May 30, 2003

ELVIS: CLOSE UP Box Set Details - Release Date: July 1, 2003 
    --------------------------------------------------- EPE - 5/30/2003 
   

Following is a press release from BMG:


ELVIS: CLOSE UP

BMG HERITAGE/RCA BOXED SET BRINGS KEY FACETS OF PRESLEY’S VARIED CAREER TO NEW AUDIENCES

FOLLOWS RUNAWAY SUCCESS OF ELVIS 30 #1 HITS AND TODAY, TOMORROW & FOREVER

FOUR-VOLUME SET OUT JULY 1
CONTAINS 89 NEVER BEFORE RELEASED TRACKS

Unreleased stereo masters and outtakes from the 50s, and a complete unreleased 1972 concert are among highlights


BMG’s release last year of ELV1S 30 #1 HITSexceeded all expectations, astonishing pundits with nine million in worldwide sales and chart-topping success, and introducing a new generation of fans to the music of the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Now, this astonishing momentum continues with the July 1 release of the companion to Today, Tomorrow & Forever ELVIS: CLOSE UP,, an 89-track, exquisitely packaged boxed set exploring four distinct areas of Presley’s career, with all previously unreleased material. 

Debuting at #1 in America (a first for Elvis) and staying atop the chart for 3 straight weeks, ELV1S 30 #1 HITS was one of the top 20 best selling albums of the year. Outside the States, it topped the charts in 26 countries. Meanwhile, the box set Elvis Today, Tomorrow & Forever -- now approaching gold status -- garnered kudos and appreciation from Elvis’ core fans and was named best reissue of 2002 by Rolling Stone magazine. Future products to meet new demand are planned for this year.

A vivid reminder of Presley’s relevance and of the remarkable connection his music has made with fans new and old, the success of last year’s releases points to a new generation of core fans eager to dive into this essential artist’s varied career. Fully mixed and remastered from the original session tapes and annotated by Grammy-award winning scholar Colin Escott, ELVIS: CLOSE UP is an insightful overview, showing off Presley rehearsing and honing his music and tracing the evolution of a Legend:

DISC 1: UNRELEASED STEREO MASTERS FROM THE 1950s
A full disc of stereo masters released for the first time in stereo and never before heard outtakes, a rarity for any ‘50s recordings. Highlights include songs from Loving You, Jailhouse Rock and additional cuts from his January 1957 sessions at Radio Recorders.

DISC 2: UNRELEASED MOVIE GEMS
A closer look at Elvis’ first 4 post-army movies (1960-1961), featuring all previously unreleased outtakes. Centered around Elvis’ two biggest box office successes, G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii, it also features great songs from Flaming Star and Wild in the Country.

DISC 3: THE MAGIC OF NASHVILLE
A travel through Elvis’ ‘60s Nashville sessions at RCA’s famous Studio B. Includes previously unreleased outtakes from almost every studio session. The CD opens with Make Me Know It, his first recorded post-army song, and concludes with U.S. Male, the last song recorded with the incredible Nashville A-team. Other key tracks include Surrender, His Latest Flame, The Girl of My Best Friend, and Kiss Me Quick.

DISC 4: LIVE IN TEXAS 1972
A complete unreleased live concert recorded in San Antonio, Texas on April 18, 1972. Taped in the heart of Elvis Country , this show captures his legendary stage show at a time when Elvis was at his absolute peak as a live performer. Songs include Burning Love (which had yet to be released on record at the time of this concert), Proud Mary, Polk Salad Annie, How Great Thou Art, An American Trilogy, Suspicious Minds, and You Gave Me A Mountain. 

BMG Heritage, a new label focusing on developing and marketing BMG catalog and archival repertoire, mines and exploits BMG’s extensive century-old catalog. BMG Heritage has catalog responsibilities for BMG-owned labels Arista, Buddha Records, RCA, RLG, Windham Hill, and Private Music. BMG Heritage is a business unit of BMG Strategic Marketing Group.



Track Listing For
ELVIS: CLOSE UP

DISC ONE 
UNRELEASED STEREO MASTERS FROM THE '50s

  1. (There’ll Be) Peace In The Valley (For Me) - take 9 Master - 1/13/57
  2. I Beg Of You - take 11 - 1/13/57
  3. That’s When Your Heartaches Begin - take 2 - 1/13/57
  4. It’s No Secret - take 13 Master - 1/19/57
  5. Blueberry Hill - take 9 Master - 1/19/57
  6. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You - take 15 Master - 1/19/57
  7. Is It So Strange - take 12 Master - 1/19/57
  8. Loving You - Fast version, take 5 - 2/14/57
  9. Loving You - Fast version, take 15 - 2/14/57
10. Jailhouse Rock - Master - 4/30/57
11. Treat Me Nice - First movie version, take 19 - 4/30/57
12. Young And Beautiful - Record Master, takes 21,22 - 4/30/57
13. Young And Beautiful - Solo Master, take 3 - 4/30/57
14. Young And Beautiful - Nightclub Master, take 7 - 4/30/57
15. I Want To Be Free - Movie version take 12 - 5/3/57
16. I Want To Be Free - Record Master, take 11 - 5/3/57
17. Treat Me Nice - Second movie version, take 13 - 5/3/57
18. Don’t Leave Me Now - Elvis piano version - First version - 5/3/57 
19. Don’t Leave Me Now - Movie version - second version - 5/3/57 
20. (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care - take 1 - 5/3/57

DISC TWO
UNRELEASED MOVIE GEMS

  1. G.I. Blues - take 6 - 4/27/60
  2. Doin’ The Best I Can - takes 10, 11, 12 - 4/27/60
  3. Wooden Heart - take 1 - 4/28/60
  4. Pocketful Of Rainbows - takes 15, 16 - 4/28/60
  5. Shoppin’ Around - takes 4, 5 - 5/6/60
  6. Frankfort Special - takes 4, 5 - 5/6/60
  7. Big Boots - Fast version, take 1 - 5/6/60
  8. Tonight’s All Right For Love - takes 14, 15 - 5/6/60
  9. Summer Kisses, Winter Tears - take 2 - 8/8/60
10. Flaming Star - take 2 - 10/7/60
11. Lonely Man - solo version, take 3 - 11/7/60
12. In My Way - take 2 - 11/7/60
13. Forget Me Never - take 1 - 11/7/60
14. Wild In The Country - takes 1 & 14 - 11/7/60
15. Lonely Man - take 1 - 11/7/60 
16. I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell - takes 14, 15, 16 - 11/8/60
17. Aloha Oe - take 1 - 3/21/61
18. Hawaiian Sunset - take 3 - 3/21/61
19. KU-U-I-PO - takes 6, 7 - 3/21/61
20. No More - take 11 - 3/21/61
21. Slicin’ Sand - takes 6 & 7 3/21/61
22. Steppin’ Out Of Line - take 15 - 3/22/61
23. Almost Always True - take 3 - 3/22/61
24. Moonlight Swim - take 4 (edited) - 3/22/61
25. Can’t Help Falling In Love - takes 14, 15, 16 - 3/23/61

DISC THREE
THE MAGIC OF NASHVILLE

  1. Make Me Know It - take 1 - 3/20/60
  2. Soldier Boy - take 10 - 3/20/60
  3. It Feels So Right - take 1 - 3/20/60
  4. The Girl Of My Best Friend - take 9 - 4/3/60
  5. Surrender - takes 5 & 6 - 10/30/60
  6. Working On The Building - take 4 - 10/30/60
  7. Starting Today - take 1 - 3/12/61
  8. Kiss Me Quick - take 4 - 6/25/61
  9. That’s Someone You Never Forget - take 7 - 6/25/61
10. (Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame - take 12 - 6/25/61
11. I Met Her Today - take 16 - 10/15/61
12. Night Rider - take 1 - 10/15/61
13. Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello - take 4 - 3/19/62
14. Echoes Of Love - take 8 - 5/26/63
15. Ask Me - take 7 - 1/12/64
16. Stand By Me - take 10 - 5/25/66
17. Somebody Bigger Than You And I - take 15 - 5/27/66
18. Without Him - take 8 - 5/27/66
19. Mine - takes 8-9 - 9/10/67
20. Singing Tree - take 4 (first version) - 9/10/67
21. U.S. Male - take 10 - 1/17/68

DISC FOUR
LIVE IN TEXAS 1972

  1. Also Sprach Zarathustra
  2. See See Rider 
  3. Proud Mary
  4. Never Been To Spain
  5. You Gave Me A Mountain
  6. Until It’s Time For You To Go
  7. Polk Salad Annie
  8. Love Me
  9. All Shook Up
10. Teddy Bear / Don’t Be Cruel
11. Heartbreak Hotel
12. Hound Dog
13. How Great Thou Art
14. I Can’t Stop Loving You
15. Love Me Tender
16. Suspicious Minds
17. Introductions
18. For The Good Times 
19. Burning Love 
20. An American Trilogy 
21. Funny How Time Slips Away 
22. Can’t Help Falling In Love 
23. Closing Vamp

May 30, 2003

Elvis Box Full of Unreleased Goodies
   By Troy Carpenter, N.Y. 

NEW YORK (Billboard) - BMG Heritage has set a July 1 release for "Elvis: Close Up," a four-disc box set featuring a bounty of unreleased Elvis Presley material. 

"Close Up" follows last year's RCA release of the box set "Elvis Today, Tomorrow, and Forever" and the single-disc collection "ELV1S 30 #1 Hits," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 2.8 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. 

"Elvis: Close Up" collects 89 tracks in all, and each of its four remastered discs represent different aspects of Presley's career. 

Disc one concentrates on stereo master tapes from the 1950s, marking the first such releases for "Blueberry Hill," "Loving You," "(There'll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me)," "Don't Leave Me Now," and more. Disc two culls tracks from four of Presley's films: "G.I. Blues," "Blue Hawaii," "Flaming Star," and "Wild in the Country." The disc features 25 previously unreleased outtakes. 

The third disc covers Presley's 1960s sessions at RCA's Studio B in Nashville. Twenty-one outtakes from a number of different sessions are featured, including "Make Me Know It," "U.S. Male," "Surrender," "His Latest Flame," "The Girl of My Best Friend," and "Singing Tree." 

The final disc is taken up by a complete unreleased concert recorded April 18, 1972 in San Antonio. The 23-track show features "Burning Love," "Proud Mary," "Suspicious Minds," "Never Been to Spain," "Funny How Time Slips Away," and "Polk Salad Annie." 


Reuters/Billboard

May 28, 2003

May 27, 2003

Lisa Marie's Mom Watches Her in Vegas 
   TeenHollywood - May 26, 2003 

Lisa-Marie Presley's appearance at the Divas Duets show in Las Vegas was the first time her mother Priscilla Presley ever saw her perform live for fans.

Presley, who graced the stage with Pat Benatar at the Thursday night extravaganza, also arrived at a personal milestone with her first ever performance in the American gambling capital - where her father Elvis Presley had performed three decades earlier. 

Former Dallas star Priscilla says, "I think her dad would be very, very proud of her. She's really strived to be her own person.

"It really brings back memories. Never did I ever think that I'd be here a second time around." 

May 23, 2003 (Updated: June 29, 2003)

New Tell-All Book On Elvis' Manager Due In July
   Thu May 22,11:00 AM ET - LAUNCH Radio Networks 

A new book, The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story Of Colonel Tom Parker And Elvis Presley, is scheduled for publication on July 15. Author Alanna Nash, who also wrote the 1995 book Elvis Aaron Presley: Revelations From The Memphis Mafia, calls Elvis' legendary manager a "conman, illegal immigrant and wanted murderer, who more than anyone was responsible for Elvis's success, his legend, his sad decline, and his death." The book even makes the shocking claim that Parker once bludgeoned a woman to death. 

According to Nash, Parker was born Cornelis van Kuijk in Holland. It was there that he allegedly killed a woman--then fled to the U.S. the following day. He entered the country illegally, and joined the U.S. Army using the name, "Tom Parker." 

The book also claims Parker deserted his army unit, suffered a nervous breakdown and was discharged for psychosis, psychogenic depression and emotional instability. 

Col. Tom Parker
   By Jim Haner (SunSpot - June 29, 2003)

The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley, by Alanna Nash. Simon & Schuster. 416 pages. $25. 


In the annals of villainy, there are but a few scoundrels so vile that they don't possess at least some glimmer of humanity. If nothing else, it can usually be said that they loved their mothers. 

But in the case of Col. Tom Parker, even that much is in question. As his family matriarch lay dying in Holland in 1958, praying for some last glimpse of her son, Parker had not so much as sent her a birthday card in 25 years. 

Infamous the world over as the personal manager of the legendary Elvis Presley, Parker continues to be widely blamed for driving the King of Rock 'n' Roll to an early grave in 1977 at the age of 42. 

By pushing his client through an inhuman schedule of recording sessions, movies, personal appearances and 837 Vegas performances, Parker drove Presley into the monstrous addiction to prescription drugs that finally killed him. Or so the story goes. 

Now, celebrity biographer Alanna Nash shovels a couple of tons of fresh dirt onto Parker's name - going so far as to accuse him of murdering a woman in his youth. 

Dead since 1997, the man everyone called The Colonel is in no position to defend himself, or Nash might find herself in court for libel, slander and wanton trafficking in malicious speculation. 

Assembled mostly from previously published accounts, The Colonel is liberally embroidered with remembrances from long-aggrieved parties who now have nothing to fear from the famously venal and vengeful Parker. 

The main narrative is by now wellknown. 

Arriving in the U.S. as a stowaway on a ship from his native Holland on the eve of the Great Depression, the illegal immigrant survived as a carnival roustabout, animal trainer, dog catcher and grifter who would later brag of bilking widows out of their pensions by posing as a Bible salesman. 

In his travels through the American South as a carnival promoter, Parker crossed paths with itinerant musicians who were just then beginning to gather fame as the progenitors of a new musical style - and he knew a promising racket when he saw one. 

Known then as "hillbilly" music, it would morph within a few years into country and western, and thence into rock 'n' roll. 

Through his early associations with such artists as Eddie Arnold and Marty Robbins, Parker worked his way well enough into the grapevine by the 1950s to receive word of a hot new talent just then bursting from the housing projects of Memphis - an awkward, hayseed kid named Elvis. 

The boy's mother was suspicious of the carny huckster in the crushed fedora and oily, road-worn suit. But Parker cajoled the Presleys into the first of many self-serving contracts that would ultimately give him more than half the King's earnings. 

Unlike prior Presley biographers, most notably Peter Guralnick, who cast The Colonel as a fretful bystander to Elvis's drug-induced descent, Nash presents Parker as a sadistic manipulator driven by greed and a ferocious gambling habit to wring every last dime from his waning star. 

She finds the seeds of his pathological nature in his early childhood. Savagely beaten by an overbearing father, then taught the art of the con by his carny grandfather, Parker became as adept at sleight-of-hand as he was at the finer points of psychological torture. 

By the time Nash is through, the reader is ready to believe that Parker was capable of almost anything - including the unsolved murder of a grocer's wife back in his native Holland, a case she makes on the thinnest of circumstantial evidence. 

The Colonel is not great biography, by any stretch. But if anyone ever deserved such a thorough hatchet job, it's probably Tom Parker. 


Jim Haner has been a reporter for The Sun and for The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Miami Herald. He specializes in investigative and urban affairs reporting and has written extensively about law enforcement, money laundering, drug policy and addiction. He is now working on a book. 

May 22, 2003 (Updated: June 10, 2003)

Next FTD - DRAGONHEART (Release: July 01, 2003) 
   South Bend - October 1st, 1974
   8287653366-2


  

  1) See See Rider 3:42 (Trad. Arr. Presley)
  
  2) I Got A Woman/Amen 6:56 (Ray Charles) (Hairston)
  
  3) Love Me 1:29 (Leiber/Stoller)

  4) Blue Suede Shoes 1:24 (Perkins)

  5) It's Midnight 3:46 (Wheeler/Chesnut)

  6) Big Boss Man 2:35 (Smith/Dixon)

  7) Fever 3:38 (Davenport/Cooley)

  8) Love Me Tender 2:14 (Presley/Matson)

  9) Hound Dog 2:04 (Leiber/Stoller)

10) Heartbreak Hotel 2:21 (Axton/Durden/Presley)

11) If You Love Me 2:50 (Rostill)

12) Bridge Over Troubled Water 4:25 (Simon)

13) Introductions 5:01

14) Lawdy Miss Clawdy 1:36 (Price)

15) Introductions 0:51

16) All Shook Up 1:00 (Blackwell/Presley)

17) Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel 2:02 (Lowe/Mann)(Blackwell/Presley)

18) Let Me Be There 3:22 (Rostill)

19) It's Now Or Never 2:34 (Shroeder/Gold)

20) You Gave Me A Mountain 3:14 (Robbins)

21) Johnny B. Goode 4:00 (Berry)

22) Hawaiian Wedding Song 2:31 (King/Hoffman/Manning)

23) Steamroller Blues 2:48 (Taylor)

24) Can't Help Falling In Love 1:39 (Peretti/Creatore/Weiss)

25) Closing Vamp and Announcements 0:56

26) Alright, Okay, You Win 1:15 (Sid Wyche / Mayme Watts) 74-09-29 Detroit

27) Blue Christmas 2:37 (Hayes/Johnson) 74-09-28 College Park

28) Trying To Get To You 2:58 (McCoy/Singleton) 74-09-28 College Park

 

Recorded at Notre Dame Athletic and Convention Center, South Bend, Indiana (except where otherwise noted)
This is a soundboard recording in MONO.

The band: James Burton, John Wilkinson, Duke Bardwell, Ron Tutt, Glen Hardin, Charlie Hodge
The singers: Kathy Westmoreland, The Sweet Inspirations, J.D. Sumner & The Stamps
The Joe Guercio Orchestra

Compilation produced by Ernst Mikael Jorgensen & Roger Semon

May 22, 2003

Elvis will enjoy show says backing singer Myrna 
   By Eddie McIlwaine - Belfast Telegraph, May 21, 2003


Elvis..back on stage in new show. WHEN Elvis - the Concert arrives at the Odyssey on Tuesday May 27, Myrna Smith, who will be here too with the King's backing group the Sweet Inspirations, says Presley will be well pleased with the performance.

"Oh, yes," he's dead, make no mistake," says the lady who was a personal friend as well as one of his entourage. "Forget the nonsense that he is alive somewhere in hiding. I was at the funeral - I saw the body. 

"But I know he is easy with this production. Elvis is still around in the hearts of all of us who worked with him. Some nights I can sense him more than others. It gets to me and I start to cry. There have been performances when all of us have been overwhelmed."

Elvis - the Concert, making a return visit to Belfast where it was a huge success last time at the King's Hall, reunites Presley bandmates and Sweet Inspirations like Myrna, Estelle Brown and Sylvia Shemwell, who is due back after illness, with an image of the superstar up there on a giant video screen.

He sings straight from the past - accompanied by the band and a 16-piece orchestra very much in the present and playing live.

"It's a world tour by my old friend Elvis," says Myrna. "The first live tour by an entertainer who is dead. No wonder we are in the Guinness Book of Records.

"Elvis was a wonderful person - what we are doing on stage helps to keep his memory alive. Young people should be told about his spirituality and they should be warned too it was drugs - dangerous drugs - that killed him.

"He read his Bible every day, he was respectful and he took care of the elderly, particularly his own grandparents.

"When you think of Elvis and how it all ended so sadly at Gracelands, you have to believe there is more to life than that. 

"I still talk to his daughter Lisa who loves the show. I was at her birthday party and I was invited to that wedding. When she was a little girl she used to come into the dressing room and sit on my knee."

One of the songs being highlighted at the Odyssey will be Hurt - I'm Hurting.

"That was one of his favourites," she revealed. "I remember recording it with him at Gracelands and you could tell the words meant a lot to him. There was something deep inside him at the time that was really hurting, but he never told me what it was."

May 21, 2003

The greatest country songs of all time
   Authors offer 500 'Heartaches by the Number' 
   By Todd Leopold (CNN - Wednesday, May 21, 2003) 


(CNN) -- It's easy to make fun of country music. The stereotypical country song is about the tough life of the common person: drinkin' and lovin' and fightin' and ridin', tributes to dogs and trains and America and Mama. 

But, notes author David Cantwell, that cliché ignores the tremendous influence country has had on pop music in general -- and vice versa. 

Cantwell and co-author Bill Friskics-Warren have tried to remedy that oversight with "Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles" (Vanderbilt University Press/Country Music Foundation Press). The book, modeled on rock critic Dave Marsh's classic "The Heart of Rock and Soul," features essays on 500 key songs in the development of country and pop music. 

Some of the songs are shoo-ins: Hank Williams tunes pop up nine times, including "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Your Cheatin' Heart," and there's plenty of Hank Snow, Loretta Lynn and Buck Owens, too. 

But Cantwell, who has written about music for Salon, the Oxford American and alt-country bible No Depression, and Friskics-Warren, who has contributed to The New York Times and the Washington Post, veer off the traditional lost highway with a number of inspired choices, including the Monkees' "Last Train to Clarksville," Otis Redding's "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay," and Los Lobos' "Will the Wolf Survive?" 

That's because country, soul and rock are part of the same thread, Cantwell says, all manifestations of American music. 

"When my co-writer and I were growing up, our parents listened to country radio, but we listened to pop. But we realized they played some of the same music," he says in a phone interview from his home in Kansas City, Missouri. "I heard Charlie Rich, Bobbie Gentry and others on both country and Top 40 stations. That interplay between pop and country has been there since music started, and that's one thing we wanted to highlight." 

Relevance and crossing over
No. 1 on the pair's list -- because it's a perfect starting place, not necessarily because it's the greatest song in country music history -- is Sammi Smith's 1970 version of "Help Me Make It Through the Night." The song combines several elements they wanted to spotlight throughout the book, says Cantwell, including the importance of female singers and the power of arranging. 

"It's an example of great songwriting [by Kris Kristofferson], it's by a woman, and it's clearly a record -- not just words and melody, but a performance. It's greater than the sum of its parts," he says

The Smith record was also sexually frank for its time: "Take the ribbon from my hair," it starts, and its boldness was doubly striking contrasted with the original, male-sung version, in which the narrator says "Take the ribbon from your hair." That turn gave the song cultural relevance in a time when feminism was becoming prominent in American culture, Cantwell says. 

Finally, the song was a hit -- distinctly country, but with elements of pop and soul in its arrangement, and a top 10 pop song to boot. 

"It emphasizes the importance of the crossover element," Cantwell says. "It's a country record, but it's willing to open its arms to soul music." 

Cantwell and Friskics-Warren also show how pop music influenced country. One of the looming presences in the book is Bing Crosby, rarely identified with country but actually one of the genre's most important practitioners. 

"He's one of the heroes of the book," Cantwell says. "He was a huge influence on any number of country singers, and he also listened to country music. ... He played a big part in popularizing country songs." Crosby is represented by two tunes -- "Pistol Packin' Mama" (his version of the Al Dexter hit, which reshaped the song considerably) and "Don't Fence Me In" (written by, of all people, the urbane Cole Porter). 

Food for thought
Cantwell and Friskics-Warren, who are both in their early 40s, started their list with between 2,000 and 3,000 songs. Narrowing the group to 500 was rather taxing, Cantwell says. 

"The artist had to be great, and we wanted to say something about [the importance of the selection]," he says. "We may have had 10 more Hank Williams songs, but we didn't have 10 more Hank Williams essays in us." 

They also wanted to be expansive. The book includes songs from every decade from the 1920s to the present, and ranges from huge hit singles (Billy Swan's No. 1 pop hit "I Can Help," Roger Miller's legendary "King of the Road") to obscurities such as Nathan Abshire's 1949 "Pine Grove Blues" and the Sir Douglas Quintet's 1969 "At the Crossroads." 

The Country Music Foundation expressed interest in the work, agreed to publish it, and was indispensable to its completion, Cantwell says. 

"They gave us access to their archives, and they also lent credibility," he says. "If we misstated something, the people [there] editing were able to say, 'That's wrong.' " 

Also gratifying has been reader reaction, he adds. "People have understood what we're getting at," Cantwell says. 

That includes some major country stars, including Dolly Parton -- who provided a blurb -- and Merle Haggard, who asked the authors to fax over his entries. 

These days, with country music radio having hit another dead spot -- full of "emotionally simplistic ditties that are scarcely discernable from ... the frothy jingles sponsored by the station's advertisers," the pair writes in the book's introduction -- Cantwell hopes that the book starts a discussion as to what country music (and popular music, for that matter) really is all about. 

"We wanted it to be revisionist," he says. "We're not arguing that the traditional version is wrong, but that there are other ways of seeing it."

May 16, 2003 

Lisa Marie in Paris photos (Elvis My Happiness FC) 

May 14, 2003 

Lisa Marie tops Elvis with London concert
   Associated Press - May. 13, 2003 08:02 AM

LONDON (AP) - Lisa Marie Presley has achieved one musical landmark her father never managed - playing a concert in Britain.

The 35-year-old daughter of Elvis Presley performed songs from her debut album, "To Whom It May Concern," in front of 200 people at a London nightclub Monday.

Elvis visited Britain only once, making a two-hour stopover at Scotland's Prestwick Airport as he returned from military service in Germany in 1960.

"I thought she was amazing," said one member of the London audience, British comedian Frank Skinner. "A bit like Avril Lavigne."

May 10, 2003 

Elvis Inc. Blocks Local Tribute Show
   By FRANK RIZZO, Courant Staff Writer (Ctnow-May 10, 2003) 

The song that people at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury are singing this week is "Don't Be Cruel."

But Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. got all shook up when it found out that a small, nonprofit theater was planning a musical tribute to the singer titled "The King of Memphis: The Music of Elvis." It charged that the theater was using the Presley name, image and songs without the approval of the licensing organization.

For now, the King has left the building.

The sudden exit of the show threatens the existence of the theater, says founding artistic director Semina De Laurentis. Seven Angels is in its 12th season.

The Elvis show was set to play May 8 to June 8, but the theater received a cease-and-desist letter Monday, saying legal action against the theater would be taken if it opened the show. The theater notified The Courant in a fax on Friday.

"This comes up from time to time," said Gary Holbey, vice president of the Presley organization, adding that there was legal action pending this week against an unauthorized show in Munich.

The Memphis-based organization, created by the Presley Estate and the Elvis Presley Trust, is the exclusive owner of the trademark of Elvis Presley and protects the authorized use of the Presley image for commercial profit. It also owns the publishing rights to many of Presley's songs. "Commercially exploiting his name, image or likeness in a stage show involves our rights," said Todd Morgan, director of media and creative development for the Presley organization. A Broadway musical featuring the music of Presley is being planned.

"It never occurred to me that you can't even say `Elvis' on stage without permission," said De Laurentis, who added she was in the process of obtaining the performance rights to the music when the Presley group presented her with the threat to shut the show down. Holbey said his organization was not in communication with the theater about the rights of songs it holds.

The Seven Angels show was created and staged by De Laurentis and features five performers and a pianist telling the singer's life through narration and his songs. No one "played" Presley, said De Laurentis: "This was not an Elvis impersonation show."

The theater canceled the production and is looking at another show to put in its place. Although the theater entered the season debt-free, this season it was struggling with a "five-figure" deficit that De Laurentis hoped the Presley show would ease. With the cancellation of the show, the theater's red ink is now more than $100,000.

De Laurentis said she feared that the loss of the Presley show could force the theater to close for good, because it does not have an endowment or a reserve.

"We're looking for another angel or two," she says. 

May 08, 2003 

Lisa Presley Concert Tour Dates 
   ------------------------- EPE 5/8/2003 

Check the tour schedule on Lisa Marie Presley's official site. For most of the dates listed, she appears as the special guest of headliner Chris Isaak. Further details to come.

May 08, 2003 

PRELIMINARY Details on Upcoming RCA/BMG Elvis Releases for 2003 
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------ EPE 5/6/2003 


After months of rumors and gossip out there on fan sites, here is official PRELIMINARY information from RCA/BMG about new Elvis releases for this year. As always, we will update the information immediately anytime the record company provides us any new details they are ready to share with the public. There will be lots more information to report in the weeks ahead. Some things that aren't quite finalized are not mentioned herein just yet.


BMG Heritage and RCA Records tell us that ELVIS: CLOSE UP, a 4 CD/CS deluxe box set will hit stores on July 1, 2003. ELVIS: CLOSE UP features 89 previously unreleased tracks by the King of Rock 'n Roll and focuses on four important and key periods in Elvis Presley's incredible career. This box set provides a glimpse into Elvis' music making techniques, featuring rare stereo masters from the '50s and never-before heard outtakes from Elvis' first four post-army films. It also includes unreleased takes from almost every Studio B session in Nashville and a complete and unreleased live concert recorded in San Antonio, Texas in 1972. The 1972 concert includes a performance of the classic Burning Love before the studio single was released.

ELVIS: CLOSE UP features: deluxe 4-CD/CS box set of 100% previously unreleased material; 48-page booklet with insightful essay by Colin Escott, detailed track info and great rare photos; all tracks digitally remastered.

ELVIS: CLOSE UP is the follow-up to last year's critically acclaimed TODAY, TOMORROW & FOREVER boxset, which was voted Best Reissue of 2002 by Rolling Stone magazine and is approaching RIAA gold sales status. 


Coming Later This Year... 

Official and detailed announcements are coming soon about the following releases:

ELVIS: 2ND TO NONE, a 1-CD/CS specially re-mastered compilation of Elvis hits and classics, is expected to be released on September 9, 2003. It is the follow-up to last year's global smash, ELV1S 30 #1 HITS, which hit #1 on the charts in 26 territories, earning gold and platinum awards around the world, including RIAA triple platinum in the United States. Further details about ELVIS: 2ND TO NONE will be posted on this site immediately, each time RCA/BMG provides official, confirmed information for us to share with the public. 

ELVIS: CHRISTMAS PEACE, a 2-CD/CS compilation of Christmas and inspirational recordings, is expected to be released on September 23, 2003. Further details will be posted on this site immediately, each time RCA/BMG provides official, confirmed information for us to share with the public. 

ELVIS LIVES on DVD: A 100-minute version of the TV Special Elvis Lives is to be released as a stand-alone DVD on October 21, 2003. Plans are for an abundance of previously unseen footage from the special, still photo gallery and extended interviews. 

May 06, 2003

FTD Label “Girl Happy” | “Fun In Acapulco”  | “It Happened At The World's Fair” |
 
 

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