Late November 2006
- Buddy Guy celebrates 50-year career
(Yahoo! News, November 29, 2006)
Sitting in his record label's offices, high above the Manhattan skyline, blues legend Buddy Guy looks at a table lined with six of his signature Polka Dot Fender Stratocaster guitars, all of which are awaiting his famous autograph. But first, the blues legend takes a moment to recall their significance - all the way back to 1957, when Guy left Louisiana to chase his guitar dreams all the way to Chicago. ... However, the journey from picking cotton on a plantation to picking strings on stages across the world as a card-carrying guitar icon was an arduous one. After famously being taken under the tutelage of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf in Chicago, Guy became a peer of those whose styles he had once echoed, but he was less successful in seeing the financial fruits of his labor. "Everybody was getting ripped off," he says. "Elvis Presley would have probably lived longer if he knew how much Col. (Tom) Parker was ripping him off. But a lot of the people who ripped us off were dead and you can't get revenge off a dead person." ...
- Jay-Z's Kingdom Crowns Charts
By David Fenison
(eonline.com, November 29, 2006)
Maybe he should retire more often. Lest anyone think his star power faded during his two-year recording hiatus, Jay-Z celebrated his rap comeback by topping one of the most competitive chart weeks of the year. Released on the music industry's so-called Super Tuesday, which precedes Thanksgiving weekend each year and features a host of big-name titles, Jay-Z's Kingdom Come ruled over new releases from such pretenders as Chris Daughtry, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, U2 and even the Beatles, and gave the rap mogul his seventh straight number one as a solo artist and ninth overall.
With that, he ties the Rolling Stones for third-most chart-toppers of all time, behind the Beatles (19) and Elvis Presley (10). ...
- Tupelo added as site of national Elvis contest
(USA TODAY / AP, November 29, 2006)
In June, Tupelo will hold tryouts for Elvis Presley Enterprise's first ever Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest. The Tupelo Elvis Presley Festival earned one of two slots in the preliminary concert lineup that will lead to a finals competition in Memphis during Elvis week Aug. 11-19, 2007. Collingwood Elvis Festival in Toronto, Canada, is the other site for preliminary competition, and more festivals and fairs could join the lineup.
"This is huge," said Debbie Brangenberg, executive director of the Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association, organizer of the city's annual festival that is held the first weekend in June. The 2006 festival drew record crowds thanks to a re-enactment of Elvis' 1956 homecoming concert. Brangenberg said the tribute contest should draw scores of impersonators to Tupelo for the ninth annual festival. Winners of the preliminary contests will compete at the finals in Memphis, with the best overall performer being named "2007 Elvis Tribute Artist of the Year" by EPE, which owns Presley's likeness and image. ...
- MERRY MEX-MAS
By Amy Winn
(New York Press, November 28, 2006)
Although it's easy to toss off a description of El Vez as the "Mexican Elvis" it's really an understatement. Usually, when you hear an act calling itself a "tribute" it means they either closely mimic the original, or suck to a degree that verges on insult. But El Vez pays tribute to the King in ways both overt and subtle. His pompadours, jumpsuits and reinterpretations of Presley's classic songs are obvious references. But much like Elvis blended gospel, R&B, country and the new rock 'n' roll beat to create a sensational sound, El Vez incorporates a huge variety of genres - classic rock, Latin, glam, punk and New Wave - to create an amalgamation distinctly (and sensationally) his own. Robert Lopez, the artist behind the showman, weaves together history, politics, sociology and sex appeal in a way that’s educational and empowering, sure, but it's mostly just goddamned entertaining. With the Lovely Elvettes singing backup and the Memphis Mariachis demonstrating admirable musical versatility, plus El Vez's famous costumes and caliente dance moves, this is a show that demands enthusiastic audience participation and a cultlike devotion. Viva El Rey de Rock 'n' Roll!
Dec. 2. Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St. (at Ave. A), 212-260-4700; Lysa Flores, a frequent Elvette, opens at 9:30, show starts at 10:45, $15.
- Get All Shook Up This Holiday Season with the New Elvis(TM) Hot Chocolate
(Financial News - Yahoo!, November 28, 2006)
Ugly Mug Coffee, with Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. (EPE), today
announced the launch of the 2006 limited edition Elvis Coffee
Christmas Collection which includes for the first-time ever two Elvis
Hot Chocolate mixes.
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