early July, 2006
- Fest has burning love for the King
By Chrystal Johnson
(Detroit News July 8, 2006)
There was a lot of collar-popping, leg-jerking Elvis jailhouse rocking Friday afternoon at the seventh annual Michigan Elvisfest. The party kicked off at the Ypsilanti Marriott Eagle Crest hotel, when seven Elvises pulled up in a limo and a classic Cadillac convertible, to throngs of screaming fans. Some raved about meeting the many incarnations of the 1950s, '60s and '70s music and movie star on Friday. ... Eleven Elvis impersonators - spanning his early days in the 1950s through his 1970s Las Vegas-era - will be joined by Tom Jones, Blues Brothers and Ray Charles imitators. ...
- What is an American patriot?
By Pat Boone
(WorldNetDaily.com July 8, 2006)
My dictionary defines patriotism as "love of country and devotion to its welfare." A patriot is "one who loves his (or her) country and zealously supports its interests." I agree with that definition. However, I think too many of us confuse patriots with heroes. We think they are one and the same, but I beg to differ.
... Pat Boone, descendant of the legendary pioneer Daniel Boone, has been a top-selling recording artist, the star of his own hit TV series, a movie star, a Broadway headliner, and a best-selling author in a career that has spanned half a century. During the classic rock & roll era of the 1950s, he sold more records than any artist except Elvis Presley.
- Elvis display wraps up at Patton Museum
(whas11.com July 7, 2006)
The King is leaving Fort Knox. An exhibit at the Patton Museum chronicling Elvis Presleyıs days as a soldier will leave the building after a two-year run. The exhibit opened in March 2004 on the 46 th anniversary of Elvis joining the Army. Presley served in the army from March 1958 until March 1960.
- Rhythm & News: Travel back in time with Patsy Cline
(Daily World July 7, 2006)
If you could reverse time in a travel machine, what musical artist would you like to see? A young James Brown at Harlem's Apollo Theater? Elvis Presley at the Louisiana Hayride? Hank Williams at the Grand Ole Opry? Or, how about Patsy Cline in Eunice? It's unknown if the country music legend ever played the St. Landry Parish town. But last year, fans experienced the next best thing during a local production of Always ... Patsy Cline, held at Nick's on 2nd, a restaurant and dancehall in downtown Eunice. Director Jody L. Powell said the musical sold out 600 seats during a four-night period. ...
- Elvis Exhibit Leaving Fort Knox
(www.wlky.com / Associated Press July 6, 2006)
For the last two years, the Patton Museum has offered visitors a look at an exhibit concerning "the Soldier known as Elvis Presley," but its last day is Friday. The exhibit opened March 24, 2004, on the 46th anniversary of the day Elvis joined the Army and has included mementoes of Elvis when he served as an enlisted Soldier in Friedberg, Germany. Presley served in the Army from March 1958 until March 1960, spending the majority of this time assigned to Ray Barracks in Friedberg. The time is running out to see -- among other things -- the Army fatigues and overcoat worn by "The King."
- Can't blame just Yoko for Beatles playing Vegas - 'LOVE' THEY DO
By TERRY LAWSON
(Detroit Free Press July 6, 2006)
In 1968, Elvis Presley pulled a stunner. After years of walking in the wilderness of bad movies, he agreed to make a TV special for the Singer Sewing Machine Co. in which it was thought he would sing a cozy set of Christmas songs, presumably in front of a fireplace surrounded by cute kids. Instead, he stuffed himself into black leather and swaggered through what is referred to as the "Comeback Special," indicating that he could reclaim his throne at will. And how did he celebrate? He went to Vegas, eventual home of all legendary entertainers who want to make the most money while traveling the fewest miles.
Thank goodness, then, that two Beatles died before an inevitable reunion took them down the long and winding road to a long-term residency in what was once known as Sin City. But as the Rev. Gary Davis once sang, Death Don't Have No Mercy. The Mirage Hotel and Casino opened its theater doors last weekend to a show titled Love, the latest multimedia presentation of Cirque du Soleil, the performance troupe whose name translates to "pretentious French acrobats in tights posing and swinging around on things." ...
- Bush's foreign friends fading fast
By TOM RAUM
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press July 4, 2006)
Most of the leaders who defied criticism at home to stand with him on Iraq and win his friendship are no longer players on the world stage, or are on their way out. And it was a small band of brothers to begin with. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he'll step down before the next national election and is coming under increasing pressure from his own party to do it sooner. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a farewell visit to the United States last week. He is leaving office in September. Italy's Silvio Berlusconi resigned in early May after his party's election losses. Spain's Jose Maria Aznar was earlier forced out of office, the first casualty of supporting Bush on Iraq.
... Koizumi will be especially missed, Green said. Bush played host to the Japanese leader at the White House on Thursday, and then took Koizumi - an unabashed Elvis Presley fan - to the home of the rock-and-roll king, Graceland, in Memphis on Friday. Soon after the 9/11 attacks, "Koizumi would send handwritten notes. You know, `Hang in there.'" The notes "probably counted for a lot" with Bush, said Green, as did Koizumi's support on Iraq even though the war was unpopular with the Japanese. ...
- Communist leader Shii raps Koizumi's U.S. visit as 'disgraceful'
(Kyodo News July 4, 2006)
Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii lashed out Tuesday at Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Graceland Mansion, home of his idol Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee, during his recent trip to the United States as a "disgraceful behavior." During the taping of a satellite television program, Shii also criticized Koizumi's summit with U.S. President George W. Bush as marking what he called a new stage of "military integration" between the two countries. "Japan and the United States have come to a new stage on which they will advance military integration all over the world," Shii said, adding Tokyo "was compelled to bear an extremely dangerous and heavy load."
At their summit talks last Thursday in Washington, Koizumi and Bush agreed to continue cooperating in fighting terrorism while hailing a recent bilateral agreement on realigning the U.S. military presence in Japan, which is part of Washington's global transformation of its armed forces. On Friday, Bush in a farewell tribute treated Koizumi to a "dream-come-true" visit to Graceland Mansion, and the Japanese leader enjoyed the tour by singing, dancing and bidding "sayonara" before ending his last official visit to the United States.
- Elvis' passion for practical jokes unravelled!
(Asian News International July 3, 2006)
Elvis Presley may be famous for his pelvic thrusts and never ending sideburns but a new book is all set to reveal that he had a passion for practical jokes too. According to the New York Post, in Me and a Guy Named Elvis, which hits stores next month, author Jerry Schilling, a key member of Presley's Memphis Mafia, recalls one night when John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin stopped by with a few friends to meet Elvis and found him decked out in pajamas.
Elvis "stood, eyed John, and said, 'Let's swap pants,' while simultaneously, in expert [Monty] Python fashion, letting his pajama bottoms drop beneath his robe. John burst out laughing. Nobody accepted Elvis' offer." Elvis loved to tweak performers who did his act. One night in Las Vegas, he passed a lounge where a burly singer was "overdoing the Elvis vibrato just a bit," the author says. 'Without breaking stride, Elvis stormed into the lounge, walked right up onstage, hoisted his cane like he was going clobber the guy and said, 'If you're going to do it, do it right.' He gave the crowd a great big wink, hopped off-stage, and zoomed right out of there. But the big singer didn't see the wink - he'd been so startled that he'd fallen off the stage."
One habit of Elvis' that was not a joke was his insistence that his own music never be played inside Graceland. Schilling remembers one day when somebody put on All Shook Up during a party. "Who's the wise guy that put that goddamn music on? Get that crap off!" Presley roared. "There was no doubt he was really angry," Schilling writes. "He was proud of his work, but it was just that - his work. He lived with his music outside of the house - he didn't need to hear it while he was trying to relax in his own basement."
- PRACTICAL JOKER PRESLEY FLASHED LED ZEPPELIN STAR
(contactmusic.com July 3, 2006)
ELVIS PRESLEY was so fond of practical jokes he once cheekily dropped his pants in front of LED ZEPPELIN star JOHN PAUL JONES. The late rock 'n' roll legend, welcoming a group of guests to his home dressed only in pyjama bottoms and a robe, invited Jones to switch trousers before stunning the group with a glimpse of his privates.
Former pal JERRY SCHILLING recalls the hilarious incident in new book ME AND A GUY NAMED ELVIS explaining, "(Elvis) stood, eyed John, and said, 'Let's swap pants,' while simultaneously, in expert (MONTY) PYTHON fashion, letting his pyjama bottoms drop beneath his robe. John burst out laughing. Nobody accepted Elvis' offer." Other favourite gags included wowing friends with almost faultless recitations of his best-loved film scripts, including DR STRANGELOVE, Monty Python movies and ACROSS 110TH STREET. Schilling says of 1972 blaxploitation film Across 110th Street, "He began to act out the whole movie, setting up each scene and then presenting just about every line of dialogue in the script. "He brought each character to life with walks, vocal mannerisms and the subtlest of gestures. (He) didn't stop until he got to the final scene of the film."
- PRESLEY BANNED HITS FROM GRACELAND
(contactmusic.com July 3, 2006)
Late rock 'n' roll star ELVIS PRESLEY hated listening to his own hits and banned his "c**p" repertoire from ever being played inside his infamous Graceland, Tennessee home. The King was adamant work and home life be kept separate, and once flew into a rage when an unwitting visitor tried playing ALL SHOOK UP at a house party. He stormed, "Who's the wise guy that put that goddamn music on? Get that c**p off!" Former pal JERRY SCHILLING recalls in new book ME AND A GUY NAMED ELVIS, "There was no doubt he was really angry. "He was proud of his work, but it was just that - his work. He lived with his music outside of the house - he didn't need to hear it while he was trying to relax in his own basement."
- A hunk of burning promotion: Elvisfest gets Graceland boost
By STEVE RICCI
(Ann Arbor News July 2, 2006)
The king is dead, but hundreds, if not thousands of Elvises are coming to Ypsilanti next weekend. Local organizers are preparing for the seventh annual Michigan Elvisfest on Friday and Saturday at Riverside Park in Depot Town. It's among the largest Elvis Presley festivals in North America, with about 10,000 participants expected this year. The expected attendance is a considerable increase over the 2005 event, which drew about 7,000, in part because Graceland has been helping to promote the event this year, local organizers said.
Michigan Elvisfest has always been sanctioned by Elvis' Graceland estate, but the promotional effort upped the ante this year, said festival director Mary Decker. "Graceland put us on their Web site and their fan club lists,'' Decker said. "A lot of (festival-goers) are coming from the Graceland site.'' Decker said people are traveling from as far away as Georgia, Nebraska, Missouri, Florida, New York and Canada. "I found out there's a lot of people out there that may not tell you they're Elvis fans, but they definitely are,'' Decker said. There are a handful of bigger Elvis festivals in the country, but most of them are contests pitting Elvises against each other. Decker said the Michigan Elvisfest is the largest noncompetitive Elvis gathering. ...
- The 'King' graces area music festival
By Karen Mansfield
(observer-reporter.com July 2, 2006)
Rich McCoy had 'em all shook up at Doowopalooza in Canonsburg, a new festival added to the town's Fourth of July activities. McCoy, an Elvis Presley impersonator and Canonsburg resident, entertained the crowd that turned out on the streets Saturday to take in the five-day celebration. Dressed in a black, sequin-studded jumpsuit, hair slicked back and wearing dark sunglasses, McCoy struck Elvis' famous pose and belted out hits like "Can't Help Falling in Love," "Don't Be Cruel" and "All Shook Up" on the main stage. McCoy, who likes the attention almost as much as he likes the "King of Rock 'n' Roll," got the audience involved in his act, playfully stringing red beads around the necks of women in the crowd and getting down on one knee to serenade one Elvis fan. ...
- ''Bad boys'' rule on first day of Paris men's fashion
(India Daily July 2, 2006)
''Bad boys'' ruled as designers in Paris kicked off the menswear season with a nod to rebellious icons. Superbrand, Louis Vuitton, referenced 1960s screen idols like Alain Delon and Terence Stamp with a sophisticated spring-summer 2007 collection yesterday that ran the gamut from velvet jackets to slim trench coats. At the other end of the spectrum, John Galliano was inspired by horror figure Frankenstein for his eccentric parade of outlaws and teddy boys. Sonia Rykiel paid homage to French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, who died 15 years ago, but remains an emblem of cool for younger generations. Yohji Yamamoto, meanwhile, riffed on pinstriped gangster suits inspired by the Italian mobsters of film classic "The Godfather."
Vuitton held its show against a video backdrop of a shimmering blue pool that left sweltering guests hankering for a cold swim. This heralded a Hawaiian theme that ran from hibiscus flower prints to Elvis Presley crooning on the soundtrack. But if the show set a cinematic mood, it was less "Blue Hawaii" and more "Catch Me If You Can." Think Leonardo DiCaprio in a trim suit and trilby hat. Crisp cotton shirts were worn unbuttoned over loosely tied silk scarves, while a cotton pique jacket and matching waistcoat came accessorised with a large rhinestone pin that spelled "Louis." ...
- Beatles make Vegas comeback
By TERRY LAWSON
(Detroit Free Press July 2, 2006)
In 1968, Elvis Presley pulled a stunner. After years of walking in the wilderness of bad movies, he agreed to make a TV special for the Singer Sewing Machine Co. in which it was thought he would sing a cozy set of Christmas songs, presumably in front of a fireplace surrounded by cute kids. Instead, he stuffed himself into black leather and swaggered through what is referred to as the "Comeback Special," indicating he could reclaim his throne at will. And how did he celebrate? He went to Vegas, eventual home of all legendary entertainers who want to make the most money while traveling the fewest miles.
Thank goodness, then, that two Beatles died before an inevitable reunion took them down the long and winding road to a long-term residency in what was once known as Sin City. But as the Rev. Gary Davis once sang, "Death Has No Mercy." On Friday, the Mirage Hotel and Casino opened its theater doors to a show titled "Love," the latest multimedia presentation of Cirque du Soleil, the performance troupe whose name translates to "pretentious French acrobats in tights posing and swinging around on things." ...
- Genealogical jackpot
By BENJAMIN PIMENTEL
(SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE July 2, 2006)
Back in 1930, Tom Hanks' grandfather chased squirrels for a living, Walt Disney lived in an $8,000 Los Angeles home, and Elvis Presley's family didn't own a radio. These are just a few tidbits one can dig up from Ancestry.com, which has compiled an online database of information on 500 million people, culled from every U.S. census record from 1790 to 1930. ...
- Harper, Bush expected to stick to business
(ctv.ca / Canadian Press July 2, 2006)
It's all about being co-operative, not cozy. So when Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets Thursday at the White House with President George W. Bush, he faces a delicate balancing act in pursuing his priority of improving bilateral relations. No one disputes the tone is much better. ... So it will be a short, all-business visit, just a 40-minute chat in the Oval Office before a working lunch that happens to coincide with Bush's 60th birthday. ... there'll be no glamor and glitz, a sharp contrast to the recent visit of the Japanese prime minister and his high-profile tour of Elvis Presley's Graceland.
- Japanese media cool on Koizumi's rosy ties with Bush
(Yahoo! News / AFP July 2, 2006)
Japan should seek a more mature relationship with the United States rather than one based on personal bonding, the country's media said after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's trip to Washington. Koizumi displayed his media savvy by crooning Elvis Presley hits during a visit to Graceland with US President George W. Bush, with whom he has forged a close friendship over his five years in office. But the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said Japan's diplomacy should not be so dependent on the prime minister's personal ties. ...
- Japanese leader wraps up visit to U.S. in a state of Graceland
By JENNIFER LOVEN
(northjersey.com / ASSOCIATED PRESS July 1, 2006)
President Bush's going-away present to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was some kind of "Good Luck Charm." Amid the ceramic monkeys, floor-and-ceiling green shag carpet and animal-head armrests of Graceland's Jungle Room, the delighted prime minister just couldn't hold back the Elvis lines. "You're a pretty good Elvis singer," Bush said, in an obvious prompt. Bush knew what was coming, having experienced Koizumi's tendency to burst into song when it comes to the late rock-and-roll legend who is the Japanese leader's undisputed musical hero. Koizumi quickly complied. "Love me tender," he sang. "Wise men say, 'Only fools rush in.' "
Enter the special tour guides for the two leaders' private tour of Graceland: Presley's only child and heir, Lisa Marie, and her mother, Priscilla. "I want you, I love you," remarked Koizumi, spouting more Elvis tunes. Draping his arm around Lisa Marie, he crooned some more: "Hold me close, hold me tight."
The Bush-Koizumi tour through the Memphis manse wrapped up two days of consultations that included military pomp, the tinkling of crystal at a black-tie dinner and two hours of discussions on Iraq, North Korea, U.S. beef exports and other weighty matters in the Oval Office. But their outing to Graceland, with its oddity quotient and celebrity patina, was the most-anticipated portion. Aides said the president decided a Graceland tour was the perfect way, along with a gift of a jukebox loaded with Elvis hits, to bid adieu to a leader who is departing office in September after being one of his most ardent defenders on the world stage. "My dream came true," said Koizumi, donning gold-rimmed sunglasses as the pair walked to the motorcade waiting to take them to a lunch of Memphis barbeque.
Reuters Photo: Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (L) does an imitation of Elvis Presley
AFP Photo: US President George W. Bush(C), First Lady Laura Bush(R) and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan
- Elvis pic finds heartbreak hotel in Amesbury
(Daily News of Newburyport July 1, 2006)
Elvis Presley may top Forbes' list of top-earning dead celebrities, but his fans at McInnis Auctioneers weren't too willing to open their wallets for the King. A rare photograph of Presley's parents, once owned by the King and presented to the late singer as a gift from his close friend and manager, received no bids during its showing at the Amesbury auction house yesterday. Soon after the 11 a.m. auction start, the rare memorabilia came to the block. A pair of Elvis' recliners, with a brown and black print, sold quickly. The photograph was then presented to the crowd of about 50 people. ... Receiving no owners from the quiet audience - or "seeing no interest," as he said, he dropped the figure to $750. Again, hearing no response, McInnis removed the item from the table and it was carried back to the end of the room by staff. The auction quickly continued and the eager audience again came to life, choosing to bid on more routine items - such as vases, dishes and collectibles - instead of Presley's merchandise. ...
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