Mid December 2002
- Lecturer's Santa song album makes tills ring out
By NICHOLA WORKMAN and HELEN PUTTICK
(The Herald, December 17, 2002)
A COLLEGE lecturer who put together a Christmas album to please his young son is outselling Elvis and Mariah Carey. Gordon Campbell, an accountancy lecturer at Glasgow's Stow College, compiled the album when he could not find a collection of songs sung by Father Christmas. Now Santa's Xmas Album is riding high at number 19 in the charts, after selling more than 10,000 copies across the UK. With almost no publicity, the unique compilation has become a best-seller through word of mouth.
- 'Latin Britney' dazzles fans
By Lisa Verrico
(Times Online, December 17, 2002)
NO MATTER where you sat in Wembley Arena, you were never far from open-mouthed men trying not to drool at this year's sexiest pop sensation. At her first ever UK gig, Shakira Isabel Mebarak - the 25-year-old Colombian singer who has taken the world by storm with her first English-language album, Laundry Service - more than lived up to her Latin Britney reputation. ... As two guitarists played rock riffs and flames shot from the floor, the cobra lifted its head 20ft in the air and out jumped a barefoot Shakira in skin-tight black leather trousers and a black bra. She bellydanced her way through the opening song, Ojos Asi, swinging her hips like Elvis, sending ripples through her stomach and throwing her platinum blonde, wavy hair through the air.
- Wilko and out for Liverpool: Sunderland 2 Liverpool 1
By George Culkin
(Times Online, December 16, 2002)
IN 1958, WHEN SUNDERLAND LAST conspired to beat Liverpool at home, Elvis Presley was drafted into the United States Army, the skateboard was invented and Alfred Hitchcock directed Vertigo, which is not something that Gerard Houllier and his players will be experiencing this morning. All Shook Up? Possibly. Unsteady on their feet? Yes. ... They have now lost four league matches in succession, they are a point below Everton, leaking confidence, and Houllier was left to bemoan "the worst month I've ever experienced as a manager".
- Landmark Demolished
(WBOC TV, December 15, 2002)
A piece of Washington history exploded in a cloud of dust this morning. Crews used 400 pounds of dynamite and eleven separate explosions to bring down the US-Airways Arena. After 29 years of housing N-H-L and N-B-A games as well as legends like Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali, it took less than 20 seconds to demolish it. It will be replaced with a shopping center.
- The good, the bad and the silly
(The Western Mail, December 16, 2002)
DO YOU have a Christmas favourite? And a single you can't stand? For the best, contenders must surely include Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by the Dexter Gordon Quartet, Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting) or perhaps Ray Charles's All I Want For Christmas. For something a little faster-paced, who would vote for Elvis Presley's Santa Claus Is Back in Town or Ella Fitzgerald's Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Romantics might gravitate towards Frank Sinatra's I'll Be Home for Christmas while Bruce Springsteen's Santa Claus is Comin' to Town revs things up a bit. ... As for turkeys, who would choose Mr Blobby by Mr Blobby - number one in 1993? Or There's No One Quite Like Grandma by the fresh-faced St Winifred's School Choir which stole the show in 1980. Then again, three years later, there was Only You by the Flying Pickets.
It seems what tops the chart at Christmas really is as much of a mystery as the identity of the killer in a lavish Agatha Christie drama. Think of the 1972 number one Christmas hit - Benny Hill's Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in The West).
- Entertainment Now puts Stars in Their Eyes on stage
By Kevin Feddy
(Manchester Online, December 16, 2002)
Entertainment Now, has signed a three-year agreement with Granada TV to produce a touring theatrical version of Matthew Kelly's hit programme Stars in Their Eyes. The show will feature eight past series winners - Elvis Presley, Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, Kylie, Tom Jones, Cher, Dusty Springfield and Rod Steward look-a-likes.
- POP MUSIC: Inside the boxes
By Robert Hilburn
(Los Angeles Times, December 15, 2002)
Elvis? Frank? Tempting, but you may get more or less than wanted. "It's hard to believe that 25 years have passed since his untimely death in 1977," RCA Records declares on the back of its latest Elvis Presley retrospective What's really hard to believe is that the label still has 100 unreleased Elvis recordings worth hearing after all these years of repackages -- and sure enough, it doesn't. The Presley boxed set "Today, Tomorrow & Forever" is woefully pedestrian. Pop fans should approach all boxed sets warily. These multi-disc packages may look as if they were designed with loving care, but the motivation is usually just profit. Often, single-disc greatest-hits packages are all you need.
- So Far, No Action at Winter Meetings
By RONALD BLUM
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press, December 14, 2002)
The only swapping taking place on the opening day of baseball's winter meetings was of stories about inactivity. General managers wandered between lobbies at the vast Opryland Hotel asking each other if anything was going on. As of early Friday night, not a single trade had been made. "Montreal is stagnating things because they have so many players that might be attractive," New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. ... Baseball executives kept walking through this sprawling hotel, with 2,881 rooms in huge atriums over seven acres - there's even a fake river running through it. The hotel is famous for its Christmas shows, and people who came to be entertained - there even was a midget Elvis lookalike wandering around - mingled among the baseball types.
- A jingle bell shock .. Santa outsells Elvis
By KAREN SHEAD
(Edinburgh Evening News, December 14, 2002)
WHEN Gordon Campbell's two-year-old son Donnie became enthralled by Santa Claus and singing, he thought he had the perfect idea for a Christmas present. But when he started looking around the Capital's music shops for a Santa CD, he drew a complete blank. After searching high and low to no avail, the father-of-three decided he would not be beaten - and settled on the idea of making one himself. Now two years later, Santa's Christmas Album is on the shelves of music stores across the country and is even beating Christmas hits compilations by rock legends such as Elvis Presley.
- Elvis and Santa bringing holiday cheer to Dover
(Foster's Online, December 13, 2002)
Santa Claus and an Elvis impersonator will be among the attractions at the Dover Police Department's "Stuff the Trolley" charity event this week. The event will be held at the Dover Hannaford Supermarket on Central Avenue. A trolley donated by COAST Public Transit will be staffed by volunteers today through Sunday and the public can drop off donations in an effort to fill it with food for the baskets. Today, from 5 to 8 p.m., children will be able to meet Santa Claus when they
bring a food or cash donation. Those unable to come while Santa is there may still help Santa stuff the trolley by dropping off donations during any of the other hours where the Trolley will be open: Today from noon-8 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Dover police will also bring "Elvis" to the Dover Hannaford Supermarket on Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. "Elvis" will help stuff the trolley, and anyone bringing a donation of food or cash for the Dover Police Christmas Basket Program during that time might even get to meet him in person.
- Officers singing in the street
By MARY REILEY
(Contra Costa Times, December 13, 2002)
IT STARTED AS a three-minute public service announcement in1992, sung by Albany police Lt. Bill "Elvis" Palmini and written by retired Sgt. Art "The Lawman" Clemons. Shortly after, "Buckle Up" gave birth to the Chief Operator Teen Driver Program, now a statewide effort that is recognized internationally for its unique message. ... Elvis and the Lawman began after Palmini, a longtime Elvis impersonator, spiced up his slide show during a 1991 traffic safety conference with a performance set to the tune of "Don't Be Cruel."
- The New TNN Entertainment Highlights - January 2003
Source: The New TNN
(Yahoo! Finance / PRNNewswire, December 12, 2002)
OBLIVIOUS (TV-PG) Telecasts Sundays (9:00-9:30PM, ET/PT and 10:30-11:00PM, ET/PT), repeats Fridays (Midnight-12:30 AM, ET/PT). (3rd item)
It's the game show you don't know you're on! Using hidden cameras, OBLIVIOUS stealthily quizzes unsuspecting constants with show's well-disguised host, Regan Burns, where they least suspect it -- in a cab, at the hairdresser, in the bank, at the gas station, on the street, at a restaurant or in a bar. For every question the "oblivious" contestant answers correctly they win a cash prize. The series telecast as part of The New TNN's "Sunday Night Originals" line-up. ... Sunday, January 19 (10:30-11:00PM, ET/PT) "Las Vegas - Hotel Concierge" -- Regan dresses up as an Elvis impersonator and deals at the blackjack table.
- Colorado Ski Town Sells Manhole Covers
By COLLEEN SLEVIN
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press, December 12, 2002)
After 20 years of ski vacations in the Vail Valley, all Cynthia Hunt had to show for it was a turtleneck from the Beaver Creek resort. That is until last week when the Chicago marketing executive plunked down $65 for a 6-pound water valve cover just like the ones embedded in Vail's streets. The cover is emblazoned with the Vail logo, its 1962 founding date and the elevation in the ritzy resort town, 8,150 feet. Vail, home of the nation's largest ski resort, is also selling 52-pound manhole covers as it tries to raise extra cash to make up for declining tax revenues. Vail started using the custom cast-iron covers in its pedestrian villages last year. It didn't take long before people looking for authentic souvenirs began stealing them right out of the ground. Workers were forced to glue the covers down but then Town Manager Bob McLaurin came up with the idea to start selling the covers this summer. The venture proved so popular that the town posted the covers on eBay for the holiday season, hoping interest in the town's 40th anniversary would boost sales. "We figured if someone could hawk a Polaroid photo of one of Elvis Presley's last ski trips to Vail for $1,495, we should have an online presence as well," McLaurin said.
- Names and faces
(2nd item)
By George Knapp
(Las Vegas Mercury, December 12, 2002)
. ... Local Elvis aficionado Jeff Taylor remains convinced that Wayne Newton was the secret buyer who snatched up a ball of authentic Presley hair from an eBay. Newton's folks vigorously deny this. But Taylor says it's time to forget the King's hairball because of something else that he noticed on eBay. Bids start at $18,000 for what is purportedly Elvis Presley's last prescription bottle. The bottle of Parafon Forte, a painkiller, was found in the bathroom with the King's body. It comes with a letter of authenticity from Presley's feel-good physician, Dr. Nichopolous. The bottle was undoubtedly in Presley's possession within hours of his death, which, according to Taylor makes it a truly special collectible. ...
- THE GHOST RIDES ON
By Adam McAllister
(CHUD, December 12, 2002)
Short lived Elvis son-in-law Nic Cage has been out recently giving updates on one of his forthcoming project. It appears his quest to be immortalized in a poorly thought out comic to film adaptation seems to be on track as he states that Columbia is in the process of settling on one of the Ghost Rider screenplays early next year. You might recall that original writer David Goyer (Blade) attempted to bring the flaming skull to the screen but the studio passed on his reportedly R rated draft. Evidently Cage agrees with the decision. "The comic-book world is originally a world that was a fantasy place for children and younger people," Cage said. "By making it hard R, you'd alienate some of those younger people who want to go to the movies and get lost in that world. So I can understand the argument for that." This project has been through so much turn around, script changes, and even studio homes that any news might be premature at this point. As far as we can tell, Stephen Norrington is still on board to take on the camera duties but even that could be effected by the current woes with "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" .
- Touch of schoolhouse rock
By Sundeep Sehijpal
(Shropshire Star, December 12, 2002)
There were a few suspicious minds at a Wellington school when Elvis Presley turned up as a substitute teacher.
But sadly for pupils at Orleton Park Secondary School yesterday, the King of Rock 'n' Roll was actually head of IT and business studies Richard Faragher who had dressed up for the day for charity. Mr Faragher is playing Elvis in the school's own version of the hit musical, Grease, which premiered last night. He said he decided to spend the day in costume to raise money for the Hope House Children's Hospice.
- Album Chart: Shania beats Mariah, hangs on to No. 1
(SoundSpike, December 11, 2002)
For the third straight week, Shania Twain's "Up!" was the top-selling album in the country, a feat that keeps it ahead of the Top 10 debut of Mariah Carey's "Charmbracelet." ... Though the album's sales were nearly half of the previous week's total, "Up!" will continue its undefeated reign at No. 1 on the forthcoming Billboard 200 album chart. ... Just outside the Top 10, several albums are riding the holiday-shopping wave: Elvis Presley's "Elvis: 30 #1 Hits" spends its second week at No. 11 ...
- Sleeper Hit: Cinema advertising gets a boost from creative, technical innovations
(Yahoo! News, December 11, 2002)
The Loch Ness Monster rises from the deep. A horse turns into a unicorn. Elvis cruises a lonely stretch of highway in a convertible. They're images of fantasy, but for Volvo, they're tied to a very real strategy. The scenes are from a new 60-second Volvo spot playing in cinemas before this year's blockbuster holiday movies. It's a rare example of a commercial conceived from the outset to run only in theaters (the TV campaign, due in January, will be entirely different) and tailored to mesh thematically with the fantasy themes of the season's biggest films. Michael Lee, ecd at Euro RSCG MVBMS Partners, New York, says the shop looked at the fourth quarter's crop of movies -- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Lord of the Rings, Die Another Day, Gangs of New York -- and figured they would draw the same families and younger, single consumers that Volvo wanted for its first SUV, the XC90. So the agency created a fanciful spot, shot in Spain by Radish of Go Films, New York, in which XC90 passengers pass through fantasy worlds like those evoked in Harry Potter, Rings and even James Bond.
- Jamie's American pie
By Iain S Bruce
(Sunday Herald, December 11, 2002)
Four years ago, Jamie Oliver was a rookie in the kitchen. Now the king of British cooking, he's looking to expand his empire to the States. ... Riding high in the television ratings with his latest series Jamie's Kitchen and credited with the power to alter the course of whole industries, the scooter-riding guru of the gastronomic arts is rapidly becoming a global commercial phenomenon, a cast-iron crowd puller whose million-dollar dollop of small-screen charisma has done for catering what Elvis did for the music business. ... 'He's an absolute superstar, the rock god of cookery,' says fellow celebrity chef Nick Nairn.
- Living With Migraine Headaches
By KAREN SHIDELER
(The Ledger, December 10, 2002)
Claudia Keith remembers, as a little girl, being taken into her grandmother's darkened room. "Shush," her mother would tell her, reminding her to talk quietly and not to sit on the bed Not until years later, when she was having "blinding, sick, throwing up" headaches of her own, did Keith realize that her grandmother's "sick headaches" were migraines. That genetic connection is a classic part of migraine headaches, said physician Anne Walling, a professor of family and community medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita. Also classic are migraine symptoms: severe pain, usually on one side of the head, that is accompanied by nausea or vomiting, and is made worse by exercise or movement, bright lights, loud sounds and certain smells. ... Migraines are caused by an abnormality in the biochemistry of the brain, Walling said. "You're born with it." But migraines aren't an excuse for "living a lousy life," Walling said. Those who suffer from migraines are in good company. "Everybody who was anybody" in history had migraines. Sufferers are said to include Thomas Jefferson, Claude Monet, Lewis Carroll and Elvis Presley.
- Brooks & Dunn Accept Elvis Presley Award
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press, December 10, 2002)
Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn were committed elsewhere, and so couldn't accept the first-ever Elvis Presley Patriotic Song Award in person. Instead of attending the dinner where the American Veterans' Awards were presented, Brooks and Dunn received their award for their song, "Only in America," on the set of CMT's "Most Wanted Live" show last Saturday night. "You don't do songs for the rewards. You do songs because they strike a chord in you and make you feel something," Dunn said. Brooks, who wrote the song, says they didn't know when they released it that it was anything more than a celebration of this country. He says it was tragic - and also made them proud - that it ended up meaning something more to other people after last year's terrorist attacks.
- Service reaches out to those who are feeling blue
By MARLO BARNHART
(Herald-Mail Online, December 9, 2002)
Blue Christmas. Elvis sang about it and many people feel it, but the pastor of a local church decided to do something about it Sunday afternoon. About 10 people attended the first-ever Blue Christmas service, said Carol Hallman, pastor of Christ Reformed United Church of Christ on Cavetown Church Road. Hallman said she thought of the idea because she hears so often during the holidays that people are feeling sad because of the loss of loved ones or a job, or relatives are far away and cannot come home There were Bible readings chosen to soothe and inspire. And there were familiar hymns that felt comfortable and comforting.
- Web Users have Spoken: Japanese Animated Cartoon Dragonball is the Most Searched Term for 2002 For Second Straight Year
Source: Terra Lyco
(Yahoo! Finance / PRNewswire, December 9, 2002)
Terra Lycos, the largest global Internet network, today announced The Lycos 50's eagerly anticipated annual list of top 50 search terms for the year 2002. The Lycos 50 (http://50.lycos.com) is a weekly list of the most popular people, places and things users are searching for online. The Lycos 50 2002 year-end list is based on user searches from Dec. 1, 2001 through November 25, 2002. For a complete list of The Lycos 50 top 50 search terms of 2002, and for in-depth commentary of The Lycos 50 2002 Report, go to http://50.lycos.com. ... The following people, movies and fads had strong showings in 2002.
Based on growing search queries, The Lycos 50 predicts these are the ones to watch in 2003 ... Top 10 Men:
- Eminem
- Nelly
- Osama bin Laden
- Tupac Shakur
- Ja Rule
- Orlando Bloom
- Elvis Presley
- Josh Hartnett
- Vin Diesel
- Michael Jackson
- Fake Elvis creates a buzz for NDP
(Toronto Star, December 9, 2002)
Outgoing leader Alexa McDonough introduced two new leadership candidates at the New Democrat Christmas party last week. Wearing reindeer antlers, she moderated, as Elvis Presley and Martha Stewart joined the fray. But the real drama came when the staffer in the Presley mask yanked it off, only to have the gathering recoil in horror. Under it, he wore the mask of arch-enemy of federal New Democrats everywhere, CAW chief Buzz Hargrove.
- Stephen Frears 'considers Elvis comedy'
By MICHAEL KUCHWARA
(Ananova, December 9, 2002)
British director Stephen Frears is considering making a new comedy about a conspiracy around Elvis Presley. Frears has directed the likes of High Fidelity and Dangerous Liaisons. He is expected to make The Importance of Being Elvis his next film. The film tells the story of Brian from Newcastle, who claims that for many years he was Elvis Presley. The premise is that when Elvis was serving in the US Army, he was shot in the throat by a fan and could no longer sing. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, with the collusion of the American government, found an impersonator to replace him reports www.variety.com. It's not known when the film is likely to be made.
- 'La Boheme' Arrives on Broadway
By MICHAEL KUCHWARA
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press, December 8, 2002)
[Review of "La Boheme" produced by Australian film and stage director Baz Luhrmann - Broadway Theatre.] The Rodolfo of Jesus Garcia (sporting Elvis sideburns and a James Dean swagger) is a nice match for the Mimi of a stylish Lisa Hopkins (who projects 1950s chic even in a barren garret). ... "It's better to burn bright and die young!" sings a trio of confident youngsters at the hopeful beginning of the opera. "La Boheme," in this enthusiastic interpretation by Luhrmann and company, blazes with a blinding light that rarely flickers all evening long.
- Facing Death, Elvis fan enjoys life to the hilt
By David Mirhadi
(The Union, December 7, 2002)
His dream, Michael Bryant says, is to simply live life to the hilt. If that means climbing up on stage tonight with an oxygen tank, just so he can belt out the songs his idol Elvis Presley made famous, in front of an audience for what might be the last time in Bryant's 49-year-old life, then fine. ... What Bryant thinks about is spending time with his wife, Kathy, who he met in a Roseville karaoke bar six years ago, wooing her with his rendition of Elvis' "The Wonder of You" as he sang on bended knee; of his granddaughter, Hope, who knows her grandpa will soon "go see Jesus in the clouds" and of his ongoing house renovation project.
- You and your bright ideas: Up and down the Suncoast there are signs of Christmas everywhere, from Elvis to St. Nick.
By JUDY STARK
(St Petersburg Times, December 7, 2002)
Why do we do this, year after year: climb up on the roof, endanger life and limb, to string the icicle lights? We spend months cutting figures out of plywood. Pay that big December power bill without a second thought. Wrap the trees in candy cane lights. Do the same as last year, only more so, or come up with something completely new. Why? Because, at heart, we all believe in those simple truths about Christmas: Peace. Joy. Festivity.
The Elvis part was what motivated Gary Nissen, who lives in Lake Park Estates in Largo, and his business partner, Jim Crews. ... "We did an NBC special in Fort Myers for Sarah Hughes," the Olympic gold-medal figure skater, Nissen explained, "and afterward we had 900 yards of leftover blue fabric that had covered a hockey rink. So I tried to do something different." Blue fabric became Blue Christmas, which is why there's now a life-size Elvis outside Nissen's home at 9634 108th Ave. N. (Crews painted The King.) Nissen's subdivision, Lake Park Estates, has become one of the major stops for holiday lights viewing along the Suncoast.
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