late October, 2005
- Still Playing the Heartbreak Hotel
By PHIL SWEETLAND
(New York Times, October 30 2005)
These days, the Jordanaires play the sort of circuit you'd expect for Country Music Hall of Famers - not to mention Rockabilly, Gospel Music and Vocal Group Hall of Famers - who have managed to stay on their feet. In August they were at a casino in Tunica, Miss.; next Saturday they'll be in Wheeling, W.Va. ... If Mr. Stoker seems a little blasé about the charts, he can be excused: as Elvis Presley's longtime backup singers, the Jordanaires got used to being there. They have been a constant in American music since 1948, backing up Patsy Cline, George Jones and Rick Nelson, among hundreds of others, in addition to Presley. They estimate that they've sung on some 30,000 records - from Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" to Jimmy Dean's "Big Bad John" to Nelson's "Lonesome Town"- that have collectively sold more than 2.5 billion copies.
- Elvis Could Get Own License Plate in Tenn.
(Yahoo! News / USA TODAY, October 29 2005)
The folks who keep the world supplied with Elvis T-shirts and coffee mugs have a new project in the works - an Elvis Presley license plate. Not a fake Elvis license plate, mind you, but a real one sanctioned by the state of Tennessee. Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. can move ahead with its plan when 1,000 orders for the plates are assured. The state requires that minimum number of sales to approve a so-called specialty license plate, which costs $35 more than a regular tag. If approved, the Elvis license plates would be available only for cars registered in the state of Tennessee. Proceeds would go to the Regional Medical Center, the Memphis region's main publicly supported hospital and home of the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center. The license plate would feature an image of Presley with a guitar and "1956" in large, bold numbers. That was the year Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" made No. 1 on the pop music charts.
Tennessee already has 150 such plates that brought in $8.4 million last year.
- Elvis Makes the Most Cash From Beyond the Grave
(Fox News, October 27 2005)
Elvis Presley tops the annual Forbes list of celebrities who are the top moneymakers from beyond the grave. The singer, who died in 1977, made an estimated $45 million in the past year. Cartoonist Charles Schulz (2000) is next on the list with $35 million, followed by musician John Lennon (1980), who raked in $22 million. Artist Andy Warhol's (1987) take was $16 million, "Cat in the Hat" author Dr. Seuss (1991) made $10 million, followed by actor Marlon Brando (2004) with $9 million. Actress Marilyn Monroe(1962) and "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien (1973) are tied with $8 million apiece. George Harrison (2001), Johnny Cash (2003), and Irving Berlin (1989) finished in a three-way tie, with each musician bringing in $7 million. ...
- Elvis still 'king of royalties': Elvis Presley heads a list of top-earning dead celebrities compiled by business magazine Forbes
(BBC News, October 27 2005)
The Memphis singer, who died in 1977, generated $45m (£25.2m) for his estate this year through royalties. It is the fifth consecutive year that Elvis has topped the list. Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz - who died in 2000 - was second, with $35m (£19.6m). Forbes calculated that the heirs of Shakespeare would collect $15m (£8.4m), if his work was still copyrighted. Former Beatle John Lennon was at number three with $22m (£12.3m) in royalties while artist Andy Warhol was at number four with $16m (£8.9m).
1. Elvis Presley
2. Charles Schulz
3. John Lennon
4. Andy Warhol
5. Theodor Geisel
6. Marlon Brando
7. Marilyn Monroe
8. JRR Tolkien
9. George Harrison
10. Johnny Cash
11. Irving Berlin
12. Bob Marley
13. Ray Charles
This year's list also showed the big impact of Hollywood as Johnny Cash ($7m/£3.9m) and Ray Charles ($6m/£3.3m) broke into the top rankings as the release or planned release of film biographies boosted their royalty statements. The magazine compiled a 13-strong list, which also included Theodor Geisel, author of the Dr Seuss stories, JRR Tolkien and George Harrison. Interest in the music of Elvis Presley remains high, with a number of anniversary singles released in the UK in recent months. In February entertainment mogul Robert Sillerman bought an 85% stake in the singer's estate for $100m (£51m).He runs Presley's Memphis home Graceland, will own Elvis' name and likeness, the rights to his photographs and revenue from his music and films.
- World a better place because of Rosa Parks
(Kinston Free Press, October 27 2005)
The 1960s were a turbulent time for race relations. Before the decade was out, fires sparked by hatred would be burning major cities. Rhetoric was as fierce as the flames. Weapons were brandished. Social reform was promised by any means necessary. Legislation promised to deliver rights the Negro race thought it had coming since Emancipation a hundred years earlier. Who would have thought the death blow to Jim Crow would be delivered five years before that fiery decade by a mild-mannered little black woman on a public bus? Rosa Parks maintained dignity throughout her 92 years on earth, the last 50 as an icon of social movement. Her death this week closes the door on the earthly life of a woman who did not aspire to greatness, but became famous as the "mother of the civil rights movement" for her refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. The scene was played out in Montgomery, Ala., in December 1955. For her act of refusal, she was jailed and fined $14. Rosa Parks said later in life that she did not relinquish her seat because "I had a right to be treated as any other passenger. We had endured that kind of treatment for too long."
... On a recent list of 100 Greatest Americans, Rosa Parks ranked eighth, behind Elvis Presley, Ronald Reagan, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George Washington, Oprah Winfrey, and the Wright Brothers. Abraham Lincoln ranked ninth and Dr. King was tenth. ...
- Jerry Lewis Looks Back and Wonders What Might Have Been
By TODD S. PURDUM
(New York Times, October 27 2005)
Sixty years after [Jerry Lewis] got his start miming wacky routines to pop records at the Glass Hat nightclub in the old Belmont Plaza Hotel, just across Lexington Avenue from the suite where he now sits; nearly 50 years after the bitter breakup of his blockbuster partnership with Dean Martin; and four years after pulmonary fibrosis nearly felled him, Mr. Lewis is back in Manhattan to begin what he calls "a Jewish Bataan death march." His mission: a nationwide book tour to promote his new memoir, "Dean and Me: A Love Story" (Doubleday) - a peppy, poignant account of their 10 years together, their famous falling-out and their two decades of halting, late-in-life reconciliation before Mr. Martin's death on Christmas Day, 1995. ... The book conjures up a lost time of mob-run nightclubs where glamorous grown-ups watched live entertainment at 3 in the morning, and when two guys with what might have been the last great vaudeville act could rule the world. For the first half of the 1950's, Martin and Lewis were among the movies' top box-office draws, a smash television team on "The Colgate Comedy Hour" and a cultural phenomenon that bridged the eras of Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley. ...
- 'Dean & Me' really is a love story
By Mike Clark
(Yahoo! News / USA TODAY, October 26 2005)
A showbiz act every bit as big as what Elvis Presley and The Beatles were later to become, the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis dominated movies, TV and nightclubs for 10 years until they broke up acrimoniously in 1956. Until Martin's death on Christmas Day in 1995, the two reunited on stage only twice - each time a brief, surprise walk-on by one as the other was performing. ...
- Sonny Fisher: Singer-songwriter who fused country music with the blues to produce rockabilly - Obituary
By Garth Cartwright
(The Guardian, October 26 2005)
Sonny Fisher, one of America's pioneering rockabilly artists, has died in Houston aged 73. Fisher never achieved anything more than regional stardom in the US during the 1950s yet, when London's Ace Records reissued his 1956 recordings in 1979, he found himself proclaimed king of the rockabilly revival. Born Therman Fisher on a farm in Chandler, Texas, he was nicknamed "Sonny". His father sang cowboy songs and accompanied himself on guitar; when the young Sonny heard country music on the radio, he vowed to become a musician. Subsequently, he taught himself to sing and play guitar. Sonny shifted with his family to California and Washington state as a youth, but returned to Texas, settling in Houston, where he put together a country music band. The band played Houston nightclubs and Sonny began paying attention to the new rhythm and blues music that youths, both black and white, were beginning to celebrate. Adding the exceptionally gifted guitarist Joey Long to the band enabled Sonny to start playing a potent mix of country and blues: in a couple of years time this would become known internationally as rockabilly.
In 1954 Sonny went to see Elvis Presley's initial Houston performances. Duly impressed, he believed his rockabilly sound could succeed. While playing the Cosy Corner nightclub in Houston, Fisher was spotted by the club's owner, Jack Starnes, who also happened to be one of the owners of Starday Records. Starday was a country music label, but Starnes, aware of Presley's success, wanted a share of the action, so signed Fisher. His first recording session took place in early January 1955 and the single, Rockin' Daddy, did well in the South. ...
- Elvis Presley's 1st Drummer DJ Fontana, Millie Kirkham Sign On With John Krondes and The Elvis "Hit Making Team"!!!
(PRWEB, October 26 2005)
No Short of a Miracle, The Divine Rock 'n Roll Mission of The Elvis "Hit Making Team" Keeps Elvis and His Dream Alive!!!
Is it the second Comeback for Elvis Presley? However you brand it, believe it, or see it; The Dream Lives! Over the last year and half, the young singer/songwriter John Krondes continues to beat the odds and the laws of the universe. After meeting the Jordanaires in Las Vegas a few years ago, and recording his Dad's song "The End," Krondes has found a new beginning both for himself and Elvis in music. The very same song "The End" that Elvis sang to Priscilla on the night they met has become the seed that harvested the return of All The King's Men to the studio. The music making relationship of John Krondes and The Jordanaires has mushroomed to include now virtually all of Elvis Presley's original "Hit Team."
The laws of nature have been suspended in this remarkable story of John Krondes and the Elvis "Hit Making team". The supernatural powers at be in Rock 'n Roll heaven continue to shun the nay sayers and disbelievers as the dream lives on. M any of the faithful Elvis followers now see these fateful series of meetings between the King's men and John Krondes as occurences that are above nature and above man. For the very first time since Elvis died in 1977, through this eerie "whatchamacallit" project, The "TCB" Band, Elvis' Memphis studio band "The Memphis Boys", the Sweet Inspirations, Jordanaires, Elvis Writers, Producers, and Elvis' best friend Joe Esposito have flocked together to make new music.
Guiness Book of World Records watch out. This past week has witnessed the new addition of D.J. Fontana and Millie Kirkham to the Elvis "Hit Making Team." Elvis Presley's very first drummer and Elvis singer Millie Kirham rocked with John Krondes and Elvis Presley's "Memphis Boys" band at Masterfonics recording studio in Nashville last week. Just months shy of completing the first compilation of new music in nearly 30 years together, the addition of D.J. and Millie completed the Elvis circle and sent a few new shock waves through the Elvis World.
Elvis composer Paul Evans wrote two new songs with singer/songwriter John Krondes for the latest Nashville sessions and pulled a couple more rabbits out of his hat. The Evans/Krondes team wrote a new arrangement on Paul Evans song "Something Blue" which Elvis recorded in 1962. Both D.J. Fontana and the Jordanaires with Millie Kirkham performed on the original version with Elvis. "Something Blue" was never released in the U.S. as a single but has found new life in this new recording by John Krondes with D.J. Fontana, Millie, the Jordanaires and the "Memphis Boys". The "Hit Team" was joined last week as well by Elvis Pianist Bobby Ogdin. Ogdin played live and on recorded music with Elvis in the 1970s. Evans as well provided the "Hit Team" with two additional songs that Elvis was planning to record.
D.J. Fontana and Miss Millie Kirkham answered Heaven's call and have become part of our Miracle and Dream Come True. Both D.J. and Millie were part of Elvis Presley's beginning and remained a vital part of the Presley team for many years.
D.J. Fontana, began his historical stint with Elvis in 1954 at the Louisiana Hayride. Fontana worked as a staff drummer with Elvis at the Hayride. More notably, D.J. Fontana drummed up a hit with Elvis in 1956 with "Heartbreak Hotel" the first of 17 number one hits. Fontana played on all the Elvis Movie tracks, appeared in four movies, "G.I. Blues", "Loving You", "Jailhouse Rock" and "King Creole". D.J. as well appeared with Elvis on all TV shows through 1968 including the "'68 Comeback Special". D.J. Fontana can be seen playing with Elvis on shows such as Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle and Steve Allen. D.J.'s amazing career continued to include work with Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones, and a Grammy Nomination in 1998 with Scotty Moore.
As for little Miss Millie, Rock 'n Roll Heaven has called on this Angel to help keep the dream alive. Elvis Sopranoist Millie Kirkham began her association with Elvis in a 1957 recording session. That session yielded "Blue Christmas" and other classics sung by Millie Kirkham and the Jordanaires. Millie can be heard on other Elvis standards such as "The Wonder Of You," "How Great Thou Art," "Surrender," "Don't" amongst many other greats. Millie worked with Elvis on recordings as late as 1975, just two years shy of Elvis' passing.
After breaking the Top-40 Charts in the U.S. with "Vegas In The Morning," John Krondes has just released "Indiana Girl" which FMQB has shown to have been the #1 Most Added new song in the U.S. for two straight weeks. To hear "Indiana Girl" by John Krondes go to FMQB.com and then look for "Indiana Girl" on the AC Home Page or click this link: http://www.fmqbproductions.com/epks/2005/johnkrondes/radio.html. Look for the release of the new CD "If I Can Dream" by John Krondes and The Elvis "Hit Making Team" in early 2006. Music by John Krondes and The Jordanaires is available at Amazon.com and other fine internet retailers.
The Elvis World welcomes D.J. Fontana, Millie Kirkham and Bobby Ogdin to the history making music venture by John Krondes and the Elvis "Hit Making Team". History continues to repeat itself in this magnificent musical undertaking by the Elvis "Hit Team." The music world can look forward to many new and exciting recordings with D.J. Fontana on the beat again with John and The Jordanaires. Elvis lives as his memory is in our hearts, thoughts and the souls of John Krondes and the Elvis "Hit Making Team."
- All that and Elvis's neighbor too. Uptown developers couldn't ask for better bona fides for property manager -- CEO lived next door to the King
By Amos Maki
(Commercial Appeal, October 25 2005)
As a young boy, Frank Jemison Jr. lived next door to Elvis Presley when the King called Audubon Drive home. Now, Jemison's company, ALCO Management Inc., will be managing the former housing project turned apartment complex where a young Elvis lived with his family and practiced guitar in a basement laundry room. ...
- Talent over Hype
By David E. Gumpert
(Yahoo! Finance, October 25 2005)
Top entertainers are also entrepreneurs, and the most successful ones have long employed sophisticated branding and promotional techniques to entice fans to pay big bucks for their concerts and their CDs and DVDs. Elvis Presley made soppy love-story movies, the Beatles held cutesy press conferences, and the Rolling Stones initiated seemingly endless glitzy world tours. Given that tradition, it's truly an eye-opening experience to watch Martin Scorsese's recent documentary about the rise of Bob Dylan, No Direction Home . Dylan is clearly a different sort of entertainer-entrepreneur than his contemporaries because he's almost antipromotional, and that's what makes the documentary so fascinating. ...
- KATE BUSH POKES FUN AT ELVIS MYTH IN NEW VIDEO
(contactmusic.com, October 25 2005)
Pop recluse KATE BUSH pokes fun at the 'ELVIS PRESLEY is alive myth' in the video for her comeback single KING OF THE MOUNTAIN by dancing with The King's white jumpsuit. The famous outfit jumps off a coathanger to jig with the WUTHERING HEIGHTS hitmaker in the promo, as fantastic newspaper headlines about Presley, including 'I Had Elvis' Alien Baby' and 'Sighting of Elvis in Yeti Colony' float onto the screen. In the song, Bush sings, 'Elvis, are you hiding somewhere, looking like a happy man.' She also references movie mogul ORSON WELLES in the tune, singing about the mythical sledge ROSEBUD from Welles' classic CITIZEN KANE. The sledge, with Rosebud written on it, appears in the last frame of the video.
- Singing Elvis Mug
(gadgetryblog.com, October 24 2005)
Forget Robbie Williams and Michael Jackson - when it comes to men of music, there's only one true King. Chico! Okay, obviously not really. I do of course mean the one and only Elvis. Some people think he popped his clogs sitting on the lav back in the seventies, but I know better - he's alive and well, and living in this singing mug. The Elvis Singing Mug is activated via a movement sensor in the base (removable for safe washing of the mug). Pick up your mug for a glug, and Elvis will entertain you with a rendition of Happy Birthday in his own unique 'uh-huh-huh' style. When you're still half asleep in the morning, it can help stir you to consciousness. When you're bored silly in the office mid-afternoon, it should cheer you up. Hey, it's got to be more entertaining than the sound of the boss whingeing in your ear all day long. If Elvis isn't your thing, there's also a Talking Ozzy Mug or Del Boy Mug.
- Jackpot Size Doesn't Reveal Much about a Slot Machine
By Alan Krigman
(Rolling Good Times Online, October 24 2005)
Many slot players use jackpot size to select from among nominally similar machines. Once they've decided on what to bet per pull and opted for a single-outcome or multi-line "matrix" game, the choices are still mind-boggling. Some solid citizens go to one machine or another because they like the theme, say a Popeye cartoon or Elvis Presley. Others stick with games on which they or their cousin Primrose have been lucky before. But, and this is admittedly anecdotal rather than based on empirical evidence, the jackpot is often the determining factor. ...
- Dead beats
By Amina Taylor
(Guardian Unlimited, October 24 2005)
What could possibly be tackier than a pop star releasing new albums long after he's dead? Well, how about two of them, doing a duet. I had never given much thought to how the musical offspring of reggae legend Bob Marley and slain rapper the Notorious BIG might sound. I got an answer to this unasked question, however, when a CD landed on my doorstep the other day, containing a track featuring the two music legends. This duet - if you can call it that, given that both singers were dead when the record was made - will shortly be released as the single Hold Ya Head. Both Marley and BIG were used to pushing the musical envelope while alive, but this effort would still have surprised them. I know I scratched my head wondering why anyone would risk the reputations of two of the industry's most influential artists for this ghoulish effort.
The guilty parties, of course, are the late artists' estates - the teams of lawyers, accountants and trustees that manage dead performers' assets, usually under the guidance of one or more of the deceased's relatives. ... Posthumous collaborations are nothing new: singer Natalie Cole proved how profitable they could be in 1991 when she teamed up with her late father Nat King Cole on the album Unforgettable, which sold 5m copies. She was keeping the responsibility of her father's legacy in the family, at least, but there is much to be said for letting fans remember the artist as they were. Death remains one of the greatest moves in any rock'n'roll career. Many established artists, actors and other entertainers make more when they are six feet under than they did when they were alive. The American magazine Forbes publishes a yearly list of Top Earning Dead Celebrities, whose members must make at least $5m annually. In the list's four years, no one has yet budged Elvis Presley from the top spot.
... Who decides what's tasteful and what's just plain tacky? Knowing that there are great financial rewards at stake, artists' estates are less likely than ever before to be careful with the reputations of their charges. You'll recall the Steve McQueen adverts where the King of Cool's performance in Bullitt was used to sell us a Ford. Then there were the old One2One commercials, wherein a celeb told us which famous dead person they would like to have a chat with. Remember Kate Moss saying she would like to have a one-to-one with Elvis? This seems like a bad drug joke now, but did Ian Wright choosing Martin Luther King or Chris Evans opting for John Lennon sit any more easily? ... Thanks to Elvis and Sinatra and Marilyn and Tupac and their dead friends, our popular culture is already squeezed under the great back catalogue of music and films from the past. We don't need these people creating new stuff, too. Let's leave at least a little space clear for the living.
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