Late March 2003
- Religion, hard life shape folk artist's work
By NORMAN AREY
(Gadsden Times / Associated Press, March 31, 2003)
FRANK NIEMEIR / Staff Tony Hays of Armuchee nearly drowned as a child and turned to creating art after multiple strokes and heart attacks. The first time Tony Vaughn Hays died, he says, he was 13. Today, at 62 he's still defying doctors. Hays is almost deaf, a severe diabetic, has survived a multitude of seizures and has had three heart attacks.
After one in 1995, he started painting. And folks -- from neighbors to a professor of religion -- are taking notice The northwest Georgia artisan describes his work as "folk art," but he is no Howard Finster wannabe. Hays says he wasn't even aware of the folk art king's work until three years ago, although Finster did most of his work only 17 miles up the road.
Anyone who travels on U.S. 27 between Summerville and Rome would recognize Tony Hays' front yard. There are four trailers, two junked. Hays' mobile home has a tent over the front door. His "power heads" portraits -- the artist's reference to the power of God -- run from the roadside to one trailer. Bible verses are intertwined with pictures of kings and Elvis Presley. Some works are decorated with netting and line.
All of it is exposed to the elements and bolted to various discarded vehicles and trailers.
Like many artists, Hays' life experiences have shaped his work. He sees religious significance in much of his life and interweaves testimony with biography. ... A vision after his uncle's funeral -- "the head of Christ appeared right up in the sky" -- changed his life. ... All of Hays' work has a religious theme. Some of it also has an Elvis theme; Hays says his parents went to the same church as Presley's parents.
- Vandalized peanuts repaired in Dothan
(Gadsden Times / Associated Press, March 31, 2003)
The Elvis peanut has its black pompadour properly groomed again. And the giant pink peanut is back in its place. All is right again with the giant fiberglass peanuts that have been decorating Dothan.
The Downtown Group persuaded businesses to buy 40 giant fiberglass peanuts for $1,000 each and then spend money to have local artists decorate them. The project raised money to maintain murals in the city that is famous for the National Peanut Festival each fall. On the night of March 23, vandals damaged two peanuts and stole the pink peanut that stood in front of the Dothan Civic Center. The pink peanut, which promoted breast cancer awareness, was found by railroad tracks in Midland City and returned to Dothan.
The Elvis peanut in front of the Days Inn had its sunglasses ripped off and it right arm, hand and hair damaged, but the damage was repaired last week. "Elvis is back," hotel manager Michael Miller said.
- Superstars in Concert helping grant wishes
(Times West Virginian, March 30, 2003)
Marion County was treated to a one-of-a-kind "concert" Saturday by four powerhouses of rock - Billy Joel, Elton John, Neil Diamond and Elvis Presley - with "Superstars in Concert," a program of musical impersonations that helped raise money for the Make-a-Wish Foundation for Northern West Virginia.
- The King on screen, band in spotlight
By SCOTT CRONICK
(Press of Atlanta City, March 30, 2003)
There's always a first time for everything, and that was certainly the case when Elvis The Concert - sans Elvis, of course - came to the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort on Friday night. The deal around this pretty neat concept is that members of Elvis' longtime band perform live as a huge - and I mean huge - screen in the middle of the stage projects Elvis singing via a collection of Elvis' finest concert performances that exist on film and video. The producers removed all of the sound from the footage, which shows Elvis in his prime in the early 1970s, with the exception of Elvis' vocals.
So going into it, you know one thing: Elvis is going to be great. The only question is: How do Elvis' old cronies (many of whom are in their 60s) stand up to the test of time? The answer: Darned good ... for the most part. All the musicians are stellar. They may be older, but their fingers move faster than ever, especially lead guitarist James Burton and pianist Glen D. Hardin, who are extraordinary. Equally fine are drummer Ronnie Tutt and bassist Jerry Scheff, who hold down a beat as well as anyone this critic has ever seen. And conductor Joe Guercio masterfully handles a 16-piece string and wind orchestra that packs a powerful wallop.
The main problem with Elvis The Concert is stage presence. While these guys have made a living being sidemen for "The King," the reality of this show is that Elvis is dead and the screen sometimes isn't enough. The band lines up in usual formation, leaving the center of the stage empty for the late lead singer, and no one in the band seems ready to step up to the plate to put on a show.
Fortunately, the backup vocalists occasionally put Elvis The Concert over the top. The female Sweet Inspirations are here in all their vocal glory, as are former members of J.D. Sumner & The Stamps and The Imperials. During two a cappella numbers - the men sing "Sweet, Sweet Spirit" and the Sweet Inspirations sing their title song - the crowd appreciated the interaction.
That said, Elvis The Concert was a pretty cool experience. The most remarkable aspect of the show is the impeccable timing of the band. Normally, a singer will adjust to the band. The opposite happens here. Every hand gesture Elvis makes on screen, if he calls for a pop of a drum or the end of a song, is hit with exact precision. It's pretty amazing.
The band ripped through every imaginable song you would want to hear and then some. By the end of the two-hour concert, which included an unbearable 25-minute intermission, the crowd of about 3,000 heard approximately 35 songs, opening with the ceremonial "Theme from '2001: A Space Odyssey' " and "C.C. Rider" and including the Elvis staples "You Gave Me A Mountain," "Are You Lonesome Tonight," "That's All Right," "Hound Dog," "Don't Be Cruel," "All Shook Up," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Love Me Tender" and the crowd favorite "Suspicious Minds."
There were lots of Elvis goodies made famous by other artists as well, including "Johnny B. Goode," "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" "Proud Mary" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water." And there were also some nice surprises, like "Just Pretend," "In the Ghetto" and the menacing "Trouble." By the time the band ripped into "My Way," it was obvious the show was coming to an end, but not before the riveting, patriotic "An American Trilogy," propelled by some super soulful vocals by the chorus, and the traditional closer "Can't Help Falling in Love," which had the crowd roaring at its end.
Since people are so used to sitting so far away and looking at large screens to get a glimpse of the band, Elvis The Concert works if you're open-minded. This wouldn't work with everyone, but Elvis was such a powerful presence, it works here. If you never got to see Elvis in concert, this is probably the next best thing.
Don't believe me? Take it from Mike Brooks, a Hammonton resident and Elvis impersonator who was checking out the show for the first time. "This came to (the Tweeter Center in Camden) a couple of times and I never was really interested in seeing it," Brooks said. "But my friends talked to me about it, and I came. This is much more than I expected. The band sounds wonderful. They're right on. They haven't missed a step. It's almost like seeing him. I'm glad I came tonight."
- Zomba zaps 350 staffers
By Justin Oppelaar
(Yahoo! News / Reuters, March 29, 2003)
Zomba Music Group, home to teen-pop powerhouse Jive Records, will be saying "bye, bye, bye" to as many as 350 employees out of its 1,800-strong global staff over the next nine months as part of its long-awaited integration into parent company Bertelsmann Music Group. The layoffs, which will be spread out evenly over the course of the year, are part of a larger effort to bring Zomba's stable of imprints -- including Jive, Verity, Silvertone and Volcano -- into the major-label group's worldwide infrastructure.
From a brand standpoint, Zomba will remain very much independent from BMG, with major imprints and creative staffs remaining intact. But most of the company's back-office functions, such as sales, legal and business affairs, will get folded in with those of the corporate parent. ... BMG became the somewhat reluctant owner of Zomba Music last November for a price of more than $2.7 billion after owner Clive Calder exercised a "put" option forcing BMG to buy his majority interest in the company. ... Indeed, BMG parent Bertelsmann took a major writeoff for the value of Zomba's assets in its year-end financial results, released earlier this week. BMG itself had a strong year, swinging to a $130 million profit thanks to hit records from Avril Lavigne, Pink and Elvis Presley, among others.
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