Mid April 2003
Photograph (c) Madeline Burt
Also in the news: Lisa Marie Presley on Lisa Watch
- Elvis lives in your home
(Lafayette Journal and Courier, April 19, 2003)
There's never been a better time for Elvis fans to display their devotion to the King by indulging in some kitsch home furnishings. Between the official and non-official sources of Elvis homewares, there is a mountain of choice. For those who want to keep it in the family, the best place to start is the official Elvis Presley Enterprises endorsed shop, Elvis.com - their fabulous kitchen accessory sets have all sold out now, but you could still snap up a stained glass peacock window (styled after those in Graceland). B ritish fans might prefer to support Elvisly Yours, a London shop which has fought constant legal battles for the right to sell Elvis merchandise. Elvisly Yours supplies to over 30 countries, although US-based fans are only allowed to buy limited items from the range. You can get tapestries, coasters, plates and mugs. For something different, head to your nearest John Lewis where £39 buys you a metre of a fantastic new Elvis fabric which can be made into curtains or even used to cover your existing living room furniture.
- Hershey's history museum shows another kind of king
By Chris Berendt
(Lafayette Journal and Courier, April 19, 2003)
Over 100 parents and family members entered a school cafeteria Friday to see 70 third-graders standing completely still. The children struck poses as part of Hershey Elementary School's "living history museum," in which historical figures such as Neil Armstrong, Harriet Tubman and Leonardo da Vinci were brought back to life at the push of a button. The fourth annual museum allowed third-graders to dress up as a historical figure of their choosing and come to life as that person when a button on their shoulders was pressed. Students would then deliver highlights of the historic individual's life in first-person accounts. "Ow, don't step on my blue suede shoes," said Joey Sliger as a white-jumpsuit-wearing Elvis. Donning a pair of large silver sunglasses and an even larger black wig complete with sideburns, Joey gave a delivery that would have made the King himself proud. After explaining Elvis' role as a musician and innovator, Joey reminded visitors in true Elvis fashion that he had to move on. "I hope you enjoyed hearing a little about my life, but it's time for Elvis to leave the building." ...
- R&B singer's son campaigns to gain dad's induction into rock hall of fame
By JEFF LINKOUS
(Burlington County Times / Associated Press, April 18, 2003)
Roy Hamilton Jr. spent April 16, his dad's 73rd birthday, in the recording studio, listening to some original songs he recorded for a tribute album to the late R&B singer. But the honor the son really hopes to bestow upon the man whose brief but influential career produced 50 successful records and a top-10 hit with "Unchained Melody" is inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
... Popular music historians credit Hamilton, who died at age 40 in 1969, with influencing the sound of R&B singers Jackie Wilson and Roy Brown. Peter Guralnick, author of the two-volume Presley biography "Last Train to Memphis" and "Careless Love," said Presley saw Hamilton as a virtuoso singer. "Elvis just idolized Roy. Just look at the number of songs he did by Roy Hamilton," Guralnick said. "He was a tremendous talent who never got full recognition."
"Elvis gave him a song called `Angelica,' which he was going to record himself," said Hamilton Jr. "He said he thought Roy would do a better job with it. I think that was a great gesture." Hamilton recorded the song about four months before he died.
- Where nobody tells you the truth
By ANATOLY BERESNEVICH
(Daytona Beach News-Journal, April 17, 2003)
"Elvis Is Alive." I saw this notorious headline for the first time in Russian tabloids during a return trip recently to Moscow from Nizhny Novgorod. The tabloids must have exhausted for awhile seemingly endless local corruption and sex scandal lodes, and had to translate one of the American articles about the King. Not that anybody ever cared in Russia about Elvis that much. ...
- Event set to honor memory of Elvis
(Signal Item Star , April 16, 2003)
The We Remember Elvis 22nd annual spring festival, which honors the memory of Elvis Presley, is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, at the Holiday Inn-Green Tree [city/state?]. Festival hours will be from 1 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Cost to attend is $5. Children under the age of 7 are admitted free. Appearing at this year's festival will be Julie Parrish, who co-starred with Elvis Presley in the 1966 movie, "Paradise Hawaiian Style." She will speak at 4 p.m. on Friday and at 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday. Elvis memorabilia will also be on sale during the event.
- Elvis Helps Take the Blues Out of Filing Taxes
(WBAY TV, April 16, 2003)
Procastinators have finally met their deadline. They have to file their income taxes by midnight, April 15. In Green Bay, Uncle Sam took a backseat to The King. An Elvis impersonator made filing taxes a little less, um, taxing. As of Monday, one in four taxpayers in Wisconsin hadn't filed their return yet. You can also file taxes online or file for an extension -- though with an extension you still have to pay.
Elvis will be at Green Bay's main post office on Packerland Drive until 8 p.m.
- SARS Sightings Rival Elvis, Beijing Confirms Few
By Jonathan Ansfield
(Yahoo! News / Reuters, April 10, 2003)
Chinese health officials fought back on Thursday against allegations they are concealing cases of the flu-like SARS virus, saying hospitals had isolated people with symptoms but had confirmed few victims. ... Beijing's caseload increased from 19 to 22 but its death toll of four did not budge -- even after a military doctor publicly accused the health minister of covering up SARS cases in the Chinese capital. The doctor told Reuters he knew of 140 cases and nine deaths at four Beijing army hospitals alone by April 5.
- SADDAM & ELVIS: OFTEN SIGHTED, NOWHERE TO BE FOUND
(New York Post Online, April 14, 2003)
... Residents of al-Mansur do not believe Saddam was killed in the airstrike a week ago because no Iraqi special forces came to the site after the bombing. They also say they have not seen any Americans checking the bomb site for evidence that Saddam died. Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the war in Iraq, said Sunday that U.S.-led forces had Saddam's DNA and would use it to check whether attempts to kill him had succeeded. "He's either dead or he's running a lot," Franks told CNN. "He'll simply be alive until I can confirm he's dead."
- Archer Malmo develops panda marketing campaign
By Michael Sheffield
(Memphis Business Journal, April 11, 2003)
With the arrival of pandas in Memphis, visitors can now find out about Elvis Presley's strange diet of peanut butter and banana sandwiches and the panda's strange diet of bamboo on the same day.
- A room fit for a king
(Northern Mississippi Daily Journal)
By GINNA PARSONS
Kaye Horton doesn't miss a beat when asked what her most precious possession is. "My orange scarf," she answers. An orange scarf? What could be so great about an orange scarf? Could it be that it once belonged to Elvis? Indeed, it could. And, indeed, it did. ...
- Marilyn and Elvis among impersonators' repertoire: ''Sally's Vegas Buddies'' come back to life in a stage show with Sally Langlois and Carl Grant.
By JORGE SANCHEZ
(St. Petersburg Times, April 11, 2003)
Two celebrity impersonators will re-create the music and mannerisms of Elvis, Marilyn and Cher at the "Sally's Vegas Buddies" revue Monday at the Citrus Springs Community Center. ... Impersonating Elvis Presley will be Carl Grant, who will be singing during Langlois' costume changes.
- Hitler, Elvis, Saddam
By CLIFFORD D. MAY
(Naples Daily News April 10, 2003)
What if we never find out for certain whether Saddam Hussein is dead or alive? ...
- Elvis was King, but even
he thought Jackie ruled
By David Hinckley
(New York Daily News)
It's now 50 years since Jackie Wilson got into show business and almost 20 since he died. Our culture forgets a lot of things in that amount of time, even some of the best things, of which Jackie Wilson was one. As a singer, he was amazing. As a performer, he was the best. Nobody - not James Brown, not Michael Jackson - stopped a show like Jackie Wilson. There's a good hint of that in Chester Gregory's performance as Wilson in "The Jackie Wilson Story," a Black Ensemble production that is at the Apollo through this weekend.
But the real Wilson, who died in 1984 at 49, was in a league of his own. Ask anyone who caught him at the Apollo or the Brooklyn Fox. Or take Elvis' word for it.
Elvis Presley saw Wilson at a Las Vegas floor show in November 1956, singing lead with the R&B group the Dominoes. Elvis had loved the Dominoes' records for years - deep, rich blues including "Have Mercy Baby," such soaring ballads as "Rags to Riches," gospel harmonies and the classic "60 Minute Man."
Wonderful stuff.
By late '56, the Dominoes had also incorporated a medley of Presley's songs into their stage act, including "Don't Be Cruel." Elvis didn't know that, and a few weeks later, in early December, he described his reaction to Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis during the famed "Million Dollar Quartet" session back at Sun Records. "He tried so hard, till he got much better, boy," said Elvis. "Much better than that record of mine. He grabbed the microphone, went down to the last note, went all the way down to the floor, man, lookin' straight up at the ceiling. Man, he cut me - I was under the table when he got through singin'. ... Woo! Man, he sang that song. I went back four nights straight. He sang the hell outta that song!"
Jackie Wilson did that with a lot of songs - which, ironically, may be one reason he's not more sharply defined today, like Chuck Berry or Buddy Holly. Wilson didn't have a single signature song, sound or hit. He sang rock 'n' roll ("Reet Petite"). He sang huge operatic ballads ("Night," "To Be Loved"). He sang soul ("Baby Workout"). He sang pop, gospel, marvelous duets. His "Danny Boy" will bring you to your knees.
Happily, the music is still available. It's hard to recommend too highly. Less well captured were his performances - thousands of nights on stages now mostly vanished. We have a nice, relatively tame number in the movie "Go Johnny Go" and some '60s "Shindig" spots compiled by Rhino in 1992. That's about it.
It's the perpetual curse of popular culture. So much of it fades with the memories of those who saw and heard it. But Jackie Wilson, a half-century later, remains way too good to forget.
- Lisa Marie Lashes Back at Elvis 'Traitors'
(Teenmusic.com)
Lis Marie Presley is so angry with the friends who betrayed her late father Elvis, she's recorded a song slamming them.
The singer, whose new album To Whom It May Concern hit shelves yesterday, was deeply upset to see that many of her dad's close pals chose to take part in a tabloid-style TV biography giving details of the superstar's final days - and she now hopes they all meet a fiery end for their deeds.
She says, "All these people that were part of his life at that point were just taking him down basically and just trying to take his dignity away. And I thought, 'You know what, I'm gonna give it back.'"
As a part of her effort to restore her dad's dignity, Lisa Marie has recorded the track Nobody Noticed It, where she sings, "I wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten when they tried to make you look broken/ But not while I'm living."
Lisa Marie adds, "I think that he was in trouble, He was not happy - obviously crying out for help. So what is the point in trying to take away his dignity and cashing in on it and getting attention for that?
"It's disgusting. I hope they rot in hell."
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