mid December, 2005
- Blue Christmas Service to help 'name the pain'
By JOHN LINDENBERGER
(North Platte Telegraph, December 18 2005)
"I'll have a blue Christmas without you .... I'll be so blue just thinking about you."
For those who have suffered the loss of a loved one, the words of Elvis Presley's classic "Blue Christmas" express a very real pain that is felt during a season generally marked by joy and celebration. "That contrast with society makes it a particularly difficult time for some people," said Tom Wiles, pastor of First Baptist Church. That is why the North Platte Fellowship of Ministers and the North Platte funeral homes are sponsoring a special Blue Christmas Service on Tuesday, Dec. 20. The one-hour service will begin at 7 p.m. and will be hosted by First Baptist Church at 100 McDonald Road. Wiles said the event will give residents an opportunity to "name the pain" in their life and express their hurt and grief. Participants will then be invited to pray about their situation. ... For more information about the Blue Christmas service, contact Pastor Tom Wiles at 532-6772.
- New Year's party in Las Vegas
(post-gazette.com / Associated Press, December 17 2005)
A massive street party, fireworks from casino rooftops and the music of Frank, Sammy and Elvis will all be part of Las Vegas' annual New Year's Eve celebration. "We're ending our centennial year with a bang, literally," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said with a nod to the planned midnight fireworks show and the finale to Sin City's yearlong 100th anniversary. Last year, Las Vegas drew 293,000 visitors to its nearly 111,000 hotel rooms for a Friday night New Year's Eve -- the fifth year of a Strip fireworks show that organizers have dubbed "America's Party." Event officials and contractor Fireworks by Grucci says that this year's $500,000 pyrotechnics show will feature more than 40,000 shells fired from the top of 10 hotel-casinos along the four-mile Strip. A soundtrack for the display will include songs by Vegas icons Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Liberace, Elvis Presley and Tom Jones. ... For details, go to http://www.americasparty2006.com.
- Holly's hits get Dicky Hart fans a-rocking
By PETER LEWIS
(Hexham Courant, December 16 2005)
THE aspiring young musician Charles Hardin Holley from Texas appeared in the mid 1950s as a support artist on bills with Elvis Presley and with Bill Haley and his Comets. When signing his first contract with Decca Records he noticed that his last name had been misspelt. Realising that others would make the same mistake he kept it, together with his family nickname... hence Buddy Holly.
Early success as a solo artist eluded him until he formed his own band - the Crickets - and began recording. Hits like That;ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, and Heartbeat followed. They toured America and Britain, and two teenage fans - John Lennon and Paul McCartney - named their new band The Beatles in part homage to Holly's Crickets. Holly's style was sophisticated for its day, more controlled than Elvis's and less cringe-making than contemporary country and western stars. ... Since death, Buddy Holly's career has boomed. The Hollywood blockbuster The Buddy Holly Story was hugely successful and the West End musical Buddy ran for over seven years and is still touring the provinces. Most major musical artists have produced homage albums or covered Buddy Holly material, including Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Humble Pie, Rush and many others. The influence persists and can be seen in the new up-and-coming American rock groups like the Brian Seltzer Orchestra, Gretchen Wilson and, most notably, Citizen O'Kane. ...
- Long Lost Home Movies of Elvis Presley Find New Life in Special Edition DVD
(PRWEB, December 16 2005)
Rare home movies of Elvis Presley at The Seattle World's Fair, which have never been seen before, have been released on a special edition DVD. Includes color photos and other celebrities who appeared at the 1962 fair in Seattle.
The images are almost surreal. Here is "The King" ... Elvis Presley ... being peddled on a 3-wheeled bicycle by a beautiful blonde at the base of Seattle's Space Needle. And Elvis with a 10-year-old kid actor named Kurt Russell whose sole mission is to kick Elvis in the knee. Then there is Presley presenting a ham to the Governor of Washington State. These are just a few of the home movie scenes that have recently been uncovered and released by the man who was Technical Advisor on the 1962 Elvis Presley MGM motion picture: "It Happened At The World's Fair." Emmy winning television producer/director Albert Fisher was just 21-years-old when he worked in the TV and movie department at The Seattle World's Fair. One of his jobs was to help coordinate the location shooting of the movie starring Elvis Presley, Joan O'Brien, Ginny Tiu and Gary Lockwood. When the fair ended its run, Fisher was asked by Presley's team to serve as the film's Technical Advisor on location and in Hollywood.
Throughout the weeks of shooting in Seattle, Albert Fisher not only had direct access to the stars and crew, but he carried with him an 8 mm home movie camera and a still camera. The footage and photographs he captured during the summer of 1962 have been hidden away in a safety deposit box until now. They have never before been seen publicly. These rare one-of-a-kind glimpses of the behind-the-scenes making of a Elvis Presley motion picture have been professionally edited and compiled along with still photographs and recollections by Fisher into a commemorative DVD that salutes the power and presence of Elvis Presley and the establishment of Seattle, Washington as a major world destination thanks to their World's Fair in 1962. "My time at The Seattle World's Fair and particularly with Elvis Presley has always remained dear to my heart," says Fisher, who went on to become associated with major broadcast and cable networks and television syndicators as a national Emmy winning Producer and Director. Fisher goes on to note: "I have held onto these personal memories of my brief time spent with Elvis and thought that the time was right to share them with the many fans who continue to celebrate the legacy of Presley's amazing talent and contributions to the entertainment industry."
The DVD is being offered through a special web site: www.fairvideo.com. It is available as a limited edition signed and numbered DVD which comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and four never-before-seen color photographs of Presley at The Seattle World's Fair. The Commemorative Special Edition DVD is available for $44.80 which includes shopping to anywhere in the world. A standard release DVD is also available through the web site for $29.95, shipping included. The 28 minute DVD includes color home movies of Elvis at the Fair as well as a video montage of both color and black and white still photographs from the production. In addition, Fisher has added a short salute to some of the celebrity Fair visitors who he captured on his home movie camera. These include Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, news commentator Edward R. Murrow, French actor/singer Maurice Chevalier, Britainıs Prince Phillip, astronaut John Glenn just returned from his historic first trip into space and clips of the first Telstar satellite transmission ever done from the United States to Europe, parts of which emanated from The Seattle World's Fair.
Seen on the DVD with Elvis Presley are actress and co-star Joan O'Brien (with whom Presley was rumored to be having a torrid relationship), child actress Ginny Tiu and, in his first movie appearance ever, a non-credited 10 year old Kurt Russell. The DVD also shows many sequences with Elvis and his notorious manager Colonel Tom Parker as well as Presley's entourage known as "The Memphis Mafia." Crew members featured include Academy Award winners Norman Taurog (director), Joseph Ruttenberg (cinematographer), Preston Ames (art director), and Otto Lang (2nd unit director). There is even a sequence in which Elvis Presley is presenting a smoked and cured ham from his Tennessee farm to the then Governor of Washington State, Albert Rosselini.
On the DVD Producer/Director Albert Fisher reminisces on-camera about the making of the movie and also how, when the film was finally released, Presley's manager Col. Tom Parker "stole" Fisher's credit as Technical Advisor. "Elvis Presley at The Seattle World's Fair" is the first of a series of DVDs to be release by Fisher Television Productions highlighting events, stars and celebrities at both the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 and The New York World's Fair in 1964. Future videos will also be available soon on the web site: www.fairvideo.com. For information, contact Albert Fisher, c/o Fisher Television Productions, Inc., 269 South Wilton Place, Los Angeles, CA 90004. t. 323.692.0991, f. 323.692.0981, e. e-mail protected from spam bots.
- Art is lost on those who don't appreciate artists' humanity
(Plain Dealer, December 16 2005)
NOW PLAYING Love, JanisWhen: Through Sunday, Feb. 12. Where: Hanna Theatre, Playhouse Square, Cleveland. Tickets: $39.50-$49.50. Call 216-241-6000.
Does an artist's drug addiction automatically invalidate his art? Reacting to a story about and a review of "Love, Janis" -- the entirely entertaining musical tribute to blues-rocker Janis Joplin now at the Hanna Theatre -- several Plain Dealer readers sent correspondence this way saying Joplin's professional accomplishments should be forgotten because she used drugs. So I guess we should also throw out the plays of Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams, the novels of Leo Tolstoy and William Faulkner, the short stories of O. Henry and Ring Lardner, the poetry of Dylan Thomas and Charles Baudelaire, the art of Jackson Pollock and Amedeo Modigliani, the music of John Coltrane and Elvis Presley, the acting of Montgomery Clift and Judy Garland, the dances of Martha Graham and Bob Fosse, the comedy of Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor.
Codswollop. We could fairly observe how drugs (including alcohol) might have ruined lives and undercut artistic output, but it is nonsensical to say that because Hemingway drank too much, his Nobel Prize should be forfeit. We elevate artists to mythic status, expecting them to be not only virtuosi but role models. That's unfair and stupid. And it has nothing to do with their art. Drug use by artists is but a reflection of a problem that runs rampant through all this country's socio-economic strata. The fact that Janis Joplin swilled Southern Comfort and shot heroin is not a reason to condemn "Piece of My Heart." But it is an opportunity to remind ourselves that even our greatest of artists are merely human, and to see their work in the light of that frail humanity. Which, by the way, is exactly what "Love, Janis" does.
- Two stabbed to death; 20-year-old man charged
By Janine Anderson
(Journal Times, December 15 2005)
Tuesday night's double stabbing took place in an apartment building that one of its longtime residents thinks of in terms of a sad Elvis Presley song.
"I call it the Heartbreak Hotel," said Phillip Schultz, who has lived at 1032 College Ave. for years. "I've called it that a long time. There's a steady stream of fairly transient people going through the house, fairly dysfunctional people, people who have never made it, so to speak. I'm one of them, too, though I don't drink or smoke anymore." ...
- Tupelo To Re-Create Elvis' 1956 Homecoming For Festival
(NBC 15, December 15 2005)
Elvis Presley's 1956 homecoming will be re-created as part of the eighth Elvis Presley Festival in June. The festival is held annually in Tupelo. On September 26th, 1956, Presley was honored with a parade down Main Street and proclaimed a favorite son by Governor J.P. Coleman. The day was capped with a concert where Elvis was greeted by screaming fans during the Mississippi-Alabama State Fair and Dairy Show. Although he'd performed at the fairgrounds in 1955, the '56 concert featured the King of Rock 'n' Roll in the full bloom of stardom. The re-creation will be on June third. A stage will be placed in front of Tupelo City Hall in Fairpark District and contract negotiations with an "Elvis stylist" are being finalized. In addition to live performances, a multimedia presentation will feature video and audio from the 1956 performance.
- Long Lost Home Movies of Elvis Presley Find Life in Special Edition DVD
By Albert Fisher
(Yahoo! News / PRWEB, December 15 2005)
The images are almost surreal. Here is “The King” ... Elvis Presley ... being peddled on a 3-wheeled bicycle by a beautiful blonde at the base of Seattle’s Space Needle. And Elvis with a 10-year-old kid actor named Kurt Russell whose sole mission is to kick Elvis in the knee. Then there is Presley presenting a ham to the Governor of Washington State. These are just a few of the home movie scenes that have recently been uncovered and released by the man who was Technical Advisor on the 1962 Elvis Presley MGM motion picture: "It Happened At The World's Fair." Emmy winning television producer/director Albert Fisher was just 21-years-old when he worked in the TV and movie department at The Seattle World's Fair. One of his jobs was to help coordinate the location shooting of the movie starring Elvis Presley, Joan O'Brien, Ginny Tiu and Gary Lockwood. When the fair ended its run, Fisher was asked by Presley's team to serve as the film's Technical Advisor on location and in Hollywood.
Throughout the weeks of shooting in Seattle, Albert Fisher not only had direct access to the stars and crew, but he carried with him an 8 mm home movie camera and a still camera. The footage and photographs he captured during the summer of 1962 have been hidden away in a safety deposit box until now. They have never before been seen publicly. These rare one-of-a-kind glimpses of the behind-the-scenes making of a Elvis Presley motion picture have been professionally edited and compiled along with still photographs and recollections by Fisher into a commemorative DVD that salutes the power and presence of Elvis Presley and the establishment of Seattle, Washington as a major world destination thanks to their World's Fair in 1962.
"My time at The Seattle World's Fair and particularly with Elvis Presley has always remained dear to my heart," says Fisher, who went on to become associated with major broadcast and cable networks and television syndicators as a national Emmy winning Producer and Director. Fisher goes on to note: "I have held onto these personal memories of my brief time spent with Elvis and thought that the time was right to share them with the many fans who continue to celebrate the legacy of Presley's amazing talent and contributions to the entertainment industry."
The DVD is being offered through a special web site: www.fairvideo.com . It is available as a limited edition signed and numbered DVD which comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and four never-before-seen color photographs of Presley at The Seattle World's Fair. The Commemorative Special Edition DVD is available for $44.80 which includes shopping to anywhere in the world. A standard release DVD is also available through the web site for $29.95, shipping included.
The 28 minute DVD includes color home movies of Elvis at the Fair as well as a video montage of both color and black and white still photographs from the production. In addition, Fisher has added a short salute to some of the celebrity Fair visitors who he captured on his home movie camera. These include Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, news commentator Edward R. Murrow, French actor/singer Maurice Chevalier, Britain's Prince Phillip, astronaut John Glenn just returned from his historic first trip into space and clips of the first Telstar satellite transmission ever done from the United States to Europe, parts of which emanated from The Seattle Worldıs Fair.
Seen on the DVD with Elvis Presley are actress and co-star Joan O'Brien (with whom Presley was rumored to be having a torrid relationship), child actress Ginny Tiu and, in his first movie appearance ever, a non-credited 10 year old Kurt Russell. The DVD also shows many sequences with Elvis and his notorious manager Colonel Tom Parker as well as Presleyıs entourage known as "The Memphis Mafia." Crew members featured include Academy Award winners Norman Taurog (director), Joseph Ruttenberg (cinematographer), Preston Ames (art director), and Otto Lang (2nd unit director). There is even a sequence in which Elvis Presley is presenting a smoked and cured ham from his Tennessee farm to the then Governor of Washington State, Albert Rosselini.
On the DVD Producer/Director Albert Fisher reminisces on-camera about the making of the movie and also how, when the film was finally released, Presley's manager Col. Tom Parker "stole" Fisher's credit as Technical Advisor. "Elvis Presley at The Seattle World's Fair" is the first of a series of DVD's to be release by Fisher Television Productions highlighting events, stars and celebrities at both the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 and The New York World's Fair in 1964. Future videos will also be available soon on the web site: www.fairvideo.com. For information, contact Albert Fisher, c/o Fisher Television Productions, Inc., 269 South Wilton Place, Los Angeles, CA 90004. t. 323.692.0991, f. 323.692.0981, e. email protected from spam bots. ...
-
Soundcheck : Bob Moore : Bassist
(Free Times, December 14 2005)
YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW the name Bob Moore, but you certainly know some of the tracks the bassist has played on. He appears on Roy Orbison's "Crying," Patsy Cline's "Crazy" and Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and worked extensively with Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. Next week, he comes to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for its "Songwriters to Soundmen: The People Behind the Hits" series, where he'll discuss his career. ...
-
FULLER TAKES OVER ELVIS LEGACY
(contactmusic.com, December 14 2005)
AMERICAN IDOL creator SIMON FULLER is taking charge of ELVIS PRESLEY's musical legacy in a bid to continue the late star's enduring popularity. The pop svengali, who masterminded the SPICE GIRLS' world domination, has been offered the chance to rebrand and remarket The King's extensive back catalogue by US entertainment giant CKX. Elvis' estate still generates $45 million (GBP25 million) a year. An insider tells UK industry paper Music Week, "There is so much archive footage with Elvis meeting other stars lots of which has not been seen. There are so many ways it can be exploited, and that is what Fuller has been busy doing.
-
Madonna, Elvis Alike In Key Way
(cbs4denver.com, December 13 2005)
Madonna is considered one of the hottest performers around for many reasons. Physically, she's in great shape and, professionally, her latest album, "Confessions on a Dancefloor" is No. 1 in 29 countries, including Japan, where co-anchor Harry Smith recently had an exclusive interview with her. In Part One of the interview, seen on The Early Show Monday, Madonna and Smith chatted about how driven she still is to be the best she can possibly be and give her fans all she has to offer. ... Smith noted that Madonna's 36 top-10 singles ties her with Elvis. Madonna said: "I think I'm in good company." ... Smith told Madonna two of his favorites from Elvis are "Heartbreak Hotel," which Madonna called "a good one," and "Kentucky Rain," which Madonna agreed "is a beautiful one." ... "I like his ballads," Madonna said. ...
-
These prices will really rock ya
By DAVID HINCKLEY
(New York Daily News, December 13 2005)
If you've always wanted to own Elvis Presley's handwritten copy of the lyrics to "America the Beautiful," that is now possible. Of course, it will cost you. But so will everything in the oversized music memorabilia auction that itsonlyrocknroll.com is closing out this Friday night. The question isn't price, collectors say. It's value. The headline act in this auction is the Beatles, and itsonlyrocknroll has gathered thousands of Fab Four items ...
-
ELVIS' EX RECORDS TRIBUTE ALBUM
(contactmusic.com, December 13 2005)
Jackson, dubbed the Queen of Rockabilly, will release I REMEMBER ELVIS on 31 January (06). The collection features her renditions of Elvis hits HEARTBREAK HOTEL and LOVE ME TENDER, among other favourites. The album will also include Jackson telling stories about her innocent romance with Presley in the mid-1950s. She says, "It was very important, a girl's reputation, in those days. There were things you could and couldn't do, and my daddy made sure I never crossed that line."
- FADED SECURITY: Safety deposit boxes secure valuables against theft and fire, but not flooding. Some customers were lucky. Many were not.
(nola.com / The Times Picayune, December 11 2005)
When Carol Currier showed up at Chase bank last week to retrieve the contents of her flooded safe deposit box, she had one thing on her mind: a 40-year-old note from Elvis Presley. She flipped quickly through the contents of the box, sifting through the coins and other currency she had set aside for her children, the title to her van and assorted jewelry. "Elvis is not in the building, but he's in the box," she joked nervously when her treasure failed to turn up. "What did you do with Elvis?" And then she found a typewritten envelope with a typewritten note inside -- signed by Elvis. Currier had bought tickets for an Elvis concert, sometime in the 1970s, in Baton Rouge. At the last minute Elvis canceled because of an illness, and while other fans became incensed, Currier sympathized and sent him a get-well card. The note he sent her in response became one of the thousands of treasured keepsakes, valuables and important documents locked away in the safe deposit boxes of branches flooded by Hurricane Katrina. ...
-
Beale's live music scene has largely evaporated
(Charlotte Observer, December 11 2005)
Beyond Elvis, the other big pop-culture draw in Memphis is Beale Street -- five blocks of downtown where some believe modern blues was born and where pre-fame Elvis was inspired to dress like its street-corner hustlers. What you've heard isn't necessarily what you'll hear when you're there. About two dozen bars and eateries line the blocks west of FedEx Forum, home of the NBA Grizzlies. Most nights, Beale swarms with generic revelers: It's more commercial than authentic. Beale was preserved in the late 1970s during a private-public revitalization push. For a while, it worked: The Presley empire opened up a live-music venue as did area native B.B. King. But Elvis Presley's Memphis folded, and the rest of Beale Street's live music scene largely evaporated. B.B. King's place is still there, but the long admission lines nowadays are at disc-spinning dance clubs aimed at 20-somethings. ...
|
