late July 2007
- Elvis Goes Vegas (Again)
By Paul Cashmere
(undercover.com.au, July 30, 2007)
The 30th Anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley will be marked with a TV special and CD focused on The King's Vegas years.
The latter part of Elvis' career was reinvented in Las Vegas. He performed 837 shows in the city from 1969 to 1976 and he holds a record for 57 consecutive sold out shows in Vegas.
Outside of the Las Vegas Hilton is a bronze statue honoring The King's performances in the building before more than 2.5 million fans over the years. The new album will be called 'Elvis: Viva Las Vegas' and will be complimented with a TV special on ABC. The tracklisting for the album will be:
1) Viva Las Vegas
2) See See Rider
3) The Wonder Of You
4) Polk Salad Annie
5) Release Me
6) Let It Be Me
7) I Just Can't Help Believin'
8) Walk A Mile In My Shoes
9) Bridge Over Troubled Water
10) Patch It Up
11) You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
12) You've Lost That Loving Feeling
13) An American Trilogy
14) Never Been To Spain
15) You Gave Me A Mountain
16) The Impossible Dream.
- Exclusive: The Elvis Experience
Reported by Janice Broach
(wmctv.com, July 30, 2007)
Next month marks the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death and still three decades later the King is taking care of business. The new man behind the rock-n-roll icon has big plans for the area around Elvis' home.
Elvis Presley, an idol to millions, and now a man from the Bronx named Bob Sillerman -- said to be richer than Donald Trump -- wants to transform Elvis' Graceland and the area around it with a $150 million project. "He's going to have theme parks, he's going to have high technology exhibits. He's going to have all kinds of ancillary shows. He's going to have a place to expand the hotel-motel aspects," said Memphis City Councilman Tom Marshall. Graceland's big boss man said that would be trouble. "There are virtually no roller coasters, no rides, not really any aspects of a classic theme park involved in this master plan," said Jack Soden of Graceland Enterprises.
It is a somewhat secret master plan but Action News 5 reporter Janice Broach has learned some of the details. The Elvis Experience will move across the street with a new visitors Center on the side of the road where the mansion sits. There will be hotels, restaurants and much more. Graceland won't be changed, just restored where it's needed.
Elvis Presley Enterprises has been buying up property for more than a decade. They've bought an apartment complex and an RV park. Bob Sillerman is buying the land just North of Graceland. Property owners in the area said Sillerman has been fair. "I know they have been pretty fair about what they bought this property for. I know the owner of this place. I think they paid him a good price," said Babak Makki. Glenn Rutherford, who owned the property where Hot Wheels is, said he sold it to Bob Sillerman for the price of $2.1 million. That's more than double the appraised value. Jack Soden says 100 acres has been purchased and that's what Sillerman wants.
The folks who live right next to Graceland hope Sillerman and Elvis Presley Enterprises will come knocking any day now. Homeowner Janice Johnson added, "there's rumors the possibility they were buying up this area and turn into something similar to Disney." Johnson said she would love to sell her house.
But for now, there will be a lot more conversation and a lot less action because Sillerman doesn't have the financing in place yet. And Jack Soden said the city, county and state need to get behind Elvis World. It's a project many say will transform the area and get everyone "All Shook Up."
As many as 50,000 Elvis fans are expected in Memphis next month for Elvis Week. More than 600,000 people visit Graceland yearly.
- Elvis Presley managers plan big-time overhaul for Graceland
By Woody Baird
(Yahoo! Canada / AP, July 30, 2007)
The thousands of Elvis Presley fans descending on Memphis for the 30th anniversary of his death Aug. 16 won't see much sign of it, but plans are moving along for big-time changes at Graceland. Managers of Presley's famous home want to overhaul its tourist complex - with a new visitors centre bigger than a football field, a convention hotel and high-tech museum displays that can give a new, digital life to the King himself.
All it will take to bring about those wonders is $250 million or so; the total reorganization of CKX Inc., the New York-based company that controls all things Elvis; and a publicly supported facelift for Graceland's struggling neighbourhood. The obstacles are far from small, but the people behind the plans, led by CKX Chairman Robert F.X. Sillerman, have a history of putting together big deals and making money for investors.
Sillerman, a multimillionaire dealer in media and entertainment assets, took over Graceland in 2005 when he bought the rights to Elvis' name and image from daughter Lisa Marie, Presley's sole heir. When Presley died, his finances were in sad shape. Led by Priscilla Presley, the estate formed Elvis Presley Enterprises, opened Graceland to the public and solidified the legal rights to make money on Elvis' name and image.
Last year, Graceland made $27 million, and the overall Elvis business brings in more than $40 million a year. That made him the second-highest grossing dead celebrity in 2006, behind only Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, according to Forbes. Lisa Marie Presley still owns her father's house and 15 per cent of Elvis Presley Enterprises, but CKX controls Graceland and its sprawling complex of souvenir shops and memorabilia museums.
... The big, white-columned house Presley bought in 1957 for just over $100,000 draws close to 600,000 visitors a year, and for a week around the anniversary of his death on Aug. 16, 1977, it attracts legions of his still-adoring fans. Graceland's current visitors centre, souvenir shops and museums were cobbled together by renovating a small strip mall across the street from what the Elvis faithful affectionately call "the mansion." The new plans call for levelling all that and building a 7,400-square-metre visitors centre designed from the ground up for handling big crowds and high-tech exhibits. ... The centre will be equipped for the kind of technical wizardry that allowed singer Celine Dion to recently perform what appeared to be a live duet with Elvis on the "American Idol" TV show, which CKX also owns. ... For years, Elvis Presley Enterprises, now a CKX subsidiary, has been buying land for expansion and has put together 40 hectares needed for the renovation, which would move the tourist centre to the same side of Elvis Presley Boulevard as Graceland.
... "We've continued all these years to be a major destination attraction with a busy, pretty unattractive street running right through the middle of it," said Jack Soden, EPE's top executive and a major player in opening Graceland to the public in 1982.
Graceland's 128-room Heartbreak Hotel, also on the wrong side of the four-lane street, is to be replaced by a convention hotel, on the better side, with up to 500 rooms.
- SONY BMG Music Entertainment Announces The CD Release of ELVIS PRESLEY - ELVIS: VIVA LAS VEGAS
Source: SONY BMG Music Entertainment
(Yahoo! Business / PRNewswire, July 30, 2007)
Available July 31, 2007
August marks 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death
SONY BMG Music Entertainment announces today the release of Elvis Presley "Elvis: Viva Las Vegas" which arrives in stores and online on July 31, 2007. The CD features music from and is inspired by the ABC television special ELVIS: VIVA LAS VEGAS -- the visual chronicle of Elvis's life during the Vegas years with particular focus on his music, his ground-breaking style and his legacy. The ABC Special, currently scheduled to air in September will examine how the King of Rock 'n' Roll re-invented Las Vegas and how it re-invented him. Top recording stars of 2007 will perform Elvis' Vegas classics, woven in with previously unreleased music and documentary footage of Elvis's Vegas years -- never-before-seen on TV.
Elvis fully reinvented himself during his first season in Las Vegas in 1969. He performed fifty-seven consecutive sold out shows breaking all attendance records. Elvis, returned to Las Vegas every year until 1976. After his death, a bronze statue of him was placed in the lobby of the Las Vegas Hilton, commemorating the 837 sold-out shows for two-and-a-half million people. From 1969 until 1976, he was the number one attraction in the world's number one resort.
The 16 track "Elvis: Viva Las Vegas" album includes 15 live tracks of Elvis's greatest Vegas hits from his prime Vegas years including "See See Rider," "The Wonder Of You," and "Polk Salad Annie." The first track on the album, "Viva Las Vegas," is from the movie of the same name.
The release date of "Elvis: Viva Las Vegas" is particularly significant as it is timed to hit the market right before the 30th anniversary of Elvis' death. "Elvis Week," takes place over 9 days in Elvis' hometown of Memphis (August 11 -19). This year's celebration will draw more Elvis fans than ever from all over the world to Memphis for an array of events including the 30th Anniversary Concert and the Midnight In Vegas concert. For all the details about Elvis Week visit http://www.ElvisWeek.com.
Track Listing
1) Viva Las Vegas
2) See See Rider
3) The Wonder Of You
4) Polk Salad Annie
5) Release Me
6) Let It Be Me
7) I Just Can't Help Believin'
8) Walk A Mile In My Shoes
9) Bridge Over Troubled Water
10) Patch It Up
11) You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
12) You've Lost That Loving Feeling
13) An American Trilogy
14) Never Been To Spain
15) You Gave Me A Mountain
16) The Impossible dream
- Kentucky Rain an Elvis classic
By Tom Hintgen
(Fergus Falls Daily Journal, July 30, 2007)
As we approach the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, on Aug. 16, I've thought about the king of rock n' roll's songs and consider his 1970 classic hit "Kentucky Rain" my favorite. As I write this, we could use some of that rain today, here in west central Minnesota.
"Kentucky rain keeps pouring down and up ahead is another town that I'll go walking thru with the rain in my shoes, searching for you in the cold Kentucky rain."
"Kentucky Rain" was written by Eddie Rabbitt who went on to become a major country pop star in the 1970s and 1980s. His biggest hit also referred to rain - "I Love a Rainy Night." Piano for Elvis' Kentucky Rain was played by then unknown Ronny Milsap who became Country Music's first blind superstar. His biggest hit became "Smoky Mountain Rain." ... Presley was born in Tupelo, Miss., on Jan. 8, 1935, and grew up surrounded by gospel music of the Pentecostal church.
... Presley was born in Tupelo, Miss., on Jan. 8, 1935, and grew up surrounded by gospel music of the Pentecostal church. As a teenager he visited the Memphis Recording Service - the home of Sun Records - to record his voice. Owner/producer Sam Phillips was struck by the emotion in Presley's vocals and subsequently teamed him with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. In July 1954 the trio worked up "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky." They were blues and country songs, respectively, in a uptempo style that stood as the blueprint for rock n' roll.
Through the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s Elvis was on a roll - recording songs and starring in movies as well.
Divorcing in 1973, Presley became increasingly isolated and overweight, with prescription drugs taking their toll on his health, mood and his stage act. Despite this, Elvis still was capable of giving great performances to his worldwide fans. His thundering live version of "How Great Thou Art" won him a Grammy award in 1974.
Rick Stanley, a step-brother, said that Presley was almost bedridden during his final year of life. "We'd fly into a city and he'd go right into bed as soon as we got there," Stanley said. "We'd have to get him up to do the show. In Rapid City he was so nervous on stage that he could hardly talk. He was undoubtedly painfully aware of how he looked and he knew that in his condition he couldn't perform any significant movement on stage."
Presley was only 42 when he died in August 1977. It was a great 21-year run for Elvis and his adoring fans. In the first eight months of 1977 Presley's physician, Dr. George C. Nichopoulos, wrote 199 prescriptions totaling more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines and narcotics - all in Elvis' name. In 1980 Nichopoulos was found guilty of overprescription. His license was suspended and he was given three years' probation.
The real tragedy is that the king of rock n' roll, had he been channeled into the proper rehabilitation center, would no doubt have lived much, much longer.
- Collingwood Elvis Festival picks champion to go on to Graceland
(CBC Arts, July 30, 2007)
A Guelph, Ont., man who has been an Elvis Presley tribute artist for 15 years will be going to Memphis, Tenn., to participate in the Ultimate Elvis Tribute contest. Jay Zanier won $3,000 and a trip to Memphis after competing in the 13th annual Collingwood Elvis Festival. ...
- Music Review: Robert Gordon and Chris Spedding - It's Now Or Never
By El Bicho
(blogcritics.org, July 29, 2007)
Have you heard the news! There's good rockin' tonight and it's coming from the return of Rockabilly legends Robert Gordon and Chris Spedding. Vocalist Gordon and guitarist Spedding pay tribute to Elvis Presley with their new release, It's Now Or Never. These gentlemen are joined by the King's backing vocalists The Jordanaires on fifteen tracks that range from the well known to the obscure. The CD is perfectly timed to hit shelves on the thirty-year anniversary of Elvis' passing. These two first teamed up when Spedding became guitarist for Gordon's backing band The WildCats by replacing guitar hero/master Link Wray. Producing some good albums and ripping live venues apart, these kats scored with a cover of the classic "Red Hot" and Bruce Springsteen's gift to Gordon, "Fire." After spending twenty years apart, the voice and the guitar tear it up again with this collection of tunes first made popular by "the hillbilly kat," Mr. Elvis Presley. ...
- Two Elvis acts at Riverfest
By HOWARD DUKES
(South Bend Tribune, July 29, 2007)
Chris T. Young was 14 years old when Elvis Presley died on Aug. 16, 1977.
Young felt shocked when the news of Presley's death flashed across the television screen. Presley, who was 42 at the time of his death, was an entertainer Young grew up admiring. "I was a huge Elvis fan, and I actually used to listen to the 45s I (got) from my parents," he says. Now -- nearly 30 years to the day since Presley died -- the enduring popularity of "The King" and his music places Young and other impersonators (or tribute artists), such as Irv Cass, in an odd position. "When you are a kid, 42 seems pretty old," Young says. "But when you get in that ballpark yourself, you realize how young that is."
Cass and Young have been tribute artists for 16 and 15 years, respectively. That means the two have been singing such songs as "Suspicious Minds" and "Burnin' Love" -- released in 1969 and 1972, respectively -- for a longer period of time than Presley did. That longevity leads to another bit of irony -- both Cass, 48, and Young, 44, are older than Presley was when he died.
"I think many of us -- and I started when I was 29 -- thought we wouldn't be doing this past the age when Elvis passed away," Young says.
Instead, he and Cass will perform at this weekend's Niles Riverfest.
Young says he's become more aware of the age factor since he turned 42.
"It's almost kind of a thing (among) Elvis impersonators when you get to be that old," he says. "You can't help but think, 'I'm doing an Elvis tribute act. I hope nothing happens to me this year.' "
Cass and Young both made it to the north side of 42, and they still don the satin jump-suits and tear through the Elvis Presley songbook for adoring crowds.
Why does the public's desire for all things Elvis continue to grow nearly 30 years after his death?
"The thing is that there's such a demand for quality Elvis entertainment. The fans just won't let him go," Cass says. He says Presley was one of the few artists able to combine charisma, looks and a great singing voice. Cass realized that in 1974 when he first heard Presley sing "Burnin' Love." Up until then, Cass listened to rock bands such as The Beatles and funk groups such as Kool and the Gang. "I heard that song 'Burnin' Love,' and I said, 'That's a cool song,' and I became a fan after that," he says.
Fans who heard an Elvis song and saw him perform live never forgot the joy they felt, and they still want to experience that feeling, Cass says. That's where the Elvis tribute artists come in. Fans and performers know there can never be another Elvis, Cass says, and the fans aren't looking for that. "We don't come close," he says of himself and other tribute artists. "But (fans) want to see a guy who has somewhat of a resemblance to Elvis, a decent voice, the moves and some of the charisma. The best tribute artists have a little bit of each."
Cass believes the anniversary gives fans a chance to celebrate Presley's life and his music. "We'll be taking the good with the bad," Cass says. "There were a lot of great things about Elvis, but he had some bad habits he couldn't shake."
Still, Cass hopes any 30-year retrospective will focus on the music. "What is the sense of talking about the bad things?" he says. "It should just be a celebration of the happy times, the memories and of the great talent he was."
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