Late October 2003
- Elvis toy dog to go on display in Liverpool
(Ananova, October 30, 2003)
A toy dog with which Elvis Presley simulated sex during a concert in Los Angeles is to go on display in Liverpool. Nipper the dog was snapped up at auction by Rebecca Hooper, from Tarporley, Cheshire, for £3,000. It will go on show from November 1 at the Fingerprints of Elvis exhibition at Albert Dock after Mrs Hooper made it available.
Elvis reportedly shocked the audience at the October 1957 gig in LA when he picked up the dog he'd been presented with by his record company and pretended to make love to it. The scene caused such a commotion that, as fans screamed and shouted his name long after the end of the show, theatres bosses used the tannoy to announce for the first time: "Elvis has left the building." Los Angeles police attended the following day's show hoping he would repeat the act - but Elvis was told about their presence by his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. During the show he picked up the dog and instead signalled a halo around his head, reports the Daily Post.
- Where the Hard Rock Is Going Soft: A new expansion plan features toned-down hotels and casinos, which has some brand experts wondering why
(Business Week Online, October 29, 2003)
Bryan Brown should be a huge Hard Rock groupie. The party-loving 38-year-old copy-machine salesman -- fashionably hip in aqua blue dress shirt, long black overcoat, and moussed hair -- says he was blown away by a visit three years ago to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. "It was the hottest place in town," he recalls.
But ask him about a Hard Rock Hotel that's taking shape along his sales route on Chicago's Michigan Avenue, and Brown balks. Maybe he'll recommend a stay there to nightlife-loving advertising clients. However, the rock-kitsch items and heavy doses of music he enjoyed at the Las Vegas hotel definitely wouldn't work for his more staid law-firm customers, Brown says. He'll continue pointing them to the nearby Marriott. For 30 years, Hard Rock Cafes, with their beefy burgers and slices of rock 'n' roll nostalgia, have catered to wannabe head-bangers. But now Rank Group, owner of the Hard Rock brand, wants to sell a toned-down version of the rock experience to a broad array of consumers, ranging from trendy road warriors to gambling retirees.
ROCK ARCHEOLOGY.
The London-based conglomerate plans at least a half-dozen more Hard Rock hotels over the next three years, backed by $1 billion from private equity firm Becker Ventures and a joint venture with Spanish hotel-management group Sol Melia. Some, such as the 381-room art-deco behemoth opening in Chicago this January, will go head-to-head with boutique-style hipster hotels such as the W chain, owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Rank is also licensing the Hard Rock name to two hotel and casino resorts on Seminole reservations in Florida and negotiating a similar deal with a group of investors in Biloxi, Miss.
Talk about a stretch. Hard Rock's cachet was built on the back of must-see restaurants offering Americana fare and real rock 'n' roll artifacts, such as David Bowie's gender-bending Ziggy Stardust outfits and original lyrics to Elvis songs. And the Las Vegas hotel and casino has touted bands from punk rockers the All American Rejects to sugary pop stars Matchbox Twenty at its concert hall, The Joint. Now, however, Rank is betting that the aging Hard Rock image can be resurrected with semi-staid hotels, a move akin to the Rolling Stones comeback tour as Mick Jagger and band turned 60.
Trouble is, in the eyes of many critics, Hard Rock's cachet has already been diluted through overexpansion, cookie-cutter design, and the often mediocre menus at its core restaurants, 113 of which are scattered from Gatlinburg, Tenn., to Guam. Profits at Rank's Hard Rock businesses fell 10% in the first half of 2003, to $22.6 million. And Rank doesn't even control the Hard Rock name for casinos in the Western U.S. -- they're handled by co-founder Peter Morton, who's openly disdainful of Rank's approach. ...
- Priscilla Presley Says She's Favre Fan
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer / Associated Press, October 28, 2003)
Priscilla Presley says she's such a fan of Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, she even missed her daughter's rock concert to see a Packers game. ... [see below]
- Priscilla Presley Says She's Favre Fan
(Newsday / Associated Press, October 28, 2003)
Priscilla Presley says she's such a fan of Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, she even missed her daughter's rock concert to see a Packers game. Her adoration started a couple years ago when Presley took her 16-year-old son, Navarone, to a Packers-49ers playoff game in San Francisco, she said Monday while speaking at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Presley was able to get her son on the field after the game. The boy found Favre and asked if he would sign his souvenir helmet. The quarterback said he had to do an interview, but would come back and give him the autograph. And he did. Presley sent Favre a three-page thank-you note. Recently, the actress was in Chicago to see her daughter, Lisa Marie, on her rock tour. The Packers and Bears were playing that night and Priscilla Presley had a tough choice. "I told Lisa I'd catch her next time around," the mother admitted.
Presley, 58, also recounted how she rescued Elvis' Graceland estate from near-bankruptcy, turning it into a museum that attracts 650,000 visitors a year. She invested $560,000 in restoring Graceland and made her money back 38 days after the mansion opened to the public. "Graceland was a battle, and I'm so proud of it today," she said.
- John Lennon Vs. George Harrison
By Davide Dukcevich
(forbes.com, October 27, 2003)
... Even in death, the Beatles need each other to top the charts. Separately, the two deceased band members, John Lennon and George Harrison, came in at fourth and fifth, respectively, on our list of top-earning dead celebrities. Combining their estates' estimated earnings over the past year, however, would give them a grand total of $35 million, putting them only a stone's throw -- or the demise of another living Beatle -- away from the top-earning dead celebrity, Elvis Presley. (The King lords over our list with his $40 million take). ...
- Elvis No.1 a dead-set certainty
By Phillip Coorey
(The Mercury, October 27, 2003)
IT may be 26 years since Elvis left the building but the dead rocker still pulls in more money each year than many of his live counterparts. Published yesterday, the Forbes list of top-earning dead celebrities puts Elvis at No. 1 with earnings of $57 million in the year ending September. Coming second at $45.7 million was cartoonist Charles Schultz whose creation Peanuts, featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy, is still widely published, earning his estate royalties. ...
- Diana, Elvis shot JFK
By Carol Midgley / The Times of London
(Herald Observer, October 26, 2003)
As former British royal butler Paul Burrell produces yet another Diana conspiracy theory, Carol Midgley says such nonsense satisfies a psychological need to make tragedy bearable. ...
- Bill Sargent dies, was pay-per-view pioneer
(Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2003)
H. William "Bill" Sargent Jr., entertainment impresario who pioneered pay-per-view television, put such stage plays as Richard Burton's "Hamlet" into motion-picture theaters and produced the landmark film "Richard Pryor Live in Concert," has died. He was 76.
... Among Mr. Sargent's grandiose schemes that failed to materialize were offering the Beatles $50 million for a 1976 reunion, staging a play starring Elvis Presley as Rudolph Valentino at Radio City Music Hall, and - in the aftermath of the film "Jaws" - producing a closed-circuit televised "Death Match" between a man and a great white shark. He also tried unsuccessfully to block free network televising of the 1978 Super Bowl in favor of profitable pay-per-view showings in motion-picture theaters. ...
- Debate heats up as student spots hole in CD protection
By Kevin Maney
(USA TODAY, October 26, 2003)
About every 30 seconds, the phone rings in the Phoenix offices of SunnComm Technologies. When the receptionist at the 28-employee company answers, someone on the other end curses into the phone. That's happening because SunnComm CEO Peter Jacobs, 55, has been labeled the newest villain in the superheated battle over free copying of music files. Jacobs has faced this since tousle-haired 22-year-old Princeton University student Alex Halderman became the file-sharing crowd's latest hero. Halderman researched SunnComm's software, which is meant to control the copying of music CDs, and concluded that the software could be defeated simply by holding down the shift key while loading a CD in a computer. On Oct. 6, Halderman posted his findings on his Web site, and word spread. Halderman and Jacobs were flung into the kind of instant global fame only the Internet can fuel.
... SunnComm is the leader in CD copy-protection technology, analysts say. That is practically a miracle, considering the penny-stock company was in the business of Elvis impersonators until 2000, when its founding CEO got run out of office by the Securities and Exchange Commission. SunnComm used to be Desert Winds Entertainment. Mostly, it created so-called tribute acts, finding people who could pretend to be Elvis Presley or Madonna and booking them at clubs and casinos. The SEC said the company's two top officers, Michael Paloma and Matthew Bardasian, were illegally selling shares after a false news release pushed up the stock price. Both were fined and banned by the SEC from running public companies. ...
- Holy see
By Nick Galvin
([Melbourne] Age, October 25, 2003)
With the ageing Pope John Paul II celebrating 25 years in the top job this month, runners and riders are already jockeying for position in the Who'll Be The Next Pope Stakes. But don't put your shirt on Sydney's own brand-new cardinal George Pell becoming the next Catholic boss. In fact, Pell doesn't even feature in the field offered by "Ireland's Biggest Bookmaker" Paddy Power (click on "Novelties"). Front runner at an almost unbackable 2-1 is Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi.
... For the lowdown on the remarkable life and times of the Pope, take a look at the enormously impressive Vatican site. ... Over at the Time site is a beautifully turned piece from American Conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jnr, who dubs the Pope: "The most tireless moral voice of a secular age - he reminded humankind of the worth of individuals in the modern world."
However, even Buckley's praise can't alter the fact that the Pope only ranked seventh in Time's "Person of the Century" poll). However, when you consider the list is headed by none other than Elvis Aaron Presley, maybe that says more about the voters than the nominees. There are two major articles of faith surrounding the papacy, the first of which is that the present Pope is the latest in a line stretching back to St Peter. And if you find that hard to swallow, check the list at the Catholic Encyclopedia, where you'll find all 265 - count 'em. ...
- Elvis rules Forbes list of top-earning dead celebs
(CNN / Reuters, October 24, 2003)
The King still wears the money crown. Rock 'n' roll legend Elvis Presley, dead for more than 26 years, Friday led the Forbes.com list of top-earning deceased celebrities for the third year in a row, to the tune of $40 million for the year ending September 2003. With perennial megahits like "Don't be Cruel," "Jailhouse Rock," and "All Shook Up," his "30 #1 hits" CD has sold 9 million copies since being released in 2002, and a follow-up CD, "Elvis: 2nd to None," is in the top 10 on Billboard's album chart after coming out two weeks ago.
Runner-up on the list was Peanuts cartoon creator Charles Schulz, earning $32 million. Third at $22 million was writer J.R.R. Tolkien, whose "Lord of the Rings" books have been transformed on screen into a lucrative movie franchise.
Former Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison earned $19 million and $16 million, respectively, putting them fourth and fifth on the list, based on estate earnings.
New to the list this year were Broadway musical composers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, with $7 million, as well as song writers Cole Porter and Irving Berlin, and Dr. Robert Atkins -- whose popular books and products promoting high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets are all the rage again -- who all earned about $6 million each.
Rounding out the top 10 were children's book author Dr. Seuss, race car driver Dale Earnhardt, rapper Tupac Shakur, reggae star Bob Marley and movie star Marilyn Monroe. Seuss could make a run for a top 5 spot next year as his "Cat in the Hat" book will be released as a motion picture starring Mike Myers next month -- spurring new interest in his works and opening up other marketing opportunities.
Frank Sinatra and James Dean returned to the list of 19 after falling off in 2002.
- Diana and Elvis shot JFK...
(Statesman / London Times, October 22, 2003)
...then made good their escape together. As former British royal butler Paul Burrell produces yet another Diana conspiracy theory, CAROL MIDGLEY says such nonsense satisfies a psychological need to make tragedy bearable.
DID YOU know that Diana, Princess of Wales, isn't dead after all? That the terrible car crash in the Alma tunnel in Paris was an elaborate hoax to enable the Princess and Dodi Fayed to fake their own deaths so that they could live in blissful isolation for the rest of their lives? Think about it, we never actually saw her body, did we? That's why her coffin was closed on the day of the funeral. Not buying that conspiracy theory? Well, donıt worry. There are plenty more to choose from.
An estimated 36,000 Diana conspiracy websites were set up after the Princess died six years ago - breathtaking by anyone's standards. Many survive. Hypotheses range from pure James Bond ("it was all an MI6 plot to protect the monarchy") to farce ("it was a fiendish murder cooked up by the world's florists to sell lots of flowers").
Now Paul Burrell, Diana's former butler, claims in a new book that the Princess predicted her own death in a car crash to add to the pile. Apparently, she was so frightened of the "dark forces" surrounding the Palace that 10 months before her death she wrote Burrell a heart rending letter which she begged him to keep as an "insurance policy". Of course, we journalists are now busy cooking up our own theories as to why this letter has suddenly appeared now. Yes, it's a great story but isn't it odd that it should emerge just when Burrell is publicising a potentially lucrative book? If he really believed this to be true, shouldn't he have mentioned it in passing to detectives investigating the crash all those years ago?
Whatever you believe, the furore surrounding yesterday's story proves one undeniable truth. The public's desperation for conspiracy theories is no less dimmed than when we were putting Elvis on the moon 25 years ago. And JFK was the victim of a CIA assassination plot. The Moon landing was faked. Eleventh September was a Jewish plot to turn world opinion against Israel's Muslim enemies. Diana was pregnant at the time she died and the palace couldn't bear the thought that she might marry an Arab.
When horrifying, historic events shake our world, we seek to make sense of them by creating shadowy theories which, however sinister, are preferable to the cold fact that sometimes random accidents happen.
It feeds our insecurity to believe that a princess, with all her wealth and bodyguards, could be killed by something as arbitrary and mundane as a traffic accident. Psychologically, we need conspiracy theories to make the tragedies of life more bearable. And the Internet helps feed the global paranoia.
Dr Patrick Leman, of Royal Holloway University of London, has conducted research into the psychology of such theories. "When a big event happens we prefer to have a big cause," he says. "It upsets our view of the world if there isn't a significant, powerful explanation."
Volunteers were asked to give scores up to 150 according to how strongly they believed that President Kennedy and the Princess of Wales were the victims of assassination plots, that the Aids virus HIV was created in a laboratory, that the European Union was trying to take over the UK and that the government was covering up the existence of aliens and suppressing information about toxins in food. The Kennedy scenario returned an average score of 86, the EU 60, Diana 57, aliens 49, Aids 38 and toxins 95.
"People are becoming more likely to believe these conspiracy theories, and I think it has got to be to do with people feeling increasingly divorced from institutions of power," Leman says. "If you really want to believe something, you can always find ways to support it and doubt the evidence in front of you."
And the Diana letter? Thus far it is unclear whether the Princess had proof of her claims or was merely suffering from a persecution complex. But we do know one thing. At £17.99 a copy, Paul Burrell's book is going to make him a lot of money. And that's not theory, it's fact.
- It's Now Or Never for Elvis Funways Charity Bid
By Hilary Duncanson and Louise Gray
(Scotsman, October 22, 2003)
Elvis impersonators today called for a little less conversation and a little more action in aid of charity. The fundraisers dressed-up to launch Funways, Sense Scotland's new campaign to get work colleagues, friends or family to raise money by organising fun activities. Sense Scotland supports work with children who have complex support needs because of deafblindness or sensory impairment, learning disability or physical disability. In true Elvis style the latter-day Kings chowed down on burgers for breakfast at the Corus Hotel in Glasgow. ...
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