Late January 2003
Photograph (c) Madeline Burt
Also in the news: Elvis the Helicopter
- Elvis biography brings new life to familiar tale
(Book review)
By Richard P. Carpenter
(Boston Globe, January 30, 2003)
Elvis Presley: A Penguin Life. By Bobbie Ann Mason. Viking, 173 pp., $19.95
A quarter-century after his death, Elvis Presley has taken his publishing place among such immortals as St. Augustine, Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, and Abraham Lincoln. Thank Viking books for that. Its current Penguin series presents concise biographies written by authors who have a kind of kinship with their subjects. For ''Elvis Presley: A Penguin Life,'' the publisher chose Bobbie Ann Mason - and it chose well. Mason, the award-winning author of ''In Country'' and ''Clear Springs,'' has this in common with ''the King'': the South. ... Such insights, and the crisp writing, make the book a worthy addition to Elvisiana, but a supplementary addition nonetheless. No one wanting to examine this extraordinary life should stop with Mason's skillful summary, but should go on to Guralnick's two volumes, which Mason gratefully acknowledges as her prime source material. In her book, Mason describes an early Presley concert in Jacksonville, Fla. A county judge had warned him to tone down his act or face arrest, leading the singer to invoke the familiar hysteria by ''quirking his index finger to mimic the Elvis gyration.'' Reading this book is a little like going to that finger-wagging concert. You get a lot out of it, but if you want the whole rocking, shaking show, you've got to read Guralnick.
- Genius at work
By Robert Messenger
(Canberra Times, January 30, 2003, Times Out section, pp. 4-5)
Don't miss the man regarded by the greatest, as, simply, THE greatest.
Bob Dylan is God. At the very least, a god. And certainly the rock god. Let's be honest here, the only other contenders are Presley, Lennon, Wilson and maybe Hendrix. Each, unlike Dylan, has a black mark against his name. Elvis died in the undignified surrounds of his dunny, prety much exemplifying what his career had become; John Lennon was forever green with envy and white wih rage that he could never match Dylan's songwriting; Brian Wilson burned his brains out in the sandbox at San Bernardino and subsueqently suffered writer's block for 35 years; and Jimi Hendrix, well Hendrix put lighter fuel at both ends of his candle. ... We can never forgive Presley for leaving the building the way he did ...
- Dancing Schroeder Doll Gives Germans a Smile
By Luke Guttridge
(Yahoo! News, January 30, 2003)
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has not been amusing the German people much lately, so a toy company has created a dancing Schroeder doll that it hopes will. The 33-centimeter doll dressed in an Elvis Presley style outfit gyrates his hips and waves his arms to the chart-topping "Tax Song" in which a Schroeder imitator delights at recent tax hikes. "We hope this doll will cheer up customers who have been lamenting bad sales figures and higher taxes," said Alfred Wagner at Xtrem Toys and Sports, which manufactures the doll. The doll was presented at the Nuremberg International Toy Fair Wednesday and will hit stores in April, retailing at $32.60.
- Ms Dynamite takes to the (Dancing) Stage
By Luke Guttridge
(ferrago.co.uk, January 29, 2003)
Konami today revealed some of the names to star in their forthcoming Dancing Stage MegaMix, the first Konami dancing title designed purely for the PS2. The new game will be out in May this year, and will feature Ms Dynamite's 'It Takes More' the huge Elvis Vs JXL 'A Little Less Conversation' as well as 'Freak Like Me' by The Sugababes, Christina Milian's 'When You Look at Me' and 'The Love Cats' by The Cure. Kylie will also feature, as in the last Dancing Stage title, with 'Love at First Sight', whilst the usual deluge of in-house material will also debut.
- Singletons unite for love fest
By Nick Curtis
(This is London / Evening Standard, January 30, 2003)
As Bridget Jones told us, it's hard to find love in London. Just how hard was proved when 1,500 men and women singletons packed into the Vinopolis wine museum in Southwark for Chemistry, Britain's biggest ever dating party. ... The real action was happening in the speed-dating zone where everyone was guaranteed seven three-minute dates. Each change of partners was cruelly signalled by a burst of Elvis Presley singing: "A little less conversation, a little more action."
- America's dream captured in voice and song: Elvis, Orson, Bob and Rosa feature in Top 50
By Duncan Campbell
(Guardian Unlimited, January 29, 2003)
This is a Top 50 with a difference. While veterans of countless hit parades such as Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra feature prominently, so do Franklin D Roosevelt, Orson Welles and Martin Luther King; and the organisation behind the list is not a music magazine or a television show, but the Library of Congress.
This week, officials from the library announced their first National Recording Registry collection: 50 recordings of moments of cultural, historical or aesthetic significance in the history of the United States.
Like all good lists, the choices are certain to stimulate debates over the breakfast tables of the nation. Some of the recordings choose themselves. Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream speech, made in 1963, has long been part of the national psyche. So too, for an older generation, are the "fireside chats", reassuringly delivered to the nation by Franklin D Roosevelt in the 30s and 40s; and General Dwight D Eisenhower's 1944 D-Day address to the allied nations.
- Feds Preserving Elvis, Dylan
By Julie Keller
(eonline, January 28, 2003)
Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan are getting preserved by the government.
No, you conspiracy theorists, this is not a tale of cryogenic freezing or alien experimentation. Instead, recordings by the rock icons and some of their hip-hop, jazz, classical and honky-tonk peers are among the inaugural batch of tapes earmarked by the Library of Congress for induction into the National Recording Registry. Fifty recordings of musical and spoken-word performances that have been deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" will find a permanent home in the Library of Congress. They are being saved, à la the National Film Registry's preservation of motion pictures, for posterity.
Among the musical inductees are Presley's Sun Records sessions, Dylan's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, Frank Sinatra's Songs for Young Lovers, Tito Puente's Dance Mania and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five's 1982 groundbreaking rap record, The Message. The list isn't limited to LPs; singles, including Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and "What'd I Say, Parts 1 and 2" by Ray Charles, are also set for preservation.
- Elvis on the shelves
(Tiscali Music, January 28, 2003)
Elvis Presley's Sun Records sessions are among the inaugural batch of recordings named to America's National Recording Registry overseen by the Library of Congress, where they will be among those designated for future preservation. The 50 recordings cover more than a century, representing many musical genres as well as spoken word. Chronologically, they range from Jesse Walter Fewkes' cylinder recordings of the Passamaquoddy Indians in 1890 to Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five's pivotal 1982 rap disc "The Message".
- 'Clone Einstein, not Jesus'
(Ananova, January 28, 2003)
More people think Albert Einstein should be cloned than Jesus, a survey has shown. A thousand people were asked whether Einstein, Jesus, Mozart or Elvis Presley should be cloned for the benefit of mankind. Twenty-two per cent voted for Einstein compared with just 12% who thought Jesus should be cloned. Mozart was chosen by 8% and Elvis by 7%. A total of 61% said none of the four should be cloned, and 5% said they did not know. Some of those questioned chose more than one name. Ten per cent of men agreed humans should be cloned, compared with 7% of women. The survey was carried out to mark the publication next month of a controversial novel, The Coming, by Michael Rigg and John Alexander. The novel, published by Majestic Books, is described as a "deeply disturbing" vision about the cloning of Jesus.
- HOUND DOG ELVIS IS TOP OF THE PUPS AFTER CLIFF ORDEAL
By PAUL JAMES
(Herald Express, January 28, 2003)
Elvis the dog was All Shook Up when he became trapped 80ft up a cliff in Torquay. It was Now or Never when coastguard rescuer Bill Westcott went Way Down to pluck the quivering pooch to safety at Oddicombe beach. There was a fear he would have been Lonesome Tonight if afternoon strollers had not used a Little Less Conversation and heard the terrier's cries of anguish. They alerted coastguards who dispatched a dozen auxiliary volunteers to retrieve the stranded chap.
- Collecting vinyl 45s
By RODNEY HO
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 27, 2003)
The 45 rpm vinyl single is a fragile black platter, 7 inches in diameter, with a doughnut-hole center and concentric ridges. To baby boomers, it brings back memories of living-room bashes and junior high make-out sessions. To anyone under the age of 20, it's as foreign as a rotary phone. But its current irrelevancy hasn't deterred Bill Windsor, a 54-year-old Dunwoody entrepreneur, from compiling one of the largest collections of 45s around. At his Web site, www.45s.com, collectors can buy almost every vinyl single that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 from the 1950s to the '90s, most for a modest $5. "Except for Sinatra, the Beatles and Elvis, most of my 45s aren't worth that much," Windsor says with some dismay. Nonetheless, he adds, "I'm a tightwad. I bought most of the records at flea markets, junk shops, real cheap at record shows." His priciest single is a rare $300 1965 Beatles EP with songs like "I'm a Loser" and "Mr. Moonlight." But even among 185 different Elvis Presley 45s he offers, only eight are priced above $18.
- Collecting vinyl 45s
By RODNEY HO
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 27, 2003)
The 45 rpm vinyl single is a fragile black platter, 7 inches in diameter, with a doughnut-hole center and concentric ridges. To baby boomers, it brings back memories of living-room bashes and junior high make-out sessions. To anyone under the age of 20, it's as foreign as a rotary phone. But its current irrelevancy hasn't deterred Bill Windsor, a 54-year-old Dunwoody entrepreneur, from compiling one of the largest collections of 45s around. At his Web site, www.45s.com, collectors can buy almost every vinyl single that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 from the 1950s to the '90s, most for a modest $5. "Except for Sinatra, the Beatles and Elvis, most of my 45s aren't worth that much," Windsor says with some dismay. Nonetheless, he adds, "I'm a tightwad. I bought most of the records at flea markets, junk shops, real cheap at record shows." His priciest single is a rare $300 1965 Beatles EP with songs like "I'm a Loser" and "Mr. Moonlight." But even among 185 different Elvis Presley 45s he offers, only eight are priced above $18.
- Minutiae hounds test their skills: Game quizzes knowledge of useless facts
By Kara Patterson
(Post-Crescent, January 26, 2003)
Ralph Borzyczkowski's altar of small facts says it all. In the rented office space, which is Trivia Central for the team "Who Would Jesus Bomb," Borzyczkowski's green-tinted file box sits in its place of honor atop an Elvis table runner and a blue suede tablecloth. The box is just one steadfast resource that will get Borzyczkowski of West Allis and his fellow team members through Lawrence University's 38th annual Midwest Trivia Contest.
- U.S. events you could plan a trip around
By DAVID RAE MORRIS
(Seattle Times / Associated Press, January 26, 2003)
In the United States, there is the usual slew of big annual events - like New Orleans' Mardi Gras and the Kentucky Derby - coming up this year, but were you aware that March 4 is International Pancake Day, when the women of Liberal, Kan., and its sister city of Olney, England, compete to see who can run the fastest while flipping pancakes? Then there's Icebox Days in International Falls, Minn., Jan. 16-19, when visitors compete in a Freeze Yer Gizzard Run, followed by Turkey Bowling. They're on our list, of U.S. events, too. [Included under August:]
9-17, Memphis: Elvis Week. Walk down Beale Street with Elvis impersonators, carry candles at Graceland and tap your feet to new renditions of the King's music. Many events free, others require tickets ($5).
- Las Vegas Wedding Guide
By Sandra Eggers
(Bella Online, January 26, 2003)
Las Vegas is the Entertainment Capital of the World, with more than 35 million visitors a year. It's also the Wedding Capital of the World and one of the most romantic cities on the planet. More than 100,000 wedding ceremonies are performed in Las Vegas each year. It's a popular spot for celebrities to get hitched, including Richard Gere, Bette Midler, James Caan, David Cassidy, Cindy Crawford, Dudley Moore, Paul Newman, Dennis Rodman, Elvis, Clint Eastwood, just to name a few. Some like it so much, they come back again. ... For your ceremony, you can choose traditional, themed, extreme, outdoor, and just about anything else you can imagine, including 800 feet above the strip, in a helicopter, and of course, you can get married by "the King" himself, Elvis.
- Furry guard fends off assailants
By Gabriel Margasak
(Stuart News, January 26, 2003)
The guard's perked-up ears are always within a few feet of Elvis, Daisy, Bandit and the others. When they move, he trots behind. When a few stray, he corrals them. These security services of furry Rufus, guard llama, have reportedly kept a Palm City orchid nursery and goat refuge safe from predators since he began patrol last year.
- Singer braves snow to save `Fight Night'
By DON HUDSON
(Charlotte Observer, January 25, 2003)
Jeff Beaver expects miracles from East Coast Entertainment's Larry Farber. First, he called Farber on Christmas Eve, wanting him to find an Elvis impersonator for that night. Tuesday, Beaver -- head of the Charlotte Regional Sports Commission -- called again. Country singer Lorrie Morgan was booked as the entertainment for the CRSC's fourth annual "Fight Night for Kids" fund-raiser Thursday but couldn't come ...
- The King is a Queen: our first female Elvis impersonator
By Rebecca K. Engmann
(Copenhagen Post, January 24, 2003)
Twenty-year-old Horsens student Mia Jensen has had plenty of experience being "King For A Day." But just last week, the painter's-apprentice-turned-Elvis-impersonator tried her luck on the popular DR talent program "Star For A Night." Last Friday, [Denmark]'s first and only female Elvis impersonator told daily newspaper Ekstra Bladet about walking a mile in blue suede shoes, and vying for her big break on national television. "I fell for Elvis straight away. It was the strangest thing. I've been wild about him ever since -- dancing like him, and swinging my hips. He had real style," Jensen said, recalling that fateful day when, at the age of six, Mia discovered the King on a modest cassette deck in her mother's car.
- Elvis leaves building after giving
(Valley Times-News, January 24, 2003)
Elvis has been spotted in Auburn, and LifeSouth Community Blood Centers-East Alabama Region is inviting donors to celebrate the king's birthday month at the Blue Suede Shoes Blood Drive. Donors can rock and roll up their sleeves in remembrance of Elvis on Saturday, Jan. 25 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at LifeSouth's donor center, which is located at 1914 Opelika Road.
- Crazy over cartoons
By Stephanie Corwin
(DeSoto Sun Herald, January 24, 2003)
It seems as though everywhere you turn these days, people are searching for an excuse as to why they are the way they are. It doesn't sit well enough for them to just believe that everything happens for a reason and that the Big Guy really is in charge. No, people need to have a "why" and they'll go as far as necessary for the blame to be placed on someone -- anyone else but them. ... People have been blaming music for the state of the world since Elvis wiggled his way onto the scene. Well, I happen to know quite a few Elvis fans and they really don't seem any worse for wear. ... I just do not buy the excuse, "The music made me do it." You can listen to The Doors album played backwards all day long and it's still not going to justify robbing a bank or doing bodily harm to yourself or others. Although, if I had to listen to it for any extended period of time, I may find myself guilty of premeditated stereo slaughter.
What really gets me is the parents who blame cartoons for their child being so violent. Granted, there are some awfully graphic and strange cartoons out there, but those parents were talking about good old Warner Brothers' cartoons. I grew up with Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner. Even though I've seen it a thousand times by Wile E. Coyote, I've never even attempted to order an anvil from Acme and drop it on anyone's head.
- Hard Rockin' Mementos: Objects from Elvis, The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and Dylan Among Goods at 'Best Of' Museum
By Bill Dean
(The Ledger, January 24, 2003)
Where do David Byrne's first guitar, Bob Dylan's hand-written lyrics and John Lennon's Rickenbacher guitar all call home? The answer is within shout-out distance of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" outfit, Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run" leather jacket and Janis Joplin's cape from the "Pearl" album. That is, to say, close to Bo Diddley's original homemade guitar, Buddy Holly's glasses and Kurt Cobain's high school yearbook. Those and hundreds more artifacts fill the new Hard Rock Vault in Orlando, an interactive museum with about 1,000 of the "best" items from more than 100 Hard Rock Cafes around the world. The Hard Rock company's entire collection of 65,000 items is billed as "the world's largest and most renowned rock 'n' roll memorabilia collection," as company curators call it. ... Officially opened last week on Orlando's International Drive, about two miles from the Hard Rock Live at Universal Studios, the 17,000-square-foot Hard Rock Vault is packed to the virtual, rock 'n' roll rafters with a near mind-numbing array of materials. ... Individual exhibits focus on 1960s psychedelia and 1970s punk rock acts, while special rooms spotlight The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley.
- MONEY: £157M BURNS 'OUR ANSWER TO ELVIS'
(Daily Record, January 24, 2003)
ROBERT Burns was the "Elvis of his day" - and generates more than £157million a year for Scotland, it emerged yesterday. World Bank economist Lesley Campbell said: "I split things like music or memorabilia into what is Burns and not Burns. Not bad for a ploughman poet." His worth to the tourist trade in Scotland is £100million, plus another £50million UK-wide, £5.5million in marketing and £1.2million in Burns night fare. Professor Carol McGurk, of New York State University, said: "Burns was a cultural icon, a local hero, a brand name - the Elvis of his day."
- The Bard and the King
(The Scotsman, January 24, 2003)
Professor Carol McGurk, of New York State University, thinks that Robert Burns was "the Elvis of his day". By way of comparison, she points out the Bard was also an icon for the working class, a hero and a popular artist. Politely, she does not mention their mutual liking for the opposite sex, and vice versa. Then there's the common haircut. In death, both have continued to top the charts and make money. According to research done by an economist at the World Bank, Burns still brings in £157 million per annum to Scotland through tourism and assort retail sales - including £1.2 million in haggis sales and the 2 per cent increase in whisky sales around Burns Night. This is actually more than the £24 million that the Presley estate earns every year through visits to Graceland. Both heroes fell on hard times and died in tragic circumstances, Elvis from drug abuse and Rabbie with huge debts. But now we think of it, there's another similarity that Professor McGurk has missed - probably the most important. The King still lives through countless Elvis impersonators. In like manner, come this Saturday night, Scotland will find itself full of Burns impersonators attempting an Ayrshire dialect and addressing a steaming haggis.
- GOOD ROCKIN' TONIGHT: THE LEGACY OF SUN RECORDS
(DVD review)
By Scott Thill
(pop matters, January 23, 2003)
Sun Records is the most popular independent label of all time. This despite the fact that it was only a force to be reckoned with for about a decade, until it lost its roster of substantial talents like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. Although it primarily came into renown by spreading the prodigious talents of Presley -- his first tune for Sun, "That's All Right Mama," dropped like a crossover atomic bomb on a teen population ready to explode after nearly a decade of war -- Sam Phillip's legendary breeding ground for roots rock artistry went on to influence generations of budding rock stars, such as Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, as well as the Beatles themselves, who in turn redefined music in its entirety. The consensus, at least according to various figures in Good Rockin' Tonight and a horde of music historians, is that it all started in Memphis. Whether or not that legend holds true, one thing is for sure: as engineer Jack Clement says about the fabled Sun studio in particular, Sam Phillip's label had that "presence factor." There was something in the Memphis air that facilitated an incredibly high concentration of talent.
... And Rufus Thomas, the only African American with a major speaking part in Good Rockin' Tonight, makes sure to maximize his exposure while on camera to remind us of that very fact: rock and roll's sun (pardon the pun) did not rise and fall with guys like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, he argues, but rather with the foundation laid down by guys like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Delta bluesmen long since forgotten. It's a bracing moment in the film, and not only because he's the only black guy in a room full of white men exchanging warm fuzzies.
... Sam Phillips' sermon-like deliveries aside, Sun Records began and more or less ended with Elvis Presley, the ultimate crossover dream. Which is not to say that it didn't fight the good, independent fight and turn out more hits than Muhammad Ali. It simply means that, almost fifty years later, those who helped lay the groundwork for guys like Elvis remain relatively anonymous.
But don't let that interfere with your enjoyment of Good Rockin' Tonight, which is, overall, highly entertaining. Rather, let it be red flag in your cultural memory, a reminder of the duty you might owe those who came before you, no matter your occupation. You gotta break that cycle sometime. Now is as good a time as any.
- Engelbert Humperdinck spreads the love with new album, tour
By Jon Zahlaway
(live daily, January 23, 2003)
Cabaret crooner Engelbert Humperdinck takes his three-and-a-half octave singing-range on the road throughout 2003 to support his latest album, "Definition of Love." Set for release on January 28, "Definition of Love" features Humperdinck's renditions of Robbie Williams' "Angels," Elvis Presley's "Love Me," Burt Bacharach's "This Guy's In Love With You," Garth Brooks' "If Tomorrow Never Comes" and more. The album also includes Humberdinck's cover of the Beatles' classic "Penny Lane," a song that Humperdinck's 1967 breakthrough hit -- a cover of country song "Release Me" -- kept from reaching No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart by dominating the spot for five consecutive weeks, according to Hip-O Records.
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