Late December 2006
- Thirty Years Later, Elvis Continues His Reign
Source: Elvis Presley Enterprises
(Yahoo! Finance / BUSINESS WIRE, December 27, 2006)
With Younger and Younger Audiences Discovering Elvis and the Number of Projects Planned for 2007, the King of Rock & Roll Continues to Entertain with a Career Reaching New Generations. The Anniversary Year Begins with the January 8 Celebration of His Birthday at Graceland and Continues Through Elvis Week 2007 in August, Which Promises to Be the Largest Ever.
Nearly thirty years ago on August 16, 1977, legendary entertainer Elvis Presley died at age 42. In his 23-year career, he became the top-selling recording artist of the music industry, spent time on Hollywood's lists of highest paid actors and top box office draws, broke viewer ratings records with his television specials and television guest appearances, and broke concert box office records in Las Vegas and on national tour. At the start of his career, his unique, instinctive, natural blending of pop, country, gospel and R&B music, presented with his charismatic and then-provocative style, touched off a revolution in music and popular culture. Today, his influence still reverberates and his presence seems more ubiquitous than ever.
There are at least 400 active independent Elvis fan clubs around the globe and on the Internet there are hundreds of Web sites devoted to interest in the superstar in addition to the official site, Elvis.com. In recent years, Elvis CD and DVD releases have topped the sales charts in territories around the world. Today, licensing activity for official Elvis products and ventures is at an all-time high. Recently Atlantic Monthly magazine published the results of its poll of ten eminent historians to name the 100 most influential figures of American history. Elvis Presley is one of only a handful of entertainment artists to make the list.
Graceland Mansion, his beloved home in Memphis, Tennessee, which has been open for public tours since 1982, welcomes over 600,000 visitors per year - half of them today are age 35 and under. In 2006, the Graceland staff played host to President George Bush and avowed Elvis fan, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, an event that generated extensive media coverage everywhere. Also in 2006, Graceland Mansion, the most famous home in America after The White House, was designated a National Historic Landmark in recognition of the fact that Elvis Presley lived there. Presently, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. (EPE), the company that manages the Presley assets, and its parent company CKX, Inc. are engaged in developing a master plan for an extensive revamping of the property surrounding the original Graceland grounds. It's currently scheduled to be realized within the next few years and will include new visitor amenities, exhibition and entertainment facilities, and hotels.
Now, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. and CKX, Inc., along with their collaborators, licensees and venture partners, are preparing for a full and exciting year of activity in 2007, the 30th Anniversary of Elvis' passing, which is expected to help carry the Elvis phenomenon to even greater heights. It begins with the Elvis Presley Birthday Celebration at Graceland in January, follows through with special DVD and CD releases and special official products from licensees, and crescendos in August with what is expected to be the biggest of all the annual Elvis Week celebrations to date.
Among the key happenings in 2007 are:
The Elvis Presley Birthday Celebration ...
DVD and CD Releases ...
TV Land ...
Graceland's Silver & Gold Anniversary and More ...
EPE Product Licensees ...
Elvis Week 2007 in Memphis ...
- Elvis looks to win teenage fans all over again
(Fox Ten / AP, December 26, 2006)
Teenagers in the 1950s and '60s went wild over Elvis Presley, much to the consternation of their parents, but kids in the new millennium aren't so stirred by rock 'n' roll's original rebel. Next year, three decades after Presley's death, the multimillion dollar Elvis business will try to connect with a new generation of teenage fans. More film clips, photos and other material from the vast Presley archives will be showing up online. Elvis Presley Enterprises plans to take advantage of MySpace and YouTube. ...
- Elvis still rocks among postage stamps
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
(Tennessean / AP, December 26, 2006)
Elvis is still the King -- not only of rock'n'roll, but of the postage stamp world. Some 124.1 million of the 1993 Elvis Presley stamps were saved by Americans, according to the post office, which does an annual survey of 10,000 households to determine which stamps are most popular. ...
- Elvis remains King of rock 'n' roll, and stamps too
(KTRE / AP, December 26, 2006)
People still like holding onto Elvis. The Postal Service says more than 124 (m) million of the 1993 Elvis Presley stamps have been saved by Americans. The post office does an annual survey of ten-thousand households to determine which stamps are most popular. ...
- Elvis' last song goes on the block
(Northwest Herald / PRNewswire, December 26, 2006)
Songwriter Paul Terry King (co- author of the last known song composed but never released by Elvis) is now auctioning off his copyrighted interest to the song titled, "Just Like Rollin' Up Hill" (registered under Elvis Presley's BMI work number 7600186 on BMI.com). The song (along with remaining assets of Elvis-A-Rama) were purchased by billionaire Robert Sillerman's company CKX in 2005 for an undisclosed amount prior to release. The song will be available to the public for auction on eBay Jan. 19. Bidding opens at $10,000 at 7 p.m. To listen to the song, visit www.elvissong.info.
- You're beaming over 'White Christmas'
By DAREL JEVENS
(Chicago Sun-Times, December 25, 2006)
It was written for Californians, a ballad about people spending December in sunny climes where the treetops never glisten. But "White Christmas" touches plenty of hearts in Illinois, too. Earlier this month, the Sun-Times posted a list of 25 holiday songs online and asked readers to choose the best one ever. Almost 5,000 votes came in. And the favorite, by far, was the wistful number made famous decades ago by Bing Crosby. ... "White Christmas" has been America's holiday song of choice almost from the minute it debuted in Crosby's 1942 film "Holiday Inn." It won the best-song Oscar and became a monster pop hit for several years running. Guinness World Records calls it history's best-selling single, estimating people have picked up some 50 million copies. ... At first, "White Christmas" resonated with homesick Americans fighting overseas and the families who missed them. But why has it endured since? A few possible reasons: ...
4. The Elvis connection
Berlin, no fan of rock 'n' roll, was appalled when Elvis Presley cut a somewhat snarky version of "White Christmas" on his 1957 holiday album. Then pushing 70, the songwriter asked radio stations not to play it. Most of them liked Elvis better and ignored him. ...
- A Musical Insurrection
By ERIC R. DANTON
(Courant Rock, December 26, 2006)
Rapper Chuck D once declared in song that Elvis Presley never meant much to him. James Brown was a different story. "If it wasn't for James Brown, there is no hip-hop, there is no rap, there is no funk and there is no soul," Chuck D said by phone Monday afternoon. "James Brown is necessary fabric for the music we hear today." ...
- 'Godfather of Soul' James Brown dies at 73
By GREG BLUESTEIN
(chron.com / Associated Press, December 25, 2006)
James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured "Godfather of Soul," whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early today, his agent said. He was 73.
Pete Allman, a radio personality in Las Vegas who had been friends with Brown for 15 years, credited Brown with jump-starting his career and motivating him personally and professionally. ... ''He was a very positive person. There was no question he was the hardest working man in show business,'' Allman said. ''I remember Mr. Brown as someone who always motivated me, got me reading the Bible.'' Along with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years. At least one generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him. ...
- Memphis wants 'the King's favorite' for new joy(land)
By Lance Martin
(Daily Herald, December 24, 2006)
Carolina Crossroads still owns the Zippin Pippin, Elvis Presley's favorite roller coaster, but the developers of a new amusement park in Memphis would like to get it back. Carolina Crossroads Developer Michael Dunlow said he is open to talks of leaving it in Memphis, and Robert Barnard, owner of the new amusement park, said his group would be willing to buy the coaster if given a long-term lease for the park. ...
- Presley's songwriter Linde dies
(BBC News, December 24, 2006)
Songwriter Dennis Linde, who wrote one of Elvis Presley's last major hits, Burning Love, has died aged 63. Linde, who also wrote Goodbye Earl for the Dixie Chicks, and Callin' Baton Rouge for Garth Brooks, had been suffering from a rare lung disease. Burning Love was a hit for Presley in 1972, five years before his death. It reached number seven in the UK chart. ...
- Tonight's TV: TAPE IT ; God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You (C4, Sat, 6.30pm)
By Peter Grant
(redorbit.com, December 23, 2006)
IN this two-hour documentary, theologian Dr Robert Beckford investigates the tempestuous relationship between spirituality and the music world, a subject which made God-fearing folk uneasy in the 1950s. The reason was rock n' roll. Enter Elvis Presley and Little Richard. ...
- Some great music born in '66
By Scott Iwasaki
(Deseret Morning News, December 22, 2006)
I turn 40 today. I can't believe I made it. Seriously, when I was growing up, I always thought I'd end up in the morgue before I turned 30. (My target age was 27, like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain.) However, by authority higher than my own, I have lived quite a bit longer. In two years - assuming I'm still alive - I'll be as old as Elvis Presley was when he died in 1977. And, for you Douglas Adams fans, that means I'll be the answer to "Life, the Universe and Everything." ...
- Today in KC: Wanda Jackson at Knuckleheads
By BRIAN McTAVISH
(Kansas City Star, December 22, 2006)
You never know who might show up at a Wanda Jackson concert: Would you believe Bruce Springsteen and his wife, Patti Scialfa? Earlier this month the Boss and his E Street Band musician/bride caught Jackson - who performs tonight at Knuckleheads - in a show at a bowling alley/nightclub in Asbury Park, N.J. According to the Asbury Park Press: "The couple, who live in Colts Neck, sat quietly on the edge of a bowling-ball return machine, uninterrupted by fans as they listened to Jackson. "The one-time girlfriend of Elvis Presley and "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll" apparently didn't disappoint. The paper reported that Jackson "sang with aplomb, and her rendering of her early hit, 'Fujiyama Mama,' drew hearty applause." ...
- Mayor Shannon Buskirk: Well wishes for Christmas
By Mayor Shannon Buskirk
(Tennessean/ fairviewobserver.com, December 22, 2006)
Sitting in front of a crackling fire listening to Bing Crosby's White Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms and Elvis Presley's Blue Christmas makes for a relaxing evening in my household during the holiday season. I also enjoy all of the Christmas get-togethers with family and friends, especially now that we have grandchildren. ...
- 'Burning Love' writer Linde dies of rare lung disease
By LINDA ZETTLER
(Tennessean/ fairviewobserver.com, December 22, 2006)
Famed songwriter Dennis Linde - who penned Elvis Presley's "Burning Love" and a slew of country hits, including the controversial "Goodbye Earl," recorded by Dixie Chicks, and "Callin' Baton Rouge," recorded by Garth Brooks - died today of a rare lung disease. He was 63. ...
- What do farmers wish for in 2007?
(Farmers Weekly, December 22, 2006)
At this time of year Farmers Weekly often asks farm leaders what are their hopes and fears for the coming year. But this year we decided to ask FW readers and users of Farmers Weekly Interactive:
... Gillian van der Meer
"To use the words of Elvis Presley I want to see 'A little less conversation, a little more action'. This has to happen if farmers are really to connect with their customers. I attended a meeting recently where someone asked "Who are our customers"? I answered that easily "Any one who eats is a customer". That means the farming community accepting that we have to do more than just talk about 'reconnection', and take action and go and talk to the urban multicultural community to engage them. That means going into the heart of the urban white / Asian / Black African/Caribbean city community, sitting down, talking with and listening to them. Then you can start to make headway with all consumers, and not just those within a certain radius of your farm or rural community. ...
- Elvis alive and well in Viva Las Parkes (with VIDEO)
By Brenda Cunningham-Lewis
(tenterfield.yourguide.com.au / Rural Press Interactive, December 22, 2006)
In early January, the 10,000 residents of Parkes will add to their town's population by 50 per cent. The occasion? The Parkes Annual Elvis Festival. Now in its 15th year the celebration sees hip-swiveling Elvis impersonators and more than a few Priscilla wannabes arrive from all over the world. Elvis look-alikes play golf, sing gospel, get married in true Las Vegas style with Elvis celebrants and eat lots of fried chicken.
The Elvis festival has had a chequered history, says Parkes Champion Post editor Roel ten Cate, but after a campaign by their paper and support from the local council, it now continues to go from strength to strength. The Elvis Express from Sydney to Parkes is already booked out, but Elvis desperados need not fear, there is space in the Tent City at North Parkes Oval (about $30 per person a night) and many homes are offering to host extra visitors. Parkes is in the central east of NSW, about five hours drive from Sydney (375kms). If you are not up for the drive, there's always the train in 2008. ... [view video]
- French rocker Johnny Hallyday fails to win rights to archived hits
(dailynews.muzi.com, December 21, 2006)
Johnny Hallyday, France's most famous rock singer who built a long career influenced by Elvis Presley, has lost a prolonged legal battle to win rights over his old tunes held by his former music company. The highest appeals court in Paris ruled Wednesday that the rights of the tunes would remain with Universal Music, which immediately greeted the verdict as an example of "logic and justice".
Hallyday, born Jean-Philippe Smet in Paris 63 years ago, had fought his case through a series of courts since 2004, arguing that he should be considered the owner of the masters of his old hits -- many of which date back to the 1960s -- following his departure from Universal for Warner.
Wednesday's ruling dismissing that assertion dealt a definitive defeat in his legal fight, which has cost a small fortune. The decision came days after Hallyday sparked indignation in France by announcing he was to become a Swiss resident to avoid paying hefty taxes. He is also seeking Belgian nationality through his father which, if granted, would also provide him fiscal relief.
- For sale: the secrets of Hollywood's golden age stars
By Richard Luscombe
(americanheritage.com, December 21, 2006)
* Fox studio contracts will be auctioned for charity
* Mystery of Elvis's changing hair solved
It may not be Hollywood's most enduring mystery, but the truth can finally be revealed over why Elvis Presley's trademark quiff turned from near-blond to jet black in the 1956 classic Love Me Tender - he was allowed to do his own hair.
The revelation is one of many Tinseltown secrets in a treasure trove of documents belonging to 20th Century Fox that are to be auctioned in New York next month to benefit an actors' charity.
... The contract between Presley and Fox for Love Me Tender gave the actor and singer unprecedented permission to wear his hair how he chose, but the unfortunate colour change later came to be seen as one of the film's most glaring continuity errors. ...
- Elvis and Nixon: A Marriage Made Where?
By Joshua Zeitz
(americanheritage.com, December 21, 2006)
Thirty-six years ago today, on December 21, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon and Elvis Presley posed for what may be the strangest photo op in White House history. Standing before five meticulously arranged flags, Nixon, in a conservative business suit, and Presley, in a velvet suit and wide-lapelled shirt, with a gargantuan gold belt buckle and matching gold medallions, clasped hands in a very odd political embrace.
Presley exuded cool reserve; Nixon looked uneasy, as always. Elvis was still the King, though well on his way to the self-parody of the white suit and the Las Vegas dinner circuit. Nixon, in the words of one of his speechwriters, was "aggressively square."
Presley had requested the meeting because, he said, he thought he could be of some assistance in battling the "drug culture, the hippie elements, the SDS, [and] Black Panthers." Nixon in turn hoped he could channel some of Elvis's popularity with younger people and neutralize his negative image with college students. That Elvis's appeal was concentrated more with a somewhat older generation didn't seem to register with the President, who regarded contemporary music as loaded with "subtle, insidious" "double-entendres." Presley agreed, going so far as to tell Nixon that the "Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit." With great fanfare, Nixon appointed Elvis a "Federal Agent at Large."
In later years, H. R. Haldeman, who served as Nixon's chief of staff, described his boss as "the weirdest man ever to live in the White House."
... In launching a brief partnership with Elvis, Nixon wasn't simply exhibiting more strange presidential behavior, though surely that was part of the story. Neither was he just attempting to counter his reputation as a relentless square. He was also trying to address the tremendous student unrest that had intensified in the spring of 1970 in the wake of revelations that the administration had extended ground and air operations into Cambodia, the small nation next door to Vietnam. ...
The President and the King, December 21, 1970 - National Archives
- Buzz Editor's Column: Last-minute gift - How 'bout Elvis' piano?
By ALAN SHECKTER
(Chico Enterprise Record, December 21, 2006)
Elvis Presley's white baby grand piano, which comes with the accompanying bench on which he placed his very own derriere, is up for auction. Operators are standing by. An online auction at www.freesell.com claims the vintage 1911 Knabe & Co. grand piano was, from 1930 to 1957, in Memphis' Ellis Auditorium and was played by W.C. Handy, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway and many others. Presley bought it in 1957 and put it in the music room at Graceland. And now it can be yours, if the price is right. ...
- Contracts signed by Monroe, Presley and Brando up for grabs
(Yahoo! News India, December 21, 2006)
An array of contracts signed by stars like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Marlon Brando will be put up for sale by film studio 20th Century Fox at a charity action next year. The auction, which is to be organised in New York by auctioneer Swann Galleries, will have over 200 celebrity contracts go under the hammer, proceeds from the sale of which will go for a Hollywood film charity. ... Amongst other documents to go under the hammer will be a contract allowing Elvis to wear his hair how he pleased for 'Love Me Tender', Brando's 1951 contract for movie 'Viva Zapata', and documents bearing the signatures of Rita Hayworth, Judy Garland, Cary Grant. ...
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