Early November 2006
- A chat with Elvis from SMT's 'Million Dollar Quartet'
By RICK de YAMPERT
(news-journalonline.com, November 5, 2006)
Singer-guitarist Nick Willett was 16 when rock star Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994. But, unlike so many of his fellow Gen-Xers, Willett did not idolize Cobain, other grunge rockers or rappers. Instead, as Willett grew up in a south Chicago suburb, he dug such music stars as Dean Martin, Roy Orbison, Jackie Wilson, Charlie Rich and Elvis Presley. So, when the producers of Seaside Music Theater's "Million Dollar Quartet" came calling, Willett did not have to feign interest in the musical -- even though he had never performed in theater before. After all, "Million Dollar Quartet" re-creates a real-life jam session in 1956 with Elvis and three other music legends: Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. Willett took time out from rehearsals to talk about Elvis and the play, which has its world premiere with a preview performance Thursday at News-Journal Center, followed by a run through Dec. 4.
Q. How does someone of your generation become an Elvis fan? He's not on MTV or radio that much.
It was around the house growing up. My pop is three years younger than Elvis. My pop comes from that upbringing in the South, in Fancy Farm, Ky. He grew up in that culture. He had an acoustic guitar, and growing up I would sit outside with him and he'd play me the tunes.
Q. Was music your career goal as a youngster?
I actually took baseball very seriously . . . then in high school, I gravitated toward art. I didn't latch on to performance until after high school. I was well-liked and known, but I was reserved when it came to getting up before a crowd. Performing came out when I was 20. The Lord opened a new door and set the fire, and that's what brought me to this point. I've played a lot of corporate casinos. I've played overseas a lot -- they have big rock 'n' roll/rockabilly festivals there that draw huge crowds. I'm probably known more overseas in that scene than over here.
Q. How did you land the role of Elvis?
A fellow I had met six years prior, Chuck Mead of (country/hillbilly roots band) BR-549, gave me a call and said, "Nick, I have a proposition for you." He told me about this and said "Would you like me to give them your name and number?" and I said yeah. One of the producers called the next day to get to know me. Chuck pretty much vouched for me. He had seen me perform in Nashville in some of the clubs.
Q. Is "Million Dollar Quartet" a revue, or is there a story line?
It's based on a historical event that happened at Sun Records in Memphis on Dec. 4, 1956. This was a night when four of the greats ended up being in one studio at the same time. They took over Carl Perkins' recording session. They mostly sang spiritual-gospel tunes. Sam Phillips (Sun Records' founder) hit the record button.
This is telling the story of how the guys trickled into the studio. Elvis came by to say Merry Christmas and give Sam a present. The other guys drifted in. Elvis had his girlfriend there. The play takes the audience through that night. It's half story and half musical concert. We (the cast) will be singing and playing our own instruments as a live band, and also playing our roles.
Q. Are you trying to emulate Elvis' mannerisms and such, or are you just trying to capture his spirit?
My normal presence is a throwback style anyway. Elvis was definitely one I looked up to and was a vehicle to learning my own style as well as Dean Martin, Charlie Rich and all those guys. It's picking up the spirit. Elvis impersonators do a great service and justice in putting people into the feel. I enjoy watching them myself, but I never molded myself after that. I thought they (the show's producers) would pick more of an impersonator. I actually was very surprised they chose me. But I tell you what -- it was wild when I did get it 'cause I knew I was prepared to do a great job as Presley.
If You Go
WHAT: "Million Dollar Quartet."
WHO: Seaside Music Theater.
WHEN: Friday through Dec. 4 (with preview performance Thursday). Show times 2 or 8 p.m.
WHERE: News-Journal Center, 221 N. Beach St., Daytona Beach.
TICKETS: $20-$42, available at the center box office or seasidemusictheater.org.
- Prosecutors all shook up over suspicious Elvis finds
By Michael Peel
(Financial Times, November 4, 2006)
British prosecutors trying to hit tough new government targets for seizing criminal assets face an unexpected conundrum: how do you raise the maximum amount of money from selling off Elvis Presley memorabilia?
The Crown Prosecution Service, which has confiscated an estimated Ł500,000 worth of Elvis paraphernalia from a convicted thief, is puzzling over whether to offload it now - or whether to wait for next year's 30th anniversary of the King's death.
The case, with its complex mix of sentiment, economics and the law, is seen as an unusual example of the challenges around converting confiscated assets into what one prosecutor describes as "cash in the tin" for victims and the authorities. Gary Balch, head of the CPSą confiscation unit, said in an interview that the authorities were juggling the prospect of profiting from Elvis fever next year against the costs of delay, such as interest. "It's not straightforward," Mr Balch said. "We want to get the maximum back." The collection of thousands of records and other items were seized from Julie Wall, a council worker who was jailed last year for stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds of car parking fees to fund her obsession.
Chris Giles, owner of The Elvis Shop in east London, said the sale would probably be Britain's biggest-ever Elvis bonanza, featuring valuable items such as a 10-inch Japanese version of the album Love Me Tender worth several thousand pounds. "She's got to have one of the biggest collections in this country," Mr Giles said. "Probably, next to me, it's the best."
Bamfords Auctioneers and Valuers of Derbyshire, central England, which is conducting the sale, said it had been working with elvis.co.uk, a fan website, to tie the auction in with a big party two months before the death anniversary in August. Annabel Brammer, an auctioneer and valuer at Bamfords, said she thought it better to avoid the anniversary itself, as the publicity around it would be outweighed by the likelihood that the most devoted Elvis fans would be marking it elsewhere. "Everybody will be on the trip to Graceland," she predicted.
Richard Long, the receiver responsible for selling the assets, said he was still in talks as to whether to separate Ms Wall's collection into two auctions, so as not to flood the market and depress prices. "She was such an avid collector, it's believed that she created her own micro-economy for Elvis Presley paraphernalia," he said. "Because whatever came out and was on the market, she wanted to buy." Then there is perhaps the greatest potential hitch of all: if the King delights conspiracy theorists by using the anniversary of his "death" to reappear alive, the bottom may yet fall out of the entire memorabilia market.
- The King is dead ... ... so don't put him in a 'jukebox musical'
By EVERETT EVANS
(Houston Chronicle, November 3, 2006)
Curse you, Mamma Mia!
When the Broadway musical built around ABBA hits proved a box office sensation in 2001, it unleashed an onslaught of musicals built around pop catalogs. Welcome to the age of the "jukebox musical." Most are atrocious. And most have been commercial flops, too. Among the disasters littering Broadway in the past two years: Good Vibrations (the Beach Boys), Lennon (John, that is), Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash), Hot Feet (Earth, Wind and Fire) and All Shook Up (Elvis Presley), whose touring edition plays Tuesday through Nov. 19 at Hobby Center.
... It doesn't matter whether individual entries succeed or fail. It makes no difference whether they toss the old songs into jerry-built "new" scripts (as in Mamma Mia! and All Shook Up) or place them in the familiar "and then we sang" format of a backstage bio (as in Jersey Boys). The trend is bad news for the theater because it's an artistic dead end. Musicals are supposed to be seamless integrations of music, dance and story. And a collection of pre-existing, individual songs can never function as effectively in theater as a unified score written to tell that particular story. Pop songs aren't written to serve character and situation. It's impossible to imagine The King and I, My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd - or the best recent musicals, such as Ragtime and The Light in the Piazza - with scores assembled from pre-existing hits.
At the heart of jukebox musicals lies a commercial impulse. They're a matter of branding, of repackaging potentially lucrative material for resale. It would be much more interesting to have a Billy Joel or Bob Dylan write a new score. But why would a producer risk that when it's much easier to assemble their oldies? ... At its core, All Shook Up - like all jukebox musicals - is just an oldies concert. So why not present it as a pop-music event? Why not drop the pretense that this stuff is musical theater? ...
- Cockburn doesn't tour without conscience: Politically, socially sentient singer/songwriter to perform in Petaluma
By SHELLEY SHEPHERD KLANER
(Santa Rosa Press Democrat, November 3, 2006)
When Bruce Cockburn was an adolescent in Canada, he promised his folks he wouldn't wear a black leather jacket or sport sideburns. Enamored of Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly and aiming to be a rock star, he meant to keep his promise, but didn't. After 25 albums and at the age of 61, he has owned several leather jackets, had sideburns, even pierced his ear.
Along the way, he turned out to be quite the enigma in the entertainment industry. His music crosses platforms from folk to jazz and blues influences to rock 'n' roll. Cockburn will perform Thursday at McNear's Mystic Theatre in Petaluma ...
- John Krondes and The Elvis "Hit Making Team" Score Big With The #1 Most Added Song In The USA This Week With "You Only Hear What You Wa[nt to Hear."]
By ED BROWN, Funky Sound of America
(Yahoo! News / PRWEB, November 3, 2006)
To All Music Fans...An important message from Rock 'n Roll Heaven: If You Were A Non Believer In Life After Death, you can start accepting the concept now! Most experts are still scratching their heads, some call it re-incarnation, UFO Fans call it cosmic, and the rest of the masses are speechless and spooked by the transcendental history making return of Elvis Presley's "Hit Team" with rocker John Krondes 29 Years after the King's passing.
Officially this Halloween, October 31, 2006, the eve of All Saints Day, the Spirit of Elvis has spoken to tell the world that He's Back and there is New Life. The Catholic Church has explained that The Feast of All Saints Day on November 1st and the Feast of All Souls Day on November 2nd, are to remind us of our relationship to those in the other states. These are days of remembrance, celebration and prayer for the departed, those souls that have preceded us into Rock 'n Roll Heaven.
As puzzling and mysterious as a story could be, exactly 30 Years to the day Elvis Presley sang his last note in the studio at Graceland, his adored "Hit Team" with John Krondes reigns with the #1 Most Added New Song in the USA this week in Adult Contemporary radio. Remarkably, Elvis Presley completed his last recording session on October 31, 1976 while finishing the "Moody Blue" album, and now the all original Presley "Hit Making Team" has just released a new song with singer John Krondes precisely thirty years later. The American Studios Band "The Memphis Boys", with DJ Fontana on drums, Elvis' Horns, the Jordanaires and Imperials Quartets, Millie Kirkham and John Krondes bring Elvis back to life with their new stunner "You Only Hear What You Want To Hear". The American Studios band recorded with Elvis his last #1 Hit "Suspicious Minds" in 1969.
Radio Giant FMQB - Friday Morning Quarterback reported the news October 31, 2006, that John Krondes and the "Hit Making Team" had the #1 Most Added New Song in the USA this week. Strikingly, "You Only Hear What You Want To Hear" written by Elvis composers Paul Parnes and Paul Evans, was given to Elvis to record on the heels of the success of the recorded Presley Hit "The Next Step Is Love" in the 1970's. Had Elvis lived longer, it is highly possible that he may have recorded this new song "You Only Hear What You Want To Hear" with many of the same players that appear on the song with John Krondes thirty (30) years later.
Yeah, it's Cosmic, Far Out, Dope, Deja vu at it's best; but best of all its fact and the real deal folks. John Krondes and the "Hit Making Team" are number one! FMQB reported the Most Added Tracks for the week with Elvis Presley's "Hit Team" and John Krondes in the #1 Position with 18 Reporting Station Adds. This is the second time in three weeks that "You Only Hear What You Want To Hear" has come in as the #1 Most Added Track. The next closest competitor registering #2 Most Added was Crashbox with seven Station Adds, followed by Steely with six, and other noted artists such as legends Tommy James, Rod Stewart along with Nick Lachey, Rascal Flatts and Rob Thomas.
"You Only Hear What You Want To Hear" by John Krondes and The Jordanaires is currently being ingested and will be available in a few weeks on I-Tunes, Burnlounge.com, as well as Amazon.com and other major internet retailers. "The End", "Let It Be Me" and other titles are currently available for download and purchase at these Internet sites.
Elvis is alive and rockin' through the souls of John Krondes and the "Hit Making Team" in 2006. Stay tuned for the release of the first CD Compilation of new material by the Presley "Hit Team" with John Krondes in early 2007.
Thank You Radio and Fans for your support of the "Hit Making Team" project, the mission is one and is clear...It is the New Day and the Music Will Never Die!
- Stardust casino sees last roll of the dice
(cnn.com / AP, November 2, 2006)
The Stardust, the neon-wrapped casino with a mobbed-up past whose 1,065 rooms once set the standard for size on the Las Vegas Strip, witnessed its last roll of the dice Wednesday. Wistful longtime employees and loyal gamblers gathered for a last farewell to the iconic 48-year-old institution, which is to be razed early next year to make way for Boyd Gaming Corp.'s planned $4 billion Echelon Place resort. The Stardust opened July 2, 1958, as the world's largest hotel and catered to middle America with $6-a-night rooms and low-minimum stakes gambling. But as bigger, classier casinos sprung up around it in the late 1980s and '90s and patrons began shelling out more for rooms, food and drinks, its luster began to fade.
... The resort became as famous for its familiar friendliness as its mob connections. In the 1995 movie "Casino," Robert De Niro played a character inspired by the finely tailored Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who ran the hotel-casino in the mid-1970s. "He truly was Cadillac sharp all the time," said Mickey Jones, a drummer and actor who appeared as a guest on Rosenthal's television broadcast from the hotel. "When the mob ran this town, everything functioned like clockwork." ... In its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, Elvis Presley would drop by. Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown co-hosted a radio show from the sports book. ...
- Michael 'Pat' Frazier worked behind the scenes but was often center stage
By James B. Meadow
(Rocky Mountain News, November 2, 2006)
He was larger than life, louder than life, never met a car engine he didn't like, and if it wasn't for him, legends like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Hope and Elvis Presley - to say nothing of a posse of cowboys and a passel of divas - might have been in trouble. He was Michael Patrick Frazier - Pat to everybody - a native son who grew up "inventing ways to get in trouble" and rumbled through 60 years of life as a backstage production force in Denver's theater and arena scene, to say nothing of its race-car subculture. And when he died Oct. 13 of bone cancer, the city became a sadder and quieter place.
"Oh, he definitely had a presence," said Shanna Frazier, one of his daughters. "He was a -real center-of-attention person. He had a great voice. He could sing like Elvis." Ah, but he couldn't drive like Elvis. At least he couldn't drive the same car as Elvis. It seems that the King had just finished playing Denver and was in one of his legendary moods of generosity. So he gave everybody on the production staff a Cadillac. Everybody, that is, except for Mr. Frazier, who had already gone home. ...
... Over the years, he earned a similar title at Red Rocks while also helping coordinate staging, sound and lighting at other city venues. During his career, Mr. Frazier worked behind the scenes for performers including Mitzi Gaynor, U2, Elvis and Lawrence Welk. ...
- QUATRO REGRETS ELVIS SNUB
(contactmusic.com, November 2, 2006)
Leather-clad rock chick SUZI QUATRO bitterly regrets turning down the chance to meet her idol ELVIS PRESLEY because she was too nervous. Quatro was invited to Graceland after covering Presley's ALL SHOOK UP in 1974, but couldn't face the prospect of meeting the great man. She says, "I declined. I had only just joined the fame game. He was my childhood hero, my god, my Svengali. "That is definitely one of the regrets of my life."
- Council to quiz mayor on mass-transit plan
By Johnny Brannon
(Honolulu Advertiser, November 1, 2006)
What: Special meeting of the Honolulu City Council to hear a detailed presentation of the transit recommendation provided by Mayor Mufi Hannemann and transit consultants
When: 11:30 a.m.
Where: Third floor of Honolulu Hale
"It's now or never." The old Elvis Presley ballad wafted through speakers in a City Hall conference room shortly before Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced new details on Monday about a multibillion-dollar rail mass transit plan for O'ahu. And Hannemann is singing a very similar tune as he prepares for a showdown with the City Council over the scope of the project and how quickly key decisions should be made. ...
- Lions, Tigers, & Ducks, Oh My! Wizard Of Oz, Elvis, and Pink Flamingo Rubber Ducks Hit The Water For Christmas
(Yahoo! News / PRWEB, November 1, 2006)
CelebriDucks, the original creator of the first ever celebrity rubber ducks of the greatest icons of film, music, athletics and history has just released a complete set of the Wizard of Oz rubber ducks. But they aren't stopping thereŠ.Along with Dorothy, the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Lion, they are also releasing James Dean, The Pink Panther, their "Bath of the Penguins" floating Emperor Penguin, and Elvis Presley in black leather (their first edition Elvis in Vegas attire quickly sold out). ...
[Do not support this promotion: Elvis was not a red-nosed clown - Ed.]
- Elvis tribute show returns to tell it ‘The Way It Was’
By Gillian Brunette
(Huntsville Forester, November 1, 2006)
Following a sold-out concert last December and requests for a repeat performance, the Algonquin Theatre is bringing back the tribute show ‘Elvis: The Way It Was’ on November 11 at 8 p.m. Featuring Stephen Kabakos, ‘Elvis: The Way It Was’ takes you back to Elvis Presley’s greatest 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s hits.
The show is a high energy musical extravaganza and comes complete with five backup gospel singers, a horn section and a four-piece band. Kabakos, who hails from Milton, Ontario, is ranked the number one Elvis impersonator in the world. He has the young Elvis look and all the costume changes that fans want to see. ...
- Country music publishing pioneer Buddy Killen dies
(Yahoo! news / Reuters, November 1, 2006)
Buddy Killen, who built the biggest country music publishing business in the world before selling it in 1989, died on Wednesday at his home, an aide said. He was 73 and died of pancreatic cancer, spokesperson and long-time friend Betty Hofer said. Killen's Tree International built a 38,000-song catalog, starting with Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel," written by the late Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden. ...
- Stardust Casino Sees Last Roll of Dice
By RYAN NAKASHIMA
(ABC News / AP, November 1, 2006)
The Stardust, the neon-wrapped casino with a mobbed-up past whose 1,065 rooms once set the standard for size on the Las Vegas Strip, witnessed its last roll of the dice Wednesday.
Wistful longtime employees and loyal gamblers gathered for a last farewell to the iconic 48-year-old institution, which is to be razed early next year to make way for Boyd Gaming Corp.'s planned $4 billion Echelon Place resort.
The Stardust opened July 2, 1958, as the world's largest hotel and catered to middle America with $6-a-night rooms and low-minimum stakes gambling. But as bigger, classier casinos sprung up around it in the late 1980s and '90s and patrons began shelling out more for rooms, food and drinks, its luster began to fade. ... The resort became as famous for its familiar friendliness as its mob connections. In the 1995 movie "Casino," Robert De Niro played a character inspired by the finely tailored Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who ran the hotel-casino in the mid-1970s. "He truly was Cadillac sharp all the time," said Mickey Jones, a drummer and actor who appeared as a guest on Rosenthal's television broadcast from the hotel. "When the mob ran this town, everything functioned like clockwork."
Cocktail waitress Emma Houston remembered how Rosenthal sent money to make her mortgage payment when she was hospitalized for surgery in 1974. "They knew everybody by name, not by badge," she said. "It was different back in that day." In its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, Elvis Presley would drop by. Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown co-hosted a radio show from the sports book. ...
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