Late June 2003
- Of Elvis, Danny and FedEx
By William Walker
(pgatour.com, June 24, 2003)
What do Elvis, Danny Thomas and FedEx have in common? Reliable on-time delivery of hit records, great jokes and parcels? Close. All three have been integral in the extraordinary success story that is the St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., which is also where this week's FedEx St. Jude Classic PGA TOUR event will be played. Thanks, in part, to Elvis, Danny and FedEx, more than $14 million has been raised to fight children's cancer since St. Jude Hospital became the sole charitable beneficiary of the PGA TOUR tournament in 1970. ...
- Fly me to the moon
By Kate Duthie
(Sydney Morning Herald, June 24, 2003)
Dizzy heights and a glass in hand? You might just lose your head in the clouds. There's nothing like a full moon. It's romantic, it's beautiful to look at, it makes night into a sort of weird half-day and it does strange things. Dogs howl at it, people fall in love under it and Elvis's back and palms grow much more hair than normal. In fact, his back hair gets so long he can sit on it. That's if it doesn't get all matted with his bottom hair and form into a bizarre dreadlock. Ah yes. A full moon.
We first spot it from the roof of the Manly JetCat . From up here the whole harbour is lit up by it like a giant spotlight at a film premiere. We zoom across the water, wrapped up warm, without a care in the world. We arrive at Manly Wharf 15 minutes later, my perfectly straight blow-dry now a huge bouffant; Elvis's huge bouffant now a perfectly straight blow-dry. It does strange things, that moon.
We are here to review a bar we have been told is Manly's best, but on arrival discover it is closed for a private party. We head further along the Steyne to do another but decide pretty quickly this must be Manly's worst bar, with its cigarette burn-flecked carpet and couches so filthy they look like they could be responsible for a resurgence of fast-spreading, anti-social diseases.
Then Elvis spots the Manly Ocean Beach House almost right on the beach. We have enviously eyed the drinkers and diners in here in the past and decide this is the place for us. Don't be put off by the fact that it sits above the public toilets. This is a good thing as it elevates this lovely wooden room above the footpath by the beach so that once inside you feel as if you could stretch out your legs and wriggle your toes in the sand. ... We could sit here all night, living the romantic high life, and will definitely come back again. But for now our dinner date calls so we head to the public loos where I can drag an afro comb through Elvis's dreadlock. If we're going to be sitting down for the next three hours, he may as well be comfortable. Howl.
- Creative alliances pay off with new No. 1 Elvis album
By Tommy Perkins
(Memphis Business Journal, June 23, 2003)
It was, in the words of another famously rich dead celebrity, a very good year for Elvis. Riding the wave of the 25th anniversary of its namesake's death, Elvis Presley Enterprises reported a 22% spike in year-over-year revenues and jumped two spots on this year's list of the Top 100 Private Companies in Memphis.
2002 was not just another year for the company, which had struggled in recent years to have Presley's music catalog upgraded as his fans grew older. Elvis Presley Enterprises CEO Jack Soden says the company had been preparing for five years for the anniversary, planning all of the attendant celebrations and massaging a newly collaborative relationship with Bertlesmann Music Group, which got Presley's catalog with its late 1980s purchase of RCA. Presley and Col. Tom Parker sold RCA royalty interests in the music for $5.4 million in 1973.
The biggest obstacle that lay before the company was how to make Elvis relevant to a generation that was born after he died. "The challenge is to make the introduction," Soden says. "We introduce Elvis to the public and he builds fans the way he always did. It sounds like it should be more complex, but that's about it." So EPE and BMG set about making a new round of introductions with a new compilation, "30 Number 1 Hits," which it released Sept. 28, 2002. "We treated the '30 Number 1 Hits' album as frontline product, as opposed to a catalog item," BMG spokesman Nathaniel Brown says. Even with countless compilations already filling the racks, the two companies hit paydirt, selling nearly 9 million copies of "Hits," which debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, where it stayed for three weeks.
Why? A little less conversation. Literally.
After years of planning every detail of an Elvis onslaught, Soden says the Presley estate was blindsided by the success of JXL's remix of the little known single "A Little Less Conversation," which was released three months before "30 Number 1 Hits." "It was a great break," Soden says. "Luck has a lot to do with all success."
The original "Conversation" was never a Number 1 hit and the remix was never intended for American airwaves. In the midst of ramping up a $100 million European ad campaign for the World Cup, sports monolith Nike's ad agency noticed the song in its original form when 45 seconds of it appeared in the remake of the film "Ocean's 11."
"RCA can't license an Elvis master for a commercial without our approval, and they can't alter it," Soden explains. "And Nike wanted (the song) jazzed up." Soden says EPE was initially skeptical of the producer's plans to pit Elvis' vocal against a big beat break. But the estate figured it had little to lose, because of the original's relative obscurity. Eventually, Soden says EPE liked what it heard and BMG began slipping copies of the single to important DJs in Rome, Berlin, Paris and elsewhere.
Then came the "rocket ride with the marketing campaign," Soden says. "It did more than just succeed," he says. "It opened eyes and ears and paved the way for more, because it was credible. It succeeded in demographics where all the slick marketing in the world wouldn't have altered tastes. It undoubtedly enhanced the results of '30 Number 1 Hits' in the Fall."
But the single was also a triumph of the newfound collaboration between Elvis' estate and his old label, which, prior to its acquisition by BMG, had been content to let his catalog figuratively gather dust in the form of dozens of shabbily remastered compilations and CD re-releases.
"We we knew that 'A Little Less Conversation' would get some attention, because it was part of the World Cup campaign, but I don't think we expected the kind of response we got in terms of the single," BMG's Brown says. "Elvis suddenly had a new No. 1 hit." Brown says that, as the 50-year anniversaries of Elvis' first recording date at Sun Studios and his appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show approach, Elvis fans can expect more repackaged, remixed Elvis.
"There will be a similar project," he says of "Conversation." "It's premature to announce anything yet, but it's fair to say that, based on the positive experience we had, we will be looking at a whole host of new ways to bring Elvis to the public." In the past, one of the few things that kept the estate and the label talking was the fact that RCA needed EPE's blessings before it used film clips to promote the music. "With the advent of the music video, it became important to use film tapes with the music," Soden says.
BMG's purchase of RCA came with a newfound respect for the Elvis catalog, which had been credited with keeping RCA's doors open during lean times. With the advent of 5.1 Dolby Digital DVDs, in which the same product can be played on a computer, car sterio and DVD player, Soden says it became especially critical that the two entities have a little more conversation.
"BMG's perspective was, 'How can we maximize sales if we don't have a relationship with the artist?'" Soden says. "We're all basically looking out the same windshield, in terms of opportunities for these assets." The two groups struck a bargain in which EPE got marketing fees in exchange for access to intellectual property such as images, publishing and film clips.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch -- in this case, Graceland -- EPE was mounting an Elvis revival in the midst of a post Sept. 11, 2001 tourism recession. At the same time, Graceland, long the unquestioned king of Memphis tourism, suddenly had to share its domain with a resurgent Downtown Memphis and a host of new music-oriented offerings, such as the Smithsonian Rock 'n' Soul Museum and a revived Beale Street.
"We always knew we didn't want to be the only game in town," Soden says. "Now, we're so much better off, because there's that many more triggers for people to leave their homes and come to Memphis." The venue has benefited from what Soden calls "the wealth effect" and Memphis' status as a middle market tourism destination that can attract grounded Mid-South and regional tourists who, in better times, might have traveled abroad or to the coasts. "Up through Spring 2000, there was a negative savings rate, where everybody was living a bit larger," he says. "Now expensive dream trips have given way to more economically sound trips. We're considered a great entertainment experience at a great price."
- Crazy Nights with Elvis!: Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley have finally broken their long silence to reveal intimate details of life with the King.
(Woman's Day [Australian ed.], June 23, 2003, pp. 10-11)
His wife remembers cutting up his food into child-sized bites; his daughter recalls him popping pills like lollies. Almost 26 years after Elvis Presley's death, the memories are still vivid to Priscilla and Lisa Marie.
But while the pair had vowed never to speak publicly of their life with the King, in recent weeks their lips have been remarkably loose. ... "Elvis brought out this mothering quality," Priscilla says. "I cut his meat up for him. I tasted it before he ever had it. I would fix his devilled eggs, cut off the top, put his butter in, prepare all his food as a mother would for a child. I'd test it to see if it was too hot --- I loved doing it for him. Then you'd see him on stage and he looked so strong and so virile, it was like, 'Oh my God!' But there was this child that was still in there."
... Five-year old Lisa Marie was daddy's little girl and the gifts lavished on her are part of Presley legend: that he gave her a pony before she could walk and a diamond brooch for her sixth birthday; that he gave her a jet and spent $70,000 to fly her across the country to see snow for just 20 minutes. Lisa spent her days between the excesses of Graceland in Memphis and her mother's simpler LA house. "My mom was very strict and my father absolutely not," Lisa Marie says. ... She remembers Elkvis at Graceland, carrying jewelled gifts and serenading her. "He'd sing all the time ... wake me up to sing in the middle of the night, tell me to get on the table and sing."
... But in time, she realised Elvis wasn't his old self. "I was aware of the demise. His temper was getting worse, he was gaining weight, he was not happy. I saw him taking different pills - like a potpourri of capsules - but I didn't know what they were."
... Priscilla insists. "We were all prone to protect Elvis" Why, then, didn't she "protect" Elvis by suggesting he modify his costumes when he gained weight? "I said to him, ' You shouldn't be wearing those jumpsuits any more. It's not looking good.' Then Elvis goes to the guys and says, 'How does this look?' and they'd say, 'Oh, great!'"
And as if to protect one final memory, Lisa Marie hesitated when asked recently what words best describe her father. "God. There are no words for that in my mind," she says slowly. "Beautiful".
- Elvis to get his own airport?
(Curlio.com, June 22, 2003)
Elvis Presley could be getting an airport in Memphis named after him.
If you can fly into Liverpool John Lennon (news) Airport, how hard could it be to name the Memphis airport after Elvis Presley (news)? It would be easy enough, according to Larry Cox, president of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority.
Larry Cox doesn't necessarily think it's a good idea though. He believes that airports should be named after the community it serves and that's it.
Personally I think that's a bit boring. It's nice going into airports named after people.
- An early 'Bird' among rock DJs
By Marc Schogol
(Philadelphia Inquirer, June 22, 2003)
He was "The Rockin' Bird" who helped hatch rock-and-roll radio in Philadelphia. In 1956, while doing a 7 p.m. to midnight show on WIBG, Joe Niagara began slipping records by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino between the old standards by Perry Como and Doris Day. "It was amazing," Niagara recalled recently. "The phones would light up, and kids would say: 'Who was that, and where can I buy that record?' ... I started to add more of these people with strange names, and the program just took off like a catapult."
The following year, rockin' jocks like Hy Lit and Bill Wright arrived at "Wibbage." And rock and roll was here to stay. So was Niagara, now 75, who up until early 2002 was still playing and interviewing oldies for WPEN-AM (950) at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino & Resort in Atlantic City. ...
- Little Richard wants to stamp out all those 'myths'
By GARY MULLINAX
(Delaware News Journal, June 22, 2003)
Little Richard believes he was the "architect of rock 'n' roll," and no sane person would argue. He is, after all, the man who helped launch rock history with the immortal words "awop-bop-a-loo-mop-alop-bam boom" as his high pompadour shook on top of his head like a mound of cranberry sauce. He was also one of the first 10 people inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If they had honored only five people that first year, it still would have been hard to leave Little Richard off the list.
But these days the architect who gave us "Tutti Frutti" (source of the lyric quoted above), "Long Tall Sally," "Rip It Up" and "Good Golly Miss Molly" is doing some remodeling - at least where his own history is concerned. Little Richard, 71, who will perform his hits in a sold-out show at Dover Downs Slots on Thursday, says we should forget what reference books say. He has, for instance, never retired. Never mind that the books and even a made-for-TV movie he helped produce say he abandoned music in 1957 to enter the ministry, or that his career switch to Bible salesman in the late 1970s is well-documented. In fact, he says he has never even been a minister. Or a Bible salesman.
So how did so many get so much wrong? "You know people. When you're an entertainer, they're always going to get it wrong," he said from a hotel in Hollywood, where he was doing some television work. "They won't ever get it right." ... When he looks back on his career now, he just feels a warm glow. Call it love.
Elvis Presley? "He was a good friend of mine. I love Elvis."
Bruce Springsteen? "I love Bruce Springsteen."
Bob Dylan? "I love Bob Dylan."
Dick Clark? "A beautiful person."
Bob Seger? (Bob Seger?) "A great, great singer."
Pat Boone? Yes, even Pat Boone. ...
- Not all boarding for Elvis International Airport
By Jody Callahan
(gomemphis.com, June 22, 2003)
A few hours south of here, it's the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Across the Atlantic, England has the Liverpool John Lennon Airport. In California, Orange County has the John Wayne Airport. And Oklahoma City has the Will Rogers World Airport. But in the home of Elvis, it's plain old Memphis International Airport.
Some might argue, though, that a better name would be Elvis Presley Memphis International Airport. ... It's certainly arguable that the King of Rock and Rollhad more effect on popular culture than John Wayne, Louis Armstrong, Will Rogers or even John Lennon (after all, it was Lennon who said "Before Elvis, there was nothing.").
And there's precedence: the Memphis terminal is named after entertainer and St. Jude founder Danny Thomas. "I think that's the way it should be all along," said Terrell Suddarth, a 41-year-old Denver resident waiting on his flight. "That's what Memphis is known for, Elvis and the blues. And you can't really call it the 'Blues Airport.' "
... "I don't think any airport should be anything other than the name of the community it serves," [said Larry Cox, president of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority] "I just don't think there's going to be any serious chance of it."
So far, the city where the King was crowned has two official institutions bearing his name: Elvis Presley Boulevard and the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. Elvis Presley Enterprises president Jack Soden wouldn't mind one more. "If the airport were named after Elvis Presley, that would be a great honor," Soden said. "And it would certainly make millions of fans around the world happy."
Renaming the airport would require one more change. All airports have a three-letter designation, which travelers see on their ticket or luggage. Here, it's MEM. If it became the Elvis Presley Memphis International Airport, the new designation would have to be . . .
TCB.
- Elvis fan dies in Nashville
By Lucy Ballinger
(icWales, June 22, 2003)
AN ELVIS fan's dream holiday to Nashville ended tragically in a car accident. Howard Davies, 48, who had visited his idol's Memphis roots with his wife, was driving a rental car in nearby Nashville when it was involved in a head-on collision with a pick-up truck. The father-of-one from Caldicot died at the scene. A singer and music lover, Mr Davies sang at the Millennium Stadium's first rugby match and at the opening of the 1999 Rugby World Cup. His sister Christine Davies, 45, said: "He was proud of his Welsh roots."
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