May 2004
- Lennon Memorabilia Auctioned in London
(Yahoo! News, May 5, 2004)
John Lennon memorabilia, including a leather collar he wore during the 1960s, was auctioned by Christie's for a total of $400,500. The auction house called it the "most significant collection of Beatles' memorabilia to come on the market in over 10 years." ... The Christie's auction also sold three items associated with other international stars. An early Elvis Presley U.S. concert poster sold for $17,800, a Salvador Dali-inspired watercolor by Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols sold for $2,850, and a poster from Jimi Hendrix's Experience concert sold for $2,700.
- 'Pennies from Heaven': Royalties await some
By DOUGLAS HANKS III
(Miami Herald, May 5, 2004)
Thousands of artists -- from Elvis Presley to P. Diddy -- will share nearly $50 million in unclaimed royalties as a result of a deal between major record labels and the New York attorney general.
Hall and Oates, call your office. The 1980s pop duo are among thousands of artists owed nearly $50 million in unclaimed royalty payments, money they missed out on after major recording companies lost contact with them, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced Tuesday. The companies agreed to pay the royalties, under a settlement with Spitzer's office, as well as to increase their efforts to keep track of their artists and their heirs. ... A partial list of lost-royalty recipients released by Spitzer's office includes faded stars new and old, including the Fontaine Sisters ($106,787), Ethel Merman ($2,526), Three Dog Night ($70,988), New Edition ($72,157) and Public Enemy ($22,766). Hall and Oates, who last hit No. 1 in 1984 with Out of Touch, are owed $8,570. But big names like Sean Combs (now P. Diddy), Gloria Estefan, Brooks & Dunn, the Dave Matthews Band and even Elvis Presley also made the list.
Spitzer had no answer when asked at a press conference how the companies could lose track of such notables, The Associated Press reported. Part of the reason could be the size of the checks themselves. Elvis gets $9,659, and the Dave Matthews Band is owed just over $14,000 -- amounts easily lost among the millions of dollars in royalties artists in their prime collect each year from album sales, radio play and other revenue sources that keep paying long after they die.
- Elvis pays a visit for woman's 100th
(Enquirer, May 4, 2004)
At 100 years of age, Josephine Catherine Schumacher can still feel the jumpy rhythm to Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock.'' She didn't dance to it, but she wiggled her cane as she sat on a couch and listened to the song being performed by Elvis impersonator Elvis Nelson on Saturday at the home of her grandson-in-law and granddaughter, Michael and Jean Goldschmidt, in Monfort Heights. It was part of her 100th birthday celebration. "This was a real surprise,'' said Schumacher. Schumacher smiled and rocked as Nelson sang a medley of Presley's songs: "Burning Love,'' "Suspicious Minds,'' "Love Me Tender,'' and one of Schumacher's requests: "You Ain't Nothin' but A Hound Dog.'' ...
- From Elvis to country, Aston begins to redefine brand identity
By Prabha Natarajan
(Pacific Business News, April 30, 2004)
Elvis and Priscilla Presley zoom in on a custom-fitted bike and weave through the pool-side guests at the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel. They're introducing the hotel's new look -- Aloha with Attitude -- a concept that Aston Hotels & Resorts Hawaii plans to recreate at some of the properties it manages in Hawaii. Such pranks and outside-the-box thinking define Kelvin Bloom, aka Elvis, Aston's president. Bloom, dressed as Elvis, and his wife, Holly, as Priscilla, were such a hit at a recent party for travel agents that they have been invited to pull a similar stunt at a travel agents' show in Las Vegas this summer. ...
- Problems of a teenage pin-up
By Ali Stokes
(icWales / South Wales Echo, May 4, 2004)
JUST the mention of David Cassidy's name can make grown women go weak at the knees. Let's face it if you were a schoolgirl in the early 1970s playground rivalries were fought out between the Cassidyites and the Osmaniacs. Fans of Donny Osmond bought into the toothsome, band-of-brothers niceness. Whereas followers of the star of the hit US TV show The Partridge Family thrived on the knowledge that their pin-up was made of rougher stuff. ... By the age of 21, thanks to hits like Could It Be Forever, Daydreamer and I Think I Love You, David [Cassidy] was the world's highest-paid performer with a face that graced every teen magazines and even cereal boxes. Throughout the early 1970s his fan club outgrew Elvis Presley and The Beatles and his records shifted more than 25 million copies.
... "I guess I was one of the original pop idols. It was fantastic but it was also about giving up a lot of personal freedom. I travelled the world, but I worked all the time, so I had no personal life. It was difficult going through the scary madness wherever we landed. But it's different now and my fans are supportive." His status as a worldwide sex symbol had its downside. There have been bogus paternity claims and even kidnapping threats in the past. "99.9 per cent of my fans are great and respect my privacy and they're just incredibly supportive. But there are people who don't have the correct balance in their psychological life. Bogus paternity claims, death threats, kidnap threats - I've had everything you can imagine."
"I even had the FBI involved. I had to deal with moving out of my house and have 24-hour bodyguards. But it's a long time ago. ... I also had people claiming they were married to me. All bogus except for the woman I'm actually married to." ...
- Theater Review: 'Jailhouse Rock -- the Musical'
By Ray Bennett
(Yahoo! News / Reuters / Hollywood Reporter, May 4, 2004)
Elvis Presley was crowned the King of Rock 'n' Roll, but few would argue that Little Richard did not have a more legitimate claim to the throne. The point is illustrated, more by accident than design, in the new British production "Jailhouse Rock -- The Musical." The show is loosely based on the 1957 Presley movie -- loosely in the sense that they've kept the plot but failed to secure rights to the Leiber and Stoller songs, including the hit title number. So the warden does throw a party at the county jail, and the prison band is there, but it doesn't wail to quite the same effect.
Mario Kombou is Elvis as Vince Everett, a quick-tempered, curly lipped, pelvis-swiveling hunk who is sent to the Big House for manslaughter and there is taken under the wing of an old-time country singer named Hawk Houghton (Roger Alborough). Hawk is a longtime con who is not the teeniest bit attracted to Vince -- don't even go there. He just wants to be his pal and teach him to play guitar -- and collect 50% of his earnings when he's released and becomes a big star. That's exactly what Vince becomes on the outside, though it takes the love of a good, albeit rich, woman (Lisa Peace) and fights with cheating record label executives before he makes it. But what will happen when Hawk gets out and demands his cut, and will Vince remember his promise to help his good black jailbird buddy Quickly Robinson (Gilz Terera) obtain parole?
You might have thought that once the producers realized they weren't going to get "Jailhouse Rock" and other great Presley songs from the film, such as "Treat Me Nice," "Don't Leave Me Now" and "Young and Beautiful," they might have gone back to the drawing board. Presley made 32 pictures in a 13-year Hollywood career, and surely "Roustabout," "Clambake" and "Harum Scarum" are fine titles to hang an Elvis stage musical on. But they probably had the sets by then, and double-decker jail cells form the backdrop throughout so that Vince's connection to the downtrodden black inmates can be underscored with slide guitar and harmonica blues riffs and a little bit of gospel thrown in.
The result is a strange mishmash that devolves into a muddy-sounding rock concert as the plot lines are all resolved and it becomes an Elvis impersonator show without the fancy costumes. On the plus side, there are a couple of well-staged prison numbers involving "Stomp"-like percussion created by the chain-gang chorus. The only early Presley songs included are "Blue Suede Shoes," "Good Rockin' Tonight," "A Fool Such as I" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" Curiously, but pleasingly, two of the big showpieces are built around songs associated with country star Charlie Rich -- "Lonely Weekends" and "Big Boss Man."
A fine group of singers and musicians has been assembled to not only pound out the rock stuff but also perform unlikely but entertaining versions of such left-field songs as "Pretty Little Angel Eyes," "Winter Wonderland" and "Big Rock Candy Mountain." Of course, it all comes down to the key performers. Alborough is a far cry from the film's indispensable Mickey Shaughnessy, looking a lot like Bill Haley without the kiss curl. Peace is given precious little to work with as Vince's love interest. In the Presley role, Kombou has all the charisma of Fabian, though he can carry a delicate tune close to the Presley manner and grows in confidence once he's belting out the big Elvis-in-Vegas numbers, such as "Burnin' Love" and "Suspicious Minds."
The star of the show, however, is Terera, who tops a series of crowd-pleasing cameos throughout with a genuine, showstopping blast of Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti." Long live the King! Presented by Theater Partners, the Jailhouse Company and Volcanic Island by arrangement with the Theater Royal Plymouth
Cast: Vince Everett: Mario Kombou; Hawk Houghton: Roger Alborough; Peggy van Aulden: Lisa Peace; Quickly Robinson: Gilz Terera; Judd Hardy/Jack Lees: Dominic Colchester; Mary Lou/Lori Jackson/Sheri Wilson: Melanie Marcus; Mr. Johnson/Governor/Landlord/Film Director: Mark Roper; Mrs. Johnson/Mrs. Everett: Annie Wensak; Mr. Shaws: Gareth Williams.
Playwrights: Rob Bettinson, Alan Janes; Director: Rob Bettinson; Producers: Alan Janes, Rene Sheridan; Co-producers: Jonathan Alver, Stephen Dee; Designer: Adrian Rees; Musical supervisor: Davi Mackay; Choreographer: Drew Anthony; Lighting designer: Alistair Grant; Sound designer: Simon Baker.
- Elvis tribute concert to benefit area Guard members, families
By James Curtis Jr
(Lansing State Journal, May 4, 2004)
Tony Poma and Friends will hold the Elvis Tribute Benefit Concert for the Michigan National Guard starting at 8 p.m. Friday at the Marshall Street Armory at 300 Elvin Court. Admission is $12 for adults and $8 for children. Refreshments will be on sale at the nonsmoking event. To reserve tickets or for information, call 483-5788 or 303-0381. There are 2,200 Michigan National Guard soldiers on active duty. Of that number, more than 1,600 are serving overseas, including about 900 in the Kuwait and Iraq region, about 425 in the Sinai region, about 300 in Guatanamo Bay, Cuba, 15 in Bosnia and four in Kosovo.
Tony Poma understands the lives of American soldiers. They spend a long time away from their families, they put their lives on the line for their country, and their families sometimes struggle financially. That's why Poma, a veteran who served in the Michigan National Guard for eight years, is holding a benefit concert for state troops on Friday. His group, Tony Poma and Friends, will sing about 30 Elvis Presley tunes and hopes to raise $3,000 for Michigan National Guard members and their families.
"Hopefully, we can raise the morale a little bit for the families and the troops," said Poma, a Holt resident. "We want to get people excited again. It's been a while since someone has done this for them." Proceeds from Friday's concert will go to the Michigan National Guard's Family Readiness Group. The program helps more than 11,300 state troops and their families with support, ranging from a shoulder to cry on to paying the gas bill for a financially struggling family. Of the 11,300 soldiers, 2,200 are on active duty and more than half are serving overseas, including Iraq and Kuwait, said Capt. Dawn Dancer, spokeswoman for the Michigan National Guard. "All of these families, when they are left behind, all of a sudden have to take care of the finances, the pet, everything," Dancer said. ...
- The big picture: High-tech billboards push the envelope in moving their message
By Chris Reidy
(Boston Globe, May 3, 2004)
Forget old-fashioned ideas about highway billboards. In the Burma Shave era when cars had fins and Elvis was king, an ad was painted on a billboard's face or pasted up like wallpaper. Not anymore. Some of today's newest billboards are essentially giant $1 million TV screens. Instead of a single ad that stays up for two months, these high-tech billboards rotate a series of still images much like a slide show. (Full-motion video is mostly a freeway no-no. It's too distracting to drivers, regulators say.) ...
- Campbell: Bubba II Possible
(scifi.com, May 3, 2004)
Bruce Campbell told SCI FI Wire that a sequel to his cult 2002 independent movie Bubba Ho-tep is a distinct possibility. The horror comedy, based on Joe R. Lansdale's short story, told the story of an aged Elvis Presley (Campbell) and President Kennedy (Ossie Davis) battling a soul-sucking mummy at an old folks' home in Texas. It is about to arrive on DVD. "At the end of the movie we make a joke that he's coming back as Bubba Nosferatu," Campbell said in an interview. "I honestly think that the odds of a Bubba sequel are as good as the DVD release is wide. If we get on the DVD charts and stay there for a few weeks, you might see another one. But Joe Lansdale is not a big fan of sequels. He may or may not go for it, and I respect that."
Tapping into his inner Elvis was easy, Campbell said. "Everyone's done Elvis," he said. "All men have done Elvis in the shower at some point. Everyone says, 'Thank you. Thank you very much.' But the trick was to play him as a 70-year-old man with no Memphis Mafia, with no hot and cold running babes, without any good health and with some nasty stuff on his penis. So the only thing I had to do was capture him as a bitter old man in a rest home who happens to be Elvis." ...
- 'Elvis' coming to Town Theatre this month
By Kelly Prew
(
Huntsville Item Online, May 2, 2004)
Nearly 30 years after his death, the King of Rock 'n Roll is still rockin', at least in the hearts of millions of fans and in the leagues of dead-on Elvis Tribute Artists around the world. On May 22, Billy Wayde will make his Huntsville debut as the famed performer for one night only at the Old Town Theatre in Huntsville. "It gets to be a pretty competitive field," Wayde said in a phone interview Saturday from his home in Surfside. "I really didn't plan on getting into it, but people kept asking me to."
Wayde has been gracing the stage as Elvis Presley since 1998, and the Washington state native has made a name for himself in the region, taking home 15 first-place titles. "I've done shows with live bands in front of 450 people, and I make sure my shows are family oriented," he said. "I don't care for smoke-filled barrooms. I've had my fill of smoke-filled barrooms and drunk people." Before his move into ETA performances, Wayde was doing his best to break into the country music scene. He even won songwriter of the year in one association's awards in the 1990s. But through it all, it was his natural look and vocals that led him to impersonation.
"Around 1995, I came down here doing these shows called Rising Stars of the Northwest, and later met my wife," he said. "I moved down here around 1997, and began performing as Elvis in 1998." Wayde can't go anywhere without people wanting to take his photo. He even keeps his hair long and wears average clothing to keep out of the spotlight on his days off, but nothing works. ...
- UCC offers intro class to rock music
(
Oregan News-Review, May 2, 2004)
WINCHESTER: Umpqua Community College is offering a class called "Introduction to Rock Music" this summer.
Students will be able to examine the sociological and musical perspectives of 50 years of rock music.
They will discuss how Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones influenced our society, politics and economics. The class will be Monday and Wednesdays from 1 to 3:40 p.m. starting on June 21 and ending July 22 at UCC. The instructor is Jason Heald.
- Not his age, but Boone, 69, hits half-century in show biz
By Rich Berry
(
Grand Rapids Press, May 2, 2004)
Singer Pat Boone likes to joke that his wife, Shirley, calls him "The Quadruplets" because he always seems to be doing four projects at the same time. ... Boone, 69, who is appearing at Tulip Time in Holland for two shows on Thursday, has packed a variety of careers that would have worn out lesser mortals during his 50 years in show business. Boone was a 1950s pop star with a popularity rating that rivaled another young singer -- by the name of Elvis Presley. ...
- His lyrics tell of hardship, but Billy Joe Shaver may see his fortunes turn
By MARIO TARRADELL
(
Dallas Morning News, May 2, 2004)
Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash sang the songs that paid for Billy Joe Shaver's house. Bob Dylan, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson, too. But you'd never guess it. The brown, two-bedroom home, with its unkempt yard and faded blue porch swing, sits in the middle of an average neighborhood not far from Interstate 35. Inside is a tribute to the forgotten '70s dark wood paneling, shag carpet, ornate columns and mirrored squares haphazardly arranged on the kitchen wall. ...
- London's 'Jailhouse Rock' a karaoke bore
(
Daytona Beach News-Journal / Associated Press, May 1, 2004)
"Jailhouse Rock" doesn't have much going for it as a West End musical, not even the song that gives the show its title. Elvis Presley Enterprises, which apparently wants the classic Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller rouser for its own Broadway-bound Elvis musical, wouldn't license the rights. But the current London show at the Piccadilly Theatre is able to use the title of the 1957 Presley movie without its best-known song.
It's like mounting the musical "Mamma Mia!" without being able to use the song "Mamma Mia!" But such issues turn out to be the least of the problems with this stage incarnation of "Jailhouse Rock," which is little more than a karaoke bore.
"Jailhouse Rock" is part of a West End trend that was more or less set in motion by "Mamma Mia!" -- the ABBA songfest that now looks like a model of sophistication compared to some of the shows that have followed. The West End already has "We Will Rock You" and "Tonight's the Night," scored to the music of Queen and Rod Stewart, respectively. And in the same none-too-honorable tradition, it now has "Jailhouse Rock," in which a lot of bad American accents are heard for more than two hours until the show finally gives up any pretense at telling a story and lets the audience get to their feet and bop.
The Presley movie casts him as a hot-tempered rock 'n' roller with a prison past who manages to square life on a chain gang with renditions of, among others, "Treat Me Nice," "Don't Leave Me Now" and the title song. For the stage musical version, Alan Janes and Rob Bettinson, creators of the West End's one-time Buddy Holly sing-along, "Buddy," have scoured the Presley back catalog and come up with 23 numbers, the majority of which fall to newcomer Mario Kombou in the Presley role as Vince Everett.
Kombou has the requisite Elvis quiff, and he captures the alternately silken and raucous Presley sounds that go with such standards as "Burnin' Love," "Blue Suede Shoes" and "The Wonder of You." But Kombou seems noticeably less comfortable swiveling his hips in a vain attempt to generate any sexual excitement: The performer comes across as a nice enough guy trying to play a bad and dangerous one, with the result that there's a blank at the heart of the show.
It's probably not worth taking too seriously a feeble production (the director is co-writer Bettinson) that finds Vince imprisoned when he accidentally kills a man at a dance. In the clink, he quickly discovers his skill as a crooner, which -- wouldn't you know it? -- sets him on the path to stardom at the price of whatever humility and generosity he may once have had.
- A Boy, a Bully and Cries Unheard
By DAN BARRY
(
New York Times, May 1, 2004)
HERE is Joey Bari in the third grade. Small, very small, for his age, and with a habit of putting gel in his hair because he worships Elvis. Being raised by a newly divorced mother who can no longer afford to send him to parochial school. Loves baseball. His mother, Mary Bari, carries a picture of him as a young boy: freckles dotted around the smile, dark hair glistening with gel, neat maroon shirt, a medal of St. Joseph around his neck. The boy transfers in midyear to Public School 98 in Douglaston, Queens, where he is no longer Joey Bari; he is the new kid. Another third grader, a larger boy to be called the Bully, has a problem with the gel, with the neat clothes, with the way the new kid walks, as though he thinks he's better than everyone else. ... [About the failure of the school system to prevent bullying]
- Elvis photo swiped from marker at arena site
(indystar.com, May 1, 2004)
Elvis is gone. No, he's really gone. The photograph taken of the rock-and-roll singer performing his last concert has been removed from the 2,000-pound marker at Market and Alabama streets.
That's where Market Square Arena once stood, too. The photograph was mounted on a 36-inch-by-42-inch plaque atop the marker, which is also a time capsule containing fan letters, a scarf Presley gave fan Kay Lipps and the song list of that Market Square Arena concert on June 27, 1977, less than two months before the singer died. Kay Lipps and her husband, Paul, had chaired the Taking Care of Presley Memorial Benefit Committee, which raised funds for the $10,000 marker. And it was Paul Lipps' photo, displayed on Market Square Arena's sixth floor until the arena was demolished in 2001, that had been copied and mounted on the plaque. ...
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