late April 2008
- Mariah makes another road-trip flick
By Jennifer Ablan
(Yahoo! News / Reuters, April 29, 2008)
Seven years after making what is widely regarded as one of the worst movies ever, Mariah Carey is back with another road-trip flick. But her new movie, "Tennessee," has little in common with 2001's "Glitter. Premiering at New York's Tribeca Film Festival last Saturday, it follows two brothers seeking their estranged father. On their travels, they meet Krystal, a waitress played by Carey.
... In 2001, Carey released the semi-autobiographical film "Glitter," which was a commercial and critical flop. She also appeared on MTV's Total Request Live, nearly disrobing in front of a baffled Carson Daly, amid rumors of a nervous breakdown. Carey, 38, has spent the years since atoning.
... In 2005, the Long Island, New York native made a big comeback with her multiplatinum album "The Emancipation of Mimi" and won rave reviews for her performance in "WiseGirls," a comedy-drama that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
... Carey's new album, "E=MC2," shot to No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart, debuting with 463,000 sales in the week ended April 20, according to Nielsen SoundScan data. That was the best debut sales week of her career and the strongest of any artist this year. Figures for the week ended April 27 are out on Wednesday.
Carey's latest single, "Touch My Body," is her 18th U.S. No. 1 -- taking her past Elvis Presley -- and just behind the Beatles, who managed 20 No. 1 songs.
- "Elvis" town councillor wants nude pool
(tiscali.co.uk / Reuters, April 28, 2008)
Council meetings in Reus could take aturn for the bizarre after the northern Spanish town voted in a councillor who promised to turn up dressed as Elvis Presley and wants to turn the square into a nudist pool.
Ariel Santamaria, a former postman, stood for a small independent party dressed in full Elvis regalia complete with sideburns and won enough votes last weekend to take a council seat. It remains to be seen how other parties will take his proposals for Reus, a town of 100,000 people near Barcelona. His platform included plans to paint the town hall pink, plant marijuana in the parks and give the town police global positioning systems to find people who might need a light while rolling a joint.
- No.1 Elvis fan Eunice dies
(expressandstar.com, April 28, 2008)
Cannock's most well-known Elvis Presley fan has died after suffering a massive heart attack in hospital.
Charity campaigner Eunice Fitch was known across the region for her love of the King and her house in Danby Drive, Prospect Village, had become a shrine to the star over the years. It was dubbed Graceland after his Memphis mansion and her extensive collection of memorabilia included statues, neon lights above her door, a gold bust of him on a plinth in the garden and a stained glass window of him.
Mrs Fitch, aged 65, a mother-of-four, had suffered from poor health over recent years ... She was known across the region for having an annual display of extravagant Christmas lights in aid of Cancer Research and crowds braved the cold each year to see them switched on.
Last year's event was televised on BBC1's The One Show and the lights included Elvis with Vegas lights, a star of Elvis and a 4ft angel looking down on him.
She also organised several fundraising concerts at Cannock's Prince of Wales Centre. Richard Kay, manager at the Prince of Wales Centre in Cannock, said: "We knew Eunice for a good number of years. She was a real stalwart of the community and will be very sadly missed."
- Rockstar boss: We're the new Elvis Presley
By Tim Ingham
(mcvuk.com, April 28, 2008)
In a revealing interview with The Times, Rockstar North's president Leslie Benzies has compared the GTA series to Elvis Presley - saying that both have been targeted by a section of society which is "unnerved by progress". ...
- Upping the ante: Event benefits student fund
By Celsio Gonzalez
(dailytexanonline.com, April 28, 2008)
Friends and alumni of the School of Social Work gathered Friday night for Viva Los Longhorns!, a casino-themed fundraiser for social work students.Every evening in Las Vegas, a spectacular musical fountain greets visitors to the Bellagio hotel and casino. Friday evening at the University's School of Social Work casino night, visitors were greeted by a 5-foot cardboard cutout of Elvis Presley.
While lacking the scope and spectacle of the real thing, the School of Social Work's Las Vegas-themed fundraiser entertained about 200 guests with casino games, dinner and a musical performance by The Ransom Notes. The fundraiser benefited the Student Support Fund, an emergency and travel fund for the school's students.
"If the students have a house fire or need new car tires to get to school, they can tap into this fund," said committee chair Jennifer Luna-Idunate. "It's also used for professional development purposes. If we have students that have to go to a professional conference to deliver a paper, they can use the money for travel." Admission for the event was $10 for students and $20 for adults and included a buffet dinner plus $20,000 of "funny money" to spend on casino games. Silent and live auctions featured more than 20 items - gift baskets, jewelry, art, autographed items and others - donated by businesses and artists for the support fund.
Luna-Idunate said it took three months to collect item donations for the auction, a day to decorate the school for the event and an hour to tear it all down. ...
- Bill E. Burk, 75, chronicled life of Elvis Presley
(BostonHerald.com, April 28, 2008)
Bill E. Burk, author and former Memphis newsman who covered the last 20 years of Elvis Presley’s life, has died. He was 75. He died Thursday in Memphis after a heart attack, said his wife, Connie.
Mr. Burk was a columnist for the former Memphis Press-Scimitar until it closed in 1983 and wrote roughly 400 stories and columns about Presley.
He also published 13 books about the singer and the quarterly "Elvis World" magazine. His wife said the latest issue came out in February and will likely be the last.
Mr. Burk lived so close to Graceland, Elvis and the Memphis mansion, that he would sometimes be invited over, and Presley would visit Mr. Burk's home.
His writing even earned him a tourism award from the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau in 1980, and he was twice named United Press International Columnist of the Year in Tennessee.
- Obituaries in the news: Bill E. Burk
(Boston Globe / Associated Press, April 28, 2008)
Bill E. Burk, author and former Memphis newsman who covered the last 20 years of Elvis Presley's life, has died. He was 75. He died Thursday in Memphis after a heart attack, said his wife, Connie.
Burk was a columnist for the former Memphis Press-Scimitar until it closed in 1983 and wrote roughly 400 stories and columns about Presley. He also published 13 books about the singer and the quarterly "Elvis World" magazine. His wife said the latest issue came out in February and will likely be the last.
Burk lived so close to Graceland, Elvis' Memphis mansion, that he would sometimes be invited over, and Presley would visit Burk's home. His writing even earned him a tourism award from the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau in 1980, and he was twice named United Press International Columnist of the Year in Tennessee.
- Elvis Writer Dies In Memphis: Bill Burk Wrote Roughly 400 Stories About Elvis
(wsmv.com / Associated Press, April 27, 2008)
Bill E. Burk, author and former Memphis newsman who covered the last 20 years of Elvis Presley's life, died Thursday. He was 75. His wife, Connie, told the Commercial Appeal that Burk died following a heart attack in Memphis.
Burk was a columnist for the former Memphis Press-Scimitar until it closed in 1983 and wrote roughly 400 stories and columns about Elvis. He also published 13 books about the singer and the quarterly "Elvis World" magazine. Burk lived so close to Graceland, Elvis' Memphis mansion, that he would sometimes be invited over and Elvis would visit Burk's home.
- Local fans still have vivid memories of brushes with Elvis
By Julie Muhlstein
(heraldnet.com, April 25, 2008)
In the wonderful world of Elvis Presley fandom, there's always more.
Unflagging interest in all thing Elvis means that even 30 years after Presley's death, there are more stories to hear and more images to see. In that sense, the King is definitely not dead.
Two weeks ago, after reading an Associated Press story about newly discovered 1972 Presley concert photos, I shared a picture I have. It show Presley in the 1950s, when he apparently visited the Dallas radio station KLIF. My late father-in-law David Muhlstein, a radio news director there, is standing right next to Elvis.
Seeing that was all it took to coax a few Herald readers into sharing their personal Presley pictures. I also heard from far-flung Elvis fanatics, who sent theories about my photo. A Danish gentleman, Brian Petersen, is such an Elvis affcionado he believes he can precisely pinpoint the date of my picture - Aug. 10, 1956. ...
- Retiring CBI boss got car from Elvis
By Marilyn Robinson
(Rocky Mountain News, April 23, 2008)
Bob Cantwell, director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, has announced his retirement, ending a 44-year law enforcement career that brought him into close contact with two of the most famous figures of the 20th century. Cantwell, who has been CBI director since July 1, 1999, was working for the Denver Police Department in 1976 when he befriended Elvis Presley on a moonlighting job and was given a Cadillac by the singer. He was one of three officers the singer gave a luxury car. ...
- Elvis spokesman denies Presley ever made secret visit to England
(Yahoo! Canada News / Associated Press, April 23, 2008)
Elvis Presley was only in England once, says a spokesman for the King's estate, who has denied claims by a theatre producer that the singer made an earlier secret visit to London in 1958 to see the sights. "Sgt. Elvis Presley made his only appearance in the U.K. when he stepped off a U.S. Air Force plane at the Prestwick Airport in March of 1960," Kevin Kern of Elvis Presley Enterprises in Memphis, Tenn., said in a statement. "The aircraft made a brief stop to refuel."
For decades Elvis Presley's English fans have accepted that the King of Rock and Roll's only known visit to Britain was that quick stop at Glasgow's Prestwick Airport in Scotland. An Elvis lounge and a plaque commemorates his 1960 stopover there.
But theatre producer Bill Kenwright has challenged that. He says Presley made another trip with the help of popular British rocker Tommy Steele, and he promised never to reveal that they had gone to famous landmarks together.
Kenwright told a BBC radio show that Steele had told him that Presley flew in for a day after calling out of the blue to say he liked the British rocker's music. Steele, now 71, has basically confirmed the claim in a written note to London's Daily Mail that he wished the secret had never come out. "I can only hope he can forgive me," he said of Presley, who died in 1977 at the age of 42. "It was an event shared by two young men sharing the same love of their music and the same thrill of achieving something unimaginable."
The alleged visit was apparently kept secret at the time so that Presley wouldn't be mobbed by fans, but it was not clear why Steele would want to keep it secret now. The call to Steele came while Presley was stationed at a U.S. Army base in Germany, Kenwright said.
Presley had been known to visit Paris while stationed in Germany, attracting hundreds of fans, and went to some well known Parisian nightspots. But there have been no prior reports of him touring England, where he never performed.
The news was not welcomed at Scotland's Glasgow Prestwick Airport, where officials are proud of their Elvis connection. The bartender at the Elvis-themed lounge hung up the phone Tuesday when asked about the King's visit to London, and airport Chief Executive Mark Rodwell told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he wants photographic proof that Presley was actually in London.
"As far as we are concerned, until it is proved otherwise Prestwick Airport remains the only place in the United Kingdom that Elvis Presley ever set foot," he said.
- Producer says Elvis Presley made secret visit to England
By GREGORY KATZ
(www.wjla.com, April 23, 2008)
The King of Rock in England? Maybe so. For decades Elvis Presley's English fans have accepted that the King of Rock and Roll's only known visit to Britain was a quick stop at Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Scotland. An Elvis lounge and a plaque commemorates his 1960 stopover there.
Now a prominent theater producer says Presley made a secret visit to London in 1958 to see the sights with popular British rocker Tommy Steele, and he promised never to reveal that they had gone to famous landmarks together.
Bill Kenwright told a BBC radio show that Steele had told him that Presley flew in for a day after calling out of the blue to say he liked the British rocker's music.
Steele, now 71, confirmed the visit in a written note to London's Daily Mail and said he wished the secret had never come out.
"I can only hope he can forgive me," he said of Presley, who died in 1977 at the age of 42. "It was an event shared by two young men sharing the same love of their music and the same thrill of achieving something unimaginable."
v
The visit was apparently kept secret at the time so that Presley wouldn't be mobbed by fans, but it was not clear why Steele had wanted it kept it secret now.
v
A message left at Graceland in Memphis, Tenn. early Wednesday seeking comment was not immediately returned.
The call to Steele came while Presley was stationed at a U.S. Army base in Germany, Kenwright said.
Presley had been known to visit Paris while stationed in Germany, attracting hundreds of fans, and went to some well known Parisian nightspots. But there have been no prior reports of him touring England, where he never performed.
The news was not welcomed at Scotland's Glasgow Prestwick Airport, where officials are proud of their Elvis connection.
v
The bartender at the Elvis-themed lounge hung up the phone Tuesday when asked about the King's visit to London, and airport Chief Executive Mark Rodwell told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he wants photographic proof that Presley was actually in London.
"As far as we are concerned, until it is proved otherwise Prestwick Airport remains the only place in the United Kingdom that Elvis Presley ever set foot," he said.
- Steele admits Elvis visit
(Yahoo! News UK, April 23, 2008)
Tommy Steele has confirmed reports that he took Elvis Presley on a tour of London in the 1950s. Earlier this week, it was claimed that The King had made a previously unheard of visit to the UK to see his fellow rocker. Steele has now admitted he showed the pop icon around town in '58, taking in some of the capital's main tourist attractions. Revealing he had been sworn to secrecy, he has now commented: "I can only hope he (Presley) can forgive me. "It was an event shared by two young men sharing the same love of their music and the same thrill of achieving something unimaginable." The news was broken by theatre impresario Bill Kenwright, who said Elvis had enjoyed seeing the Houses Of Parliament on his tour.
- Did Elvis Presley visit Tommy Steele in London?
By Gary Cleland
(telegraph.co.uk, April 22, 2008)
Elvis Presley made a surreptitious visit to London, where he was shown the sights by England's own rock and roll star Tommy Steele, it was claimed last night.
Steele, now 71, has kept the tale of the visit which he received from Elvis a secret for 50 years and it was previously thought that Presley only ever visited Prestwick airport in Scotland.
However, in a pre-recorded interview for Radio 2, Bill Kenwright, the theatre impresario and Steele's friend, let slip that Elvis, then 23, met up with 21-year-old Steele.
Kenwright said: "I remember him telling me about when Elvis came to England very quietly. "Evidently Tommy got home one night and the phone rings. A voice says, 'They tell me you're good'. "Tommy says, 'Who's this?' 'Elvis,' says the voice. 'Get outta here,' says Tommy. 'Are you as good as me?' says Elvis, and they sort of started this mock rivalry. "It all came from that. It's quite something, isn't it - the thought of them wandering round London together?"
Mr Kenwright admitted that he was not sure whether he should have told the story. Steele last night maintained his discretion, saying: "What happened many years ago is something sweet and memorable. "It was an event shared by two young men sharing the same love of their music and the same thrill of achieving something unimaginable. "I swore never to divulge publicly what took place and I regret that it has found some way of getting into the light. "I only hope he can forgive me."
- INSIDE THE NBA: Russian Revolution
By Ian Thomsen
(sportsillustrated.cnn.com, April 22, 2008)
The world's most elegant cheer leaders take the court like a troupe of ballerinas, dressed simply in lilac tops and low-rise black pants for their role as arm candy to the star of this brief show. the iconic main attraction is decked out in the tell-tale white body suit and has the familiar upswept hair. During his brief time on earth, the original Elvis Prelsey typified the Western entertainment that was banned ny the Soviet Union as "tumours on the social organism". But in this incarnation he is belting out bastarised Russian and English lyrics to the tune of Blue Suede Shoes as the twirling ladies encircle him. ...
- Dottie Rambo to perform at People's Church
(jacksonvilleprogress.com, April 18, 2008)
Dottie Rambo, queen of gospel music, will present a concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at People's Church, Highway 79 East near Jacksonville. The Rev. Andy Fannette says the public is welcome to attend and there is no admission. Dottie began writing songs at the age of eight, while sitting on a creek bank near her Morganfield, Kentucky home. Her talent soon received widespread recognition, resulting in many invitations to sing in churches and at various public functions. The demand became so heavy that she left home at the age of twelve to embark upon a full-time career of singing and composing music.
Other artists began to sing her songs at their performances, and many included them on their recordings. ... Besides Whitney Houston, many others have recorded Dottie's songs, including Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell, Dottie West, Crystal Gayle, Larry Gatlin, Johnny Cash, Sandy Patti, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom T. Hall, Vince Gill, Larnelle Harris, Bill Monroe, George Beverly Sheas, Vestal Goodman, Bill Gaither, Connie Smith, dc talk, Aarron Jeffrey, Andrae Crouch, Commisioned, Vickie Winans, Ray Boltz, Steve Greene and scores of others.
- EU urges Pakistan to carry out electoral reforms
Author : DPA
(earthtimes.org, April 18, 2008)
Karachi - The European Union on Friday impressed upon Pakistan the need to undertake major reforms on a priority basis to bring its electoral process in line with international standards. Quoting an old Elvis Presley song "Now or Never," the head of the EU Election Observation Mission and European Parliament member, Michael Gahler, told reporters in Karachi that "if corrective measures were not taken in the problematic areas identified after the February 18 elections, there was a serious risk of electoral problems in future." ...
- Letter asks attorney general to end celebrity coroner case
By JOE MANDAK
(Yahoo! News / Associated Press, April 17, 2008)
Thirty-three prominent Pennsylvanians sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking him to dismiss a fraud and theft indictment against celebrity pathologist Cyril Wecht.
Hours after the letter was made public Wednesday, a federal judge denied he was biased against Wecht and refused to step aside or delay a retrial. U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab scheduled a retrial for May 27. The letter argues that the case against the 77-year-old coroner is weak as indicated by the declaration of a mistrial on April 8 after jurors failed to reach a verdict following a seven-week trial.
Wecht has earned millions investigating deaths, including those of JonBenet Ramsey, Elvis Presley and Vince Foster. The letter to Mukasey, given to The Associated Press by Wecht's attorneys, was signed by political leaders, attorneys, a retired FBI agent and a local columnist. The signees include Wecht's original defense attorney in the case, J. Alan Johnson, a former U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh. "You brought your case to the people. The people have spoken. You have discharged your duty," the letter says. "Do not now summarily dismiss the findings of this jury, but rather dismiss the indictment." ...
|
