mid May 2008
- After death, Hartman's fame grows
By Susan Gamble
(brantfordexpositor.ca, May 23, 2008)
Sometimes when a well-known person dies in the prime of life, especially in a tragic way, their fame just keeps growing. It happened to John F. Kennedy, to Elvis Presley and, yes, even to Brantford's Phil Hartman.
Phil was killed by his wife, Brynn, 10 years ago on May 28, 1998, at the couple's California home in what some say was the prime of his career. He had completed eight seasons on Saturday Night Live, was a key player on the TV series NewsRadio, was hugely popular as the voice of multiple characters on The Simpsons and was finding his niche in film with bigger and bigger roles in first-run movies. ...
- Lost Elvis photos going on display at Graceland
(nbc15online.com / AP / Commercial Appeal, May 23, 2008)
Recently rediscovered photos of Elvis Presley performing in New York City in 1972 are going on display at Graceland. Managers of the Graceland tourist complex at Presley's former Memphis residence say they are putting the photos on display beginning Friday at their Sincerely Elvis Museum.
George Kalinsky, a photographer for Madison Square Garden for 40 years, said he discovered the pictures while working on a billboard project called "Great Moments in New York." The pictures, taken by Kalinsky, show Presley performing in a white jumpsuit and cape. Graceland managers say 20 of the photos will be displayed for the first time in public as part of an exhibit called "Elvis Jumpsuits: All Access."
- Elvis Presley's hat goes under the hammer
By ANI
(newkerala.com, May 23, 2008)
Elvis Presley's fans may bid for a hat he once owned when it goes under the hammer later this month.
The second Icons Of Music auction, to be held on May 31 in New York, will also give Madonna's fans a chance to bid for her high-school year-book. Sir Elton John's toaster, Jimi Hendrix's personal guitar straps, and a wooden spoon signed by late Beatle John Lennon are among other items that are to be auctioned. The proceeds from the auction will go to the Music Rising charity, co-founded by U2 rocker The Edge. The funds thus raised would be used on redevelopment work in America's hurricane devastated Central Gulf region.
- Budget shrinks certificates for Ky. colonels
By Roger Alford
(kentucky.com / Associated Press, May 18, 2008)
Col. Elvis Presley, Col. Muhammad Ali and Col. Pope John Paul II all received ornate certificates to accompany the honorary rank that Kentucky bestows on thousands of people each year, including some of the world's most rich and famous. Now a budget crunch threatens to curtail the glories of those commissions that conjure up the image of a genteel Southerner. The certificates won't be eliminated, but the state plans to scrap the hand-pasted gold seals and blue ribbons that adorn each one and to reduce the size from 10 by 15 inches to 81/2 by 14 inches. ...
- Richard regrets 'fat' Elvis snub
By WENN
(Yahoo! News UK, May 18, 2008)
Sir Cliff Richard once turned down the opportunity to meet legendary singer Elvis Presley - because he was too fat.
Richard, a huge fan of the Hound Dog hitmaker, insists his biggest regret is declining to have his picture taken with the overweight star, assuming he would one day have the chance to be photographed with a slimmed-down Presley.
He says, "The big regret is when I had the chance to meet him in America, I chose not to because he was going through a really big, fat...he was grotesquely overweight. "They kept saying they wanted a photograph of me and Elvis and I thought, 'Hang on, I don't want to have that Elvis with me on my wall - I'd rather have the magnificent Elvis that everybody knows and loves'. I said, 'If we wait long enough, he does movies and he goes on these fantastic diets, then we can have a picture of me with my idol looking like my idol'. Now I really regret it. I'd rather have met him overweight than never."
- Jonathan Rhys Meyers makes history
By MARSHALL FINE
(New York Daily News, May 17, 2008)
Jonathan Rhys Meyers has gone from playing The King (Elvis Presley, on the 2005 miniseries "Elvis") to another king (Henry VIII, on Showtime's "The Tudors") to yet another historical figure hardly anyone remembers. In "The Children of Huang Shi," opening Friday, Rhys Meyers is George Hogg, a British journalist who never found fame - yet is considered a hero in a small corner of China. ...
- Frontal assault on Hollywood
(New York Daily News, May 16, 2008)
There are many ways to measure talent in Hollywood. But for the authors of "Hollywood Babylon: It's Back," size is everything. Borrowing the title of filmmaker Kenneth Anger's classic scandal bible, authors Danforth Prince and Darwin Porter have dared to publish the pictures and stories too explicit and actionable for even the pulpiest supermarket tabloids.
Among those featured in full-frontal shots are Mick Jagger, Daniel Radcliffe, Ewan McGregor, John Malkovich, James Woods, Richard Gere and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. We leave it to you to decide whether all the snaps are authentic. The authors also write about the reputed size of many other stars in the book, due June 1. Johnny Depp was known as "donkey d-", they say. Sean Connery posed nude for art studies, and one student said:"It was the biggest I've ever seen. It made me drop my charcoal pencil."
Dishing with abandon, the authors spare no one - especially not the dead, who can't sue. Lack of sources don't stop them from claiming:
Marilyn Monroe had an affair with Ronald Reagan. The authors also claim Monroe had a tryst with Joan Crawford but refused to make it an ongoing affair. "She had bad breath," Monroe allegedly told roommate Shelly Winters. "Besides, she wanted to do things to me that no woman should do to another woman."
James Dean showed a disconcerting interest in a 12-year-old boy in the early 1950s. Director Elia Kazan believed the tale: "I've known many actors who have been twisted up in their sex lives, but never anybody as sick and unhealthy as Dean was."
Elvis Presley had a gay old time with Nick Adams, who played Johnny Yuma in the hit TV series "The Rebel." ...
- Glasvegas enjoy dinner with Presley
By Alex Fletcher
(Palm Beach Post, May 15, 2008)
Hotly-tipped rockers Glasvegas have claimed that they went for dinner with Lisa Marie Presley in Scotland earlier this year. The Glasgow band revealed that Elvis's daughter is a huge fan of their music and requested a meeting with the group when she visited Edinburgh. Singer James Allen told BBC 6 Music: "They came to Scotland to visit ... they'd never been there before. Well, Lisa Marie had never been there before, and she called while we were in Glasgow at the time." ...
- Flip Schulke, award-winning photographer from West Palm Beach, dies at 77
By KELLY WOLFE
(Palm Beach Post, May 15, 2008)
In his more than 60 years behind the lens, Flip Schulke photographed figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, Jacques Cousteau, Fidel Castro, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Elvis Presley, and John F. Kennedy. He created more than 500,000 photographs - 11,000 of those from the civil rights movement. ...
- ELVIS PRESLEY - ELVIS' MEDICINE BOTTLE AND ELTON'S TOASTER TO BE AUCTIONED
(contactmusic.com, May 12, 2008)
An empty medicine bottle from ELVIS' Graceland home and a toaster belonging to SIR ELTON JOHN are among the bizarre celebrity artifacts up for auction to raise money for charity. Items including a Christmas card from Sir Paul MCCartney to Adam Ant, a wooden spoon signed by late Beatle John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969, will go under the hammer in New York in aid of the Music Rising organisation. The charity, which was co-founded up by U2 guitarist the Edge, aims to help musicians in New Orleans affected by 2005's Hurricane Katrina.
The auction takes place on 31 May (08).
- CKX says would-be buyer 19X lowers buyout offer
(Memphis Business Journal, May 14, 2008)
CKX Inc., which owns the rights to the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley, the operations of Graceland and the rights to the name, image and likeness of Muhammad Ali, has announced that 19X Inc. has amended its pending agreement to acquire the company.
The merger agreement began on June 1, 2007, but 19X cited material changes in the market for media companies and buyout transactions in general as the reason behind its new purchase price of $12 per share, down from $13.75 per share.
Robert Sillerman, chairman and CEO of CKX (Nasdaq: CKXE), says the two companies remain committed to completing the acquisition at a price they believe reflects the continued performance of the company and provides a substantial premium above the current price to CKX's stockholders.
Shares of CKX were trading at $9.95 less than an hour before Wednesday's market close.
"It is our belief that completing this transaction continues to be in the best interests of CKX's stockholders," Sillerman said in a statement. "While we have asked for an extension of the outside date for completing the transaction to September 30th, and have received an extension of our financing commitments to that date, we believe we can close the transaction on the terms proposed well in advance of such date and remain committed to make every effort to do so."
19X has requested that if an agreement can be reached, CKX should file revised proxy materials reflecting any changes to the transaction by no later than May 22.
- CKX says would-be buyer 19X lowers buyout offer
(Financial News - Yahoo! Finance / AP, May 12, 2008)
Media licenser CKX Inc., which holds the rights to the name and likeness of figures such as Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali as well as "American Idol," said Monday its prospective buyer has lowered its offer, citing the falling value of media companies. The privately held bidder, 19X Inc., is offering $12 per CKX share.
Last June, CKX agreed to be bought by 19X for $13.75 per share. The companies agreed to revise the agreement in September to reduce the amount of cash 19X would need to close the deal. 19X is led by CKX Chairman and Chief Executive Robert F.X. Sillerman and "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller.
... CKX said the latest bid is being reviewed by a special board committee that recommended the original deal. CKX shares shot up when the deal was first announced nearly a year ago, but have fallen since as the likelihood of a successful transaction grew less clear. The company's shares jumped 60 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $10.30 in after-hours trading Monday. The stock earlier rose 11 cents to close at $9.70.
- West Virginia savors moment in spotlight: THE RACE FOR DELEGATES
(USATODAY / AP, May 11, 2008)
When former president Bill Clinton bounded onto the makeshift stage in the volunteer fire department of this coalfields town, the crowd shrieked like they were about to hear an Elvis Presley concert, rather than listen to a 40-minute speech about health care and the economy. ...
- Name to remember [Engelbert Humperdinck]
By PHILIP POTEMPA
(nwitimes.com, May 11, 2008)
It was four decades ago that the man called "music's king of romance" emerged as one of the favorite entertainers in the world, especially among female fans. And it's been 40 years since Engelbert Humperdinck first hit it big on the American charts in 1967 with his first hit "Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)."
But nearly a decade before, he was still sans his stage name, performing as Arnold George Dorsey, and establishing an early reputation as a British-American pop singer born in Madras, India. When he recorded his first single "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" in 1958 for Decca Records, it had very little impact on listeners
It was when he met up with his old roommate Gordon Mills in 1966, who was then manager for Tom Jones, that the singer's career began to climb. Mills suggested a new stage name would be far more marketable and so the 30-year-old decided to change his professional name to "Engelbert Humperdinck," borrowing the moniker from the classic German opera composer of the same name. The composer was most famous for the opera "Hansel and Gretel."
... Humperdinck, who turned 72 a week ago, said despite a long and varied career that's included both television specials and film appearances ("Even Angels Fall" starring Morgan Fairchild in 1991), it's still live performances that he loves the most. ... As for Humperdinck's real show biz friends, he says there are few famous names he keeps in contact with these days, due to his busy schedule and travels. "Since Elvis' passing, there are few performers I really consider close friends I stay in touch with," he said.
... When Engelbert Humperdinck released his long-awaited autobiography in November 2005, his publicist used an interesting pitch for press coverage. "Engelbert Humperdinck -- he of a stage filled with ladies' underwear and paternity suits galore -- has come clean in his new autobiography, 'Engelbert: What's In A Name?' ($24.95 and published by Virgin Books, ironically)."
Humperdinck's New York book publicist Rachelle Schlosser continued with the following hook: "Rumors have always swirled about 'The King of Romance's' extra-marital affairs and resulting out-of-wedlock births," Schlosser said. "Some media accounts even put the number of paternity suits at 50!"
Fortunately, Humperdinck has a great sense of humor. "The press has reported that I have made love to 3,000 women, but you should only believe half of what you read," said the singer. "My comfort is knowing that today's newspaper is tomorrow's fish 'n' chip paper."
The autobiography also includes a special section written by Patricia, Humperdinck's wife of 44-plus years, plus tell-all stories about Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Karen Carpenter, Cat Stevens, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and even rival Tom Jones.
- They're doing it Frank Sinatra's way: Ten years after his death, Ol' Blue Eyes is the color of money under a new deal between the family and Warner Music Group Corp.
By Geoff Boucher
(Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2008)
A new era is beginning in the career of Frank Sinatra even if the Chairman of the Board isn't here to participate. The iconic singer died May 14, 1998, and the 10th anniversary is being marked with a flurry of activity, including a new U.S. postage stamp with his likeness, lavish new CD and DVD collections, a major revival of his films on television and high-profile media appearances by his children. This surge in all things Sinatra is more than just a fleeting commemoration, however -- it's more like the beginning of a corporate brand roll-out.
Late last year, the Sinatra heirs signed a pact with Warner Music Group Corp. that will bring Ol' Blue Eyes back in a big way, not just as a digitally resurrected entertainer but also as an advertising pitchman and, potentially, the name on the marquee of a feature film, a Broadway show and a casino and resort.
... What Sinatra offers to any venture is that most elusive of auras: eternal cool. Like Elvis Presley, James Dean or Marilyn Monroe, Sinatra's image has compass-point clarity in pop culture despite the passage of time. For advertisers, he could be an especially potent signifier of sophisticated standards and rakish elegance, and Warner executives sound like gamblers with winning hands when they talk about it. ...
- City mourns slain officer
By Alfred Lubrano and Michael Matza
(Philladelphia Inquirer, May 10, 2008)
Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski was buried in the gloom and rain of Resurrection Cemetery in Bensalem yesterday, the gray dampness matching the unrelenting melancholy of the day. Along with bagpipes, a bugle and the blasts of a 21-gun salute, family and fellow police officers gathered at the graveside of the slain officer also heard something unexpected and startling - the amplified sound of Liczbinski's final radio call. "Aramingo Avenue. . . . Two black males wearing Muslim garb exiting the building . . . a robbery in progress," the dispatcher says.
"24 Andy," Liczbinski, who would have turned 40 this week, acknowledged using the code for his squad car, 24A. "I'm starting out." With palpable sadness, police and kin heard Liczbinski, without hesitating, take the call last Saturday that would be his last. Hours before the burial yesterday, a line of about 1,500 officers from jurisdictions around the country dressed in black or yellow slickers slowly filed into the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul.
Hundreds of other officers, their badges wrapped in black bands, gathered beneath white tents in a park across the street. Still more policemen and policewomen simply stood at attention in the rain, as though weathering the elements was a form of tough-cop homage to a fallen colleague. a... Before the ceremony began, Elvis Presley recordings of "My Way" and "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You" played in a continuous loop on a loudspeaker in the park. At the same time, a jumbo video screen set up to televise the service to the overflow crowd showed slides of Liczbinski, his family and colleagues. ...
- Wanda Jackson, Unsugared But Deserving Sweet Praise: At Jammin' Java, Jackson revisited plenty of highlights from her long career.
By Buzz McClain
(Washington Post, May 10, 2008)
The film biography of rockabilly icon Wanda Jackson, debuting on the Smithsonian Channel May 18, is called "The Sweet Lady With the Nasty Voice." "I don't know about that title," she told the audience at Jammin' Java Thursday night following the movie's premiere at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association Theatre. "I don't know about that 'sweet' part." Of course the line got a big laugh.
Jackson, a country singer turned rock pioneer and once a girlfriend of Elvis Presley (she mentioned his influence on her several times), demonstrated the sweet and nasty during her career-retrospective show. At age 70 and with 54 years of recording behind her, there were quite a few highlights. Backed by Upstate New York rockers the Lustre Kings, Jackson purred, growled and hiccupped through "Mean, Mean Man," "Rock Your Baby," "Let's Have a Party," "Fujiyama Mama" and a medley of Elvis hits.
The Lustre Kings were in top form, with Jeff Potter's boogie piano propelling the tunes and keeping Jackson's pacing at a swift clip. Guitarist Mark Gamsjager absolutely nailed the distinctive ostinato of the obscure "Funnel of Love," a song that became a hit only after being rediscovered by her latter-day fans.
Jackson demonstrated how she avoided alienating her country fans in the '50s when she became the Queen of Rockabilly with "I Gotta Know," a hook-filled number that zips from ballad to rocker and back again. On the straight-up country ballad "Right or Wrong," she showed she could have been the Queen of Country if that Elvis guy hadn't got her all shook up. Rockabilly fans and the legion of singers she influenced are glad he did.
- Eyes Only: [redacted] - In Its Offices, the National Security Archive Houses Stockpiles of [ ], Gotten From the Government by [ ]
(Washington Post, May 8, 2008, p. C01)
By Peter Carlson
Top Secret
Stoned on speed, Elvis Presley arrived at the White House wearing a purple velvet suit and bearing gifts for President Richard Nixon -- a Colt .45 pistol and some silver bullets.
It was Dec. 21, 1970, and Elvis had a mission: He wanted Nixon to give him a federal narcotics agent's badge so he could carry dope and guns wherever he went. Nixon didn't give Elvis the badge, but he did pose for pictures with the King of Rock-and-Roll. Nineteen years later, newspapers reported that the Elvis-Nixon photos were the most requested pictures in the federal government's vast photo collection, and Tom Blanton responded the same way he responds to so many other interesting news stories: He filed a Freedom of Information Act request.
"When the president meets with anybody, there's a whole paper trail, so we filed a FOIA request and got the entire file released," says Blanton, who is the director of the National Security Archive, a private research group devoted to prying documents out of the federal government's files and making them public.
The fruits of Blanton's Elvis-Nixon FOIA turned out to be gloriously goofy: There was Elvis's handwritten letter to Nixon requesting a meeting and bragging that "I have done an in-depth study of drug abuse." And a White House staffer's memo suggesting that Nixon ask Elvis to "record an album with the theme 'Get High on Life.' " And the official notes of the historic meeting: "Presley immediately began showing the President his law enforcement paraphernalia, including badges from police departments . . . ."
Blanton posted the documents on the National Security Archive's Web site, and for years they were the most downloaded items on the site. But in 2003, the Elvis-Nixon meeting was dethroned by another of the archive's postings -- documents detailing the 1983 meeting of two other legendary characters, Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein. ...
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