early November, 2005
- La. gets new TV, film projects: Movies slated in next year to be worth $200 million to state
By CHAD CALDER
(2theadvocate.com, November 11 2005)
A $200 million batch of film and television projects expected to be made in Louisiana next year includes "Banner Days," a film based on a female wrestler's long-term love affair with Elvis Presley, and an action movie called "Winter Heat." Other films include "Miamiland," a remake of "My Funny Valentine," and another television movie and feature film. The projects are:
... "BANNER DAYS": It is a feature film based on a true story and book of the same title written by Penny Banner, the first female wrestling champion, who had a long liaison with entertainer Elvis Presley. Pat Bradley ("The Buddy Holly Story") wrote the screenplay. ...
- Elvis impersonator helps recover items
(Daily Times / AP, November 11 2005)
A retired Elvis impersonator helped Las Vegas police nab a man suspected of stealing more than $300,000 worth of memorabilia from the Elvis-A-Rama museum, authorities said Wednesday. ... [as below]
- Retired Elvis impersonator helps catch thief, police say
(USA Today / AP, November 11 2005)
A retired Elvis Presley impersonator helped police nab a man suspected of stealing more than $300,000 worth of memorabilia from the Elvis-A-Rama museum, authorities said Wednesday. Duke Adams, a 62-year-old "older-era Elvis," said he was approached while in line at a pharmacy by a man offering to sell him items once owned by Presley, including jewelry, clothing and the king's revolver. Remembering the March 2004 burglary, Adams said he asked the man to stop by his business the next day. Adams went home and called police. Authorities arrested Eliab Aguilar last week after the Las Vegas man brought all but one of the stolen items to Adams' employment agency, police said. ...
- It takes an Elvis lookalike to catch a thief of King's jewels
By BRIAN HAYNES
(Las Vegas Review-Journal, November 10 2005)
He wears oversize gold-framed glasses. He has a jet- black pompadour and burly sideburns. Gold medallions dangle from his neck, and gold rings flash on his fingers. Even in Las Vegas, Duke Adams stands out. The Elvis Presley look-alike's appearance usually brings smiles and hugs. Last week, however, it brought him a proposition that helped Las Vegas police find a cache of The King's stolen jewelry. The jewelry went missing in March 2004, when a thief broke into the Elvis-A-Rama Museum near the Strip and stole more than $300,000 in jewels that once belonged to Presley, including his high school ring and a gold-plated pistol.
The case was cold -- until Adams went to the pharmacy last week. Adams, 62, was leaving the pharmacy when a man asked him if he wanted to buy some genuine Presley jewelry. Adams, an avid Elvis memorabilia collector and occasional impersonator, declined at first, but as the persistent man described the pieces, Adams made a connection. "Then it clicked -- Elvis-A-Rama. The thought just clicked. Boom," Adams said Wednesday at his employment agency office, just around the corner from the Las Vegas Hilton, which hosted Presley's late career comeback. The museum burglary made international news. The thief used a stolen tow truck to open a rear door. Once inside, the thief smashed three glass display cases and snatched some of the museum's most prized possessions. The total loot was estimated at more than $300,000, and it would have been higher had the thief taken a pair of blue suede shoes in one of the displays. The collection belonged to Chris Davidson, who co-owned the museum and has since sold the tourist attraction.
Once Adams made the connection, he gave the man his business card and told him to stop by his office the next day. The next morning, Adams talked to Detective Kelli Hickle, a property crimes investigator who had been on the case since the beginning. She told him to call her if the man showed up. That afternoon he did. Adams called police, then took the man into his office. Sitting at a cramped table in a back room, the man opened his canvas bag and laid out the loot on the table, Adams said. Adams knew police were on the way and stalled. The man told him he was buying a house and would sell all the pieces for $80,000, Adams said.
At one point, the man asked about a job. Adams had an assistant get an application form. Before the man could fill it out, two police officers showed up and arrested him, Adams said. The man seemed shocked, but he never said a word, Adams said. "He just must've known he was caught," Adams said.
The man, Eliab Aguilar, was charged with breaking into the museum, stealing a tow truck and stealing the jewelry. Hickle said she couldn't believe that all the stolen goods turned up in one place. The only item missing was a $700 scarf with the Las Vegas Hilton logo on it. "I know a lot of Elvis fans who are going to be happy," Hickle said. "I heard from a lot of them, and they were heartbroken." Adams said that he was glad to do his part and that the episode had left him a changed man. After his wife of 21 years, Elaine, died in June, Adams struggled through life, he said. But since the encounter at the pharmacy, he said, he's been overcome with a sense of calm and peace he hasn't felt since before his wife's death.
"I just believe my wife, God and Elvis have got their hands in this," Adams said. "They set me up to do the right thing."
- The Press of Battle
By Frank Mustac
(timescommunity.com, November 10 2005)
The stories he tells of being the first reporter to interview Elvis Presley upon his return to America from military service in Germany in 1960, getting an exclusive with the Beatles during their inaugural trip to New York in 1964, a one-on-one Q&A with former President Harry S. Truman, plus all his other radio broadcast scoops could fill a book. In fact, retired journalist and Fairfax resident Jack Pulwers, 81, has written a book, but not about his career as chief New York correspondent for ABC News and as news director for ABC's flagship radio station in The Big Apple. Instead, Pulwers, who went by the name "Jack Powers" during his radio days, has written about one of his passions and a subject related to his 1983 dissertation, which earned him a doctorate in history at age 59 - the battlefield journalists and correspondents of World War II. ...
- Dream trip ends in tragedy
By Caroline O'Doherty
(Irish Examiner, November 10 2005)
AN Irish woman on a dream holiday to Nashville, Tennessee, has been killed in a bus accident. Nancy Earls from Arklow, Co Wicklow, was one of two people who died when a bus carrying Elvis Presley fans collided with a truck in the early hours of yesterday morning. Her travelling companions, her sister and brother-in-law Joan and Dennis McGuinness, also from Arklow, were released from hospital after treatment for cuts and bruises. Ms Earls, a widow in her late 50s with five grown-up children, was celebrating her birthday during the holiday to Nashville, where the group were taking in sights associated with Elvis. US media reported there were 15 tourists on the bus and they were being driven back to their hotels late on Wednesday local time. ...
- LCC seeks Elvis tribute artists
(TBN Stage & Theater, November 9 2005)
Largo Cultural Center is looking for several top Elvis tribute artists to participate in the Elvis Presley Tribute Birthday Bash on Sunday, Jan. 8. The Center seeks performers that best exemplify the King of Rock ¹n¹ Roll in talent, looks and audience appeal. Candidates should send a press kit including biography, photos and video to Largo Cultural Center, 105 Central Park Drive, P.O. Box 296, Largo, FL 33779-0296, or drop off a press kit at the Administrative Office by deadline Friday, Nov. 4, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 587-6751 or visit www.largoarts.com.
- True Hollywood Sad Stories: Book Chronicles Celebrity Deaths
By MATT EAGAN
(courant.com, November 9 2005)
All of us have a catalog of Hollywood deaths taking up valuable storage space in our brains. James Dean? Car wreck. Natalie Wood? Boating accident. And before you can say, "That was no boating accident," thoughts turn to the other member of the "Rebel Without a Cause" trio - Sal Mineo. Stabbed in the heart by an unknown attacker. But what about Charles Boyer or Peter Lorre? Lou Costello? The new anthology "Cut! Hollywood Murders, Accidents, and other Tragedies" (Barrons, $29.99) undertakes the macabre task of chronicling hundreds of Hollywood deaths.
The book does not shy from the cynicism of the industry, where a death - if it can be arranged when the star is young, pretty and on the rise - is a good career move and the ultimate extension of an ancient show-biz adage: Always leave them wanting more. More than anything else, simply through the accumulation of the details of one sad, lonely death after another, this book serves as a warning against the very stardom it celebrates. The stars of this book are not Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe but Klonopin and Seconal. ...
- All the King's men come to Gaithersburg again
By Chris Slattery
(gazette.net, November 9 2005)
The D.C. area has seen royal visits before, and this one's no exception. There will be pomp and pageantry, dazzling costumes, songs from long ago and far away. Old times will be remembered, money will be raised for those in need, and long-gone heroes will be celebrated once again - the sacred names spoken so the children of the next generation will know and remember: "Viva Las Vegas." "Blue Hawaii." "Jailhouse Rock." In the case of the latter - a West End musical recently folded ... John W. Fix is the mastermind and the master of ceremonies behind this charity extravaganza, this celebration of the American icon Elvis Presley, his music and his legacy. Fix is the executive producer, the power behind the throne - and because he himself is a tribute artist, the power behind the microphone, too. "I'm very serious. It's not a joke to me," says Fix. "I don't allow Elvis to be a joke, made fun of or spoofed." ...
- Elvis hospital blasted
By Scott Jenkins and wires
(Entertainment News, November 8 2005)
DEMOLITION experts in Memphis, Tennessee have detonated more than 360kg of explosives, toppling the 21-storey Baptist Memorial Hospital where Elvis Presley was pronounced dead. Loudspeakers blared Presley's All Shook Up as some loyal fans shed tears and others lounged on lawn chairs yesterday, sipping champagne mimosas and bloody marys. Presley's fans made regular pilgrimages to Baptist Hospital. The King of Rock'n'Roll was a regular patient, especially in his final years. Whenever Presley was in attendance, aluminium foil would be placed over his room's windows to keep out the light. Presley preferred to sleep during the day. During each of his stays, the hospital would be inundated with get-well teddy bears, cards and gifts. Presley's daughter Lisa Marie was born at Baptist Memorial Hosptal on February 1, 1968.
The building has left Elvis ... Baptist Memorial is no more
- The Great Elvis Cake Battle
(6abc Action News / Associated Press, November 7 2005)
The Food Network is putting rock and roll into pastries. Tomorrow it's hosting a baking challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, where pastry chefs must compete to make a rock and roll confection. The creation must incorporate the elements of rock and roll as a musical concept and as movement -- that is, it must literally rock and roll. On Thursday, the Food Network will host another competition at the the auto museum at Graceland. This time pastry chefs must bake and decorate a cake fit for Elvis' birthday. The air dates have yet to be announced, but the Elvis birthday cake episode is expected to be sometime around his birthday, January eighth.
- Graceland's style defines 'cool'
(californianonline.com, November 7 2005)
I finally made my pilgrimage to Graceland. And I finally get it. The Memphis home of Elvis Presley means different things to different people. Some go for the music, which blended country, blues and gospel into rock n' roll. Some go for the man, so popular that there are those who still refuse to believe he's dead. And still others, like myself, go to find out how to be cool. I've fluctuated between average coolness and below-average coolness for most of my life. My coolness fell to an all-time low during the buck-tooth/huge glasses/nasal voice years between ages 7 and 10, and it reached its peak at the end of high school when I finally got a car (a 1987 blue two-tone Toyota Celica).
But now, after I've been to Graceland - the birthplace of cool - I know what the word really means. Elvis created a timeless model of cool for the modern man - particularly the single, looking-to-get-girls modern man. Long before "Cribs" on MTV showcased rock stars' lavish homes, Elvis had the first real bachelor pad. Long before Snoop Dogg was hated by the establishment and loved by teenagers, Elvis was an outlaw in the eyes of conservative adults. And long before imitating musicians was a standard part of adolescence, boys sported the Elvis sideburns.
First, Elvis was cool because of his unique style. He exuded such bravado that he looked cool wearing anything - even ridiculous one-piece bejeweled tight white suits. Eventually, it didn't matter that the cape thing was sort of weird and the oversized glasses were a bit much. It was cool because it was Elvis. Second, Elvis had the larger-than-life presence needed to take his coolness to the next level. When women threw handkerchiefs on stage during concerts, Elvis picked them up, wiped his brow and tossed them back - all without stopping the song. Third, despite this absurd level of fame, Elvis apparently wasn't arrogant. He was actually a good guy, which is a crucial ingredient to coolness. He paid strangers' medical bills and bought them Cadillacs. He was known to actually say "ma'am" and "sir," and when he was drafted into the Army at the height of his popularity, he actually served. Can you imagine teeny-bopper Aaron Carter fighting alongside Marines in Iraq today? Fourth, Elvis was an oversized kid. He had tons of hobbies: football, karate, horseback riding, shooting guns, racing golf carts and riding snowmobiles. Like the most popular male interests today - from NASCAR to the NFL to PlayStation - they involved speed and violence. And finally - except for the years he was married to Priscilla - Elvis created the quintessential American bachelor pad at his Graceland mansion. It would become a template of how the single man would strive to live for generations.
Like bachelor pads today, Graceland was wired. There are still stereos everywhere, including one built into his white fur bed on his private plane and an eight-track player installed in his desk. And like bachelor pads today, the TV was a crucial fixture. Elvis had three TVs in one room - remember, this was the 1960s - so he could watch all three network news shows at once. Graceland had a $200,000 racquetball court with couches, a pinball machine and a bar. The famed "jungle room" had green shag carpeting on the walls to improve the acoustics for jam sessions, fake fur on the sofa to ensure the comfort of the ladies and a waterfall for the sake of having a waterfall. Of course, even cool kids have their problems, and Elvis ultimately died in the least cool way possible - while sitting on the toilet. At Graceland, though, there's no mention of Elvis being hooked on pills and overdosing at just age 42. There's no criticism of his music as more style than substance - just black blues repackaged with a white face.
But that's OK, because Elvis' role was more important than music. He had attitude before pop music, bling before hip-hop and sex symbol status before the Beatles. And for that, 'ya gotta love The King.
- 'Jukebox Musicals' Put Pop on Broadway
By Jeff Lunden
(NPR, November 7 2005)
What do the songs of ABBA, Billy Joel, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley and John Lennon have in common? They've all been the basis of a new category of Broadway entertainment: the jukebox musical, which takes popular song catalogs and places them in a dramatic context. The trend began with 2001's Mamma Mia!, which centered around the songs of '70s disco group Abba. Other shows -- Lennon, All Shook Up and Good Vibrations -- tried to replicate the Mamma Mia! phenomenon but failed. One jukebox-musical success is the Billy Joel-based Movin' Out, directed and choreographed by Twyla Tharp. Though the jukebox musical formula has not been foolproof for producers, attempts to create another big hit continue. Jersey Boys, a nearly $8 million show centered on the songs of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, recently opened on Broadway. Other jukebox musicals are in the offing: A show based on the songs of Johnny Cash is opening on Broadway in February, and Tharp is working on a Bob Dylan show.
- Big-Livin' Tommy Dorsey
By OWEN McNALLY
(The Courant, November 7 2005)
Tommy Dorsey, a superstar orchestra leader in the Big Band era, was a complex, driven man of many parts, some brilliant and some wretched, as demonstrated in Peter J. Levinson's compelling "Tommy Dorsey, Livin' in a Great Big Way: A Biography" (Da Capo Press, $27.50, 354 pp.). A coal miner's son who grew up amid crushing poverty in bleak Shenandoah, Pa., Dorsey made millions with his smash hit recordings. As a sybarite celebrity, he basked in wealth, wine, women and song, always livin' in a great big way. And he did so right up until he died in 1956, fully clothed in his own bed in his regal Greenwich mansion, choking to death on his own vomit, just seven days after turning 51. ... Even in his twilight years, when paunchy, gray-haired and middle-aged, Dorsey was still making remarkable connections, including, of all people, a young singer named Elvis Presley. In a piece of TV history that has been shunted aside, Tommy and brother Jimmy Dorsey in 1956 presented Presley in his television network debut on "Stage Show," their weekly musical variety program on CBS. As Levinson stresses, it was the Dorseys, not Ed Sullivan, who first presented Elvis on network TV. Even before the Sullivan date, Presley had already made six appearances on "Stage Show," with the somewhat bemused Dorsey orchestra chugging along behind the hip-swinging swinger on such signature songs as "Heartbreak Hotel." ...
- Council investigating Elvis walk of fame
(Parkes Champion-Post, November 6 2005)
Parkes Shire Council has given in principle support for the establishment of an Elvis Walk of Fame in Parkes. This follows a request from the Parkes Elvis Festival committee for the establishment of a Hollywood style walk to commemorate Australian rock 'n roll legends. The concept would see each nominated `legend' having his or her name engraved onto a bronze star for positioning along the walk. Parkes has become famous for its Elvis weekend in January and already the town is booked out for the 2006 staging. Organisers have even put out a request for home billeting - such is the demand for accommodation.
Throughout its history, the Elvis weekend has included a ceremony on the Sunday at Bushman's Dam where an Australian rock Œn roll star is commemorated on a wall of fame. ...
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