mid July, 2005
- Patricia Winston
(obituary)
(News-Herald, July 17, 2005)
Patricia Winston, 68, of Mentor, a homemaker, died July 15, 2005, at University Hospital in Cleveland. Born Feb. 3, 1937, in Newburg Heights, she had lived in Mentor for the past 20 years. She loved to play bingo and was an avid Elvis fan. She also enjoyed nature and her pets. ...
- She loved her family and never forgot a friend
(obituary)
By Ray Cox
(New River Current, July 17, 2005)
Marie Herron Johnson loved her family, her church, the Cincinnati Reds and Elvis Presley. She did not love the idea of people who interfered with her work in the kitchen, whether she was related to the offenders or not.
"She wanted people to stay out of her kitchen when she was cooking," said her grandson, Johnny Osborne. "More than once I got popped with the flyswatter when I tried to sneak a taste of some thing before it was ready." ...
- THE KING AND I
By Alice Kahn
(San Francisco Chronicle, July 17, 2005)
How can I explain -- from a fashionably feminist perspective --
the role of Elvis in women's lives? Could I hold up my head in the
intellectual community if it were ever learned that I, like Priscilla Beaulieu
Presley, once worshipped the blue suede shoes he walked in? Her new book, "Elvis and Me," will certainly draw a lot of old Elvis fans out of the closet, and not because it debunks Elvis either. Debunking Elvis is nothing new. Elvis is about as easy to debunk as fast food and tract houses.
Lots of Decent People who always knew Elvis was scum will be looking for
the King's kinkier antics in the recently published memoirs of his former wife.
And right there on page 239 is the Ultimate Shocker. Elvis, whose gyrating
pelvis sent countless mothers and fathers to the family liquor cabinet for
quick sedation, insisted that Priscilla stay a virgin until their wedding
night. In a world of AC/DC, Twisted Sister and Motley Crue, this has got to
stand out as some kind of a clean joke.
Cilla, as the King called his No. 1, spent her youth living out the
dream many of us cherished as we sat in our rooms with those first bulky
transistor radios plastered against our ears. Flashback to 1956. I am a
tormented 12-year-old looking for an escape from the Willie Loman-esque pathos
of middle-class life. At the same time, I am possessed by biochemical demons
that are coursing through my bloodstream and insisting that I can't remain a
little girl. Hoping to make sense of this chaos, I turn on "The Ed Sullivan
Show," and a voice speaks right to these demons. It says: "You ain't nothin'
but a houn' dog."
Now, I have an identity. I am an Elvis fan. He is a kind of big, rockin',
good ferry conducting me across the troubled waters from puberty to
adolescence. I go to my first concert and stand on my chair with thousands of
other girls and scream for two hours straight. I never see Elvis the whole
time except for one fleeting second when I rush the police lines and
ecstatically touch the trouser leg of his gold lame suit.
I discover mass hysteria is much more fun than solitary hysteria. The fact that grown-ups hate him is icing on the cake. My dream is to succeed in the Win a Date With Elvis contest. I sit in my room with my Hit Parader magazine, studying the rules and imagining what it'll be like if I win. Me: Love me tender, Elvis. Him: Someday, little girl, but not now. It's a very sacred thing to me. Me: Elvis, you're too much. Him: I just wanna be your teddy bear.
By 1958 it was all over for me. My crush on Elvis was an embarrassment.
Uncle Sam could have him. I was in high school and fielding the advances of
real boys. It wasn't just that my taste in music changed. Elvis was lower-class to
the core, and I think that's what frightened parents about him. They didn't
want their daughter to marry one. Other singers brought black music to white
people, but Elvis brought white trash culture to the masses.
The aging of Elvis was a national nightmare. We wanted him to take diet
pills rather than torment us with the idea that our fate also might include
middle-age spread. Nobody with any pretensions to style would have admitted liking Elvis in the '70s. He wore Vegas suits that made Sammy Davis look Amish. Elvis became an easy target in his last years. His once-shocking sideburns fluffed out, his
voice was shot. He was a self-satire. A young rebel is one thing; a washed-out
idol quite another.
The slow decline of the King was an embarrassment to the girls who once
screamed for him. Elvis lived out our adolescence to its logical conclusion
while we went on to more mundane midlife crises. Dethroned at home, except among the bouffant lifers, Elvis nevertheless continues to be an international symbol of greatness. When you cross the border at Tijuana, there will always be three faces immortalized in velvet: Jesus, Montezuma and Elvis Presley. The guy's in good company. He did all of us little girls proud.
This story, excerpted here, was first published in The Chronicle on Sept. 29, 1985.
- Theater community mourns loss of Ralph Bettman
(obituary)
By AMBER DEES
(News-Herald, July 16, 2005)
Ormond Beach resident Hanford "Ralph" Bettman once starred in a command performance for a first lady and later set the stage lights for performers such as Perry Como, Elvis Presley and Ed Sullivan. After moving here in 1983, he continued in the entertainment field by joining the Ormond Beach Senior Center Show Club. Bettman, who received a star on the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center's Wall of Fame in March, died Wednesday at home. He was 94. ...
- Teacher paints his mobile home and just about everything else
By Gretchen McKay
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 16, 2005)
To spruce up the exterior of their mobile home, most folks are content with landscaping or maybe a deck or colorful awning. Mural artist Raphael Pantalone isn't like most people. And neither is his home. Nestled on a partially wooded 1-acre lot along Route 119 in tiny Crabtree, Westmoreland County (population: 320), the 74-foot-long trailer makes the most of its rural setting -- if your version of the great outdoors includes a 10-foot-tall groundhog and equally gigantic raccoon, chipmunk, rabbit and squirrel. Pantalone, the kind of artist who absolutely cringes when he sees a plain white wall, completed the mural in October 1999, shortly after buying the mobile home. ... You might wonder how a man who was named by his Italian parents for the famous Renaissance artist would choose such an unconventional painting style. (One of his first public murals, of Elvis Presley in Baltimore in the early '90s, landed him on TV's "A Current Affair.") But really. This is a guy who in 2002 queued up for five days, a doughnut hat on his proud noggin, to be first in line at the new Greensburg Krispy Kreme store. ...
- Clinton Library's universal appeal seen in its 365,000 visitors
By DAVID HAMMER
(Newsday / Associated Press, July 15, 2005)
The everyman appeal that Bill Clinton peddled in his political campaigns lives on at his presidential library. Among the more than 365,000 visitors who have passed through the library since November, no single demographic stands out.
"I just think he is the only president I'll ever see who will really understand me as a person, and that's why I wanted to see more," said Ava Carter, 48, a black Democrat traveling with James D. Stearns, 55, a white Republican. ... "For the Clinton Library, maybe some of the interactive video presentations could pull them through that and give a more comprehensive impression of this president," Yesawich said. ... others just stopped in because they were passing by on one of two cross-country highways that pass within two miles of the library. And the Ostrovs of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., were in Memphis, Tenn., to visit Elvis Presley's Graceland and realized the Clinton Library was a two-hour ride down Interstate 40. ...
- Faces of the week: WILLIE NELSON
(BBC, July 15, 2005)
Veteran performer Willie Nelson has this week achieved two things rare in a man of his age: the release of a new reggae album completely different from his many country offerings, and the courting of fresh controversy with his blatant espousal of marijuana use.
If there is a spare edifice at Mount Rushmore, it is surely reserved for Willie Nelson. Like the faces of the revered former presidents, his famous rugged features seem to have borne witness to a long episode of American history. In fact, he's been around so long, they probably have. In an industry where the word "legend" is bandied around willy-nilly, Willie Nelson remains the real deal. ... He's had hits with other peoples' work, like Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain and Georgia on my Mind, and had his own work borrowed - classics like Crazy by Patsy Cline and Always On My Mind by Elvis Presley. ...
- Wanda Jackson sings Elvis on new record
By DAVE MCGURGAN
(phillyburbs.com, July 15, 2005)
She's the first female rock and roller and as the reigning queen of rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, now 68, continues to perform live and record new albums.
America was right in the middle of its innocent years when rock and roll and rockabilly came onto the scene. And Jackson, an up-and-coming country singer, was right there when it happened. And by her side was none other than Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley took a special interest in Jackson and her music. The two toured together in 1955 and 1956 and also dated during that time, with Elvis giving Jackson one of his rings as a token of affection. And as Jackson continued to perform country songs, Elvis saw her true potential urged her to try her hand at the frenzied sounds of rock and roll.
"I honestly think I never would have tried this music had it been for his suggestion and encouragement," says Jackson. "It gave me the courage to try and man, I found my home." Rock and roll paid off for Jackson in a big way with a string of hits including "Let's Have a Party," "Fujiyama Mama," "Mean Mean Man" and "Funnel of Love."
Now Jackson is paying back the favor by recording an Elvis tribute album featuring many of the songs that he sang when the two worked together such as "I Forgot to Remember to Forget," "Baby Let's Play House" and "Good Rocking Tonight." Jackson says the album will also feature at least one non-Elvis song. "I'll be doing a song that a friend of mine wrote," she explains. "Itıs called 'I Wore Elvis Presley's Ring' and it's a real cute little rockabilly song. Robert Warren wrote it."
So does all this Elvis nostalgia bother Wanda Jackson's husband and manager, Wendell Goodman? "The first years that we were married it was hard for him," says Jackson. "It was difficult for him to even get used to sharing his wife with the world and everybody coming at me from all directions." Then one evening in Las Vegas, Jackson, her husband and a few friends checked into a hotel. They saw plenty of security and found out that all the rooms on their floor except theirs were booked by none other than Jackson's former flame Elvis. Presley came down to Jackson's room where Goodman met the crooner for the first time.
"Once he met Elvis, he saw how important Elvis was to my career, making all this happen for me. I think that really helped Wendell because he just saw the affection that we had for each other. It was a very sweet relationship." And 43 years after they pledged their vows to each other, Jackson and Goodman are still very much in love.
Although Wanda Jackson's Elvis tribute album won't be released until early next year, she'll be touring with select dates in Toronto, Ohio and Texas with a special stop in Washington D.C. this September. ...
- KING OF CUPS
(Santa Barbara News-Press, July 15, 2005)
Music took Elvis Presley across America. Wade Jones is hoping a Styrofoam cup supposedly once used by the King of rock 'n' roll can do the same for him. [Subscription needed]
- Elvis by the Presleys
By James Griffiths
(Guardian Unlimited, July 15, 2005)
Priscilla Presley's dogged campaign to thrust her late husband back into the public gaze continues with this Pandora's box of home movie treasures [does the Guardian realise that the opening of Pandora's box released all sorts of evils into the world? - ed.]. It is an absorbing personal biopic, told from the perspectives of Priscilla, daughter Lisa Marie and various friends. Accompanied by personal movie footage, TV and concert clips, Presley's post-Priscilla life story is a jumble of contradictions. Deeply in love from the start, he was at pains in interviews to play down their early romance. Priscilla goes doe-eyed as she remembers Elvis's innocent, child-like qualities, but her smile freezes when recalling his refusal to grant her a life of her own. The hedonism of the Memphis Mafia - Presley's gang of ever-present male friends - is described in withering detail. Other, minor revelations (Presley was a chronic insomniac, who couldn't keep a secret) add depth to a painfully frank portrait.
- Jackson biographer: 'king of pop won't live another decade'
By WENN
(monstersandcritics.com, July 14, 2005)
Michael Jackson biographer Stacy Brown is urging the pop superstar's family to continue their suicide vigil on him - because he's convinced the King Of Pop is keen to die. Both Jackson's father Joe and brother Jermaine have expressed their concerns about the pop star's failing health and pressures he faced during his four month child molestation trial earlier this year (05).
But Brown, who penned new expose Michael Jackson: The Man Behind The Mask with the singer's former sidekick Bob Jones, fears the superstar is still at risk. The writer says, "I don't think Michael Jackson will be alive in 10 years time. It's amazing to me that what happened to Elvis (Presley) hasn't happened to him. He lives on the edge. He's bound to crash and burn. He's 87 pounds and six foot tall - that's unhealthy."
But Brown doesn't think Jackson has the courage to take his own life in the conventional sense. He adds, "I don't think he has it in him to take his own life. I don't see him putting a gun to his head. It'll be an accidental overdose - something like that. It's the most tragic story in pop music history - and he's not dead yet."
- Rhys-Meyers gets Emmy nomination
(rte.ie, July 14, 2005)
Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers has been nominated for an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in the made-for-TV film 'Elvis'. Other nominees in the Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie category were Kenneth Branagh for his role as former US president Franklin D Roosevelt in 'Warm Springs'; Ed Harris for 'Empire Falls', William H Macy for 'The Wool Cap' and Geoffrey Rush for 'The Life and Death of Peter Sellers'. ... The winners will be announced on 18 September in Los Angeles.
- Two Tons devises distinct style of Texas country
By GREG OKUHARA
(Bryan-College Station Eagle, July 14, 2005)
Kevin Geils remembers as a kid watching Kurt Russell's portrayal of Elvis Presley in a 1979 made-for-TV movie about the rock 'n' roll pioneer. The song Blue Moon of Kentucky was featured, and the 12-year-old Geils was hooked instantly on The King's music. Geils learned to play the song on guitar, and Elvis' songs, along with those of Buddy Holly, became a source of inspiration for his budding musical mind. Today, Geils is the lead singer and guitarist for Two Tons of Steel, a self-described "countrybilly" band from San Antonio.
- The Jordanaires, voices behind Elvis, still singing
(Turkish Daily News, July 13, 2005)
The quartet also sang back-up for Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Brenda Lee, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton -- even the Beatles' Ringo Starr. "I'm on a small label right now making some noise," said the brash, dark-haired kid. "But if I get a recording contract with a major company, I want you to back me up." The year was 1955. The little-known youngster was Elvis Presley, making a backstage pitch to Gordon S... If You want to read the rest of the article, you need to SIGN IN...
- Schlepping on eBay closest to perfect job
By Diane La Rue
(auburnpub.com, July 13, 2005)
My husband has a new hobby. We got a new computer and so he took some parts off of our old computer, like the DVD burner, and attempted to sell them on eBay, the online computer auction house. It's sort of like having a garage sale, except that the entire world can shop at your online garage sale. ... MSNBC ran a special business report on eBay last week. It was an interesting look at the company, from its inception as a place for people to buy and sell collectible items like Pez dispensers, to today where it is a worldwide store where you can buy anything. Whatever you are looking for, you can find it on eBay. A potato chip that looks like Elvis? It's on eBay. ...
- Vis-a-Vis Elvis: The king of rock rolls into San Jose in Stage Company's 'Idols of the King'
By Marianne Messina
(Kauai Garden Island News, July 13, 2005)
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Randall King traveled all the way to a Shakespeare festival in Alabama searching for an Elvis impersonator (Shakespeare and Elvis?) to star in San Jose Stage Company's upcoming musical, Idols of the King (at the California Theatre). After watching L.A.-based Elvis impersonator Scot Bruce perform two nights in a row, King noticed that Bruce had Elvis down to the tiniest gestures - like shrugging his neck free from his collar - yet the performance was different each night. "What a craftsman," King recalls. "He feels that loose with it that nothing's set in stone."
It's likely that part of Bruce's impeccable similitude comes from the fact that he finds the role challenging even after 10 years of playing Elvis. "I still think of it as a work in progress," Bruce muses. "I've studied a lot of, you know, video footage, but I don't really feel that I've mastered it." And Bruce still gets excited when he finds a new Elvisism for his stage persona. "Every time I'm flipping through the channels and I'll see something to do with Elvis or I'll hear it on the radio or I'll see a movie, I'll pay attention to that. So when I see this slightest little subtlety, I go, 'Oh, that's cool. I need to do that.'"
Having played Elvis all over the world, Bruce has had the opportunity to hear from countless people who had real-life experiences with Elvis. "People just have nothing but really kind words to say about Elvis and their encounter," Bruce sums up. "I've met people that, like, say somebody that worked in the mail room at MGM or whatever. And he would treat them with the same respect as he would treat someone who was a director. He treated people with dignity."
Onstage, Bruce even keeps in mind the two-room shack Elvis grew up in, rounding out the Elvis he wants to project as well as the one he thinks writers Allen Crowe and Ronnie Claire Edwards had in mind. "I think, though this is a fictional piece, it's based on some very real ideas about his generosity and his graciousness," Bruce explains. "I think Elvis was grateful for everything that happened."
Detail, background and an extensive internalized library of Elvis mannerisms - these are what Stage Company's King responded to. It's a meticulous realism that counts on audiences to see for themselves how Elvis could have affected so many lives. After all, Idols of the King is a story rooted in the fans. The Crowe/Edwards script has two actors playing 16 Elvis fans en route to a Las Vegas concert after Elvis' death (1977). "We get to know these characters and they're pretty colorful characters, pretty extreme Elvis fans," Bruce says. "There'll be a scene and then some rock & roll, and then there'll be another scene and then some more rock & roll" (including all the favorite tunes, from rockabilly to gospel to movie tunes).
Bruce has seen many sets of actors covering the fan roles, and he notes that performances can range from wildly funny caricature to seriously subtle study. But the lines are largely comedic. Meanwhile, Bruce's Elvis along with his current Nashville-based band hold down an unwavering core. "Our aspect is the musical aspect," he explains. "We try to deliver Elvis in an honest way, and we're sort of the straight man of the story." He feels that the madcap fans and the "straight man" Elvis serve complementary functions and give the musical a nice balance. With luck, this means that those whose understanding of Elvis has suffered from an overexposure to die-hard Elvis fans might be in for some interesting revelations and a fresh take.
- Coco Palms renovation plans are rapidly moving forward
By Andy Gross
(Kauai Garden Island News, July 13, 2005)
Elvis would approve. The Coco Palms Resort, dormant for 13 years, is going to be developed into a mixed-use facility that will feature 200 condominium units and 104 hotel rooms, according to Donna Apisa, president and principal broker of Oceanfront Realty International, the sales broker in charge of the project. Nestled on 45 acres in Wailua, a location once reserved for Hawaiian royalty, the Coco Palms Resort achieved early exposure and fame in the 1961 Elvis Presley movie, "Blue Hawaii." ...
- Woman Who Made Elvis' Favorite Dishes Dies
(ABC News / Associated Press, July 13, 2005)
W. Pauline Nicholson, Elvis Presley's cook, who prepared the King's favorite peanut butter and fried banana sandwiches, died July 7 of cancer. She was 76. ... [as below]
- Cook for Elvis Presley dies
(USATODAY.com / Associated Press, July 13, 2005)
W. Pauline Nicholson, Elvis Presley's cook, who prepared the King's favorite peanut butter and fried banana sandwiches, died July 7 of cancer. She was 76. ... [as below]
- Woman Who Made Elvis' Favorite Dishes Dies
(Yahoo! News, July 13, 2005)
W. Pauline Nicholson, Elvis Presley's cook, who prepared the King's favorite peanut butter and fried banana sandwiches, died July 7 of cancer. She was 76. In addition to cooking, Nicholson also worked as his housekeeper and sometimes looked after a young Lisa Marie Presley. She continued cooking for the Presley family after Elvis died, including last Christmas, when Lisa Marie and her mother, Priscilla, came to Memphis and requested Nicholson cook for them.
Nicholson was featured in the movie "This is Elvis," and loved to talk about her time with the King of Rock and Roll, whom she called Mr. P. Nicholson was introduced to Elvis in the mid-1960s by a neighbor, Cleo Smith, who knew she was a good cook, said her son, Ossie Nicholson Jr. Elvis would sometimes talk with Nicholson in the kitchen at Graceland and when he learned in 1974 her husband, Ossie Sr., was laid off, he hired him as a guard.
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