Mid April 2002
- The Presley Phenomenon
(Belconnen Chronicle, April 23, 2002, p. 24)
"Elvis is alive and living in Canberra" is a group exhibition curated by Aroona Murphy which will explore the phenoma of Elvis, his fans, and collectors. The exhibition will be held at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Manuka, ACT, from April 27 to May 12.
- Mayflower hosting first city festival
(Log Cabin Democrat, April 22, 2002)
Spring Fever is coming to Mayflower. Mayflower's first citywide festival, dubbed Spring Fever -- complete with the festival staples: craft booths, business expo, food vendors and car show -- will debut at Mayflower High School on Saturday. "Lost in the Fifties," a show from Branson. Mo., will provide the grand finale Saturday night. The act from Branson features impersonators of Conway Twitty, The Big Bopper, Elvis, Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, and Fats Domino and includes Randy and the Midnight Express, featuring Mayflower resident Randy Holland.
- Elvis mimic favourite for Stars In Their Eyes
(Ananova, April 22, 2002)
An Elvis Presley impersonator is favourite to win Saturday's Stars In Their Eyes final. Stewart Duff is currently placed at 5/4 with online bookies Blue Square, followed by a Tina Turner mimic at 4/1 and a Robbie Williams impersonator at 6/1. The final will be shown on ITV1 at 7.10pm, with the result at 9.45pm. The full list of Blue Square odds includes: Elvis Presley 5/4; Tina Turner 4/1; Robbie Williams 6/1; Heather Small 10/1; Scott Walker 12/1; Noel Gallagher 12/1; Cerys Matthews 12/1; Luther Vandross 12/1; Anastacia 14/1; David Cassidy 16/1.
- It's now or never to sell Elvis
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER of The New York Times
(Star Telegram, April 22, 2002)
Same report as below but with a picture of Elvis chocolates.
- Elvis Lives! (As a Marketing Effort, Anyway)
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
(New York Times, April 20, 2002)
The King may be immortal, but his fans are not. That is the essence of the problem facing the Elvis industry, which has hummed along quite nicely without him for 25 years, selling and reselling songs, movies, posters, books, clothing and every other imaginable form of merchandise, souvenir and retail experience related to or inspired by the King of Rock 'n' Roll. The cashing in is about to crest this year, the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, with new CD's, coffee-table books, furniture, commercial tie-ins and even an animated Disney movie with Elvis songs in a crucial plot role. But now, with original Elvis fans qualifying for senior citizen discounts -- Elvis himself would have turned 67 in January -- the biggest question is whether this year's hoopla will be a comeback at all, or merely a last hurrah. Graceland officials insist that half of all visitors are younger than 35. Even if that is true, though, how many children are eager to come and how many are dragged by their elders is an open question. ... [A]s Elvis takes his rightful place in American history, is history where Elvis will stay? "Unlike a lot of 60's and 70's groups like the Doors, who recycle back into popularity, I don't see that happening with Elvis," said Andrew Bergstein, a marketing professor at Pennsylvania State University who specializes in pop culture. "Lots of students I teach are only vaguely aware who he is, and as more of a comic figure. They don't appreciate that he was cutting some pretty important ground. I wouldn't want to be in charge of trying to sell him to a younger generation."
Photo by Rollin Riggs
Caption: Some recent visitors to Elvis Presley's grave at Graceland were typical of his original fans. They are eligible for senior-citizen discounts.
[In your dreams, Baby. Time will prove you wrong - Ed.]
- The Week in Weird: Elvis gets bed rest, Courtney gets brain test and more
(Rolling Stone, April 20, 2002)
While we'd tend to think of peanut butter and painkillers as the most likely products to benefit from being stamped with the name of Elvis Presley, one company in Virginia thinks that the King's moniker will help them hawk a new line of bedroom furniture. The folks at Vaughan-Bassett are set to unveil a package of boudoir accoutrements, ranging from a "Burning Love" heart-shaped mirror to a "Love Me Tender" bed, which -- in keeping with the class displayed at Graceland -- is decked out with a padded headboard and a nightstand embossed with Elvis' initials. It's only a matter of time, we guess, before someone else comes along with a "Nearer My God to Thee" line of water-closet gear to properly mark Presley's last moments . . .
- Hallucinating Elvis at the Burton Taylor
(BBC, April 18, 2002)
Local theatre company Cracked Actor, which emerged triumphant from the Oxford Youth Theatre Group at the Pegasus with a lottery grant, are delving into their second public performance with Hallucinating Elvis. This new play is a series of monologues. The play explores the cult of celebrity and the often desperate search for identity with a range of actors and moods, from black comedy and farce to straight drama. Rock and roll music and surreal visuals have been added to the mix to create an all-encompassing experience in the studio mini-theatre.
April 18-20, 2 pm, Burton Taylor Theatre, Oxford.
- Elvis has left the synagogue - Jewish Film Festival: Includes screening of controversial film The Believer
By James Cowan
(National Post, April 19, 2002)
Did Elvis keep kosher? That's the question posed by Schmelvis: Searching for the King's Jewish Roots, the film that launches the 10th annual Toronto Jewish Film Festival tomorrow night. The comical documentary follows Montreal filmmaker Max Wallace (co-author of the book Who Killed Kurt Cobain?) as he investigates the claim that Elvis Presley's great-great-grandmother was Jewish. In pursuit of Presley's roots, Wallace travels along with an Orthodox Jewish Elvis impersonator and a Montreal rabbi to Graceland, apparently hoping to rile the locals. "The filmmakers admit they were trying to antagonize the Southerners," says the festival's director of programming, Shlomo Schwartzberg, "They thought [the suggestion that Elvis might be Jewish] would make people flip out and say anti-Semitic things. But the truth is it doesn't really faze anyone." Failing to create the drama they wanted in Memphis, the crew eventually travels to Israel, where they plant a tree in honour of the King.
- Elvis inspires new furniture range: Elvis Presley has inspired a range of bedroom furniture being unveiled by a Virginia firm.
(Ananova, April 18, 2002)
The Graceland and Elvis Presley's Hollywood lines include a Love Me Tender bed and a Burning Love heart-shaped mirror. Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co, based in Galax, will introduce them at a furniture trade show. Vice president of sales and marketing, Doug Bassett, said: "There's a way to buy this furniture that whispers Elvis's name. And there's another way if you feel like shouting from the rooftop.'' The bed has a padded headboard and matching wardrobe with silver doorknobs in the shape of an E and a P. There's also a platinum-record mirror and wardrobe with frosted glass, inscribed with Elvis's signature and musical notes. They will be unveiled at the International Home Furnishings Market in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- Burning Questions
(ABC Radio National Breakfast, April 18, 2002)
For the first time, Australia's gearing-up to have a nationally co-ordinated approach to bushfire research and fire management strategies. A $45 million proposal for a Bushfire Co-Opretaive Research Centre will be submitted to the Federal Government within the next three months. Science Minister Peter McGauran has already 'talked-up' the plan, promising $15 million of Commonwealth funding and trumpeting a 'new approach' to bushfire research. But will it really be new or simply more technology and fancy machines like the 'Elvis' helicopters? Could there be other, cheaper and more ecological ways of understanding and fighting fires? Landscape ecologist Nick Gellie certainly thinks so. He spent seventeen years with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service developing his understanding of how fires and Australian plants interact. He's now an independent consultant. We also speak with Len Foster, chair of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council.
- Fan prepares for Elvis convention in Green Tree
By Tim McNellie
(Signal Item Star, April 17, 2002)
To hundreds of Elvis Presley fans, the road to Graceland runs through Pittsburgh. Or more specifically, through Priscilla Parker's living room. As president of the We Remember Elvis Fan Club, the largest Elvis appreciation group in the United States with 900 members, Parker's phone is constantly ringing with inquiries about which are the best hotels in Memphis, where to get concert tickets and whether Elvis is dead or alive. "This is like a tourist service to some people," her husband Don says. But Priscilla doesn't mind lending a helping hand. (And yes, Priscilla Parker is her real name. That her home is on Tennessee Avenue in Dormont is also coincidental). "When I made my first trip to Memphis, I wish somebody was there to help," she says. But rather than Graceland, she has been guiding Elvis fans to Green Tree in recent weeks, to the 21st Annual We Remember Elvis Spring Festival, scheduled for Friday, April 26, and Saturday, April 27, at the Green Tree Holiday Inn. The event benefits the Elvis Aaron Presley Visiting Fellowship at Western Pennsylvania Hospital's burn and trauma unit, which the club established in 1989. Since then, We Remember has paid for 18 doctors from around the world to study at the Western Penn's burn center. ... Working for charity is in keeping with the way Elvis lived his life, Priscilla says. Elvis was often noted for his charitable acts, like buying Cadillacs for strangers and paying bills for the needy.
Priscilla tells a story that she heard from an old woman in a Memphis flower shop: Elvis' limousine was broken down on the side of the road one day when a motorist stopped to help. The driver was under the hood working when the man offered his assistance. Without knowing that it was Elvis' car, the man got the vehicle running again and went on his way. A few days later, the man went to the bank to make his monthly mortgage payment. To his surprise, the teller said he didn't have a mortgage. The man insisted that he did, and showed his payment book as proof. "Your mortgage has been paid off by Elvis Presley," the teller replied. "Elvis always said that money is meaningless until you share it with your friends," Priscilla says.
- Cosby' reunion joins sweeps logjam
(CNN, April 17, 2002)
NBC has confirmed its two-hour reunion special "The Cosby Show: A Look Back" will air from 9 to 11 p.m. on May 19 -- the final Sunday of the May ratings "sweeps" and the 2001-02 season, Variety reports. It joins an already crowded battlefield for what's shaping up to be one of the most competitive nights of network television in recent years. ... Some industry insiders believe NBC is being overly aggressive, jumping into an already crowded Sunday field with "Cosby" only to weaken the other networks. "Cosby" might have aired on a less competitive night -- a Monday or Tuesday -- and generated far bigger numbers for the Peacock. ... "There are plenty of viewers for everybody," one industry insider said. "We have an audience for our show, and they'll come (on May 19). It doesn't really matter what the other guys do -- and I'm sure they feel the same way. " There's historical precedent for that point of view. During one sweeps Sunday back in 1979, according to Fox scheduling chief Preston Beckman, ABC had an Elvis Presley biopic starring Kurt Russell while NBC broadcast "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Rather than undercut each other, both shows ended up topping the week's ratings. Beckman believes broadcast television will survive next month's faceoff.
- IT'S MURDER IN ELVIS TERRITORY: "Memphis Homicide Squad" Tonight at 10 on Court TV
By LINDA STASI
(New York Post, April 17, 2002)
LAST year Court TV debuted "Brooklyn North Homicide Squad," and billed it as the real New York cop show - kind of "NYPD Blue" and "Homicide: Life on the Street," combined. And it was, and it did well. Not to let a good thing, er, die, the suits-that-be decided to try it again - but in a place as different from NYC geographically and socially as possible - while still keeping it big city gritty. They came up with Memphis, the only city in the world, probably, with an Elvis memorial statue in a town square. The show, which starts tomorrow night and runs for three consecutive nights, "Memphis Homicide Squad," is a good break in a TV week that is so boring it might drive people back to books.
- All shook up over Elvis furniture
By PAUL NOWELL
(Nando Times, April 17, 2002; also reported in various newspapers: CNN; CNN Europe; Sun Sentinel; Times of India), etc. with roughly the same wording.
The King has been gone for 25 years, but Elvis Presley's marketing power has everyone all shook up at the International Home Furnishings Market. Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co., based in Galax, Va., will introduce two new lines of Elvis Presley bedroom pieces at the world's largest furniture trade show, which gets under way Thursday. Vaughan-Bassett officials insist that no green shag or red velvet will be used in thenew "Graceland" and "Elvis Presley's Hollywood" bedroom lines. Still, they did try to have some fun. Two of the signature pieces are the "Love Me Tender" bed and the "Burning Love" heart-shaped mirror, said Doug Bassett, Vaughan-Bassett's vice president of sales and marketing and the great-grandson of the company's founder. "There's a way to buy this furniture that whispers Elvis' name," Bassett said. "And there's another way if you feel like shouting from the rooftop." For example, furniture buyers interested in owning a piece of The King can choose a sleek bed with padded headboard and matching armoire that merely hints at Presley with silver doorknobs in the shape of an "E" and a "P." Then there's the suite with a platinum-record mirror and more initial-shaped drawer knobs. And there's another, more traditional style armoire -- except for the frosted glass insert inscribed with Elvis' signature and musical notes.
- Smiths Top Beatles in NME Music Icons Poll
By Tommy Perkins
(Yahoo News / Reuters, April 16, 2002)
Angst-ridden Mancunian rock quartet The Smiths have beaten off competition from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to be declared music bible NME's most important rock group of the last 50 years. The band, renowned for its fatalistic lyrics and fronted by the misery-wallowing Morrisey, have not troubled the pop charts for more than a decade, but NME -- the fanzine formerly known as New Musical Express -- ranked them as more important than Elvis, the Sex Pistols and Madonna. Bands were assessed on the number of front covers, letters and features they generated as well as end-of-year polls. Beatle fans can take some consolation that the Fab Four came in second, followed by the Stone Roses and David Bowie.
Go to Early April 2002
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