Early August 2003
- Kool Keith's lost songs on new disc
By Martin Sieff
([Syracuse] Post-Standard, August 6, 2003)
Kool Keith has been known as Black Elvis, Dr. Octagon and Dr. Doom. He has toured with The Red Hot Chili Peppers. And he's ready to release some of his coolest mystery songs of his past with "The Lost Masters" on DMAFT Records. ...
- John Mellencamp Rocks Graceland Only On AOL For Broadband;Mellencamp's Landmark Performance for Sessions@AOL Full Set Kicks Off Elvis Week Beginning August 11
By Martin Sieff
(Business Wire, August 6, 2003)
AOL Music Celebrates Life and Music of Rock Pioneer with Exclusive Features Including Vigilcast 2003, Classic Elvis Performances, Photos and More
Nearly 26 years after Elvis Presley's untimely death, America Online(R), the world's leading interactive services company, today announced that John Mellencamp's landmark Sessions@AOL Full Set at Elvis' home, Graceland, will launch exclusively on AOL for Broadband on Monday, August 11. This special AOL(R) event marks the first time Sessions@AOL has been taped at such a historic location and the first time that an artist has performed at Graceland exclusively for an online audience. AOL for Broadband members will get a rare glimpse into the famed Jungle room to see Mellencamp perform tracks from his new album of traditional works, Trouble No More, as well as covers of "House of the Rising Sun," and Bob Dylan's "Highway 61." Mellencamp also performs an inspired rendition of the Arthur Crudup-penned Elvis classic "That's All Right (Mama)." The Sessions@AOL Full Set will launch with the kick off of a week of Elvis-related, AOL exclusives that celebrate the life and music of the rock 'n roll pioneer.
Beginning August 11, at AOL Keyword: Elvis, AOL for Broadband members can stream Mellencamp's entire Sessions@AOL Full Set from start to finish, or check out each song individually on demand. AOL's narrowband members will also be able to access one song from the Full Set. ...
- A whole week of Jailhouse Rockin'
(Valley Voice, August 5-18, 2003, p.10)
Elvis lovers of Canberra dust off your blue suede shoes, as Elvis Week Canberra 2003 is about to begin. From 9-19 August, there will be a variety of events around Canberra, celebrating the amazing life and music of 'the king', Elvis Aaron Presley. This year marks the 26th anniversary of the death of Presley, and around the world, fans hold candlelight tributes, remember the musical and acting talents of the this much-loved superstar. ...
- Elvis at the Casino
(Canberra Chronicle, August 5, 2003, p.25)
Elvis has taken a gamble and reentered the building as he gets ready to rock Canberra Casino this Saturday night in the one night only show Heartbreak Hotel. Taking the alleged 26th anniversary of his death as a cue to return to the stage, the King will reflect over a life of love and loss in a hysterical mismatch of musical madness and blue suede jump suits. Funny man John Shortis has teamed up with Moya Simpson and singer/guitarist Adam Conroy as they breathe lefe back into the man who gave the world some of the best music and worst outfits of the 20th century. ...
- Commentary: Marilyn, 41 years on
By Martin Sieff
(United Press International, August 5, 2003)
Forty-one years after her death, Marilyn Monroe remains forever young, and she eternally will. Not for her, the bloated twilight of an Elvis or a Brando or endless ghostly apparitions as a Johnny Carson guest. Easy, effortless really, to remember her as she was. She never became, nor could have become, anything else.
- Elvis Memorial Car Show
(second item)
(Kalamazoo Gazette, August 5, 2003)
Elvis fans can head to the Gilmore Car Museum for the 18th annual Elvis Memorial Car Show and Tribute Concert on Aug. 16. The concert will feature Chris T. Young, winner of the worldwide Elvis competition held annually in Memphis, Tenn. The Gilmore Car Museum show is scheduled for the 26th anniversary of Elvis's death. Presented by the Rod Benders Car Club of West Michigan, the Saturday car show, swap meet and concert are open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $6, and children under 11 are admitted free. The museum is north of Richland on M-43 at Hickory Road.
- Crusty but cool: It might have seen better days but the mood is still sexy
By Kate Duthie
(Sydney Morning Herald, August 5, 2003)
Just because someone or something is old and run down, it doesn't mean the life's gone. Take Elvis, the poor old soak. He hasn't been running on all cylinders for years. With his lovely watery eyes, support hose, stout foundation garments and most irregular toilet arrangements, there's no doubt he's seen better days. ...
Comment to: readerlink@smh.com.au
- Now I know what it's like to be a foreigner
By David Whitley
(Orlando Sentinel, August 4, 2003)
TOKYO -- I did not come here to make fun of anyone, but it's just so easy. Especially when you come from Orlando, where millions of foreigners wander around in a tourist haze. You know, the checkered shorts and brown socks. The bad driving and the strange customs. Could they be that goofy at home?
Clue No. 1 for Japan -- a $1,200 Elvis wig for sale outside a 1,400-year-old temple.
What kind of person buys a $1,200 Elvis wig, even one with muttonchops? I wandered through the temple, veered into an alley and was almost run over by a man wearing a kimono and an Elvis wig. At least I think he was a man. I wish I knew. Or maybe I don't. Like all but seven people in Tokyo, the person spoke no English. The encounter became just another mystery of the Orient.
- If I can dream: Gandhi, Elvis share vision
By Michael Donahue
(GoMemphis, August 4, 2003)
Mohandas Gandhi and Elvis Presley were alike in at least one way, said Lalit Mansingh, India's ambassador to the United States: They cared about children. The ambassador was the special guest at the Gandhi Exhibit Inaugural Gala presented by the Indian Community Fund for Greater Memphis Friday night at Woodland Hills. The dinner followed an inauguration ceremony for the exhibit at the National Civil Rights Museum. The exhibit was installed in April for the 35th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's death.
During his speech before dinner, the ambassador concluded with some words "from the most famous son of Memphis, Elvis Presley." He quoted Elvis: "I figure all any kids need is hope and the feeling that he or she belongs. If I could do or say anything that would give some kid that feeling, I would believe I had contributed something to the world." The ambassador said, "It is difficult to imagine two more dissimilar personalities than Elvis Presley and Mahatma Gandhi. And yet the words of Elvis Presley are strangely close to Gandhi's thinking when he said that he dreamt of an India where he would be able to wipe the last tears of the last child."
The ambassador said he was impressed with the National Civil Rights Museum. "I was expecting to feel his (King's) presence and I did when I to the museum." Yash Chopra, one of the guests, said the Gandhi exhibit was something of which Memphis's Indian community could be proud. And it "sends a message of nonviolence in a city where it is much needed."
Narquenta Sims, manager of the mayor's office of multi-cultural and religious affairs, gave the ambassador the key to the city from Mayor Willie Herenton and a certificate of appointment from Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton making him an "honorary Shelby County citizen."
- VH1's list of pop icons may illuminate the difference between 'greatest' and 'important'
By MICHAEL TSAI
(News Journal / Honolulu Advertiser, August 4, 2003)
Making a list of the top icons in the nebulous expanse known as popular culture? That's an eight-sided Rubik's Cube. It's Paganini transcribed for Javanese Saron Barung. It's Dennis Miller and Wu Tang Clan pounding double espressos. So kudos to the folks at VH1 who recently took on the outrageously difficult, certain-to-offend task of identifying the "200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons."
VH1's list includes former New York Jets quarterback and one-time Broadway actor Joe Namath, reggae legend Bob Marley, slinky rock has-been Axl Rose, Oscar winner Halle Berry, and talent-(and otherwise-)endowed country artist Dolly Parton. VH1 would not reveal its precise methodology behind the selections, other than to say that each selection is not just a "star" but an icon "recognized and revered in the world's most far-flung spots." That sounds reasonable, if not necessarily useful in narrowing the field.
According to the network, 200 icons are supposed to make up an all-time list, but the selections are clearly skewed toward the contemporary. Have Chris Rock's contributions, for example, really earned him the designation as one of the 200 greatest pop culture icons? Still, it's natural, even appropriate, for these sorts of lists to have a contemporary bias, particularly if the object is to provide a representative snapshot of what our collective pop culture understanding is at the moment. In such cases, a list like the one compiled by VH1 should, in theory, provide outsiders much of the pop culture "capital" they would need to get by in everyday conversation.
Included are all of the obvious choices, such as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Elvis Presley, Michael Jordan and Madonna. The list also includes a few fictional characters like Scooby-Doo, Superman, and Cartman from "South Park." Many of the people on the list seem to have been selected because of the long-term influence of their work (Woody Allen, Bill Gates, Jimi Hendrix), others for producing singular spectacles or crazes that were as intense as they were transient (Ricky Martin, Regis Philbin). The list doesn't necessarily recognize the greatest or most deserving, instead rewarding the most powerful combinations of talent, charisma, spectacle, curiosity or notoriety.
- Bob gave Hope to all of us
(5th item)
By Douglas Kalajian
(Palm Beach Post, August 4, 2003)
Chris Noel was a 1960s Hollywood starlet who shared the screen with Elvis (among others). She went on to become a comforting voice to American troops in Vietnam through her broadcasts on Armed Forces Radio and now runs a shelter for homeless vets in West Palm Beach. She got a career boost when Bob Hope picked her to appear on a TV special as one of 10 actresses "most likely to succeed." Noel remembers performing in a skit with Hope. "But I don't remember what it was about," says Noel, reached on vacation in South Dakota. Her appearance must have gone well, because Noel was invited back.
- La. State Museum opens new exhibit
By John Andrew Prime
(Shreveport Times / Louisiana Gannett News, August 4, 2003)
You can forget Elvis' coat and the usual gimmicks designed to lure the curious into galleries. The Louisiana State Exhibit Museum has something more unusual: a lock of hair from the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and the marriage license between him and his empress, Josephine.
- Names and faces: Clothier gets kicked from singer's coattails
(second item)
(Detroit Free Press, August 2, 2003)
Where will the stars be tonight besides in the sky? In church, sort of. Hollywood's Church of Scientology's 34th Celebrity Centre gala is tonight. On the guest list: Tom Cruise, Kelly Preston, Priscilla Presley, Anne Archer, Catherine Bell, Erika Christensen, Jenna Elfman, Jason Lee, Juliette Lewis and Leah Remini. Isaac Hayes performs.
- Rockabilly to Celebrate Phillips' Life
By G. Brown
(Gainesville Sun / Associated Press, August 2, 2003)
The 2003 Rockabilly Fest will go on as scheduled next week, despite the death of Sun Records pioneer Sam Phillips.
"We will celebrate the life of Sam Phillips. Sam Phillips is one of the wonders of the world," Henry Harrison, president of the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame, told AP Radio. Harrison says it's just what organizers think Phillips would have wanted.
At the Sun Records Awards banquet on Aug. 7 honoring Brenda Lee, The Jordanaires, Scotty Moore and several other artists, Harrison says they will also unveil life-size oil portraits of Phillips, Elvis Presley, and Carl Perkins.
"We are calling it larger than life because many of us view Sam Phillips and his artists as larger-than-life individuals," Harrison said. The portraits were painted by artist Lendon Noe.
Phillips, who is remembered as the record producer who discovered Elvis Presley in 1953, died Wednesday of respiratory illness at the age of 80. Before Elvis, Phillips had already built a reputation for recording black rhythm and blues. ... Before Presley, Phillips recorded bluesmen B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Little Milton and Ike Turner. After Presley came musicians Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. ...
- Phillips' legacy: Discovering Elvis
By G. Brown
(Denver Post, August 2, 2003)
Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, who helped to invent rock 'n' roll by discovering Elvis Presley and giving a start to a great number of talented performers, died Wednesday of respiratory failure at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. He was 80. Born Samuel Cornelius Phillips in Florence, Ala., Phillips worked as an engineer and announcer at radio stations in Alabama and Nashville before settling in Memphis in 1945. In 1950, he opened the Memphis Recording Service for "Negro artists in the South who wanted to make a record, (but) just had no place to go." ... [B]ut Phillips was one of the first to record such black blues and R&B stars as Howlin' Wolf, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Rufus Thomas and B.B. King, all at the beginning of their careers - Chess in Chicago and RPM on the coast West Coast [sic]. He produced Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88" (which scholars actually credit to Ike Turner), and it became one of the biggest-selling R&B records of 1951 for Chess Records. Years later, he reflected that it was the first true rock 'n' roll hit.
"I knew I was on to something," Phillips told The Denver Post in an interview last August to promote the release of "Sun Records 50th Anniversary." "I only opened the Memphis Recording Service to capture the blues and gospel music I loved. I swear I didn't want to start a record label at all."
It was not until 1952 that Phillips decided to start his own Sun label so he could record both R&B singers and country performers. "My plan was to let artists who had no formal training play their music as they felt it, raw and full of life," he said.
One of Phillips' sidelines was a custom recording service where anyone could go in and make a record for $2 a side. Sometime in the summer of 1953, a young truck driver named Elvis Presley went in and sang two songs for his mother. He came back several times over the next few months to see if Phillips might be interested in recording him professionally for Sun. In late spring, by Phillips' calculation, he decided Presley deserved a recording contract.
In those days, recordings by black artists had sales and airplay only in the black community. hey were not yet part of the cultural mainstream. Phillips reasoned that the key to success was to find a white singer who had the spirit and energy of the black performers. ...
- Elvis is in the Barn
(Billings Gazette, August 1, 2003)
The legend continues as Spencer Allen pays tribute to "The King" at 8 p.m. today and Saturday at the Round Barn Restaurant & Theater near Red Lodge. "I guarantee a 90-minute tribute to the King of Rock & Roll, featuring most of Elvis (Presley's) greatest and best-loved songs," said Allen. "It's not just another cheesy, costumed impersonator's foolishness; it's like really being there."
When Allen first put together his tribute to Presley in 1995, he had no idea what a powerful affect his show would someday have on audiences. "I always wanted to reproduce the caliber of show that I, myself, would want to see and hear," said Allen. "I wanted it to be genuine tribute concert, and certainly not just another impostor making a mockery. Rather, a total recreation of his historic and extraordinary performances." Allen began his performing career as a young man in Oklahoma. He has a voice that captures the King's inflections, covering timeless classics such as "That's Alright," "Love Me Tender," "Are You Lonesome Tonight" and "Heartbreak Hotel." He was voted "Best Tribute Artist" and chosen by New York City's WPIX for their recent live remote film shoot on the Las Vegas Strip.
He has been busy performing, competing and continually refining his performance. He placed third at the Elvis contest in Deadwood, S.D., which drew competitors from throughout the United States and Canada. He also won the Elvis in Torrington competition. ...
- Cabbie, Elvis fan, challenges taxi driver uniform
(Kron 4 / Associated Press, August 1, 2003)
A Seattle cabbie is taking on city hall over his right to dress like "The King."
The Seattle Times reports Dave Groh was fined 30 dollars in May when a taxi inspector spotted him in a red Elvis costume rather than a city mandated uniform. His lawyer says the required uniform of blue shirt and black pants violates Groh's freedom of expression. The lawyer says officials can't regulate what a non-city worker wears. Groh filed a lawsuit challenging the ordinance in King County Superior Court yesterday.
- Dancing Elvis dolls bringing a hunk of 'magic' to State Fair
By KATIE N. JOHANNES
(Great Falls Tribune Online, August 1, 2003)
A steady stream of people have been filing by a plain little booth at the fair to confirm reports that Elvis has been seen in all his hip-gyrating splendor, accompanied by a hula dancer, cowboy and sombrero-wearing Mexican man. ... Chris Bullard, 25, is honest with people who stop to watch the 8-inch tall, cardboard impersonator. "He's not possessed," Bullard told a group of baffled bystanders. "Is it the music?" asked Shana Gustovich. "It's your foot. Stop moving your foot," said Mark DeBoer. Bullard dutifully stopped moving his foot. ... "I'm so trying to understand how that works," said Gustovich, looking at the ceiling for wires. "I'm just wondering if it will work when I get it home." "I don't lie to my audience," Bullard said. "They think it's electric or batteries. ... There are no magnets. It's not remote control. It's not static electricity." For the last [2 1/2?] years, Bullard of Dallas has been selling the simple magic trick at state fairs across the country. ...
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