mid February, 2006
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- What Elvis needs is an opera: Was the King's life just too tragic for a musical?
By Robert Sandall
(Telegraph, February 22 2006)
Given the never-ending appeal of all things Elvis - from the music to the memorabilia, and let's not forget the moon sightings - you would assume that Presley musicals must be a regular box-office earner. You might also expect that a life as studded with historic events and immortal tunes as his would have attracted some of the most illustrious names of musical theatre. Not so, however. In the 28 years since he died, there have been only two serious attempts to render the King and his catalogue on stage in Britain. The first, masterminded by the veteran pop impresario Jack Good at London's New Astoria theatre, appeared shortly after Elvis's death in 1977 and was aimed squarely at the grieving fans. A rather hurried re-telling of the life, with 82 songs attached, Elvis: On Stage was significant mainly for kickstarting the cult of the impersonators. Reviews tended to focus on the relative plausibility of Shakin' Stevens and P J Proby as the young and not-so-young Elvises respectively. The drama, such as it was, was straight off the CV, and there was little in the way of dialogue.
The playwright Alan Bleasdale headed bang in the opposite direction six years later with Are You Lonesome Tonight? Bleasdale's Liverpool Playhouse production took the music as read, and focused on Presley in his declining years, portraying a reclusive fatso holed up in Graceland and contrasting this sad grotesque with the lean, mean rock and roller of the 1950s. It was a well-received and powerful drama that contained a few excerpts of Presley songs - but it was hardly a musical.
Since then, the boom in stage musicals with pop themes has pretty much passed Elvis by. The most recent attempt to hitch him to the Mamma Mia! bandwagon was All Shook Up, an ambitious American farrago that grafted a selection of 24 Elvis classics, along with the plot of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, on to a love story set in Sticksville USA in the 1950s. It closed last September after only four months on Broadway.
There is one clear difficulty with Elvis musicals that shun the All Shook Up route and take as their subject the man and his music. How do you reconcile the joyous exuberance of his finest songs with the claustrophobic squalor that took over his life? Ironically, it was the decision of Presley's manipulative manager Colonel Parker to sign him up for a string of shoddy film musicals that fenced him off from his audience, and precipitated his descent into cheeseburger hell. But just try to find the emotional equivalent of that in the Elvis songbook. Conveying the ruined grandeur of the poor boy from Mississippi who changed the world then lost his soul and died on the lav is a tough call for something as cheerful sounding as "Elvis: The Musical". This guy, you begin to suspect, requires nothing less than an original operatic score to himself.
In the absence of that, maybe, just maybe, This is Elvis: Viva Las Vegas! has the answer. This new musical, which is currently touring the country before - demand permitting - transferring to the West End in the summer, looks closely at the only remotely happy phase of Elvis's later career. It covers his triumphant comeback on an NBC TV special in 1968 - in which he appeared clad in black leather with a 30-inch waist and a guitar - and his subsequent, disastrous installation as an uber-crooner in the International Hotel in Las Vegas in 1970. The Vegas contract was the last, and perhaps the most damaging, of the Colonel's money-driven betrayals of his dependably gullible client. While the paperwork on the deal was being signed off, Elvis was dreaming of touring the South performing outdoors with his band on the back of a flatbed truck. The tour never happened; instead the King was progressively dethroned by stage fright, prescription drugs and mountainous quantities of junk food.
For the Elvis faithful however, memories are not made of this, and the new musical knows it. Thirty of the greatest hits, played by an 18-piece band, and a lead with form - Simon Bowman, whose performance as Elvis in Bleasdale's Are You Lonesome Tonight? was widely praised - are trying to keep the legend alive without losing sight of the guy who created it. If it works, it will be a first. If not, Elvis will have to stay in that limbo to which our collective creative imagination seems to have banished him: the moon.
* 'This is Elvis' UK tour dates include the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh (0131 529 6000), Mar 6-11 and the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham (0870 607 7533), Mar 13-18.
- Arts notes: Elvis sighting
By Jay Lustig
(Star-Ledger, February 22 2006)
Elvis Presley was prodigiously talented and prodigiously generous. That's one of the messages of "200 Cadillacs," a film documenting his habit of giving expensive cars to friends and associates. Interviewees include D.J. Fontana, who played drums for him; Gordon Stoker and Myrna Smith, who sang backing vocals; personal nurse Marian Cocke; girlfriend Linda Thompson, and karate instructor Kang Rhee. The film will be shown at 7 p.m. Friday at the branch of the Ocean County Library at 101 Washington St., Toms River. One of the film's co-producers, Rex Fowler of the folk-pop band Aztec Two-Step, will be on hand to talk about it and perform a few songs. There is no admission charge, though space is limited. Call (732) 349-6200 or visit www.oceancountylibrary.org.
- Newly discovered photos document Elvis joining Army
By Michael Lollar
(commercialappeal.com, February 21 2006)
Elvis Presley is the only Army inductee in the newly discovered photographs who is wearing a plaid sports jacket and horizontal striped socks. Graceland archives manager Angie Marchese was going through a file cabinet in Vernon Presley's office last fall when she found an envelope with eight black-and-white photo negatives of Vernon's famous son. She knew they were 1958 photos of Elvis as he bid farewell to Memphis for his two-year hitch in the Army. But it took a while to realize the photos had never been published. The archivist says documents, photos and other items in the Elvis collection are so voluminous there are still pieces in out-of-the-way places that are being opened and researched on a continuing basis. "We were emptying out the file cabinets in Vernon's office when I ran across these," says Marchese.
The negatives were tucked away in a drawer on top of a 1956 TV Guide magazine. "We're not sure how Vernon acquired them. We're thinking they may have been made by a professional photographer because the negatives are 4-by-5s. If the photographer were to come forward, we're hoping he may have more," she says. Marchese says other photographers were present on the morning of Elvis' induction with their photos widely published in books, newspapers and magazines. He reported to the draft board at 198 S. Main at 6:35 a.m. March 24, 1958. But she compared the newly found negatives to more than 2,000 Army induction photos in the archives and books about Elvis. None matched. "These are unique in that they show Elvis filling out paperwork that no one else showed."
Elvis spent part of that morning in the draft board eating doughnuts and drinking coffee while he signed a few autographs and prepared to head for his induction physical. Outside, a girlfriend, Anita Wood, waited with his parents to tell Elvis goodbye. He had just completed filming of his fourth movie, "King Creole," and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, used the occasion to walk through a crowd at the draft board to pass out "King Creole" balloons to fans who came to see Elvis on his last day as a civilian, says Elvis Presley Enterprises spokesman David Beckwith.
Four of the eight newly found photos have been posted on "Elvis Insiders," the fee-based private section of Graceland's Web site at elvis.com. Marchese said the photos are among the most interesting recent discoveries in Graceland's vast archives, which include more than 60,000 photos. The photos sometimes lead to discoveries about other parts of the collection. Marchese said she recently noticed in a photograph taken at Elvis' first house on Audubon Drive a wooden nightstand painted white. She had seen the nightstand, covered by a sheet, in a warehouse of Elvis belongings, but no one was sure where it had been used until it was spotted in the photograph. Of the flashy clothes Elvis wore to his Army induction, Marchese says: "Only Elvis could get away with wearing something like that. In some photos he's wearing paisleys and stripes together, but, on him, it looked good."
- All shook up over Priscilla: Priscilla Presley ... planning a visit to Australia
By Christine Sams
(Sydney Morning Herald / Sun-Herald, February 21 2006)
Elvis fans showed a flicker of excitement last week with news Priscilla Presley is planning a visit to Australia to launch a signature range of linen. Of course, it wasn't the upmarket sheets that got fans excited, rather the prospect of the King's wife [ie ex-wife] being here in the flesh. Insiders say Presley is heading to Australia a couple of days before the official Sydney launch of her signature range on February 28. That means she'll have some time off to relax, which might just include watching a few shows at Melbourne's upcoming fashion festival.
The business relationship between Presley and Sydney-raised designer Bruno Schiavi - who helped her design the linen range - is interesting because it shows off Schiavi's strengthening reputation among international celebrities. Schiavi, who initially found fame inventing the pocket sock (as you do), developed a strong local reputation working on signature lines for celebrities such as Delta Goodrem and Mark Philippoussis before shifting to the US.
- Write-offs can add up
By JOHN BRAND
(New Jersey Herald, February 21 2006)
What do Elvis Presley impersonators, junkyard-dog owners and people suffering from back pain have in common? Quirky tax deductions not known to most people, but ones that can be written off to help lower their taxable incomes.. A guard dog at a junkyard can be counted as an employee and, as such, its food, veterinary bills and other expenses can be deducted from the taxable income of the junkyard's owner, according to Kevin Elvidge, of Elvidge Tax and Financial Services in Newton. Elvis Presley impersonators, too, can deduct from their taxable incomes the cost of their sequin shirts, jump pants and other props if it is how they earn income. ... As certified public accountants and nearly all Americans prepare over the next few weeks to file their taxes by the April 17 deadline (April 15 is a Saturday this year), here are some examples of certain expenses that CPAs say can be claimed as reducing a person's total taxable income ...
- Surviving Bee Gees reunite for charity
(USA Today/ Associated Press, February 20 2006)
Barry and Robin Gibb, two-thirds of the Bee Gees, reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert, their first performance since the death of brother Maurice three years ago. The Gibb brothers performed a private concert Saturday night at the Diplomat Hotel to raise money for the Diabetes Research Institute at an annual benefit for the organization, Paul Bloch, Barry Gibb's publicist, said Sunday. ... The Bee Gees had nine No. 1 songs and have sold more than 110 million records - placing them fifth in pop history behind Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney.
- 'Elvis Goes To Parkes' is in very good hands; now editing
(Parkes Champion Post, February 20 2006)
The crew producing the SBS documentary, 'Elvis Goes To Parkes' have now returned home to Brisbane and Northern NSW and are busy working on the final stages for screening later in the year. The documentary will profile the annual Parkes Elvis Festival and feature numerous locals. It should be completed by mid year and ready for screening late in 2006. A joint venture between Fusion Films and Big Island Pictures, the crew was comprised of Producer, Noelene Hayes who will receive her first broadcast credit with 'Elvis Goes To Parkes' but has numerous short film credits, one a winner of the New York Short Film Festival in 2004.
... Cinematographer, Danny Phillips has also lectured at Griffith University in media production and has numerous screen credits in drama and feature films, video clips and commercials. Danny has completed work on seven feature films, two of which are 'Mr Right Guy' and 'Cuckoo'. His work previous to 'Elvis Goes To Parkes', a documentary called 'After Maeve' will screen soon on SBS. ... The residents of Parkes can rest easy knowing the Elvis Festival is in safe hands! 'Elvis Goes To Parkes' will screen later this year.
FOOTNOTE: the annual meeting of the Elvis Festival Committee will be held at the Parkes Leagues Club on Monday, March 6.
- Serving The King in Sarasota
By WADE TATANGELO
(Bradenton Herald, February 19 2006)
Fifty years ago this week, the usual crowd of mostly businessmen and retirees ate, conversed and read newspapers at the Waffle Shop in Sarasota. Waitresses took orders and returned with bacon, eggs and coffee at the popular diner on Washington Boulevard. Owner Jimmy Jones hustled alongside his employees. His daughter, Edith Barr Dunn, worked behind the counter that day. People discussed attending "The Big Show in the Making" at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus' nearby winter quarters. But there was little chatter about the hillbilly kid who would play the theater on Pineapple Avenue that night. Customers at the Waffle Shop (now the Waffle Stop) didn't even recognize Elvis Aaron Presley when he and band mates Scotty Moore and Bill Black pulled up in a pink convertible Cadillac. Yet within a month Elvis' meteoric rise as the King of Rock 'n' Roll would be launched with "Heartbreak Hotel" - the first of an amazing string of six No. 1 singles in 1956.
Elvis wasn't a household name yet, but the confident 21-year-old knew how to make an entrance. "They jumped over the doors instead of opening them," Barr Dunn recalls. "That got everyone's attention right away. That was something people didn't do back then. Plus, they were young and there weren't many young people around here in those days. "And they were looking sharp." Elvis sat down at a counter stool and was joined by Moore and Black. Barr Dunn's father instructed Edith to serve the singer. Those chaps have a show tonight at the Florida Theatre, her father said. "My name is Elvis Presley," the handsome young man announced when Barr Dunn approached. "And if you give me good service, I'll give you a good tip." Elvis sported slim-fitting black slacks and a white shirt with the cuffs turned up. His black hair shone. He displayed proper Southern etiquette and was quite the charmer. "Ma'am, your skirt should be shorter because your gams are too pretty," Elvis told Barr Dunn. "Ma'am, you have a nice smile," he continued. Elvis tried to impress the 35-year-old Welsh-born waitress by handing her promotional pictures of himself. Barr Dunn thought the young man was conceited - but very polite.
The singer with the little waist surprised her with how much food he ate. Elvis ordered three eggs over light, three pieces of crispy bacon, pan-fried potatoes and two sides of toast. He washed it all down with three glasses of milk. "That's good service," Elvis told Barr Dunn as he finished. Then he left her a 50-cent tip. "Oh, yeah, that was big," remembers Barr Dunn, who was accustomed to smiling at a 10-cent tip.
The diner will celebrate Elvis' historic visit on Tuesday with specials and prizes for customers wearing 1950s apparel. The musician from Tupelo, Miss., did four shows at the Florida Theatre - now the Sarasota Opera House - that Feb. 21 a half-century ago, accompanied by lead guitarist Moore and bassist Black. Col. Thomas Parker most likely watched the performances from the wings. The show times were 2:15 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7:35 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. The two afternoon gigs cost 76 cents per ticket and the evening shows were $1. Between each show a "B" Western movie was screened. The lineup that day included country music acts the Louvin Brothers, the Carter Sisters, Justin Tubb and Benny Martin. Each Elvis performance was likely no longer than 20 minutes. But audience members got plenty of bang for their buck. A doctor once told Elvis that four performances were equal to a full eight-hour workday. The singer probably came off stage dripping sweat every time.
Barr Dunn wasn't able to attend the concert, but her parents were there and told their daughter the place was packed and that she missed something special. The crowds at the Florida Theatre likely witnessed Elvis perform "Blue Suede Shoes," "Tutti Frutti," "Baby, Let's Play House," "Shake, Rattle And Roll," and perhaps "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," "Good Rockin' Tonight," "Mystery Train," and "That's All Right." The highlight of the show might have been his newest single, "Heartbreak Hotel." "It was just about to debut on the pop charts and had been steadily gaining attention in Billboard, particularly in its country and western 'Best Buys' column . . . ," writes Peter Guralnick in the definitive biography "Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley." "Sales had snowballed rapidly in the past two weeks, with pop and R&B customers joining Presley's hillbilly fans in demanding the disc."
Elvis made his first national TV appearance on "Stage Show" on Jan. 28, 1956. The program was co-hosted by big band stalwarts Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey. Shortly before performing in Sarasota, Elvis was in New York to tape his third appearance on "Stage Show." That date marked the first time he sang "Heartbreak Hotel." But local viewers who watched the broadcast were probably not impressed. The performance was "something of a disaster," writes Guralnick. Moore and Black were pushed aside in favor of the Dorsey brothers' orchestra, and Elvis appeared stilted. It's doubtful Elvis appeared stiff in Sarasota, though. He had Moore and Black by his side, and it sounds like he might have had something to prove. Elvis' ambition in those days is said to have been amazing, as were the results. "Heartbreak Hotel" hit No. 1 on March 3, 1956. The other No. 1 singles that year were "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You"; "Hound Dog"; "Don't Be Cruel"; "Love Me Tender" and "Too Much." Elvis' self-titled debut album, which was released several weeks after his performance in Sarasota, also shot to No. 1. The famed "you can see his tonsils" picture that adorns the original LP cover was taken in Tampa at a Hesterly Armory show on July 31, 1955, by William Robertson, according to The Tampa Tribune.
Elvis' infamous "The Ed Sullivan Show" appearances were in 1956. And so was his silver screen debut in the hit feature film "Love Me Tender." Elvis never played Sarasota again. In fact, after 1956 he didn't return to perform in the area until 1970, when he sang in front of a sold-out crowd at the old Curtis Hixon Hall in downtown Tampa. The singer reportedly wore a low-cut white jumpsuit, a huge belt and a long scarf that night. The morning after Elvis' show at the Florida Theatre, he returned to the Waffle Shop, sat down at the counter and smiled. "You chaps were great last night," Jones said to the three musicians. Elvis humbly thanked the man for the compliment. Barr Dunn was standing behind the counter again in the white uniform that showed off her legs. "If you remember what I ordered yesterday, I will give you another big tip," Elvis said. Barr Dunn has remembered that order for 50 years. Elvis' visit is something of a local legend. Just look for the storefront that says "Elvis Ate Here" and plop down on a stool and check out the memorabilia. Or look for Barr Dunn and her trademark white cowboy hat. Though she no longer owns the restaurant, she's a regular customer.
- Launch Report: Corvette Z06 - Latest And Greatest
By David Ross
(carkeys.co.uk, February 17 2006)
Think bling's a new thing? Take the original 1955 Chevrolet Corvette. It only looks right today with a statue of Elvis Presley standing beside it . Such is its extrovert design with masses of chrome and white-wall tyres. When first designed by the exotically named Zora Arkus-Duntov in the early fifties, it was a time when form was everything. Function? With a blanket 55mph speed limit and buyers more likely to be rock and roll singers than racing drivers, who cared if the desperately uncomfortable two seater with big wide grin chromium grille handled like a wet sponge? ...
- Elvis Theme For St. Pat's Day Fete
(todaysthv.com / Associated Press, February 17 2006)
Organizers of Hot Springs' St. Patrick's Day celebration want to have at least 100 Elvis impersonators on hand for the party. The city is home to the World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade. ... Hot Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau director Steve Arrison says the International Order of Irish Elvi has lined up about 50 impersonators so far. Arrison says the group can still rally and meet the goal of 100.
- Letters to the Editor: Elvis stories were over the top
From JUDITH SALL TURLENKO
(Star-Gazette, February 17 2006)
Last week, like every other week, I logged on to your Web site so that I might stay current with the news out of Elmira, Horseheads, Big Flats and Corning. The Twin Tiers Life section was story after story about Graceland and Elvis. One story is good. Two would have even been acceptable. But almost the entire section was about Elvis. I liked him too, but this was too much to read.
- Even Elvis must leave building: School corporation seeks new home for famed Casaday costume collection
By MICHAEL WANBAUGH
(South Bend Tribune, February 16 2006)
Back here at the far west end of the Education Center's creaky third floor -- beyond the large open space where the school board conducts its business -- is an eclectic closet stuffed with the wardrobe of a million colorful characters. It is the South Bend Community School Corp.'s famed Casaday Costume Collection, considered a gem of the local theater community. Jean Savarese, 82, who is employed by the school corporation, is the keeper of the massive collection. Packed tightly with wedding dresses, tuxedos and band uniforms, the collection takes up a sizable chunk of this drafty, four-story building. Started by the late James Lewis Casaday nearly 70 years ago, the collection has outfitted thousands of casts for thousands of plays and productions. There is a "Dolly" cupboard for "Hello, Dolly!" productions. ..."And in this cabinet we have animal costumes: tigers, bears, leopards, and Elvis." She reached between two brown, furry garments and pulled out the leg of a blue, bell-bottomed, Vegas-style jumpsuit. "I didn't want him out where all the kids could play with him, so I put him back here," Savarese said. "There weren't so many animals when he first went in there." This summer, even Elvis must go. The school corporation is on schedule to move into its new Education Center building at 215 S. St. Joseph St. by July.
The snag for the Casaday Collection, however, is there isn't room for it in the new building. As far as school officials can tell, there isn't room for it in any of the corporation's other buildings either. ...
- Bush to invite Koizumi to Presley's Graceland
(Yahoo! News, February 16 2006)
US President George Bush intends to invite Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a known Elvis Presley enthusiast, to the former estate of the rock legend in Tennessee, the US Ambassador to Japan said today.
Thomas Schieffer told Koizumi today that Bush intends to invite the premier to the US this year, with a possible trip to Elvis¹s home, the US embassy said. Koizumi was due to visit the United States last year, but cancelled the trip ahead of snap elections in September.
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