early May 2007
- This week's hot 5 events: Elvis Presley's way with gospel the subject of show at Gaslight
(azstarnet.com, May 10, 2007)
"Peace in the Valley" to "Crying in the Chapel" to "Amazing Grace" are among the great songs featured in "How Great Thou Art: The Gospel Music of Elvis Presley."
The show wouldn't be worth a hoot, of course, without a top-notch singer doing the honors. Happily, the star is Robert Shaw, a Gaslight Theatre regular who is the proud owner of pipes of gold. The only question is how comfortable he'll be in a white jumpsuit.
Shaw, who also bears a striking likeness to the King, and the Lonely Street Band perform the gospel music that inspired Presley from his early years in Tupelo, Miss., to his final days at Graceland.
The show will be performed at 7 p.m. Monday and at 3 p.m. June 9 at the Gaslight, 7010 E. Broadway.
Tickets are $19.95. For more information, call 886-9428 or go to www.robertastheking.com.
- 'Elvis At The Movies' Available in Stores and Online June 5th 2007
Source: SONY BMG Music Entertainment
(Yahoo! Finance / PRNewswire, May 7, 2007)
40 Tracks On Two Cds - 5 Elvis Movie Soundtracks Released Digitally Only
On June 5th, 2007, SONY BMG Music Entertainment will release "Elvis At The Movies" -- the most comprehensive Elvis Presley 2 CD movie package ever produced. The double-disc, 40-song collection features some of the popular tunes from Elvis Presley's remarkable run of 31 Hollywood movies, including show-stopping numbers like "Jailhouse Rock," "What I'd Say" from Viva Las Vegas, and "Rock A Hula Baby" from perennial fan-favorite Blue Hawaii. Also included are such #1 hits as "Love Me Tender" and "Teddy Bear" plus 17 more Top 40 singles and classic contributions from legendary songwriters Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman, and Otis Blackwell.
At the same time SONY BMG Music Entertainment will make the following 5 Elvis movie soundtracks exclusively available for digital download: G.I. Blues, Frankie and Johnny, Girls! Girls! Girls, Spinout and Kissin' Cousins.
Track listing [song - movie]:
1) Love Me Tender - Love Me Tender
2) Loving You - Loving You
3) Jailhouse Rock - Jailhouse Rock
4) Treat Me Nice - Jailhouse Rock
5) Hard Headed Woman - King Creole
6) King Creole - King Creole
7) G.I. Blues - G.I. Blues
8) Frankfort Special - G.I. Blues
9) Flaming Star - Flaming Star
10) Lonely Man - Wild In The Country
11) Can't Help Falling In Love - Blue Hawaii
12) Blue Hawaii - Blue Hawaii
13) Rock-A-Hula Baby - Blue Hawaii
14) Follow That Dream - Follow That Dream
15) King Of The White Wide World - Kid Galahad
16) Return To Sender - Girls!Girls!Girls!
17) One Broken Heart For Sale - It Happened At The Worlds Fair
18) They Remind Me Too Much Of You - It Happened At The Worlds Fair
19) Bossa Nova Baby - Fun In Acapulco
20) Viva Las Vegas - Viva Las Vegas
21) C'mon Everybody - Viva Las Vegas
22) Kissin' Cousins - Kissin' Cousins
23) Little Egypt - Roustabout
24) Do The Clam - Girl Happy
25) (Such An) Easy Question - Tickle Me
26) I'm Yours - Tickle Me
27) Shake That Tambourine - Harum Scarum
28) Frankie And Johnny - Frankie And Johnny
29) This Is My Heaven - Paradise Hawaiian Style
30) All That I Am - Spinout
31) I'll Be Back - Spinout
32) Long Legged Girl (with the short dress on) - Double Trouble
33) The Love Machine - Easy Come, Easy Go
34) Clambake - Clambake
35) Let Yourself Go - Speedway
36) Stay Away - Stay Away, Joe
37) A Little Less Conversation - Live A Little, Love A Little
38) Charro - Charro
39) Clean Up Your Own Back Yard - The Trouble With Girls
40) Rubberneckin' - Change Of Habit
- Presley Festival seeks entries for parade
(Clarion-Ledger, May 7, 2007)
The [Tupelo] Elvis Presley Festival is seeking entries for its June 2 parade, added to the festival schedule following the success of last year's first parade.
The parade will step off at 11 a.m. June 2 from Robins Field, wind its way through Church Street and Main Street and end in the historic Fairpark District where Presley performed for his hometown in 1956 and 1957.
The free parade will kick off Saturday festivities with the second round of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Competition.
The Elvis Presley Festival is May 31-June 3 in the Fairpark District of downtown Tupelo. For information, visit www.tupeloelvisfestival.com or call (662)841-6598. To participate in the parade, contact John Hurt at the Tupelo Convention and Visitors Bureau, 1-800-533-0611. Entries should be confirmed by May 25.
- The snack 'king?
By D.L Stewart
(daytondailynews.com, May 7, 2007)
Alert reader Gayle Bellomy of Union brought this sweet news to our attention: In July, you can sink your taste buds into an "Elvis Cup." It's a Reese's Peanut Butter cup with a layer of banana creme. As all Elvis-philes know, fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches were reputed to be his favorite food. The limited-edition candy is in honor of the 30th anniversary of Presley's presumed death and will come in mini, standard and, of course, "King" size. We're all shook up.
- Dancers cut a rug at party for mamas: Senior woman party at shindig for mamas
By MARY KLAUS
(The Patriot-News, May 7, 2007)
Decades ago, Mary Jane McClain danced the jitterbug in Hershey and Anna Mae Trubiani polkaed in Steelton. They listened to the music of Elvis Presley. They remember
the USO entertaining troops in World War II. Although they say their dancing days are over, both enjoyed watching the Central Pennsylvania Swing Dance Club members
yesterday at the third annual "I Remember Mama" celebration at the Hilton Harrisburg. ...
- For some nurses, their career course is on 'cruise' control
By Kathleen Mathieu
(ft.com, May 6, 2007)
Crystal Dorrity said she was working at an insurance company when she realized she wanted a change. ... She didn't have to search long and far to decide what she wanted to do. As a result of caring for her sick grandparents, she realized what she was interested in -- nursing. So she went back to school in her early 30s to become a nurse. She graduated with honors from Union University in 1999 after a successful academic career that included induction into Sigma Theta Tau International, an honor society for nurses. But, she didn't know quite which way to proceed after graduation. "I love taking care of people and bedside nursing, but I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do when I graduated from college," she said. "Colleagues talked me into applying for a job at a local trauma center."
It was a good fit for Dorrity. For nine years, she worked full time as a staff nurse at Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center in Memphis, Tenn., caring for some of the most seriously injured and ill patients who came to the hospital. Dorrity said she loved the challenge and the adrenaline rush of trauma nursing.
Then, another experience accidentally triggered another career move. Dorrity and her friends were on a cruise when, during a casual conversation, they came up with the idea of applying for jobs as cruise ship nurses, said Dorrity. As it turned out for Dorrity, the conversation was anything but casual. ... And since April 2006, Dorrity has spent most of her time on a ship as a lead nurse for Carnival Cruise Lines. The change was a logical move for her. ... Not only has Dorrity made Carnival's ships her place of employment, but they are also very much her home. She recently sold her house in Memphis and, when not at sea, she lives with her daughter. Dorrity is still on staff at the trauma center, where she works during her time off from Carnival and remains in touch with some of the more traditional aspects of nursing. ...
- Warren buffeted by his critics but wins the day
By Francesco Guerrera
(ft.com, May 6, 2007)
Warren Buffett can add another achievement to his already substantial list: doing better than Elvis Presley in Omaha. In June 1977, an overweight, over-indulged King visited the Nebraskan town for a concert that is widely regarded as his worst ever.
Nearly 30 years later, "The Sage of Omaha" picked up his ukulele and jammed with the Quebe Sisters Band of Texas before an adoring crowd of shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway, his holding company. Admittedly, the legendary investor was playing at home: the performance was the opening act for the yearly Buffett-fest that is Berkshire's annual investor meeting. ...
- I'm a living legend. That will be £500, please. Profile: Barbra Streisand
(Sunday Times, May 6, 2007)
It used to be whispered backstage that Barbra Streisand was a monster diva, and now British audiences will discover just how demanding the singer can be. The 65-year-old ³living legend² is to charge up to £500 a ticket for her first London concerts in 13 years, eclipsing the top prices of the Rolling Stones and Madonna.
There are several theories why Streisand puts such a high premium on herself. One concerns the comic actor Walter Matthau who, cast opposite Streisand in the 1969 movie Hello Dolly!, told her she had ³all the talent of a butterfly¹s fart². The rest of her career could be viewed as a determined attempt to prove Matthau wrong. The self-dramatisation involved strikes many as high camp.
Her spokesman is taking the line that the astronomical ticket prices for her concerts at the O2 Arena at the Millennium Dome on July 18 and 22 are justified by ³a momentous occasion that ranks with seeing Sinatra or Elvis². Indeed, to her fans Streisand is the preeminent female singer of the past 40 years, with 71m albums sold in America alone. The classical pianist Glenn Gould described the Streisand voice as ³one of the natural wonders of the age², surpassed only by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf¹s. Not everyone agrees. ...
- RADIO WAVES
By Ben Fong-Torres
(San Francisco Chronicle, May 6, 2007)
EYEWITNESS BLUES: "Bill Clinton gave me the finger! Did you see that? He gave me a f -- lecture!" The speaker was Mike Sugerman, the award-winning reporter with KCBS and CBS5-TV.
Actually, Clinton just shook his finger at Sugerman, who had conducted a question-and-answer session with the former president after his keynote speech at the recent KCBS Health Etc. expo at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Clinton was going long on a question that Sugerman had posed about Iraq, and the moderator wanted to move on to some health issues. "Now wait a minute," Clinton said, gesturing sharply. "You asked me a question, and I'm going to answer that question."
Sugerman got answers -- and more. The session, like Clinton's speech, went long, and then the former president met admirers in front of the stage for more than an hour. He'd been expected to spend only five or 10 minutes with conference attendees.
While Clinton posed for photos and talked with fans, Sugerman fretted backstage with his rock group, the Eyewitness Blues Band. A collection of anchors, reporters and videographers from San Francisco's all-news KCBS radio and its sister TV station, CBS5, the band was formed late last year for a story one of them did about a music school. Since then, the band has played company parties and a couple of small gigs.
Booked to play before and after Clinton's speech, the band was hoping to coax Clinton, an Elvis Presley fan from his youth, into playing some sax, as he did on Arsenio Hall's late-night show in 1992, when then-Gov. Clinton was a presidential candidate. That's why I was there. Stan Bunger, KCBS morning co-anchor (and guitarist) learned that I've sung Elvis songs with bands here and there and invited me to do "Heartbreak Hotel." That's the song Clinton played on Hall's show. ...
- Musician Jerry Naylor's new book looks at how rockabilly legends shaped the music world
By Hector Saldana
(Express-News, May 5, 2007)
Jerry Naylor wanted to get the stories right for his excellent new coffee table book "The Rockabilly Legends: They Called It Rockabilly Long Before They Called It Rock and Roll," written with Steve Halliday. "I have a great responsibility to my friends," he said.
Naylor knows something about shouldering responsibility. He once had the unenviable task of carrying on as the lead singer of the Crickets after Buddy Holly died in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959. Naylor was a singing DJ at KPEP radio in San Angelo in the mid-1950s. He had moved to L.A. to pursue his singing career when he was asked to join the group. He's been a Grammy-nominated performer, recording artist, songwriter and radio and TV host for more than 50 years.
In 1975, his country hit "Is This All There Is to a Honky Tonk" made it to No. 1 at KKYX. He's in the West Texas Music Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. The rockabilly greats "are not just icons," Naylor said. "It was a responsibility to tell the story as accurately as it can be told ... about great artists who literally changed the culture, not only just the music but how we talk, how we walk, the clothes we wear and had a lot to do with integration because all of us were totally color-blind. We just loved the music."
He's talking, of course, about Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Holly. These poor, rural white boys, steeped in the Southern Baptist spiritual tradition, heralded the marriage of black spirituals, gospel and blues to hillbilly, bluegrass and country music. As Perkins once put it, "They called it rockabilly long before they called it rock and roll." ...
- Elvis showdown set for Beatlemania
By Ron Cerabona
(Canberra Times, May 3, 2007)
August 16th 2007 marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. But on August 8, The King will re-enter the building - the Canberra Theatre - in the person of Max Pellicano, who's been performing his tribute act all over the world for nearly 30 years.
But this will be no ordinary Elvis act - in fact, it won't be just Elvis. As the title suggests, Elvis Meets the Beatles will, in Pellicano's words "blend the two biggest ever acts - the biggest group and the biggest solo act". It is premiering in Australia.
Although Presley and The Beatles met once, at The King's Bel Air home on August 27, 1965, they never performed together, so the concert is in the nature of a "what might have been". Pellicano will be performing with Australian Beatles tribute group The Beatnix. They'll be "introduced" by American TV host Ed Sullivan, on whose show both Presley and The Beatles gained wide exposure, and will perform solo sets of respective artists' early and late hits as well as medleys where Pellicano will perform Beatles songs sung by Presley and The Beatles will sing Presley songs they recorded. ...
- Music Legend Shares Memorabilia With Museum
(newschannel5.com, May 1, 2007)
Country music legend Marty Stuart has opened up his private collection of memorabilia. It has been called the largest collection of its kind in the nation.
Called "Sparkle and Twang-- Marty Stuart's American Musical Odyssey," the exhibit will feature more than 40 years of musical history including personal items from Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.
Stuart said he started collecting the items as a child and the more it grew, the more he realized "how much this stuff apparently would mean to American culture." The exhibit opens June 6 and runs to Nov. 11 at the Tennessee State Museum.
But this will be no ordinary Elvis act - in fact, it won't be just Elvis. As the title suggests, Elvis Meets the Beatles will, in Pellicano's words, "blend the two biggest ever acts - the biggest group and the biggest solo act". It is premiering in Australia.
- Elvis, Elvis, shake that pelvis!
By James Taylor
(Bandera Bulletin, May 1, 2007)
There is no telling how many careers, nay, entire industries, have been built upon the Elvis Presley name and image. Entertainment value, personality and a repertoire of questionable pelvic rotations made The King a character whose image and magic live on long past his own parting from this world.
The Bandera Business Association will capitalize on that magic when they host Elvis himself, or at least world-renowned impersonator Rob Carter, during a fundraising event on Thursday, May 3, at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar. The show starts at 7 p.m. with a $10 admission charge. Children 12 and under are free. The BBA will host an Elvis Look-a-Like Contest with prizes for the three best costumes, as well as a prize for the best girls' 50's outfit; ladies, poodle skirts are in again.
Carter has been doing Elvis impersonations for over a decade now and has won several competitions. He placed in the top ranks at a worldwide competition in Canada.
Traditionally, the BBA's only annual fundraiser has been the Riverfest event down at the Bandera City Park, but when opportunity knocked this year, BBA President Margaret Paradee answered. "Riverfest has always been our only fundraiser, but we jumped on this because it was on offer," Paradee said. "We need to raise money so that we can do more things to help beautify the city."
One of the goals the BBA has for this year is to have lighted trees in town during Christmas; another, Paradee said they hope to plant more flowers on Main Street for the summer tourists "to make Bandera look a little friendlier and warmer." "The BBA is the only organization that is entirely for businesses of Bandera, especially working in tourism," Paradee said. "We promote the businesses of Bandera and we do not promote the county or anything else, just local businesses. It's something that businesses need, a spokesperson, and we do our best to do things that promote people to come into town and shop."
Bandera Bucks, a program of discount dollars done in coordination with local radio stations, is one of the BBA's most successful annual programs.
The BBA is comprised of roughly 45 business members, a number which Paradee said she hopes to see grow along with growth in Bandera.
"Anybody can be a member; anyone who wants Bandera to be a better place, business-wise, can join," Paradee said. "We take applications year-round. We would love for more people to join and be active. We have to be positive and work together, support each other. I personally feel that if all the organizations work together, we can accomplish a lot for the businesses of Bandera; but it will take us all working together."
For more information on the BBA or the Elvis Sighting come Thursday, call 830-796-3616.
"[Elvis] will take you back a few years, knock some of the gray out of your hair and put a swivel in your hips!" Paradee said.
- Streisand fans count the cost of diva's concert
By Andy McSmith
(The Independent, May 1, 2007)
She may have been a funny girl once but punters were not laughing at the ticket prices for Barbra Streisand's next UK concert. The cheapest tickets, which go on sale on Friday, have a face value of £100, while the best seats are officially available at £500. Yesterday, one independent agency was offering a small number of tickets for prices ranging from £375 to £850.
Streisand's one-off London gig, on 18 July, makes even the eye-watering prices charged by the likes of Madonna and the Rolling Stones seem cheap by comparison. But a spokesman for a star defended the high prices. "Seeing Barbra Streisand in concert is a pretty momentous occasion that ranks up there with seeing Sinatra or Elvis. If you think that FA Cup final tickets are going for £1,600, you get some sort of context," he told the Evening Standard.
Now 65, Streisand is the music industry's biggest-selling female artist, and second only to Elvis Presley in the all-time charts, ahead of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. She has not performed in the UK since 1994, and seldom been seen on stage anywhere since the break-up of her marriage to the actor James Brolin in 1998. ...
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