late April, 2006
- Elvis tribute promises to pack Hawaiian punch
By Steve Penhollow
(Journal Gazette April 30 2006)
Everybody develops romantic notions about Hawaii in different ways, unless you live in Hawaii and make less than $100,000 per annum. People who live in Hawaii and make less than $100,000 per year never develop romantic notions about Hawaii. I fell in love with the Aloha State while repeatedly watching the 1961 Elvis Presley film "Blue Hawaii."
Local Elvis impersonator Brent Cooper is a big fan of the film, too. He will host a "Blue Hawaii"-themed luau at Fort Wayne Turners on Saturday. Cooper will perform music from three of Presley's Hawaii-steeped films and will recreate a benefit concert Presley did on the USS Arizona in 1961. Cooper agrees with me that Presley's films have gotten a bad rap. "I think his movies are great for sinking back and escaping the world," he says. "He gets the girl, he looks cool, and he sings, all at the same time. They're a great little fantasy." "Blue Hawaii," Presley's top-grossing film by many accounts, is blamed for all sorts of ills. It provided the template for most of Presley's subsequent cash cows, whether they were set in the tropics or the desert. It pretty much ended whatever serious acting aspirations Presley may have harbored. But it, like most of Presleys films, is thoroughly entertaining.
Plus, thanks to the way time has warped the films' modest objectives and even more modest methods for achieving them, they now strike us as wonderfully weird as well. In nearly every Elvis movie, there is one production number so bizarrely choreographed that an unethical anthropologist might be tempted to base a fake civilization on it. There is usually one respected actor hamming it up with the desperation of a young sheriff forced by a gunslinger's bullets to dance in place on a saloon floor. There is usually at least one song that seems to have been badly translated from a Bavarian puppet show.
If our planet is ever invaded by giant tripods from Mars, bacteria aren't going to defeat them. Trying to make sense of the Elvis movies is going to kill them. Elvis movies are not of this world. Perhaps Elvis did have it in him to become some method-actory glowerer. But did this world really need another sub-par Brando?
Tom Lisanti, author of several books on cinema in the '60s, wrote in an e-mail that Presley might have had the talent, but he didn't have the work ethic. "Š Per what I gathered from the actresses that I interviewed who worked with him, I don't think Elvis had the drive to pursue it and was comfortable coasting after the enormous success of 'Blue Hawaii.'" Presley's relatively serious films were not well received by the public. Like his successors-in-spirit, Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler, the public just wanted him to do one thing. Which is fine. Presley's good films are merely OK. His bad films are gloriously bad. ...
- Ain't over 'til the fat man sings
By Keith Spera
(Times-Picayune April 30 2006)
In rock 'n' roll's rambunctious youth, the second-best-selling artist behind Elvis Presley was a soft-spoken, round-faced piano player from the Lower 9thWard of New Orleans named Antoine "Fats" Domino. Though Domino accounted for nearly half the record sales between them, Presley monopolized nearly all of the hype, press attention and mania -- in life, as well as death. As north shore writer Rick Coleman notes in the prologue of his new, definitive biography, "Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll," a dramatic boat rescue from Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters was necessary to remind most fans outside New Orleans that Domino was even still alive. The spotlight moved on from Domino in part because of his seemingly innocuous existence, especially compared to his peers. He was not, like Little Richard, a flamboyant gender-bender given to outrageous pronouncements. He did not, like fellow Louisianian Jerry Lee Lewis, marry his 14-year-old cousin. And he did not, like that handsome young man from Tupelo, Miss., set the teenage world aflame with perpetually swiveling hips. ...
- Witness: Catholic nun was angry the day before her murder
By Harriet Ryan
(Court TV April 29 2006)
The afternoon before her brutal murder, a Catholic nun expressed anger that an important religious service had been cut short, a witness testified Friday at the trial of the priest accused in the 1980 killing. The witness, a hospital housekeeper, said Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl, a conservative, no-nonsense nun, seemed annoyed that the liturgy in the hospital chapel on Good Friday, the most solemn day in the church year, had been curtailed. ... Prosecutors have suggested that Sr. Margaret Ann, a strong-willed, devout nun, clashed with the Rev. Gerald Robinson, a hospital chaplain, over the way he conducted the afternoon service and that he killed her the next morning as she prepared the chapel for Easter mass. ... Lucas, a housekeeper for the convent, described Sr. Margaret Ann as an intimidating, demanding boss. "She was very strict, very stern. Things had to be done a certain way," she said. ...
She also recalled a time Sr. Margaret Ann asked what her favorite hymn was. When Lucas named Elvis Presley's version of "How Great Thou Art," the nun was appalled. "She thought he was a little bit too wiggly and squirmy and that Catholics shouldn't feel the way they felt about him," she said, adding that she burst into tears as soon as Sr. Margaret Ann left the room. ...
- Reintarnation a trip down memory lane
By ALLAN WIGNEY
(Canoe / Ottawa Sun April 29 2006)
k.d. lang
Reintarnation
(Rhino/Warner)
The title alludes to k.d. lang's early attention-getting claim to being the reincarnation of Patsy Cline. The cover is a playful homage to that of the first Elvis Presley album. And/or, of course, of The Clash's London Calling. And taken together, those three reference points pretty much sum up the first of young Kathryn Dawn Lang's career as a rip-snortin' new kind of country gal -- a Patsy for the punks. ...
- Meet the king of cashing in on fame: Bob Sillerman has made billions using the great currency of the age
By Mark Coultan
(Sydney Morning Herald April 29 2006)
ELVIS may have left the building, but he certainly hasn't left the world of business. Last year he proved himself the king of dead celebrities, earning $US51.5 million ($68.2 million). During his career, Elvis was subjected to exploitation, but even he might be shocked to find that someone outside his family owns 85 per cent of his earnings. His daughter, Lisa Marie, owns the rest. The man who owns the majority of Elvis is the same man who last week bought 80 per cent of Muhammad Ali. And for good measure, he also owns rights to the Idol franchise, which in the US is still the most popular show on television.
Bob Sillerman is a baby boomer, a former rock promoter who has been called an "absolute genius" at making money. He's a billionaire who not only controls the image of the king of rock'n'roll, but now the Greatest of all Time. ... Sillerman has taken talent management to its logical conclusion, putting a value on a celebrity's worth, and offering to buy it. In a way, he does no more than any talent manager or agent, except instead of working for the celebrity, the celebrity works for him.
- TOAST TO A TV LEGEND
(Daily Record April 29 2006)
A PORTRAIT of comedy legend Benny Hill made from toast has been sold for £600 to nineties group Right Said Fred. Artist Lennie Payne has also created a culinary image of Elvis Presley.
- Organized crime museum favored in Vegas
(post-gazette.com / Associated Press April 28 2006)
Locals may not like the idea, but tourists appear eager to see a historic downtown building converted into a tribute to the history of organized crime, a poll conducted by the city has found. Pollsters surveyed 600 locals and 300 tourists in Las Vegas to gauge their interest in a handful of possible themes for a museum proposed for a historic building currently under renovation in downtown Las Vegas. The options included a "behind-the-scenes" look at gambling, a magic museum, a "vintage Vegas" theme, a museum dedicated to Las Vegas icons such as Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, and Mafia museum. Locals told pollsters they would most like to see the museum chronicle "vintage Vegas," described as the architecture, music and figures that dominated the city's landscape from the 1930s to the 1950s. But more than 70 percent of visitors ranked a mob museum among their top three concepts. ...
- Friends plan to bust Hank
By Alexandyr Kent
(Shreveport Times April 27 2006)
Elvis Presley and James Burton, make room for Hank Williams Sr.! If the nonprofit group Friends of the Municipal Auditorium has its way, a bronze statue of the country icon will be added to the steps of Shreveport Municipal Auditorium in downtown Shreveport. Johnny Wessler, executive director of Friends, said the statue would acknowledge where Williams' career took off and help promote the building's history. Williams began a nine-month stint performing for the building's legendary Louisiana Hayride radio program on Aug. 7, 1948, according to Wessler. During the run Williams debuted his version of "Lovesick Blues," a single that became a country and mainstream hit. ... A timeline has not been set. Wessler hopes the unveiling will coincide with a major music event, much like the James Burton statue debuted during the living Shreveport legend's International Guitar Festival, which was held at the Municipal in August 2005. The Elvis statue debuted in October 2004.
- Elvis Presley's Girlfriends Linda Thompson and Carol Connors Join "Hit Making Team" Singer John Krondes At Women's World Networking In Beverly Hills Saturday
(PRWEB.com April 26 2006)
To all Worldwide "Hit Making Team" Fans: The Hollywood Spotlight is shining bright on John Krondes and The Elvis "Hit Making Team" this week in Beverly Hills. The Gossip Columns are buzzing as Elvis Girlfriends Linda Thompson and Carol Connors are scheduled to appear with singer John Krondes at the Women's World Networking conference in L.A. Women's World Networking is an internationally recognized association that empowers women all over the world. They say a Woman with purpose is a force to be reckoned with. The Elvis Girls team with Krondes in the "Hit Making Team" mission of "Keeping The Music Alive". Elvis Presley's Spirit has risen to new heights this past year as singer/song writer John Krondes has untiringly continued to put the Presley "Hit Team" back in place to make new music.
Linda Thompson and Carol Connors both powerful Hollywood Women share their talent and leadership with Krondes in bringing peace to the world through the message of Music in the "Hit Making Team" project. Gloriously and Triumphantly, litterally all of Elvis Presley's "Original" music making unit have re-assembled with the young singer/songwriter John Krondes over the last two years to make new historical recordings.
Music fans all around the globe are joining hands and hearts in support of the "Hit Making Team" in their efforts to keep Elvis' memory burning. "Baby I Love You" by John Krondes and The Jordanaires with the Sweet Inspirations has just cracked the FMQB national Top 40 Chart in the U.S. with its debut at #35 this week. ...
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