early September, 2005
- Coppola Returns to 'The Outsiders'
By JAKE COYLE
(Yahoo! News, September 8 2005)
After the critical and commercial disaster of "One From the Heart" and the failure of his Zoetrope movie studio, a bankrupt Francis Ford Coppola found himself at "the beginning of a very continuing low period." He had to pay off creditors, who were, as he puts it, "holding everything," including his beloved winery. ... Even he calls it a "fall from grace," going from directing "The Godfather" I and II, "The Conversation" and "Apocalypse Now" as well as writing "Patton" - accumulating five Oscars in the '70s - to a director-for-hire of such movies as "The Cotton Club," "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Gardens of Stone." The job Coppola took in early 1982, "The Outsiders," may have seemed like one of those projects, but it came to him through the mail - and became a labor of love. ... Also new is more rock 'n' roll replacing his father's sweeping, orchestral score. Coppola had originally wanted to do the whole film with Elvis Presley songs. ...
- News
By Darien Bates
(Falls Church News-Press, September 8 2005)
So much change has swept through Northern Virginia over the past half century that those who grew up in the area at the time when Elvis Presley was first topping the charts would barely recognize it now in the hip-hop era. ...
- Elvis to the Max - Sept 16-17 At SKYCITY
Press Release: Elvis to the Max
(Scoop Independent News, September 8 2005)
Described as the most accurate Elvis impersonator in the world, Max Pellicano is as close as you'll ever get to the King of Rock 'n' Roll and he's heading back to New Zealand. Born in Monte Carlo, of French and Italian parents, Max Pellicano spent most of his childhood in New York before moving to San Francisco at the age of 14. Today, Max is based in Detroit. He has been a professional actor and entertainer since 1974 when he graduated from the California State University with a degree in Dramatic Arts.
Max first brought Elvis impersonation to life on stage in a production of Bye Bye Birdie. "I was doing musicials and theatre and had to study Jailhouse Rock for my role as the Elvis-type character, Conrad Birdie. I studied the way he walked, the way he talked and the way he moved for months. I guess you could say I got into impersonating Elvis in a kind of round-about way." he said. His performance led to an Elvis tribute show and the rest is history. "I learned long ago that the fans don't want the legend to die. They want to keep the memory going." Max said. He still spends many hours in front of the television and listening to records. "I watch a lot of old live concerts and it's actually kind of easy to study Elvis because I really enjoy watching his shows." says Max.
Max stresses that his is an actor recreating a character and it is an illusion. Some see it differently though - one of Max's strangest requests was when a couple in Los Angeles asked him to bless their child. Max portrays the earlier years of Elvis' career, ignoring the time he put on weight. "That stage of his career was only a small part and I don't feel that it's fair to concentrate on it. I want to do Elvis when he was at his very best. My favourite era is about 1960 to '62 and Burnin' Love is probably my favorite song of all...but, then again......!" he said.
According to "I am Elvis", there are more than 6,000 professional Elvis impersonators in the world and countless amateurs. "It's hard to copy the original, but what we try and do is recreate the Elvis concert and give people a chance to see what it might have been like to see Elvis perform live."
- Roy McDonald Talks Vader and Elvis
By Geri Parlin
(starwars.com, September 7 2005)
As a child of the '70s, the Muffs drummer Roy McDonald remembers his first taste of Star Wars not just for Vader's epic entrance, but also for a legend's sudden exit. "I remember coming home from seeing Star Wars for the first time with my older brother," McDonald says. "We talked about the movie all the way home. When we pulled up to our driveway my mom came out and told us that Elvis had died. What a day!" Even with the loss of the King, the day McDonald saw A New Hope, he couldn't help but be impressed. ...
- More Katrina relief aid from Peninsula
(Peninsula Daily News, September 7 2005)
PORT ANGELES -- The anniversary celebrations marking 15 years downtown for Rick Mathis and his restaurant, Rick's Place, have changed their focus since Hurricane Katrina. ``Anyone coming into the restaurant can make a donation to the Red Cross during the week and they'll receive a free appetizer,'' Mathis said. ``The donated proceeds will go to support the American Red Cross relief operation in the South.'' ... A week of events at the restaurant had been organized to celebrate Mathis being downtown for 15 years. Catering to jazz enthusiasts, the week culminates with a Mardi Gras party on Friday, Sept. 23, and a 1930s-style fancy dress the following night. ... The Candelight Concert on Sept. 15 at Trinity United Methodist Church, 609 Taylor St., Port Townsend, will be a benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina. One-hundred percent of the money taken in will go to the effort to help victims. The concert will feature Trinity Strings and The Good News Quartet singing and playing gospel tunes. Following an intermission, Fred Johnson, longtime music teacher at Port Townsend High School, will present Ronnie Rolaids and the Heartburns, who will perform 1950s rock and songs made popular by the Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley.
- CKX, Inc., Together With Elvis Presley Enterprises and American Idol, to Aid Hurricane Victims
Source: CKX, Inc.
(PRNewswire - FirstCall, September 7 2005)
CKX to Donate Net Proceeds From Graceland Operations on Saturday and Added Idol Concert in Syracuse, NY to American Red Cross
CKX to Match Donations of Employees of its Properties, Including Elvis Presley Enterprises, 19 Entertainment and MBST Entertainment
Graceland and American Idol are pitching in to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, Robert F.X. Sillerman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CKX, Inc. announced today. CKX will donate 100% of the net proceeds from Graceland, the Memphis home of the legendary Elvis Presley, collected on Saturday, Sept. 10, to aid the hurricane victims, Sillerman said. The American Idols tour will also add a show Sunday, Sept. 11th in Syracuse, N.Y. at the War Memorial in the OnCenter, with all net proceeds of that concert going to the victims as well. In addition, Sillerman announced that CKX will match contributions made by its employees to the American Red Cross for hurricane relief. Sillerman made the first CKX donation, $100,000, and a total of more than $300,000 has already been collected.
All donations will be made to the American Red Cross. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims of this tragic and horrific hurricane," Sillerman said. I am sure Elvis Presley's fans as well as our Idol audience will be pleased to see that their support of our entertainment properties will be helping their neighbors who have suffered such tremendous losses. We at CKX are proud of our employees' swift and generous response to this crisis."
CKX owns controlling interests in Elvis Presley Enterprises, which operates Graceland; 19 Entertainment, one of the producers of the American Idol television program and the IDOLS television brand, airing in more than 30 countries around the world; and Morra, Brezner, Steinberg & Tenenbaum Entertainment, Inc. a leading manager of comedic talent and producer of motion pictures and television programming. ...
- MTV expands digital strategy
By Dave Itzkoff
(Rocky Mountain News / New York Times, September 7 2005)
When MTV executive Van Toffler returned from his weekend trip to Live 8's London stage, he found the network awash in complaints about its hectic, rapid-fire treatment of the international event. So he began working the phones. After two days of talking to concert organizers and performers, he extended an olive branch to MTV's audience: 10 commercial-free hours of Live 8 would be shown on MTV and VH1 the next weekend.
... Toffler didn't start out hoping to run a corporate behemoth. After college, he became a lawyer working with the Elvis Presley estate and helping to oversee Michael Jackson's acquisition of the Beatles catalog. But he concluded that the law was less engaging than the life of a career-making, Clive Davis-style impresario. Also, he said, "I was a horrible lawyer from Day 1." ...
- A musician's bumpy journey: Brazilian Seu Jorge, playing at I/O Thursday, tells it like it is in music with a contemporary samba beat
By JORDAN LEVIN
(Miami Herald, September 7 2005)
In The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Seu Jorge is a strange figure in a strange movie: A rail thin, dreadlocked man who keeps popping up to strum David Bowie songs in Portuguese on the guitar, one of a crew of misfits on a Cousteau-like expedition in a surreal satire led by Bill Murray. Dreamily intoning songs like Life on Mars, Jorge seems like a figure from another world. Which he is. The man who one British paper said should be nominated as the coolest guy on the planet grew up in a brutal slum outside Rio de Janeiro. After his brother was murdered in a battle with a rival gang, the family ended up on the street, and 20-year-old Jorge spent several years homeless.
... Cru (which translates as ''raw'') is sparse contemporary samba, where Jorge's rough voice comes through with a wide range of emotion: yearning on love songs like Jorge's Tive Razao (I Was Right), musing and mournful on Eu Sou Favela (I Am Favela). There's a somber cover of a Serge Gainsbourg song, Chatterton, about suicide, and an oddly slow, dreamy version of Leiber and Stoller's Don't, made famous by Elvis Presley. ''I love Elvis as he was a white guy bringing black music to the masses!'' Jorge says. ...
- BLUE HAWAI'I LIVES ON
By Taren Fujimoto
(KAUAI News, September 7 2005)
The vision of a dashing, young Elvis Presley serenading his love afloat a beautifully-adorned, double-haul canoe down a long-winding lagoon in the 1961 film "Blue Hawaii" propagated the world's perception of the traditional Hawaiian wedding, and forever immortalized Kaua'i's regarded resort, Coco Palms, establishing it as the prime destination for marital bliss.
As a testament to its timeliness, the legendary enchantment of "Blue Hawaii" lives on. To this day, nearly 50 years after the movie was shot here, a constant barrage of Elvis fans and fanatics the world over flock to the famous site in hopes of recreating their own "Blue Hawaii" fantasy wedding, such as David Stoddard and Toni Jenary, who hail from Woodbridge, Va. "The groom has some kind of connection to Elvis, and is a big fan," noted Keala Huffman, the couple's wedding planner, owner and founder of Kalaheo-based Tropical Dream Wedding. "He's so sweet, he's saving everything from their wedding in a keepsake box to treasure forever. The couple wanted every aspect of their wedding day to be perfect, similar to the movie, and did not want a cheesy type of wedding package. They wanted the real thing."
Huffman, who's been in business on Kaua'i since 1997, has received inquires on a statewide, national and international basis, drawing couples from the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Canada, and a host of other countries. "It's overwhelming to think of how many people from all over the globe just love Elvis and 'Blue Hawaii,'" remarked Huffman. "A lot of people are drawn to this wedding package because of many things, including their love for The King and the appeal of old Hawai'i. I think it's also the idea of the ceremony itself which also romances couples to have a 'Blue Hawaii' wedding," she added. ...
- Woman remembers McCook's hopping jazz scene
(Sioux City Journal / Associated Press, September 6 2005)
A Gering [Neb.] woman would like a brick or two from the old Bureau of Reclamation building in McCook when it's torn down this fall. JoAnn Corcoran Duke remembers the building not only as the Bureau, but also as "The Gayway Ballroom and Cafe" run by her father, Jim Corcoran.
A brick salvaged as the building is razed to make way for parking for the new Bureau office could be added to the other memorabilia JoAnn has from the Gayway. ... JoAnn said the demise of the Gayway could be blamed on several "signs of the times," including the growing popularity of rock-and-roll music and of the ultimate rocker, Elvis Presley. "The Big Band era was ending," she writes. "They (the bands) stayed in the big cities or disbanded." JoAnn also said the closing of the Army Air Base north of McCook also played a part in the Gayway's end. The Air Base closing meant that soldiers and their dates and wives were no longer coming into town for entertainment.
- N. O. has special place in Hollywood's heart
By Margaret McGurk
(Clarion-Ledger / Cincinnati Enquirer, September 6 2005)
The devastation from Hurricane Katrina reminds Americans of the special place that New Orleans holds in the nation's heart, even for those who have seen it only in movies. The city has long been a magnet for moviemakers, who raised it to iconic status in films like these:
* New Orleans (1947) - This silly but rollicking musical tale about a high society girl hooked on jazz showcased the music of the great Louis Armstrong, plus Billie Holliday, Woody Herman and many more.
* A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - Marlon Brando brought the heat to this now-classic American story from Tennessee Williams ‹ the playwright who made the city his muse.
* King Creole (1958) - By many reckonings, this dark-toned story about a street kid scrapping for respect was Elvis Presley's best film. Co-stars Carolyn Jones and Walter Matthau, plus director Michael Curtiz, definitely helped.
* The Big Easy (1987) - The definitive New Orleans movie of the last 20 years stirred up a spicy gumbo of music, politics, crime, corruption and romance; with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin.
* Interview with the Vampire (1994) - Novelist Anne Rice set her steamy vampire tale in her beloved hometown, and director Neil Jordan caught her spirit in the movie version starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and a young Kirsten Dunst.
* Double Jeopardy (1999) - Passion and intrigue rule the polite circles of New Orleans where Ashley Judd seeks revenge after she is falsely convicted of murder.
- New 2.99 per cent variable from first direct
(Fair Investment Company, September 6 2005)
[UK] First direct has launched a new cheap variable rate mortgage with a discounted rate of 2.99 per cent until May 2006. It believes that the discounted rate is the lowest currently on offer from any national bank or building society. After May 2006 borrowers will switch to its standard variable rate which currently stands at 5.5 per cent. First direct - a subsidiary of HSBC - calculates that borrowers with a £100,000 mortgage over 25 years could save up to £19,800 over the mortgage's term compared to customers of Halifax. Halifax's standard variable is currently 6.5 per cent. First direct's chief executive, Richard Kimber, said: "This mortgage is a win-win for homeowners. First, the lowest rate since Elvis was in short trousers, thanks to our new discount. Then, a low standard variable rate that anyone paying Halifax's painfully high SVR would cry for. ...
- New York City Welcomes Chevy Music Festival Featuring Three Days of Free Concerts and Attractions
(Auto Channel, September 6 2005)
The "Chevy Music Festival in Union Square Park" free public concert series hits New York City on Tuesday, September 6, bringing the sounds of Nashville to Union Square Park while revving up excitement for the 39th Annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards. For three days, Chevy will treat urban cowboys and girls to twice-daily live shows by some of country music's biggest stars, along with attractions and activities for music fans of all tastes. ... Over the course of the Chevy Music Festival, which will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, visitors can see rare music memorabilia from the 1950s to today, including Elvis Presley's iconic jumpsuit from his 1972 Madison Square Garden concert, the "Give Peace a Chance" drawing by John Lennon, and Big Kenny's hat from the Big & Rich "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" video. Guests can compete for prizes in trivia contests, as well as burn a free CD of tracks from today's top rock, pop, hip-hop and country music artists at the on-site CD burning station. ...
- Morning Briefing - Elvis probably never drove this fast
By STEVE MOORE
(Sun News, September 5 2005)
For Wally Dallenbach Jr., the celebrity ride-along has become a tradition. He has been doing them since he became a NASCAR commentator for NBC and TNT in 2001. On Sunday at California Speedway, actor Josh Duhamel, star of the NBC series "Las Vegas," got to ride along in a Nextel Cup race car at speeds reaching 175 mph and later said he enjoyed the experience. That hasn't been the case with everyone. David Spade was ready to get out of the car before they even took off at Darlington in 2003, and Lisa Marie Presley kept asking Dallenbach to slow down when she rode at Daytona Beach, Fla., this year. "If you don't want to go fast and be up against the wall, then don't get in the car," Dallenbach said Sunday. "Go for a ride in a pace car." ...
- The new State Fair fare? I'm fried and gone to heaven
By Jacquielynn Floyd
(Dallas Morning News, September 5 2005)
This is not intended as a slight to the extravagant parades and shows, the flashy new cars, or the handsome livestock showcased at the State Fair of Texas. No one knows better than I that the mighty fair is a cornucopia of sensory stimuli catering to every conceivable human craving. But the No. 1 reason you load up grandma and the kids for the trip to Fair Park every year is the food. It's your annual grease-injection, sugar-snarfing, fat-be-damned, gimme-a-twenty-I-need-more-coupons nutritional train wreck and it ranks somewhere between Thanksgiving dinner and Armageddon. You know it and I know it and it's confirmed every year by surveys of satisfied and unrepentant fair visitors. Salad? We don't need no stinkin' salad. ... In keeping with the new fair theme, "Let Yourself Go," I suggest you let yourself go on a three-day fast before you hit the fair and let yourself go buy a bigger belt, because you're going to need it.
Since the fair's secondary theme is all-things-Elvis, vendors were asked this year to develop "Foods Elvis Would Have Loved." Elvis might have lived longer had he not loved such foods quite so much, of course, but then, had he held it to once a year, he would probably have been OK. ...
- Evacuees Fan Out Through 50 States
(CBS News / Associated Press, September 5 2005)
With a shattered New Orleans all but emptied out, an unprecedented refugee crisis unfolded across the United States, as governors and emergency officials rushed to feed, clothe and shelter more than a half million people dispossessed by Hurricane Katrina. ... In Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, relief workers turned the post where Elvis Presley entered the Army in 1958 into a processing center for victims. There, the homeless were registered by the Social Security Administration, checked by doctors and given post office boxes. ...
- HAPPY TENTH EBAY: £25bn SITE THAT HAS US ALL BUYING & SELLING
(Mirror, September 4 2005)
IT has become the world's most popular way to window shop and is turning us into a nation of online auction addicts. As eBay celebrates its 10th birthday, it has grown from a computer geek's hobby to a £25billion business. With 157 million registered users worldwide there are, at any one time, three million items on sale in the UK alone and 22 million globally. The website gets 150,000 hits a minute. Like a global car boot sale, you can put just about anything up for sale and someone will make you an offer. eBay takes a small percentage as commission. Here's our 10 eBay Top 10s...
Priciest lots sold at auction
1. In 2003, a 340-year-old copy of Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre, which survived the Great Fire of London in 1666, was snapped up for £5million.
2. A 12-seater Gulfstream II jet went for £3.2m in 2001.
3. A Ferrari Enzo sports car - one of only 399 built - sold for £544,000 in 2003.
4. In 2002 an 82-acre town, Bridgeville in California, was sold for £531,250.
5. A silver VW Golf once owned by Pope BenedictXVI fetched £128,000 this year.
6. A handbag once owned by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fetched £103,000.
7. A drill which helped dig the Channel Tunnel sold for £39,999.
8. Lady Penelope's Rolls-Royce from the original Thunderbirds TV show sold for £20,000.
9. A 10-year-old sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary went for £17,500.
10. A decommissioned nuclear bunker in Pickering, N Yorks, sold for £17,100 in June last year.
... The weirdest items sold
1. A £5 note - which went for £6.99
2. GMTV girl Kate Garraway's half eaten banana fetched £1,650.
3. Chewing gum spat out by Britney Spears went for £270.
4. A half-empty bottle of hair colour once used by tragic grunge star Kurt Cobain fetched £175.
5. The 'meaning of life' was sold by a man in California for £1.72.
6. A bottle of holy water allegedly 'blessed' by rocker Ozzy Osbourne was bought for £12.50.
7. A branch of a tree that broke off during Elvis's funeral at Graceland in 1977 fetched £467.50.
8. Wayne Rooney's plaster cast after he broke his foot at Euro 2004 was sold for £2,000.
9. A 'haunted' painting in which the children allegedly come alive at night went for £543.
10. Mud from the Glastonbury Festival.
... Lots that were once the stars'
1. Three tablespoons of water from a cup Elvis sipped at a 1977 gig were sold last year for £252 by
Wade Jones of North Carolina.
2. A tooth said to have been pulled from Elvis Presley's mouth failed to attract the minimum £60,000 selling price in 2003.
3. A ball from Elvis's pool table went for £937.
4. A hanging plastic fern from Graceland sold for £395.
5. Singer Justin Timberlake's half-eaten French toast sold on the website for £1,971 with his fork and syrup thrown in.
6. Former Big Brother contestant Emma Greenwood sold her pink suitcase from the show for £1,950.
7. Rocker Bryan Adams's dirty socks went for £551 to a fan .
8. Christina Aguilera's used bathwater and thong made £810.
9. Socks with Christmas trees on belonging to Sir Cliff Richard, went for £80.
10. George Michael's 1991 black Range Rover with the registration number J5 STUD sold for £11,600.
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