Mid November 2004
- Children's letters show U.S. history in the making: DIALOGUE ON EXHIBIT AT NATIONAL ARCHIVES
By Jim Puzzanghera
(Mercury News, November 12, 2004)
Children have left their mark on American democracy over the years with pens, pencils and crayons, writing to the White House with complaints, suggestions, or opinions on such vital issues as whether Elvis Presley should get a haircut when he joined the Army. ... Among other letters in the exhibit: one from three Montana girls to President Dwight Eisenhower after Presley was drafted in 1958, pleading, ``If you cut his side burns off we will just die!'' ...
- MADONNA, ELVIS AND WILLIAMS INDUCTED TO UK HALL OF FAME
(contactmusic.com, November 12, 2004)
Superstar MADONNA, pop hunk ROBBIE WILLIAMS and late rocker ELVIS PRESLEY were among the superstars inducted into the UK MUSIC HALL OF FAME last night (11NOV04). The MATERIAL GIRL and 'The King' joined U2, THE BEATLES and BOB MARLEY as the founders of the first ever induction at a star-studded ceremony at east London's Hackney Empire. Decade representatives include SIR CLIFF RICHARD for the 1950s, the ROLLING STONES for the 1960s, QUEEN for the 1970s, MICHAEL JACKSON for the 1980s and Williams as the top 1990s artist.
Madonna, U2 frontman BONO and Williams were all on hand to collect their awards, while Marley's widow RITA MARLEY and Presley's widow [ie divorced wife] PRISCILLA PRESLEY accepted the honour on behalf of their late husbands. The NAKED GUN actress enthused, "Elvis would be very proud. I wish that he could be here to enjoy this moment. "His dream of a world tour was never realised. His fan base was so strong here, and because of that he would have been very proud to receive this." ...
- 'If Elvis was a Brit, he would be alive today,' says Sir Elton John
(newkerala.com, November 12, 2004)
Music legend Sir Elton John thinks that if the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presely had lived in Britain instead of America he would still have been alive. The 'Candle in the Wind' singer revealed he was surprised at how haggard Elvis looked when he met him before his death in 1976, and says that Elvis would have been much better off had he been living in Britain because there one is less likely to become a drug addict. He said that he was speaking from personal experience when his friends forced him to get off drugs after his addiction became dangerous. "The s**t that he was doing to himself, if he (Elvis) had lived in Britain, I don't think that would have happened to him. The celebrity world of America has too many yes men. You get cocooned," Rate the Music quoted him as saying. "At least when I was doing drugs, I had my good friends move away from me because they didn't want to know me," he added.
- Rev. Mother Hart was Elvis's co-star
(The Globe and Mail, November 12, 2004)
Nearly a half-century ago, Dolores Hart was a blue-eyed, blonde actress starring next to Elvis Presley in the film Loving You. In a switch of biblical proportions, she's now the Rev. Mother Dolores Hart, prioress of a Roman Catholic abbey devoted to prayer and a large farm in Bethlehem, Conn. Her unusual story is among those in an exhibit titled ³God's Women: Nuns in America² on view at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.
In part, the exhibit explores what it calls ³America's love affair with Catholic nuns in film,² listing more than 30 actresses who have portrayed nuns, from Ingrid Bergman to Jodie Foster. Mother Hart is among those featured in this portion of the show. She was 24 when she decided to quit Hollywood and enter the Abbey in Bethlehem, Conn. ... Mother Hart belongs to the traditionally strict order founded by St. Benedict 1,500 years ago. ... Last month, she celebrated her 66th birthday at a dinner in New York of the Neuropathy Association.
- BRANDO'S SON WEDS PRESLEY'S 'DAUGHTER'
(contactmusic.com, November 12, 2004)
MARLON BRANDO's son CHRISTIAN has married a woman who claims to be ELVIS PRESLEY's daughter. Christian, 46, exchanged nuptials with 48-year-old artist DEBORAH PRESLEY on 16 October (04) at Las Vegas' Little White Chapel. Deborah claims she is an illegitimate daughter of the late rocker's, but in 1988 a judge ruled that her claims have no legal merit. Christian was released from jail in 1996, after serving nearly half of a 10 year sentence for the fatal shooting of his half sister's lover in 1990. Deborah tells PEOPLE magazine that she saw a picture of Christian in 1987 and "loved him from that moment".
- Demi and Priscilla take in rock musical
(Hello Magazine, November 11, 2004)
Demi Moore seemed eager to get an early start on her birthday celebrations when she attended the London production of We Will Rock You on Wednesday evening. The actress who turns 42 on Thursday, took in the hit musical accompanied by her three daughters Rumer, Scout and Tallulah. She was not the only celeb spotted at the stage show tribute to Queen, as Priscilla Presley, the former wife of rock legend Elvis Presley, was also on hand. ...
- Australian unemployment hits record low, sparks fresh rate hike fears
(Yahoo! News / AFP, November 11, 2004)
Australian unemployment fell to a record low of 5.3 percent in October, prompting analysts to warn that the country's powerhouse economic performance could increase pressure to hike interest rates early next year. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said the October jobless rate was the lowest since its monthly labour force survey began in 1978. AMP Capital Investors senior economist Bill Cunneen described the figures as "the lowest unemployment rate since Elvis Presley was crooning and sideburns were fashionable". ...
- Motivation in humor
By Ron Wynn
(Nashville City Paper, November 11, 2004)
Author and motivational speaker Carol Grace Anderson has previously written about the importance of perseverance and determination in achieving personal success. But her latest book explores another area, the topic of humor. I Need A Good Laugh! 137 of the World's Funniest Quotes (Rock Hill) gathers material from musical performers, comedians, athletes and even a few politicians, offering items that range from just being silly to providing comic relief and occasionally even some insight. Anderson, who will be at Christmas Village at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Friday-Sunday, selected her favorites after going through hundreds of quotes gathered during research on other topics as well as compiling material for this book.
"I didn't want to make this just a joke book," Anderson said. "While many of these can be told as jokes and were first told by comedians, there are many others taken from daily conversations, briefings and interviews. It was hard to narrow the list down to 137, and I certainly have enough material for another volume." Anderson added material culled from signs and billboards she noticed during her travels, as well as items on resumes, headlines from newspapers and quotes from films. Among the book's most famous lines from musical types are comments from Elvis Presley: "I don't know anything about music, in my line you don't have to;" and from Dolly Parton: "I look just like the girl next door, if you happen to live next to an amusement park." ...
- Elvis Sightings Abound at LA Open Casting Call
By Steve Gorman
(Yahoo! News Singapore / Reuters, November 11, 2004)
It was the ultimate Elvis sighting. Some 200 sneering, hip-swiveling Elvis Presley look-alikes in pompadours, leather jackets, jumpsuits and blue suede shoes lined up for an open casting call on Wednesday outside CBS studios, hoping to play the king of rock 'n' roll on TV. Elvis impersonators from as far away as Buffalo, N.Y., Boise, Idaho, Toronto and even Scotland turned Sound Stage 46 into a virtual international house of Presley as they filed one by one before casting directors and producers to perform a few bars of "Don't Be Cruel," "Jailhouse Rock" or "Hound Dog."
Most, including beefy, middle-aged candidates dressed as the Las Vegas-era Elvis, were politely thanked for their efforts and sent on their way. A lucky few -- all of them practitioners of the younger, thinner Presley look -- were asked to stick around to read a few lines from a script.
One of them was Gino Monopoli, 29, a soft-spoken professional Elvis "tribute artist" from Toronto, who like most of the contenders, spoke of Presley in unbridled superlatives. "Elvis was the epitome of cool. You could bring him out today, in 2004, and he'd still rock," Monopoli said. Monopoli acknowledged being caught a bit off-guard when he got a chance to read for the part. "The southern accent was a little tough. I had about 10 minutes to get it down."
Organizers said they were looking for someone who captures the "essence of Elvis" and bears a close resemblance for an upcoming CBS miniseries about his early career. Director Jim Sadwith said he hoped to find a newcomer who possessed "the sexuality, the vulnerability and the danger of Elvis .... We're not looking for just an impersonator."
The program will trace Presley's rise to fame from age 18 to his triumphant 1968 comeback at age 33. No air date has been set. Presley died in 1977 at age 42. While all the candidates had to perform a Presley number for the tryout, the winner won't actually sing in the miniseries. He'll lip-sync to Presley recordings licensed especially for the program.
Lined up outside the studio was a colorful collection of Presley hopefuls who came in all shapes and sizes. Tall, lanky Steve Gagnon, 44, a real estate agent and Elvis moonlighter from Battle Creek, Michigan, said he got his start performing as Presley for a charity and made it a part-time career. ...
- Awards shows: The new variety show
By Kevin C. Johnson
(St Louis Post-Dispatch, November 11, 2004)
Music award shows increasingly stress who's singing over who's nominated, making them come off as performance shows with awards rather than award shows with performances. And the venerable American Music Awards are no exception. ... Bon Jovi will receive the Award of Merit, previously given to the likes of Elvis Presley, Prince, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Berry Gordy and Kenny Rogers. Clark says Bon Jovi made its TV performance debut on his old "American Bandstand." Clark will also air a rare, 40-year-old tape of the Beatles performing the classics "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You." ...
- Sinatra all showmanship at Bimbo's
By Jim Harrington
(Oakland Tribune, November 9, 2004)
A SMART critic knows better than to mess with Frank Sinatra's daughter. Sinatra died in 1998 but if anyone can reach from beyond the grave to arrange for a pair of custom-fitted cement boots, definitely not made for walkin', it's Ol' Blue Eyes. Fortunately, daddy's girl Nancy Sinatra delivered a fine show Friday night at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco that left this critic with little to gripe about. ... The 64-year-old New Jersey native is touring in support of a newly released self-titled CD, an excellent work that ranks just behind Loretta Lynn's "Van Lear Rose" as most-welcome comeback album of the year. ... Sinatra also took the opportunity to remind the crowd of her movie career by singing "Good Time Girl" while a montage of her big-screen performances was shown on a screen to the side of the stage. It's easy to forget that Sinatra's resume includes appearing with Elvis Presley in "Speedway" and with Peter Fonda in "The Wild Angels." But this bit of self-promotion only added to the night's mood of fond reminiscing. ... It was a night that would have made Ol' Blue Eyes proud and, more importantly, one that won't lead to this critic possibly being fitted for cement boots.
- Magician will go from Stage Left to Mideast sultanate
By MATTHEW SCHOMER
(Herald-Star, November 9, 2004)
LISBON - Fans of magic can prepare for a show fit for a king - or at least for a sultan. Salem-based magician Christopher Greenamyer will present "Christopher's Comedy Magic" Nov. 12-13 in a benefit show for Stage Left Players. He described the show as "a magic show for people who really don't like magic shows." People attending the show shouldn't expect glitter, birds, lovely assistants, white rabbits and people being cut in half. Instead, Greenamyer said he mixes his magic with audience interaction and comedic pop culture references, which has included jabs at Britney Spears, Elvis Presley and Paris Hilton. ...
- 'Elvis Presley has just left the bidding . . .'
(Cambridge News, November 9, 2004)
AN LP signed by Elvis Presley will be auctioned to raise money for a school in Africa. The record - 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong - which has been supplied through an Our Price charity scheme, has a reserve price of £1,000 and will be auctioned alongside Give My Regards to Broad Street, signed by Ringo Starr and Paul and Linda McCartney. ... Charity trustee Paul Turner said: "Having the Elvis LP is a bit surreal really. Hopefully we will get people there who really want to buy it." The auction is at Chalkestone Community Centre in Haverhill on Saturday. For information call (01440) 762421.
- Voting options didn't please all: Balloters scribble in an assortment of write-in candidates
By JAMES QUIRK Jr.
(The Hawkeye Newspaper, November 7, 2004)
What do Jesus Christ, Mike Sweet and Randy Danniel have in common? Their names appeared in writein votes for various elected positions in Des Moines County's general election results Tuesday. Sweet, a columnist at The Hawk Eye, and Danniel, a Burlington railroad consultant who was the center of a controversy earlier this year involving a purported verbal contract he had with the city and county, each received two write-in votes for supervisor. Jesus Christ received numerous nods, including votes for president, the county's agricultural extension council, U.S. senator, county auditor and Benton Township trustee. Local entrepreneur Randy Winegard, owner of Pzazz who is in the process of building a new water park with the city, also received several write-in votes, including for state senator, county agricultural extension office, Concordia Township trustee, county auditor and county sheriff.
Comic strip character Snoopy was somebody's vote for sheriff, cartoon character ScoobyDoo received a favorable nod for auditor and Mickey Mouse was somebody's choice for state representative. Donald Duck was a write-in for state senator, while the late, great Elvis Presley was somebody's choice for state representative. ...
- Loews celebrates 100 years of movies: Museum exhibit tracks the evolution of movie houses
(CNN, November 7, 2004)
Elvis Presley, who was a theater usher before he was famous, poses with an unidentified man in a Loews movie house in Memphis.
Without Marcus Loew, MGM would never have been formed, and films like 'Singin' in the Rain' and 'The Wizard of Oz' might never have been made. - Film Historian Ross Melnick
Elvis Presley was once fired as an usher at a Loews movie theater for punching out another usher, the story goes. By the time he returned years later, his face graced the silver screen. Barbra Streisand is believed to have seen her first movies at a Loews theater in Brooklyn. And in recent years, actor Matt Damon was a Loews usher. Those are some of the tales livening up the centennial of one of the world's oldest movie theater chains, started by Marcus Loew, born to poor Jewish immigrants on Manhattan's Lower East Side. ...
- Elvis musical all shook up over lead role
(Indianapolis Star / Associated Press, November 7, 2004)
The understudy has gotten the gig. Cheyenne Jackson, who understudied the lead in "All Shook Up," has taken over the starring role in the Broadway-bound musical that uses songs by Elvis Presley. Jackson replaces Jarrod Emick, who left the show because of a contract dispute. ...
- Man charged for stabbing Elvis
(BBC, November 6, 2004)
Sarasota - A fisherman was cited for killing an alligator nicknamed Elvis who lived in a golf course community's pond. The man said he stabbed the reptile in self-defence. Rick Allen Burns, 49, faces up to 60 days in jail and a fine if convicted on a misdemeanor charge of possession of an alligator without a permit. One-and-a-half-metre-long Elvis was found dying in October with a hunting knife in its head. A $1 000 reward for information was posted and an anonymous tip led to Burns, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said on Friday. Residents said Elvis first showed up at their pond about 18 months ago, and had never hurt anyone - or ducks living nearby. ...
- Elvis made music matter to our generation
By Ron Meyer
(Benton Courier, November 5, 2004)
I had finally come to the conclusion that music would not be a part of my future. I couldn't walk close to a magnet because my tin ears would attract them. I had taught myself how to somewhat play the four-string banjo, I thought, until I heard someone who could play. End of experiment. Some of my friends had become listeners to the Little Rock black radio station so I began to listen also. I liked what I heard, but would never admit to anyone I was grooving in during this pre-civil rights era. My grandmother would have poked sticks in my ears if she knew I was listening to "ethnic" music, or trash as she called it.
Fats Domino, Little Richard, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Joe Turner, Bo Diddley, Little Willie Johns ... all brought to you by Royal Crown Hair Dressing, poultry and Thunderbird Wine, a real back-alley juice for street derelicts long before the days of Annie Greensprings. "What's the price? Thirty twice!"
The Caucasoid version of this music came bursting on the scene with a baby-faced singer named Bill Haley and his Comets. We had Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, Kay Starr, Mario Lanza, Frank Sinatra, Teresa Brewer and other warblers, but nothing like "Crazy Man, Crazy" by Haley. It was utterly different than anything we had heard, especially if you compared it to "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?" This was in 1954. Doesn't seem like 50 years ago does it? It was the birth of cool. Rockabilly had been let out of the bottle and someone ate the cork.
Then along came a young fellow from Sun Records in Memphis named Elvis Aaron Presley with a wiggle that shook the world. I had kind of a ho-hum attitude toward "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Heartbreak Hotel," his first cuts for Sun. So much for my opinion ... they both took off like rockets.
One of the artists on the black radio station was a rhythm and blues honker named Wynonie Harris who had an R&B hit called "Good Rockin' Tonight." Elvis shamelessly stole it and I was an Elvis fan from then on. Why am I writing this doggerel? Because I don't think the youth of today know what ice we broke for them by embracing rock and roll. We are absolutely, positively on an express train for Hell to hear local preachers tell it. Elvis and rock 'n' roll were banned from cities across the country, but we persisted. I never understood the holy-roller stance against the music. Somehow, I don't think the good Lord did either. The bus was leaving the station and all the preacher men could do was wave it goodbye and wish for more Pat Boones.
Elvis became the target for all that was unholy - mainly because of his gyrations - but Southern culture alone was not the breeding ground for his wheezing wiggle as we look back with half a century of hindsight. Presley was a product of blues, R&B, black spirituals, white gospel and country. A mix of country and secular, mainly through WLAC in Nashville and his own trips down Beale Street, he loved music and, as it turned out, adopted them all.
The premier wiggle merchant in those days was Harris. Critics later said Elvis was a much subdued version of Wynonie Harris. He could pull it off, he was white. As a member of the Pentecostal church, Presley was taken to Ellis Auditorium for all-night singings by his mother. One of the groups he enjoyed was the Statesmen, a gospel group, but he kept his eyes glued to "the Big Chief," bass singer Jim Wetherington. As the Chief's voice fell into his foghorn imitation, his legs began to twitch, his flashy trousers accentuating his movements. Women in the audience began to scream and cry as Wetherington took his act about as far as being a member of a gospel quartet would let him go.
Harris came to Memphis from his hometown of Omaha for a concert. In the crowd was a young Elvis, who watched the performer become more raucous and studied his every move. Harris waved his arms, jutted his hips and curled his lips into a smiling sneer, moves that the King would later put to good use. It certainly didn't hurt anything for Elvis to notice that women in the audience became more animated as Harris caricatured his movements. "Hey, if it works for Wynonie why won't it work for me?"
Elvis' favorite singers? According to an interview, they were Dean Martin, Perry Como and Patti Page, songsmiths who Presley's rising career would bring to an eclipse.
Ed Sullivan finally submitted to pressure and invited the Tennessee wiggle worm to his program in 1957, with orders that the cameras were not to photograph him below the waist. Almost single-handedly Elvis had killed off "Your Hit Parade," the performers could sing, but they couldn't gyrate. Sullivan ended up praising Presley to America as "a fine young man."
I had never been to a concert before, but I did go when Elvis came to Robinson Auditorium in 1955. Never have I seen such disgraceful behavior. Why people were dancing in the aisles and cops had to come in and make them stop. Now I believed everything the preachers were telling us. Yeah, maybe tomorrow, but not today.
I bought the ticket because Elvis canceled an earlier trip to Little Rock. I was allowed to play my banjo badly from time to time at the Barnyard Frolics, a country/western show on Saturday night at Robinson. Elvis was performing at the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport and was scheduled for a Frolics appearance. Didn't happen. I was thoroughly mesmerized by Canadian songster Hank Snow at the time and old Hank had signed Elvis as his opening act. I bet that was a tough bunch to follow.
DJ Alan Freed coined the term "rock 'n' roll," according to drivel put out at the time. Only later would we learn it had been used for years by black entertainers as a euphemism for something a little more naughty. I still listen to 1950s era songs, but have gotten so old that radio stations that used to play them no longer do because, demographically, I have passed my purchasing peak and there's no longer any need to go after an audience who keeps their hands in their pockets.
I also enjoyed the Motown era in the 1960s, but when heavy metal came along it was beyond my comprehension as rock 'n' roll had been beyond my grandparents' understanding. Why, I never got into looking at Britney Spears' much-photographed navel and now it is too late as she and Madonna are beginning to show signs of wrinkling and weathering. Wait until they get my age, those six-pack stomachs will look like a rub board or cellulite saver.
Looking back, I'm glad I got to experience that era although I didn't think much about it then ... not nearly as often as I do now.
Danged Beatles ... they killed it dead as a coffin nail.
Go to earlier articles
|
