mid March, 2006
- 50,000,000 Elvis impersonators could be in the wrong: Why the man who owns the King's image could step on the blue suede shoes of Canada's premier Presley party
By Vanessa Farquharson
(National Post, March 14 2006)
Of the 15,000 people from all over the world who will flock to Collingwood, Ont., this summer for its annual Elvis festival, only a handful may know who Robert F.X. Sillerman is. That ought to change soon, as anyone with sideburns, a white tracksuit and a hip swagger could potentially be sued by the man who now owns the rights to Elvis.
The media billionaire -- at 375 on Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans -- is head of a company called CKX. This firm paid US$100-million in 2004 for 85% of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., including the rights to Elvis's name, image, likeness and trademark, currently used in over 100 merchandising deals. CKX also gets the publishing rights to 650 songs, as well as the more valuable royalty rights to 24 Elvis movies and the songs he recorded after 1973. The company also scored a 90-year lease on Graceland, which it plans on renovating to build an Elvis-plex of hotels, spas, shops and an expanded wedding chapel. The lease stipulates, amongst other rules, that the premises are not to be used as "a massage parlor, a mortuary, or [for] the manufacture, sale or distribution of feminine hygiene products."
Clearly, extremely close attention is paid by CKX and EPE to protecting anything and everything to do with Elvis. But when it comes to the copyrighting and trademarking of one personality, some questions arise about how closely monitored it all should be. Last week, The New York Times ran an editorial on Sillerman that asked, "Can [he] spend that kind of money and still preserve the essential tackiness that is Elvis's non-musical legacy? ... If we were Elvis impersonators, we would be getting very worried right about now."
According to a report on EPE and CFX by investment firm Bear Stearns, Sillerman said "impersonator shows can, if properly done, extend the brand ... [But] we have to be careful to not deprecate Elvis's legacy or to damage our authorized and official Elvis shows."
The Collingwood Elvis festival is one of these -- in fact, it claims it's the No. 1 Elvis festival in the world -- and it pays $5,000 each year for the privilege. Organizers must sign various papers stipulating they will respect the Presley image. They cannot use any trademarks unless they get a separate licence, and all the shows, magazine covers, posters and marketing campaigns must be submitted for approval. "They have said 'no' to some things," says Peter Dunbar, director of Collingwood's leisure services or, as he puts it, minister of fun. "But most stuff gets through and we haven't run into any major problems. This year, we're using a different picture of Elvis for our program -- it's not as an aggressive one; it's a soft, tender one -- and they agreed to it. But we never assume anything." Dunbar has a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to how the festival might be affected. "I think there is potential for this to be a huge issue in terms of [Sillerman's] ability to mess with all these events and people," he says.
"But he's a good businessman, almost all the stuff he's done has been positive ... I think as far as the Elvii go, they'll be able to do almost whatever they want." Dunbar uses the word "Elvii" because the impersonators prefer not to be referred to as such, but rather "tribute artists." "The people here are paying a tribute to him and his music, not pretending that they're him," says Marion Lewis, the festival's publicist. "They can be female, black, fat, thin, babies or even old people with an oxygen tank." But just because the Elvii are not trying to actually be Elvis, it doesn't mean they're not trying to be like him. Some, Lewis says, are even going so far as to undergo plastic surgery. And EPE could always argue the casual Elvii -- those who aren't officially registered -- are guilty of posthumous mockery. "There's a range," Lewis says. "There are the professionals who make a living from it, and then there are amateurs ... Either way, I think they're all 100% sincere."
But it doesn't matter if their intentions are good. In fact, it's the professional impersonators who should be the most concerned, says Jonathan Colombo, a partner at Bereskin & Parr, an intellectual-property law firm in Toronto. "There's this tort called misappropriation of personality," he explains. "It means if someone has an image they've become known by, and another person uses that image for commercial gain, they can get into trouble. "Although most people wouldn't confuse a hokey Elvis tribute with the real thing, if you're making a profit from it, it could be a problem," he adds. But this doesn't deter Lewis or Dunbar -- they say the annual Collingwood Elvis festival, scheduled for July 26-30 this year, will go on no matter what.
- CRITICAL MASS : Mercy! It's not over for Roy Orbison's music
By Philip Martins
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, March 14 2006)
He didnıt die young enough to be forever preserved in our memory as a beautiful boy, but Roy Orbison never was that good-looking anyway. He had bad hair and weak eyes; his skin was sallow. He looked pretty much like someone you'd see stocking shelves in a grocery store or shuffling papers in a cubicle. To see him onstage was to feel embarrassed for him. He looked a little chunky and painfully sincere and worst of all like he didn't quite get it. In his stage gear, Orbison appeared to be some rube Elvis impersonator. Black leather and prescription Wayfarers failed to camouflage the heavy shyness that rooted him to the stage, locked him up and bent him forward at the hips, his guitar jammed up under his chin. Roy was never a dancer, no Jumpin' Jack Flash, no dervish spinning in Spandex tights. He was just a lumbering boy from Texas.
But whatıs beautiful about rock ını roll is that it acknowledges that even geeks have got something to say. And Roy wasnıt much good at movin' around. But the boy could flat-out sing. ...
- 'Les Miz' broke mold, for better and worse
By David Patrick Stearns
(Philadelphia Inquirer, March 14 2006)
The eternally popular Broadway hit Les Misérables has had lots to answer for over the years. Almost immediately after this adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel arrived in this country in 1986, everybody wanted something like it, turning the show's best attributes into starting points for cliche overdrive in other musicals. Les Miz's ingredients are: a historic literary property (well-known to the public) and characters inhabiting extremes of heroism and villainy. They sing a wall-to-wall score that's not so much a succession of songs as of histrionic moments with high, piercing "money notes." ... You might assume that Les Miz has survived by habit, like Elvis Presley in his later concerts, where going through the motions of past glory was good enough. That idea was fostered by tired performances observed at significant milestones in the Broadway run. Then, Les Miz's idealism seemed more the product of mass-market 1980s New Age philosophy than Victor Hugo. ...
- CKX Restates Third-Quarter Income: CKX Restates, Increases Third-Quarter Income
(Yahoo! Finance / AP, March 14 2006)
CKX Inc., producer of "American Idol," and manager of the Elvis Presley estate, said on Tuesday it understated its consolidated net income for the third quarter and nine months ended Sept. 30, 2005, due to an error in reported income tax expenses. The restatement does not affect cash flow, according to the company. The company's restated third-quarter income available to shareholders is $2.7 million, or 3 cents per share. In November the company reported $784,000, or a penny per share, in third-quarter net income available to shareholders. Shares of CKX were down 47 cents at $13.86 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.
- Other People's Lives', 'Bronx in Blue', 'I Remember Elvix'
By Barry Gilbert
(ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, March 14 2006)
"Hope I die before I get old." "It's better to burn out than to fade away." Rock 'n' roll was still pretty young when those lines were written, by Pete Townshend and Neil Young, respectively. The general belief was that rock was a young person's genre. It didn't seem to matter to baby boomers that Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald or Muddy Waters never outgrew the music of their youth - and got better with age. So here we are in 2006 and, despite the age jokes, the Rolling Stones are one of many acts from rock's formative years that soldier on, not because they can but because they are working musicians and that's what they do. Three new CDs are in the stores now from three very different artists who began 40 to 50 years ago and, despite age, personal demons or changing tastes, never stopped recording or performing: -- From early rock and rockabilly: Wanda Jackson, 68, a former girlfriend of Elvis Presley's in the '50s. She was a budding country music star who tried her hand at rockabilly at Elvis' urging and became known as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll. ... Each has helped define a genre in rock music and, more important, each has influenced generations of artists and continues to make vital music.
...
- Japan PM to visit US: reports
(www.news.com.au
Agence France-Presse, From correspondents in Tokyo, March 14 2006)
JAPANESE Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to visit the United States in June on his last trip to the country's top ally before he steps down in September, reports said today. Mr Koizumi, a staunch backer of US President George W. Bush, is likely to discuss the realignment of US forces in Japan and East Asian affairs during the visit, Kyodo News said. Japan's soured relations with China as well as its mission in Iraq would likely also be on the agenda, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) said. ... US Ambassador Thomas Schieffer said in February that Mr Koizumi's trip could include a stop at Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Tennessee. Mr Koizumi, 64, was born seven years to the day after the King of Rock 'n' Roll and released a CD compilation of his favorite Elvis songs shortly after taking office in 2001. ...
- BASSEY: 'ELVIS DREW ON ME'
(contactmusic.com, March 12 2006)
Welsh star DAME SHIRLEY BASSEY still gets "goosebumps" when she recalls her first meeting with ELVIS PRESLEY - as he tore off her clothes and drew all over her naked skin. The 69-year-old GOLDFINGER singer visited the rocker while passing through Las Vegas and she was shocked when, in a fit of creativity, he undid her buttoned outfit and got busy with the nearest pen. She says, "I went to see him in Las Vegas and I had one of those jumpsuits on. "He unbuttoned it and started doodling on my skin. I still get goosebumps talking about it. "When I looked in the mirror, there were all these crazy drawings on me."
- Just what we wanted: Sofa-size velvet Elvis
By Jennifer Harper
(Washington Times, March 12 2006)
Three cheers for art-o-rama. Whether hoity-toity academes like it or not, fine art has come to the malls and the masses, from the handy-dandy art show in the food court to the starvin' artist sale at the Holiday Inn -- complete with sofa-size paintings in designer colors, gilded resin frame included. Well, so what? So what if Michelangelo -- or a reasonable facsimile thereof -- has come to the Holiday Inn?
How convenient. How moderne. That means we can buy a painting, visit the coffee shoppe and maybe make vacation reservations all at the same time for a consummate aesthetic experience. ... But wait. The living-room genre of paintings is burgeoning. It abounds with seascapes, ice-scapes, cityscapes, French cafes, still lifes with purple grapes, still lifes with green grapes, lovelorn couples, dancing couples, quibbling couples, galloping horses, pensive horses, palm fronds, sailboats, mountain streams, Dutch windmills and abstracts with paint as thick as nougat. ... There are the icons: Elvis (primitive), Elvis (Vegas era), Elvis on black velvet. And anyone who thought black velvet paintings went out with GMC Gremlins and pet rocks has not heard of the Velveteria, a museum of black velvet paintings in Portland, Ore. Open just two months, the site has been overwhelmed by an adoring public. ...
- One night with Elvis
By KIM CROSS
(St Petersburg Times, March 12 2006)
Somehow I've convinced our friends that it's a good idea to let me draw sideburns on their cheeks with a black eyeliner pencil. Maybe it's the margaritas. But it seems like the right thing to do when you're going to see Elvis in a north Georgia dive. The sideburns look a little odd on Laurie and me, but they suit the guys. We've been talking all weekend about going to see Elvis. On the way to our cabin on Lake Lanier, we spotted an intriguing sign at the Lantern Inn, a roadside restaurant and nightclub: "Elvis: Live Entertainment." The sign features a photo of someone impersonating the king in his better years. Apparently Elvis leaves this building several times a week.
Thoroughly sideburned, we arrive to find Elvis prancing around on a small stage. His white, chest-baring jumpsuit sparkles with silver studs. He looks to be in his late 20s or early 30s, and appears to have grown real sideburns beneath his gold-framed glasses. His singing voice is more than respectable, though he doesn't sound quite like Elvis. When he talks, he sounds like Jeff Foxworthy with an Elvis accent. "This suit's like a cheap hotel," he says, tugging at the fabric around the crotch. "Ain't got no ballroom in it." Elvis sings classics like All Shook Up to a karaoke machine. He flirts with the audience and drapes red sashes around the necks of fawning women. He makes jokes mostly at his own expense, and with a redneck bent. We roll our eyes, but we're laughing. ...
- Milwaukee's Harley museum
By WILL HERMES
(Chicago Tribune / Associated Press, March 12 2006)
The Harley-Davidson motorcycle company is planning a museum to open in its hometown, Milwaukee, in 2008. Location is 6th and Canal Streets. The company will start construction this spring. In addition to a museum, the Menomonee Valley site will include a public riverwalk, retail space, restaurant and special events rooms. The museum will feature motorcycles from the company's collection of more than 400. It includes a 13-foot-long "King Kong," which had been customized over a 40-year period, Harley-Davidson's serial number 1 cycle from 1903 and Elvis Presley's 1956 Harley-Davidson KH motorcycle. ...
- Willie Nelson Salutes Another (Hidden) Legend
By WILL HERMES
(New York Times, March 12 2006)
At this point, Willie Nelson is a national monument. One of country music's most fertile songwriters, tireless performers and distinctive vocal interpreters, he is also a longtime ambassador between red and blue states of mind; he has been pals with presidents, allegedly smoked marijuana on the White House roof (and just about everywhere else), founded Farm Aid to assist family farms and recently launched his own biodiesel fuel company. ... In addition to being a tremendously likable, laid-back set of classics with jaunty, western swing-flavored arrangements by the veteran Nashville producer Fred Foster, "Songs of Cindy Walker" spotlights another monument of American music, one who might have been forgotten had she ever been properly known in the first place. Ms. Walker, who lives and works in the small East Texas town of Mexia, is a prolific songwriter whose works have been covered by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Ernest Tubb, Roy Orbison and many others. ...
- Auction Fetches $33K For Dorothy And Friends
Compiled by Eric Pinkela
(CBS 2 / KCAL 9, March 11 2006)
Old Hollywood took center stage Saturday at the Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park, where an auction Saturday sold off beloved icons like Marilyn Monroe and Superman. But even Elvis couldnıt shimmy past the main characters from ³The Wizard of Oz,² which brought in the highest bid of the night. The tableau of Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man went for $33,000. ... The eveningıs high bids included $16,000 for a wax figure of Christopher Reeve as Superman; $14,000 for Elvis Presley in black leather and $12,500 for Marilyn Monroe in a pink evening gown. ...
- Celeb wines worth price; pass on Elvis
By Dan and Krista Stockman
(Journal Gazette, March 11 2006)
Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Francis Ford Coppola. There are few people who donıt know their names. They are known for their movies and music generally not the wines that bear their names. But walk through a wine store and youıll find lots of celebrity names Mario Andretti, Greg Norman, Fess Parker. There really is no end to the list. But are these wines any good?
They often carry a heftier price tag than the wines sitting next to them, and we have often wondered if the wines were pricey because of the name or because theyıre actually good wines. So we put them to the test with the help of Journal Gazette business reporter Jenni Glenn, her friend Lynne Pepple, Journal Gazette editorial writer Stacey Stumpf and her friend, Pat Proctor.
Overall, we were pleased with what we found, even with the higher prices. Generally, we wonıt recommend you run out and buy a $20 bottle of wine, but there are special occasions when you want to spend a little more, and in some cases you wonıt have to worry if the extra money is just to pay for someoneıs name on the bottle.
... From Daniel Boone we moved on to Graceland Cellarsı 2004 All Shook Up Sauvignon Blanc, which depicts a dancing Elvis on the bottle. At $9.99, the bottle alone might be worth the price for an Elvis lover. Unfortunately, thatıs the only thing of value with this wine. Sauvignon blanc should be crisp and fresh and a good food wine. This was none of those things. It had almost no smell and tasted simple and thin. ³Itıs like water, then it becomes bitter,² Pat said. Lynne said if she was going to drink it, it would have to be with food. But that was only because the food might give it the flavor it was clearly lacking. ...
- The new-look Rice: EX-49ERS STAR MAKING ROUNDS
Compiled by Eric Pinkela
(Mercury News, March 11 2006)
It is widely held that there were two versions of Elvis Presley: the young, thin, rockin' Elvis and the older, bloated, overdosed Elvis. For the die-hard fans, the Jabba-esque Elvis that appeared on a stamp never really existed. They have a mental picture of the King in their heads and it will never change. We assume it must be the same thing for Jerry Rice fans. ...
- Rock 'n' Rome Elvis star
By RICHARD WHITE
(Sun, March 11 2006)
A PROFESSOR who calls himself the Roman Rocker is performing classic Elvis Presley songs - in LATIN. Dr Jukka Ammondt croons Nune Aeternatis, meaning "I Surrender", and "Nunc Hic Aut Nunquam", (It's Now Or Never). He also sings as The King in Sumerian - the worldıs oldest written language, which died out 4,000 years ago. "Don't step on my blue suede shoes" becomes the catchy "Nig-na-me si-ib-ak-ke-en, e-sir kus-za-gin-gu ba-ra-tag-ge-en". Ammondt, 60, a Finnish classical languages lecturer, has released an album of Elvis songs called The Legend Lives Forever in Latin. He became a Roman Elvis after a divorce. The prof, who appears at a French Latin festival this weekend, said: "I baffle some people."
Just for fun ... mock up shows Roman Elvis
- Elvis, ETAs, and CKXElvis, ETAs, and CKX: Whither the Elvis impersonator in the overhaul of Graceland and Elvis marketing?
By JOHN BRANSTON
(Memphis Flyer, March 10 2006)
Is the Elvis impersonator contest as we know it doomed? A story this week in The New York Times by Julie Bosman reported that Robert Sillerman, the billionaire who plans to overhaul Graceland, "believes that Elvis Presley Enterprises has not used Elvis to his full potential, by a long shot."
Sure, and NASCAR has underutilized corporate logos. In 2005, Sillerman, chairman and CEO of CKX, Inc., a publicly traded entertainment company, bought 85 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises. When you see the words "billionaire," "Elvis," "full potential," and "publicly traded" in the same story, you can bet that revenue enhancement is on the way. And that could mean an end to one of the sweetest vestiges of the annual Elvis Week celebration in August, the Images of Elvis contest.
The Times story says "the fate of the impersonators was still undecided." I have no illusions about the purity of the Elvis legacy. But the annual Elvis contest in Memphis, the Super Bowl of such things, was a nice event -- thanks to co-founder Ed Franklin, the earnest and highly respectful contestants, and the indulgence of Memphis-based Elvis Presley Enterprises. The guardians of the Elvis legacy are vigilant, but the contest was good marketing and contestants were given free rein to have their fun, entertain, and make a modest or even a comfortable living. The airport Holiday Inn ballroom was an unpretentious venue, the admission ticket and drinks were reasonably priced, and spectators got to mix and mingle with the faux Elvi before and after the competition.
The ETA, or Elvis tribute act, is an art form. As with any art form, there are bad practitioners, hacks, and grand masters. In 2000, the winner of the Images of Elvis contest was first-time entrant Ryan Pelton, who bears such an uncanny resemblance to the young Elvis that he has effectively put all other ETAs in the position of competing for second place. It is like trying to be taller than Yao Ming. Pelton has parlayed his act into a nice career, with appearances all over the country and a spot on The Weakest Link television program, which, according to his Web site (RyanPelton.com) earned him $137,500. He was fun to watch and pleasant to talk to as he explained how he had sidetracked a career as a graphic designer for his singular calling and given up trying not to look like Elvis. "When I went into the Marine Corps after high school, they shaved my head and people said I looked like a bald Elvis," he said. "When I grew my hair long, they said I looked like a long-haired Elvis." Pelton tours with Elvis chums D.J. Fontana and the Jordanaires. Beneath him are several strata of less talented Elvis impersonators with fan clubs, photos, and regular paid gigs.
It is not hard to see how all this could get seriously weird, with batallions of lawyers and agents for Sillerman's company taking on the first-chop imitators or "authorized Elvis entertainers" with lawsuits and injunctions and orders to comply or cease and desist in their hands. I hope it doesn't happen, but it's hard to imagine that it won't. Sillerman paid more than $100 million for his stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises, and public companies are all about wringing every dollar of revenue from every possible source. If he follows through on his plans, Whitehaven and Graceland will get a nice bump in investment. But somewhere a lad dreams of letting his sideburns grow out, donning a jumpsuit, and belting out Jailhouse Rock in front of a bunch of screaming women in an airport hotel ballroom on a Saturday night in Memphis -- or in a lounge somewhere else in the American heartland. Please keep the dream alive, Mr. Sillerman.
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