Early January 2005
- Elvis Presley and the Press Baron, Rupert Murdoch
By Maurice Colgan
(georgia-press-release.com, January 2, 2005)
The funny side of Media coverage of the late, and great, Elvis Presley.
Enterprising press Baron, and owner of Fox TV News, Rupert Murdoch knows only too well the importance of the Elvis Presley name when taking care of business. His newspaper titles, "The Sun", and, "The Times", of London, England, have been playing, good cop, bad cop. Anticipating massive media interest in the 70th Anniversary of Elvis's birthday, 8th January 2005, his newspapers are running pro and anti Elvis articles about the greatest singer of popular music.
Should Rupert be made an honourary Colonel?
- What would Elvis be doing today?
By Steve Metsch
(Daily Southtown, January 2, 2005)
Elvis went through many transformations during his career. From pop star and movie heartthrob to G.I. to king of the sparkly one-piece suit. If he had not died, where would he have ended up on his 70th birthday?
Making TV commercials selling Cadillacs.
Playing tough guys in movies directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Living the clean life after a stint - or two - at the Betty Ford Clinic.
And, of course, belting out those wonderful songs on tour or during a long stint in Las Vegas.
That's what some folks think the King of Rock 'n' Roll would be doing had he lived to see his 70th birthday Saturday,
thankyouverymuch.
While some fans may believe he's still around, most of us realize Elvis Presley died in his bathroom Aug. 16, 1977. Still, we wonder what the King would be like had he lived. What if he had switched from gobbling down fried chicken and mashed potatoes smothered with gravy to snacking on carrots and celery while watching TV in the jungle room at Graceland? What if he had quit self-medicating with a pharmacy's supply of drugs? Could he walk the straight and narrow, or would old habits return?
Risking the wrath of Elvis fans worldwide, Lin Brehmer, morning personality at WXRT-FM (93.1), said today's Elvis probably would weigh close to 400 pounds. "I've gotta believe his diet and personal grooming habits would not have led him to flat-bellied immortality," Brehmer said. "I think we're talking about the Marlon Brando of rock history, a legend who let his own legend consume him." But Brehmer thinks we'd all be watching TV Saturday night as Elvis took the stage after a decade as a recluse. "I see him as a special guest for his first public appearance in 10 years, singing favorites at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.," Brehmer said. "But I don't think he'd be touring. No House of Blues. No United Center. No Park West," Brehmer said.
Not so, say some Elvis impersonators and die-hard fans. A 70-year-old King would be singing around the world, they said. Oak Lawn resident Jeanne Kalweit, vice president of the Elvis Presley TCB Fan Club of Chicago, sees him with a regular gig in Las Vegas. "He'd be keeping up with every new innovation in music, but not hard rock," she said. "His fans were his life. When he was doing all the stupid movies, he really missed touring. And I don't think his ticket prices would be too high. Elvis was very aware that his fans were more or less blue-collar workers, so he'd keep his ticket prices lower," Kalweit said.
With fans worldwide, Elvis would be one busy 70-year-old, Trent Carlini said. Carlini, originally from Chicago, lives in Las Vegas and is one of the nation's top Elvis impersonators. Finally free of his longtime manager, Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis would be able to tour overseas, Carlini said. Parker, fearing deportation as an alleged illegal alien, never allowed Elvis to tour overseas, he said. Former wife Priscilla Presley would now be Elvis' manager, Carlini said. Considering how well she managed Elvis' estate, Priscilla would bring Elvis a lucrative long-term contract in Las Vegas, Carlini said.
"Barry Manilow just signed a contract that pays him $60 million for 30 weeks at the Las Vegas Hilton. What do you think Elvis would get for that?" he said.
Seeing Elvis in person now would not be cheap, former Chicago radio personality Clark Weber said. "I think tickets to see Elvis would sell for $500, and he'd get it. Even I'd go to that show," Weber, 74, said. Weber doubts Elvis would tour, but thinks he'd write songs for country artists. "I'd like to think that Elvis would be seen like B.B. King, someone who had so much to do with early rock 'n' roll that he'd be revered and he'd be smart enough to sit back and enjoy the accolades I think he'd walk onto the Grand Ole Opry to thunderous applause," Weber said.
Oak Lawn resident Carol Hopp, president of the Elvis That's the Way It Is Fan Club, said Elvis "would be shocked to see how many fans he had." "I would hope he'd still be singing because he still had that voice when he died. I don't think he'd tour - that's pretty hard to do - but I think he'd do a special concert here and there," Hopp said. "And he'd finally perform in England, Japan and other countries." And those fans would see a 70-year-old Elvis with jet-black hair, Brehmer said.
Justice resident Bob West, an Elvis impersonator for 29 years, disagreed. "Elvis would have allowed his hair to go to its natural brown. It could be silver by now, like Vernon's was," West said of Elvis' late father. "Elvis would still look good. He was the type of person men and women find extremely attractive. If you look at the Greek gods or the Statute of Liberty, they have the same profile as Elvis. That's why so many people of so many nationalities identify with him." [Editor's highlighting]
Would Elvis impersonators like Carlini and West, both performing next weekend, be out of work if the real King was still around? "More than ever, there'd be Elvis guys running around, but I think people would be more finicky about the quality," he said. Impersonators would have to keep up with Elvis, who "was always timely when it came to music," West said. "I see Elvis recording more country and gospel songs than rock these days," he said. "He'd also be helping (daughter) Lisa Marie with her music career." We'd probably be buying tickets to Elvis movies, but they wouldn't star him as a race car driver, inner-city doctor or any of those hokey characters he played in the 1960s.
Brehmer thinks Tarantino would have called on Elvis for a quirky role, and the King would be busy "playing heavies" - no pun intended. Kalweit called Elvis "a natural" who "always wanted to do serious movies, so I think he'd be acting in those, too." "He was a natural actor, but the Colonel kept him in all those fluff movies," she said. Hopp thought Elvis "was a good actor, but didn't have a chance to show it much." "If you watch 'King Creole,' you can see his talent," Hopp said.
Weber wondered whether Elvis would be as popular alive as he is dead. "When you think about it, he left us at almost his peak, and a lot of people still hold him in high regard. Maybe if he hung around longer, that wouldn't be the case," Weber said. Bob Sirott, another former Chicago DJ who now hosts "Chicago Tonight" on WTTW-TV (Channel 11), said Elvis would have used his celebrity status to land a TV job. "Elvis at 70 would just be retiring as the Andy Rooney of 'Dateline,'" Sirott said.
Elvis, though, long ago left our world. But, Brehmer said, he's still surprised some company hasn't found a way to have him star in a modern commercial, a la Fred Astaire selling vacuums and Steve McQueen selling 2005 Mustangs. "They could have a big ol' Elvis, circa 1958, sitting in a Cadillac convertible, driving down the winding country roads of Tennessee," he said. "I'll buy stock in Cadillac if they make that commercial."
- Steve Hits The Top
(Sky, January 2, 2005)
X Factor winner Steve Brookstein has gone to the top of the UK charts after promising to give all proceeds from his debut single to the tsunami relief effort. His cover of Phil Collins' Against All Odds ended Band Aid 20's four-week reign at number one with Do They Know It's Christmas? Steve's single went straight into the charts at number two last week. Simon Cowell, who was Steve's mentor on ITV1's X Factor, said sales of Against All Odds would generate several hundred thousand for the relief fund. ... But Steve will face strong competition for the number one spot from the King himself, Elvis Presley. Record company SonyBMG is re-releasing all of Elvis's 18 number ones to mark the 70th anniversary of his birth. ...
- X Factor star ends Band Aid reign
(BBC, January 2, 2005)
Steve Brookstein, winner of TV talent show The X Factor, has knocked the Band Aid 20 charity song off the top of the UK singles chart after four weeks. It has now become the 998th number one single in UK chart history. But Band Aid ended 2004 as the year's best-selling single with more than 1.2 million copies sold.
... Elvis Presley could feature strongly in the charts for the next few months with the consecutive re-releases of all 18 of his number ones. The releases begin with Jailhouse Rock and All Shook Up, which both go on sale on Monday. ...
Associated Press
- Remember When You Wanted Your Own Ms. Pac-Man?
By ROBERT JOHNSON
(Gadsded Times / New York Times, January 2, 2005)
THE grandparents of Michael Gabriele's five children seem to visit more often lately at his house in Stormville, N.Y. "They say hi to the kids," he said, "and then head straight for our recreation room." Everyone else follows, said Mr. Gabriele, 39, a mortgage banker, who has spent more than $30,000 over the last two years on seven arcade-style games, each in its own cabinet, to furnish his 650-square-foot game room. "We burn so much juice in there I had to have an electrician rewire the whole room." Mr. Gabriele says his game room is well worth the expense because it brings together different generations of his family. "It's a dream come true," he said. "I could live in there."
... "Playing an actual arcade game, where you stand there over a control panel that has a joystick and flashing lights, is the ultimate way to play," said Ryan Delaney, the principal of Taft Elementary School in Ashland, Ohio, who has two children. His home recreation room is filled with a half-dozen arcade games. His current favorite is the new Elvis pinball machine; it is priced at $4,275 from Stern Pinball Inc. "It's packed with action like hidden bumpers and very fast - plus it plays eight Presley songs from the King's comeback tour in 1968," Mr. Delaney said. ... Arcade games bought for home use are a relatively small market compared with the $10 billion market for video games in the United States. After all, the price of the new Elvis arcade game is roughly equivalent to that of 85 copies of the popular video game "Grand Theft Auto."
... Bargains are scarce in the market for arcade-style games.
"You certainly won't find us selling a pinball machine at a discount," Gary Stern, president of Stern Pinball, said. "I'd rather take one apart and use it for scrap in other machines than sell it at a discount." His company, based in Melrose, Ill., outside Chicago, is the nation's only surviving manufacturer of pinball machines after the market contracted over the last three decades. "The country used to crank out 100,000 pinball machines a year," he said. "Now it's about 10,000, all from us."
His hottest product this year is the Elvis model. ...
- Benefit breakfast event
(Commercial Appeal, January 2, 2005)
Marlowe's restaurant, 4381 Elvis Presley Blvd., the place where Elvis's friends and fans meet, greet and eat, will sponsor an all-you-can-eat, pancake breakfast on Jan. 7, 6-10 a.m., to benefit Kim Davis, widow of the late Richard Davis, who was featured in several of Elvis's films. The cost is $3.99. Call 332-4159 for additional details.
Elvis music at VFW
The EP Express, comprised of 10 musicians, vocalists and songwriters, will be perform primarily Elvis songs from his Vegas years of 1969-77, country, rock, blues, Southern rock and original material at the Elvis Presley Whitehaven Memorial VFW Post 4935, 1942 Lynnbrook, Jan. 8 at 8 p.m. Admission is $15 per person, $25 per couple and $7.50 for VFW and Ladies Auxiliary members with proper ID. The event is open to the public and food and beverages will be available. ...
- 'Ultimate rebel' Elvis drives 'Jailhouse Rock' honor
By John Beifuss
(Commercial Appeal, January 2, 2005)
"How dare you think such cheap tactics would work with me!"
"That ain't tactics, honey. It's just the beast in me."
-- an exchange between good-girl Judy Tyler and grabby Elvis Presley in "Jailhouse Rock"
Elvis the singer has been much honored. He's a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame -- the only performer to have achieved that trifecta.
But Elvis the actor? He may never have earned an Oscar nomination, but his ouevre achieved some validation Tuesday when "Jailhouse Rock" was one of the "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films" chosen for inclusion this year in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
In addition to Elvis, stars whose movies were honored included Popeye, "Ben-Hur" and Rin Tin Tin.
According to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, director Richard Thorpe's "Jailhouse Rock" (1957) was selected because it presents Elvis in "ultimate rebel mode... The edginess reflected in this film was toned down in the singer's later movies."
Elvis's third film, the black-and-white MGM production chronicles the swift rise to obnoxious stardom of singing ex-convict Vince Everett (Presley), who performs such sensational Leiber-Stoller numbers as "Treat Me Nice," "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care" and the title tune.
Under the terms of the 1988 National Film Preservation Act, the Librarian of Congress has named 25 "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant motion pictures to the registry each year since 1989, for a total of 400 films to date. The selections -- which range from major studio blockbusters to avant-garde shorts -- are picked from nominations by the public, film scholars and filmmakers.
The Library of Congress ensured the preservation of each title named to the registry, either through the library's motion picture program or in cooperation with a studio, museum or university archive.
The list is designed to reflect the breadth and diversity of America's film heritage. "By preserving American films, we safeguard a significant element of our cultural history," Billington said. According to the library, 50 percent of all American films made before 1950 and 90 percent of films before 1920 are lost forever, thanks to nitrate deterioration and other chemical problems associated with film stock. ...
- THE BUZZ
By Diane Werts
Editorial
(News Day, January 2, 2005)
Just imagine - Elvis at 70. White suede shoes. Heartbreak hospital. A little more conversation, a little less action. OK, enough funny. It didn't happen. Elvis Presley died unexpectedly in 1977 at age 42. So he isn't turning 70 next Saturday the way he should have. But he remains forever young (relatively) and hot (in his younger years anyhow) on film.
Examples? Here comes a birthday onslaught next weekend. Elvis even makes a rare appearance on free TV, when the Pax network gives us a celebratory airing of his 1967 musical romp, "Clambake" (Friday, 9 p.m., WPXN/31), co-starring Will Hutchins, Bill Bixby and Shelley Fabares. Turner Classic Movies hauls out three Elvis faves in next Saturday's screenings of "Jailhouse Rock" (2 p.m.), "Kid Galahad" (4 p.m.) and "Viva Las Vegas" (6 p.m.). The Biography Channel airs Saturday profiles of wife Priscilla Presley (3 p.m.), record producer Sam Phillips (4-6 p.m.) and onetime fiancee, June Juanico (6 p.m.).
But it's AMC that really goes all out, filling next weekend with eight films repeated at various times; the first airings are: "Roustabout" (Saturday, noon), "Fun in Acapulco" (Saturday, 2 p.m.), "Easy Come, Easy Go" (Saturday, 4 p.m.), "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" (Saturday, 6 p.m.), "Girls! Girls! Girls!" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), "G.I. Blues" (Saturday, 10 p.m.), "King Creole" (Sunday, 4 a.m.), "Blue Hawaii" (Sunday, 8 p.m.).
AMC even filmed location vignettes at Elvis' Graceland home in Memphis and his childhood home in Tupelo, Miss., and talked with people who worked with him. Those clips air during breaks.
- Rose Parade Winds Through Calif. Town
By PAUL CHAVEZ
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press, January 1, 2005)
With a show of military might and a sprinkle of pixie dust, the 116th Rose Parade rolled past hundreds of thousands of revelers who welcomed the new year with a huge curbside celebration. The New Year's Day extravaganza began with a roaring flyover by an Airr Force B-2 stealth bomber that brought many of the sleepy spectators to their feet.
... The men of one comic brigade dressed as portly Eagles cheerleaders for a rendition of "Fly Eagles Fly," and others pranced as Michael Jackson in Grim Reaper garb, a bald Elvis Presley and singers commemorating 40 years of the Beatles. ...
- Water torture
(Toronto Star, January 1, 2005)
May 2005 please put an end to nutbars auctioning holy images and relics on eBay and greater nutbars buying them. Joining the Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich and the Jesus fish stick is water that Elvis supposedly didn't finish at a 1977 concert. Wade Jones of North Carolina says he kept the foam cup and its liquid contents for 27 years before suctioning out the remaining few tablespoons of water. The winning bid for the water was $455 (U.S.). Jones, 40, says he nabbed the cup from the stage after a Presley concert at the Charlotte Coliseum in February, 1977, six months before the bloated icon snuffed it.
- PERSONAL VIEW: The ballad of the poor, young male
Des Spence, general practitioner
Editorial
(British Medical Journal, January 1, 2005)
Elvis Presley's song "In the Ghetto" always brings a lump to my throat. For the uninformed, the song's theme is the cycle of violence in which young black men in Chicago in the 1960s were trapped. It is the emotional inflection of Elvis's voice that moves me, which is odd, as he was a poor white southerner and so can't have known what life was like in the urban slums. My wife suggests that my sentimentality is borne of eating too much quiche in the 1980s and desperately juggling a small baby while shirtless.
In the song a mother finds her young son dead, "face down on the street with a gun in his hand" - sad stuff. The song is 40 years old, but in Glasgow this futility continues relentlessly, our young men dying in street violence. If not killed, many are beaten, "slashed," or stabbed, and on most nights in casualty departments their broken bodies are strewed across trolleys. I have transfused, stitched, compressed their chests, and pronounced them dead.
If you're male and of the underclass in inner city Britain then watch out, because your life may well be poor, violent, and short. You will leave school at 15 with no qualifications. This in itself doesn't matter, because the real barrier is your complete lack of any life skills or social skills. You will be incapable of living independently and won't even have the basic ability to clean, cook, or pay bills. You will never understand how social systems work, and the height of achievement will be to get on "the sick."
Your lack of understanding and communications skills means that even when minor problems arise you resort to what you know: aggression and violence. You may have a girlfriend, but when the baby comes along it's all too apparent that you have no parenting skills and can't cope. Your frustration is expressed through taking drugs and beating the only person who actually loved you. You never see her or your daughter again, but her brothers give you a beating just for good measure. Fair go. You seek refuge with your family but your addictions get the better of you. You start lying and thieving to get drugs so you can get a good "gouch on." You get "papped out" and end up in a godforsaken hostel with a hundred other men you are not related to but each one of whom could in fact be your twin. You continue to steal and take drugs and end up in prison. Inside you get a beating just for looking at someone "the wrong way." When you are released you get on a methadone script, but you haven't got anything to live for so go back to heroin. Your kind is vilified in the press. At each and every political party conference the leaders stand up and say that they going to get "tough on the causes of crime"‹and, not to be too blunt, this means you. Get a job? Sure! But we all know that you're unemployable, because which job advertisement starts with "Seeking a stupid, inarticulate, aggressive ned."
The years roll by, and you continue to steal, take drugs, and carry and use a blade. One Saturday night a younger version of you, aged 16, sticks a blade in your chest over an argument about football, the passion that is your only acceptable emotional outlet. One hour later the doctors walk away, having split your chest open but to no avail. "Just another dead ned," they all think. Thank Christ, anyway, because even though you're only 27, in all likelihood you would have strung yourself up in the next few weeks. Your attacker gets 10 years and a ride on the merry-go-round that you've just left.
Nobody cares. This scenario is played out 24 hours a day, 365 days a year across the United Kingdom. You had two risk factors that when present together are a fatal combination: "maleness" and "poverty." You're lucky if your death gets two lines in a local newspaper. You never had a single advocate other than those paid for through legal aid. You're not even worthy of a song, because your kind are the root of most social evils and your passing is a blessing to most of society.
I wonder if in fact that lump in my throat might be me choking on that bloody quiche. Enough of this emotional claptrap. Back to real medicine and legitimate risk factors such as cholesterol levels and diet.
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