mid February 2007
- Elvis lookalikes are all shook up!
By Rehana Zeria
(Halifax Today, February 20, 2007)
ELVIS fans were all shook up as they auditioned for a chance to perform at Graceland. Handshake Productions and the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain are trying to find the best British Elvis as part of celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of his death and 40 years of the fan club.
Richard Brown, 40, of Boothtown, Halifax, sang Suspicious Minds. He said he had come to the auditions just to see how far he could go. "I often do karaoke and get told that I'm quite good so I thought this would be a great chance to see how far I could get," he said. Stephen Milburn, 51, of Ovenden, Halifax, sang Can't Help Falling in Love With You. He has been an Elvis fan for more than 40 years. He said: "To perform with a live band has been a dream of mine and to sing in Memphis would just be amazing."
Three people were picked from the auditions to perform in a show, For One Night Only, at the Victoria Theatre.
It featured Heath Ashton who won Stars in Their Eyes with his impersonation of The King. The winner was Darren Lee, 40, of Savile Park, Halifax, who wowed the audience with Blue Suede Shoes. Mr Lee said: "I didn't even know anything about the competition. I just saw a man outside dressed as Elvis and he asked if I wanted a go at auditioning so I came in. I've sung in pubs before doing karaoke and was told I was good. I've never been to Memphis and would love the chance to go."
Craig Simcock, 40, an Elvis impersonator from Mount Tabor, was dubbed the most authentic King with his rendition of Suspicious Minds. Mr Simcock said his two-year-old daughter Abbie Grace was his biggest fan. Mr Lee will now go to the finals in Blackpool in June where he will battle it out with 17 other hopefuls from across the country.
- Elvis Versus James Brown: Who's the King?
(Memphis Flyer, February 19, 2007)
Has the Godfather knocked the King off his throne? The editors of Parade magazine - that weekly publication that comes with your Sunday Commercial Appeal - have made a musical statement in their current issue that should provoke considerable "water cooler" discussion.
The author of the "Personality Parade" section has declared that James Brown had more impact on music than Elvis Presley. "Elvis went on to become the biggest rock star of the twentieth century," acknowledges Walter Scott, as if being universally acknowledged the King of Rock-and-Roll was a trifling accomplishment. But it was the Godfather of Soul, he believes, who "was instrumental in combining gospel and rhythm & blues - leading to soul, rap, funk, and hip-hop."
Don't agree? You can vote online at Parade.com. All we can say is, when it comes to drawing traffic to your Website, we wish we'd thought of it first. And Elvis fans, not to worry, he's got about 90 percent of the vote, last time we checked. Not surprising, considering the demographics of that fading weekly. Oh, and while you're visiting Parade.com, you might as well check out the Christina Ricci photo gallery. Hubba hubba. (Click number 3 for a sample.)
- The King of Rock 'n' Roll Lives Again in A Special Live Concert TV Special and DVD
(Yahoo! Finance / BUSINESS WIRE, February 19, 2007)
Imagine if you could still attend a live concert event starring Elvis Presley -- a young, vibrant Elvis, in his prime. Modern technology has made that possible, and PBS will present all the excitement of an Elvis event, beginning in March!
Elvis Presley was larger than life, and the Elvis experience is an amazing phenomenon that has continued to astonish 30 years after his death in 1977. In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of his death, Elvis: The 25th Anniversary Concert Event was staged at the Pyramid Coliseum in 2002 in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. Through the magic of modern technology, Elvis is reunited with his original TCB band, his back-up singers and musical director for a unique concert special, featuring Elvis from Hawaii, in one of the biggest satellite concerts ever, and Las Vegas, and his supporting musicians and singers live on stage together in Memphis. This one-of-a-kind sold-out concert event has toured the world, stirring audiences and igniting a passion for the King in a whole new generation of music lovers.
Staged just as if Elvis was appearing live in concert, the limousine arrives at the stage to a thunderous ovation, the lights go down, and suddenly Elvis appears center stage, only this time, it's on a video screen and the young, vibrant King of Rock 'n' Roll appears 20 times larger than life. On stage with him, playing and singing live are his band members and members of the Jordanaires, the Imperials, the Stamps and the Sweet Inspirations, all led by band leader, Joe Guercio. Performance footage from the live concert is punctuated with interviews with these supporting members.
Joe Moscheo, a member of the Imperials and executive producer of the special, explains that the magic part was in syncing the live with the recorded. "The trick was to isolate the voice so all that was recorded was Elvis' image and his voice," he noted. "Some people don't realize that it's a live show accompanying Elvis' voice. What's especially thrilling about this is that we're introducing Elvis to a whole new generation of music lovers. This image of Elvis we all have is as a young man, and now he'll never grow old."
In cooperation with the Elvis Presley Estate, Coming Home Music has captured all the excitement of that concert in a television special, Elvis Lives, airing exclusively on most PBS member stations nationwide beginning in March. Elvis Lives: The 25th Anniversary Special is available on DVD March 6th.
Contact:
Turner & Company
Judi Turner, 615-356-9115
turnerco@bellsouth.net
- INTERMISSION: A little teddy bear
By Michael Grossberg
(Columbus Dispatch, February 18, 2007)
Susan Anton remembers the night she met Elvis Presley. In the 1970s, the 20-something Anton - starring through tonight in the touring All Shook Up at the Palace Theatre - was singing in a hotel show in Las Vegas. She attended a Tom Jones concert one night when Presley joined Jones for the finale.
Afterward, Anton was invited to accompany Presley to his penthouse apartment in the Las Vegas Hilton. "He was so sweet," she said. "Thatıs what struck me the most." Presley then asked Anton to enter his bedroom. "I thought: Oh, my God. The big superstar is going to make the play for the big, naive girl,ı " she recalled. He didnıt make a pass, though. Instead, he read a favorite passage from the best-selling The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. "He signed it, gave it to me and wished me a good life," she said.
In retrospect, Anton views Presley as a prisoner of his fame. "That, and his roots in gospel music and the church, fueled his desire to seek out more knowledge about the world and selfrealization."
- State briefs: Coaster buyer can't take car Elvis liked
(tennessean.com / ASSOCIATED PRESS, February 18, 2007)
Elvis Presley's favorite roller coaster car is being "held hostage" by fairgrounds officials in Memphis, according to the coaster's owner. Stephen Shutts, president of Honky Tonk Hall of Fame & Rock-N-Roll Roadshow in Nashville, bought the Zippin Pippin roller coaster last summer for $2,500 in an auction of rides and equipment at the former Libertyland theme park but was only interested in the first car - Elvis' favorite.
"They keep sending notices telling us that if we don't pick up the car it's going to be declared 'abandoned property.' Then, when we go to get it, they won't let us have it," Shutts said. He sold the rest of the Zippin Pippin to a North Carolina tourist attraction, Carolina Crossroads, which has yet to move the entire structure.
Mid-South Fair chief operating officer Jim Rout said on Friday he considers Shutts the Zippin Pippin's owner and said when the coaster is removed, the car will be released.
- The Man Who Owns Elvis: Bob Sillerman Is Adding To His Riches By Buying The Rights To Some Of The Most Famous Names
(CBS News, February 18, 2007)
Elvis Presley was the king - rock's first icon. A hip-swiveling heartthrob with more hit records than anyone in history. Thirty years after his death, Elvis is still idolized. So what is that name worth now? To Bob Sillerman, who bought the king's name and likeness, it was worth $114 million. That's what his company, CKX, paid for Elvis Presley enterprises two years ago. Elvis' music was not part of the deal. he sold most of his hits back to his label before his death. but the family sold 85 percent of everything else and his ex-wife Priscilla Presley says it wasn't an easy decision. "Absolutely. I mean I'm not gonna lie. It's pretty frightening when, you know, you've been a private company for all these years," she told Sunday Morning correspondent Anthony Mason. "You know and you're the boss."
But Priscilla, the mother of his only child, Lisa Marie, says the family business needed an investor to expand. And Sillerman was just the man to do it. "He just got it," she said. "You know there is no other company like his company." His company also owns the "American Idol' franchise, which Sillerman bought for $175 million. Then last year he added "the greatest of all time" to his roster of icons, buying rights to Muhammad Ali's name for another $50 million.
A Bronx born billionaire, Sillerman made his fortune in radio and the concert promotion business. Now he sees Elvis as an under developed asset. On his corporate jet, Mason flew with him to Memphis to tour Graceland, the 13 acre estate where Elvis lived with Priscilla and Lisa Marie. Sillerman said he doesn't feel like he owns Graceland. "It's still their home," he said. "I don't think you can own something that's as big as Elvis Presley. I think I feel a sense of stewardship. But not ownership."
Each year, 600,000 people file through Graceland. Sillerman believes he can double that number. "So many people want to come to Graceland because they want to celebrate his life," Sillerman said. "You know 40 percent of our visitors are unaccompanied kids under the age of 35. It tells you that it does get passed down." He wants to move the visitor center which sits on the other side of Elvis Presley boulevard and put it next to Graceland. The heartbreak hotel will be torn down to make way for two bigger hotels. In the entire complex that takes up 25 acres will grow to more than 100 acres.
At the same time Sillerman is working with Cirque du Soleil to create a permanent Elvis show for Las Vegas and traveling shows that could tour the world. "China is so big it could probably support a touring show forever," Sillerman said.
"We're all thrilled about it. We think it's a whole other take on Elvis," Priscilla Presley said. "I think he would absolutely love it." "If the Cirque du Soleil numbers hold true for Elvis, as they have for every one of their other shows, we're in a position to be making 100 million dollars a year in a few years," Sillerman said. "You know, that's a no-brainer." Starting with a single small town radio station. Now Sillerman's the man who bought "American Idol," Ali and Elvis.
- Around Whittier: Nixon Library schedules events
(Whittier Daily News, February 18, 2007)
Jerry Schilling, part of Elvis Presley's "Memphis Mafia" and author of "Me and a Guy Named Elvis," will sign copies of his book during a lecture at 1:30 p.m. today at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd. Tickets are $8. ...
- Movie review: Ghost Rider **: As a guilty pleasure, Cage's comic-book film comes up short
By BARBARA VANCHERI
(toledoblade.com / BLOCK NEWS ALLIANCE, February 17, 2007)
Nicolas Cage as Ghost Rider? In a roundabout way, it makes sense. In a new Ghost Rider guide by Andrew Darling, Marvel Comics editor Roy Thomas recalls a key bit of information about the character's clothing. Years ago, he suggested to artist Michael Ploog that the Ghost Rider wear a full-length, tight-fitting black leather motorcycle suit, based on one that Elvis Presley donned for a TV special. Cage does a mean imitation of The King and briefly was married to his daughter. Thus, the quirky connection to Cage's stunt rider named Johnny Blaze, who makes a pact with the devil, only to have it go up in flames. So to speak.
In Ghost Rider, 17-year-old Johnny sells his soul to save his fatally ill father. His dad, a carnival daredevil who leaps through rings of fire on a motorcycle just like his son, dies instead in an accident, and Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) begins pulling the strings. He prevents the teen from running away with his girlfriend and, years later as Johnny is about to reconnect with his onetime sweetie named Roxanne (Eva Mendes) and bask in the glory of an outrageous motorcycle feat, the devil turns him into his bounty hunter and a Ghost Rider. By night he becomes a flaming skeleton on a motorcycle who can see the sins in others - and extinguish their lives - and do the sorts of tricks that easily trump his Johnny Blaze stunt of trying to leap across a football field. ...
- Celebs able to skirt prescription laws
By GREG RISLING
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press, February 17, 2007)
If a prescription needs to be filled in Hollywood, chances are celebrities can find a doctor to do it. Doctors have a long history of feeding the drug demands of the entertainment industry from Marilyn Monroe to Winona Ryder, Elvis Presley to Courtney Love.
Now, California authorities are looking at a physician who reportedly prescribed methadone to Anna Nicole Smith under a fake name. The former Playboy Playmate died Feb. 8 after collapsing at a Florida hotel. The cause is under investigation. The allure of having a star as a patient can sometimes influence whether doctors follow the rules or break the law, one veteran Hollywood publicist says. "It's not easy to say no to a celebrity," said Michael Levine. "History has taught us whether it's Anna Nicole, Elvis or John Belushi, they can get what they want. It's like water."
Monroe died at 36 from an overdose of sleeping pills in August 1962. She had been under a doctor's care at the time, police said. Presley, who died in 1977 at 42, was known to travel with George Nichopoulos, a former physician who overprescribed drugs to clients, who also included rockabilly singer Jerry Lee Lewis. Members of the medical team who performed Presley's autopsy acknowledged in 1990 that the singer was addicted to prescription medications and his death may have been hastened by "polypharmacy," a reaction to mixing many drugs. Nichopoulos lost his medical license but was acquitted of related criminal charges.
"Top Gun" producer Don Simpson was found dead of a drug overdose at his Bel-Air estate in January 1996. Traces of 21 drugs were found in his blood, and at least two doctors were investigated for overprescribing medications for Simpson. More recently, celebrities have used fake names to get their vials filled. A 2002 probation report stemming from the shoplifting arrest of actress Winona Ryder showed that she used a half-dozen aliases when she sought prescription drugs. The report said Ryder went "doctor shopping" and had 37 prescriptions filled by 20 doctors over a three-year span.
"It's not uncommon for a high-profile person to get a prescription filled under an alias," said Ryder's attorney, Mark Geragos, citing a celebrity's need for privacy. "It happens with great frequency." The California Health and Safety Code includes several sections stating that no person who prescribes or dispenses a controlled substance may give a phony name or address or make any false statements on the prescription form. Geragos said the onus is on the doctor. In Ryder's case, Jules Lusman pleaded no-contest to practicing medicine without a license and grand theft, and was sentenced to five years probation.
This past week, California's medical board opened an inquiry as investigators tried to determine if there was any misconduct by Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who reportedly prescribed methadone to Smith. The celebrity news Web site TMZ.com said "Michelle Chase" was an alias used by Smith in a pharmacy receipt for a methadone prescription.
Methadone is a popular narcotic painkiller that is used as part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programs. Methadone overdoses can cause shallow breathing and dangerous changes in heart beat. An attorney for Kapoor, a 1996 graduate of Boston University School of Medicine, said in a statement Friday that his treatment of Smith was "sound and appropriate" and he will cooperate with the state's medical board.
Levine said celebrities turn off their "psychological smoke alarms" and surround themselves with people willing to cater to their needs and who aren't willing to intervene when problems arise. "We hopefully have friends and family who will step in and help us out when there are problems," Levine said. "But people who don't have the smoke alarms will be enveloped by fire at some point."
- Gallagher: 'If I Went Solo I'd Be Bigger Than Elvis'
(teenmusic.com / World Entertainment News Network, February 16, 2007)
Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher is convinced he would be a bigger star than Elvis Presley if he ever decided to leave the band and go solo. The songwriter insists he would never consider leaving brother Liam and bandmates Gem Archer and Andy Bell - because he would get too lonely.
Galllagher says, "I could do it easily but if I was a solo artist I would be the biggest solo artist in the country easy, no messing, within a year, but I prefer being in a band. It's more fun. But don't ever think that I couldn't do it. I could. I'd be bigger than Elvis. I would."
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