mid July, 2005
- Pay-for-play costs Sony BMG $10m
(BBC, July 24 2005)
Sony BMG, the world's second-biggest record label, has agreed to pay $10m (£5.7m) and stop paying radio station employees to play its artists' songs. The settlement follows an investigation into "pay for play" practices in the music industry, conducted by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The probe found "air time is often determined by undisclosed payoffs," said Mr Spitzer on Monday. Record companies in the US cannot offer financial incentives under a 1960 law. A Sony BMG spokesman was not available for comment. But Mr Spitzer said the company had agreed to hire a compliance officer to monitor promotion practices and to issue a statement acknowledging "improper conduct".
Middlemen
"This agreement is a model for breaking the pervasive influence of bribes in the industry," he said. Spitzer said his investigation showed Sony BMG paid for holiday packages for radio programmers, paid some stations' operational expenses and hired middlemen to make illegal payments to get more airplay for its artists. E-mails showed top officials were aware of the payments, he added. Sony BMG was formed in 2004 when Sony merged with Dutch giant Bertelsmann. Its roster of artists include Beyonce Knowles, Aerosmith, Britney Spears and Elvis Presley.
- Cry Baby Director's Cut
Review by Ian Jane
(DVD Talk, July 24 2005)
Universal // PG-13 // $19.99 // July 12, 2005
John Waters' 1990 tribute to the teenage delinquent and Elvis Presley movies of the 1950s remains his most popular and accessible film to date. With a fantastic lead performance from Johnny Depp and an excellent supporting cast made up of some interesting cult movie figures, Cry-Baby may not pack the offensive punch his earlier material did but it's still one hundred percent John Waters from start to finish and it's the perfect follow up to his 1988 film, Hairspray. ... Filled with plenty of oddball musical numbers and strange supporting characters, Cry-Baby was the first film that Johnny Depp made after the success of 21 Jumpstreet made him a hit with the ladies. This role only solidified his sex appeal but also went a fair ways towards foreshadowing just how good an actor Depp would later become. He's perfect as Cry-Baby, bringing just enough pathos and Elvis-like swagger to the role to really make it work. If this were Depp's show and Depp's show alone, it'd be a good film but thanks to the motley crew of supporting players, it's actually a great film. ...
- Elvis has left the building
(Counting Down, July 24 2005)
Coming to Theaters
Who's in it? John Corbett , Kim Basinger
What's it about? Kim Basinger plays a cosmetics saleswoman whose every move seems to coincide with those of Elvis. When she accidentally kills a few Elvis impersonators, she goes on the run from the authorities, and encounters a depressed ad executive.
- Earning our wings with the King
By AUGUSTA SCATTERWOOD
(St Petersburg Times, July 24 2005)
I was 10 years old the summer Elvis helped me win a frozen chicken. Too young for dating in cars, too old for building forts under the backyard fig tree. My two best friends lived on my block, and we owned every song Elvis had recorded. We carried our square green record boxes filled with 45-rpm discs from one house to the other and back again. We flopped across chenille bedspreads under a ceiling fan and sang along with Don't Be Cruel and Blue Suede Shoes till the grooves almost wore out. Some days we pasted pictures into our Elvis Presley scrapbooks. Most days we wrote "I love Elvis" over and over, trying out our new curly script on the pages of our Penny Diaries.
In 1956, Elvis wasn't yet the god of Graceland. The Elvis who set our hearts aflutter resided in a modest ranch house at 1034 Audubon Drive. He signed autographs in his driveway and waved from his Harley to the neighbors down the street. That Elvis loved his mama, Gladys, and our mothers loved him for it. So it was easy to persuade my mother to drive us up to Memphis to worship at the shrine of our idol. Sitting in the backseat of my family's Plymouth station wagon, windows rolled down and Elvis singing on the radio, we flew up the flat dusty Blues Highway. That night I wrote in my diary, "Mama drove us by Elvis' beautiful house. The fence had music notes on it." We didn't glimpse Elvis riding his motorcycle or signing autographs that day, but we had snapped our photos in front of those music notes and snatched a few drying blades of grass for our scrapbooks.
Toward the end of that summer, we three girlfriends escaped the Mississippi heat for Camp Skyline Ranch in the mountains of Alabama. There we hiked in the woods and overcame our fear of water moccasins by swimming in the freezing cold lake. And when the camp held a talent show, our Elvis act debuted. We were the original Elvis impersonators. Long before fake Elvises zipped themselves into glitzy jumpsuits everywhere from Las Vegas to my friend Linda's anniversary party, we three girlfriends slipped into our brothers' blue jeans and white shirts, with collars ironed, starched and turned up just so. I was Bill Black personified, on bass broomstick. My friend Judy smiled her best Scotty Moore grin and strummed an air tennis racket. Our Elvis put on her blue-painted tennies, curled up one lip, and like the King himself, dared anybody to mess with her hair.
Summer camp ended, and we stuffed dirty sweat shirts into duffel bags and boarded the overnight train for home. After we wowed the local Wednesday noon Exchange Club, "Scotty's" mother had an idea. "Why not try out for that Saturday morning talent show on the TV?" WMCT-TV's Pride of the Southland played live to the greater Memphis viewing audience. As the hot, muggy summer turned into September, the three mothers and three daughters headed back up Highway 61 to Memphis with our hair blowing in the wind and high cotton out our windows.
Our audition must have been very good. By the time we'd returned to our little Mississippi hometown and unpacked those fake instruments, the talent scout for the show was calling with an offer: Could we appear the next Saturday? We could and we would. Hair slicked back in ducktails that would make Elvis proud with Maybelline eyeliner sideburns as black as a jailbird's stripes, we were ready to rock 'n' roll. Our closest competition, a jazz ensemble from up the road a piece, played real clarinets and saxophones and did a pretty fair job of it. But when our Elvis gyrated to Hound Dog and lip-synched an encore of Heartbreak Hotel, we were unbeatable. Elvis was a heartbreaker, all right, and the real Scotty Moore and Bill Black never looked so good.
This was no American Idol competition. No call-in votes, no celebrity guest judges. The Pride of the Southland host announced the winner, and we accepted our Brownie Instamatic camera and a package of frozen Purnell's Pride Chicken Pieces, first-place prizes from the show's sponsors. But the real prize came later. Someone on the show, maybe that bigheaded, overeager, sour grapes of a boy playing jazz saxophone, started a delightfully vicious rumor: The only reason we'd been asked to perform on that particular Saturday morning, maybe even the reason we'd won, was that Elvis was in town. And Elvis loved nothing better than sitting in front of his TV, eating fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, watching Pride of the Southland.
Later that fall the three of us would see Love Me Tender 16 times. We would paste ticket stubs in our scrapbooks, next to the crumbling grass. Elvis would appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the morally concerned parents we read about in the newspaper wouldn't let their children buy Elvis' records or watch him on TV. But our parents watched and listened right along with us. They understood that when you dance in Elvis' shoes, you're liable to win more than a frozen chicken.
Elvis during a 1961 visit to Weeki Wachee Springs
Times photo: 1961
- Recalling `the Hop'
By RICK FOSTER
(SUN CHRONICLE, July 24 2005)
There was a time, not so long ago, when America's youth thirsted for a new kind of music that would change the world. They found it in Bill Haley and The Comets, Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly -- and in North Attleboro, they found it at The Hop. Beginning in 1956, the Morse family started a weekly dance series in a local American Legion hall featuring recorded music far different from the jazz and swing music their parents had enjoyed during the 1930s and throughout World War II. They called the music rock and roll ...
- Rejuvenating the Leftie Spiel: Professor Irwin Corey at Village Vanguard in time for an acceptance speech
By JERRY TALLMER
(Gay City News, VOLUME 3, ISSUE 335 | August 26 - September 1, 2004, found July 23 2005)
Now at it for more than 60 years, Professor Irwin Corey visits the Village Vanguard next week to offer up some of the most ovetly leftist comedy ever performed. There are at least 250, 000 people reportedly headed this way, from all over, to express an opinion regarding the occupying power that takes over Manhattan for four days starting Monday. There is only one of Irwin Corey, and he is already here. ... "Presidents?" the Professor said, or exploded, "I remember them all. George Washington was one of our first presidents. He was known as the father of his country, an amazing feat considering that decent transportation was at a minimum at that time. Our government put up a tremendous erection in his honor, but it wasn't Jewish because it had a little tip at the end. The best president we ever had was Millard Fillmore. Two weeks after he was elected, he went on vacation. Four years later they looked and found that he was dead. One of the good things about our presidents is that most of them are dead. ... [John] Kerry is Jewish, you know. Robert De Niro is Jewish. His mother is Jewish, so he's Jewish. Stallone is Jewish, same way. Elvis Presley's mother was Jewish. Castro's mother was Jewish. Her name was Ruiz, a Jewish name. Disraeli was Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. But Moses wasn't Jewish. He was Egyptian, and not only Egyptian, but black. And he created the Jewish religion." ...
- On soothing wings of yester-year's songs
By Behn Cervantes
(Philippine Daily Inquirer / Inquirer News Service, July 23, 2005)
CALL me romantic-or if you prefer, old-fashioned! I probably am, at least, as far as music is concerned! Music today is plain noisy, so the volume needed for its appreciation is deafening at least to unappreciative ears like mine. Furthermore, most of the lyrics escape me. Hardly ever are they romantic-many times, they are just plain gross! I can't figure out the mumbo-jumbo, especially the way singers these days scream, holler or moan. Naturally, when away from the madding crowd, I listen only to classical music. Therefore, my radio at home is pegged at dzFE. Haplessly, by 1 p.m., the radio station goes off the air due to economic constraints. I quickly go to 104.3, a station that plays old standards in the afternoon. What a relief to listen to intelligible lyrics, and hear soothing voices once again! How wonderful to listen to Lena Horne, Dick Haymes, Dinah Shore, Doris Day and Vic Damone interpreting their signature numbers. My favorite female singer is Polly Bergen. When she renders Helen Morgan classics, I am transported to another time and place. Pre-Elvis Presley (that's a clear giveaway), Roy Hamilton, Johnny Ray and Frankie Laine were seemingly over the top. Compared to today's screamers, however, they were soothing and relaxing singers. As someone of my era declares, "Now, those singers had voices!" ...
- Princes of Malibu Parents Splitting
(fox23news.com / United Press International , July 22, 2005)
The parents featured in Fox TV's reality show Princes of Malibu are getting a divorce. Linda Thompson cited irreconcilable differences in papers filed in Los Angeles seeking a divorce from music producer David Foster, the television show Celebrity Justice reports. Sources told Celebrity Justice the divorce was planned before The Princes of Malibu even went on the air. It will mark the first divorce for Foster and the second for Thompson, who used to date Elvis Presley. "Princes" in the title of the show refers to her two sons, Brandon and Boyd, whom she had with her first husband, Olympian Bruce Jenner.
Photo Copyright Getty Images
- PRESLEY'S EX HEADING FOR DIVORCE
(contactmusic.com, July 22, 2005)
ELVIS PRESLEY's former girlfriend LINDA THOMPSON is heading for divorce again after filing papers against her songwriter/producer husband in Los Angeles. Thompson has cited "irreconcilable differences" for the split. Ironically, Thompson and Foster currently appear as a happily married couple in reality US TV show PRINCES OF MALIBU. Sources claim the divorce was planned before the reality show aired. Thompson, a former Miss Tennessee, was Presley's girlfriend when he died in 1977. Foster is famous for his Grammy Award-winning work with artists like MADONNA, WHITNEY HOUSTON and CELINE DION. This will be Foster's first divorce and Linda's second. The actress was formerly married to Olympic athlete BRUCE JENNER.
- John Lennon Lyric, Memorabilia May Fetch $3.5 Million in London
(Bloomberg.com, July 22, 2005)
John Lennon memorabilia, including a handwritten lyric of the Beatles' song, ``All You Need is Love,'' will go on sale at London's Hippodrome for as much as 2 million pounds ($3.5 million) on July 28. The auction, one of the largest ever of Lennon memorabilia, will feature Beatles' music, videos and a champagne reception. The seller is a U.S. collector who has gathered Lennon items for 25 years and made a profit selling some of them in the past, said Ted Owen, a director of Surrey, England-based auction house Cooper Owen Plc, at a press conference yesterday. The Beatles had 17 U.K. No. 1 singles, second only to Elvis Presley, who had 21. Experienced buyers tend to seek rare and well- preserved items that illuminate the Beatles' history, said collectors and dealers. ...
- Kings take over region
Angela McEwen
(simcoe.com, July 22, 2005)
The Collingwood Elvis Festival is in full swing this weekend with many different activities and venues taking place. "We are expecting tens of thousands of visitors to Collingwood," said Karen Cubitt, event co-ordinator. "We have 125 tribute artists registered and they're coming from all over the world, including Australia and Europe. We also have people coming from other Elvis Presley Festivals from around the world like Memphis, Penticton, Wales and England." Tonight the street party and Elvis tribute showcase is taking place on Hurontario Street until 11 p.m., along with the street video party and the tribute showcase at the Curling Club. ...
- Guitar Great: James Burton Guitar Festival attracts big names
By ANTHONY DAVIS
(Texarkana Gazette, July 22, 2005)
Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Everly Brothers, Glen Campbell, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, Emmy Lou Harris, Kenny Rogers, Elvis Costello, John Denver and "The King" Elvis Presley. These very recognizable names in the music business-and then some-are among the artists who have sought and benefited from the masterful guitar work of Shreveport, La.'s James Burton.
Brad Paisley, Steve Wariner, Sonny Landreth, Jeff Cook of Alabama, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Eric Johnson, Johnny Rivers, Seymour Duncan, Johnny A., Doyle Dykes, Dr. John, Steve Cropper, Dickie Betts of Allman Brothers fame and the Nelson twins, Matthew and Gunnar, will be on the Municipal Auditorium stage with Burton Aug. 20, to honor him for his 50 years of guitar magic. The first James Burton International Guitar Festival slated for Aug. 19-21, will include a trade show, music clinics and live performances at the Expo Hall in downtown Shreveport. Fender Guitars will also unveil the new James Burton Telecaster Guitar at the event.
... Burton was weaned on rock and country greats such as Chet Atkins, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, Elmore James and Lightinin' Hopkins among others. As a young boy, those guitar heroes were his inspiration for learning to play the guitar. And learn he did. By age 14 James was at the Louisiana Hayride backing all the stars of the early years who paraded through Shreveport to perform on the KWKH-AM radio broadcast. He also became fascinated by the steel guitar, which later led him to play the dobro. After being "discovered" by Stan "The Man" Lewis, a long-time Shreveport record retailer and producer, Burton was on his way to a place in rock and roll history with Dale Hawkins and his song, "Suzie Q." Hayride manager Horace Logan next helped Burton by arranging for James and his band to go to California to be in a Hollywood movie named "Carnival Rock." It was in California that Burton met Ricky Nelson, and the rest, as they say, is history. Burton's style was distinct and always evolving. He uses a straight pick and a finger pick on his middle finger. On the song "Believe What You Say," Burton replaced his first four strings with banjo strings and moved the A and D string up to D and E, which he later had gauged, says the event's press release.
... But Burton is best remembered by a legion of fans for his work as the guitarist who helped Elvis regain his crown in the now-famous 1968 Comeback Special broadcast on national television in 1968 in Las Vegas. He remained with Presley until Elvis' death in 1977. The years of association with Elvis kept Burton in demand for a decade of almost continual session work on albums by a host of pop, rock and country music stars.
...
- BRIAN SETZER: "Rockabilly Riot! Vol. 1: A Tribute to Sun Records"
(CD review)
By Ryan Ritchie
(u.dailynews.com, July 21, 2005)
Setzer plays his pompadour off in the first of a proposed series of discs spotlighting rock heroes. Here, the curtain goes up on Sun, the Memphis indie label that brought forth Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and other greats, who all waxed for Sam Phillips' '50s imprint with the cheerful sunrise logo. Like most tributes, original versions far outshine remakes, but that's not to say "Rockabilly Riot!" (in stores Tuesday) doesn't provide kicks. Teamed with a high-octane band, the well-coiffed Setzer leader takes a good-rockin' romp through classics like "Red Hot," "Real Wild Child," "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Get Rhythm." As usual, Setzer's big-bodied Gretsch is on target while his voice is probably most convincing on Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes," among other tunes. The album offers a touch of authenticity with a cameo from the legendary Jordanaires, Elvis' favorite harmonizers.
- Einstein Year May Bring $4 Mln to Hebrew University (Update1)
By David Rosenberg
(bloomberg.com, July 21, 2005)
Albert Einstein, who died 50 years ago at the age of 76, never drank a can of Mello Yello soda. That didn't stop the use of his image hawking the drink in an advertising campaign. Einstein, who has also appeared in ads for Apple Computer Inc.'s ``Think Different'' campaign, Swatch Group AG's watches and the Discovery Channel, is one of the world's most desirable pitchmen. And he is among the biggest sources of revenue for the custodian of his estate: Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Einstein's so- called miracle year, when he published his most important work, including the Special Theory of Relativity. With governments, schools and museums celebrating the scientist, officials in charge of licensing Einstein's name say image rights could bring in as much as $4 million in fees.
... Martin Cribbs, director of rights representations at Corbis Corp., the photo library owned by Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, ranks Einstein among the 10 most popular celebrity-image earners, behind Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Steve McQueen. Seattle-based Corbis took over marketing Einstein for Hebrew University when it bought the Roger Richman Agency Inc. in April for an undisclosed sum.
... Dennis Prahl, a New York-based lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights at Ladas & Parry LLP who represents the estate, says the university can assert its rights under New Jersey commercial law protecting celebrity images. The university has trademarked both ``Einstein'' and ``Albert Einstein'' and uses them as an Internet domain name for the archives. ... `Einstein must be used in a dignified way that doesn't cheapen his image,'' Gutfreund says. ...
- Crazed Fruit
(film review)
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
(DVD Savant Review, July 21, 2005)
1956 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 86 min. / Kurutta kajitsu
The idea that Japanese films imitate American trends will need some rethinking after one sees Criterion's unusual Crazed Fruit, a movie that explicitly codifies the 'youth rebellion' genre in terms far advanced of either American juvenile delinquency pictures or the French New Wave. Director Ko Nakahira presents a convincing, sexually candid story of wild Japanese kids of the mid-50s that were given the cultural label 'the Sun Tribe.' Reportedly a big success in Japan, this excellent drama is virtually unknown in the States.
... A movie as frank as Crazed Fruit would never have won a release in 1956 America. The studios reacted to "Rebel Without a Cause" by promoting a slate of teen pictures about 'nice' boys, taming Elvis Presley's sex appeal and creating unthreatening stars like Pat Boone. The juvenile delinquent genre became almost exclusively the domain of the exploitation double bills. When Hollywood got around to acknowledging the realities of teen sex and pregnancy, it was in slick hokum like "Peyton Place" and the glamorized "A Summer Place". ...
- King me: Hamiltons help deliver new Memphis trophy
(thestate.com / Associated Press, July 21, 2005)
Bobby Hamilton, the reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion, and Bobby Hamilton Jr., a Nextel Cup regular, took part in a unique ceremony at Elvis Presley's Graceland Mansion earlier this week. Accompanied by a police escort and dignitaries from both Graceland and Memphis Motorsports Park, the elder Hamilton drove his Dodge truck and Bobby Jr. drove a pace car from the Memphis Visitor's Center to the mansion, where a new Elvis Presley-themed winner's trophy was unveiled.
The drivers then received a behind-the-scenes tour of the King of Rock and Roll's former home. "That was a pretty cool deal right there," Bobby Sr. said. "We got to drive our Bailey's Dodge right up to the front of the gates of Graceland for the Elvis trophy unveiling and then I got to drive it right up beside the house and into the carport, where not many vehicles have been since Elvis used to park his Cadillacs there. One of the neatest things for me was to watch Bobby Jr.'s reaction. He is a big Elvis fan and that kind of surprises me, considering his generation wasn't necessarily the Elvis generation. Just watching him and the comments we shared together was one of the best things for me."
The new hardware will be presented to the winner of the track's NASCAR Truck and Busch races during the next five years. Only 12 such trophies will be created, with Graceland and the track each getting one and the remaining 10 going to race winners. Memphis hosts this weekend's Truck series race.
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