2001
- Elvis of the East?
(Telegraph, December 28, 2001)
AS Osama bin Laden's latest video was released yesterday, a retired American admiral called him "the Elvis Presley of the East". He has indeed joined Elvis, Marilyn and Che Guevara as one of the icons of the past 50 years. Whatever happens next, stories, rumours and fanciful inventions will circulate about him for years.
- Koizumi peace gift for Bush
By Alex Frew McMillan
(CNN, October 20, 2001)
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has presented U.S. President George W. Bush with a gift that he says is a symbolic weapon in the U.S. fight against terrorism. Koizumi presented Bush with a bow and arrows -- one of which was contained in a wooden box that had been hand-painted with calligraphy by the Japanese leader. "To defeat evil and bring peace on earth," Koizumi's inscription read In return, Bush gave Koizumi a baseball glove signed by Baltimore Orioles stalwart Cal Ripken. With the U.S. Major League baseball playoffs in full swing Koizumi professed his love of the game. The Japanese leader is a fan of American culture, and earlier this year released a CD of his favorite Elvis Presley songs.
- Political Elvis
By Sara Rimensnyder
(Reason Magazine, October 2001)
Imagine an amalgamation of Margaret Thatcher, Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, and Elvis Presley. Can't quite see it? Visit Japan. Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi -- who presides over the world's second-largest economy -- may be just such a creature. He's a privatization promoter, supply-sider, and e-zine auteur. And a rising pop culture icon. Last April, Koizumi became Japan's eighth prime minister in 10 years. Unlike his quickly dispatched predecessors, he is enjoying favorable ratings that zoom upward of 80 percent. His smile beams from T-shirts, coffee mugs, and collectible plates as Japanese citizens celebrate a leader who they hope can finally pull their nation out of its long economic slump. They also like his e-zine, Lion Heart, which boasts 1 million e-mail subscribers. In it, Koizumi discusses ministry activity but also waxes philosophical on the personal toll of political fame: "I am a 24-hour bird in a cage."
- Koizumi's all-time Elvis favorites
(CNN, August 16, 2001)
TOKYO, Japan -- The Japanese PM's fast-expanding fan club's CD "Junichiro Koizumi Presents: My Favorite Elvis Songs" goes on sale next week and is expected to be a hit both with Japanese fans of the wildly popular prime minister and of the King of and Rock and Roll himself. It features 25 of Koizumi's all-time Elvis favorites including "I want You, I need You, I Love You," "Are you Lonesome Tonight?" and "It's Now or Never." Proceeds from the sale of the CD, which will only be available in Japan, will go to charity. ... In a statement released to the Japanese Elvis fan club earlier this year Koizumi revealed his undying love for the King. As well as being a huge fan Koizumi also shares Elvis' birthday.
- Koizumi and the King
(BBC News, August 16, 2001)
Japanese fans are marking the day Elvis died. Many people make compilations of favourite songs but it takes a prime minister to get a nationwide audience for them - which is exactly what is about to happen in Japan. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's personal selection of favourite Elvis Presley songs is to be launched by a record company on Wednesday as a CD. The BMG Funhouse, Inc record label makes no secret of wanting to cash in on the PM's popularity with "Junichiro Koizumi Presents: My Favourite Elvis Songs". And if the CD does not add to the King of Rock and Roll's already huge popularity in Japan, it may do wonders for his number one fan after a tricky week in politics. Anniversary tribute: "The CD wouldn't have been released if Mr Koizumi wasn't the prime minister," BMG Funhouse spokesman Katsumi Miyata admitted. BMG seems to hope that having the prime minister's blessing - the front cover shows a photo of his smiling face - will do wonders for sales. "We are expecting that this Elvis CD would also attract fans of Mr Koizumi," Mr Miyata said. According to one report, Mr Koizumi even found time to write the sleeve-notes for the album, which, the record company said, commemorates the 24th anniversary of Presley's death. The initial run for the 25-track CD, which is to be released only in Japan and will sell for just over $20, is 50,000 units.
- Japan's PM picks favourite Elvis songs for compilation
(canoe, August 16, 2001)
Elvis Presley fans in Japan will soon get to hear a collection of standards picked by the country's wildly popular prime minister. The disc, Junichiro Koizumi Presents: My Favorite Elvis Songs, will hit Japanese record shops Aug. 22, said Katsumi Miyata, a spokesman for BMG Funhouse Inc., a subsidiary for international music company BMG. The 25-song CD, commemorating the 24th anniversary of Presley's death in August 1977, will only be released in Japan and the record company plans an initial shipment of 50,000 discs. Prime Minister Koizumi's birthday is on the same day as Elvis' - January 8th.
- India bids tearful farewell to tech guru Mehta
By Y.P. Rajesh
(Excite news / Reuters, August 15, 2001)
India bid an emotional farewell to tech evangelist Dewang Mehta at his funeral on Sunday and captains of the country's tech sector said it would be tough to replace the charismatic lobbyist. The 38-year-old Mehta, president of industry body the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), died of a massive heart attack on Thursday in his Sydney hotel room, while on a networking trip to Australia. The bespectacled Mehta, who sported Elvis Presley-type sideburns, was a qualified chartered accountant with deep interest in computer programming.
- Home run: Japan idolizes Ichiro
By J. Freedom du Lac
(Sacramento Bee, June 20, 2001)
When you're a daily story in your homeland -- a place where you've been hailed as a sex symbol similar to Brad Pitt, a sporting hero not unlike Michael Jordan and a cultural icon on par with Elvis Presley -- even your most mundane movements are newsworthy. So here is Ichiro Suzuki -- the brilliant Japanese baseball player who's currently tearing up the major leagues for the sizzling Seattle Mariners -- participating in the typically uneventful pregame ritual of the hamstring stretch. ... He's so beloved back home that he outranked the emperor of Japan in a recent popularity poll.
- Heartbreak shares the stage with Vietnam's Elvis in exile
by ELSA C. ARNETT
(San Jose Mercury News, March 18, 2001)
Elvis Phuong is a popular Vietnamese singer who understands the meaning of the words of the songs and reflects it in his voice, his facial expressions and his body language. He remains as popular today as ever among Vietnamese because much of the emotion is injected into everything from his rendition of Elvis Presley's "Are You Lonesome Tonight?'' to nostalgic Vietnamese love ballads. Elvis Phuong's name is not a coincidence. He is paying tribute to the singer he has been mesmerized by since he first heard "Hound Dog'' as a 6-year-old growing up on the outskirts of Saigon. All those years listening to grainy records left an impression when he began his professional singing career at 17. But he isn't an Elvis Presley impersonator. Instead, he tries to incorporate the King's style into his own as he seamlessly moves between Vietnamese, English and French tunes. Like his idol, Elvis Phuong sings with a similar impassioned baritone. At the end of each song he, too, lets out a bashful, muffled"thank-you-very-much". And on this evening at the Queen Bee nightclub in downtown Saigon, he seems to have the King's ability to make a crowd collectively swoon.
2000
- Madame Tussaud's wax museum opens in Hong Kong
By Mike Chinoy
(CNN, August 28, 2000)
It's the closest most people here will come to the rich, the powerful and the famous. The first Madame Tussaud's wax museum in Asia opened this month in Hong Kong, and it's already attracting big crowds. "When you look at the population -- not only residents but the number of tourists that come to Hong Kong -- Hong Kong is an ideal gateway," said Michael Jolly, chairman and chief executive of the Tussaud's Group. It joins three other Madame Tussaud's worldwide, including the original in London and others in Amsterdam and Las Vegas. Another is scheduled to open soon in New York. Most of the familiar features from London's Madame Tussaud's are here, including historic and current British royal families, with a separate spot set aside for Princess Diana. There's a chamber of horrors, a gallery of sports heroes, rock stars like Madonna and Elvis, and a movie star lineup that includes Pierce Brosnan as James Bond and Kong Kong's own kung fu legend, Bruce Lee. Action star Jackie Chan became the first Hong Kong celeb to sit for a Tussaud's wax portrait.
- Selamat Pagi !! Selamat Pagi !!
By Conrad Goeringer
(TalkaboutTheWorld.com, April 5, 2000)
A report from Kuala Lumpur providing background and covering news current at the time. " ... And on the other side of the train tracks in Kuala Lumpur, well it's twanging guitars, Tiger Beer, and an underground rock n' roll music scene that's second only to Austin, Texas. So many rock n'roll country music fans in Kuala Lumpur, many too still believe Elvis is alive and on a 'walkabout.' ... During my visit to 'The Country Star,' I met a true 'Elvis Presley' fan named Andrew Vuilleumeir. 'Andy V' is about five-two and combs his jet black hair straight back in a huge Elvis wave. He also wears black leather cowboy boots and dreams of someday going to Texas."
- Isn't That Elvis?
What drives normally sane middle-aged men to don gold lame jumpsuits and gyrate on stage?
By Jennifer Gampell
(gampell.com, January, 2000)
The "King of Rock 'n Roll" is a monarch dear to the hearts of many Thais. In a country where posters of the best-loved members of the Thai royal family outsell pop idol images, one enormously popular sepia-colored photo depicts their majesties the King and Queen of Thailand in Hollywood on the set of G.I. Joe. The year is 1960 and the royal couple, seated casually between a young Elvis dressed in army fatigues and actress Juliet Prowse, face the camera. King Bumiphol and Queen Sirikit are listening intently as America's own homegrown version of royalty--Elvis Presley--leans toward them.
Forty years after that photo was taken and nearly a quarter of a century after Elvis "left the building" in 1977, the famous sideburned crooner still elicits a surprisingly "big hunk o' love" from Thais of all ages. On practically any night of the week, an Elvis impersonator somewhere in greater Bangkok is gyrating to a perennial Presley favourite like "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock" or "Love Me Tender." Performing in swank hotel lounges, raucous nightclubs or modest neighbourhood bars, this stalwart band of Thai Elvis's work hard to keep alive the memory of their brown-eyed handsome man.
Why do Thais love Elvis and want emulate him? "He sings good, moves well, has style and looks handsome," explains 57 year-old Visoot Tungarat, the country's oldest and most celebrated Elvis. In 1998 MTV named him "Elvis Asia," but to several generations of adoring Thai fans, the still-handsome man with the wavy dyed hair and expanding midriff is better known as "El-Visoot."
Visoot has been bringing Elvis to life for an amazing 42 years--since 19 years before Elvis passed on. His modest house in the Bangkok suburbs sits behind a miniature version of the gate at Graceland, Elvis' Memphis mansion. Inside the makeshift studio are four decades' worth of recording technology (reel-to-reel tape recorder, synthesizer, MIDI player) plus the complete Elvis discography on vinyl, tape and CD. Thirteen exact replica jumpsuits -- each bead and sequin meticulously sewn on by Visoot himself -- hang rather unceremoniously under the stairwell. Among the myriad Elvis images covering the downstairs walls and ceiling, one particular head shot stands out. It takes a few seconds to register that the gorgeous young hunk with the smoldering eyes isn't the real Elvis.
Most Elvis impersonators enjoy the security of other jobs -- as bank clerk, nightclub manager, TV actor, government official. One even does Tom Jones and Englebert Humperdink knockoffs. Only Visoot has devoted his entire life to being Elvis. During the Vietnam war, he sang for the American G.I.s stationed at bases throughout Thailand. He fondly remembers how the soldiers knew the words to every Elvis song. "When you sing for Thai people you cannot sing deep," he says sadly. "Only the popular songs."
Thailand's undisputed Elvis king performs at parties, on TV specials, in clubs and for his friends at home. He once tried to run a club on the outskirts of Bangkok, but with more talent than business sense he couldn't turn a profit and closed it down. To replenish his spirits (not to mention his pocketbook) Visoot travels regularly to Scandinavia, Europe and the U.S. where he consistently wows international audiences with his remarkable Elvis-ness.
The only other Graceland gate in Thailand belongs to Vasu Sangsingkeo. By day in his role as secretary to deputy foreign minister Sukhumband Paribatra, the slender 32 year-old wears somber pin-striped suits and a Patek Philippe watch. By night he dons his Elvis attire and transforms into a reasonable facsimile of the hard-driving, pelvis-thrusting singer he's idolized for over 20 years. The personable diplomat has a decade of experience juggling two disparate careers: before heading off to graduate schools in the US and the UK, he was the heartthrobbing lead singer for a locally famous Thai rock band.
"Elvis looks familiar to everyone," is how Vasu explains the star's ongoing popularity in Thailand. "You think of him as your family." He describes a Thailand swarming with Elvis devotees. "I see a lot of senior executives on the street or in a department store and I can tell they used to be great Elvis fans by the way they dress, how they comb their hair."
But it's not only old fogies who have Elvis always on their minds. Last year Vasu starred in a big-budget Las Vegas style musical about the star's life. In the space of two hours and 14 costume changes, Vasu portrayed his idol from his humble beginnings as a truck driver right through to his ignominious death. Originally scheduled for an 8-performance run in a trendy new Bangkok nightclub, the show proved such a smash hit that it had to be extended.
In the days leading up to the anniversary of the legendary demise on August 16, 1977, the pace of Thai impersonating speeds up significantly. The handful of professionals and sundry other Elvis wannabes get all shook up boppin' around the country from one major commemorative event to another. "Elvis Memory Lives On," probably the biggest of the annual extravaganzas, has been going strong for 10 years. Owing to its increasing popularity, the 1999 event was moved from the smallish lounge-bar in the Asia Hotel where "Elvis" appears nightly to the hotel's cavernous ballroom. Not counting all the impromptu Elvises who turned up for the singing and look-alike contests, the "official" contingent of nine Thais and one Macanese was the biggest ever. The 1,200 tickets sold out more than a week in advance.
Towards 7 p.m. on the big night, the various Elvis paraphernalia and photo-sticker booths in the ballroom foyer were doing brisk business. The audience, a well-heeled and predominantly middle-aged crowd, crammed around the scores of low tables. (Generally, Thai audiences prefer to observe concerts from a seated position instead of rockin' out on the dance floor.)
The miniscule dressing room near the ballroom stage was awash in gold lamé and shimmering satin. Jumpsuits in a variety of sizes and colors filled the single rolling rack. Several Elvises peered into the mirror, sculpting their thick dark locks into the traditional pompadour.
The entertainment kicked off around 8 p.m. with a desultory version of "Can't Help Falling in Love," by a painfully shy wannabe who intoned that "some tings are meant to be." (Alas, this wasn't one of them.) Next up, Vasu leapt onto the stage. Nattily dressed in black, shimmying and shaking from behind huge clouds of synthetic smoke, he injected a massive dose of energy into the proceedings with his faultless renditions of Crying in the Chapel, Love Me Tender, and an impossible-to-sit-still-for version of Jailhouse Rock.
Interspersed with dance contests, lucky draws and official announcements, the show rocked along as one after another the impersonators took the stage. Consummate showman and nightclub producer Jaruk Viriyakit (who also does Tom Jones and Engelbert on the side) drew inspiration from the 1968-1972 period with his slick "Wonder of You" and "Girl of My Best Friend." TV actor Jeerasak Pinsuwan who has been singing Elvis for 30 years rendered the obscure "Lonesome Cowboy" to a crowd who clearly didn't hear it very often. Winner of an Elvis competition a few years back, Lek Presley (aka Sucin Punnahitanon) turned in credible performances of "All Shook Up" and "Kid Creole."
The youngest Elvis of the night was Nong Piraporn, a precocious six year-old garbed in white Nancy Sinatra boots and a micro-mini version of the famous white-caped jumpsuit. Clutching a handheld mike, she shimmied, shook and strutted her way through energetic renditions of "Jailhouse Rock" (pronounced "lock") and "Hound Dog." As she placed her palms together in the classic Thai-style wai of respect at the end of her short set, the audience went wild.
Sometime after midnight, a flashing strobe and the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey announced the show's climax -- the one and only "El Visoot." His moves may have slowed and his girth increased but Visoot exudes an intangible sense of Elvis that nobody else comes close to emulating. He works the crowd, walking into the audience and talking to them as Elvis, not Visoot. He needs no bumps and grinds to conjure up the spirit of his hero. Standing in one spot he still conveys the message. Visoot has Elvis SOUL.
Trying to pin down what constitutes great impersonation is a daunting proposition. Physical resemblance and a good costume are important components but not absolute prerequisites of the elusive Elvis mystique. "I think some people are born to be Elvis, blessed by God almost," says Vasu. "They have a soul connection." Is Vasu such an Elvis doppelganger? "No," he replies. "I'm just someone who loves him and is happy to sing his songs."
Visoot's connection to Elvis goes much deeper. Around his neck he wears two thick gold chains: one carries a $50 silver Elvis medallion, the other an amulet of a highly venerated Buddhist monk. In a newspaper interview nine years ago Visoot claimed that he and Elvis must have been related in a previous life. He said that on stage he's experienced moments of feeling "Elvis and I are one person."
Who knows how long the crooner will continue as the Big Boss Man for his devoted fans IN Thailand and elsewhere in the world. But as long as people Can't Help Falling in Love with his universal charms and timeless appeal, it's likely they'll be getting All Shook Up about him for a long time to come. After all, It Feels So Right that I Just Can't Help Believin' he'll still be around A Hundred Years From Now.
1997
- "Andy (Andranik Madadian) AKA Persian Elvis"
By Jason Thomas James
(cilicia.com, May 27, 1997)
In Iran, girls carry his music to school beneath their chadors (the mandatory long black gowns). At night, teenage boys scrawl his name "ANDY!'' on public walls, knowing it will be erased the next day by the police. People of all ages gather for private parties and play his pirated tapes as loudly as they dare. If any of them are caught, they could go to jail. At minimum, the bootlegged copies of his recordings, which are banned in Iran, will be confiscated. But somehow, his music, an upbeat, danceable combination of traditional Persian sounds and modern rock, is important enough to his countrymen that they will risk the punishment.
- A Journey Through Asia: Chapter 1: Good Morning Tokyo
By Jason Thomas James
(Positive Atheism, January 27, 1997?)
Sunday was spent hanging out and taking pictures in Yoyogi Park, a gathering place for street musicians, Yakuza phone card traders, and Elvis dancers. ... Most fascinating, however, were the groups of 4 to 10 guys dressed in 1950s-era America style dress dancing to the beat of stereos blaring Elvis, Eddie Cochran, and other legends. They moved with a martial arts like concentration and unity in a modern marriage of Zen Buddhism and Happy Days.
1996
One of Many Hindu Deities: Elvis Presley Worshipped in India (3rd item)
By Conrad Goeringer
(Positive Atheism, May 27, 1996)
In the Indian state of Karnataka, a Hindu temple appears to boast as one of its deities the True King -- none other than Elvis Presley. According to India Today magazine, a portrait of the hip-grinding rocker is displayed along with other religious icons and "the faithful ... come to worship Elvis just like the other deities." The temple is maintained by a man who last year published a booklet under Presley's name titled "Why my daughter married Michael
Jackson."
Elvis worshipped in India town
(CNN, May 21, 1996)
NEW DELHI -- Maybe we can attribute all those Elvis sightings to reincarnation. In one small town in the Indian state of Karnataka, a picture of Elvis Presley hangs beside pictures of Hindu gods in a temple, according to a report in India Today magazine. The faithful reportedly come to worship Elvis just like the other deities. The rock 'n' roll singer died in 1977. The temple is attached to the home of a man who published a booklet last year under Elvis' name, entitled "Why my daughter married Michael Jackson."
|
