Elvis's birthday, 2008
- Elvis could have eaten anything, but his favorites were Southern-style 'everyman' foods
(mywesttexas.com / Midland Reporter-Telegram, January 15, 2008)
Each January, Elvis Presley fans from all over the world come together outside of Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tenn, to commemorate his birthday. At exactly 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 8, fans begin singing familiar gospel songs and of course "Happy Birthday" to remember the "king of rock and roll," according to the official Web site dedicated to Elvis.
Elvis came from humble beginnings but he never forgot his roots. The successful musician and actor could have eaten anything he wanted, but when it came to foods his favorites were those that "everyman" could enjoy.
He loved good down-home cooking similar to what his mother served him as a child. His culinary tastes never strayed far from Southern-style cooking. Grits, black-eyed peas, ham and bacon, fried chicken, cornbread, mashed potatoes and homemade country gravy were just a few of his favorites.
Elvis did not like exotic or foreign foods. He also did not try dishes that contained unusual ingredients or had odd textures or flavors, according to the Web site. Therefore, most of the foods he consumed were basic hearty foods, the type Southern women cooked daily for their families.
At Graceland or at his home in Beverly Hills, Elvis specified what should be kept on hand in the kitchen. Must-haves included fresh lean ground round, hamburger buns, rolls, pickles, potatoes, onions, fudge cookies, assorted fresh fruit, canned sauerkraut, mustard and peanut butter. His refrigerator also contained at least three bottles of milk or half and half, thin-sliced lean bacon, vanilla and chocolate ice creams and freshly squeezed orange juice. Pepsi, Nesbitt's Orange and Shasta Black Cherry were his favorite soft drinks.
When the King was in residence at Graceland, also on hand were ingredients for his favorite snacks -- brownies and banana pudding. Both were made daily by the kitchen staff.
Elvis made the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich famous. He referred to it as a "peanut butter and 'nanner' sandwich." His love of this sandwich helped change this simple delicacy into his signature dish. He would ask that they be prepared for him at all hours of the day and night.
If you are a fan of Elvis and missed the birthday celebration, you have another opportunity later this year to join other devotees. Fans from all over the world will gather Aug. 9-17 in Memphis for Elvis Week. This is a commemoration of the music and memories associated with the legacy of Elvis Presley. Fans enjoy a week of music, dance, sports, social and charitable events. For more information, visit www.Elvis.com.
(Recipes follow)
- He writes about Elvis Presley and his own life in Hollywood
Michael Hoey's life in Hollywood has included writing, directing and looking at baby photos with Elvis Presley. Now he's written a book about it all.
By ANDREW GOOD
(Orange County Register, January 14, 2008)
Watching a man leap through a plate-glass window sealed Michael Hoey's fate. It wasn't real glass, of course just a movie prop made from spun sugar. Hoey, a San Clemente resident, was just 10 at the time, visiting the set of a Sherlock Holmes film. The director gave him a chunk of "glass" to keep, and the magic of the movies had him hooked.
Hoey went on to become a screenwriter, director and producer, working on six of Elvis Presley's films, the television series "Fame" and the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. He's written a book about his Hollywood upbringing and career called "Elvis, Sherlock and Me: How I Survived Growing Up in Hollywood." It's now available online. ...
- White jumpsuits throb as Elvis army rocks Parkes
(Canberra Times, January 14, 2008, p. 5)
Viva Parkes might not have the same ring as Viva La Vegas, but the main street of the central NSW town certainly got into the swing of the King with a rocker street parade.
Clarinda Street was closed to traffic on Saturday so that hundreds of floats carrying Elvises and Priscillas could shake their way through the small country town, as part of the annual Elvis Festival in Parkes. Festival spokeswoman Kelly Hendry said, "We would have had over a hundred floats in that street parade - everything from motorbikes and trikes to semi-trailers with Elvis on the back. "There were Priscillas walking on stilts, Elvis rollerblading and Hound Dogs".
More than 8000 people have descended on Parkes for the five-day festival, which includes performances from Elvis impersonators, look-alike and sound-alike competitions, and even a cheeseburger-eating contest. ... Yesterday, the final day of the festival, was all shook up with an Elvis gospel mass. The mass has become so popular it has outgrown the local Anglican church, and is now held in the Big W car park. "It gets well over 1600 people to it," she said. "... It has a program of a lot of singing, and talking about Elvis's life and his spiritual side." ...
Street parade
Mark Andrew sings at the Elvis Gospel Celebration
- Elvis impersonators hit outback
By Phil Mercer
(BBC News, January 12, 2008)
An army of white-suited and big-haired Elvis impersonators has gathered in a small town in Australia for a festival dedicated to the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Parkes in New South Wales has been hosting the festival, the largest event of its kind in the country, since 1993. The town's population is expected to almost double over the weekend. This year's carnival features a host of look-alike and sound-alike competitions, an Elvis art show and a special Gospel church service.
The events are being themed after Elvis's popular 1961 film, Blue Hawaii, and his hit 1956 song, Blue Suede Shoes.
Uplifting occasion
Elvis Presley would have been 73 this week. The Parkes Elvis Festival was first held in a small restaurant 15 years ago to celebrate his birthday. The event now attracts more than 7,000 fans and features dozens of concerts and competitions.
"For whatever reason it works, honestly can't explain it but it really does work" - Reverend John Ruhle
There are Elvis lawn bowls and golf challenges, as well as a cheeseburger eating contest, which pays homage to one of the American singer's favourite snacks. There is also an Elvis-themed Gospel church service. It has become so popular over the years that it now takes place in a supermarket car park.
One of the organisers, the Reverend John Ruhle, says it is an uplifting occasion. "You get comments, people saying 'my husband hasn't been to church in 35 years but he wants to come to this' and people come back year after year so they can go and be a part of the Gospel service," he adds. "So it is, yeah, it's quite humbling and it's amazing. For whatever reason it works, honestly can't explain it but it really does work."
Last year's festival in Parkes set a new world record for the number of Elvis impersonators in one place.
Big hair and even bigger flared trousers are standard issue for enthusiastic followers of the King of Rock 'n' Roll, who died in 1977 at the age of 42. A special "Elvis Express" has brought hundreds of fans to Parkes by rail. For many, the highlight of the festival is a giant street parade, where this dusty corner of the Australian outback will once again be illuminated by an array of rhinestones and sequins.
- The King Lives! Los Fresnos festival honors Elvis Presley
By LAURA TILLMAN/The Brownsville Herald
(Valley Morning Star, January 13, 2008)
Before Ralph Elizondo goes onstage to perform his impression of Elvis, he says a little prayer. "I pray that I will serve as a vessel of God to touch children with the talent that the Lord has placed in my heart," Elizondo said after he had stepped off the stage at the Los Fresnos Elvis Music Festival on Saturday. "I truly believe that the Holy Ghost was working through Elvis."
The festival, which continues today, honors Elvis Presley's birthday on Jan. 8, 1935. The event was started by Simon Vega 15 years ago. Vega served with Elvis in the Army in the 1950s. A fter taking place in Vega's home for 15 years, this year's celebration is at the Rodeo Fair Grounds in Los Fresnos. ...
- Terminally Ill Teen Finds Comfort in Elvis Music
(ktar.com, January 12, 2008)
Anna Contreras of Phoenix is living every parent's worst nightmare: Her 19-year-old daughter, Angelica, has a terminal disease that doctors say could end her life in less than a year. Juvenile Huntington's disease is a hereditary and degenerative brain disorder that will rob Angelica's abilities to walk, talk and reason. Her father and half-sister also have the disease. All were diagnosed in 2005.
Angelica communicates through a writing pad and uses a walker and wheelchair to get around. But one of the things that lights up Angelica's eyes is the music of Elvis Presley. Friends and parishioners at St. Jerome's, the family's church, and others donated money to send Angelica to Graceland in Memphis, Tenn., last summer, which was a lifelong dream of hers.
When local Elvis impersonator, Paul Spoonmore of Memories of Memphis, was contacted to perform a surprise concert for Angelica Dec. 2, the singer vowed to help her and her foundation. The performance so affected him that he had to cut the concert short because of the lump in his throat and tears in his eyes. ``It ripped my heart out,'' Spoonmore said of the concert. ``I sang 'Love Me Tender,' knelt down and grabbed her hand. And her little sister kept inching over and grabbed my hand, too. That's when I told (my sound man) to turn it off.''
The concert also had its highlights. ``I took a big teddy bear, because (``Teddy Bear'') is her favorite song, and she just smiled from ear to ear,'' Spoonmore said. Spoonmore has organized a daylong benefit for Angelica on Saturday. ...
- Elvis was right at home at Miss Bonnie's
By Rafael Alvarez
(Examiner , January 12, 2008)
Elvis Presley was born 73 years ago this past Tuesday in a whitewashed wooden shack in Tupelo, Miss. A decade from now, Elvis will have been dead almost as long as he was alive. And if you drive down the 2400 block of Fleet Street to the alley called Port, you might think the spirit of the King never sailed from Baltimore at all.
That's the corner where Miss Bonnie's Elvis Bar used to be, right behind the Ukrainian Catholic Church and its fabulous onion domes. Bonniešs dive, consecrated to the hillbilly truck driver who changed the world, was no less a shrine. Good-timers came from across the state - not just traditional Presley strongholds like Glen Burnie and Essex, but Towson and Columbia, Annapolis and Fallston - to have some fun.
"I'd drive down Fleet Street in my truck delivering [industrial] rags and uniforms and see that big mural of his face on the side of the building," remembered Richard Snyder, 53, a photographer from Pasadena who patronized Bonnie's. "It always reminded me of the time I went to seem him at the Capital Centre [May 22, 1977] by myself,˛ said Snyder, who at the time partied with a crowd whose tastes ran toward Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd. "I couldn't get anybody to go with me, so I still have an unripped ticket to an Elvis Presley concert. I framed it."
Today the building is a renovated waterfront real estate miracle. Išm sure whoever lives there is pleased with the place, and surely someone has told them that they sleep on sacred ground. Lavonda "Bonnie" Hunt kept house there, living above the bar the way so many immigrant grocers in Baltimore - from 19th-century Germans to Eastern European Jews to Koreans - have done for years and years. Downstairs she collected images of "The King" in a personal and intimate fashion that the Hard Rock Cafe chain cannot. ...
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