late June, 2005
- Illusions of grandeur: image, power and paranoia
By Germaine Greer
(Guardian Online, June 25, 2005)
... Without the creation of a visual analogue that can be replicated ad infinitum, power, no matter how absolute, remains imperceptible. Western autarchs have seen the dissemination of images of their superhuman selves as indispensable to their rule since at least the fourth century BC. As Alexander the Great advanced into Asia, he ordered a depiction of his features to be placed on the coins minted and the medals struck to celebrate his conquests. His profile would be the image chosen for medals and coins, to imbue the new subjects with a due sense of the power of the Greek state along with the illusion of personal rule. Then as now, all was not as it seemed. The face on the coins may have been no more than a mask. There is no record of Alexander actually sitting for a sculptor. Given the rantipole rate of his eastward progress, he probably never did. The profile we have come to accept as that of Alexander is also that of the boy god, Apollo. Alexander's laurels are the same as the ones that gird Apollo's head. That image has outlived Alexander by more than two millennia; now no one knows whether specific images are of Alexander or Apollo. One has unavoidably morphed into the other, which was probably just what Alexander intended. Who cares what he actually looked like? He is the Apollonian profile, brow sliding to axe-blade nosetip without hitch, beardless cheeks, huge eyes, small mouth with pleated lips. This ideal type surfaces occasionally, and like the helots of antiquity we fall on our faces before it. The most stunning recent avatar of the type was Elvis Presley, whose classic profile could have been lifted off one of Alexander's coins. ...
- Wearing Elvis
By Julie Watson
(Forbes.com, June 24, 2005)
When Russell Simmons or Sean Combs makes public appearances, it's almost a given that they'll be wearing their own fashion apparel lines, generating free publicity for the brand and boosting sales as fans rush to wear what they see their idols wearing. But what happens when the celebrity has been dead for 25 years?
Ask Elvis Presley Enterprises. The for-profit business came out with its first fashion line in February, the same month that the King's daughter Lisa Marie Presley sold a majority interest in the company to CKX). The clothing line flopped. "Consumers and buyers have preconceived notions of what Elvis was," says Carol Butler, director of worldwide licensing for EPE, "The vision we have of him is he was hip, a leader. He changed style, music and dance. When we shop that, it's a hard sell." But EPE isn't giving up. It's incorporating the changes that retail buyers suggested -- such as different pant-leg styles and logo sizes -- and plans to relaunch the brand in August with an upscale line and a department store line. Consumers won't find it in Wal-Mart.
The designer behind the original and new line is Paul Guez, the founder of Sasson Jeans. When Guez came on board, he became a master licensee for EPE and has invested millions in what he's named Elvis Presley Clothing, Butler says. There are currently 150 Elvis licensees, but EPE is moving away from the smaller licensees to build consistency into the brand. The licensing is where the big money lies. Last year, EPE pulled in $40 million in sales. In a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, CKX said that for the quarter ended March 31, revenue for the Presley business totaled $5.8 million, with $2.5 million coming from royalties and licensing and the rest from the Graceland operations. Its operating profit totaled $962,000, which included a $323,000 loss on the Graceland operations. However, winter isn't the peak tourist season for Elvis' former home.
Lisa Marie retained sole ownership of Graceland and her father's personal effects, but sold 85% of the business which controls the commercial use of the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley, the operation of Graceland and related attractions and revenue derived from Elvis' music, films and television specials. The trust she formed to run the operations got $50.1 million in cash, convertible preferred and common stock and the repayment of $25.1 million in debt.
Fashion is only one of a number of ventures to keep Elvis' name in the spotlight. There's also a radio station on Sirius Satellite Radio, a film festival, a Broadway musical, a television special that ran on Viacom's CBS network last year and a new advertising campaign, "Elvis Lives."
The apparel line still has a long road ahead of it. It all depends on what image of Elvis prevails. Will it be the overweight Vegas Elvis; the hip-gyrating 1950s young Elvis; or the playboy in such movies as Spinout, Blue Hawaii and Viva Las Vegas? Butler admits that the new line with its subdued fashions and fitted clothing doesn't sit well with the traditional fan base. "The older audience doesn't like that. They want something boxy, something with his image on it, so they can sleep with Elvis."
To help with that, EPE has brought in some interesting bedfellows: , , Jay Z, and Russell and Kimora Lee Simmons. EPE recently signed e-Fashion Solutions to run its e-tail operations. The company founded by former Calvin Klein executives Edward Foy, Jr. and Jennifer Silano-Foy, also operates the Web stores for the above-mentioned celebrities. From shipping to design to customer service, they run all the brands' Web stores out of their New Jersey warehouse, making it more cost-efficient for brands to outsource instead of hiring in-house staff to run their online operations. But the bonus for EPE could be if they can cross promote with the hip-hop brands and get some street cred for the King. Could Phat King Clothes be next?
- A Deal Unfit For The King
By Peter Lattman
(Forbes.com, June 24, 2005)
Through the deal-crazed 1990s, entertainment mogul Robert F.X. Sillerman and his investment bankers, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, made beautiful music together -- for themselves and their investors. Those days may now be gone.
Sillerman bought and sold five public companies, raising $5 billion of capital and earning hundreds of millions of dollars for himself as well as hefty fees for his bankers. His flurry of deal making climaxed in March 2000, when he sold SFX Entertainment - -an amalgamation of music and sports properties -- to Clear Channel Communications for $4.4 billion. Sillerman brought the band back together this week but with far less impressive results. Bear Stearns and Lehman underwrote a stock offering of Sillerman's latest venture, CKX Entertainment. On Wednesday, CKX raised $200 million, selling 20 million shares at $11 a share -- a steep 55% discount from the company's original plan first announced in April to sell 13 million shares at $24 to raise $300 million. CKX found some support after the offering, closing yesterday at $13.78. On Friday, it shed another 88 cents to $12.90 in mid-day trading.
CKX, with the "CK" standing for "content is king," the "X" being Sillerman's trademark, was formed in February after he acquired control of a public shell company and spent $270 million buying two high-profile media properties: a majority interest in the rights to the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley; and global ownership rights to the smash-hit TV show American Idol--both trumpeted in the glossy offering prospectus to investors.
What is particularly striking about the offering is where the proceeds are going. Bear Stearns had an incentive to get the deal done beyond satisfying its important client Sillerman. Of the $200 million net proceeds raised, $150 million is being used to repay Bear Stearns for loans it made to CKX. With $35 million being used to satisfy a portion of the purchase price for the American Idol properties, this leaves a paltry $15 million for CKX to do more entertainment acquisitions, as Sillerman reportedly plans. Indeed, in March, CKX authorized the issuance of up to 275 million shares (it currently has 88.5 million shares outstanding). This gives them the ability to go back to investors and raise more equity to buy more properties. And since the current offering has wiped out the company's debt, it may also tap the fixed income markets again.
Recognizing the conflicts inherent in an investment bank underwriting an offering and receiving a substantial portion of the deal's proceeds, the National Association of Securities Dealers requires that if an underwriter receives more than 10% of a deal (in this case it's 75%), there must be a "qualified independent" bank acting as co-underwriter. That role was awarded to Lehman, a firm with a longtime relationship with Sillerman and his companies. Among other deals, Lehman advised SFX in its sale to Clear Channel. Joining the syndicate was a low-risk proposition for Lehman: Bear Stearns has indemnified them against liabilities in connection with its underwriting role.
A spokesman for CKX declined to comment. Bear Stearns failed to return several calls seeking comment. "This offering appears to be nothing more than a sweetheart deal for Bear Stearns," says Jacob Zamansky, a lawyer who represents individual investors. "One hopes their brokers disclosed the various conflicts and financial data rather than just hype the Elvis and American Idol assets."
Sillerman's advisers had further incentives in place. A Bear Stearns senior managing director -- unnamed in the prospectus -- owns 500,000 shares of CKX. An unnamed senior partner of Greenberg Traurig, the law firm advising on the offering, also owns 375,000 shares. On top of the unseemly conflicts, CKX's financials aren't pretty either. Even at the $11 deal price the company's market capitalization is $920 million, over three times what CKX paid just three months ago for the Elvis and American Idol assets. Buyers of the deal put up 67% of the price paid by all purchasers of the company, yet only own 23% of CKX stock post-offering. (Sillerman still owns 37% of the company.) The company has a negative tangible book value and its pro forma financials show it earned only $1 million in 2004.
Even the long-term viability of the assets is questionable: the ability to monetize Elvis could dissipate over time and it's debatable whether American Idol has really entered "the permanent fabric of our culture," as Sillerman reportedly said, or is just another video fad. After all, whatever happened to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? While Sillerman struggles to build his next media empire, Clear Channel has coincidentally announced a spin-off of Sillerman's last rollup -- SFX Entertainment. In jettisoning Clear Channel Entertainment (formerly SFX), the radio broadcaster is tacitly acknowledging that acquisition's failure. While the valuation to be placed on the old SFX assets when they're spun off is unknown, Clear Channel has already written down 75% of the acquisition's value.
With Wall Street valuations having come back to earth, impresarios like Sillerman are finding it more difficult to raise money in the public markets. Witness billionaire Edgar Bronfman Jr., whose Warner Music Group public offering flopped last month. Or dealmaker Bruce Wasserstein, whose IPO of investment bank Lazard Freres hit the market like a lead balloon in May. Lazard and its underwriter Goldman Sachs are now facing a flurry of shareholder suits over the failed offering. Investors, today, are far more discerning than they were five years ago, says Seth Lipner, a securities lawyer at Deutsch & Lipner. "Back in the '90s no one noticed or cared about the fine print in these offerings," he says. "Today, many investors are taking a harder look at these lousy deals and deciding to stay away."
- Elvis impersonators needed!
By LISA HORTON
(Norwich Evening News (UK), June 24, 2005)
Clad in jump suits, flares, and sideburns, Elvis impersonators from around the county are sought to mark the death of the King of Rock and Roll. The Brickmakers in Sprowston Road will be holding a series of weekly Elvis nights and is now looking for Elvis fanatics to take part. The six-week extravaganza of gyrating hips and fake quiffs is set to culminate in an Elvis showdown with impersonators battling it out to win the title of the UK Elvis King on the anniversary of his death - August 16.
The live music venue is now looking for Elvis lookalikes to take part in heats to find the king of impersonators. The event is the brainchild of local musician Lee Vasey. He said: "I've always loved Elvis and the thought of doing a whole series of Elvis shows really appealed.
"When I was a kid my first guitar was called an Elvis Presley and my brothers were really big fans when I was growing up. "I'm very excited about the nights, they will be a lot of fun though I don't think I will be dressing up myself. There are a lot of Elvis fans in Norfolk I can assure you. Most of them are completely bonkers because Elvis fans never do things by half measures. They're always completely into him 100 per cent so I think they'll love this. The only problem I can imagine is that it could be hard working out their sets. There could be arguments over who gets to close the show on An American Trilogy," he added.
Charley South, 30, who runs the venue with her mum Pam South, said she was looking forward to the nights: "It's all about celebrating the man and his music. We're now looking for impersonators from all round the country to take part. I think these nights will be a great success because there is such massive Elvis following."
The Elvis Presley tribute nights will be taking place every Tuesday from July 5 with a grand finale on August 16. Entry is free. For more information on how to take part, call the Brickmakers on (01603) 441118. All Elvises must provide their own backing tracks and costumes.
- They're famously freaky: Why do some of the most talented people also have a talent for living life on the edge?
By PATRICIA KITCHEN
(Kentucky Standard, June 21, 2005)
Let's just say that Michael Jackson and Elvis have a lot more in common than Lisa Marie. Both kings of pop developed extraordinary talents and experienced fame and fortune at early ages, but at the tops of their game, both spiraled off in directions considered more freaky than fabulous.
So a question arises -- to what degree did that fame and fortune twist them into over-the-top oddballs? Might they otherwise have ended up as just regular beer-swilling Joes?
Probably not, says John Putzier. "There's a seed of weirdness before wealth and fame." The raw material is already there, brought to the surface by money and celebrity, says Putzier, an industrial psychologist in Prospect, Pa., and author of "Weirdos in the Workplace! The New Normal ... Thriving in the Age of the Individual" (Financial Times Prentice Hall, $17.95).
That's not to say that money isn't an enabler. Unlike the common grunt, the rich and powerful don't have to worry about paying the bills and fixing the faucet. It "gives you the luxury to focus on the minutiae," he says, and allows you to say, "I can afford to be myself -- and unfortunately in some cases, 'myself is a wacko.'" Superstars are constantly being told, "You are unique in the world," says Steven Berglas, an executive coach in Los Angeles. "If people put you on a pedestal, you act accordingly."
Where weirdness is welcome
Those who are emotionally anchored, such as actor Tom Hanks, take that in stride. But others can turn arrogant or take the garish, "Sgt. Pepper" flamboyant way, as was the case with Jackson, Liberace, Elvis and Elton John. If they were experiencing a true sense of esteem, they wouldn't have to convince themselves by acting that way, he says. While wealth indulges some in their eccentricities, it also allows others to engage in great acts of philanthropy. So when it comes to Jackson's extreme makeover from child star to oddball, Stuart Fischoff, a media psychologist in Los Angeles, points to the environment of the music business as more of a culprit than money.
Not to say that some over-the-top celebrities "don't have broken zippers to begin with," but the music industry, he says, "is the worst environment for them to go into ... this is not the world of Coldwell .Banker." "If life is a three-ring circus, the music industry is a five-ring circus," he says. Just look at the hip-hop world. "If you're a normal person there, you're nowhere."
What's more, those around you feed your outlandishness. And without some "gravity pull of normalcy to give you feedback," it's far easier to spin out of orbit as Jackson has.
Stressed for success
Stand-up comedy is another environment where performers are rewarded for outrageous behavior, says Fischoff, and that, combined with sudden fame and fortune, may be at the root of Comedy Central star Dave Chappelle's recent unscheduled "spiritual retreat" to South Africa, which led to the suspension of his show's third season.
As for Jackson, Fischoff hypothesizes that if he had gone into show business later in life, say at age 18, he might have had the maturity to avoid such extremes. While never a candidate for the Pat Boone camp, his "Wacko Jacko" behavior might have been "more of an act and less a part of his core personality."
Another factor for those who achieve sudden stardom: Despite the fantasy most have of hitting it big and moving to easy street, great fortune does bring with it great stress. On a list of more than 87 common stressors, sudden wealth ranks No.27, says John Gallo, who with his wife, Eileen, runs the Gallo Institute in Los Angeles, which provides counseling for high net-worth families on wealth and emotional issues. And, surprisingly, hitting it big can be just as stressful as losing it all, he says. That's because of the changes that come with wealth: upgrading of lifestyle plus worries over managing that money.
Keeping the spotlight bright
Still, "fame has become more of a currency than wealth," says Anthony Mora, a media relations expert in Los Angeles. In a culture where unknowns like Heidi Fleiss and Monica Lewinsky achieve celebrity status based on nothing but notorious behavior, those in show business see that "by pushing the envelope, you get more coverage."
"Sadly," he says, "I think the trial of Robert Blake has given him more career opportunities than before." Putzier agrees. In a country where people "can name Omarosa, but not the vice president," those already at the top are asking, "what can I do today to stay visible and to stay important?" It's all about the spotlight, he says, not the money. Take those people who eat poop or monkey brains on "Fear Factor" for a 1-in-6 chance of winning $50,000. Spread those winnings over the span of a normal career, he says, and that comes out to just $15 a week.
Still, it's a world, says Mora, where celebrities get not a second chance but a 10th or 12th. In Jackson's case, Mora would advise him to look next for an opportunity where he can be sure of audience turnout in a town known for its circus atmosphere -- a place where Elvis thrived. That would be Las Vegas. "Hell," says Mora, "Vegas is the place that made Liberace."
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