mid December
- Lessons of hope for students of a hard life: Tutors offer children at a homeless shelter two hours of warmth and friendship
By Anthony Gottschlich
(Dayton Daily News, December 21 2008)
Outside the St. Vincent de Paul Hotel on West Apple Street, Elvis Presley's "I'll Be Home for Christmas" blares through a loudspeaker overhead. Inside, tucked in a corner of a family recreation area, a group of students ages 5 through 14 wishes they could say the same.
Christmas is just days away, but here they are - 10 or so students from Wogaman, Wilbur Wright and other local schools - living in a shelter, longing for a home and spending two hours in a daily tutoring program developed by Dayton Public Schools and a group of Wright State University students.
Less than five months old, the tutoring program here offers students more than reading, writing and arithmetic. It's a brief reprieve from the grim reality of their young lives, a two-hour session of warmth and friendship. It's a lesson in hope and doing for others, a reminder that they're not alone. ...
- Elvis records duets with millions
(Coleman University / World Entertainment News Network, December 21 2008)
Rock and roll legend Elvis Presley is singing new duets from beyond the grave with millions of fans who can log online to record a track with the late King. A new Web site allows fans to re-record country singer Martina McBride's part from the track she dubbed with Presley, Blue Christmas, from The Elvis Presley Christmas Duets album.
The site provides a phone number and access code so wannabe crooners can belt their lyrics over the phone and send the recording to a friend as a Christmas e-card. Sony BMG spokesperson J.J. Rosen says, "Someone in our digital area came up with the concept. It fits the duets concept of the album so well. "We're always trying to keep the Elvis brand alive." The online progam will run through January.
- Blues Foundation Nominates Singer-Songwriter Jean Shy for "Soul Blues Female Artist of the Year"
(Jazz News, December 20 2008)
The Blues Foundation nominates King Edward Records Artist JEAN SHY for the 2009 Blues Music Awards in the category of "Soul Blues Female Artist of the Year," with her new CD "The Blues Got Soul." The Blues Music Awards are recognized as the highest honor given to Blues Artists. This is Jean Shy's first nomination.
Born in the Blues capitol of the world "Chicago", her vocal Background had its beginning in Gospel Music. Jean is definitely a multi-talented Artist, and audiences are overwhelmed by her powerful vocal delivery.
Mahalia Jackson was her first musical Idol. Elvis Presley inspired her to become a professional Entertainer in commercial Music. Jean was already receiving awards for her musical talents by the time she reached High School. ...
- ELVIS PRESLEY - ELVIS RECORDS DUETS WITH MILLIONS
(contactmusic.com, December 20 2008)
Rock and roll legend ELVIS PRESLEY is singing new duets from beyond the grave - with millions of fans who can log online to record a track with the late King. New WebSite SingWithTheKing.com allows fans to re-record country singer Martina MCBride's part from the track she dubbed with Presley, Blue Christmas, from The Elvis Presley Christmas Duets album.
The site provides a phone number and access code so wannabe crooners can belt their lyrics over the phone and send the recording to a friend as a Christmas ecard.
Sony BMG spokesperson JJ Rosen says, "Someone in our digital area came up with the concept. It fits the duets concept of the album so well. "We're always trying to keep the Elvis brand alive."
The online progam will run through January (09).
- Jack and Katie still number one
(bbc.co.uk, December 17 2008)
Jack and Katie are still the most popular baby names among parents in Northern Ireland, the Statistics and Research Agency has revealed. Katie has topped the girls chart for five years in a row, while Jack has been most popular boys name since 2003. The only new entry in the boys top 20 list is Lewis, at number 19. On the girls list, Jessica is the highest climber, moving from 13 to four. James is the only boys or girls name from 1975 still in the top 10.
... Some parents have become more creative in choosing a first name for their offspring. The music world has inspired some names for boys, and at least one baby born in Northern Ireland in the past year was named Ozzy, Axel, Moby, Chesney, Lennon, Prince or Presley (but there was no Elvis). ...
- Video of the Day: Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas"
(Milwaukee's Daily Magazine, December 16 2008)
In the spirit of the season, we're dedicating the "Video of the Day" to holiday songs. Today's offering is the Elvis classic "Blue Christmas."
[Watch the video on this site]
- People spend real money for virtual goods
By Stefanie Olsen
(mercurynews.com / New York Times, December 15 2008)
Want to walk a mile in Elvis Presley's blue suede shoes? It'll cost you 50 cents.
In a down economy, that might be an affordable luxury to a teenager or twentysomething hanging out in a virtual world like Gaia Online, which last week started selling a range of digital accessories depicting the rock legend's style, including blue suede shoes, a white-rhinestone jumpsuit ($4) and a pompadour ($1.50).
Younger people unfamiliar with Elvis might prefer to shell out $2 for Justin Timberlake's signature fedora or $3 for a pair of Snoop Dogg Dobermans to raise the cool quotient of their characters, known as avatars.
That is the premise behind Virtual Greats, a startup in Huntington Beach that represents celebrities and brands in the burgeoning American virtual goods business. The 1-year-old company acts as a broker between Hollywood and the technologists who run youth-oriented virtual worlds like Gaia, Whyville and WeeWorld.
... At Elvis Presley Enterprises, virtual worlds are just another drop in the bucket ‹ 250 licensees worldwide sell 5,000 Elvis products and promotions, including talking dolls, Pez dispensers and a Facebook page. "Elvis is everywhere," said Kevin Kern, a spokesman for the company, which controls the name, image and likeness of the rock star. "Why not the virtual worlds?"
Virtual Greats appeals to partners like Snoop Dogg and Elvis Presley Enterprises because it does the legwork that neither party - rights holder or virtual-world operator - has the desire or time to do. On one end, it courts celebrities and brands, negotiates licenses and aggregates talent; on the other end, it coalesces an otherwise fragmented market of virtual worlds starved for added sources of revenue. ...
- ELVIS PRESLEY - PERRY AND PRESLEY AMONG FAVOURITE 'LULLABIES'
(contactmusic.com, December 15 2008)
ELVIS PRESLEY, GUNS N' ROSES, and KATY PERRY are enough to send you to sleep - they've topped a poll of "alternative lullabies". The survey reveals modern parents prefer to sing their babies to sleep with rock songs and boyband ballads rather than traditional nursery songs.
Top of the list is British band Take That's Patience, followed by Robbie Williams' hit Angels, and Katy Perry's smash I Kissed A Girl.
Other surprising entries in the top ten include Wonderwall by Oasis, Welsh songstress Duffy's Warwick Avenue, and Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses.
Parents taking part in the poll said it was easier to remember the words to modern songs, with many agreeing that traditional lullabies sound old fashioned.
Kathryn Crawford, from Thebabywebsite, which carried out the survey, said: "We were really surprised to find that mums would rather sing modern pop tunes than traditional lullabies. I expect most mums put the radio on when at home with the baby, and the catchy lyrics make it impossible to sing anything else at bedtime."
The Top Ten alternative lullabies are:
- Patience - Take That
- Angels - Robbie Williams
- I Kissed a Girl - Kate Perry
- You're Beautiful - James Blunt
- Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley
- Beautiful - Christine Aguilera
- Warwick Avenue - Duffy
- Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
- Wonderwall - Oasis
- Girl - Sugababes
- Woman claiming to be half-sister of Elvis drops case. Plans new plea to be named heir
By Lawrence Buser
(Memphis Commercial Appeal, December 15 2008)
A woman seeking to be declared the daughter of Vernon Presley -- and the half-sister of Elvis -- on Monday voluntarily dropped her effort in Probate Court to be named as an heir to the father's estate. But Eliza Presley, 46, a divorced mother of four from Washington state, more than likely will plead her case in another court.
"The issues are still alive and well," said attorney Kathleen Caldwell, adding that Monday's dismissal was a procedural move. "It's not over by a long shot."
Eliza Presley, who changed her name this summer from Alice Elizabeth Tiffin, initially filed the claim in October, saying DNA from a still-living Elvis Presley showed her to be a relative.
Her mother, former Memphian Florence Sharp Clark of Oregon, said she was part of the Elvis social circle for a period, but that she had no child by Vernon and that the father is another Memphis man. Clark also has suggested that her daughter has undergone plastic surgery in an effort to bolster her claim of kinship.
Eliza Presley insisted Monday that she can support her claim and said her mother is not to be believed. "I would love to have these thousands of dollars I've allegedly spent," she said. "I have never had plastic surgery of any kind."
Attorney William Bradley Jr., who represents Elvis Presley Enterprises and Lisa Marie Presley Lockwood, said her case has no merit and that over the years there have been a dozen or more people claiming kinship to Elvis, including several Elvis Jrs.
Vernon Presley died June 26, 1979, at age 63. According to common belief, Elvis died in 1977.
- Elvis Presley's plane to be sold at auction
(WMCTV / NBC News, December 14 2008)
A plane that once belonged to the king of rock and roll is going on the auction block. The 1962 Lockheed Jetstar that once belonged to Elvis Presley has been sitting in a Roswell, New Mexico airport for more than two decades.
Roswell residents, who are used to other famous encounters, has no idea Elvis' plane was located there. "It was real hard for me to believe," said Sylvia Murphey, a lifelong Roswell resident. "I had never heard that. That was the first time ever! Lots of things have landed here in Roswell, but that wasn't one of them. "
The plane will be auctioned in Las Vegas next weekend, where it could sell for up to $2 million.
- Caroline Kennedy's Journalism Days -- And Meeting Elvis
By Greg Mitchell
(Bay City Times, December 13 2008)
Since Caroline Kennedy's name resurfaced last week in the sweepstakes to replace Hillary Clinton as New York's junior senator, reviews of her life often contain one brief line about her being a former "journalist" with some also referring to her once writing a story for Rolling Stone about visiting Graceland following Elvis Presley's death - and somehow getting a rare private viewing of the King lying in state.
So let's dig a little deeper.
A People magazine online bio observes that young Caroline "considered becoming a photojournalist (her mother's original career) but soon realized she could never make her living observing other people because they were too busy watching her." However, she did, during college, intern at the New York Daily News in 1977, where according to People "she sat on a bench alone for two hours the first day before other employees even said hello to her." Explained former News reporter Richard Licata, "Everyone was too scared."
She was apparently doing "copy girl" tasks but the newspaper "had to post guards at every entrance to keep camera crews out. Once a photograph of Caroline fetching coffee for the editors from a local Bagel Nosh came over the wire in the newsroom even before she returned from her errand. "Another time Caroline and Licata, who gossip columnists wrongly assumed was her boyfriend, snuck out the back door to avoid network reporters coming up to interview them." Caroline supposedly said, as the pair waited, "Now you have an idea what my life is like." Later she worked as a photographer's assistant at the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
But Kennedy is best known, at least in the journalism field, for her Sept. 22, 2007 article in Rolling Stone. Reading it today, one may be surprised to find that it does not seem to match some of the recent press accounts which suggested that Caroline had sneaked into the mansion or carried out some other kind of derring-do.
Yes, the estate had been sealed off by cops and private guards as 75,000 gathered following Presley's death on August 17, 1977. But Kennedy was simply outside mingling with others in line when Winslow "Buddy" Chapman, the director of police, ³invited me into the house where a scarlet carpeted hall led into a large room filled with gold and white folding chairs," she wrote. "At the far end of the room was the gleaming copper coffin that contained the body of Elvis Presley. His face seemed swollen and his sideburns reached his chin.
"A couple in their late twenties stand beside the casket. The woman was sobbing. The man had his arm around her. Behind the coffin, an arch led to another room where a clear glass statue of a nude woman stood high off the floor, twirling slowly, adorned by glass beads that leaked like water. Potted plastic palms surrounded the coffin and on the wall was a painting of a skyline on black velveteen."
Priscilla Presley entered. "Would you like a Coke or 7-Up?" she offered. Kennedy described the living room as mahogany-paneled and decorated with fur-covered African shields and spears. Then Priscilla introduced Caroline to Elvis's father, Vernon Presley, who was watching the 10 o¹clock news in a nearby bedroom. Nobody in the group spoke.
At the front door, Caroline interviewed Charlie Hodge, Elvis' rhythm guitarist. "It's really hard to believe," he said. "I went to the dentist with him on Monday night around 9:30. We were getting ready for the tour and we talked about the songs we.d use. But we never did rehearse. We just used to make it up right on the stage. ... I've been with Elvis all day. Just this afternoon I shaved his sideburns. It was the least I could do."
Kennedy closed with this description: "Outside the front door were hundreds of wreaths; some spelled ŒElvis' in flowers, others were shaped like crowns, broken hearts, hound dogs and blue suede shoes."
- Bay City company is building pool tables fit for The King
Posted by Eric English
(Bay City Times, December 13 2008)
Elvis may have left the building long ago, but a Bay City company plans to put him back in rec rooms across the country. Game-table maker Shelti Inc., 333 Morton St., is producing a line of Elvis-themed pool tables with the blessing of Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. The tables feature wrap-around graphics of The King performing in his "White Jumpsuit" Las Vegas show days. The images also show casinos and the Las Vegas welcome sign.
The unusual new product has led to a few Elvis quips around the office, according to Annette Jeske, customer service representative for Shelti. Such as whether or not to use the company intercom to announce "Elvis has left the building" - a catch phrase once used at the end of Elvis concerts - every time a table ships, she said. ...
- Cruise stuns Leno with Elvis impersonation
(Yahoo! News UK, December 13 2008)
Tom Cruise has added another embarrassing U.S. chatshow stunt to his repertoire - after he performed an impromptu Elvis Presley impression on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.
The actor, who famously stunned fans in 2005 by leaping on a couch on Oprah Winfrey's daytime talk show to proclaim his love for then-girlfriend Katie Holmes, broke into a rendition of The King's hit Blue Suede Shoes in front of Leno and a live studio audience.
Cruise jumped from his seat to mimic the rock 'n' roll legend's hip-shaking moves during his appearance on Thursday, before confessing he'd love to follow in the footsteps of his wife Holmes and star in a Broadway play. He told the shocked talkshow host, "I like making movies but I'm not saying 'no' to Broadway. I would like to do a musical."
- Tom Cruise does Elvis Presley impression and loses his cool again on TV - see the video
(mirror.co.uk, December 12 2008)
Tom Cruise has been upping his embarrassment factor again by doing a cringe-worthy impression of Elvis Presley - complete with hip swings - on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno last night in the US.
The Hollywood star was talking to Leno about his wife Katie Holmes performing on Broadway, when Leno asked if he'd ever follow in her footsteps and do stage work. Leno managed to elicit from Cruise that he's been in a production of musical Guys and Dolls before he became a movie star, so asked him if he could sing.
With no more encouragement needed, he launched into Blue Suede Shoes and finished with an attempt at The King's legendary pelvis sway.
Luckily for Cruise, the show then cut to an ad break to save him any further blushes.
He became notorious for jumping up and down on the sofa and declaring his love for now wife Katie when he was on the Oprah Winfrey in 2005.
[You can watch Cruise's Presley performance on the news report.]
|
