December 12, 2002
ELV1S 30 #1 HITS Among Billboard's Top Albums of 2002
------------------------------------------------------ EPE 12/11/2002
ELV1S 30 #1 HITS is at #36 in Billboard's year-end roundup of the top
albums of the year 2002. Quite an achievement, especially considering
the fact that E1 did not come out until September of this year and has
not yet finished its time on the weekly Top 200 Albums chart. This is
his first appearance in the year-end roundup since 1973, when his #1
hit album Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii, via Satellite came in at #28 for
the year.
ELV1S 30 #1 HITS debuted on Billboard's weekly Top 200 Albums chart
this fall with a 3-week run at #1. Recently, it was at #26 on the
weekly chart when, primarily as a result of the airing of the Elvis
Lives special on NBC on Thanksgiving night, it leaped back up to #11,
where it now sits for the second week. Thus, Billboard gives it the
"pacesetter" designation for being the album currently with
the biggest percentage growth in sales. The album also hit #1 on
Billboard's country chart, where it now sits at #4, also with the
"pacesetter" designation.
On the Billboard Music Awards televised on Fox earlier this week, it
was acknowledged that Elvis has the record for the longest span of
time between an artist's first #1 album and latest #1 album. His first
album, Elvis Presley, hit #1 in 1956 and his tenth and latest #1
album, ELV1S 30 #1 HITS, came 46 years later (and 25 years after his
death).
Elvis, man, rock on witcho bad self.
Links:
Top 100 Positions on Billboard's Year-End Roundup
Billboard Article About the Year-End Roundup
This Week's Billboard Top 200 Chart
This
Week's Billboard Top Country Albums Chart
December 12, 2002
STORY BEHIND THE SONG ... "T-R-O-U-B-L-E"
Written by Jerry Chesnut -- Performed by Travis Tritt
T-R-O-U-B-L-E" spelled "H-I-T" twice for songwriter
Jerry Chesnut. The rollicking, rocking song about a barroom
entertainer cracked the Top 15 for Elvis Presley in 1975 and again for
Travis Tritt in 1993.
"Some people thought I had written it about Elvis," notes
Jerry, who penned the hit in 1975. "But it was really about a guy
named David Wilkins, who used to play at Ireland's restaurant in
Nashville in the '70s."
David performed under the name "Little David Wilkins,"
although he was anything but diminutive, weighing in around 280.
Though he enjoyed mild recording success, he desperately needed that
one big smash.
"He asked me ... actually he bugged me," Jerry laughs,
"to write him a hit. So one morning, I started thinking about him
and the place he was playing. David was a great showman - he played
piano like Jerry Lee Lewis and he'd go out on the dance floor and get
right in the middle of everyone. I thought I'd just paint a picture of
that and see where it would get me."
Jerry fell into "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" by calling on his own past
experiences. "I'd played enough bars and clubs to know that when
you're up there on the stage, you can see trouble starting,"
explains Jerry with a booming laugh. "You see everything on that
dance floor - jealousy, anger, fights.
"I also knew," Jerry adds, "that when a good-looking
woman walks into a place like that - alone - there's usually trouble.
With all that running through my mind, I just kept on writing."
And as he wrote, he came up with a bright idea - completely by
accident. "I was writing down the word 'trouble,' spelling it
out, and I started seeing it as individual letters," recalls
Jerry. "Then I spelled out 'a-l-o-n-e' and ' l-o-o-k-i-n-g,' and
they all rhymed! I thought, 'Well, this is fun!' But it wasn't
something I had set out to do. That's just how it came out."
The song ended up with two slightly different versions. "Elvis
kept 'piano' in the first verse, which is how I'd written it,"
reveals Jerry. "When Travis recorded it, he changed it to
'guitar.' I think both of them did fantastic jobs."
But what about its original target, David Wilkins? "He asked me
one time why he didn't get to record the song," admits Jerry.
"I told him the truth - because Elvis wanted it!"
-- Bob Paxman
Source: Country Weekly Magazine
December 11, 2002
Music Pioneer Fats Domino Talks About Elvis
Fats Domino is 'Walking,' yes indeed, and talking
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
NEW ORLEANS — Fats Domino, a primary taproot of rock 'n' roll,
recounts his own roots
with none of the mythology, divine inspiration or burning
ambition that embellishes most legendary biographies.
"Like every other house in the neighborhood, we had an old
upright piano," he says in his half-mumbled Louisiana drawl.
"My brother-in-law, he's the one who taught me to play. I just
kept at it."
For seven decades and counting.
Antoine "Fats" Domino made his debut with The Fat Man,
arguably the first rock 'n' roll record, in 1949. He was 21. Bruce
Springsteen, Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt, Gene Simmons and all three
members of ZZ Top were newborns soon to be weaned on the rollicking
boogie-woogie tunes that helped launch a cultural revolution.
Domino's heyday is newly encapsulated in Walking to New Orleans
(Imperial/Capitol, $59.98), a four-CD rock 'n' roll primer spanning
1949 to 1962, during which time he sold 65 million records.
The 100-track set has all 40 top-10 R&B hits, including 10 that
shot to No. 1. Selections range from signatures Blueberry Hill and
Blue Monday (Domino's personal favorite) and covers of Hank Williams'
Jambalaya and Your Cheatin' Heart to rock blueprints Ain't That a
Shame and I Hear You Knocking. (Related item: Listen to Fats Domino
career highlights.)
On the rare occasion that Domino takes the stage nowadays, he delivers
a rollicking hit parade with pounding energy and confidence. Offstage,
one of rock's tallest legends turns timid and humble, hiding from
acclaim and ducking the press with a persistence that even his closest
associates find perplexing. While Little Richard still loudly
proclaims himself the architect of rock 'n' roll, Domino, 74, would
rather privately play piano than toot his own horn.
"I don't want to talk too much about myself," he warns
gently as he settles in for an exclusive interview that has been
warily coordinated by manager Reggie Hall, longtime friend Haydee
Ellis and Quint Davis, honcho of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage
Festival. It follows a Jazzfest benefit gala starring Domino and his
veteran band (featuring five saxophone players; a sixth died after the
concert was booked).
Domino's assessment: "I wasn't up to par, but I did pretty
good."
The stout and squat singer, sitting in a hotel room packed with
musicians and pals, is impeccably attired in a pale blue shirt, white
slacks and shoes, and his fashion trademark, the bulky
diamond-encrusted rings that never seem to impede his fleet playing.
"I'm used to it," he says, inching his chair away from the
tape recorder for the third time in 20 minutes. "Sometimes when
I'm playing I sweat, and they turn around on me. I don't care for
jewelry like I used to, but I wear it because people are used to
seeing me with it. I haven't worn nothing new for years."
Many would say the same of Domino's music, a fixture on oldies
stations but invisible in current pop culture. Credited for forging a
crucial link between R&B and rock 'n' roll, he triggered a Domino
effect that informed the '60s rock explosion and shaped everyone from
Pat Boone and Chubby Checker (who named himself in honor of Fats) to
The Beatles and Sheryl Crow. He racked up more hits than any '50s-era
rocker except Elvis Presley.
Yet new tunes by the unsigned Domino no longer augment his growing
catalog of reissues, compilations and live albums. And ain't that a
shame, say insiders who have heard the tightly guarded demos of
Domino's freshly written songs — compositions that Domino
reluctantly acknowledges after much prodding.
"Yeah, I got a nice song or two," he says. "I got a
good song for people who like to hear something that makes sense. Rap
people sell a lot of records, and good for them. Ain't nothing wrong
with that. Myself, I just don't like the words.
"I got one song called I'm Going to Love You Till the Day I Die.
I got another one called I'm Alive and Kicking, for all those people
who are saying, 'Where's Fats? How come we don't see him no more?' It
has a real good beat to it. I'd like to get it out, but I'm going to
wait awhile, till the time is right. I guess I've got to hurry up
before I grow too old."
He smiles broadly and confesses, "I got a song like that,
too." And then he's singing a 1960 B-side:
I'm going to go out dancing every night.
I'm going to see the light.
I've got to do everything that I've been told,
But I've got to hurry up before I grow too old.
"Fats would like to make a record, but his life is not built
around being on that treadmill," says Jazzfest's Davis, who
accompanied Domino on overseas tours years ago. "His focus isn't
on it. Maybe the right producer and deal will come along. The first
trick is to get him playing again, while he still has it.
"This is a non-renewable resource. He's one of the defining
voices in rock history, right up there with Chuck Berry. Fats put his
beat and his rhymes into a synthesis of barrelhouse music and sounds
floating around New Orleans. Every song he did clicked. He traveled
where nobody speaks English, and yet everyone knew the words to his
songs."
These days, Davis lures Domino out of hiding every couple of years for
a Jazzfest engagement. The gala this year followed a gig canceled
after Domino got pneumonia.
"Last time I was supposed to perform, I took sick and had to go
to the hospital on the last day of rehearsing," Domino says.
"I had a fever of 104. I spent my birthday in the hospital.
"I like playing in my hometown, and folks here seem real proud of
that," says Domino, who toured abroad lugging jambalaya
ingredients and a broken hotplate held together by a paper clip.
"I traveled all over for about 50 years. I love a lot of places,
and I've been to a lot of places, but I just don't care to leave home.
(He lives next door to his wife, Rosemary, in New Orleans' poor and
gritty Lower Ninth Ward, his lifelong neighborhood.) I was born and
raised here, and I never lived anywhere else. I played so much in Las
Vegas, six months out of the year, that people thought I lived there.
I went to play the Flamingo for two weeks, and I stayed for 15 years.
I ain't particularly good about flying now."
Inspired by Professor Longhair, Fats Waller, Amos Milburn, Roy Brown
and Louis Jordan, Domino was drawing crowds to the Hideaway when
Imperial Records discovered him.
"I was doing everybody else's records because I didn't have my
own songs then," he says. "I was singing their records
pretty good, so they say. Every time I heard a new record come out,
I'd remember every note and play it. I had good ears for music. So the
fella from Imperial was coming around looking for talent, and he found
me."
The Fat Man sold 1 million copies. The rock pioneer bonded with
Imperial arranger/composer Dave Bartholomew, who produced and co-wrote
multiple Domino classics.
Domino's first crossover hit, 1955's Ain't It a Shame (better known as
Ain't That a Shame), reached No. 10 on the pop chart. Pat Boone's
antiseptic version went to No. 1 the same year.
Domino's long ride on the charts is remarkable considering his
inflexible sound and a genial persona that fell outside the trendy
categories of sex symbols and rebels. Lacking menace or flamboyance,
Domino's catchy and durable songs sold on the basis of musical merits.
"They're plain, not fancy," he says. Interrupted by a
pounding on his hotel door, Domino bellows, "I hear you knocking,
but you can't come in!" The entourage howls.
"That number was wrote in my car," Domino says. "Some
just pop in your head, like Ain't That a Shame. You just hear
something someone says or you pay attention to how they say it, and it
sticks. I'm Walkin' was just a simple idea."
Domino says he would perform more often if players would quit dying.
"I tried to keep all my musicians, but they all passed away. They
had bad luck, and their time was up. I didn't fire anybody too often,
even if I wasn't too satisfied with how they played. It's hard to find
good musicians now."
Davis, who orchestrated Professor Longhair's comeback, says,
"Fats could certainly get gigs, but it doesn't suit his
lifestyle. Working in the entertainment industry requires dedication
and aggression. You have to be consumed by it. You have to travel and
do interviews."
New Orleans music author Ben Sandmel, drummer for veteran Cajun band
the Hackberry Ramblers, says Domino's gifts have not deteriorated.
"What's amazing about Fats is he still sounds like he did on his
old records, at absolute full strength," Sandmel says. "It's
incredible to see someone who made so much history still playing in
peak form. He's very much beloved and respected, but attention makes
him very ill at ease. In a world of publicity hounds, he'd rather stay
home and cook gumbo. People are always trying to get an interview or
do a film, but it would be an ordeal for him. It's an odd thing for
someone so popular to be so self-effacing."
"Fats does have a sense of his place in history," Davis
says. "When he pulls out a picture of himself hanging out with
Elvis, he knows what that means. But it's hard to engage him on what
he's meant to music. He changes the subject. He'd rather talk about
how he cooks his pigs' feet."
Presley, his chief competition in the '50s, was never a rival, Domino
insists as he plucks a black-and-white photo of the pair from his
suitcase.
"Elvis came to see me before he got a record deal," Domino
says. "I liked him. I liked to hear him sing. He was just
starting out, almost. He wasn't dressing up. Matter of fact, he had
plain boots on. He wasn't wearing all those fancy clothes. He told me
he flopped the first time he came to Las Vegas. I loved his music. He
could sing anything. And he was a nice fellow, shy. His face was so
pretty, so soft. I'm glad we took this picture."
While Domino regards Presley as an indisputable icon, he is less
concerned with his own chapter in rock's textbook.
"I ain't particular with that," he says, squirming.
"Whenever I play my music, all I want to do is sound good. My
biggest ambition is to keep the Ten Commandments. I'm doing the best I
can."
December 10, 2002
Brooks & Dunn Accept
Elvis Presley Award
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn were committed
elsewhere, and so couldn't accept the first-ever Elvis Presley
Patriotic Song Award in person.
Instead of attending the dinner where the American Veterans' Awards
were presented, Brooks and Dunn received their award for their song,
"Only in America," on the set of CMT's "Most Wanted
Live" show last Saturday night.
"You don't do songs for the rewards. You do songs because they
strike a chord in you and make you feel something," Dunn said.
Brooks, who wrote the song, says they didn't know when they released
it that it was anything more than a celebration of this country. He
says it was tragic - and also made them proud - that it ended up
meaning something more to other people after last year's terrorist
attacks.
Source: Yahoo! News
December 10, 2002
'Vinyl Rules!' at Nashville's United Record Pressing
By Richard Lawson, The Tennessean -
December 10
A banner hanging in United Record Pressing's shipping room gives a
peek at what the Nashville company hopes for its future:
''Vinyl Rules! Pure analog, anti-digital revolution.''
Today's youth, with their compact discs and MP3 players, may know
little of their lower-tech predecessors unless their baby boomer
parents pulled the black discs from a dusty bin somewhere and spun
them on a turntable.
For United Record, phonograph records certainly haven't faded into
extinction. It presses thousands of them each day and has seen
business grow in the face of the digital recording age.
Cris Ashworth, United Record's owner, knows, however, that vinyl
probably won't dominate the way it did before cassettes and compact
discs took hold, or usurp the growing use of digital downloads from
the Internet.
''But there's a market there,'' he said.
Since 1999, when he bought the operation on Chestnut Street near Greer
Stadium, Ashworth has increased United Record's revenues from $1.4
million to $4 million by expanding the business to include the
pressing of 12-inch, 33.3-rpm records. The number of employees has
increased from 10 to 40.
Vinyl sales plummeted in the 1980s. After bottoming out, demand has
been steady for LPs — slang for 12-inch, ''long playing'' albums —
over the past decade. Last year, 2.3 million LPs were shipped to U.S.
markets, an increase of 3.7% over the 2.2 million shipped in 2000,
according to the Recording Industry Association of America. That's a
drop in the bucket compared with the 882 million CDs shipped.
Distribution of vinyl 45-rpm singles has dipped dramatically over the
past decade, from 19.8 million shipped in 1992 to 5.5 million last
year, RIAA figures show. The 2001 sales showed promise with a 19%
increase over the previous year. Singles and LPs were the only
categories with sales increases for 2001.
Ashworth is banking on demand hanging on and becoming a strong niche
in the business. He also sees it as a little historic preservation.
''This business is as important to Nashville history as the RCA studio
on Music Row,'' Ashworth said, referring to RCA Studio B, where
artists from Elvis Presley to Roy Orbison to Dolly Parton recorded.
''I'm determined to keep it alive from that perspective.''
United Record has pressed promotional or dance-club records for
Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, N'Sync as well as numerous hip-hop
and reggae artists.
The medium is popular in techno, a genre of futuristic sounds played
in dance clubs as part of a show where deejays spin records on
multiple turntables to mix music on the spot.
Country music has scaled back its use of vinyl.
''It's definitely becoming a smaller part of what we do,'' said Cary
Ryan, director of production for RCA Label Group in Nashville. ''We
don't really manufacture them for retail sale.''
Ryan said most of the vinyl from RCA goes to jukebox vendors, a lot of
which still use 45s — the 7-inch discs with the large hole in the
middle. Instead of vinyl records numbering in the tens of thousands,
just a few thousand will be manufactured, Ryan said.
'A warmth' to analog sound
Little about record pressing involves high technology. The basic
pressing process has been around for about 100 years.
Music captured on tape or recorded onto a computer is cut into a
lacquer disc, with the grooves containing the sound information. The
disc is sprayed with silver and dipped into a solution that plates it
with nickel. The master plate goes to the pressing machines — and
''press'' is the operative word. Chips of vinyl are melted into a
gooey ball, and a label is pushed into place. Then the puck-shaped
mass is shifted to the nickel-plated master, where press exerts 150
tons of force to push the vinyl into every crevice.
A new machine would be tough to come by. United Record's pressing
machines were made by a Nashville company that no longer exists. The
press itself has to be custom-made, and the rest of the equipment can
be bought off the shelf.
''The youngest one I've got in here is probably 20 years old,''
Ashworth said.
Companies have tried to use high technology to replicate low-tech
vinyl's top-quality sound.
Many recording professionals say digital sound, which is chopped up
into the ones and zeros of computer data, pales in comparison to the
continuous analog sound wave as captured on vinyl.
''Analog stuff just has a warmth to it that digital doesn't have,''
said Benny Quinn, a 26-year veteran in the business and chief
mastering engineer at Masterphonics, a Music Row recording studio.
Artists and recording engineers try to achieve the sound that vinyl
produces, such as by running music that has been recorded digitally
through an analog tape recorder.
Quinn said the average person could tell the difference between a
digital recording and a vinyl one if played next to each other. Analog
is softer to the ear than digital, he said.
''A lot of people are mixing to analog,'' Quinn said.
Sony Entertainment is pushing technology that attempts to make digital
sound more like analog.
'Elvis has been good to us'
United Record's history dates to the late 1940s, when RCA Victor
introduced the 45 rpm record in response to Columbia Records' LP.
Though in the back yard of country music, the company had Detroit's
Motown Records as one of its largest customers.
''This used to be an all dedicated Motown manufacturing,'' Ashworth
said.
It once had many operations around the country. The company was one of
several pressing operations in Nashville.
''It was extremely close-knit'' community, said Quinn, who started his
career at Nashville Record Productions, a mastering operation down the
street from United Record. He said the companies had common ownership.
Over the years, however, United Record's owners prior to Ashworth
consolidated as vinyl lost favor, leaving just the Nashville
operation. Its four owners were in their 70s, and not all were in good
health. They sold to Ashworth, a former corporate executive who once
served as Nashville Gas Co.'s chief financial officer.
At roughly the same time, nearby Dixie Record Pressing's owner James
Gann was considering winding down. It pressed LPs, while United did
only 45s. Ashworth merged the two.
Ozell Simpkins, a former owner of United, still works with United
Record and serves as chairman emeritus. Gann runs the shipping
operations.
United Record is one of just a handful of manufacturers in the country
that press vinyl records.
''So many fewer places do that stuff that the remaining ones are
busy,'' Quinn said.
The 25th anniversary of Presley's death in August gave United Record a
bump in a steady business for collectibles of the King's music.
''Elvis has been good to us,'' Ashworth said, noting that the company
uses plates from 1979 to make the records. ''I can't complain.''
''Our objective is to keep rockin' and rollin'.''
December 05, 2002
Harris Poll Shows Elvis Has Touched the Lives of the Vast Majority of Americans
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
EPE 12/5/2002
 Click here
to check out the results of a special Harris Poll about Elvis.
December 02, 2002
The men who minded the King
By Elisabeth Tarica, The Age
"We got more ass than a toilet seat, I mean it was unbelievable
it really was. It was a lot of pussy." With these words Lamar
Fike graciously reveals what it was like to be part of Elvis Presley's
privileged inner circle.
Fike and six other minders, who came to be known as the "Memphis
mafia", were a trusted, elite group that serviced Presley's
every whim and pleasure.
They were the gateway to the King - forming an impenetrable human
shield between Elvis and all who wanted a piece of him. That, of
course, included the girls.
"We were the keys to the city, so to speak, and as a consequence
they had to run the gauntlet and we were the gauntlet some of them
never made it through, but they tried," Fike says. "He just
loved women, he didn't think anything about it. It was like having a
cup of coffee in the morning."
Now, more than 25 years after Elvis' bloated, drug-addled body was
found dead on the bathroom floor, the group is telling the
"inside" story about life with Elvis in a one-hour
documentary, The Elvis Mob.
They may be a bunch of old, thickening men sitting in a bar sniggering
about their sexual conquests but they carry untold memories of a wild,
fantasy world.
Producer Michael Parkinson, who has interviewed women in the lives of
Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart for similar tell-all profiles, wanted to
do something different for the 25th anniversary of Elvis' death.
"I wanted to come up with something really that hadn't been done
before," he says. "They decided to talk out, I think,
because 25 years is a long time and it became apparent that the only
way we'd ever find out anything about this guy would be to interview
the people closest to him."
He tracked down all nine surviving members of the entourage that
accompanied Elvis from Graceland to Germany, Hollywood and Las Vegas -
but two couldn't take part.
"It was fascinating for me because I was talking to people who
were there," says Parkinson. "So many books and articles had
been written and people say Elvis was this and Elvis was that but the
only people who knew what he was like were these guys . . ."
Billed as the last great untold rock story, the documentary confirms
what everyone already knows: it really was all about sex, drugs and
rock'n'roll.
But there are intriguing insights into Elvis' intense relationship
with Priscilla, his unbridled generosity, paranoia, fascination with
guns, brush with spirituality and what he really thought of manager
Colonel Parker.
The Memphis mafia was a term penned by a local journalist for the
bunch of skinny, pale-skinned Memphis kids who, like Elvis, grew up in
the housing projects. They knew him before Sun Records discovered the
young white singer who sounded black.
Elvis found it difficult to make friends. He surrounded himself with
guys he knew and trusted. For him they blocked out the frightening
outside world. For them Elvis offered an eye-popping new world of
glamour, rebellion and sex. They went everywhere he did. Even when
Elvis was sent to Germany for military service, he was given special
permission to take his guys with him.
But his relationship with the 14-year-old Priscilla drove a thorny
wedge between them.
"It just scared me to the point where I couldn't breathe. She'd
just turned 14," Fike says. "They spent a lot of time in the
bedroom but I don't know what kind of physical relationship they had
... She says nothing happened but isn't that always the case?"
On leaving Germany their world spun into a dizzying mix of sex and
speed. There were drugs to keep them awake, put them to sleep, lift
them up and bring them down again. They lived like this for 15 years.
"We didn't have any reality, we didn't even know what day it was.
None of us liked the real world," says Fike.
The Elvis Mob screens on Wednesday (Nov.27) at 8.30pm on the ABC.
November 27, 2002
Cage, Presley to end
three-month marriage
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar winning actor Nicolas Cage has filed for
divorce from second wife Lisa Marie Presley after just three months
marriage in a short-lived union even by Hollywood standards.
The 38-year-old star of "Leaving Las Vegas" and
"Captain Corelli's Mandolin," cited irreconcilable
differences with the only child of Elvis Presley in divorce papers
filed in Los Angeles Tuesday.
Cage and Presley were married in a secret ceremony in Hawaii in
August, cementing an 18 month on-off romance between two of the more
eccentric figures in showbusiness.
Cage declined to comment on the reasons for the divorce. "I did
not talk about the marriage and I am not going to talk about the
divorce," he said in a brief statement.
It was the third marriage for Presley, 34, a budding singer who was
married to superstar Michael Jackson for less than two years and who
previously had two children with musician Danny Keogh.
Cage, who once ate a live cockroach for the movie "Vampire's
Kiss", is a big Elvis fan. He recorded the Elvis hit "Love
Me Tender" for the soundtrack of the 1990 movie "Wild at
Heart" and reportedly has a voicemail message using his Elvis
voice.
He impersonated Elvis in a scene from the 1992 movie "Honeymoon
in Vegas" and his marriage to Lisa Marie took place on the eve of
the 25th anniversary of Elvis's death.
Cage, known for his edgy, risky screen characters, split from actress
Patricia Arquette in May last year after a six year marriage. He has a
son with model Kristina Fulton.
Cage and Presley's relationship was known to be stormy and tabloid
newspapers reported blazing arguments between the pair a few weeks
ago.
They began dating in early 2001 but announced they had parted ways in
January 2002. But by June they emerged as a couple again, appearing
together at the premiere of Cage's war movie "Windtalkers."
Source: Yahoo News
November 26, 2002
Elvis at the International -
A 1969 Vegas Concert Recording - Release Date: January 1, 2003
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EPE 11/25/2002
For its next release Follow That Dream Records has chosen a
1969 Vegas concert recording:
ELVIS AT THE INTERNATIONAL
Track List:
1. Blue Suede Shoes
2. I Got A Woman
3. All Shook Up
4. Love Me Tender
5. Jailhouse Rock/Don’t Be Cruel
6. Heartbreak Hotel
7. Hound Dog
8. Memories
9. Mystery Train/Tiger Man
10. Monologue
11. Baby, What You Want Me To Do
12. Runaway
13. Reconsider Baby
14. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
15. Yesterday/Hey Jude
16. Introductions
17. In The Ghetto
18. Suspicious Minds
19. What’d I Say
20. Can’t Help Falling In Love
Musicians: James Burton (lead guitar), Jerry Scheff (bass), Ronnie
Tutt (drums), John Wilkinson (rhythm guitar), Larry Muhoberac (piano
& organ), Bobby Morris & His Orchestra. Backing Vocalists: The
Sweet Inspirations, The Imperials, Charlie Hodge.
Recorded at The International Hotel, Las Vegas on August 23, 1969
(Midnight Show)
Originally recorded by Felton Jarvis and Al Pachucki.
Mixed for this release by Dennis Ferrante.
Mastered for this release by Lene Reidel at Tocano.
November 25, 2002
New Page
Book:
Elvis In Hawai'i
(photos)
November 24, 2002
Graceland Reverses
Impersonator Ban
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Elvis impersonators can continue swiveling their
hips and quivering their lips, after Graceland reversed its earlier
decision to sever its support of festivals featuring clones of the
King.
Elvis Presley (news) Enterprises, the business arm of the
multi-million-dollar Presley estate, decided in October to no longer
associate with festivals using Elvis impersonators.
But the estate gave back its backing after receiving about 30 letters
from festival organizers and fans who were all shook up.
"From reading these, we said, 'Let's forget about the hassles.
This is something, frankly, we need to support,'" said Jack
Soden, chief executive officer of EPE.
Most Elvis impersonators do "heartfelt" tributes to Elvis,
said Soden. "But we've all seen pictures of people who just
should not have gone outdoors in outfits like that."
Soden said the idea for the policy change came from some festivals
"becoming more about Elvis impersonators than Elvis."
But most impersonators would disagree.
"Everything I'm doing is just to pay tribute to him," said
David Lee, a major contender on the festival circuit. "Graceland
disliking tribute artists is something I've never understood."
November 22, 2002
'Elvis
Lives' Through Chris Isaak and NBC
By Kate O'Hare, Zap2it - November 21, 2002
 LOS
ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - On a recent cold and rainy Saturday evening at
the KTLA studios on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, singer/actor Chris
Isaak sits down to talk about the man who, for him, started it all.
Isaak has just finished shooting promos for an NBC special called
"Elvis Lives," airing at 10 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving Day,
Nov. 28. The set is reminiscent of the bare, square stage used by
Elvis Presley in his 1968 TV special, Elvis: One Night With You,"
and so is the black-leather suit Isaak is wearing.
But for Isaak, it's not about the look. " I know a lot of stuff
about him, because, over the years, I've read enough books, but I'm
not really what year he was born, what's his birth date. I'm not a
baseball-statistics kind of guy."
" But if you ask me what songs, I know the music pretty well, and
particularly that early stuff that Sam Phillips and Scotty Moore
played on. That, to me, is a really fascinating time. It was really a
band of guys who put the music together, who made rock 'n' roll."
" It was Elvis Presley, the voice, the face; Scotty Moore, the
guitar, that sound; [bass player] Bill Black; [drummer] D.J. Fontana;
and Sam Phillips producing."
" With any one of those guys out of the picture -- if Scotty
Moore hadn't been in the picture -- I don't think it would have come
out like that. Elvis could easily have been far more country, but
Scotty Moore dragged him to some new place."
" Elvis Lives" celebrates Presley's legacy with commentary
and performances by such contemporary stars as Bono, Tom Petty, Sheryl
Crow, No Doubt, Dave Matthews, LeAnn Rimes and Britney Spears. Along
with stories, reflections and archival footage, the special features
selected performances by modern artists of four Presley classics from
the recent RCA release " Elvis 30 Number One Hits."
Isaak owns his leather jacket and pants, which represent a moment in
TV history where Presley tried to recapture the magic he'd had in his
early years as a hip-shaking, lip-twitching cultural firestorm.
It's those early years -- raw and wild and unpredictable -- captured
by Sun Records in Memphis, Tenn., in the mid-1950s, that are closest
to Isaak's heart. " I stood with my drummer in front of Sun
Studios," he recalls. " We looked at each other -- and we're
the two most sarcastic musicians; everything is a reason for a joke --
and we're like, 'We're on hallowed ground.'"
" I looked at him and said, 'Elvis Presley stood here when he was
18. He walked through this door.' What was special there? Elvis, Sam
Phillips and the idea in the heart to do it. No, the microphone isn't
magic. The guitar isn't magic. All those things are picked up as the
Holy Grail, but there are other microphones and other guitars that
sound great. It's just the singer, the songs, the idea."
While Isaak is happy to be host of a special that features new covers
of Elvis tunes, he doesn't think the magic has happened again.
" I like Elvis," he says. " There's a little bit of his
sound, maybe, in what I do. I've been on different shows where people
have done Elvis songs, like this Elvis special. This is not to rag
anybody, because I include myself in this, but 20 different people,
and we all sang an Elvis song. It's an interesting statement to say
about a guy, these are all today's top, biggest stars, and each picked
the song they thought they did best, and I don't think any of us did
as good as Elvis."
" You just don't improve on what he did."
According to Isaak, it's not about perfection, either. " You put
on, 'One Night With You,' you listen to the recording of that -- my
band was listening to it -- it's so sloppy. The band was all over the
place. And it was so great, because it's so sloppy."
" Today, you would never get that on the radio."
Asked where it all came from, Isaak says, " We were on tour. We
were right near where he grew up, Tupelo, Miss. We stopped the bus; we
were getting a Foster's Freeze or something like that. I'm talking to
my drummer. It's the middle of the night, like three or four in the
morning, and I said, 'Kenny, come out here, look around.' It's real
hot, summertime, you hear crickets."
" You're looking out at this farmland, and I go, 'We're out in
the middle of nowhere, and this is 2001. Imagine how nowhere this was
in 1951, when Elvis was growing up.' You're there, you're a kid, and
you say, 'I want to dress like this, I want to sing like this.' You
just go, 'That kind of talent, put into one person, it doesn't happen
very often.'"
Isaak also wants people to know that Presley wasn't a one-man band.
" Don't forget the King's men, Bill Black and Scotty Moore. They
never made much money out of the deal, but hell, if someone came
around and said every musician had to pay 50 bucks to Scotty Moore,
I'd gladly give him 50 bucks. We owe him that much for the riffs and
the music that he gave."
" Don't forget the King's men; don't forget the King.""
November 21, 2002
CHRISTMAS AT GRACELAND -
Lights Go On November 29
----------------------------------------------------
EPE 11/21/2002
Following
is an alert issued from EPE to the news media today:
GRACELAND TO SHINE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON WITH
ANNUAL JENNINGS OSBORNE LIGHTS SPECTACULAR AND ELVIS’ TRADITIONAL
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
Live Web GracelandCam To Showcase
Lights at www.elvis.com
WHAT: Graceland will officially begin the holiday season on Friday,
November 29 with the annual lighting of the traditional lights and
decorations on the mansion property. The extensive spectacle includes
hundreds of blue lights along the driveway, a life-size Nativity
scene, Santa and his sleigh and much more originally displayed by
Elvis. For the fourth year, Arkansas philanthropist Jennings Osborne
and his family have constructed expanded spectacular displays of over
two million lights in the backyard of Graceland mansion and in
Graceland Plaza. For the third year, a view of the spectacle can be
enjoyed anywhere in the world via the LIVE GracelandCam at
www.elvis.com.
WHEN: Friday, November 29 at Dusk
WHERE: Graceland, Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee
SPECIAL NOTES:
The Osborne displays are in addition to Elvis' traditional interior
and exterior Christmas decor which Graceland still presents as always.
Arkansas philanthropist Jennings Osborne and his family became
nationally famous with the extravagant holiday lighting they created
for their home in Little Rock Now the Osbornes provide lights for over
32 cities and sites in Arkansas as well as Disney World and Graceland.
Their lighting displays are a gift to the communities that enjoy them.
GracelandCam
- Live
November 21, 2002
Presley Family's Lauderdale
Courts Apartment To Be Preserved in Downtown Revitalization
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EPE 11/21/2002
Following
is a press release from Uptown Memphis about its Uptown Square project
with the former Lauderdale Courts apartment complex:
Uptown Memphis Celebrates Elvis Legacy,
Unveils Plans for Uptown Square
Elvis’ boyhood home will be renovated but
preserved in new Uptown Square community
Community leaders, Downtown advocates, Mayor Herenton and
representatives of Elvis Presley Enterprises gathered today at the
center of the former Lauderdale Courts campus to honor the
community’s legacy including its former resident, Elvis Presley and
to celebrate its future under the new name Uptown Square.
“Today we celebrate the good things that come from well-designed
communities,” said Robert Lipscomb, Executive Director of the
Memphis Housing Authority. “When Lauderdale Courts was built in the
1930s as part of the Works Progress Administration, it was designed by
leading architects to maximize community development and interaction.
That community produced one of Memphis’ best known celebrities,
Elvis Aaron Presley. Today we honor his legacy, commemorate that good
community design, and rejoice in the future of this landmark campus,
the future Uptown Square.”
“The Uptown Memphis initiative is a part of the renaissance of
downtown. It is a vision for downtown that transcends the singular
notion of just growing business, but instead focuses on the idea of
building neighborhoods woven into the fabric of the larger downtown
community,” said Mayor Herenton.
“The Uptown Memphis initiative revolves around good community
design,” said Henry Turley, managing partner of the Uptown
Partnership: a Belz-Turley Community Development Company, the master
developer for Uptown Memphis. “We are working collaboratively to
preserve, restore and recreate some of the city’s finest
architecture, and some of its best and most historic neighborhoods.
With Uptown Square we already have a well-designed community, steeped
in history. We’re taking that design and bringing it up to
contemporary standards, enhancing the ongoing Downtown renaissance.”
As part of the development, Elvis Presley Enterprises announced an
ongoing partnership with Uptown Square, symbolized by a permanent
plaque that will mark the former home of Elvis Presley. (Scroll to the
bottom of this article to see plaque text.) The former home of Elvis
and his parents, Gladys and Vernon Presley, will be renovated to
modern standards but preserved in its size and layout.
The first phase of Uptown Square apartments will be available in fall
2003. When work on the development is completed in spring 2004, Uptown
Square will offer 347 renovated units, most of which will be
market-rate apartments. The remainder will be public housing units.
While all of the other Lauderdale Courts apartments are being enlarged
during the rehabilitation, the original configuration of Presley’s
apartment is being preserved.
Lauderdale Courts was completed in 1938 through the federal Works
Progress Administration. The development is listed on the National
Historic Register, so all design plans ensure that the renovation will
maintain architectural and historic integrity.
The $36 million Uptown Square initiative is being financed through the
Uptown Partnership, the City of Memphis (Housing and Community
Development/Memphis Housing Authority), and through $5.4 million in
historic tax credit equity from the Bank of America.
The Uptown Memphis community, stretching roughly from the Mississippi
River east to Ayers, and from Poplar Avenue to Cedar and Chelsea,
includes some of Memphis’ oldest neighborhoods. In 2000 the Memphis
Housing Authority received a HUD HOPE VI grant to revitalize Uptown
and the public housing projects in the Uptown community (Hurt Village
and Lauderdale Courts). The Uptown Memphis initiative leverages that
$35 million HOPE VI grant into $150 million of development investment,
complemented by $16 million in Community and Supportive Services and
over $1.3 billion collateral neighborhood improvements. The master
developer for the program is the Uptown Partnership: A Belz-Turley
Community Development Company.
Added Note to Elvis Fans from EPE
Uptown Square's definite plans for the former Presley apartment are to
restore and preserve it. Will the Presley apartment be available for
rent or will it be open for public viewing like a museum? There are no
answers yet to these or other questions. How it ultimately might be
used and how accessible it might be for public viewing are issues to
be addressed in many discussions of many ideas over the months of
Uptown Square's development and how those ideas might fit within the
logistics of the operation of this residential complex. EPE has
offered its full support for any efforts with the Presley apartment
and will remain in close communication with Uptown Square. If ever
there is any update to report, information will be posted here in News
on Elvis.com. For the time being, Elvis fans can be happy and at peace
with the fact that the Lauderdale Courts complex is to be revitalized
along with the surrounding neighborhood and that the Presley family
apartment is to be restored and preserved. That worry can now be
crossed off your list!
Presley Apartment Plaque Text
Uptown Square, formerly called Lauderdale Courts, was once the home of
Elvis Aaron Presley during his teens.
On September 20, 1949, Vernon and Gladys Presley and their son moved
from Tupelo, Mississippi to 185 Winchester, Apartment #328. The
Presley Family soon became part of a vibrant community where neighbors
from their porches chatted with each other and looked out for one
another.
It was here that Elvis practiced in the basement laundry room. He then
gained his stage confidence by performing for his neighbors in the
communal courtyard.
May Uptown Square once again provide that sense of place and belonging
for its future residents.
The Presley Family Apartment
Vernon, Gladys and Elvis Aaron Presley
Lauderdale Courts
185 Winchester #328
September 1949 - January 1953
November 20, 2002
London Auction of
Elvis-Inspired Fashion from Top Designers Promotes ELV1S 30 #1 HITS
and Benefits The Prince's Trust ------------------------------------------------------
EPE 11/19/2002
The
following is adapted from a November 2002 press release issued by BMG
Europe. Following it is special additional information.
Elvis Inspired Fashion
Record company BMG Europe has rallied support
from international fashion designers to create clothing and
accessories, inspired by the King of Rock and Roll, to raise funds for
The Prince’s Trust in a charity auction at Sotheby’s Olympia in
London on Thursday 5th December 2002.
BMG Europe, the record company of artists like Alicia Keys, Whitney
Houston and the Foo Fighters, has gathered together an amazing group
of designers to create fashion based on the icon of pop culture, Elvis
Presley. Inspired by the success of ELV1S 30 # 1 HITS, Elvis’ latest
album that has soared to the top of the charts in 26 territories
worldwide, the top designers will create clothes, belts, sun glasses
and much more.
Among them to date: Cat Swanson,Ozwald Boateng, Marjan Pejoski, Wale
Adeyemi, Temperley London, Betsey Johnson, Tata Naka, Pringle
Scotland, Scott Henshall, Ben de Lisi, Julien Macdonald, Ghost,
Arkadius, Levi Strauss, Joe Casley-Hayford, Max Azzria BcBG, Rifat Özbek,
Karen Walker, YMC and Paul & Vinti Andrews and many other top
designers. The pieces will be auctioned by Sotheby’s on 5th December
2002 with proceeds going towards The Prince’s Trust Fashion
Initiative.
Announced by Prince’s Trust President, HRH The Prince of Wales in
February 2001, the Fashion Initiative is a partnership with the
fashion industry to help disadvantaged young people get a foothold in
fashion, helping them maximise jobs and skills opportunities.
Currently eight per cent of the young people The Prince’s Trust sets
up in business are in the fashion and design industry.
"When thinking about how to position Elvis as a contemporary
icon, FashionMusic and I came up with the idea of asking top fashion
designers to design pieces inspired by Elvis Presley and based on one
of the 30 number one hits on the ELV1S 30#1 HITS album. They all loved
the idea and everybody has begun to work. Best of all is the fact that
we have Sotheby's on board and The Prince's Trust for the charity.
It's fantastic!" says Marcel Swagers, Senior European Online
Marketing Manager of BMG Europe.
FashionMusic, working in close collaboration with BMG, has been
responsible for developing the Elvis auction concept and has forged
new relationships with designers and managed the development of some
twenty Elvis inspired creations. Additionally Fashion Music has been
instrumental in negotiating the Prince's Trust involvement in the
project.
Wayne Hemingway, Prince’s Trust Ambassador and Designer added:
"I am delighted The Prince's Trust will benefit from the Elvis
inspired auction. The money raised will be used by The Prince's Trust
to help nurture young creative talent in Britain. I'm sure that if
Elvis had still been with us he would have been a Prince’s Trust
supporter, but sadly he’s not around so I am doing the honours.“
Kerry Taylor, Head of Theme Sales at Sotheby’s, Olympia commented:
“We are thrilled to be involved in this auction that promises to be
a really exciting occasion bringing together fashion and music and
most importantly benefiting The Prince’s Trust“.
Nearly 6 million copies of Elvis Presley’s ELV1S 30#1 HITS have been
sold worldwide as of October 2002. Released on September 24, the album
has reached the top of the charts in 26 territories
The auction of Elvis inspired clothing and accessories will take place
on Thursday 5th December 2002 from 7pm at Sotheby’s Olympia,
Hammersmith Road, London W14. Catalogues, costing £15 each, admit two
people to the auction. To order a catalogue phone Sotheby’s
catalogue subscripton on +44(0)207293 6444.
Additional Information
Following is the list of the designers onboard so far and the song(s)
each has chosen as a theme for an existing or specially created item
to place in the auction:
Cat Swanson - "Heartbreak Hotel"
Ozwald Boateng - "Don't Be Cruel"
Marjan Pejoski - "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear"
Wale Adeyemi - "Hard Headed Woman"
Temperley London - "One Night"
Betsey Johnson - "Stuck on You"
Tata Naka - "Can't Help Falling in Love"
Pringle Scotland - "It's Now or Never"
Scott Henshall - "All Shook Up" & "Big Hunk o'
Love"
Ben de Lisi - "Suspicious Minds"
Julien Macdonald - "A Little Less Conversation"
Ghost - "Love Me Tender"
Arkadius - "You're the Devil in Disguise" & "Crying
in the Chapel"
Levi Strauss -"Jailhouse Rock"
Joe Casley-Hayford - "Good Luck Charm"
Max Azzria BcBG - "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"
Rifat Özbek - "Surrender"
Karen Walker - "In the Ghetto"
YMC - "Burning Love"
Paul & Vinti Andrews - "Too Much" & "Return to
Sender"
November 19, 2002
CATCHING
UP WITH ... RONNIE McDOWELL
Honoring Elvis
By Bob Paxman, Country Weekly Magazine
 Ronnie
McDowell celebrates his 25th anniversary in music at the same time
he’s remembering the 25 years since Elvis Presley’s death.
That’s not exactly a coincidence – in fact, the connection is
downright eerie.
Ronnie launched his career by writing and recording a tribute to
Elvis, “The King Is Gone,” shortly after Elvis’ death in 1977.
The heartfelt ballad, sung in a deep, Elvis-like tone, hit the Top 20
on both the country and pop charts. Ronnie went on to score over a
dozen Top 10 country tunes and even a pair of No. 1s, “Older
Women” and “You’re Gonna Ruin My Bad Reputation.”
“It is kinda weird to me,” admits Ronnie, “that I got started
because of Elvis’ death. But I wrote that song from my heart,
because I was the world’s biggest Elvis fan. I meant it
sincerely.”
Not everyone shared his conviction, though.”People magazine named it
the Worst Song of the Year,” Ronnie remembers with a generous laugh.
“I actually thought that was pretty funny.”
But Ronnie’s totally serious about his new album, Ronnie McDowell: A
Tribute To The King, which commemorates Elvis’ legacy with
Ronnie’s take on 24 of his biggest hits, including “Heartbreak
Hotel” and “Love Me Tender.”
“I did the album with some of the guys from Elvis’ original band
– Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana and the Jordanaires,” notes Ronnie.
“That makes it really special.”
Ronnie has two other projects on his plate: an album of ’60s
“beach music” with pop icons The Drifters, and another upcoming
country CD. He’s also helping guide the career of his talented
12-year-old son, Tyler. “He wants to sing for a living,” declares
the proud dad. “I think there are some lessons I can pass along to
him.”
Ronnie remembers learning his the tough way. “Some people looked at
‘The King Is Gone’ as a novelty record and thought I was a
one-dimensional artist,” he says. “After that, I had a little
trouble getting played at radio.
“I realized at that point,” he continues, “that I had to be a
good entertainer. You have to give people a show – and thank God I
figured that out early in my career. I think that’s why I still have
a strong fan base.”
And fans are seeing a re-energized Ronnie these days. “I’m in
better shape physically than I have been in a while,” he notes,
running a hand through his hair.
“I feel good about everything
I’m doing.”
A
Tribute To The King
November 18, 2002
Sanity has left the building
By Bill O'Reilly, New York Daily News
Here's how much we've evolved in this country over the past 40 years:
In 1962, a young truck driver named Elvis Presley had become a rock
superstar singing about hound dogs, tender love and his mama, whom he
apparently loved.
In 2002, Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, has become the country's
hottest recording star rapping about rape, drugs and his mother, whom
he apparently hates. She sued him for $10 million. He called her a
slut in one of his songs.
In both cases, polite society cringed. Elvis was blatantly sexy and a
danger to so-called nice girls. Eminem's lyrics are so corrosive and
coarse that many stores refuse to sell his CDs to minors. Yet young
Americans flock to Eminem - 70% of those who paid to see his new movie
are under 25.
Elvis, of course, had a profound effect on young Americans. Millions
of young boys slicked back their hair and adopted Elvis moves on the
dance floor. I was one of those boys.
Eminem has left his calling card as well. Two school teachers here in
New York told me it is not uncommon for 10-year-old boys to call
little girls in their classes bitches and ho's (whores). Movie chains
report that tens of thousands of teens and pre-teens have been turned
away from Eminem's R-rated flick.
The Vivendi Corp. of France is the force behind Mathers, gleefully
counting the money as their boy rolls out songs about sexually
transmitted diseases and beating up women and homosexuals. The
mouthpieces for Vivendi and its U.S. subsidiary, Universal, say he is
producing satire or "giving voice to the disenfranchised,"
whichever rationalization pops into their minds first.
Elvis was controlled by Col. Tom Parker, who stole him blind by taking
half his income and selling him out to a cynical Hollywood for cinema
classics like "Clambake." Presley allowed it to happen but
was really guilty only of being incredibly dumb. Eminem has a lot more
to answer for.
Any way you slice it, he sells degenerate behavior to kids. The
entertainment industry, long devoid of any social conscience, provides
him with cover and calls him a creative genius and a sensitive soul.
Students of history will remember they called Caligula that once as
well.
The problem I have is that the regular folks, people with kids, have
not risen up and scorned Eminem and his enablers. I mean, Ed Sullivan
almost broke a blood vessel when Elvis swiveled his hips on Sullivan's
Sunday night TV program. Now, Marshall Mathers can threaten to kill
his mother and we Americans just shrug. What has happened to us?
The answer is that we have become shell-shocked. We have seen too much
over the past 40 years, and we have run out of outrage. The baby boom
generation embraced Elvis but then went progressively off the deep
end. Drugs became chic, rebellion against authority a fad. Greed
became good, and self-indulgence ruled. And now we're surprised our
lax social attitudes have produced an army of degenerates like Eminem?
This is what happens when standards die and money rules. Why are we
surprised when 10-year-old Timmy calls his baby sister a bitch? Timmy
hears that word and worse all the time. He sees his idol being praised
by adults on TV. Timmy knows what the F-word is, knows what pot is and
knows he can say anything he wants if it rhymes. Heck, he might get
paid for threatening to beat a pregnant woman, as Eminem does in his
music.
If you think this Eminem person is harmless, you are astonishingly
wrong. Like Elvis, he will leave his mark on America. But unlike
Elvis, the legacy Mathers will leave is one that will injure many
children, especially those without much parental guidance.
Elvis just wanted to be our teddy bear. Mathers wants your kids to
hate you.
November 18, 2002
When Elvis bowed to karate's
kings
A Presley-backed documentary on
the sport is finally out -- minus footage of the black-belt singer.
By Susan King, Los Angeles Times - November 17, 2002
It's just a frayed, weathered, black karate belt, but it means the
world to George Waite, the former president of TCB -- Elvis Presley's
film company. The belt belonged to the King way back when, and Waite
has had it since Presley's death in 1977. Until recently, Waite had
never shown it to anyone because the memory of his loss was so
painful. Presley's death also put an end to a karate film called
"New Gladiators" that the singer had financed and that Waite
-- a self-described "karate bum" -- had produced in 1974.
"New Gladiators" was supposed to be to karate what Bruce
Brown's classic "The Endless Summer" was to surfing -- a
definitive film about the sport. Presley was scheduled to co-narrate
and demonstrate karate moves.
"I kept it going until Elvis died," says Waite, who studied
with Presley's martial arts instructor, Ed Parker.
But that wasn't the end of the story. Waite had 50 hours of footage --
including 33 minutes of medium-girthed Presley showing off his
black-belt moves and eight minutes of Bruce Lee demonstrating karate
in 1967 in Long Beach -- in the back of his 1963 GMC pickup truck in
his garage.
And there the project stayed until recently, when he gave the footage
to Isaac Florentine, an Israeli-born director of action films, and
Florentine's partner, Don Warrener, who ran a chain of karate schools
in Canada. Florentine and Warrener's company, Rising Sun Productions,
which distributes karate movies and other martial arts-related items,
edited the footage down to 93 minutes. (None of the footage of Presley
is in the movie because the Elvis Presley estate wouldn't allow it to
be released; according to Warrener, the estate was unhappy with the
singer's less than flattering appearance.)
The two are now distributing the finished product, "New
Gladiators," on video and DVD, and are hoping to interest
Hollywood in a theatrical release. "New Gladiators"
documents what fans know as the golden age of the sport, when martial
artists were interested in the art of karate and not the glory or the
money. The film focuses on several karate fighters in training and
captures tournament action -- two European team matches and the
Urquidez Brothers Invitational in Beverly Hills. Several well-known
martial artists of the period appear, including John Corcoran, Ticky
Donovan, Emil Farkas, Roy Kurban, Ron Marchini, John Natividad and
Benny "the Jet" Urquidez.
On a recent morning, Florentine, Warrener and Waite gather in Rising
Sun's cramped Beverly Hills office with three of the men in the film:
Urquidez, a world-champion kickboxer who operates the Jet Center in
Burbank; Farkas, who wrote the Encyclopedia of Martial Arts and is
owner of the Beverly Hills Karate Academy; and Dave Brock, a
seven-time karate champion. Also sitting in are writer Joe Hyams, one
of Bruce Lee's first students and author of "Zen in the Martial
Arts," and Majeet Raz, one of Urquidez's students. They are there
not so much to talk as to show their support for "New
Gladiators."
Waite first came up with an idea for doing a documentary on tournament
life in 1974 and shared it with Parker, the instructor. "He said
we should have E.P. look at this; we'll call him right now,"
Waite recalls. Presley agreed to meet with them that afternoon.
"We went up to the house and we talked for a bit, and I presented
the idea to him."
Presley was leaving for Las Vegas that night and told the two he would
have to think about it. "A couple of hours later, he said he
liked the idea and said, 'Come to Vegas.' So I went to Vegas and we
talked about the film. He gave me a check for $50,000."
Waite says he never completed the film and didn't want to use the
16-millimeter footage of Presley, hoping instead to shoot him on
35-millimeter in more choreographed moves. But the King's weight had
ballooned since the film's inception. "We thought he was going to
come down a little bit [in weight]. We flew back to Memphis a few
times and showed him the film, and he said, 'That's good enough to
me.' He wore a rubber suit and I thought he would get smaller, but he
didn't. It's always hard to cut someone into something when they are
heavy. And it doesn't look good for the sport."
To Florentine and Warrener, resurrecting "New Gladiators" is
akin to exhibiting the Lost Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail. The
film has achieved almost legendary status among karate devotees. In
fact, Florentine first heard of "New Gladiators" back in
Israel in the late '70s when he was a teenager.
Since its release on DVD and VHS in August, "New Gladiators"
has become Rising Sun's biggest seller of the year (1,345 copies sold
so far).
Waite says that the film was 90% complete before he gave it to
Florentine and Warrener. "I tried to keep it as much as possible
intact the way they meant it to be," Florentine says. "I
didn't want to cut stuff. When you see it now in the 21st century, it
takes you back into the '70s and really captures the period. There
were holes in the film, but we patched it."
"This film was never made for release for the general
public," Waite adds. "It was made for us -- the karate
world."
To complete "New Gladiators," Florentine used the work print
-- one that hasn't been color corrected or timed. So the quality of
the print is atrocious -- there are skips, jarring jumps, and the
picture is a faded mixture of browns and yellows.
Then there are several credit problems. The poster says that
Oscar-winners "Davio & Hora" supplied the
cinematography. It is pointed out to a rather embarrassed Florentine
that one of the cinematographers is Allen Daviau, not Davio -- he's
also listed as Allen Davio in the credits. And though Daviau's been
nominated for such films as "E.T." and "Bugsy," he
has never won an Oscar. John Hora, who was the director of
cinematography on such films as "Gremlins," has never been
nominated for an Academy Award. And on both the credits and posters,
the late actor Iron Eyes Cody is referred to as Iron Eye Cody.
Everyone involved in the film knows that, as is, "New
Gladiators" couldn't be distributed theatrically. Still,
Florentine says, "I think it deserves justice." It is their
dream that a savvy filmmaker in Hollywood will restore the original
print, recut the negative and release it theatrically.
Waite believes the original negative is in pretty good shape -- it
sits in boxes in a corner in the back room at Rising Sun. Time is of
the essence for restoration because Waite, Florentine and Warrener say
they were knocked back from the smell of vinegar when they opened the
film cans -- a sign that the negative could be suffering from
"vinegar syndrome" deterioration.
They also have had a hard time explaining to Hollywood executives
exactly what they have on their hands.
"We approach people and say we have this documentary and it was
funded by Elvis," Florentine says. "People don't believe
it."
"In the martial arts world our credibility is
unquestionable," Warrener says. "But the outside world is a
new level for us."
November 16, 2002
Elvis Presley hair clipping
sells for over 100-thousand dollars
WQAD, IL - November 16, 2002
Oak Brook, Illinois-AP -- Somebody is the new owner of a hunka-hunka
hair from "The King."
A chunk of Elvis Presley's jet-black locks sold early this morning to
an anonymous bidder for 115-thousand-120 dollars.
It was listed by the Internet auction house MastroNet of Oak Brook,
Illinois. Bidding on the hair started last month at ten-thousand
dollars.
The auction house says the locks were collected by the king of rock
'n' roll's former hairstylist.
November 16, 2002
Rocking around the clock
By Adam Sherwin, The Times
THE first Top Ten of popular hits was published on November 14, 1952,
by the New Musical Express after staff asked 53 record stores to
divulge their sales returns.
The first chart-topper was Here In My Heart by the former bricklayer
Al Martino. Radio quickly picked up on the chart as the most accurate
gauge of listeners’ tastes, with Pete Murray presenting the rundown
on Radio Luxembourg during the Fifties.
Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock heralded the rock‘n’roll
revolution in 1955 but it took BBC Radio until 1962 before Alan
Freeman was asked to present a Top Ten rundown.
Top Of The Pops, the BBC’s first chart-based television programme,
was launched on New Year’s Day 1964 with the Rolling Stones first to
perform.
By 1960 the chart had been extended to a Top 50 and the current list
of 100 singles was introduced in 1983. Elvis
Presley has spent more time in the UK charts than any other artist —
1,185 weeks.
Sir Cliff Richard is in second place with 1,153 chart weeks. A
posthumous number one from Elvis Presley earlier this year means that
he has had 18 chart-toppers, one more than the Beatles.
In 1985 there were 250 shops contributing their sales to the charts,
making the list vulnerable to rigging.
Men were paid to drive up and down the M1, buying up multiple copies
of failing singles. They would either dump them or sell them back to
distributors.
Today 5,500 shops contribute to the charts and the industry believes
that manipulation is a rarity. Computer software detects abnormal
sales patterns and records are removed from the rundown if there is
suspicion of foul play.
November 15, 2002
FTD Label
"Dinner At Eight"
Track List :
See See Rider ; I Got A Woman - Amen ; Love Me ; Help Me
Make It Through The Night ; Trying To Get To You ; And I Love You So ;
All Shook Up ; Teddy Bear - Don't Be Cruel ; Wooden Heart ; You Gave
Me A Mountain ; Polk Salad Annie ; Intros ; How Great Thou Art ;
Softly As I Leave You ; America The Beautiful ; Mystery Train
-Tiger Man ; Blue Christmas ; Can't Help Falling In Love
November 14, 2002
Addition of Vienna Finalizes
Elvis-The Concert's 2003 European Tour Schedule
The Europe 2003 tour schedule for Elvis-The Concert has now been
updated with the confirmation of a show at Stadt Halle in Vienna,
Austria on June 7. Click
here for the full schedule.
Source : EPE
November 13, 2002
Something NEW from Lilo &
Stitch
Surf's up with an ALL NEW collection of renditions of Hawaiian-themed
songs sung by popular artists. Featuring more delightful music
inspired by the movie, including Elvis Presley, the Hawaiian kids
choir, and music of the islands.
More
Info
Source : EPE
November 12, 2002
NBC Special "Elvis
Lives" - The Latest Press Release
------------------------------------------------ EPE 11/11/2002
Following
is a press release issued today from BMG/RCA and NBC, updating
information about the television special:
NBC AND BMG/RCA JOIN FORCES ON PRIMETIME ELVIS PRESLEY SPECIAL
“ELVIS LIVES” FEATURING BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, BONO, SHERYL CROW, DAVE
MATTHEWS, NO DOUBT, CHER, STEVEN TYLER, AND TOM PETTY TO BE TELECAST
NOVEMBER 28 (10-11 p.m. ET)
“Elvis Lives” Will Honor Legacy and Celebrate Ongoing Influence of
America’s Greatest Icon;
TV Special Follows Record-Breaking Sales of “ELVIS 30 #1 HITS”
BURBANK – November 11, 2002 – NBC will air a primetime, all-star
television special on Elvis Presley, titled “Elvis Lives,” on
Thursday, November 28 (10-11 p.m. ET). The hour-long special will
celebrate Presley’s enduring legacy with commentary by today’s top
entertainment superstars, including, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Tom
Petty, Sheryl Crow, Britney Spears, Cher, Sarah Jessica Parker,
President Bill Clinton, Chuck D and Steven Tyler and performances by
No Doubt, Dave Matthews, Norah Jones and Chris Isaak with LeAnn Rimes.
“Elvis Lives” will be hosted by Isaak and is a follow-up to the
immensely successful worldwide debut of the definitive Elvis Presley
CD collection “ELVIS 30 #1 HITS.”
Other celebrities from the worlds of music, film, television,
politics, sports and publishing slated to appear include Denis Leary,
Kevin Bacon, Dennis Hopper, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carson Daly, Bob Weir,
Serena Williams, and Governor Jesse Ventura.
The special will present a collection of stories, observations,
opinions and reflections from renowned individuals about Presley’s
importance, interspersed with performances from contemporary artists
of four Presley classics culled from the new RCA release “ELVIS 30
#1 HITS,” which recently reached at No. 1 in 26 territories around
the world. This new material produced specifically for “Elvis
Lives” will be interspersed with historic footage of Presley’s
performances and interviews as well as the recent international
coverage commemorating the 25th anniversary of Presley’s death.
For additional Elvis Presley information, please log onto
elvisnumberones.com.
The special is being produced by Mary Wharton for Red Eye Flight
Productions in conjunction with Wayne Isaak of Isaak Entertainment and
Bill Flanagan, and with the cooperation of Elvis Presley Enterprises,
Inc. Executive Producers are David Saltz and Osmond J. Kilkenny.
Special writers and interviewers are David Wild and Bill Flanagan.
November 11, 2002
Elvis’s
love affair with Hawaii - Jerry
Hopkins explores Presley’s lasting effect on the islands
By Burl Burlingame, Honolulu Star-Bulletin -
November 10, 2002
  A
quarter-century ago, the King died, and the world was plunged into
grief-stricken mourning. Well, OK, maybe that's overstating it a bit,
but when Elvis was found dead in the bathroom at Graceland, bless my
soul, we was all shook up.
At the time, Aug. 16, 1977, the only book about Elvis was Jerry
Hopkin's authoritative biography, the first to chronicle a rock star's
life with the same kind of scholarship afforded, well, given to kings.
And now, 25 years later, the latest Elvis book is "Elvis in
Hawaii," also by Hopkins.
We called Hopkins at his home in Thailand, and he answered,
"Christ, do you know what time it is? It's dark out!" And so
we tried a few hours later and found the king of King biographers
somewhat well-rested.
The book, published by Bess Press and due in stores Friday, is an
interesting keepsake, filled with photographs and memorabilia. Hopkins
not only chronicles Elvis's time in Hawaii, and his three Hawaiian
movies, but also the lasting effect Presley has had on Hawaii -- and
the effect Hawaii had on Presley.
"I actually started to work on some of this in the early '90s,
but abandoned it about the time I moved to Asia," said Hopkins.
"But I still had all my files. Then I was in Hawaii last December
and I was talking to my friend Buddy Bess and he remembered the
project, and said he was interested in reviving it, as long as we
could get it into stores by this December.
"That's not a long time to prepare and print a book, but in the
last nine years, a little something called the Internet emerged. That
made it possible to both do the research and contact Elvis fans all
around the world. It turned out there's even a young fellow in Holland
who has an ElvisIn Hawaii.com Web site! He fell all over himself
helping with details. And so the 20,000 words came pretty easily, and
we were able to get pictures and snapshots too.
"When I did my first Elvis book, I interviewed 200 people and
took hundreds of pages of notes and had to travel to different cities
just to find out basic information. With the Internet, if I need to
know the cast list and a synopsis of an Elvis movie, the information
is available in seconds. I don't waste my time and can concentrate on
actually writing."
Hopkins says "Elvis in Hawaii" is a kind of "extended
footnote" to his earlier books on Presley, neither of which spent
much ink on the singer's love affair with the islands. "And that
wasn't quite fair, because Elvis' relationship with Hawaii was an
important one in his life. He did three movies and a live concert
broadcast from Hawaii, raised money for the Arizona Memorial and
vacationed in Hawaii whenever he could.
"In fact, his last vacation, just a few months before he died,
was in Hawaii. Everyone who knew him says there were only two places
Elvis felt at home, and they were Memphis and Hawaii."
Although Hawaii did a lot for Elvis, and laid-back local folk
respected his space, Elvis also did a lot for Hawaii, Hopkins
maintains.
"Elvis helped create Hawaii's modern image as a tourist
destination. Whatever you think of his three movies in Hawaii -- 'Blue
Hawaii,' 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' and 'Paradise Hawaiian Style' --
they're wonderful postcards about Hawaii.
"I'm pleased with the book for what it means to Elvis fans, but
it's also a snapshot of Hawaii's recent history. Dreams come true in
blue Hawaii, right?"
The
Bess Press - Honolulu, Hawaii
Elvis
In Hawai'i (books photos) Elvis
In Hawaii - Mar. 1977 (photos)
November 11, 2002
Tom
Jones keeps dreaming about
Elvis
Tom Jones says he keeps dreaming about saving Elvis's life.
In his recurring dream, he finds himself back in the 50s and sees the
singer leaving a studio.
He follows him to warn him about the end his life came to.
Addressing Elvis and a few friends he is with, he talks about the end
of Elvis's career.
"I tell him how the drugs will ruin his life. I tell him about
his early death.
"(I say) I'm from the future, look at my clothes! Then I look
down at myself and realise I don't look any different because many of
the things I wear today are a revival of 50s fashion."
Jones told Zeit weekly his dream always ends the same way: Elvis and
his friends refuse to believe him.
"I talk like crazy, but I never manage to prevent his ruin."
The dream reflects real-life experiences Jones made after becoming
friends with Elvis when both were performing in Las Vegas.
"During the last years of his life, it was virtually impossible
to help him. He didn't answer the phone, he didn't call back, he
isolated himself.
"Sometimes I think, maybe I could have helped him. But even in my
dreams, I fail."
Source: Ananova
November 09, 2002
The top 100 number one
singles
BBC NEWS - November 09, 2002
Queen have topped a chart of pop fans' favourite number one singles of
the last 50 years. Here is the top 100:
The Top 100:
1. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
2. John Lennon - Imagine
3. Beatles - Hey Jude
4. Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
5. George Harrison - My Sweet Lord
6. Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
7. Animals - The House Of The Rising Sun
8. Abba - Dancing Queen
9. Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
10. Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure
11. Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
12. Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall
13. Police - Every Breath You Take
14. Righteous Brothers - You've Lost That Loving Feeling
15. Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas
16. Rolling Stones - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
17. Beatles - She Loves You
18. Soft Cell - Tainted Love
19. Beatles - All You Need Is Love
20. Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock
21. 10 CC - I'm Not In Love
22. Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up And See
Me)
22. Rod Stewart - Maggie May
24. Roy Orbison - Oh Pretty Woman
25. David Bowie - Space Oddity
26. Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
27. Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand
28. Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
29. Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
30. Monkees - I'm A Believer
31. Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays
32. Beatles - A Hard Day's Night
33. Beatles - Help!
34. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax
35. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head
36. Queen - Innuendo
37. Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man
38. Abba - Waterloo
39. Elvis vs JXL - A Little Less Conversation
40. Kinks - You Really Got Me
41. Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
42. Elvis Presley - All Shook Up
43. Fleetwood Mac - Albatross
44. Elvis Presley - Are You Lonesome Tonight
45. Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You
46. Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
47. Nilsson - Without You
48. Elvis Presley - The Wonder Of You
49. Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World/Cabaret
50. Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
51. Abba - The Winner Takes It All
52. Blondie - Heart Of Glass
53. Beatles - Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out
54. Elvis Presley - Can't Help Falling In
Love/Rock-A-Hula Baby
55. George Michael - Careless Whisper
56 Beatles - Ticket To Ride
56 John Lennon - Woman
58. Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love
59. Elvis Presley - It's Now Or Never
60. Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile
61. Dusty Springfield - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
62. Beatles - Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby
63. Human League - Don't You Want Me
64. Roy Orbison - Only The Lonely
65. Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock Around The Clock
66. Beatles - Paperback Writer
67. Jam - Going Underground
68. T Rex - Get It On
69. Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody
70. Sonny & Cher - I Got You Babe
71. Kinks - Sunny Afternoon
72. Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse Of The Heart
73. Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends
73. Abba - Mamma Mia
75. Gerry & The Pacemakers - You'll Never Walk Alone
75. David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes
75. Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
78. Beatles - Get Back
79. Abba - Knowing Me Knowing You
80. Madonna - Like A Prayer
81. Elvis Presley - Return To Sender
82. Bangles - Eternal Flame
83. Freddie Mercury - Living On My Own
83. U2 - Beautiful Day
85. Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star
86. Rolling Stones - Jumping Jack Flash
87. Meat Loaf - I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)
88. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
89. Scott McKenzie - San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In
Your Hair)
90. Beatles - From Me To You
91. Alice Cooper - School's Out
92. A-ha - The Sun Always Shines On TV
93. Bee Gees - Night Fever
94. Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
95. Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women
95. Hollies - He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother
97. Beatles - Hello Goodbye
98. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Tears Of A Clown
99. Police - Message In A Bottle
99. Billy Joel - Uptown Girl
November 07, 2002
DVD
Audio Release of ELV1S 30 #1 HITS
-------------------------------
EPE 11/7/2002
Good news for Elvis fans who are DVD audio enthusiasts. On December  10,
ELV1S 30 #1 HITS will be issued on DVD audio. The disc will come in a
regular CD size case with alterations to the cover art to distinguish
it clearly from the regular CD release. DVD audio discs provide an
even greater sound quality experience. They work in all DVD players -
both in audio DVD players and video DVD players. (They do not work in
regular CD players.) We applaud RCA/BMG for taking this extra step of
reaching the new and growing DVD audio market in promoting the
worldwide smash ELV1S 30 #1 HITS.
The regular E1 CD presents the songs in chronological order. The DVD
audio disc will present them in reverse chronological order. The songs
on E1 that take the greatest advantage of DVD audio are those that
were originally recorded in multi-track - the later recordings. It's
good to put those first on the DVD for maximum initial impact for the
listener. The DVD audio disc will have all of the content of the
regular E1 CD plus several very special bonus tracks.
You'll hear "A:B" comparison samples of three songs: A - a
sample of the original mix of the song, B- a sample of the song with
its newly remastered sound as commissioned for the ELV1S 30 #1 HITS CD
release. (See
our previous article about the sound work.) You'll also hear
out-takes of three songs: Elvis' own self-harmony track with his
"Sing the song, man, sing the song!" shout of encouragement
to himself on Suspicious Minds; studio banter, laughter and a false
start on Crying in the Chapel; and the exquisite, spine-tingling
isolated Elvis vocal track from In the Ghetto, which emerged as the
remastering engineers' favorite example of Elvis' perfect pitch and
overall magnificence as an artist.
Track Listing:
1. A Little Less Conversation (JXL Radio Edit Remix)
2. Way Down
3. Burning Love
4. The Wonder Of You
5. Suspicious Minds
6. In The Ghetto
7. Crying In The Chapel
8. (You're The) Devil In Disguise
9. Return To Sender
10. She's Not You
11. Good Luck Charm
12. Can't Help Falling In Love
13. (Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame
14. Surrender
15. Wooden Heart
16. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
17. It's Now Or Never
18. Stuck On You
19. A Big Hunk O' Love
20. (Now And Then There's) A Fool Such As I
21. One Night
22. Hard Headed Woman
23. Don't
24. Jailhouse Rock
25. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear
26. All Shook Up
27. Too Much
28. Love Me Tender
29. Hound Dog
30. Don't Be Cruel
31. Heartbreak Hotel
SPECIAL BONUS TRACKS:
32. Burning Love (A:B Test)
33. Return To Sender (A:B Test)
34. (You're The) Devil In Disguise (A:B Test)
35. In The Ghetto (Elvis' isolated vocal)
36. Suspicious Minds (Elvis' self-harmony vocal and comment)
37. Crying In The Chapel (with banter, laughter, false start)
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