2003
- Impersonator does all right in 'Elvis Story'
By Naomi Tajitsu
(Daily Yomiuri, May 1, 2003)
[Japan] Through May 11 at Hall C, Tokyo International Forum.
There's something about Elvis impersonators that you can't quite put your finger on. For better or for worse, they're the ones who laid the foundations for the tribute/cover band phenomenon, and while they've been around for decades now, their novelty factor for some reason still manages to draw audiences, from the top Vegas lounges to roadside bars in Anytown, USA.
Maybe it's the sincerity with which they don the studded eagle capes and the white pantsuits that ravine dangerously into hairy beer bellies. Even the craft of lowering the torso to that seam-splitting level above the floor, or getting those dramatic hand movements just right, these aren't the sort of skills that just anyone with a pair of blue suede shoes and a passing interest in the King of rock 'n' roll can pass off.
Elvis Story celebrates this phenomenon as much as the music of Elvis Presley. Oddly enough, though, the production, the only one of its kind to win the blessing of Elvis Enterprises, isn't from Vegas or Tennessee or even Mississippi--it's from Quebec, where it has accounted for a considerable increase in tourism revenue since 1995.
And even more odd is that it's not some diehard, seasoned Elvis impersonator who plays the lead, it's the French-Canadian Martin Fontaine, whose only previous claim to fame was singer in a Quebec rock band. But he's more than fit to play the king; Fontaine may not look one bit like Elvis (he has red hair), but for the most part, he has the voice and the stamina to belt out 40 songs more or less nonstop in the course of the two-hour production.
The production is billed as "a rock 'n' roll musical," which is a bit misleading. Essentially a chronicle of the King's professional life through song and film and photo footage, the musical numbers aren't intended to advance the narrative or offer deeper understanding of the subject. Basically, a recorded voice-over is cued periodically to remind us of the King's story, while the rest is a best-of medley whose performance could put to shame even the best Elvis impersonator.
- Elvis, the undisputed king of rock
(Calcutta Telegraph, April 25, 2003)
"Nothing really affected me until Elvis," said John Lennon. Beatles were Elvis Aron Presley's biggest fans! He was a golden voiced country Adonis with a lock of hair falling on his brow and a curl to his lips. When he sang Heartbreak hotel or Don't be cruel he'd swivel his hips and twitch his legs, and when he crooned Love me tender, the girls would swoon. The sexy physicality of Presley's explosive performances brought the forbidden into the open for teens in the 1950s. His singing style bore the unmistakable stamp of black rhythm and blues. By carrying its message to a national audience, he changed popular music for ever. This prolific singer had the greatest number of consecutive hits, more gold and platinum records than any other performer and spent more weeks at the top of the charts than any other artiste. By the end of the 50's he had 14 consecutive million sellers (of his eventual 79) and had begun making Hollywood B-grade movies such as Jailhouse Rock - charging $ 1 million for each. When the end came, Presley had become one of the greatest stars of the 20th century. Mira and Daleep Kakkar (picture below) are making an audio-visual presentation on Elvis' life and music with Sumit Roy rendering the songs. When: Today at 6 pm. Where: Srijan Rooftop, 176, Sarat Bose Road, near Deshapriya Park, Calcutta.
- Personality: Malaysian Elvis ties the knot
By S.K. Sidhu
(emedia.com.my, March 26, 2003)
Such was the case when Malaysian Elvis Presley impersonator Suraj Singh Sachdev tied the knot with Rajpreet Kaur in a traditional Sikh ceremony at the Petaling Jaya Sikh Gurdwara, recently.
The three-day celebration began with the maiya (oil ceremony) and ended with a dinner reception at the Holiday Villa, Subang. Instead of sporting his famous mutton-chop side burns and Elvis hairstyle, Suraj looked very prim and proper, with a trimmed beard, pink turban and beige and gold sherwani, while the bashful bride - adorned in jewellery - was stunning in a heavily embroidered pink lengha.
The dinner reception was a night to remember with glitz and glamour that befitted Suraj's celebrity status, and complete with performances by the Alleycats, Malaysian Tom Jones Mark Sylvester, Michael Jackson impersonator Edwin Mark and, of course, the Malaysian Punjabi Bhangra.
The show started with a roar outside the ballroom and when the spotlight found the source, it was Edwin 'Michael Jackson' David on a Harley Davidson, kicking off with Billie Jean. Several performances later, the final touch came when Suraj sang Can't Help Falling In Love to his bride, followed by Johnny B. Goode and Blue Suede Shoes.
Suraj (31), a lawyer by day, is one of the many Elvis impersonators who have been performing to keep the King's memory alive. Born in Kota Kinabalu, he is a gifted musician who also plays the piano, keyboards, guitar, drums and some traditional Indian instruments, too.
- Remembering P. Ramlee
By Hafidah Samat
(New Straits Times, March 22, 2003)
TODAY, 74 years ago in Penang, Teuku Nyak Zakaria Teuku Nyak Puteh, was born. Better known as P. Ramlee, the legendary actor/director/ singer/ songwriter/ was instrumental in elevating our entertainment industry to new heights. What he achieved in his lifetime would be hard to equal. Ramlee's legacy remains strong partly because he is seen as a national hero in a country where screen heroes are hard to come by.
During his early days as an actor between 1948 and 1955 at the Malay Film Studio Productions in Singapore, Ramlee acted in more than 20 films, most of which have become classics. The popular ones include Panggilan Pulau, starring Latifah Omar and Normadiah and Hujan Panas, featuring Haji Mahadi and Siput Sarawak. He also gained fame as a respected director, making his directorial debut in 1955 with the award-winning Penarik Beca. It became a classic, with a moving story of a forbidden affair between a trishaw puller and a rich girl. Ramlee co-starred in it with Saadiah and Salleh Kamil. Other notable films that he directed were Semerah Padi, the Bujang Lapok trilogy and Anakku Sazali.
In 1964, Ramlee migrated to Kuala Lumpur and worked for Studio Merdeka (now Finas) in Ulu Kelang for eight years. Here he made several hit movies such as Ragam P. Ramlee, Sabaruddin Tukang Kasut, Keluarga 69, Do Re Mi and Nasib Do Re Mi and his last, Laksamana Do Re Mi.
It wasn't looks that propelled him to fame in the early 1950s. Ramlee made up for that with a baritone, velvety-voice still very much heard crooning over the airwaves today. His popularity knew no bounds; he was as wildly popular among the Chinese and Indians as he was with the Malays. But Ramlee's career followed what might be called the Elvis Presley curve. As musical tastes shifted from the slow ballads of the 1950s - the star's specialty - to the fast and furious rock 'n roll, he failed to keep up. His weight ballooned, and slowly Ramlee lost his fan following. Some of his films flopped, and younger, more adaptable stars took his place in the industry. By the time of his death on May 29, 1973, he was all but forgotten. But Ramlee's talents did not lay buried for long. Thanks to the efforts of a handful of well-placed and nostalgic bureaucrats in Kuala Lumpur, Ramlee's songs were soon back on the airwaves. Streets were named after him. On June 6, 1990 he was posthumously awarded the Bintang Darjah Panglima Setia Mahkota (DPSM), which carries the title of Tan Sri, from the Sultan of Pahang, Sultan Ahmad Shah. And 30 years after his death, the country still commemorates his works with exhibitions, festivals and reruns of his evergreen movies.
- Burnin' love for the illusion of greatness
By LOUIS TEMPLADO
(Asahi Shimbun, March 22, 2003)
`The life of an impersonator means expressing love for someone by expressing the greatness of their aura.' He's got the sideburns, the sequined pantsuit and the 50-pound belt buckle. But whatever you do, don't call Martin Fontaine ``Elvis.''
The French-Canadian is the star and soul of one of this spring's most anticipated stage shows, a potpourri of projected images and dancers, glittery suits and musical numbers meant to recreate the career of one of the West's most recognizable icons.
``The Elvis Story,'' comes to Tokyo as the world rediscovers the King-again. The ``Elvis 30 #1 Hits'' CD went gold worldwide last year, Disney's ``Lilo and Stitch'' animated film features a half-dozen Elvis Presley tunes and in Japan, even the prime minister has issued a CD selection of his favorite Elvis tunes.
The musical, which will run from April 26 to May 11 at Tokyo's International Forum before moving to Osaka for two performances, is a polished affair indeed: The show has run nightly at Le Capitole in Quebec City since 1995, where Fontaine has played the lead an astounding 900 times. That may make him a hound dog, but Fontaine insists that it doesn't make him an Elvis impersonator. ``I'm an actor-singer playing the role of Elvis on stage,'' says the star.
... Expectation is high, to judge by the number of fans who already have bootleg recordings of the show. But when Fontaine returns here, he'll find he's not the only King in town. Tokyo is already host to a small but dedicated cadre of simulacra, keeping the spirit alive despite several unique challenges.
To look at Koki Oyori, for example, is not to look on a reflection of Elvis. With his porcelain skin and sculpted features, Oyori looks less like an American icon than a traditional Kabuki actor, albeit a chubby one. There's something quite old-fashioned, too, in the way he stepped into his role.
A fan of Presley's music since his teens, Oyori got the idea of appearing on stage after seeing his first Elvis impersonator.
``I was deeply moved by what I saw,'' he says. ``I didn't think it was tacky or sad at all. Although I'd never been on stage or sung before, I realized it was what I had to do.''
Oyori worked up his courage and approached the impersonator-Yasumasa Mori, the champion imitator at the 1992 Elvis convention in Memphis-and begged to be taken on as an apprentice. Mori assented, and Oyori began working his way up from the chorus until at last the sensei offered him the mike for a turn at center stage.
``I was pinching myself right from the very beginning,'' he says. ``I kept asking, `Would it really be okay for me to do this?'''
Oyori and the five or six other Japanese Elvises, says ``Etsuko,'' a 56-year-old fan who's made 12 pilgrimages to Las Vegas to watch the real Elvis perform, are a cut above their American counterparts.
``In America anybody can put on a pantsuit and a pair of sideburns and claim to be Elvis. Japanese performers focus much more carefully on the details. They don't just put on Elvis, but an Elvis from a very specific period and performance.''
Being Asian and unable to speak English are immediate disadvantages, says Oyori, which is why the Japanese concentrate on the nuances.
For Oyori, there's no shame in being branded an impersonator.
``In Japanese we only have a word for `look-alike,' just a superficial, exterior resemblance. To be an impersonator means something else-it means expressing your love for someone by expressing the greatness of their aura.''
More than any physical resemblance, it is the evident devotion that fans come to admire. ...
- Frugal songbirds have lost yen for karaoke
By AMY WALDMAN
(www.iol.co.za, March 20, 2003)
Tokyo - Once a source of high-pitched business activity, Japan's karaoke industry has dropped to ballad tempo with Japanese having less to sing about amid sustained economic doldrums. Karaoke firms are striving to develop new ideas to entice cost-conscience crooners, such as a new high-tech machine allowing people to sing like Elvis Presley, and theme rooms on the Asian cartoon figure Hello Kitty targetted at younger crowds. According to the latest government report, the size of the karaoke market in Japan totalled 450-billion yen ($3,8-billion) in 2001, down 31.8 percent from its peak in 1996 at 660-billion yen. "Japan's karaoke market has declined by 10 percent each year as people have more free time, but don't have money to go to karaoke due to the recession," said Takashi Kadokura, an economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute. 'Kadokura said middle-aged Japanese men previously used karaoke after work or to take business clients out after a working dinner. However, with declining salaries and expense account budget cuts, karaoke clubs have hit a low note in recent years. ... In an effort to bring back more people to sing karaoke, Japan's karaoke machine manufacturer, Taito, will introduce a new machine in April allowing singers to belt out tunes like professionals. Shin Konno, a director at Taito, said the new karaoke machine dubbed Lavca uses a technology called Csound, which automatically adjusts the speed and tone of any song being played to match the singer's tempo and key. The tempo can be adjusted manually on conventional karaoke machines, but Taito's new product is the first machine to perform the task automatically.
- The Afghan Elvis 'Lives' 24 Years After His Death
By AMY WALDMAN
(New York Times, March 15, 2003)
KABUL, March 15 - The Afghan Elvis lives.
Much like the real Elvis, Ahmad Zahir, Afghanistan's most beloved pop musician, has long been dead - 24 years this June. But also like the real Elvis, to whom, with his black hair, sideburns and wide-collared shirts, he bore passing resemblance, his popularity has endured, his legend magnified. The other day, four men sat by his grave, ruminating on his life and music. "Any time I have free, I come here," said Abdul Nassar, a 31-year-old Air Force pilot. "I love his songs."
Graceland it wasn't, however. To start, the gravestone and the simple cement monument that once stood over it had been blasted to pieces. Not long after the Taliban seized Kabul in 1996, they reportedly took a tank to the grave after rocket-propelled grenades failed to do the trick. No surprise: the Taliban hated music; for many Afghans, Ahmad Zahir embodied it. Before anyone else and, Afghans say, better than anyone since, he married Western music with Afghan melodies and poems. He drove women wild. He gave packed concerts. He liked to drink. Eight Afghans have formed a committee to try to restore the grave. Through years of struggle and exile, they said, the singer was their touchstone. Seyar Zafar, a 35-year-old government official, said that he lived abroad for 15 years, and every time he visited another expatriate Afghan family, Ahmad Zahir was crooning in the background.
"He's still alive in the heart of many Afghans," Mr. Zafar said. Even now, he and friends listen to Mr. Zahir's 22 albums and ponder their meanings. The singer set great Persian poets like Rumi, Hafiz, Maulana Jami; the Afghan poet Khalilullah Khalili; and traditional folkloric songs, to music. He sang of love, pain and God. Never formally trained as a musician, he played the accordion, the piano, the organ, and the guitar, and he absorbed the Western music spilling from radios in the 1960's and 70's. Some songs sound, instrumentally at least, vaguely like the Beatles or surf music. He recalls a freer prewar Afghanistan when girls could rush the stage to grab his half-drunk soda, when women named a popular dress fabric "Hair of Ahmad Zahir."
He also reflects an Afghanistan that was far less ethnically polarized than it is today. An ethnic Pashtun who sang mostly in Dari, he won fans in all ethnic groups. "At that time there was not such a question - we were Afghans," said Shah Muhammad, a Kabul bookseller who regularly sold books, Shakespeare among them, to Mr. Zahir.
- Elvis on wanted list - by wife and police
By LOURDES CHARLES
(The Star Online, March 13, 2003)
KUALA LUMPUR: Lau Suet Wan, whose Singaporean husband Elvis Keh Jiang Long @ Ah Ho @ Ah Poh is now the most wanted fugitive in the country for his alleged role with the notorious M16 gang, is unsure if Elvis is dead or alive. "I am not so sure as I have not heard from him since we last had lunch on Dec 12." Lau believes her husband Elvis, sought by police for his alleged link with M16 gang, is innocent. Tomorrow is their first wedding anniversary."Friday (March 14) will be our first wedding anniversary and my only wish is for him to contact me and let me know he is all right. I don't know why the police are saying he is a ruthless criminal and a fugitive but I don't believe any of it as I know my husband? he is innocent," Lau said yesterday.
Lau, 32, who now runs her husband's air-conditioning business in Sri Petaling here, said she and her husband did not live a luxurious lifestyle. She said Elvis had never spent lavishly contrary to reports that he had millions of ringgit. Asked if she knew Elvis had a criminal record, Lau said she knew he was imprisoned for four years for a credit card fraud in Singapore in 1994. "I don't know why the police say he is an expert in handling explosives and has so many criminal records. I fear for his life and that is why on Dec 13 when he did not return I lodged a police report suspecting he could have been kidnapped," she said when interviewed at the shop. Lau said she lodged a report with the Brickfields police regarding her husband's disappearance. To a question, Lau said she went to the police headquarters in Jalan Hang Tuah here a few times after her husband was alleged to have been implicated with the M16 gang.
"I have told the police everything I know about my husband and still believe he is innocent."
- Iraq, the Anti-Christ, UFOs, and of yes, Elvis too
By Tim Goodness
(100megsfree4.com, March 13, 2003)
Al Qaeda is the enemy! No harbor will be safe, no country that gives the enemy shelter will escape the wrath of The United States! Or words to that effect. So said our President, George Dubya Bush.
Okay, fine, Mr. President, we have all heard there's an Al Qaeda camp in Iran, right?
So...why are we positioning our forces and preparing the world for a war with Iraq?
Well, it would seem some of those conspiracy nuts are willing to take out all the stops to come up with a how, why and reason, ( other then the obvious that is! ) You see, some of these folks are so far above us in their thought process, that they seem to have tied everything and everyone into the conspiracy, even Elvis!
Yes, Elvis! Hard to believe? Bear with me here...
We all know about Elvis, right? We all know he really isn't dead. Well, I have formulated a time line of Elvis sightings, as reported in such fine news sources as The National Enquirer, The Sun, and The World News. It would seem that Elvis sightings have had a dramatic drop since the third quarter of 1990. Yup, it's true! However, tabloids from the Middle East have noted a huge increase in Elvis sightings since early 1991.
Have you figured it out yet? Elvis is living in Iraq! And the pending war on Iraq is being driven by the need to rescue the recording industry, which is now experiencing its worst sales since the early 1980's! It's really very simple, Elvis is hiding out there, living it up in Saddam's palaces, enjoying the good life while the industry he helped create is dying! Don't make sense yet? Well, think about this, all those record companies are managed by Jews, Jews with a direct interest in Israel! Iraq hates Israel, right? So getting rid of Saddam in the process of capturing Elvis and bringing him back here to make records and save the recording industry is a win-win situation!
- Sunday Beat: Music: Talking, singing, living doll
By P.C. Shivadas
(emedia.com.my, March 9, 2003)
MALAYSIA -- Overheard in the audience: "Why only one show? Response: "He's old, lah." But Cliff, sorry Sir Cliff Richard, was anything but old and given the age of those present, he made them feel young again. His stage appearance at the Arena of the Stars in Genting Highlands last Sunday was accompanied by whistles, hoots and clapping in appreciation of one who had made their day when they were young and continues to do so 40 years on. ... It is a measure of the man and his songs that the chemistry with his fans has lasted this long. He sort of explained it when he said there had been great singers before him, like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, but somehow people didn't quite want to sing like them. But it was different when it came to him and Elvis. Ah, yes, Elvis. He was a great influence and "I even wanted to be Elvis," he said. But it was a thrill for him to see the banner headlines putting them together in the competition that went on, on both sides of the Atlantic. He is No 2 to the American singer in The Guinness Book of Records of British top singles. He had the audience laughing when he wondered why it was not seen fit to keep the American out in a book on British records. He had them cheering when he noted that Elvis was selling even more records after his death, which left him (Sir Cliff) with "a terrible choice." He chose not to.
- Adam Faith, British pop star turned financial guru, dies at 62
By Dick Stanley
(Ottawa Citizen, March 8, 2003)
MALAYSIA --Adam Faith, a square-jawed British singer who was briefly a Cockney challenger to Elvis Presley's rock'n'roll crown, died Saturday at the age of 62. Faith suffered a heart attack in Stoke-on-Trent in central England, where he was appearing in a play, his agent said. Agent Alan Field said Faith, who had a history of heart trouble, fell ill after Friday's performance and died later in a local hospital. Born Terry Nelhams in west London in 1940, Faith was a handsome teenager playing with a skiffle group in Soho coffee shops when he was spotted by producers of a British Broadcasting Corp. music program.
Adopting the stage name Adam Faith, he became - alongside Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele and Billy Fury - one of a crop of slick but unthreatening British pop stars of the pre-Beatles era. "He came through in the pioneering days of pop music and he really was a big icon along with Cliff Richard - they were the first wave of the British version of the pop music world," Field said.
- CROONER OF BAGHDAD
By Barbara Hoffman
(New York Post Online, February 28 2003)
FROM Iraq, with . . . love songs? Kazem Al-Sahir - the Iraqi-born pop singer described as an Arabic superstar of "Elvis and Sinatra" magnitude - kicks off a U.S. tour tonight at the Beacon Theater. He'll be performing love songs like "Ana wa Laila" ("Me and Laila") - which aced Cher's "Believe" to hit the No. 6 spot on the BBC's Top 10 of world music - all sung in Arabic and backed by a 15-piece orchestra of Middle East-born musicians. "His message is one of peace or hope," says Dawn Elder, his Santa Barbara, Calif.-based manager. "He feels that in good times and bad, we still need music. And with all the things you hear about weapons of mass destruction, we need a break."
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