Late December 2002
Also in the news: Lisa Marie (Lisa Watch)
- Rod gets radio accolade
(Ananova, December 23, 2002)
Rod Stewart has been crowned the "legend of legends" by radio listeners. He won 52% of votes in the final stage of the contest ahead of The Beatles and Elvis Presley. It follows a three-month long poll by radio station Capital Gold. The competition has seen acts go head to head in a vote each day, with Rod and the Fab Four battling it out in the final.
A total of 64 classic artists from the station's playlist began the contest, with more than a quarter of a million votes cast since the start. The Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? singer had been runner-up in the contest last year.
- FINAL TEST FOR STARS OF KARAOKE
(this is North Devon, December 23, 2002)
It may not have been Pop Idol, it may not even have been Fame Academy, but for dozens of singers from across Devon and Cornwall it was their shot at a slice of celebrity fortune. The finals of the karaoke contest were held at Jack's Entertainment Suite in Liskeard, and the prize went to Elvis impersonator Stephen Elliot. Stephen, who at 28 was only a tiny tot when Elvis died in 1977, won £1,000 by singing Suspicious Minds, the track recently revived by Pop Idol Gareth Gates. Stephen dressed as the star, and sang Suspicious Minds and American Trilogy.
- Greatest-hits collections strictly for old times' sake
By Joel Selvin
(San Francisco Chronicle, December 22, 2002)
Greatest-hits collections almost invariably signal the end of an act's career. Of course, there are exceptions -- the Eagles, who released a greatest-hits set before "Hotel California," come to mind, and certainly "High Tides and Green Grass" wasn't the end of the Rolling Stones, just the end of an era for the band. But, in general, record companies have an unearthly instinct about when to release these things. Such collections are intended to capitalize on interest in the act's catalog while there is still any interest at all. A well-timed greatest-hits album would come right at the top of the slide down the backside of the bell curve of an artist's career. Labels love greatest-hits packages. Not only do they sell very well, but they also cost practically nothing to produce. At the end of every year, a slew of these sets hit the market to pump up the fourth-quarter revenues in that all-important gift-giving season. This year is no exception. In recent weeks, the bins have been stocked with collections by Elton John, U2, David Bowie, Nirvana, Paul Simon, Sting and even Elvis Presley, all well down the shady side of their careers. ...
- Elvis' hometown wants car buffs to pull over and visit
BY FRANK FISHER
(Herald Tribune / Associated Press, December 22, 2002)
Move over Elvis, there's a new tourist attraction in this north Mississippi town known best as the birthplace of the king of rock 'n' roll. The Tupelo Automobile Museum, featuring more than 100 painstakingly restored cars dating from 1886 to 1994, opened Dec. 7. Visitors to the brand new 75,000-square-foot showroom get a tour through automotive history, from the sublime to the bizarre. ... What would a display in Tupelo be without a tribute to Elvis, who was born in a shotgun cabin only a couple of minutes away from the museum? The hip-gyrating legend's 1976 dark blue Lincoln, which he gave to a Denver police captain shortly after buying it for over $13,000, is a must-see.
- 'Story' teller Wyman leaves no Stone unturned
BY MIRIAM DI NUNZIO
(Chicago Sun Times, December 22, 2002)
"Pop music was never meant to endure, but the best of the rock 'n' roll born in the sixties survives well." - Bill Wyman. From Stone Alone -- The Story of a Rock 'n' Roll Band.
He'll forever be known as the one who walked away. In 1992, after three decades with the Rolling Stones, bassist Bill Wyman called it quits, and never looked back. At least when it came to performing with his bandmates. What Wyman did do was publish his autobiography Stone Alone: The Story of a Rock 'n' Roll Band (1997, DaCapo Press), which detailed the creation and rise of the band up through the 1960s. That book was based on Wyman's day-to-day journals that he's kept for most of his life. ... Wyman, who turned 66 in October, talked to the Sun-Times the day after his birthday and just days before the release of his newbook. ...
Q. You write about the time you refused to go backstage and meet Elvis at one of his concerts. Why?
A. I went to the show because I loved his early years. I didn't really like it when he started to do his films. It was 1973, and I went to one of his shows with the Led Zeppelin guys. They all went backstage afterwards, but I thought meeting him would just spoil this image I had of him in my mind. I'd met many stars over the years that I'd admired from afar and 90 percent were just exactly what you'd expect and some even better. People like Marvin Gaye and the Supremes were just really really nice people. But I met Chuck Berry and he was a nightmare, and he really spoiled the whole [image] thing for me. He was like a god to me at the time I met him, and he turned out to be the nastiest piece of work. So with Elvis, I didn't want to be disappointed. So I avoided the situation and I've been very happy about it. ...
- Local music, DVDs and books arrive just in time for Christmas
BY CHRIS COOK
(kauaiworld.com, December 21, 2002)
A stocking full and then some of Hawai'i-created and inspired CDs, DVDs and books are awaiting last-minute Christmas shoppers in stores across Kaua'i. Selling well across the world, as well as on Kaua'i, is the new Lilo & Stitch DVD and video from Disney. The DVD contains images of Kaua'i in a digital tour of Kaua'i plus a lively lesson in doing the hula, and a look at the art of animation behind the film. The Hilo Hattie store in Lihu'e is offering some unique Lilo & Hattie clothing and beach items for diehard fans of the animation. ... One of the most interesting books of the season with a Kaua'i twist is "Elvis in Hawaii" from the Bess Press in Honolulu. The picture book documents the story of Elvis Presley's visits to Hawai'i to make films and to perform on stage. Kaua'i is featured as a location for the film "Blue Hawaii," a film that was Elvis' most popular feature film. The book was written by veteran writer Jerry Hopkins and offers an excellent look at Presley and the bygone eras of pop music in Hawai'i the 1950s, '60s and '70s, including a tribute to local songwriter Kui Lee.
- Lifetimes' achievement
By Garry Mulholland
(independent.co.uk, December 20, 2002)
Christmas brings many things, year upon year. Arguments about whose relatives get visited this time. Long, "special' versions of your fave sitcoms that are never funny. And Greatest Hits albums. While some more traditional hosts will insist on playing Christmas carols, or maybe torturing themselves and everyone else with Now That's What I Call a Banal Xmas Bag o' Rubbish, chances are that most will be rocking the house with their freshly unwrapped copies of Elvis's 30 #1 Hits, Sir Elton's Greatest Hits 1970-2002, Westlife's Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits (nice of the boys to provide a warranty in the title) or the Rolling Stones' Forty Licks. Because, after a year of chucking thrilling new corporate wannabes at us, the music biz does, in the end, makes its money this way. At least, that's the theory.
There has been a deluge of high-profile "Best of" compilations in the past few months, but I didn't pick the four titles above at random. They are the only Best ofs in this week's Top 20 UK albums. Notably absent are heavily hyped comps from Nirvana, David Bowie, U2, The Manic Street Preachers, Pulp, The Stone Roses and The Who, who appear to have a Greatest Hits every year. Indeed, those various seminal artists' best shots are being outperformed by Russell Watson and S Club Juniors. Nevertheless, Best ofs proliferate, as the struggling rock behemoths are joined by Everything but the Girl, The Lighthouse Family, Ash, Teenage Fanclub, Blondie, Edwyn Collins and The Cowboy Junkies in the race for your Christmas dollar. ...
- For sale: The camp that made Ali great
By David Smith
(Evening Standard, December 20, 2002)
In two hours of easy driving west out of New York, Route 78 takes us away from the smog-laden metropolis and up into the chill but energising air of the southern Appalachians. ... We're looking for the Butterfly and Bee Bed and Breakfast - the name offers a clue to its previous incarnation - and there it is on the left, a sloping five-acre site that just happens to be on the market. ... What makes the Butterfly and Bee command such a hike is the fact that it is also the Deer Lake training camp founded by Muhammad Ali 30 years ago, and the purchaser will not only get some picturesque real estate but a slice of history that embraces a unique culture of celebrity. ... Elvis Presley suddenly turned up at four o'clock one morning and Ali rose specially to greet him, one 'king' sharing a pot of coffee with another.
- The "Hard Rock Vault" Cracks the Code to Music History
Source: Hard Rock Cafe International
(Yahoo! Finance / Business Wire, December 20, 2002)
On December 23, 2002, Hard Rock Cafe International will crack open the "Hard Rock Vault" to the public, revealing the world's most treasured collection of rock & roll music memorabilia, all housed under one roof for the first time ever. A grand opening celebration in classic Hard Rock fashion will follow on January 16, 2003, to officiate The Vault. The 17,000-square-foot interactive memorabilia attraction in Orlando, Fla., offers a unique, entertaining and educational look at the evolution of music - its emotional appeal, immeasurable effect on world events and timeless energy - as narrated through priceless memorabilia, interactive displays, educated guides and self-guided tours. "Music fans are always looking for an opportunity to make a personal, physical and sometimes even spiritual connection to the music and artists of their time," said Pete Beaudrault, president and CEO of Hard Rock Cafe International. "With that in mind, The Hard Rock Vault takes the `memorabilia experience' beyond our Cafes and past the velvet rope for an `All Access' look at the energy, originality and passion of music, artists, events and audiences that have helped define rock music as a culture."
The themed exhibits and galleries of the Hard Rock Vault immerse music fans in a "living timeline" of rock music as expressed through videos, costumes, instruments, and iconographic images and artifacts. ... The Roots Room invites music fans to honor the early legends of rock music - from Bo Diddley to Jerry Lee Lewis to Elvis Presley. ... Other rare objects in The Vault include: B.B. King's original Gibson ES 355 "Lucille" guitar; Buddy Holly's famous glasses and the gray tuxedo he wore during his celebrated televised performance at the London Palladium in 1958; Elvis Presley's Gibson Super 400 Electric Guitar, which he played on his legendary televised comeback special in 1968; and Bruce Springsteen's black leather motorcycle jacket and black boots - his signature attire from his breakthrough years and the "Born to Run" album cover.
- Jon Bon Jovi Helps School Raise Funds
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press, December 20, 2002)
Jon Bon Jovi took a break from his international tour to help a high school group raise $36,500 for a local medical clinic. Bon Jovi, whose band played shows in Australia earlier this week, performed 10 songs during his appearance Thursday at Rumson-Fair Haven High School. The show was benefit performance for the Parker Family Health Center, a Red Bank-based free clinic that counts the singer and his family among its benefactors.
Bon Jovi performed some of his best-known hits, a few numbers from his new CD, "Bounce," and his version of the Elvis Presley song "That's All Right, Mama."
- Light the night: Vinton woman continues tradition with 30,000 lights
BY Dane Stickney
(Waterloo - Cedar Falls Courier, December 19, 2002)
The Kersten family Christmas light display three miles northwest of Vinton seems to have an abundance of everything. Thirty thousand lights twinkle in rainbow colors. Many of the 60 displays move, powered by small engines and ingenuity. Christmas melodies flow nonstop from the likes of Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys. ...
- Bookmakers draw up odds for crazy betting
(Ananova, December 19, 2002)
Bookmakers William Hill are offering odds of 500/1 on Michael Jackson getting a full head transplant next year. The same odds are being offered on Elvis Presley being found alive. More likely perhaps is the 8/1 bet on a wedding for Charles and Camilla.
- WIN THE KING!
(Dotmusic.com, December 19, 2002)
Despite having been dead for over 25 years, Elvis Presley has enjoyed one of his most successful years in 2002. To mark the runaway success of The King's '30 #1 Hits', dotmusic has got a host of prizes to giveaway, as a special Christmas bonanza to our users. We've got ten copies of the album - which has sold almost 700,000 copies in the UK alone and has been propelled by JXL overhaul of 'A Little Less Conversation' - to giveaway.
We've also got a T-Shirt, bearing the quote "We're caught in a trap. I can't walk out" - from the masterful Elvis track 'Suspicious Minds' and a very limited edition album sampler up-for-grabs. To enter the competition, go to the site and click to "tell us which 2002 film the original version of 'A Little Less Conversation' appeared in".
- A Night With Elvis
(The News Banner, December 19, 2002)
Impersonator Brandon Bennett shook his stuff Friday night at Mandeville High at a fund-raiser benefitting Toys for Tots. The Mandeville Hight School jazz band got the night off right with some Christmas classics.
- ELVIS CAUGHT IN AN OFFSIDE TRAP
(The Sentinel, December 18, 2002)
THE King was alive and kicking at Stoke City's clash with Portsmouth at the Britannia Stadium. More than 100 Potters fans dressed up as Elvis - complete with trademark quiffs and flares - for the match, continuing a festive tradition. Fans have been dressing up as Elvis for the Christmas fixture at Stoke for the past three years, but had their best turn-out yet with fans from as far as Liverpool and London joining in the fun. And they brought the Potters a bit of luck and made sure it wasn't a Blue Christmas after Stoke held the division one leaders to a 1-1 draw. Elvis - en masse - then left the stadium to make their way on a city pub crawl.
- Is Eminem the new Elvis?
By Frank Rich
(Sydney Morning Herald, December 18, 2002)
Once the scourge of parents, gays and women, hip-hop star Eminem has edged into the mainstream. But can his street cred survive when those he's supposed to be menacing are joining the ranks of his fans?
- FBI Most Wanted James "Whitey" Bulger Becomes One of the Web's Most Wanted
Source: Terra Lycos
(Yahoo! Finance / Newswire, December 17, 2002)
Terra Lycos today announced the following information from The Lycos 50(TM), the 50 most popular user searches for the week ending December 14, 2002. ... Searches for mobster James "Whitey" Bulger (#27) hit The Lycos 50 this week in part because of a groundbreaking initiative between Lycos and the FBI. To increase the number of people who may be able to spot Bulger, Lycos has created a series of virtual Wanted Posters that will be strategically positioned on network sites. Bulger has been on the run since 1995 and is one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted and now appears to be one of the Web's most wanted.
One to Watch:
When The Lycos 50 called LeBron James "One to Watch" a few weeks back, the high-school basketball phenomenon was getting plenty of searches, but still not close to making the top 50. This week, the James hype machine hit overload. A nationally televised game on ESPN2 and the cover of ESPN the Magazine nearly catapulted James onto this week's list coming in at number 73. The 17-year-old hoopster was more popular online than Pokemon, Elvis, or Napster.
- Wolf Files: 2002's Strangest Stories
By Buck Wolf
(ABC News.com, December 17, 2002)
Maybe you didn't notice that thousands of calendars senators and congressmen bought to send to their favorite constituents had an extra day.
Did you catch that the last relative of the man who inspired Count Dracula tried to form his own country - and that scads of followers in a small German town supported him? Did you pray for peace when Graceland declared war on Elvis impersonators? ... What the world be like without Elvis impersonators? In October, it seemed like Elvis festivals would no longer be able to feature hip-swiveling competitions between fat white guys who think they can sing, "Hound Dog." Elvis Presley Enterprises, the business arm of the multi-million- dollar Presley estate, decided in October to no longer associate with festivals using Elvis impersonators. But Graceland was flooded with angry letters, and soon reversed it's decision - so put on your white spangled jumpsuit. Most Elvis impersonators do "heartfelt" tributes to Elvis, said Jack Soden, chief executive officer of EPE. "But we've all seen pictures of people who just should not have gone outdoors in outfits like that."
Earlier in the year, the Wolf Files spoke with some of the King's strangest clones - including the 350 pound "Extreme Elvis," who got threatening calls from Presley traditionalists, when he performed stripteases in his tribute to the King. "I'm misunderstood," Extreme Elvis said. "If you see the way Elvis was going with his act, you know what I'm doing is true to my hero." Extreme Elvis said he celebrated Presley's birthday by taking a cocktail of Zoloft, Viagra and Geritol.
- Avril Lavigne and Christina Aguilera Sweep AOL Music's 'Top 11' Lists for 2002
Source: America Online, Inc.
(Yahoo! Finance / Business Wire, December 17, 2002)
After a year of record-breaking Firsts - First Listens, First Views and Sessions@AOL - with artists ranging from Christina Aguilera to Paul McCartney, AOL's first annual "Top 11" lists reveal that for AOL members, Avril Lavigne and Christina Aguilera prove to be the top performers of the year. The "Top 11" lists are part of a "Best of 2002" package on AOL Music to recap the artists, songs and videos that music fans connected with the most on the Web. In addition to the "Top 11" lists, some of the year's hottest artists including Avril Lavigne, Tim McGraw, Ludacris, Coldplay, Disturbed and Rod Stewart reveal their picks of 2002's top albums, newcomer artists to watch for in 2003, personal New Years resolutions, best and worst moments of 2002 and major musical influences. The "Best of 2002" can be found at AOL Keyword: Music starting Friday, December 20. ... Elvis "A Little Less Conversation" is listed at no. 5 on the Top 11 "First Views" (video debuts before TV).
- The Rise and Fall of Velvet Elvis
(1st item)
By Spike
(Online Journalism Review, December 17, 2002)
It's tough to find a decent velvet Elvis these days, sighs Sam Quinones. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Quinones offers an engaging history of the much-derided practice of painting on velvet, from its modern development in the1930s by "debauched" American expatriate Edgar Leeteg to its popularization by Mexican street painters. The craft reached its dubious pinnacle in the1970s, when fluorescent images of nudes, clowns, unicorns and tigers graced the walls of lava lamp-equipped swingers' havens around the world. "If the 1970s were the most embarrassing years of the 20th century, then Tijuana was its Florence," writes Quinones, but by the late 1980s, the Mexican border city's kitsch Renaissance was over. "The art supply store that once sold 200 hundred-yard rolls of velvet a month now barely sells two..." writes Quinones. "In the entire city of Tijuana, more than one million strong, only a few still regularly brush the King's fleshy cheeks and pillowy lips onto velvet." Could velvet be making a comeback? "Artists from Mexico, as well as Anglo artists from Los Angeles, are ironically reclaiming the art of black velvet painting..." notes radio program The Osgood File. "[M]any contemporary artists ... enjoy the 'low-brow' kitsch appeal of velvet."
- "Lilo & Stitch'' and Elvis Getting All Shook Up With On-line Trading Card Game
Source: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
(Yahoo! Finance / Business Wire, December 17, 2002)
Walt Disney Home Entertainment, in conjunction with Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., has released a new online trading card game and sweepstakes including a trip for four to Graceland(R) to celebrate the DVD and video release of the hit feature animated comedy "Lilo & Stitch" which features Elvis throughout.
Players can visit www.liloandstitch.com to collect and swap virtual trading card tokens of their favorite moments from the movie. Players can log into the game once every eight hours to auto-deposit trading card tokens into their account.
- Strange men sold themselves to Elvis
[review of The Big Picture: The Elvis Mob]
By Jane Bowron
(www.stuff.co.nz, December 17, 2002)
How appropriately the old adage "misery loves company" applied to the hollow men who surrounded Elvis. No wonder the Memphis Mafi, that rather shabby group of Southern men who featured on The Elvis Mob (Sunday, 8.30 pm, TV One) have kept a a still tongue in their heads all these years and not given interviews about life with the great one. These kept men, cling-ons on the star's bored side, were very odd individuals indeed. Actually one should strike the word "individual" because the mob had so comprehensively given up any attempt at autonomy by being on the King's seductive payroll. Elvis bought the group's constant company cars, houses and access to "more ass than a toilet seat gets". The court of Elvis vehemently quashed rumours that the unhealthy and co-dependent male cluster that surrounded Elvis was not so much a mob but a homosexual ring. One of the apostles of Elvis proudly related how he had circumnavigated the property of chez Presley one night after Elvis had let the gates open and the groupies in and counted approximately 150 women.
The mob married and, like Priscilla, wife of Elvis, the wives competed for attention, putting up with constant infidelities and louche behaviour. Reality checks were banned and Elvis and the mob took speed to survive the ruthless tours the Colonel scheduled and sleeping pills to crash. Elvis didn't like the real world so the mob didn't like the real world either and water was something they took to swallow the pills to make the lights brighter. Elvis' hairdresser, explaining the high pill count, divulged that Elvis had serious medical problems including a spastic colon, which might possibly account (I thought unkindly) for Elvis' signature pelvic twitch.
From what these dull and rather dim men said about life on the inside, the mob members were like cult wives who felt wounded to the core when Elvis love-me-tendered one above others. When Elvis sought the exclusive company of his hairdresser and started searching for Jesus, inner peace and a reason why he had been chosen out of millions to amuse the masses, the mob felt deeply threatened and out of sync. The mob was there for a good time and a long time, and a life on the Presley payroll had spoiled them for any kind of real work.
Putting up with Elvis playing favourites and throwing wrath-of-the-gods rages was a small price to pay for sucking on the Gracelands tit. According to one of Elvis' offsiders: "He was bad at two things: saying thank you and saying sorry."
Those things would be said with houses and cars, and mere acquaintances were often surprised with over-the-top baubles and garish gifts.
Later photographs and footage of Presley, who was always so good looking he was downright effeminate, showed that with the weight gain he began to look quite matronly, like an Elsie Tanner with sideburns. The soft body and absurdly sensuous lips that sang so sweetly and guzzled so deeply began to have a sneer to them and the eyes were an advertisement for double glazing.
That the biggest star of the 20th century was terribly, terribly alone and had created a "mobster" to shield him from the slings and arrows of his outrageous fortune was understandable. His guys were bodyguards, playmates, imbibers, prescribers and easy riders and they lived in a bubble, calling those outside in the real world "normals".
Decades later, with Elvis dead - "long live the King" - the mob were all divorced (surprise, surprise) and came across as strangely unformed and stunted people. They were still doggedly devoted to their king and all admitted they'd had a pretty good free lunch, but one couldn't help wondering who had been the parasite and who had been the host in these shadow lives lived in such an emotional ghetto.
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