Early January 2007
- Fit for the King of Rock 'n' Roll
By Emily Le Coz
(Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, January 7, 2007)
Elvis Presley would turn 72 Monday, an old man by most standards and someone who, had he lived, might have lost his luster long before now. But along came death. Frozen in time at 42, the former Las Vegas performer, mega movie star and teen heart-throb has sold more albums, attracted more fans to his old haunts and inspired more impersonations in the three decades since his death than in the four he was alive.
Lately, however, some have wondered if The King's legacy is fading and whether he can posthumously attract enough new fans to replace the ones who first catapulted him to fame. The Associated Press said in December that Elvis Presley Enterprises - the company that controls The King's likeness and image - "needs a new wave of younger fans" if it's going to keep the money machine churning and that "making Elvis cool again will be more difficult." In August, Memphis' Commercial Appeal wondered in an article, "Just how much longer can Elvis' popularity last?"
The people of Tupelo's Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation recently asked themselves the same question, and responded with a $262,000 renovation of The King's boyhood museum. The project, which began in October, is expected to double annual attendance figures from roughly 50,000 to 100,00. "Elvis isn't going anywhere," EPMF Chairman Henry Dodge said in an interview last year. EPMF, which was created by the city one month after Elvis' August 1977 death, operates both the museum and the birthplace. "Elvis will remain popular as long as we keep making his legacy exciting, and that's what this renovation is all about," he said. "We're making it exciting."Three months of work will culminate with a grand reopening of the 15-year-old museum during The King's birthday bash Monday at the birthplace. Roughly 200 guests from around the world are expected to pay the $6 entry fee to tour the revamped collection of pre-age-13 Elvis memorabilia. ...
- An 'After Elvis' child plays catch-up with the King
By Laura Capitano
(jacksonville.com, January 7, 2007)
Elvis' 72nd birthday would have been Monday, and I figure I'd be remiss in my professional duties if I let the day pass without some reflection. Having been born A.E. (After Elvis), I never had the chance to cross paths with him. I have no way of really understanding how much of an institution that ol' boy from Tupelo was then. No amount of time in front of The '68 Comeback Special can give me a proper perspective of why those mod ladies in the audience, posed around the stage like children gathered for story time, were so captivated by him.
The D.E. (During Elvis) civilization enjoyed his ground-breaking entertainment magic in the moment. The A.E. crew catches it on documentaries and clip shows featuring that cropped Ed Sullivan footage. I learned about Elvis in hindsight, the way I did about Shakespeare or Picasso: They're people I'm not obligated to like, but I darn well better recognize their artistic import.
It's a bit of a mood killer when I start to think about missing out on Elvis mania. What luck to have watched some beautiful, hillbilly prodigy usher in a sea change in music, one that sprouted a million sideburns and set the girls to rioting in a way Perry Como wouldn't see in his dreams.
Bob Dylan reportedly said that hearing Elvis for the first time was like busting out of jail. Those born A.E. don't have such a clear icon credited with changing lives. Who are the big one-namers since he died? Madonna, Sting, Cher? None has such a King-size army of career fanatics. Timberlake devotees tend to grow out of it, but an Elvis fan is forever.
I first heard about a man named Elvis Presley when my mother showed me a photo she had snapped of him during a Minneapolis concert. You can imagine the quality of a photo taken at an arena show using '70s technology - the shot was pretty much a blurred figure, obviously dressed in white, surrounded by a sea of gray and the silhouettes of nearby audience members' heads.
Mom is quite practical, not one to swoon over the famous. The fact that she had actually paid money to go to a concert, take this photo and then tuck it away in an album among treasured family photos was my first lesson that this Elvis man had some pull. As time went by, I learned what an "Elvis song" sounded like, read Elvis: What Happened, watched Clambake, Viva Las Vegas - most of the Elvis movies actually, despite their interchangeability. I met seemingly sane people who worshipped at the Church Of Elvis, dedicating a bedroom of their home to their McCormick whiskey decanters molded in his image, seals intact.
Since receiving my Elvis education, I've collected a few trinkets bearing his image - that dancing clock with the pendulum legs, some Love Me Tender shampoo. I like to have a little bit of his spirit around. The Elvis magic. It's inspiring to know that people like him do grace our earth from time to time, and someone of his capacity could come along at any time to dazzle another lucky generation. Even if I'm a little bummed that mine seems to have missed out on that sensation so far.
Soon enough everyone who was alive during Elvis' time will be gone, and he will be appreciated in more of an academic sense than a fevered one. But I guess how people feel about Elvis doesn't really matter, so long as they understand he's worth the study.
- Elvis' White House suit to be on display
(earthtimes.org / UPI, January 7, 2007)
The black velvet suit and gold belt studded with diamonds that Elvis Presley wore for a meeting with President Richard Nixon will go on display in California. The exhibition at the Richard Nixon Library and Museum marks what would have been Presley's 72nd birthday Monday, the Orange County Register reported. Presley died in 1977, seven years after he met with Nixon at the White House. Nixon's respectable gray suit will also be displayed.
During the meeting, Presley asked to be made a special agent in the war on drugs. Nixon gave him a special badge from the Bureau of Narcotic and Dangerous Drugs. Egil Bud Krogh, the Nixon aide involved in the meeting, said he does not know if Presley was on drugs during his White House visit. Presley ' s early death was brought on partly by an addiction to prescription drugs. He was scratching himself during the meeting, but he said he had a rash that was bothering him for a couple days so I didn't think anything of it, Krogh said. I never had any idea that he had a prescription-drug problem.
- Elvis slept here
By Judy Wiley
(Star-Telegram / Associated Press, January 7, 2007)
If you reserve far enough ahead, you can stay where Elvis Presley stayed.
Monday is Elvis Presley's birthday, and though it's heartbreaking that you probably can't book these hotel rooms now, plan for the next time you visit Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., or New York. According to hotels.com and various other sources:
Elvis favored the Imperial Suite at the Las Vegas Hilton, his Vegas venue. A bronze statue honors his 800-plus sold-out performances there. www.lasvegashilton.com. When the King visited Richard Nixon in 1970, he and his entourage occupied rooms 505, 506 and 507 at the Hotel Washington. www.hotelwashington.com.
Elvis reportedly stayed in room 527 at the Warwick New York Hotel in New York City. (According to the Warwick's Web site, the Beatles and Cary Grant also were patrons.) www.warwickhotelny.com.
- Venezuelan Parents Love a Famous Name
By SIMON ROMERO
(New York Times, January 6, 2007)
AS university students clashed with the police in this country last May, attention focused not just on their demands to hold elections without government meddling but also on the names of the two leaders organizing the protests: Nixon Moreno and Stalin Gonzalez. Many Venezuelans had a good laugh at the names and went on with their business. What's so odd, after all, about the occasional Nixon or Stalin in a nation where bestowing bizarre names on newborns has become a whimsically colorful tradition?
A glance through a phone book or the government's voter registry reveals names like Taj-Mahal Sanchez, Elvis Presley Gomez Morillo, Darwin Lenin Jimenez, even Hitler Eufemio Mayora. Other Venezuelan first names, which roll off the tongue about as easily in Spanish as in English, include Yusmairobis, Nefertitis, Yaxilany, Riubalkis, Debraska, as well as Yesaidu and Juan Jondre - transliterations of "Yes, I do" and "One hundred." ...
- Sneak Peek of Elvis Museum
By Emily Le Coz
(Daily Journal, January 5, 2007)
Elvis Presley's remodeled boyhood museum opened for the first time Thursday evening to a small crowd of special guests at The King's birthplace. Roughly 75 people, including members of the City Council, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Downtown Main Street Association and the media, got a sneak peak at the final result of a $262,000 renovation before its grand opening Monday on Elvis' birthday.
"It's one thing to have a vision, but it's another to have the creative minds to put in place," Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation chairman Henry Dodge told the crowd before inviting them into the exhibit. Dodge explained that he and his board hatched plans to turn the museum into a world-class attraction early last year and hired Scott Blake and the Henry Swanson of Design 500 to bring their ideas to life. Swanson passed away before the project finished. "I've designed museums all over the world - the Kremlin, the Vatican - but this is the first place where they've held a potluck luncheon for us," Blake joked before explaining his concept for the new look, which tells the story of Elvis' life in Tupelo using dramatic themes, artifacts, audio and video clips.
Two-thirds of the exhibit highlight young Elvis and use muted colors and textures to tell that tale, while the last third showcases Elvis as a performer with vibrant hues and backdrops to accentuate that part of his life. And at the transition of those two phases is a display signifying the "special friendship between Janelle McComb and Elvis Presley, which was envied by all and matched by none," Dodge said. McComb donated most of the memorabilia for the museum, which was given to her as a gift by Presley himself.
"I thought it was phenomenal," said guest Douglas Penny as he emerged from the museum. "It's the first time I've been in the museum, and I've lived in Tupelo 21 years. I'm just amazed. My favorite part was seeing his clothes. I wasn't around during that time, and to see the flashy clothes in pictures is one thing but to see the actual outfits on display is really impressive."
- Bard Times
By Eve Zibart
(Washington Post, January 5, 2007)
In the beginning was the Bard. . . . And the words were the Bard's, and the words were good. So good, in fact, that there were far more quotations from Shakespeare in the original Bartlett's Quotations than from the Bible, and he still provides the largest block. Shakespeare -- however he came to be so eloquent -- has so permeated the English language that it's almost impossible to get through the day without hearing, if not uttering, some fragment or other: to be, or not to be; all the world's a stage; the play's the thing; get thee to a nunnery; double, double toil and trouble; not wisely but too well; lay on, Macduff; my kingdom for a horse!; for ever and a day; if music be the food of love, play on; we are such stuff as dreams are made on; to the manner born; out, damned spot!; sink or swim; what's in a name?; alas, poor Yorick!; friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; to-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow; that inner Beltway favorite, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers"; and especially at this time of year, "O, that this too too solid flesh would melt." ...
The words are so powerful, so wide-ranging that they immediately fired countless other authors (and plagiarists), composers and librettists, dancers, painters, poets and filmmakers to interpret, reconceive, parody or elaborate on them. And so perhaps it is only fitting that in this capital of rhetoric and drama -- which is also home to a full-scale model of the Globe Theatre -- the arts community should band together to showcase not only Shakespeare's canonical works but also offshoots, tributes, contemporary cultural works and comedies.
Beginning Saturday, with a staged reading of "Twelfth Night" -- on what is, appropriately, Twelfth Night -- and for the next six months, more than 60 organizations, ballet and modern dance troupes, orchestras and vocal groups, academic and literary foundations, museums and theater companies, will offer more than 100 shows and lectures, many of them free. The Shakespeare in Washington festival, conceived by Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser and curated by Michael Kahn, artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, has offerings to lure the wary, delight the adept, illuminate the obscure and even enchant the children. ... If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, Shakespeare will be blushing into eternity. ... Even Elvis Presley paraphrased "As You Like It" in "Are You Lonesome Tonight?": "You know, someone said the world's a stage / And each must play his part." ...
- 'Creole' a Presley film fit for a King
By Miriam Di Nunzio
(Chicago Sun-Times, January 5, 2007)
While much has been said -- some good, mostly bad -- about the film career of Elvis Presley (31 features and two exceptional documentaries), there are few who would argue about his finest film performance, that of a high school dropout with a penchant for trouble in the 1958 classic "King Creole." Throughout his career, the singer, who would have celebrated his 72nd birthday on Monday, often cited this movie as his best work -- the kind of film he wanted to star in, not the musical dreck that became his Hollywood trademark due to career mismanagement by Col. Tom Parker.
"Creole" was Presley's fourth feature film -- he had already struck box-office gold with "Love Me Tender" (1956), "Loving You" (1957) and "Jailhouse Rock" (1957, cited by many critics as another of Presley's finest film performances). But "Creole" revealed a new dimension of Presley. He had studied his matinee idols -- Marlon Brando, James Dean -- well. He could portray the tortured soul with the best of them, even if he had to sing a song or two to satisfy his record label. "Hard-Headed Woman" was typical Presley rock, while "Trouble" was a smoky, bluesy romp he could sink his chops into.
Presley was inducted into the Army the same year "Creole" was released, part of Parker's plan to ensure Elvis' fans would not forget him while he was serving in Germany. Michael Curtiz, who directed "Casablanca," was at the helm of the film (based on the Harold Robbins novel A Stone for Danny Fisher), which found Presley working in a sleazy New Orleans nightclub, juggling romantic interests with mob moll Carolyn Jones, threats with her two-bit gangster beau played by Walter Matthau, fisticuffs with the gangster's henchman played by Vic Morrow, and redemptive love with a good-girl waitress played by Dolores Hart (who previously had starred with Presley in "Loving You.").
Presley was a mere 22 years old when his character, Danny Fisher, exchanged some very sultry onscreen dialogue with the trampy Ronnie (Jones): Ronnie: "Maybe we'll meet some place by accident." Danny: "You tell me where you think the accident will take place and I'll make sure I'm there." Film noir never had a better line. Shot in glorious black and white, the film is awash in shadows and smoke. The characters are dark, brutal, even ugly. The streets of New Orleans unforgiving. And Presley never had a finer moment on film.
"King Creole" is available on DVD from Paramount Home Video.
- YOUR UNREAL HORRORSCOPES
By KATHY DZIELAK
(Asbury Park Press, January 5, 2007)
CAPRICORN: (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) In honor of the King, you vow to name your firstborn son Elvis. If it's a girl, you'll name her Ann-Margret.
AQUARIUS: (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Your new year's resolutions are earmarked for success when you pledge to increase your saturated-fat intake and smoke more.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) While walking, you stumble across a pine cone in the shape of Elvis Presley's head. You get all misty.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) Your local theater's Elvis Presley film festival is ruined when a miscreant makes lewd hand gestures during "Blue Hawaii."
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Salute the anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth by getting your sequined jump suit out of the closet and screaming, "Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love" at the top of your lungs.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21) You address a letter to Dr. Nick asking him to write out a diet-pill prescription for old time's sake. Five days later it's in your mailbox marked "Return to Sender."
CANCER (June 22-July 22) Are you lonesome tonight? Well, get a life.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) In a shrewd political move, President Bush delegates an Elvis impersonator to represent him at a meeting of the United Nations.
VIRGO: (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Long-lost microfilm records reveal that J. Edgar Hoover liked to dress up as Priscilla Presley while watching "Jailhouse Rock."
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Research geologists travel to Graceland to study the Earth's movement due to Elvis Presley spinning in his grave over Lisa Marie's latest love affair.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) It's time to start hinting to your guests that they should leave your New Year's Eve party.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Peanut butter and banana sale
- LONG LIVE THE (DON'T CALL ME) KING
By ED KAZ!
(Asbury Park Press, January 5, 2007)
Monday - Elvis Presley's birthday - will mark the release of his third album under the careful eye of producer Rick Rubin. Titled "Memphis Manifesto 3," it is yet another astonishing collection of songs Presley always should have recorded had he been given the chance.
It was a great moment in rock 'n' roll the day Elvis Presley publicly severed ties with Colonel Tom Parker back in September of 1977. Who can ever forget that year's Christmas celebration, with the mass jumpsuit bonfire on the Graceland lawn (not to mention the toxic polyester cloud that hung over Memphis for several months).
Shortly afterward, Presley went on a diet, admitted his drug problems and got himself clean and healthy (a vegan, no less!). He took to wearing jeans, baseball caps and sensible jackets. He shaved off his sideburns. He fired his flunkies. He stopped dying his hair. Yes, Elvis "Don't Call Me King" Presley was free at last.
"Memphis Manifesto 3" contains spare acoustic renditions of Robert Johnson's "Love in Vain" and "Crossroads," along with the definitive version of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up." There are also three Bruce Springsteen numbers that always seemed suited for the Hillbilly Cat: "Fire," "Jesus Was An Only Son" and "She's the One," the last of which includes a nice harmony vocal from the Boss himself.
Lest we forget, they've been close friends ever since that unannounced last-minute appearance at Live Aid back in '85. Their rough-and-ready medley of "Suspicious Minds" and "Glory Days" made so much money for Ethiopia that to this day they're still undergoing a severe obesity crisis.
I really look forward to the next Elvis Presley tour. His performances of late have been intimate affairs - guitar, bass, minimal percussion - with an ever-changing set list ranging from rockabilly to gospel to a well-chosen Oasis song. And his voice hasn't lessened with time; it's become a rich deep baritone that only seems to get better and stronger. Indeed, to see a Presley show these days is to forgive and forget all the temporary missteps of the '70s: the overbearing backup singers, the faux pageantry, the sea of rhinestones. Now, it's all about the music, or, in his words, "We're gettin' real real gone for a change."
Happy 72nd birthday, Elvis Presley. Keep on doing it your way.
EDITOR'S DISCLAIMER: As you can see, despite his reported death in August, 1977, Elvis has NOT left the comedy column.
- Culture Club: Elvis Presley
By Hector Saldaña
(San Antonio Express-News, January 5, 2007)
Were he alive, Elvis Presley would be celebrating his 72nd birthday on Monday. That means the usual kitschy Elvis costume and impersonator contests, deep-voiced karaoke fun and drink specials at restaurants and bars such as Dick's Last Resort on the River Walk. But there's more to commemorating the King of Rock 'n' Roll than simply donning a sequined jump suit and cape, black pompadour wig, fake sideburns and Las Vegas-worthy shades.
There's plenty of new product from this icon whose star refuses to fade. This birthday, Presley ranks No. 2 on Forbes' top-earning dead celebrities list, earning $42 million in 2006. And as the Associated Press reported recently, Elvis Presley Enterprises will be making a concerted effort to attract a much younger demographic via MySpace.com and YouTube.com.
Here are a few ideas to get newcomers, casual and hard-core fans into Elvis. "Elvis: The Ed Sullivan Shows": Image Entertainment recently released this three-disc, special edition DVD of Presley's historic appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on Sept. 9, 1956, Oct. 28, 1956 and Jan. 6, 1957. It was on Presley's third appearance (the last time he would perform live on American TV) that CBS censors decided to film "Elvis the Pelvis" from the waist up during "Hound Dog," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Love Me Tender" and several other songs. Fifty years later, the Sullivan shows in their entirety offer what Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times called "revolutionary" context, and modern technology enhances the original Kinescope video. Special bonus features, a rare 1955 home movie and collectible packaging make this a particularly sweet deal.
"Graceland: An Interactive Pop-Up Tour": Search out Chuck Murphy's masterfully designed and engineered three-dimensional pop-up coffee table book by Quirk Productions, distributed by Chronicle Books. Imagine a Graceland walk-through and you get the picture. The book opens with a foreword from Priscilla Presley. Just as impressive as the art design - there's the 3D facade, living room, kitchen, TV room, notorious Jungle Room and exhibit rooms - is the factual data presented about the iconic site, which began life in 1861 as a 500-acre cattle farm named for the daughter of the publisher of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. The house was built in 1939, and Presley bought it and the grounds in the spring of 1957 for $102,500.
"The Essential Elvis Presley": Released on Tuesday, Sony BMG Music Entertainment offers a completely re-mastered set of 40 songs on two CDs that includes Presley's Sun Records singles juxtaposed with his RCA Records output, including hits and rarer tracks.
"Me and a Guy Named Elvis: My Lifelong Friendship With Elvis Presley": Author Jerry Schilling met Presley when the future King of Rock 'n' Roll was still a truck driver. In the early '60s, Schilling became part of Presley' so-called Memphis Mafia. In the end, he would serve as one of Presley's pallbearers and a keeper of the flame. This is an insider's tale that searches for Presley's soul amid the sycophants, drugs and sex romps. Hardly a hatchet job - Presley's legacy is protected - but more of the man is revealed. Published by Gotham Books with foreword by Peter Guralnick. Co-written with Chuck Crisafulli.
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