mid January, 2005
- Elvis gets a facelift
By BRUCE WILSON
(Sunday Telegraph, January 16, 2005)
SCIENTISTS in Scotland have created a new technique they say tells us what great pop culture icons, who died years ago, would look like had they survived until today. Now, to mark both his 70th birthday and a sudden resurgence in his popularity and marketability as a chart-topping singer the lab has produced an image of Elvis Presley, as it imagined he might have looked had he not died in 1977. The computer-generated portraits are the baby of scientists Dr Bernard Tiddemand and Professor David Perrett of the "Perception Lab" at St Andrews University. A spokesman said they were produced by software that replicates the effects of ageing on skin texture and hair colour. But in Elvis's case they surmised the King would have been so proud of his famous coiffure that he would have tinted it to keep it recognisable. ...
- ELVIS FAN SHOOK UP BY £2000 FINE
By Sarah Bruce
(Daily Record, January 15, 2005)
AN ELVIS fan was hit with a £2000 fine for copying the King's music illegally. Trading standards officers found hundreds of Elvis CDs and tapes at David Wilson's home. The 40-year-old postman also breached trademark laws as the artwork on his DIY CD covers looked like that belonging to Elvis Enterprises Inc. His discs and computer were also confiscated by Fort William Sheriff Court. ... Wilson's solicitor Matthew Berlow said his client was distributing the music to other Elvis fans. ...
- Producer is reigning king of Elvis tributes
By Missy Baxter
(Courier-Journal, January 15, 2005)
You could call him Elvis' ringleader. Gary, Ind. native Omar Farag leads an interesting life as producer of the Elvis Birthday Tribute, which is coming to the Brown Theatre, 315 W. Broadway, at 7 p.m. tomorrow. Elvis would have turned 70 on Jan. 8. The Elvis Birthday Tribute, which began touring the country in 1988, features three of the nation's top Elvis performers (don't call them "impersonators") and several prominent musicians who performed with the real King. This year's special guests include D.J. Fontana, a drummer who played on most of Elvis' albums and in his movies, and the Sweet Inspirations, a vocal group that toured with Presley.. ..
- French rocker Johnny Hallyday plans come-back gig in 2006
(Yahoo! News / AFP, January 14, 2005)
French rocker Johnny Hallyday is planning a come-back concert for mid-2006 to mark his 63rd birthday after what will be a three-year break from live gigs. "It was time to go back to the stage because in June 2006 it will be three years," he said Friday on France's RTL radio. "I don't know if the public misses it, but anyway I do," he said. His last tour was in summer 2003 and he said that his return "Flash-back" tour would start at the Palais des Sports in the French capital from June 2 until 30, 2006. Hallyday, who is France's most enduring rock icon styling his long career on a kind of French Elvis Presley in leather, celebrated his 60th birthday during his last tour. ...
- Elvis fanatics all shook up over King's return to No 1
By Sarah Bailey
(icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk, January 14, 2005)
DAWN and Laurence Marchand are not just fans of Elvis. They're super-fans. Their passion for him knows no bounds and they have spent thousands transforming their house in King Henry's Drive, New Addington, into a shrine to the rock 'n' roll legend. Every room is brimming with memorabilia from posters, ornaments and a juke box to replica guitars and a life-sized portrait of the man himself. Their obsession has taken them from Honolulu, where they renewed their wedding vows on the set of his 1961 film Blue Hawaii, to Memphis where they gathered their most prized possession - a handful of grass from his Graceland grave.
They have no doubt Elvis's music changed the world so it came as no surprise when record company Sony BMG announced they were re-releasing his greatest hits in a bid to make him the 1,000th number one. Dawn said: "So many bands these days are forgotten after one or two hits but Elvis left his mark on the world forever so he should be the 1,000th number one. "As long as he has fans like us and our son, who is an Elvis impersonator, he will never die. He will be popular for generations to come. My great-grandson is only three but he loves the Elvis music we play him." ...
- Elvis Set for 1,000th UK No.1, But Sales Are Slow
By Mike Collett-White
(Yahoo! News / Reuters, January 14, 2005)
Elvis Presley looks set to be crowned Britain's 1,000th number one in the music charts this weekend, but the king of rock'n'roll would be crying in the chapel over the recent slump in record sales. Elvis is odds-on favorite to claim the coveted 1,000th number one spot. He already reigns over the British singles list with a record 19 top slots, a milestone he reached from beyond the grave with the re-release of "Jailhouse Rock" this month. He is poised to make it a round 20 on Sunday with "One Night," which first reached the summit in 1959.
But the impressive run masks a more worrying statistic for the record business: "Jailhouse Rock" secured the top slot by selling only 21,262 copies, the lowest tally ever and a fraction of the figure needed to reach the summit in the recent past. A spokesman for the Official UK Charts Company said singles sales tended to be low in January, when artists were reluctant to release major tracks after the Christmas rush, and spending power among consumers was at its lowest. That cannot mask a more significant slump in business since 1999, when legal and illegal downloading from the Internet sent the sale of physical singles records spiraling lower.
The pop industry which brought the world classic Beatles hits including "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" as well as less acclaimed number ones like "Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh" in 1997, faces its biggest shakeup in 53 years. For the first time, it plans to combine record sales with legal downloads this year in a bid to harness booming Internet interest. ...
- Elvis hits No. 1 -- long after death: Since death in 1977, Presley's popularity and impact on popular culture has continued to grow
(CNN, January 14, 2005)
The King may be dead, but his music lives on. More than 25 years after Elvis Presley's body was found in the bathroom of his Graceland mansion in Memphis, he is once again topping the charts. This week, as fans around the world celebrated what would have been his 70th birthday, Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" reached the No. 1 spot on the UK singles chart -- a position it first held in 1958. And it is just one of 18 of the singer's songs -- all previously UK chart-toppers -- to be re-released by Sony-BMG in the weeks to come. Next out will be "One Night," which could give Elvis his 20th UK No.1 -- more than even The Beatles managed in their own country. Since his death in 1977, Elvis' popularity and impact on popular culture has continued to grow. ...
... Sony-BMG is tapping into the enduring sentiment. "People say, 'Oh you're exploiting the (Elvis) catalogue, you're doing too much. There's too much Presley around'," says Charlie Stanford of Sony-BMG. "My argument is, I know the fans, I know what they want and they do really want to see him back in the charts." Presley is not only topping the music charts again, he also came in at No.1 on the Forbes 2004 list of top-earning dead celebrities.
... The money-making power of Presley's legend is not lost on Sid Shaw, who owns Elvisly Yours, a memorabilia shop. "There's something about Elvis. For each of his fans, and there's millions out there, he had that look just for them. It could be just a little smile, even a sneer. He just had that magic." Gennaro Castaldo, of music retailer HMV, adds: "He's very very collectible, anything that's released by him, people want to own, want to collect. "And he's got a very dedicated, very loyal fan base that will buy anything released by his estate."
- The Lustre Kings
By Vince Gallagher
(The Eagle, January 13, 2005)
Meet the Lustre Kings -- a local rockabilly band that has wowed crowds all over the country. But just recently they performed locally in Troy to celebrate not only the golden age of Rock and Roll, but also what would have been the 70th birthday of the King himself, Elvis Presley. Mark Gamsjager said, "Every year in January, we celebrate Elvis' birthday by having an Elvis birthday bash. And this year, we've had them in Troy, we've had them out in Long Island, in Rochester, New York, Syracuse, New York and Friday night we're going to be up in Saratoga Springs at the Gideon Putnam Hotel." ...
- Elvis (Terry Price) brings his act back to Bryan
By JIM BUTLER
(The Eagle, January 12, found January 14, 2005)
Since Terry Price's last birthday salute to Elvis Presley in Bryan, the nationally-ranked tribute artist has gotten a new perspective on the singer's life. "Doing this full time has changed how I think about Elvis," Price said from Minneapolis while waiting for a plane home to Dallas. "In a small way, I've experienced what it might have been to be Elvis - the hectic schedules and the large crowds."
In the last year, Price has placed in the top 10 at the national Elvis competition in Memphis and traveled to Wisconsin, New Mexico and Arkansas with his show. ... Being a stand-in for Elvis has taught Price other lessons, as well. "Being in the public eye, you have to be real careful about what you say and do," Price said. ... It started eight years ago when Price was encouraged by co-workers to dress as Elvis for a Halloween party in his hometown of McAlester, Okla. The response was so good that he was talked into doing a concert. "We had no idea if anyone would come," Price said. "But before I walked out on stage, someone told me that every ticket had been sold. Right then, I realized the power of Elvis Presley and the way people felt about him." ...
- My Elvis Comment Did Not Sit Too Well With The Fanatics
By Bob D. Caterino
(useless-knowledge.com, January 13, 2005)
As I go through the enormous amount of e-mail I have received about the great musicians and television stars of the UK one thing in common. My Elvis comment did not sit too well with the many fanatics of music. Influence has nothing to do with this subject. No, I never mentioned Chuck Berry the real king of rock and roll nor did I mention Little Richard, or any other pioneer of rock. My subject was all about the UK. Let me give you my opinion of Elvis so you better sit down for this. Oh yeah, I forgot, you are sitting down.
Elvis started out singing songs written by black artists of the USA. He had about four hits before he started singing show tunes for the remainder of his career end of conversation. ...
- Elvis' drummer counsels would-be Kings: D.J. Fontana says the voice separates Presley from pretenders
By Dean Cottrill
(Cincinnati Enquirer, January 13, 2005)
Drummer D.J. Fontana met Elvis Presley in 1954 and was in his band for 14 years. Now he tours with a tribute show.
What: Elvis Birthday Tribute, with D.J. Fontana, Sweet Inspirations, Shawn Klush, Ryan Pelton, Justin Shandor and the Fabulous Ambassadors Band
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Taft Theatre, 317 E. Fifth St., downtown
Tickets: $18, $27, $39 at Ticketmaster outlets; (513) 562-4949
When D.J. Fontana met Elvis Presley in 1954, he wasn't sure what to make of the young man with the unusual name and a slick pink-and-black outfit. "I said, 'The guy looks good. Let's see what he can do,' " he says. "Of course, he got up there and sang, and I said, 'Man, what a voice this guy's got.' Even at a young age, he was very good."
Fontana followed that voice for 14 years as the drummer for Presley's band, and he performed with him on hundreds of songs and dozens of movie soundtracks. He appeared in "Jailhouse Rock" and several other Elvis films. Almost three decades after Elvis' death in 1977, Fontana, 71, is still keeping the beat set by the King of Rock 'n' Roll. The drummer, a native of Shreveport, La., who now lives in Nashville, Tenn., has toured with the Elvis Birthday Tribute show for about 15 years. The annual salute to Presley, who would have been 70 on Jan. 8, stops at the Taft Theatre on Saturday.
Three of the country's best-known Elvis impersonators will shake, rattle and roll though Elvis' repertoire. They'll be backed by the Fabulous Ambassadors Band and the Sweet Inspirations, a group of female singers who worked with Presley in the '70s. The show covers Elvis' good rockin' hits, from "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Heartbreak Hotel," but Fontana's all-time favorite number is a ballad called "Don't." "It was never a big, big hit. But it was a great song and Elvis sang the heck out of it," he says. As the guy on the tour with extensive knowledge of the real deal, Fontana often dispenses advice to the Elvis impersonators. ...
- Boone or bust
By Dean Cottrill
(hour.ca, January 13, 2005)
Love him or hate him, after half a century in the music business, Boone's got his act down Pat. You think lip-syncing is new? Consider Pat Boone's first encounter with Elvis Presley: "He was my warm-up act at a sock hop," says Boone. "We shook hands and I said something like 'Elvis, [sounds like] big things are ahead for you.' And he mumbled something back, and I thought, 'This guy's too shy, he's never gonna make it.' But when he went on he lip-synced something like I Got a Woman and Blue Moon of Kentucky... he got over his shyness real quick. I never wanted to follow him again, never did. And we got to be good friends." ...
- Presley's still shakin' things up
By MIRIAM DI NUNZIO
(Chicago Sun-Times, January 13, 2005)
'ALL SHOOK UP'
When: Through Jan. 23
Where: Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph
Tickets: $19.55-$82
Call: (312) 902-1400
The man is gone, the music lives on. And on. Elvis Presley would have been 70 years old on Jan. 8, and though he died nearly 30 years ago, his song catalog is constantly being repackaged and re-released. So powerful is his music that the re-issue of "Jailhouse Rock" is currently sitting atop the British pop charts.
Chicagoans can get their fix of Presley tunes as more than two dozen of his songs are the basis for the new musical "All Shook Up," opening tonight at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. The show tells the story of a guitar-wielding, hip- swiveling stranger who arrives in a small Midwest town one day and changes the lives of everyone around him through his music.
While the musical is not the story of Elvis' life, you can explore that subject in Elvis Presley: The Man. The Life. The Legend ($35, Atria Books), a new book by Pamela Clarke Keogh (no relation to Lisa Marie Presley's ex-husband, Danny). In a rare gesture, Keogh was given the full blessing and cooperation of Elvis Presley Enterprises (the company which until recently held the world rights to everything Elvis), which gave the author unprecedented access to the Presley archives. ... [interview with Keogh].
... Q. What was the most interesting thing you discovered about his life as you put the book together?
A. It surprised me how absolutely beautifully he could sing. He could sing the dopiest song in a movie and you believed it. That's where his genius begins and ends. Elvis could sing the way Picasso could paint.
... Q. What surprised you the most about his life?
A. What struck me was his intelligence. Writers often overlook that. He read all the time. There were thousands of books in the archives. Lots of philosophy, metaphysics. He was searching and questioning, trying to find out who he was and why he was put on this earth, why he had this gift for music. ...
- Complex icon: Johnny Cash knew his business
(book reviews)
By TED DROZDOWSKI
(Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, January 13, 2005)
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece
By Michael Streissguth, Da Capo, 192 pages, $24.
The Man Called Cash
By Steve Turner, W Publishing Group, 318 pages, $24.99.
Like Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, and Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash left impressions on the American musical tradition that won't be erased by time. Cash was an innovator as well as a repository of songs with roots dating to the beginnings of the nation and farther back to British folk music. He was also a savvy businessman when it came to selling Johnny Cash, at least when he wasn't whacked on pills. He knew that his natural rugged individualism and bad-ass leanings were almost as valuable a commodity as his songs, and he knew how to read the times and the marketplace to capitalize on his image. ...
- ELVIS SEEN! The King sings for stunned secretary!
By Todd Bonds
(Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, January 13, 2005)
SUGAR GROVE -- Fifty-seven-year-old Bobbie Wentz can remember Aug. 8, 1977, like it was yesterday. The administrative assistant in the Berne Union Local School District was in Minnesota visiting friends when she heard the news -- Elvis Presley was dead. "First we didn't believe it," Wentz said. "Then we went back to our friends house and said 'Oh no, Elvis just died.' " Wentz is a big fan of The King. She has seen all of his movies, saw him perform in person twice and has been to Graceland twice. So she was quite surprised when Elvis serenaded her at work. ...
Elvis impersonator Bob Keister serenades school administrative assistant Bobby Wentz, 57, in the lunchroom at Berne Union High School on Wednesday.
- "Let Elvis be Our Hero"
By Chris Barnett
(PRWEB, January 13, 2005)
"Memphis King," who plays the role of Elvis Presley, has been performing in this role in theatres across the UK and has dedicated his singing life to replicating the voice of probably the greatest singer of all time. We are sure that this version is just as Elvis would have sung it had he been alive today. Roy really is a fantastic singer, especially when it comes to impersonating Elvis Presley.
The song is about "help," "understanding" and "care." It has a lyric fitting to the cause, and with Elvis "celebrating" his 70th birthday, we just feel that the combination will be a huge success with the British public, with ALL proceeds going to the Tsunami relief fund, to assist those requiring our help in this time of need. It"s just something unique, eye-catching and different, something we think is ideal to catch the public"s awareness. The CD is currently only available by contacting our web site. We are pursuing broader distribution to maximize the donation to the relief fund.
- Las Vegas lets its darker roots show
By David Usborne
(The Independent, January 13, 2005)
America's trend-setting casino resort has flirted with several transformations during its 100-year history, but today, Glitter Gulch is back to its old saucy self
Las Vegas has a dirty secret. The neon city in the desert that for decades has lured visitors with the promise of gambling, high-kicking showgirls and no-rules naughtiness was first settled by Mormons from Salt Lake City in 1855. Fortunately for the town's reputation, however, the missionaries didn't stay long. If you look hard enough, you will find a small section of wall of the original Mormon fort and mission in the old downtown. But no one will encourage you in your quest. This year, Las Vegas has declared itself merely 100 years young and the theme of its centenary is hardly religious respectability. After flirting in the 1990s with transforming itself into a family destination, with theme parks and rides for the kids, America's capital of whirlwind weddings and DIY divorces has rediscovered its old saucy self. Its latest tourist slogan says it all: "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!"
The return of sin, if it really ever disappeared, is noticeable everywhere. Last weekend, the city was host to the annual porn video awards in the five-star Venetian Hotel. The pirate-ship battle outside the Treasure Island Hotel has been renamed "Sirens", and the crew of one of the galleons is now female (and scantily clad). The theme park that briefly blossomed behind the massive MGM Hotel closed down recently and even the city's much ballyhooed attempt to embrace high art has taken a hedonistic turn. True, the extension of the Guggenheim Museum, also in the Venetian, is showing works by Lautrec, Rodin and Picasso, but the theme of the works is reflected in the exhibition's title: The Pursuit of Pleasure.
"As much as the city has changed, some things stay the same," noted Stacy Allsbrook, a native of Las Vegas charged with planning a full year of centennial celebrations, including the world's biggest birthday cake and a huge outdoor concert with big-name performers (she won't say who) on the 4 July holiday. After all, she adds, "we have some very interesting roots, some real famous roots and some real infamous roots."
There is no need to elaborate. The celebrities of the Las Vegas timeline are well known: Elvis wed here, the rat-pack - Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr et al - entertained here, and so did Liberace. Howard Hughes hid in his Desert Inn suite here. And, of course, the mob ploughed its ill-gotten gains into Vegas, providing the cash for the first glitzy casinos after the Second World War.
... Almost until the mid-Eighties, Las Vegas was, according to Professor Green, essentially controlled by the Mafia. Legalised gambling provided a convenient cover for moving hot money around. It was managed by Jewish tycoons from the East Coast. "They used to say the city was run with Italian muscle and Jewish money," Professor Green said. ...
- Gospel an early influence on Elvis
By M. KRISHNAMOORTHY
([Malaysian] star online, January 13, 2005)
A group of journalists from Asean on a reporting tour of Religious Freedom and Pluralism in the United States were taken on a tour of Elvis Presley's Graceland after attending a morning service at the Monumental Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, the United States. The tour emphasised the influence of his religious beliefs on his early singing career.
Elvis would have turned 70 on Jan 8, had he been alive. He was born on Jan 8, 1935, and died on Aug 18, 1977. During the Graceland tour, one was constantly reminded that Elvis aka The King began by singing at Sunday school in church. He often attended youth group at the First Assembly of God church in Memphis' McLemore Avenue in 1951, several years before becoming a gyrating rock 'n' roll sensation.
"He came in late," said Stamps Blackwood (of the then famous Blackwood Brother Quartet). Blackwood, the only second baritone in the 63-year history of Southern gospel's famed quartet, became Elvis's best friend when the two were 16 and high school mates in Memphis. "When he walked into class, everybody would stare at him because he was dressed a little differently. His hair was different. He had long sideburns, and he wore second-hand clothes, bright and loud, a red coat and white shoes. I spoke to him and we became friends".
Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. The Presley family lived in a wooden shack in the poorest area of Tupelo, and his father Vernon later moved the family to Memphis. Despite their poverty, his mother Gladys ensured that he did not turn to crime for a living.
When Elvis left school, he became a truck driver. His decision to make a record (at the Sun Studios in Memphis) for his mother on her birthday was a turning point in his life and it popularised rock 'n' roll forever. Elvis paved the way for other white performers to sing and perform what was then called Afro-American music.
As one walked through the legendary singer's beloved Graceland home, the audiotape tour reiterated that gospel music was his favourite music. The old folks at Memphis could remember the early days when Elvis strummed the guitar to the blues with Afro-American singers on Memphis Beale Street. Blues music was borne out of slavery and hardship, and was a form of therapy in the midst of painful experience. Elvis sought relief by singing the blues as it expressed love and pain from the human heart.
The Graceland tour revealed that Elvis warmed up for recording sessions with gospel songs, and when not on tour was often at his home playing his favourite hymns on the piano. During his lifetime, Elvis completed three gospel albums: His Hand in Mine (1960), How Great Thou Art (1967, it won a Grammy for best sacred performance) and He Touched Me (1971). These three albums, along with various inspirational album tracks of his live performances, are packaged in the two-CD set, Amazing Grace. The collection not only spotlights Elvis's remarkable talents, but also serves as an introduction to the many styles of Southern gospel. By the mid-1950s, he had become the most popular singer in the United States. Elvis Presley shot to fame as The King of Rock 'n' Roll. His vast popularity meant that he could not lead a normal life, such as going out in public on his own. He was mobbed wherever he went. So he surrounded himself with family members and a close circle of friends.
To escape public attention, in 1957, he bought Graceland, an isolated mansion on the outskirts of Memphis. That's when he started acting. He made 35 feature films to become the highest-selling recording artiste in history. He broke all attendance records with his movie Viva Las Vegas.
Graceland is now open to the public and has become a place of pilgrimage for his fans. The legendary home of The King observes special celebrations and is crowded with Elvis fans during Christmas, Thanksgiving and around his birth and death anniversaries.
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