late March 2007
- Burgers for everyone -- except Elvis: River North spot to offer 24 flavors, but no Hunka Hunka
(Chicago Sun-Times, March 30, 2007)
How many ways can you dress a burger? Leon Toia would say at least 24. That's how many burgers will be on the menu at his newest restaurant venture, Hop Haus, opening soon in River North.
Burgers at Hop Haus will have some unusual toppings like peanut butter, bannanas and strawberries. You can even have an elk burger.
Toia's not just talking about Swiss vs. American cheese, either -- try buffalo, elk and wild boar burgers paired with boutique beers. Toia has recruited two employees at the hypermodern restaurant Alinea, sommelier Justin Leone and cook Andrew Brochu, to consult on the menus. ...
When it comes to flavors, anything goes -- almost. One concoction by Brochu and Leone, both 25, was an ode to Elvis Presley involving a deep-fried patty, bacon, peanut butter, bananas and strawberries.
"We're playing on the PB&J and Elvis idea all in one," Leone said. And, he added, it worked.
'Too far out there'
"The main components of every balanced dish should be sweet, salt to cut the richness, and then a little acid," Leone said. But the so-called Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love burger was "too far out there" for Toia. He isn't even sure if the other wild-game burgers will fly, though he is keeping those on the menu. "They'll probably grow legs and run out the door," he said.
Hop Haus is slated to open April 9. General manager John Kinder says the Elvis burger may still make an appearance as a special.
- Book a trip with Elvis
(scotsman.com, March 29, 2007)
HOLIDAYMAKERS will be able to book their trip next week with help from an astronaut, a princess or even Elvis Presley. Staff at Travelcare in Haddington, East Lothian are planning to dress up as the character they most wanted to be as a child, for charity.
- Jack White to play Elvis in movie
(Yahoo! News / Dotmusic, March 28, 2007)
Jack White is to appear in a new film as Elvis Presley, according to reports. The White Stripes/Raconteurs star will feature in a forthcoming parody of the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line. The movie is called Walk Hard, and is expected to focus on a fictional rockabilly musician in the vein of Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash, played by John C. Reilly. A spokesman for Jack, who has previously appeared in both Cold Mountain and Coffee And Cigarettes, yesterday confirmed he would play Elvis in the film. ...
- Bellydancing Site: Elvis Presley's "Little Egypt"
By Ronnette Ramirez
(bellaonline.com, March 28, 2007)
Little Egypt was the name given to two dancers in the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. Their real names were Ashea Wabe and Farida Mazar Spyropoulos. Although they did not dance on the same stage, both would make history as belly dancers. The picture that most people associate with Little Egypt is in fact Ashea Wabe. It is a black and white photograph of her showing her midriff, with a simple dance skirt, dance bra, and a veil. Unlike belly dancers of today, the picture reveals that Wabe wore some type of dance shoes.
After that performance, Westerners identified those dancing to Middle Eastern or exotic music as belly dancers or dancers doing the "hoochie-coochie". Belly dancers used the stage name Little Egypt.
In 1964, Elvis Presley appeared in the movie Roustabout, a movie that told the story of a young man riding his motorcycle everywhere trying to become a famous singer. He lands a job as a roustabout in a carnival and makes a turn around. More and more people are drawn to the carnival because of Elvis (of course), and his song "Little Egypt", which later became a hit.
You can view a clip of Elvis singing "Little Egypt" by going to Youtube.com. There are two versions. One has the sax solo in the chorus and the other has the sax with a "hoochie-coochie" voice over. Watch and listen to both. The scene opens with an audience in a theater setting with an orchestra. A carnival master appears on the stage with several actors who act as if they are in a carnival. Enter Elvis.
Carnival man then tells everyone about the "dancer from the Nile". All are intrigued, including Elvis. "She can crawl on her belly like a reptile", says the Carnival man about Little Egypt, who never crawls on her belly. Little Egypt then walks on stage, wearing a '60s bikini, heels, and a veil on her head. Elvis buys a ticket to see her performance. Lights fade out.
"I went and bought myself a ticket and I sat down in the very first row", sings Elvis. As he is singing, there are several "hoochie-coochie" dancers in the background wearing translucent harem pants and a veil around their face.
The music is certainly not Middle Eastern and just to think of belly dancing to that song! It is entertaining, but Little Egypt herself rarely moved her hips. In fact, the other dancers did snake arms and several hip circles in comparison to the main gal. There was that translucent stage curtain that I think was put there for a reason. What can you say, it was the early sixties.
It is said that Teri Garr, actress in such movies as Tootsie and Mr. Mom, was one of the dancers. She actually appeared in another Elvis movie called Fun in Acapulco. Garr started her dance career when she was thirteen!
Going back to "Little Egypt", the lyrics were, umm... I'll let you make your own conclusion. For those of you who are Elvis fans, I'm pretty sure you think the song was great. It is a cute song, but to think that Little Egypt ended up mopping floors with seven kids and married, the song would not be a hit today.
- From Elvis to 'The Tudors': TV performances that rule
By Bill Keveney
(USA TODAY, March 28, 2007)
Henry VIII isn't the only "king" on Jonathan Rhys Meyers' resume; he portrayed musical monarch Elvis Presley in a 2005 CBS miniseries. Surprisingly, these two historical figures, each recognizable by his first name, have some other things in common.
- Title bout. Defender of the Faith vs. King of Rock and Roll.
STORY: Henry VII gains substance
- Teen titans. Both were virile, charismatic young men. Henry became King of England at 18. Elvis was 19 when he released his first Sun single, That's All Right. Two years later, he had his first million-selling hit, Heartbreak Hotel.
Military service. Henry had an army. Elvis served in one.
- Caped crusaders. My kingdom for a clotheshorse: Henry is a bejeweled dandy in the Hans Holbein portraits (Meyers' Henry is a fashion-forward royal). Not to be outshined, Elvis became a sequined sparkler in his white jumpsuit.
- Severed unions. Henry had a daughter, Mary, with first wife Katherine of Aragon, whom he later divorced. Elvis and wife Priscilla had a daughter, Lisa Marie, before ending their marriage after six years. Elvis had one wife; Henry had six, occasionally marking the split via beheading.
- Pope problems. Henry fought the Roman Catholic Church over his request for a divorce, lost the Defender title and was excommunicated. He then formed the Church of England. Presley's swiveling hips led the Catholic publication America to call his performance "downright obscene."
- Permanent residence. Each is buried at his respective estate, addresses hardly unknown. Henry presided at England's Windsor Castle. Elvis was master of Graceland, his Memphis manor.
- Leading men. Henry is frequently portrayed in film and on TV, most memorably by Charles Laughton in 1933's The Private Life of Henry VIII. Elvis starred in two dozen films, including 1958's well-reviewed, royally titled King Creole.
- Musical mismatch. Elvis rules with 150 albums and singles that hit gold or platinum. Henry has I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am, a music hall tune picked up by Herman's Hermits in the '60s.
- Weighty matters. After injury and more than a few drumsticks, athletic Henry expanded into the jowly countenance of the Holbein paintings. Fried peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches and prescription drugs helped transform The King into the bloated Vegas Elvis of his final years.
- Elvis may have left the building but his legacy live[s] on
By Rebecca Bunch
(Chowan Herald, March 28, 2007)
Most of us know the story of Elvis by now - or at least we think we do. But, as it turns out, there's more to learn about his music and the times that shaped it. Musician and musical historian Billy Stevens will share that story with an Edenton audience today at 2 p.m. in a presentation at the Shepard-Pruden Memorial Library.
From the day he recorded "That's All Right, Mama," on Sam Phillips' Sun label through his groundbreaking role in music in the 50s, Elvis blazed a trail that would combine the best of black and white musical styles. It is those days Stevens will focus on in his presentation. Stevens says that although Elvis died in his 40s before the 70s wound to a close, his place in music history is secure. Presley, he says, was a "pivotal person in the evolution of American popular music." And that's true, he says, "not just because he was a poor, white boy who could sing black songs ... He was doing something different with the music. He was from the Southern culture, he was from Mississippi, and his family was very poor" which meant he lived in an area that was not segregated, where low-income whites and blacks often lived next door to each other, Stevens says.
Elvis was also much influenced in his early days by the sounds of black gospel music that he heard in church, Stevens noted. Stevens says there is a black preacher still alive today who "remembers looking out and seeing all those black faces, and there was one little white kid sitting there. It was Elvis. He had for his entire lifetime a great love for that kind of music. "After his concerts, he would get together with the others from his show, and there would be a piano back stage, and they would sing Gospel music while the crew was tearing down the set ... ballads and gospel, that was his thing." But Stevens says there's much that audiences didn't know when Elvis burst onto the music scene. ...
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