copies) of "Don't Tell Me" now under her belt, Madonna has pulled neck-and-neck with the Beatles in second place among artists who have the most gold singles in U.S. history. The Material Mom and the Fab Four have each notched 24 gold-certified singles, behind only Elvis Presley's remarkable 51.
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THE KING WHO WOULD BE KING:
Elvis Presley is bidding to become the record holder for number ones
(Dotmusic.com, April, 2001)
Elvis Presley fans have been stampeding to buy The King's new single in a bid to catapult the deceased rock 'n' roller to the top of the UK charts. If they are successful, Elvis, who died in 1977, will posthumously gain his 18th number one with the re-released 'Suspicious Minds'. The King is currently joint record holder for the most number ones alongside the Beatles. Both have had 17 number Ones. The single is being promoted by Presley's first ever music video. A new Greatest Hits Live album has also been released with a re-mastered concert documentary, featuring previously unseen 1970s Las Vegas footage.
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