mid May, 2005
- LONELY ELVIS REACHED OUT TO NEWTON IN DESPERATE LETTER
(contactmusic.com, May 14, 2005)
ELVIS PRESLEY gave pal WAYNE NEWTON a rare insight into his desperate state of mind just three months before he died, when he wrote the crooner a heartfelt letter. Newton, who has the letter framed at his Las Vegas, Nevada home, admits he still gets choked up when he casts a glance at the scribbled note. It reads, "I feel so alone sometimes. The night is quiet for me. I'd love to be able to sleep. I'm glad that everyone has gone now... Help me lord." Newton, who befriended Elvis when the two singers realised they had dated the same woman, says, "A finer human being never took a breath of air."
- Tackling Elvis is a one-hit wonder: Elvis Presley had hits on the football field too
By Dwight Perry
(Seattle Times, May 13, 2005)
No word on whether it was one of Elvis' greatest hits, but Mitch Dimkich never forgot it. The year was 1960, and Dimkich, a former UCLA running back and defensive back, found himself in a touch-football game opposite a team with Elvis Presley on it. "The game got a little physical, and at one point I tackled Elvis," Dimkich told the Los Angeles Times. "I wrapped him up pretty good. "As we hit the ground, I thought, 'Boy, I bet there are a lot of girls who would like to be in my position right now.' "
- An intimate family portrait of Elvis
By Matthew Gilbert
(Boston Globe, May 13, 2005)
''Elvis by the Presleys" is a clip job, but what clips! The two-hour documentary, which airs tonight at 8 on Channel 4, is the final part of CBS's sweeps week of Elvis programming, following its biopic miniseries ''Elvis." And of the two products, it's the more intimate and affecting one, as it brings us abundant footage of Presley with his family, along with frank commentary from Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, her parents, Elvis's cousin Patsy, and daughter Lisa Marie. It's a sweet family album of a show, but with enough hard truth about the man who died at 42 to give it authenticity.
''For some reason, I fit his ideal woman," Priscilla says, as she narrates her courtship with Elvis. Now 59, she was only 14 when they met, and the photos and home movies from those days reveal an innocence and yet a game willingness in her face. She recalls being charmed by the singer -- ''He was like a little boy," she says -- and clearly she's still attached to his memory. ''I knew that I was loved, there was no question about that," she says fondly. She describes his relationship with manager Colonel Tom Parker as a blend of love and hate, observing that Parker's unwillingness to let Elvis grow artistically eroded the star's spirit.
Priscilla's life in the circus of Elvis's daily existence, which included an ever-present entourage of male friends known as his ''Memphis Mafia," wore on her. While Elvis expected his young bride to play the little woman back at Graceland, he was out having high times on the road and sleeping with other women. She got tired of living in the shadows, and submitting to his mood swings when he was home. She recalls that ''he had a temper" and that she was terrified when she decided to ask him for a divorce.
When they finally did part in 1973, though, and she was able to establish an independence she'd never known, their relationship improved. There's a photo of the couple holding hands on the day they finalized their divorce.
Naturally, Priscilla and the others interviewed for ''Elvis by the Presleys" have told their stories many times before. And the narratives, particularly those by the creative director of Elvis's estate, Jerry Schilling, tend to have a practiced feeling to them. As they chronicle the star's arc, way up and then way down into the depths of an addiction to prescription drugs, you sense they've talked about it many times before. But still the voices in the documentary aren't robotic, and they do muster some emotion for the man they lost. In one scene, Lisa Marie, who was 9 when her father died, recalls holding him up as he teetered on his feet from substance abuse.
The images of Elvis are at the center of ''Elvis by the Presleys," though, as they evolve through the show. Or perhaps the better word is devolve. In the early shots, he is handsome and mischievous at the beach or opening Christmas presents at Graceland. You can see his playfulness, and his charisma. Later, of course, he becomes a bloated spectacle, greased with sweat and uncomfortable in his own skin. His taste for glitzy clothes finds his closet filled with bedazzled jumpsuits. Tragically, he has grown from an American sensation into a haunted figure, an icon of faded glory and self-destruction.
- Without Reservations: Elvis has left the vineyard
By Paul Reidinger
(San Francisco Bay, May 11, 2005)
IF THE KING was an oenophile, that secret has been scrupulously kept by his otherwise busy successor in interest, Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. Presley, as a Southerner born to modest circumstances, probably had more of a taste for moonshine and other cheap hooch - not to mention pills - than for the cabernets and sauvignons blancs that are now being bottled and sold under his posthumous aegis.
Yet his legions of surviving fans, gray-green now with middle-aged affluence, evidently are snapping up all the $12.99 bottles of wine Graceland Cellars can put out. Graceland, of course, is Presley's onetime mansion, now a museum, in Memphis, Tenn. Fortunately, the Presley wines are neither made nor bottled in that Simpsons-esque setting; they are produced, instead, by an outfit called Signature Wines, which from its headquarters in Hayward acts as a kind of negociant between organizations eager to slap their names on wine labels (university alumni associations are a big part of the clientele) and winemakers eager to move some wine.
Since this is a story about the marketing of wine, some wise marketing gurus somewhere must have reached a judgment that people will buy and drink wines called "Blue Suede Chardonnay," "Jailhouse Merlot," and - most alarming - "All Shook Up Sauvignon Blanc," a fruit-forward wine that, the press materials assure us, even goes well with "Elvis' favorites such as country ham steak with cabbage." Did someone say "red state"? Still, it won't do to condescend from our blue-state, blue-city redoubt. We should be glad people are buying and enjoying wine, and if it takes creative labeling and references to celebrity culture to get bottles moving off the store shelves, then so be it.
Wine-label design has permanently shifted in an arty and more overtly emotional direction anyway, and not just on this side of the Atlantic. European winemakers too long the practitioners of an austere wine-labeling art that seldom extended beyond a charcoal drawing of a chateau or a bunch of grapes, with plenty of indecipherable words in block letters - increasingly have recourse to brighter colors and imaginative graphics. Recently I was served an albarino (from northwest Spain) whose label featured hip, squiggly lettering that could have been done in Santa Cruz County, and a French sauvignon blanc poured from a bottle ablaze with citrus oranges and yellows. Please pass the ham steak.
- Elvis: Comfy On Screen, But No Great Actor
Greg Moody
(CBS4 Denver, May 10, 2005)
When the name Elvis Presley is mentioned, the 'King' of rock 'n' roll's music is what usually comes to mind. The 'King' also made movies. Most people remember Elvis Presley's movies as light and goofy affairs with music, girls and Elvis usually driving something fast. Through all of that, though, Elvis wanted to be a good actor. Despite the scripts, he tried through his life to be just that.
From the moment Elvis made his screen debut in "Love me Tender" he tried to show that, despite the songs and despite the hips, he could be a serious actor. The problem was, no matter what talent he showed, his producers kept pushing him toward the lighter stuff: a little comedy, a little music, a few babes and a lot of bucks.
"Jailhouse Rock" was really his breakthrough film, though most can only recall the big production number -- the title song that Elvis choreographed.
Before Elvis went into the army and just after he returned, movies such as "King Creole" and "Flaming Star" gave him the chance to sing -- and stretch as an actor. With the release of "G.I. Blues" in 1960 a tone was set that would rarely be broken again. It was the new, wide-screen technicolor working the formula Elvis. No matter what he wanted, it became what the studios and Col. Tom Parker wanted: easy to make movies with a big money return.
Still, the movies were solid entertainment. Formula, but solid. Presley's movie career peaked with the best of the Elvis-action musical comedies, "Viva Las Vegas." From there, the formula became threadbare -- it just plain wore itself out. And Elvis, despite some attempts at serious acting again, finally just gave it up with 1969's "Change of Habit."
Was Elvis a good actor?
It's debatable. He was comfortable on screen and possibly could have been, with focus on his part and a little help from Parker and the studios. But he didn't get that. He never did get his chance to really try, which is all any of us really want -- just a chance to try. The CBS presentation of "Elvis" continues Wednesday night on CBS4. On Friday, CBS4 will present a special look at the 'King' as prepared by the Presley family.
- King-sized isn't what it used to be
By Joal Ryan
(Yahoo! News, May 10, 2005)
The first part of CBS' Elvis miniseries was dwarfed Sunday night by ABC's Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. In a 9-11 p.m. matchup, the Elvis Presley biopic shook up 13.9 million, compared to the 22.5 million averaged by the denizens of Wisteria Lane and Seattle Grace Hospital, according to Nielsen Media Research. Individually, Desperate Housewives (26.1 million viewers) ranked second for the TV week ended Sunday; the just-renewed Grey's Anatomy (18.9 million), eighth; and Elvis, 17th.
The numbers weren't bad for the Presley project, they just weren't Presley-esque. A generation ago, in February 1979, an ABC TV movie on the rock god, also titled Elvis, was a bona fide event, playing to a packed house of 43 million. ...
- Elvis - The Concert @ M.E.N. Arena
(ManchesterOnline, May 9, 2005)
TTHERE is something quite surreal about being serenaded by a 20ft-high Elvis Presley from beyond the grave. And, for that matter, something unpalatable about drawing another pint from his already overly-milked legacy.
In fact, the concept behind Elvis - The Concert (which is, briefly, to get The King's old band together to play alongside video footage of Elvis) is so bizarre that it is difficult to imagine how it has become a global sensation.
The answer is simple. Firstly, the appetite for Elvis is alive and salivating, but the 8,000-strong M.E.N. Arena crowd will never get to see the real thing.
Secondly, the band itself is legendary: the members are drawn from Elvis' original pool, including The Sweet Inspirations backing vocalists, guitarist James Burton and Elvis' old musical director, Joe Guercio.
Big band
And, 28 years after the shows stopped, the strength of the band's enthusiasm hasn't waned - the performance is tight, the vocals are extraordinary and the big band is conducted masterfully.
It helps, of course, that the audience - which contains a disappointing number of men in rhinestone jumpsuits and is, to a greater extent, female - is ready to yelp and cheer at Elvis' every trademark pelvic thrust. Bizarrely, they even applaud with pride as if Elvis is talking to them when the King thanks his 1970s audience.
Kicking off with the Aloha from Hawaii show, Elvis launches into See See Rider before churning out favourites Burning Love, Hound Dog and Don't Be Cruel. Suspicious Minds finally brings the audience to its feet and Bridge Over Troubled Water sparks a long-awaited singalong.
Elvis is long dead but, even via the miracle of video, he can still make the girls in the front row scream.
- Music's great but nothing's new in 'Elvis'
By Susan Young
(Inside Bay Area, May 8, 2005)
"Elvis", 9 tonight, concluding at 8 p.m. Wednesday, CBS-Channel 5
BLESS MY SOUL, what's wrong with me? Guess I ain't nothin' but a hound dog for wondering why CBS would bother making a miniseries about the king of rock'n' roll that offers no new information. Of course, there isn't a page in the Book of Elvis that hasn't been written. Even the speculation that he was gay and had an affair with actor Nick Adams. And no, that little rumor doesn't get mentioned in the movie, which has been sanctioned by the Presley family.
There doesn't seem to be anything new anyone can say about a man who was exploited throughout his short life, and then mined again by friends and relatives after his death in 1977 at the age of 42. ...
- Priscilla Recalls Elvis She Knew
By Jay Bobbin
(Zap2it.com, May 8, 2005)
CBS has a new "Elvis" movie, but Priscilla Presley also wants the story told her way. The former wife of the music and movie icon is joined by her parents and her daughter, singer Lisa Marie Presley, to reflect on the man they knew in the new CBS special "Elvis by the Presleys," airing Friday, May 13. A bounty of home movies, archival photos and other rarities is woven into the two-hour program, whose producers include CBS News veteran Susan Zirinsky ("48 Hours"). The show is one aspect of a multitiered campaign that also includes a book and a two-CD set sharing the title "Elvis by the Presleys."
The two-part "Elvis" movie airs Sunday, May 8, and Wednesday, May 11, and Priscilla Presley deems it important to follow it up with her own view of the man behind the legend. "Unless you've lived the life, you never realize how important it was," she says. "Elvis gave us so much. You go into the warehouses, and you can see his different moods, his different interests. Yes, he was a performer, and he had a lifestyle that was bigger than life -- particularly at that time -- but it didn't connect like it does today, in terms of what it led to."
Presley maintains her 1967 to '73 marriage to Elvis "was always an adventure, that's for sure. I think what comes out of this is that you realize why he was who he was and why he attained what he did. Elvis was so humble; he never had any pretense about him. He just wanted to live the life he thought an entertainer should live."
Having founded the Elvis Presley Estate, which was sold last year in a $100 million deal, Priscilla keeps a vested interest in the use of Elvis' story and image. She believes the popularity of his song "A Little Less Conversation," used in the 2001 movie "Ocean's Eleven" and the current NBC series "Las Vegas," has raised young people's awareness. ...
- TV Review: 'Elvis' gives sympathetic portrait of the King
By Ed Masley
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 8, 2005)
The makers of the latest made-for-TV Elvis miniseries kindly spare us the indignity of watching as the King grows increasingly fat and irrelevant, trades his cat clothes for a rhinestone-studded jumpsuit, bonds with Nixon, goes kung fu and eventually dies on a toilet.
... But this is no whitewashed account of the Elvis myth. He may be painted in a sympathetic light.... [Rhys-Meyers:] There are times here when it feels too much like someone working overtime to squeeze in every Elvis anecdote we've ever heard. And there are times when it can feel cliched, contrived and even corny. ... The only unfortunate casting choice is Antonia Bernath in the role of Priscilla. At times, she looks a bit like Michael Jackson. And as one might easily imagine, watching Elvis making out with Michael Jackson feels a little strange in light of Michael's short-lived marriage to Lisa Marie.
Comments to: emasley@post-gazette.com.
- New 'Elvis' biopic boasts super soundtrack and solid performances
By Kevin McDonough
(Morning Call / United Feature Syndicate, May 8, 2005)
Elvis is dead. And even if he weren't, he would have turned 70 last Jan. 8. But don't tell that to CBS, where promoting the two-part ''Elvis'' (CBS 2,3 and 22 at 9) has reached a fever pitch. Much like the Oscar-worthy ''Ray,'' this ''Elvis'' is a fairly standard biopic with a killer soundtrack, and is filled with solid performances and rutted with some narrative potholes. Unlike ''Ray,'' which revealed the sordid sides of a beloved musical icon, ''Elvis'' invites comparison with nearly 30 years of Presley movies and documentaries.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers (''Bend It Like Beckham) does a good job of capturing the Memphis good ole boy's smoldering sexuality and ''Thank you, ma'am'' charm. But ''Elvis,'' or at least its first part, belongs to Camryn Manheim. She plays Presley's protective mother, Gladys, who fears for her son's very soul as fame and fortune come courting. Period clothes and hairstyles, and Manheim's much-celebrated heft, help her achieve a resemblance to Elvis' mother, but the actress' eyes provide a window into another generation's desperation. It only takes one look at Gladys to see how quiet dignity can commingle in one person with dog-tiredness and a fatalism rooted in generations of disappointment.
Randy Quaid makes the most of his role as ''Colonel'' Tom Parker, a musical Mephistopheles who locked young Elvis into a long-term contract that squandered his talent on a decade of mediocre movies. And that decade happened to be the 1960s, when music and popular culture left Elvis behind.
Sunday's installment takes Elvis from his early Memphis years to his 1958 military induction. ...
- CD Review: Elvis By The Presleys
By J. Thompson
(Elites TV, May 7, 2005)
I grew up listening to Elvis Presley. But even though the King left a lasting impression on me, it had been a long time since I had listened to more than a quick radio oldie. Luckily I was able to pick up a copy of 'Elvis by the Presleys' and relive some old memories.
The album is a companion to the documentary to be aired Sunday, May 8. The album, a 2 CD set, is a broad stroke of Elvis music - from one of his first demos to some of his last performances. The whole multimedia event is especially vivid due to the intimate involvement of Priscilla and Lisa Marie. The first CD starts out with a bang with 'Trying To Get To You' and the classic 'Heartbreak Hotel'. The pace keeps hot until Elvis's rendition of the old gospel tune 'There Will Be Peace In The Valley' slows things down, along with the 'Hawaiian Wedding Song' (with a little bit of 'Trouble' thrown in for good measure.
I had also forgotten how many songs Elvis had made his own, such as 'The Ghetto', 'Suspicious Minds', 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' (though Simon and Garfunkel still did it the best), and 'Welcome To My World', the old Dean Martin theme. Personally I love the rockabilly, rock n roll Elvis better than the crooning balladeer, but have to admit he did it all, as he sings in 'My Way'.
The second CD of the set is the real collectors item. At least 5 previously unreleased versions or recordings, including two private recordings, reside on this disk. The first song is an almost unrecognizable young man singing 'It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You', one of the very few known demos Elvis made in 1954 before signing with Sun Records. There are several studio takes of songs such as 'Jailhouse Rock'. The private recording of 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' is probably Elvis at his best - strumming his guitar in an intimate environment and singing a soulful song.
This CD set is a must for not only those who are fans of the King, but for all those who grew up with his music and want to relive a bit of their past. 'Elvis by the Presleys' released by Sony BMG.
- Big hunk of love: CBS captures the early Elvis
By MIKE DUFFY
(FREE PRESS TV, May 6, 2005)
Hippy hippy shake -- the pelvis-swinging King is back in the rock 'n' roll building. But whether you bond with this "Elvis" or not may depend a lot on the size of your entertainment appetite for one more retelling of the American icon's very familiar story. Lavishly and lovingly produced -- and starring Irish-born Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the humble Mississippi kid who would ignite an international rock 'n' roll frenzy -- "Elvis" is CBS's attempt to cash in on the King with a big May sweeps miniseries event beginning at 9 p.m. Sunday and concluding at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
The unexpected surprise? Meyers ("Bend It Like Beckham") really gets his Elvis mojo workin'. He captures the yearning, burning essence of a hungry Southern soul who became the biggest name in the history of rock 'n' roll. In addition to channeling the sexy, sweaty spirit of Elvis onstage, Meyers also taps into the more modest, family-loving Elvis offstage. "There was a little bit of fear you know, 'cause he was Elvis Presley," says Meyers of his initial wariness about taking on the role. "And everybody knows Elvis. And I'm Irish. I'm not from America. So that was my No. 1 hesitation."
But once he overcame his early Elvis anxiety, Meyers was all shook up with enthusiasm. "There's the obvious things. You've got to walk like Elvis and you've got to talk like Elvis," says the 27-year-old . "And you've got to perform as best you can when you're onstage ... There was an energy about him. And that energy was so raw; that's what made him a phenomenon of our time."
Alas, "Elvis" itself is less than phenomenal. The miniseries, which focuses on Elvis' explosive rise to fame in the middle 1950s and ends shortly after his 1968 comeback special on NBC, falls victim to an overabundance of cornball Hollywood cliches and trite bites of dialogue. "Seems the higher I climb, the lonelier it gets," muses a glum Elvis after being swallowed up by a disorienting wave of early fame. And then there's the philosophical clunker uttered by Elvis' beloved mother Gladys (Camryn Manheim, "The Practice"), "Sometimes I think our kind weren't meant for happiness. Life's pleasures were meant for other folk. Our kind was born for misery and pain. That's God's plan."
For some strange reason, director James Sadwith ("Sinatra") and writer Patrick Sheane Duncan ("Mr. Holland's Opus") also have chosen to ignore Elvis's culture-rattling 1956 appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." It's only mentioned in passing. And by the time they get to the legendary comeback special in which a lean and electrifying Elvis performs live for the first time in seven years, the filmmakers rush right past it in a few hurried moments. You never get a feel for the mesmerizing brilliance of Elvis on that magical night.
But even with its obvious flaws, "Elvis" still connects. And that's especially true during the superior opening two hours Sunday night when a shy young man with a very large dream first goes to the tiny Sun Records studio in Memphis to record a song for his mother. In addition to the kinetically evocative, rock-steady performance by Meyers, "Elvis" is blessed with a fine supporting cast and the unforgettable voice of the real Elvis on all those astonishing hits: "That's All Right," "Don't Be Cruel," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Love Me Tender," and so many more.
Despite a hit-and-miss script, Manheim and Robert Patrick ("Ladder 49") deliver the emotional goods as Elvis's parents, a doting mother and a father sometimes perplexed by his son's success. Rose McGowan ("Charmed") locates the charming mix of innocence and nubile sexiness in the young Priscilla Presley, who was only 14 when they met. But it's Randy Quaid who creates a knockout supporting performance as Colonel Tom Parker, the shrewd Svengali who was Elvis' longtime manager. "I can sell a wino the sweat off a grape. And I know I can sell you," promises the cigar-smoking Parker.
It's the wildly successful but sometimes rancorous relationship between Elvis and Colonel Tom that generates most of the sparks and conflict in "Elvis." Elvis desperately dreamed of becoming a serious actor, while Parker kept him in the cheesy Hollywood straitjacket of cinematic piffle like "Kissin' Cousins," "Harum Scarum" and "Clambake." Elvis wanted to go on tour and play live concerts after his '68 special, but Parker wanted his star to stick to Vegas, where he soon became the sad, fat, pill-popping Elvis in sequined jumpsuits who died in 1977. But the slide toward anguished oblivion isn't part of this "Elvis."
"To go from age 18 to the '68 special is basically showing the best Elvis Presley," says Meyers. "I agree with that. I was tired of seeing Elvis in a jumpsuit. That was the '70s. And the '70s were terrible for most people." So instead, CBS gives us the younger, sexier, rocking "Elvis." They choose to love the King, the icon, tenderly.
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