early September 2007
- Pokeweed: Elvis's Poke Was Jefferson's Ink Berry
By Gary Pendleton
(Bay Weekly / Earth Journal, September 20-26, 2007)
In 1969, Elvis Presley heard a song called Poke Salad Annie. Elvis recorded the song and made it part of his live act. The King, who was born in a shotgun house in Tupelo, Miss., likely identified with the poor Southern girl portrayed in the song. He liked it so much that he recorded it three times, making it famous. The writer was Tony Joe White.
Poke Salad Annie would go out every evening about suppertime, to pick a mess of pokeweed. She seemed to be all alone; "everybody said it was a shame that her Poppa was workin' on a chain gang, or was it her Momma?
But she got by. She was "TCB." That's Elvis lingo for "taking care of business". But don't follow Annie's lead and eat raw pokeweed, because it will put a hurtin' on your belly.
Phytolacea americana is a lush, fast-growing plant that favors areas of mixed sun and shade with rich, moist soils. This striking plant grows into one of our tallest, non-wetland, native plants. It can reach up to 10 feet on crimson stalks. The leaves are generally green but sometimes turn red. Their shape is simple and typically tropical in design: un-lobed and with a drip-point. Purple berries hang down in a spike. The juice of the pokeberry is blood red and toxic.
Pokeweed has many other names, such as Ink Berry. The Declaration of Independence was written with ink made from fermented poke berry juice. Think about that the next time you bring out the Round Up spray.
Various Native American tribes used pokeweed for a variety of medicinal purposes, according to Dr. Jim Duke in the Handbook of Northeastern Indian Medicinal Plants. Poke was applied to cuts or consumed for cramps, worms, cancer, fever and many more ailments.
Poke is edible, but if not prepared properly it can be toxic. Avoid mature plants; young leaves make the best eating. Opinions differ on how to prepare it. I have eaten early spring poke leaves that were twice boiled, with the water changed for the second boil. For a gourmet twist, serve with clarified butter on whole-wheat toast points.
Our pokeweed has a South American cousin that grows as a small tree. Called the ombu tree, it provides shade to the gauchos of the Argentinean pampas. In some parts of the world, our little poke is grown as an ornamental. Give it a little space and leave it alone; it will add a wild note in the garden. Elvis and Thomas Jefferson would both approve.
Phytolacea americana
What to look for: Plants up to 10 feet tall with red stalks and prominent purple berries.
Where to look: Roadsides; forest edges; overgrown, weedy areas.
- Oprah, Elvis top celebrity neighbor list
(UPI, September 19, 2007)
Oprah Winfrey, Elvis Presley and Donald Trump are the top three celebrities people in the United States would like to have as neighbors, a new poll found. Homes & Land, a real estate media company based in Florida, announced the results Wednesday of its Celebrity Neighbor Survey. The poll asked thousands of U.S. residents to name what famous person they would like to live next door to.
Tiger Woods was the only athlete to make an appearance on the top 20 list. Five singers made the chart -- including Presley, Dolly Parton, Kenny Chesney, Frank Sinatra and Jennifer Lopez. The top 20 list also included high-powered businessmen Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and media moguls Martha Stewart and Hugh Hefner.
The women surveyed chose -- in descending order -- Winfrey, Paris Hilton, Parton, John Travolta and George Clooney as their top five. Men picked Presley, John Wayne, Trump, Woods and Gates.
Certain personalities received all-male or all-female votes.
- Alex Romero, 94; choreographer for Elvis Presley
By Mary Rourke
(Los Angeles Times, September 18, 2007)
He worked with the King of Rock 'n' Roll on four films including 'Jailhouse Rock,' choreographing the routine for the film's title song.
Alex Romero, a dancer and choreographer who directed Elvis Presley's dancing for the movie "Jailhouse Rock" and also worked with Presley on three other films, has died. He was 94. Romero died Sept. 8 of natural causes at the Motion Picture and Television Fund home, according to Mark Knowles, a dance writer and friend. He had been a resident of the home for several years.
A gracefully athletic dancer, Romero got his start in movies in the early 1940s. He was a featured dancer in "On the Town," a 1949 film that starred Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. He also performed in the 1951 film "An American in Paris," which also starred Kelly. He worked as an assistant choreographer before he went out on his own. His earliest solo credits include "The Affairs of Dobie Gillis," starring Bobby Van and Debbie Reynolds in 1953. Romero was named staff choreographer for MGM in the late 1940s and held the position for almost 20 years.
"Alex was the last link to the Golden Age of movie musicals," said Larry Billman, author of the encyclopedia "Film Choreographers and Dance Directors" (1997). "Fortunately, before Alex left he moved movie choreography into the next generation."
Romero was known for his humor and imaginative use of props in dances he choreographed. In "The Fastest Gun Alive," a 1956 western, he choreographed Russ Tamblyn, who danced with a shovel as a prop. Romero also worked with Tamblyn on "Tom Thumb" in 1958.
His other film credits include "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm," a 1962 movie with a number of dance scenes, and "Love at First Bite," a 1979 comedy starring George Hamilton and Susan Saint James.
For Presley, Romero choreographed "Double Trouble" and "Clambake" in 1967 as well as "Speedway" the next year. Their most memorable collaboration remained "Jailhouse Rock" in 1957. "Jailhouse became a signature piece for Elvis, and it helped make rock 'n' roll an acceptable dance form for films," Knowles said. The production number for the movie's title song was Presley's first choreographed routine, according to "Down at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley," by Peter Harry Brown and Pat H. Broeske (1997).
"I guess he thought that I was going to give him some slick dancing steps," Romero said in the book. "I chose steps that were foreign to him, but that were also like him, so he could pick them up."
Born Alexander Bernard Quiroga on Aug. 20, 1913, in San Antonio, he started dancing professionally at 15 in a touring dance act started by three of his brothers. The act broke up in the late 1930s. Romero went to work in Hollywood soon after that.
He married Frances Driscoll in 1936. She died in 1997. Romero is survived by his daughters Melinda Akard of Oviedo, Fla., and Judy George of Woodland Hills; four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Contributions in his name can be made to the Motion Picture and Television Fund, Box 51150, Los Angeles, CA, 90051.
- A lifelong love affair with Elvis
By Mary Hancock Hinds
(PRWEB, September 17, 2007)
The American meteor known as Elvis Presley blasted off 50 years ago through a phenomenon of writhing, screaming teenage girls who are now gray-haired grandmothers with gravitas and arthritis that curtail that behavior. But as these women have slowed down, Elvis has kept on going - and burns more brightly than ever.
Why?
Just two weeks ago, a veritable United Nations of 50,000 people (only a few of whom were grandmothers) stood in a steaming 100-degree Memphis street - while thousands more watched on computer screens and TVs around the world - to honor Elvis on the 30th anniversary of his death. Forget the tragic circumstances of Elvis' self-induced passing; these people had come from France, Japan, Brazil, Australia, South Africa and many more places to honor a man who was still in their hearts.
This grandmother was in that crowd, standing right next to my college roommate - also a grandmother. We were making our 15th annual pilgrimage to what is known worldwide as Elvis
Week.
It is a period of 10 or so days, jam-packed with activities that honor and remember him. Sometimes called "Death Week," it culminates in a simple, short candlelight ceremony in front of Elvis' home, Graceland.
During it, we recite the Lord's Prayer and wave our candles high as his hit "If I Can Dream" is played. Then, somberly, we walk up Graceland's driveway to Elvis' gravesite behind the mansion.
Why?
Granted, Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc., which manages most things Elvis, has gone a long way towards making him more visible and ubiquitous today - inserting him into everything from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition and NASCAR to Reese's candy bars and the Budweiser Clydesdales. And the unending flow of repackaged, re-released Elvis songs doesn't hurt either.
But this media/commercial overload does not fully explain the roaring, surging popularity enjoyed by a man who has been dead for 30 years.
So why has Elvis risen to this status of national mascot, international fascination, eternal "cool guy" who still brings more than 600,000 visitors a year to his house?
My Elvis Affair began on the evening of September 9, 1956. After a day at Alamitos Bay, I sprawled in front of our TV to watch "The Ed Sullivan Show." Elvis was headlining that night. I had never seen Elvis before ... and I had never seen anything like Elvis before. The heat that I felt while I watched him gyrate and croon was definitely not from my sunburn. I was hooked by the man and his music. And have remained so ever since, now holding Elvis as a link to a simpler, happier time in my life.
But what about other Elvis fans who weren't young girls at mid-century? The former Prime Minister of Japan, for instance, who was treated to a special tour of Graceland by our president. Or computer guru Carsten Kaaz, whose youthful exposure to Elvis inspired him to escape over the Berlin Wall. Or the tiny trick-or-treaters who traipse across America in glittering Elvis-style jumpsuits each Halloween.
One guess is that Elvis has become a universal symbol upon which we can tack our dreams. Our rags-to-riches hopes seem somehow more attainable as we look at his life story. Our Elvis t-shirts lend us some of his "cool." His fabled give-aways of Cadillacs and cash touch our Santa Claus fantasies of giving and receiving. And he was good to his momma.
But more important, Elvis makes us smile. He is fun, and this brings us together. Like the weather, everyone can talk about him. Like Jesus and Coca-Cola, everyone knows who he is. And, like religion and politics, everyone has an opinion about him.
There is much to be angry about it today's world. There is much separating us - perhaps permanently. And there are many who profit from our ire and estrangement, so they keep fanning it. But mention Elvis, and people smile. They may be giggling at the silliness of an overweight Elvis Impersonator, but they are smiling. And, for a moment, the walls between us come down.
- Elvis's Tooth Reappears on eBay - A Crown Without A King
(presstelegram.com, September 10, 2007)
That's right; Elvis Presley's tooth is resurfacing on eBay.
Among the oddities and rare collectibles of hair icon, Jesse Briggs, this one takes the cake, or peanut butter and banana sandwich, in this case. That's right; Elvis's tooth is resurfacing on eBay. To mark the 51st anniversary of Elvis's debut appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, Elvis's tooth made its final appearance on EBay Sunday, September 9th.
Self-made millionaire, Jesse Briggs, grew up from humble beginnings. So, when he made it rich and famous, founding the world famous Yellow Strawberry Global Salons, he decided to go big; purchasing such items as locks of hair from John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Abraham Lincoln, Marilyn Monroe, and John F. Kennedy, as well as Elvis's tooth. Now, over 30 years later, Jesse is retiring to his ocean front house in Puerto Rico, known as "Casa del Mar". With this retirement, comes many changes, including selling the majority of his rock 'n roll museum.
The tooth was purchased by Jesse from Startifacts in 1996. Startifacts received the tooth from Scott Velvet. Scott Velvet's father, Jimmy Velvet, was not only a very close friend to Elvis, but was also the President and Founder of the Elvis Presley Museum, Inc. Jimmy Velvet originally acquired the tooth from Elvis's girlfriend, Linda Thompson. All documents included with the tooth are certified and signed by Jimmy Velvet.
Elvis's tooth is the main attraction to the Yellow Strawberry Museum Store, set up on eBay. Other items include: John Lennon Lithographs, celebrity/historical hair locks, among other odd and rare collectibles. Bidding for Elvis's tooth will start at $10,000 and will be up on eBay for seven days, starting on Sunday, September 9th.
To view Elvis's tooth on eBay click on this link cgi.ebay.com/Elvis-Presley-Tooth_W0QQitemZ200150732473QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item200150732473
- CAMPBELL REJECTS BUBBA HO-TEP SEQUEL
(contactmusic.com, September 9, 2007)
Actor BRUCE CAMPBELL has turned down the chance to star as ELVIS PRESLEY once again in the sequel to BUBBA HO-TEP, insisting the character is "dead to him".Campbell has been offered the lead role in the comedy Bubba Nosferatu and the Curse of the She-Vampires, but rejected the opportunity because he and director Don Coscarelli have failed to solve their creative differences.He tells Fangoria magazine, "Don Coscarelli is a very passionate filmmaker. We got to a few points that we couldn't reconcile. I want to keep our friendship, so we parted ways. So I'm not part of that project." ...
- Memphis Makes "Beautiful, Haunted Sense" to Visiting Journalist
By Sean Daly
(Memphis Flyer / Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 2007)
Memphis- It's 3 a.m. in what many call the birthplace of rock 'n' roll, and I'm walking out of a former brothel with two women. I just met them inside. Well, met them six hours ago. It's been a long night. My new pals, from Tampa, have traveled to this river city to commune with the spirit of Jeff Buckley, an indie-rock icon who drowned in the Mississippi River 10 years ago. The women took a picture of his old shotgun-shack house. In the photo, red eyes glow in a window. It's either Buckley's ghost or a golden retriever; they can't decide.
I've come to Memphis for Elvis Presley and Otis Redding, for whom major anniversaries also are being celebrated. The King died 30 years ago and the town is in full-on hunka-hunka mode. Redding was the heart of Stax Records, the Memphis label that turns 50 this year. Redding died 40 years ago. There's always a major music anniversary here. But 2007 has some doozies. ...
- "American Idol" finally clinches an Emmy
By Steve Gorman
(Yahoo! News / Reuters, September 9, 2007)
With a dash of charity and some posthumous help from Elvis Presley, smash hit "American Idol" clinched its first Emmy in six years on Saturday to avoid becoming the biggest loser in the history of U.S. television's highest honors.
The amateur singing contest that ranks as America's most watched TV series won its prize for outstanding technical direction for a $76 million benefit special in which producers created the illusion of Elvis performing a duet with Celine Dion. The "Idol" win came during the four-hour presentation of the 59th annual Creative Arts Emmy Awards, mostly honoring achievements in categories like makeup, costumes, sound editing and art direction. ...
- Pavarotti back in singles chart
(BBC News, September 9, 2007)
Luciano Pavarotti has made a posthumous comeback to the UK singles chart, nearly 15 years after his last hit. Download sales of Nessun Dorma saw the track rise to number 24, following the tenor's death on Thursday. The track made number two in 1990 after being used as the BBC's theme to its coverage of the World Cup in Italy.
Teenage singer Sean Kingston stayed at number one with Beautiful Girls, while Hard-Fi's Once Upon A Time In The West entered the album chart at the top. ... Girls Aloud entered the top 10 at number five with Sexy! No No No, while Elvis Presley re-release (Let Me Be Your) Teddybear came into the chart at number 14, its first appearance since 1957. A week ago Hound Dog re-entered the chart at the same position, but has now dropped out again. ...
- Teenager faces challenge from Elvis: Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girls hung on to top spot
(Daventry Express, September 9, 2007)
Teenager Sean Kingston has kept the top spot in this week's UK singles chart but The King himself Elvis Presley is yet again back in the top 20. The 17-year-old American singer made number one last week and stays there with his song Beautiful Girls. But next time Kingston could have some surprising competition from the highest new entry at number 14 - Elvis Presley with (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear, a hit for the first time in 1957. ...
- DVD Review: Elvis - The Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1
By Dave Lifton
(Blog Critics Magazine, September 8, 2007)
As Elvis Presley's popularity declined in the mid-1960s, so did the quality of his films. What began as a promising career eventually devolved into a seemingly endless series of embarrassing movies. The main problem was that, rather than find good projects suited to his client's talents, Col. Tom Parker routinely slashed the budgets to maximize his own profits. Also, since all the songs had to go through Elvis' publishing company, they were no longer written by solid hitmakers, but by hacks willing to give up their rights for the exposure.
To coincide with the 30th anniversary of Elvis' death, Warner Brothers has taken six Elvis movies, of varying degrees of quality, from this period and put them in a DVD box set called The Hollywood Collection, Vol. 1. Each DVD is presented, for the first time, in widescreen format with the theatrical trailer, and comes with five photo cards.
Nearly all Elvis movies feature cheesy dialogue, a handful of songs, and lots of beautiful girls, so, using those criteria, here is a chronological guide to the six movies in the set:
Kissin' Cousins (1964)
Plot: The Army wants to build a missile base on top of a Tennessee mountain, but the family that owns the land doesn't want to sell. It's up to Lt. Josh Morgan (Elvis) to convince his distant cousin, Jodie Tatum (also Elvis, in a blond wig) to make the deal.
Quality of songs: Weak, including some Hollywood takes on Appalachian bluegrass. The songs are as interesting as their titles - "Barefoot Ballad," "Smokey Mountain Boy," and "Catchin' On Fast" - suggest.
Quality of women: Pretty good. Yvonne "Batgirl" Craig, making her second appearance in an Elvis film, is cute as Josh's love interest, Azalea Tatum. Cynthia Pepper is a WAC who eventually falls for Jodie. There's also a nearby gang of hillbilly hotties, the Kittyhawks, led by, of all people, Maureen Reagan.
Sample dialogue: "The catfish eyes bring out the flavor in the possum tails."
Memphis Mafia cameo: Joe Esposito is Mike.
Overall: An example of the lazy, lighthearted comedic fare foisted on us by the Colonel, with lots of stereotypes about mountain folk. Elvis does his best to overcome the material, but it's not one of the better pre-Viva Las Vegas movies.
Girl Happy (1965)
Plot: Singer Rusty Wells (Elvis) and his band are hired by a Chicago gangster to look after his daughter (Shelley Fabares) in Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break, but spend most of their time chasing co-eds.
Quality of songs: The title track and "Do The Clam" are B-list Elvis classics. The others are mostly fun, silly numbers, with "Puppet On A String" as the ballad.
Quality of women: Very high. Shelley Fabares, in her first of three Elvis movies, and former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley lead a bikini-clad cast.
Sample dialogue: "I've given up the mental types. This is the type for me. Not much upstairs, but what a staircase!"
Memphis Mafia cameos: Red West is an extra in the Kit Kat Club.
Overall: Some good tunes, light comedy, and a beautiful cast. What more could you ask for from a beach movie?
Tickle Me (1965)
Plot: Lonnie Beale (Elvis) is a singing rodeo star working at a spa that caters to models and actresses. They chase him, but he has his eyes on the aerobics instructor. That's all you need to know.
Quality of songs: Despite songs by names like Otis Blackwell, Pomus-Shuman, and Leiber-Stoller, nothing is particularly memorable.
Quality of women: No big name actresses, but there is still plenty of eye candy among the patrons of the spa.
Sample dialogue: "You know how it is when a pack of women get togetherŠ They begin clawing and scratching like wildcats. Try to keep everybody happy, won't you?"
Memphis Mafia cameos: Red West is an extra in a bar.
Overall: It's not a mess like, say, Harum Scarum (the next film he would make), but you could still see that, by this point, they had lost the plot. And I still can't figure out how the title relates to the story.
Stay Away, Joe (1968)
Plot: Native American Joe Lightcloud (Elvis) returns to the Arizona reservation to help it prosper through a cattle-raising deal with a Congressman. There's lots of drinking and fighting. I couldn't figure out much more than that.
Quality of songs: There aren't too many songs, but one is about a bull. The soundtrack wasn't even released, so if even the Colonel didn't want to put this out, that should tell you something. Did I mention there's a song about a bull?
Quality of women: Like the rest of the movie, Quentin Dean as Mamie Callahan is hardly up to Elvis' usual standards. Some cute extras, though.
Sample dialogue: "Why don't you find out while I rescue a certain white man from being scalped by wild Indians. Female Indians."
Memphis Mafia cameos: Sonny West as Jackson He-Crow, Joe Esposito appears as a workman.
Overall: After some lovely opening shots of Sedona, Arizona, it's an incomprehensible pile of stink, and its portrayal of Native Americans is practically indefensible by today's more enlightened standards.
Live A Little, Love A Little (1968)
Plot: Photographer Greg Nolan (Elvis) encounters a flighty woman (Michele Carey) who causes him to lose his job and his apartment, and he is forced move in with her. He works two jobs simultaneously, at a nudie magazine and an ad agency, to get her out of his life.
Quality of songs: "A Little Less Conversation", which became a worldwide #1 hit in a 2002 remix version, is sung during the party. "Edge Of Reality" offers some late-'60s psychedelic pop, a new direction for Elvis, but without the drugs.
Quality of women: Carey is the requisite beauty, but the others are inconsistent.
Sample dialogue: "You don't taste bad for a Sagittarius."
Memphis Mafia cameos: Joe Esposito, Red West and Elvis' father, Vernon Presley, appear as extras.
Overall: An attempt at a manic sex farce, but without the sex. As a result, it doesn't quite work, but it also isn't horrendous.
Charro! (1969)
Plot: An historic Mexican cannon is stolen by an outlaw gang and they have falsely accused Jess Wade (Elvis, with a beard!) as the thief. Elvis tries to clear his name and win back the love of the woman he left behind.
Quality of songs: Apart from the title song that plays over the opening credits, Elvis doesn't sing. Instead, there is a decent sub-Morricone score by Hugo Montenegro.
Quality of women: Ina Balin is rather unappealing as Elvis' love interest, and gets upstaged by one of the dancing girls.
Sample dialogue: "You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I was ever not allowed to look at."
Memphis Mafia cameos: Charlie Hodge is uncredited as a Mexican peon.
Overall: Filmed shortly after the '68 Comeback Special, it's a surprisingly average Western. It's slow in spots, and occasionally overacted, but it conforms to the expectations of the genre, and Elvis is engaged throughout.
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