late February 2007
- Toyota to Build $1.3 Billion Plant in the Land of Elvis and Honey
By Micheline Maynard
(New York Times, February 28, 2007)
Toyota, the Japanes automaker, said yesteday that it would invest $1.3 billion to build its eighth North American assembly plant in Blue Springs, Miss., just outside Tupelo in northeastern Mississippi. ...
- Write-ins can still win
(Northern Star, February 28, 2007)
Write-in campaigns are normally reserved for Mickey Mouse, Elvis Presley and Jesus Christ, but they don't have to be in local elections. In a town where the vote is decided by margins as small as 10 voters, write-in campaigns are viable. This year's aldermen election includes the 5th and the 7th districts, where candidates are running uncontested. ...
- ''Elvis(R) Rock 'n' Roll Ride for Life'' Benefiting the American Diabetes Association
Source: Elvis Presley Enterprises
(Yahoo! Business / BUSINESS WIRE, February 27, 2007)
Historic First Official Elvis Presley(R) Motorcycle Ride Begins and Ends at Elvis Presley's Graceland on April 22, 2007.
Limited edition Elvis Presley 30th Anniversary Signature Collection Harley-Davidson(R) Motorcycles to be unveiled during the festivities.
Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. (EPE) is pleased to announce the new Elvis Rock 'n' Roll Ride for Life benefiting the American Diabetes Association, which will begin and end at Elvis Presley's Graceland, the legendary superstar's home in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 22, 2007. This event for motorcycle enthusiasts will serve as a fitting homage to Presley's passion for motorcycles and to his lifetime of generosity to individuals and charitable causes. Festivities at Graceland will include the unveiling of the limited edition Elvis 30th Anniversary Signature Collection Harley-Davidson® motorcycle produced by Graceland® Harley-Davidson, a branch location of Bruce Rossmeyer's Southern Thunder Harley-Davidson. ...
- A LIFE LIVED: Rena H. Mitchell, 1937-2007 - Longtime cafeteria cashier loved Elvis
By David Mannweiler
(Northern Star, February 27, 2007)
After 49 years of marriage, Richard O. Mitchell understood his wife, Rena, very well, but he never did understand that thing she had for Elvis Presley. "She was a real nut on that," he said. "I have no idea how she got so fanaticized over him. I used to tell her, 'When you go, I'm going to junk all that stuff,' and she'd say I better not."
Mrs. Mitchell died Feb. 24 at an Indianapolis rehabilitation center. She was 69. The thousands of students pushing their lunch trays through the cafeteria line at Warren Central High School for about 30 years never suspected Mrs. Mitchell, the friendly head cashier, was such an Elvis devotee. Mrs. Mitchell knew the words to Elvis' songs and played Elvis CDs, but she knew better than to ask her husband to grow his sideburns long or add a spangled jumpsuit and cape to his wardrobe. "She was a top-notch fan," her husband said. "She adored him and she loved him, but she wasn't a teeny-bopper over him, if you know what I mean. It was kind of one of those things that happened, and I went along with it. I didn't have any choice."
He went with her to an Elvis concert in Indianapolis, but he mostly concentrated on leaving in time to get to his job by midnight. He retired in 1990 as a general supervisor at Ford's engine assembly plant in Indianapolis. "Rena had boxes of Elvis memorabilia stored in the garage," Mitchell said. "I have no idea what to do with it. I don't know why anyone would want it." The Mitchells met on a blind date in 1953. "We went to Riverside Park to ride the rides. That was the place to go. I was a perfect gentleman on that date. I wasn't going to push my luck." She made an immediate impression: "She struck me as a person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It was a gut feeling. She was what you might call my first love." ...
- The Voice of Romance Patrizio Buanne to Tour New Zealand
Press Release: Dainty Consolidated Entertainment
(Scoop, February 26, 2007)
Italian born Patrizio Buanne will be making his debut New Zealand tour this year. The 28 year old, who has been called the voice of romance with his creamy baritone and seductive phrasing, will be performing in Wellington on 31st May at the Michael Fowler Centre and in Auckland on 2nd June at the Civic Theatre. Once described as "the dark suited Lothario who arrived on stage in an oestrogen charged atmosphere like a match being dropped into a box of fireworks", there is no doubt that Patrizio Buanne has Charisma! He is a one-off; a man that women want and men want to be.
Since the release of his Double Platinum debut album The Italian in 2005, Patrizio has been busy conquering the world. Selling out headline shows across Europe, Asia, Australia and America, Patrizio has been winning over leagues of fans for his outstanding live shows and countless admirers wherever he goes. His second album Forever Begins Tonight, which features a version of Robbie William's Angels sung in Italian, was released in New Zealand late last year where it achieved gold status.
Patrizio is quite simply an entertainer. His concerts are attended by three generations of fans from teenage girls to their parents and grandparents. Everyone is captured by Patrizio's energy and world class performance on stage. Standing ovations, showers of gifts and queues of fans stretching around the block for his autograph are now commonplace on tour.
Patrizio was born to entertain and has been doing it all his life. With his individual sense of style, charm, fun and with his rich baritone voice, Patrizio has become something of a unique performer in the modern world of musical entertainment. Inspired by the cool Italian American singers of the 50s and 60s, Patrizio aspires to become a name synonymous with world-class entertainment alongside legendary performers such as Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Julio Iglesias, ...
- Kurt Cobain's 40th birthday passes largely unsung
By STEVEN FRIEDERICH
(seattlepi.nwsource.com / Daily World, February 26, 2007)
Kurt Cobain rocketed to fame, then burned out in a tragic, violent death. But the grunge rocker's name and music live on, and though he wrote disparagingly about Grays Harbor, he always considered himself to be from Aberdeen. On Feb. 20, Cobain, whose young but world-weary blue eyes are forever frozen in time, would have turned 40. So, should it mean anything?
There were no celebrations planned; no parties or memorials scheduled for a man whose raw voice, searing lyrics and anti-pop-culture image have helped Nirvana sell more than 24 million copies of "Nevermind," which features the slacker anthem "Smells Like Teen Spirit." "I'm not sure Cobain's 40th birthday means a whole lot to the world at large," writes Gene Stout, the Seattle P-I's pop music critic for more than two decades. "He's certainly a rock icon, but aside from Elvis Presley, very few deceased musicians inspire birthday celebrations or big acknowledgments. ...
- Angelina Jolie voted sexiest star ever
(moldova.org / UPI, February 25, 2007)
Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie has been voted the sexiest star ever in an online poll for the BBC's 100 Greatest Sex Symbols special. The BBC's Channel 4 recently conducted an Internet poll to determine the top 100 sexiest stars of all time. Jolie was No. 1, Elvis Presley No. 2 and Brad Pitt No. 3, followed by Marilyn Monroe and Beyonce Knowles. The only fictional character in the Top 10 was video game vixen Lara Croft, who was played on the big screen by Jolie, at No.6. ...
- BOOK REVIEW: 'The Watchman' by Robert Crais - A hotel-chain heiress is targeted for death by mysterious South American gunmen
By Will Beall
(calendarlive.com, February 25, 2007)
The Watchman: A Joe Pike Novel
Robert Crais
Simon & Schuster: 304 pp., $25.95
Just as Charlie Rich and Buck Owens once emulated Elvis Presley, mystery authors of the last 30 years pay homage to Robert B. Parker's redoubtable Spenser and his urban samurai, Hawk. Spenser and Hawk still cast long shadows across our pulp landscape.
In fact, no self-respecting fictional private investigator works without a larger-than-life, extralegal sidekick. For his diverting Spenser clone, Myron Bolitar, author Harlan Coben has cleverly recast Hawk as a lethal WASP named Wynn. Lawrence Block's sober Matt Scudder has a secret sharer in Mick, the Irish gangster with a heart of Guinness. And Robert Crais' Elvis Cole runs with a stoic cop-turned-mercenary who goes by the name of Pike. ...
- EMI, Online Music Retailers Halt Copyright Talks, People Say
By Dina Bass and Andy Fixmer
(Bloomberg, February 24, 2007)
EMI Group Plc and online music sellers including Microsoft Corp. halted talks aimed at removing copyright protection from songs because they couldn't agree on the size of an advance payment, people briefed on the offer said. EMI, the third-largest music company, demanded an upfront payment to compensate for its risk in releasing the music without software that prevents copying, the people said. The retailers countered with a lower offer, which EMI rejected, and negotiations are now on hold, the people said.
Discussions included Microsoft, Apple Inc., RealNetworks Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., and a deal with some of them seemed close two weeks ago, the people said. CD sales slid last year, giving the idea traction as record companies look to reverse their fortunes. An announcement with London-based EMI had been planned for as early as Feb. 9, one of the people said.
... Talks have been further complicated by Warner Music Group Corp.'s efforts to buy EMI. Warner Chief Executive Officer Edgar Bronfman opposes offering music without the copyright software. The music industry is under pressure from retailers such as Apple's iTunes and Napster to free music from so-called digital rights management software that limits use of songs.
... EMI, whose recording artists include Norah Jones and Keith Urban, had resisted the calls on concern revenue would be hurt. Retailers argue sales may rise because files would be compatible with a variety of players. ... Apple CEO Steve Jobs, whose iTunes is the most popular Internet music seller, on Feb. 6 penned an open letter pleading for copy-protection free music. His company wasn't initially involved in the talks with EMI and was added after the letter, which was published on Cupertino, California-based Apple's Web site, one of the people said. ... Rob Glaser, CEO of Seattle-based RealNetworks, said this month that the four largest music companies are ``receptive'' to selling music online without copy-protection software and will begin doing so within the next year or two.
EMI traces its history to the earliest days of recorded music, and became known as Electric and Musical Industries in 1931. During the 1950s EMI released Elvis Presley's first records outside the U.S. and bought Capitol Records, gaining Frank Sinatra, Nat ``King'' Cole and Peggy Lee.
- Elvis: Still King of eBay: The rights to Elvis' last recorded song sell for $30,000
By Michael Finger
(Memphis Flyer, February 23, 2007)
Search for Elvis Presley items on eBay, and you will turn up hundreds - no thousands - of souvenirs, photos, albums, magazine articles, 45s, LPs, CDs, and just about anything and everything someone could slap a TCB logo on. But occasionally, something very rare and unusual turns up, and that¹s just what happened recently when someone decided to sell the rights to Elvis' last recorded song.
In 1973, the King of Rock and Roll teamed up with songwriter Paul Terry King to produce and record two songs. One of these, "If I'd Only Bought Her Roses," was sold last year to Robert X. Sillerman, the current owner of Elvis Presley Enterprises for an undisclosed price.
But the other song, "Just Like Rolling Up the Hill," has remained a secret until now, when Hill - not in the best of health - decided to sell the rights on eBay. What this means, according to eBay, is that the new owner can "produce, sing, or release it yourself." It was promoted on eBay as "Elvis' Last Recorded Song."
Sounds like a risky venture, but hey it worked for Elvis, so it might work for the highest bidder, an unidentified (or in eBay's terms, "private") buyer who ended up paying $31,101 for the rights. The winner receives "copyright and all associated publication and performance rights, etc."
- Toyota Rolls Out Limited-Edition Camry Hybrid To Celebrate 50 Years in U.S
(edmunds.com, February 23, 2007)
When Toyota rolled out its Toyopet Crown in the United States back in 1957, Elvis Presley was filming Jailhouse Rock, John F. Kennedy had just won a Pulitzer Prize for Profiles in Courage and President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed in his second inaugural address that "We do not fear this world of change." Toyota's first year here was not a great success. The Toyopet Crown was underpowered and couldn't measure up to the long-distance demands of American driving - something that Toyota admits on its historical Web site. But Shotaro Kamiya, president of Toyota Motor Sales in Japan that year, said, "Even if our cars don't quite measure up at the moment, we don't have time to just stand around and watch. We need a bridgehead." ...
- Warhol's tribe
By Beth Schwartzapfel
(Forward / Jewish Daily, February 23, 2007)
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Andy Warhol - as good a time as any to reminisce, in these pages, about the famed artist's place in Jewish history. Although Warhol is best known for his portraits of such pop icons as Elvis Presley and Jackie Kennedy, in 1980 he also completed a set of 10 portraits of Jewish icons, commissioned by art dealer and gallery owner Ronald Feldman. By the time they collaborated on the series, Feldman and Warhol had been friends for almost 10 years. The two men met in the early 1970s, when Feldman and his wife opened Ronald Feldman Fine Arts in the Stable Gallery building on East 74th Street in Manhattan, where Warhol had first showed his famous Campbell;s Soup Can paintings. Even after Feldman's gallery relocated to SoHo, Warhol would stop by every Saturday with his dachshund, Archie, to chat and ask for ideas. ...
- "The King" Stock: Better Late than Never
By Hilary Kramer
(Yahoo! Finance / AOL Money and Finance, February 22, 2007)
Last on April 6th, I wrote up CKX Inc. (NasdaqGS: CKXE) and invested in the company myself. The stock was at $12.78 and, at the time, I made CKX one of my Top Picks for 2006. Unfortunately, the stock price hasn't gone much of anywhere at all: As of the close on Tuesday, February 20, it is now back up to $13.79, but l think this one is going to grow and will hit $20 this year.
CKX is involved in the entertainment and media businesses. The company represents "American Idol," manages entertainers through its MBST subsidiary, and makes money on the branding of historic entertainment icons like Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. The company is launching a snack-food line under Ali's nickname, "The Greatest of All Time," and is working to step up its promotion of Elvis to coincide with the 30th anniversary of his death. CKX also represents David and Victoria Beckham, which means it's expecting to cash in on the soccer star's widely publicized move to the Los Angeles Galaxy.
While the stock admittedly hasn't done what I'd expected, signs are pointing in the right direction. After suffering an operating loss in 2005, CKX's results in 2006 have been much improved, with revenues in each quarter above the respective quarters in 2005, and operating margins showing profit in each quarter so far. "American Idol" showed impressive growth last year, and as one of the most lucrative shows on the market, it is likely to continue to generate solid income for the foreseeable future.
To be sure, the entertainment industry is notoriously fickle, but CKX's CEO Robert Sillerman has an excellent track record and made a lot of money for me and other investors with SFX and SFXE (radio and live entertainment companies). This one is a risk to be sure, but if you have some money to take a chance with, it is a good bet. For those of us that already took the plunge more than a year ago, we may finally be seeing some green. Even technically, the stock seems to be well-positioned. ...
- Parks & Rec: Elvis to Visit La Canada?
By Charles Cooper
(lacanadaonline.com, February 22, 2007)
The King of Rock 'n' Roll may be making an appearance this summer during the Music-in-the-Park concert series. Elvis won't actually be in the house, having long since gone to that big musical jam session in the sky, but the city will be contacting an impersonator to join the entertainment lineup.
The parks and commission hopes to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Presley's first big hit. "Hound Dog" was actually released in 1956, and was Presley's first Number One.
The commission approved for the fourth year a cosponsorship agreement with the La Canada Valley Sun for the concert series, which will begin Memorial Day, May 28. Later dates are the Sunday evenings of June 3, June 10, June 17, June 24, July 1, July 8, July 15, July 22, July 29, Aug. 5, Aug. 12, Aug. 19 and Aug. 26. There will be two Movies-in-the-Park programs, though the commissioners caution that a movie not be shown with the final concert, before the start of school. ...
- Elvis Presley Anniversary Charity Concert to be Centerpiece of Celebration Weekend
Source: Sport and Dining Club
(manx.net, February 22, 2007)
The 30th anniversary of the death of the King of Rock 'n' Roll will be marked by a tribute concert in aid of the Manx-based charity Friends of Chernobyl's Children hosted by two 1970's Radio 1 deejays. The commemorative concert will be held at the Villa Marina Royal Hall, Harris Promenade, Douglas on Friday 17th August at 9pm. It provides the centerpiece for a weekend of celebration of the life and influence of Elvis Presley.
The concert will be hosted by Paul Burnett (formerly BBC Radio One and Radio Luxembourg) and David Hamilton (formerly BBC Radio 1 and ITV) and will form the centerpiece of a weekend of activities and attractions including an Elvis Presley Film Festival, Elvis Wedding Vow Renewals, Elvis American Car Parade and an Elvis-themed restaurant menu. Additionally, everyone who attends the concert on the 17th will receive a free Elvis gift and the chance to win a holiday in Memphis.
Friends of Chernobyl's Children is raising funds to provide travel, clothing and footwear for children from Belarus to continue to visit the Island to bolster their immune systems. Their country even now suffers the consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Everyone old enough to remembers where they were when the heard the news of the death of Elvis in 1977 and since his death Elvis has continued to gain new fans through re-releases of his music, concert videos and films. This will be a chance for fans, old and new, to enjoy a summer evening celebration of the music of Elvis performed by the tribute act used by RCA Records, the Elvis Presley record label.
For more information see www.elvis.im. For ticket availability contact Villa Marina Box Office on 694555 or e-mail tickets@villamarina.dtl.gov.im
- Bogar Enterprises, a Novelty Sign Company, Announces the Release of the ELVIS '68 Comeback Special Novelty Sign
Source: Bogar Enterprises
(Yahoo! Finance / MARKET WIRE, February 21, 2007)
After much anticipation, Bogar Enterprises, LLC announces the release of the ELVIS '68 Comeback Special Novelty Sign in commemoration of one of Las Vegas' most beloved performers -- Elvis Presley. This novelty sign, which is licensed by Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., is a replica of the towering backdrop seen in Elvis' television special, popularly known as "The '68 Comeback Special," that first aired on December 3, 1968 on NBC.
The ELVIS '68 Comeback Special Novelty Sign is sure to become a collector's item for admirers of Elvis Presley and Las Vegas. The sign features red light emitting diodes (LEDs) that flash the name ELVIS in red lights just like the backdrop seen in the opening and closing segments of the television special. Bogar's replica adds a 43-second sound chip playing one of Elvis' most recognized tunes, "Don't Be Cruel."
"With the international popularity of Elvis and his association with Las Vegas, it was natural to create a novelty sign that would pay homage to both," said Bob McMonigle, Owner and President of the Las Vegas-based Bogar Enterprises, LLC. "The '68 Comeback Special is a milestone in Elvis' career as well as one of the greatest moments in rock music history and it deserves to be commemorated."
The ELVIS '68 Comeback Special Novelty Sign has a suggested retail price of $49.95 and can be purchased in casino gift stores, hotel gift stores, specialty stores and souvenir shops throughout Las Vegas. The novelty sign can also be purchased at Graceland and online at www.LVSignCo.com and in Shop Elvis on www.Elvis.com.
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