Early January 2007
- Presley at White House is exhibit's focus
(UPI, January 3, 2007)
California's Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum is set to feature an exhibit on singer Elvis Presley's famed visit to the White House. A news release from the museum said that beginning next Monday, the facility in the city of Yorba Linda will offer a special exhibit based around the singer's 1970 visit to the home of the U.S. president. Monday's launch will not only mark the official beginning of the exhibit, but is the day Elvis would have turned 72 and a day prior to when Nixon would have turned 94. ... The exhibit, which runs until April 9, will also feature the famous photo of Presley and Nixon, which has become the National Archives' most requested photograph.
- QUEEN BEAT THE BEATLES IN BEST BAND POLL: Radio Listeners Vote for Best of British
(music3w.com, January 3, 2007)
In a poll of radio listeners ostentatious rockers Queen were voted Greatest British Band of all time pipping The Beatles in to 2nd place. The BBC Radio 2 audience cast their votes for any one of a list of five top Brit bands. After a live debate - in which stars spoke on behalf of their faves - votes were cast by email, phone and text message.
The margin of victory was just 400 votes over their nearest rivals, The Beatles, although both bands were well ahead of The Rolling Stones, Oasis and Take That. The poll puts Queen one place better off than the Music Of The Millennium poll conducted by Channel 4 in 1999 where Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon were voted the second greatest band of all time behind The Beatles.
According to the Guinness Book of Records Queen albums have spent a combined total of 27 years in the UK charts - again eclipsing both The Beatles (2nd) and Elvis Presley (3rd place). Queen are now once again back in the studio with ex-Free and Bad Company vocalist, Paul Rodgers ably filling Freddie's slingbacks since 2004. The new album is expected sometime this year and will be the first studio album since the posthumous 1995 opus, 'Made in Heaven'.
- VIVA PORTHCAWL
(ITV, January 3, 2007)
Friday 5th of January 2007 at 11.30 pm to 00.05 a.m on ITV1 Wales
Porthcawl is usually more 'fish and chips' than 'rock and roll', but once every year, the Welsh seaside town is transformed into an Elvis-haven when fans from far and wide flock to attend the annual Elvis Festival. Last year, the event - now believed to be the largest Elvis festival in Europe - ran for four days and attracted people from all over the world eager to pay homage to The King.
The Festival's events ranged from tribute concerts to rugby matches and from dancing horses to speed dating - all with a very distinct Elvis theme. Last year, there was even an Elvis wedding, and in tonight's programme, we see the couple on their happy day - a far cry from Heartbreak Hotel!
The showcase for tribute acts is a major part of the event and includes a range of international Elvies from a variety of different eras. As well as attracting those from as far a field as America, Canada, and Malta, those acts who are from closer to home also give the international professionals a run for their money.
Acts such as Johnny T from Beddau. By day, Johnny works behind a supermarket meat counter but by night, he becomes Karaoke Elvis - quite a transformation.
There's also Mark Adey, the Cardiff Chemistry Teacher Elvis who's more used to his white lab coat than he is to white jump suit but who creates quite a stir as he performs to an army of Elvis fans.
And on the Sunday morning, Elvis's cousin, Jerry Presley, leads a Gospel service in the town's Trinity Church, aided by some of the fans and artists who have travelled to Porthcawl to celebrate the life and talents of Elvis Aaron Presley.
But the pinnacle of the Festival is the concert featuring the King of all Elvis tribute artists, Kraig Parker ably aided by the vocal talents of Elvis' original backing group, The Sweet Sensation - an unforgettable concert by an uncannily Elvis-sounding performer.
So for all the fun of the festival, join presenter, Arfon Haines Davies as he says VIVA PORTHCAWL and heads to the seaside to meet those fans that keep Elvis's name very much alive.
VIVA PORTHCAWL is an ITV Wales production. It is presented by Arfon Haines Davies and directed by Gwenda Richards.
- Dad, son go Western with a twist
By Clifford Pugh
(Columbus Dispatch / NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE, January 2, 2007)
In the mid-1950s, Col. Tom Parker wanted an outfit that looked "like a million dollars" for an up-and-coming singer he represented named Elvis Presley. Manuel Cuevas, then working for famous Hollywood tailor Nudie Cohn, whipped up a gold lame suit that made music history. That was just the start. Cuevas would design Presley's signature 1970s white fringed jumpsuit, Johnny Cash's somber black suits and the Beatles' uniforms on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. Now the 73-year-old designer has teamed with his 34-year son, Manuel "Manny" Cuevas Jr., to create a clothing line for regular buckaroos. ...
- Dakota Fanning 'Rape' Film Heads to Sundance
By Roger Friedman
(FOXNews.com, January 2, 2007)
Maybe the most controversial film heading to this month's Sundance Film Festival concerns the rape of a 12-year-old girl while Elvis Presley is heard singing in the background.
"HoundDog," written and directed by Deborah Kampmeier, is already getting more advance attention than "Chapter 27," the film about Mark David Chapman murdering John Lennon. That's because the character played by 12-year-old actress Dakota Fanning, who made her mark six years ago in "I Am Sam," is raped onscreen.
Kampmeier doesn't show the actual rape, but it's quite clear, from sources who've seen the film, that as scripted and directed, the scenes in question are going to cause as big if not bigger uproar than when Brooke Shields played a pre-pubescent prostitute in Louis Malle's classic "Atlantic City." ...
- Who's Elvis? Many Kids Don't Have a Clue
By Woody Baird
(Red Orbit / Associated Press, January 2, 2007)
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. "I can't try to sell somebody Elvis who doesn't know who he is ... that he's not just some guy who's been gone for 30 years," said Paul Jankowski, chief of marketing for Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. Next year, three decades after Presley's death, the multimillion- dollar Elvis business will try to connect with a new generation of teenage fans. "Our opportunity demographic is really going to be 12 to 34 (years old), with a sweet spot around the 18-to-24 area," Jankowski said. ...
- Dennis Linde, 63, Hit Songwriter, Dies
By PHIL SWEETLAND
(New York Times, January 1, 2007)
Dennis Linde, an influential and publicity-shy country songwriter who composed Elvis Presley¹s soulful 1972 hit "Burning Love" and the Dixie Chicks' mordantly humorous 1999 anthem "Goodbye Earl," died on Dec. 22 in Nashville. He was 63. ... "Burning Love" reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop listings and was Presley's second-highest-charting single in a decade. Mr. Linde said he wrote the song about his recent marriage to Pam Beckham. "I was a newlywed, and 'Burning Love' was a great newlywed title,²"Mr. Linde said in an interview with The New York Times in 2005. "I had it done in 20 minutes." ...
- Vegas for a day: Impersonators to grace Little Graceland
By VICTORIA MANNING
(Brownsville Herald, January 1, 2007)
Sharp Elementary Principal Mario Rodriguez has performed at the Elvis Festival in Los Fresnos for many years. He calls himself an "appreciator" rather than an "impersonator." Rodriguez does not dress up like Elvis or resemble the likeness of the King. "What I do is sing and sing and sing, and I've been doing it every year," he said.
Simon Vega, owner of Little Graceland, has been holding the biannual Elvis Festival since 1993 in honor of his late friend, Elvis Presley. This year's first tribute to Elvis will be on Jan. 6. "I do it to keep his name going and to make people happy, because that is what he wanted to do, and I also do it because he was my friend," Vega said. Vega served with Elvis in the U.S. Army in the late 1950s.
While the King is long gone, fans of his keep his memory alive by hearing impersonators sing his famous songs. "There will be nine impersonators, each doing a 30-minute show," Vega said. The nine performances will vary based on the style of the entertainer. ...
- Here's to more drama in 2007
By Steve Newell
(Electric New Paper, Singapore, January 1, 2007)
OKAY, folks, it's crystal ball time. As I said in last week's column, I think in many ways, 2006 was a slightly disappointing year. I don't want to go overboard on the negative sentiment because there were some great moments, obviously. But I don't know - it just seemed a little short on drama.
... The British Open returns to Carnoustie, a real man's golf course on the east coast of Scotland. The last time we were there in 1999, Paul Lawrie triumphed - a victory which, I think it's fair to say, would have equalled Elvis Presley being spotted drinking a cocktail on a beach in Hawaii on the shock Richter scale. ...
- Just 'ring The Bellman': He's a big part of growth in D'Iberville
By J.R. WELSH
(Sun Herald, January 1, 2007)
Meet Councilman Bob Bellman, or as he is wont to introduce himself to a stranger: "Bellman's the name. B-E-L-L-M-A-N, like 'ring The Bellman.' Citizens have been ringing The Bellman throughout a long public service career.
... On the job, Bellman likes to sprinkle officialdom with whimsy. Last fall, he opened a city budget hearing by grabbing the microphone away from Rose and crooning a few bars of "Unforgettable." The music is yet another side of Bellman. He is also a songwriter, poet and singer who hung out with Elvis Presley when that budding star visited Biloxi in the 1950s.
"Once, some little girls were taking his picture. I was standing with him, and he put his arm around my shoulder," Bellman said. "But I stepped away and said, 'No, don't put me in the picture. Just photograph Elvis.' Then The Bellman gazes at his listener and delivers the punch line: "Now, how dumb was that?"
- As we start a new year, here's a look at some milestones that will be celebrated in 2007
Compiled by Karen Sorensen
(Daily Southtown, January 1, 2007)
As we start a new year, here's a look at some of the milestones that will be celebrated in 2007.
... 1957 -- 50 years ago
Russia launches Sputnik I, the first earth-orbiting satellite.
U.S. troops escort nine black students into a Little Rock, Ark., high school after the state governor calls out the National Guard to stop a federal integration order.
Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story" and Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into the Night" make their Broadway debuts.
Wham-O produces the first Frisbee.
Columbia University professor Charles Van Doren wins $129,000 on the quiz show "Twenty One."
"Leave It to Beaver," "Perry Mason" and "Maverick" make their TV debuts.
Clarence W. Lillehie and Earl Bakk invent the internal pacemaker.
Three B-52 bombers fly nonstop around the world in 45 hours, 19 minutes.
Famous deaths include Humphrey Bogart, Richard E. Byrd, Joseph McCarthy, Arturo Toscanini and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
General Foods trademarks Tang as the first modern breakfast beverage (it wouldn't be associated with the U.S. space program until 1965).
Hit movies include "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "Twelve Angry Men" and "Peyton Place." ("Around the World in 80 Days" is awarded the 1956 Academy Award for best picture.)
Jack Kerouac publishes "On the Road."
The Milwaukee Braves beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.
Elvis Presley makes his seventh and final appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," has his movie "Jailhouse Rock" open and gets his draft notice.
First electric typewriter is sold.
Buddy Holly and the Crickets record "That'll Be the Day," "Oh Boy!" and "Not Fade Away."
Emmy Awards are presented to "The Phil Silvers Show," Robert Young ("Father Knows Best") and Loretta Young ("The Loretta Young Show"). ...
- A.M.Stir: the list
(jacksonville.com, January 1, 2007)
First and foremost
Because today is the first day of the new year, we decided to compile a list of 12 firsts - one bit of trivia for each month of the year. If you hit it big on Jeopardy! because of our eclectic collection of factoids, let us know. Better yet, send money.
First U.S. president to live in the White House: John Adams (1797).
First president of Socialist Republic of Slovenia (formerly known as Yugoslavia): Milan Kucan (1990).
First team the Jaguars beat at home in the regular season: Pittsburgh Steelers, 20-16 (Oct. 8, 1995).
First animals to go into outer space: Fruit flies (1946).
First U.S. cities where three-color traffic lights were installed: New York and Detroit (1920).
First pinball machine manufactured with electrical flippers: Humpty Dumpty (1947).
First paper mill in America: Established by William Bradford and Nicholas Rittenhouse a few miles outside Philadelphia (1690).
First American woman to swim the English Channel: Gertrude Caroline Ederle (1926).
First patent granted in the United States: To Samuel Hopkins for a process for making potash, an ingredient in fertilizer (1790).
First act to perform in the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena: Elton John (2003).
First movie production company established in Jacksonville: Kalem Studios (1908).
First appearance by Elvis Presley on national television: Jan. 28, 1956, on the Dorsey Brothers Stage Show on CBS.
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