early July 2007
- Butler Settles SEC's Elvis Lawsuit, Won't Say If He Did It
By David Scheer
(Bloomberg, July 6, 2007)
Did the butler do it? He won't say, though he'll pay $66,200 to put the case to rest, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Graham Lefford, the former butler to "American Idol" creator Robert Sillerman, agreed to settle SEC claims he made illegal stock trades after learning his boss would buy a stake in Elvis Presley's estate, the agency said in a filing at U.S. District Court in Manhattan today. Lefford didn't admit or deny wrongdoing under the deal, which requires a judge's approval.
Lefford is the only butler to be targeted by the SEC amid an increase in insider-trading lawsuits targeting Wall Street bankers, lawyers and company executives in the past year.
"Our pursuit of this case shows there is no such thing as flying below the radar,'' said George Stepaniuk, an SEC enforcement attorney overseeing the lawsuit. "We feel Mr. Lefford clearly violated the law.'' The SEC accused Lefford in September of buying $600 in stock just 12 minutes after faxing Sillerman's signed contract in 2004. Shares in the company, now called CKX Inc., surged more than 9,000 percent after the $100 million deal for rights to Presley's music and Graceland mansion was made public, the SEC said. The deal requires Lefford to forfeit $34,731 in profits and interest and pay a $31,450 fine.
CKX produces the "American Idol'' hit television show. Last year, it bought the rights to boxer Muhammad Ali's name and image for $50 million. The New York-based company last month agreed to a $1.3 billion buyout led by Sillerman and ``Idol'' creator Simon Fuller, who plan to develop chains of Elvis Presley casino resorts and hotels based on boxing champion Ali. Lefford quit as Sillerman's butler before the SEC filed its lawsuit last year. His lawyers didn't immediately return phone calls today seeking comment on the settlement.
The lawsuit is SEC v. Graham J. Lefford, 06-CV-7716, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
- Elvis blues turn US Independence Day into red-hot affair
By Ross Peake
(Canberra Times, July 5, 2007, p. 2)
Sightings of Elvis were common yesterday when a huge crowd converged on the United States embassy for the fourth of July independence celebrations.
Local impersonator Garry Buckley was one of the five who took on the role of the King for a few hours. He adopted a black and white theme for the "black caped fringe" outfit that won the Friday night competition at Parkes against 28 other look-alikes.
The US reception for almost 1000 guests - a highlight of the diplomatic circuit - was the first for ambassdor Robert McCallum and his wife, Mimi. Their "backyard barbecue" and music festival took the theme theme "red, hot and blue" to celebrate their home town, Memphis, Tennessee.
... In the residence is a large photograph of the King taken in 1957 with the queen and maid of the Memphis Cotton Carnival, and a little boy looking on. "The 10-year-old boy you see in the corner of that photo is me," Mr McCallum said. "I happened to be a page who carried the gown of the queen of cotton and looking up at Elvis and wishing I had the good fortune he did to have all these pretty women kissing him.
"Elvis represents to those in my generation, our youth, and he becomes progressively more dear to us the older we get." ...
- Horn Lake couple dedicates B&B to Elvis
(Clarion Ledger / Associated Press, July 4, 2007)
At 12, Jenny Parry became a die-hard Elvis fan. Last year, at 49, she moved from her native England to Horn Lake with her love of Elvis still strong. So strong, in fact, that Parry and her husband, Glen, are opening an Elvis-themed bed and breakfast called Gracepines that will add to the county's growing list of bed and breakfast facilities. The Elvis bed and breakfast has four rooms, each decorated like a different Elvis movie. It will officially open Aug. 8 during the 30th anniversary Elvis week.
... Gracepines, just off U.S. 51 in Horn Lake at 1008 Tuscany Way, is named after Graceland and the many pine trees on the property where the bed and breakfast sits. The four spacious bedrooms are decorated like Jenny Parry's favorite Elvis movies : "Love Me Tender," "Jailhouse Rock," "GI Blues" and "Blue Hawaii." Stills from each movie decorate the colorful walls in the rooms, including a huge life-size cutout of Elvis hung on the black and white walls in the "Jailhouse Rock" room. ...
- Can you see the King of Rock in this rock?
By Adam Chodak
(9NEWS, July 4, 2007)
A river rock is causing quite a bit of talk in this mountain community. That is because on it there is a mark that has an uncanny resemblance to Elvis Presley. The hair, the sideburns and the collar all point to the King of Rock.
LaDell Alexander was the one to find it. "I'm kind of a rock hound," she said. She bought the rock, which weighs around 23 pounds, a while back in Colorado not noticing the image it carried. "When I got home and was rinsing it off, I could see something in the rock," Alexander recounted, "And there's Elvis, plain as day, because when it's wet the black hair really stands out."
Alexander and her husband, Lynn, live in Texas, but vacation in Estes Park during the summer. That is where the "Elvis Rock" resides now and has started to attract attention.
George Frawley owns a bed and breakfast near the Alexanders and visited their house Tuesday to have a look. "It is the real thing!" Frawley exclaimed. "I don't want to get too excited, but this is big stuff." The Alexanders plan to put the rock on eBay and donate 10 percent of whatever they get to a charity linked to the Elvis Presley Trust.
- Man offers $25K for Elvis poster from Lincoln show
By ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS
(Lincoln Journal Star, July 4, 2007)
Been in your attic lately? Cleaning out your basement? Look carefully because if your eyes run across a poster, advertising Elvis Presley's May 19, 1956, show in Lincoln, there's a man in Marina del Rey, Calif., who wants to talk to you.
Better yet, he would like to buy that poster for $25,000 cash. "I still think there's one left. I just got to believe," said rock 'n roll poster collector Andrew Hawley. He recently placed an ad in the Lincoln Journal Star under Collectible & Hobbies, showing what the poster might look like. "Itıs beautiful," said Hawley in a phone interview. The poster shows Elvis, who was just starting his career, with a big guitar doing his hip-shaking thing. Hawley says the same image was used to advertise shows in cities along the tour. The only differences are the dates and locations.
One hundred posters, 22 inches by 27 inches, were printed up for the May 19 Lincoln show and a similar number for the Omaha show held the next night, Hawley said, and they were tacked on telephone poles and other places.
About 3,000 "wildly screaming teen-agers" showed up to hear Elvis at the University of Nebraska Coliseum, according to a story printed in the Sunday Journal and Star.
"Presley, garbed in yellow sports coat with black stripes, a blue iridescent shirt with a kimono collar, black pegged trousers, and hair coiffured in 'ducktails' and sideburns, has the young Lincolnites in such a frenzied pitch they tried to grab him off stage," wrote staff writer Paul Means.
Hawley said he also collects early concert posters for Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, who played in Omaha during the '60s. So how come they're worth so much? "There just valuable for people who care," Hawley said. Since he placed the ad, Hawley has received some calls from the Lincoln area, but nobody has come up with a poster, yet. Hawley said he is serious about the offer and will pay in person. He can be reached at 1-310-346-1965.
- Kelton's band records Elvis hits in Memphis
By Barrett Goldsmith
(Baytown Sun, July 4, 2007)
When The King's people call, it's a good idea to listen. On June 11, blues rocker Mean Gene Kelton got a call from Elvis Presley Enterprises, representatives of the legend himself. After months of negotiations, Kelton and his band were headed to Memphis, Tenn., to record a CD of Presley's hits, banged out in the band's signature style - a style built on bikers and blues and brewed in Baytown. Kelton will perform in Baytown tonight as part of the city's Independence Day festivities.
Mean Gene Kelton & The Die Hards stepped into Sun Studios, the hallowed recording studio in which legends such as Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash got their start in the 1950s, and where a certain Memphis rock 'n' roll heartthrob recorded, too. The studio has been restored to its original appearance, and is now a major tourist attraction.
In one marathon session June 23, the band recorded 13 songs live, with almost no overdubbing or studio trickery. The songs were Presley standards - Jailhouse Rock, Hound Dog, Heartbreak Hotel, Steamroller - but featured different arrangements, highlighting the guitar, harmonica and a mean bass played by Wolff DeLong.
"I wanted to capture the true, unpolished, raw sound and live feel of the band's unbridled enthusiasm for the project," Kelton said. "One thing's for sure, it's all real. And that's the beauty of the whole thing." The result was Going Back to Memphis: a Biker Band Tribute to Elvis," which will be available at the end of the month . Some of the money from the album's sales will go to a pair of charities, Bikers Against Child Abuse and the St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis.
... Kelton has carved out a niche as one of the premier entertainers at biker rallies across the country, having played at shows featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd, Canned Heat, Bad Company and Steppenwolf, among others. At many of those concerts, Kelton said, bikers request his versions of Elvis tunes.
In 2003, Kelton became one of five house bands at Elvis Presley's club on Beale Street in Memphis. The club's owner, Judith Parra, originally told all the bands not to play any Elvis songs. But after hearing him play and seeing the audience response, Parra told him to shake, rattle and roll out as many Elvis hits as he liked. ...
- "Unchained Melody" Lyricist Dies at 99
(cmt.com, July 3, 2007)
Hy Zaret, who wrote the words to the classic song "Unchained Melody," died Monday (July 2) at age 99. The Righteous Brothers recorded the best-known version of the song, released in 1965 and again in 1990 after being featured in the movie Ghost. In addition, Elvis Presley reached the country Top 10 with the song in 1978, and LeAnn Rimes reached No. 3 with her rendition of the song in 1997. "Unchained Melody" has been recorded more than 300 times.
- Saxophone legend Boots Randolph dies at 80
By BILL FRISKICS-WARREN
(Memphis Business Journal, July 3, 2007)
Boots Randolph, Nashville's most celebrated saxophonist and a member of the city's vaunted "A-Team" of session musicians, died this afternoon after suffering a subdural hematoma last week. He was 80.
Mr. Randolph played a major role in the development of the Nashville Sound, where his always soulful playing galvanized popular recordings by the likes of Elvis Presley and Eddy Arnold. As singular as his work as a sideman was, however, Mr. Randolph was best known for his 1963 hit "Yakety Sax," a juking instrumental inspired by King Curtis' saxophone solo on the Coasters' 1958 R&B smash "Yakety Yak." ... From his salacious wailing on Elvis' 1960 recording of "Reconsider Baby" to the staccato riff he played on Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman," Mr. Randolph's contributions indeed were inimitable. ...
- Phonecasting.com launching Elvis program
(Memphis Business Journal, July 3, 2007)
Phonecasting.com, an online network that allows users to create and share "phonecasts", is partnering with Elvis Presley's original drummer, D.J. Fontana, for a continuing phonecasting program about his life and career with Elvis. The show can be accessed through Phonecasting.com's Web site, played on wireless phones or played on MP3 players.
The show, entitled "We're Talkin' Elvis", will feature Fontana, legendary Memphis disc jockey George Klein as well as another member of Presley's inner circle. The broadcasts are created by calling a designated number, punching in a code and talking. Michael Sharp, founder and CEO of Phonecasting.com, says the company was happy to do the Elvis show. "We are thrilled to offer the world the opportunity to listen to and share Mr. Fontana's life story with phonecasting audiences everywhere," Sharp says.
- Hershey's "Elvis Cup" Pays Tribute to the King on Anniversary of His Death
(awmanet.org, July 5, 2007)
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Elvis's death this summer, The Hershey Company has created a candy bar in his name. The "Elvis Cup" is a limited-edition Reese's peanut butter cup with an extra layer with banana creme. Why banana crème? Elvis Presley "The King of Rock and Roll" -- enjoyed many sweet foods but none more famously remembered than his fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
Although not fried, the "Elvis Cup" is a 360-calorie tribute to Presley's notorious duo of pleasures, reports the Baltimore Sun Newspaper. "We're pleased to bring the King's favorite combination of peanut butter and bananas to consumers," says Kirk Saville, a spokesman for Hershey's. The makers of Reese's peanut butter cups plan to release the "Elvis Cup" nationwide this month in standard, mini and "The King" sizes.
Elvis died on August 16, 1977, at age 42. The Baltimore Sun questioned whether it is in good taste "to name a candy bar after a celebrity whose feral eating habits are legendary?" Don't be cruel, Elvis's legions of fans might say. Sun reporter Rob Hiaasen wondered "Why not an 'Elvis Milky Way' -- chocolate malt-flavored nougat with a layer of grape jelly, another of the King's sweets? Or an 'Elvis Butterfinger' -- a crunchy blend of butter and peanut butter wrapped in burned bacon and smothered in mashed potatoes?"
The matter of taste was raised with Hershey's Saville. "Like I said, we're pleased to bring the King's favorite combination of peanut butter and bananas to consumers."
- A big hunk o' candy pays tribute to the King
By Rob Hiaasen
(Baltimore Sun, July 2, 2007)
Perhaps no honor could be more fitting: To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the King's (alleged?) death this summer, Hershey's has created a candy bar in his name. "The Elvis Cup" is a limited-edition Reese's peanut butter cup that includes an extra layer with banana creme. A man of unchecked appetites, Presley's saccharine diet involved huge quantities of doughnuts, milkshakes, Jujubes, peanut brittle, Bit-O-Honeys, drums of Pepsi -- and, famously, fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches.
Although not fried, the "Elvis Cup" is a 360-calorie tribute to Presley's notorious duo of pleasures. "We're pleased to bring the King's favorite combination of peanut butter and bananas to consumers," says Kirk Saville, a spokesman for Hershey's. The makers of Reese's peanut butter cups plan to release the "Elvis Cup" nationwide this month in standard, mini and "The King" sizes. But the candy is already out in a few stores with but a fraction of the iPhone fanfare.
In Abingdon in Harford County, three "King Size" Elvis peanut butter cups were purchased by the press under the auspices of the First Amendment. (Actually, they sell at a Walgreens for $1 a pack.)
The likeness of the King of Rock 'n' Roll graces the familiar orange package. A Hawaiian lei is draped around his neck. His right hand grips a microphone. Gray streaks his jet-black hair and wolfish sideburns. His snarled mouth is agape, suggesting another round of "Heartbreak Hotel."
Hershey's plans to use other iconic Elvis images on the Reese's packaging -- perhaps a head shot reminiscent of the "Young Elvis" artwork Americans voted to use on the Elvis Presley stamp in 1992. The packages we found had the "old Elvis" but mercifully not the "really old" Elvis -- the bloated, bedridden, prescription drug-addled Elvis who, at age 42, died 30 years ago this Aug. 16.
Say what you will about Elvis, but his final days were not his finest. As with other mysterious facts surrounding Elvis, his weight at the time of his death is also in dispute. Accounts range bizarrely from 170 pounds to 350 pounds, with some suggesting his autopsy report alone accounted for 30 pounds to 35 pounds. Whatever the truth, Elvis was not a model of healthy eating.
So, is it in good taste to name a candy bar after a celebrity whose feral eating habits are legendary? Why not an "Elvis Milky Way" -- chocolate malt-flavored nougat with a layer of grape jelly, another of the King's sweets? Or an "Elvis Butterfinger" -- a crunchy blend of butter and peanut butter wrapped in burned bacon and smothered in mashed potatoes? Don't be cruel, some fans might say.
The matter of taste was raised with Saville. "Like I said, we're pleased to bring the King's favorite combination of peanut butter and bananas to consumers."
Nothing left to do now but sample "The King Size" Elvis peanut butter and banana creme cup The first cup was not bad. The second cup from the $1 package was rather tasty. A third cup from a new package was delicious, quite frankly. And a fourth cup just about hit the spot. What we need now is a big ole Pepsi, some mashed potatoes and grape jelly to wash it all down.
[Add your comments to Maurice Colgan's, mine and others']
- Scent of oil may have brought corruption to a tiny African country
By Barry Meier and Jad Mouawad
(International Herald Tribune, July 2, 2007)
A decade ago, geologists found signs that one of the least-known countries in Africa, the tiny island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, might hold a king's ransom in oil. The first drop of oil has yet to be produced. But these days, little São Tomé may have attracted ample supplies of something else, U.S. government investigations suggest: oil-related corruption. All of this might not seem unusual in Africa, where oil and corruption often go hand in hand. However, São Tomé, a former Portuguese colony that lies off the coast of Nigeria, was supposed to be different. In recent years, a steady stream of activists like the Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs have gone there to try to make sure that any energy boom benefits its 150,000 people, rather than politicians and companies. "Oil can be a blessing or a bane for a country," Sachs said. "The theory was to help São Tomé avoid the resource curse." Things have not quite worked out that way.
... the experience of São Tomé, a poor country that supports itself by selling cocoa and commemorative stamps featuring celebrities like Elvis Presley and Brigitte Bardot, shows how just the hint of oil can set off a scramble for riches. ...
- Remembrances of Diana herald anniversary fever
(Cox News Service, July 1, 2007)
Sophia Ellis, a London mother of two, remembers exactly where she was when she heard that Princess Diana had died. "My husband and I were at a wedding and staying in a hotel, and I remember that at breakfast the owner told everyone what had happened," she said. "We absolutely didn't believe him. I was just so incredibly shocked." "I cried every day for a week," she said. Like millions of fellow Britons and Diana fans worldwide, Ellis expects to feel fresh sadness this summer. A major concert is being staged today at Wembley Stadium by Princes William and Harry in honor of their mother. As the world gets set to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Diana's death Aug. 31, there will be no shortage of books, films and media events to mark the occasion.
But the Diana deluge is just one aspect of a year that's already being characterized by anniversary fever. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Princess Grace's death, the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, the 30th anniversary of the airing of the groundbreaking TV mini- series "Roots," the 30th anniversary of the premiere of "Star Wars," the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking of baseball's color barrier and the 70th anniversary of the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Evocative memories of these cultural milestones are stoked by the media, especially cable television and the Internet, which are always hungry for content in a 24-hour news cycle.
It is not a phenomenon unique to America. In Britain, the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict was observed with a plethora of special TV programs over the past few weeks. The war was also remembered with parades, news articles and a new memorial called the Falklands Arch that was officially opened by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. David Wolfe, creative director at Doneger Group, a fashion and merchandise-trend consulting firm in New York, said anniversaries are important because they give people the chance to slow down and reflect instead of always racing ahead and thinking about the future.
"The anniversaries of Diana's death ... and Elvis' are reminders that mark time," he said. "Even the fashion industry is anniversary-prone right now what with Christian Dior marking 60 years of business and Valentino marking 45 years." ...
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