Welcome to the "Elvis Information Network", home to the best news, reviews, interviews, Elvis photos & in-depth articles about the King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Aaron Presley...
Anthony Stuchbury 'From Elvis At Sun' Interview: There are two new 'Mono II Stereo' releases about to come out from the Memphis Mansion label. 'From Elvis At Sun' features all of Elvis' SUN masters in new stereo versions while the 10" vinyl 'Best Of Elvis' is a neat stereo upgrade of the original HMV october 1957 UK album.
The question of whether Elvis' mono fifties classic recordings should be re-released in "new stereo" is hotly debated among hard-core collectors and so EIN wanted to ask Memphis Mansion's producer / audio engineer Anthony Stuchbury some key questions.
Questions including... - Do we really need stereo versions of these mono classics?
- Since EMI are officially releasing The Beatles in "new stereo" perhaps it is time for RCA / SONY to do the same for Elvis..
'Burning Love' (Agent Elvis Promo): Another crazy promo for the new animated 'Agent Elvis' series.
You almost don't need to watch the episode - just enjoy the ride as Agent Elvis goes all "Apocalypse Now" on us heading up the steamy Vietnam river a la Captain Willard..
(News, Source;EPE/ElvisInfoNet)
Vintage Rock tribute to It Happened At the World's Fair: Each month the excellent newsstand magazine, Vintage Rock, also circulates an online newsletter. In its latest newsletter the feature article by Douglas McPherson is a look at Elvis' 12th film, It Happened At the World's Fair. Here is an excerpt:
The only number that references Presley’s hip-shaking days is the classy 50s-style mid-pacer One Broken Heart For Sale, penned by Otis Blackwell, which was released ahead of the film and reached No.11 in the US and No.12 in the UK. It’s the single’s B-side, They Remind Me Too Much Of You, that makes the most lasting impression on screen, however.
Interestingly, we don’t see Presley sing it. The softly delivered ballad plays over a scene where Mike is riding the monorail with the sleeping Sue-Lin. In his face we see him realising that he’s fallen heavily for Diane.
It’s a mesmerising sequence and given that he just sits unspeaking for the duration of the song, proof of what a fine actor he could be. In fact, despite the often silly plot, Presley’s acting is first rate throughout …World’s Fair, whether it’s his comedic scenes with Tiu, his palpable heartbreak when a welfare lady takes the child from him and his protective anger when the authorities promptly lose the girl. Read the full article
EIN recommends Vintage Rock. It's monthly editions often feature Elvis related news and reviews and the magazine is also responsible for periodical Elvis special magazines as part of its Vintage Rocks
Presents series. These special Elvis magazines have included Elvis Collectors Edition; Live Elvis; Elvis A Celebration; Elvis The Later Years; and Elvis At The Movies.
Find out more Vintage Rock and Elvis back issues still available: Vintage Rock Presents - Vintage Rock back issues (News, Source: Douglas McPherson, Vintage Rock; EIN)
Long Live the King DVD: Due for release from Lighthouse Productions on April 14, 2023 in Germany is the musical documentary DVD 'Elvis Presley - Long Live The King' featuring a collection of interviews, statements, private footage and music clips. The running time is 60 minutes.
The 28 chapters include Elvis´ Answering Machine, Intro Blue Moon Of Kentucky, Blue Suede Shoes, Elvis & June In Biloxi 1956, Shake Rattle & Roll, Baby Let's Playhouse, Army Induction 1958, Heartbreak Hotel, Army Footage 1958, Money Honey, Elvis Takes Germany 1958, Blue Suede Shoes # 2, Elvis In Paris 1959, Tutti Frutti, Elvis & Nancy Sinatra 1960, I Want You I Need You I Love You Elvis Army Press Conference 1960, Heartbreak Hotel # 2, Elvis Press Conference In His Father's Office 1960, Fame & Fortune, Elvis Press Conference Continue, Stuck On You, Hound Dog, I Got A Woman, I Was The One, Good Rockin' Tonight and more.
(News, Source: JVC; EDBD)
'3 Days to Save A Legend' eBook Special Offer: Black Friday has come early this year for Elvis fans….
For 3 days only, from today 31st March to 2nd April…..
80% discount on my eBook ‘’3 Days to save a Legend’’ ($6.05) from £4.99 down to ($0.99) 99p
This offer will never be repeated.
With an average rating of 4.1 you’re guaranteed to love it
If you love Elvis or Time Travel (think BTTF), it's definitely 1 you won't want to miss, if you like both you’re in heaven….
Get it while you can,…
(News, Source: Paul Farmer)
Was Elvis Presley as talented as people portray him to be?: Trombonist for Elvis in 1972 (and featured in Elvis On Tour), Randall Peede, wrote this interesting post on Quora:
... I was with Elvis in 1972 on trombone. In a technical sense - air, attack, tone, key and rhythm, yes he was very, very, good. But more important than that is that he was an entertainer. He understood his role and knew how to move an audience. His phrasing and expression showed talent that was natural.
He had good looks and exciting moves. He built a great act with professional people and worked at the highest levels.
As an actor, he sometimes disagreed with the director, like when they wouldn’t give him a guitar with strings, probably because the audio would be added later.
He was a down-home bay with all of the foibles of the South in the 50’s. He would sometimes Indian wrestle with guys from the band.
He was seriously mobbed by fans to the point of ripping off his clothes and even injuring him slightly.
That’s why the “Elvis has left the building!” announcement was made at the end of the show. He really left.
He liked to party and reportedly had a healthy sexual appetite. In “Little Girl Blue” about Karen Carpenter, a story is told about him inviting Karen and Petula Clark to come up to his room. Petula was freaked and pulled Karen away.
Talented? Yes, very talented especially for that moment in time in understanding that bringing black music to white audiences would be a hit. He also did gospel and socially conscious songs. (News, Source: Randall Peede, quora.com)
‘The 1972 Multitrack Collection & More’ New Import: From an unknown label a 6cd set of 1972 recordings. Their publicity says
.... This comprehensive deluxe set contains all known multitrack recordings recorded during live performances at the Showroom of the Las Vegas Hilton in 1972. All shows are painstakingly remastered with wonderful results.
Also all available stage rehearsals are featured on this set. Among many others you'll hear “Never Been To Spain”, “It’s Over”, “It’s Impossible” & “The Impossible Dream”. During the stage rehearsals songs like “Faded Love”, “Any Day Now”, “Something”, “My Babe” & “Until It’s Time For You To Go”.
As an absolute highlight you hear Elvis sing Mat Monro’s “Portrait Of My Love”. A beautiful ballad which must be heard.
Also included is the August 4 opening performance AUDIENCE RECORDING. Although this is a show recorded by a lucky attendee, this recording is of outstanding quality and it shows the result of what Elvis was working on during the rehearsals earlier that day.
The included fully packed bonus disc contains no less than 16 rare and official unreleased versions of studio tracks recorded in 1972.
This disc features alternate takes, unedited masters, undubbed & overdubbed masters and further unreleased alternate recordings.
EIN NOTE: it seems that everything on the bootleg has been released before. The August 4 opening performance has been on previous bootlegs in bearable audience sound.
Elvis' 'Portrait Of My Love' was officially released on FTD 'Stage Rehearsal' so why you need a 6cd set to hear it we don't understand . . .
Go here to 'All The Elvis CD News 2023' for tracklist and details (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
Wednesday 29 March 2023
Elvis Week 2023 Schedule Announced: EPE have posted the first information on Elvis Week 2023.
... It is time to make your plans for an unforgettable Elvis Week filled with live music, panels, contests, screenings and more!
Elvis Week 2023 highlights include the August 16 'Aloha from Hawaii 50th Anniversary Concert' featuring Elvis on the big screen backed by a live band; ’68 Special Enhanced Screening with Elvis bigger than life in black leather; the annual Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest and performances by many of EPE's past Ultimate winners; Conversations on Elvis, with those who knew Elvis best sharing memories and stories; A Celebration of Lisa Marie Presley with Jerry Schilling;
The annual Candlelight Vigil on August 15 where fans gather in quiet remembrance of the king.
Special guests and performers include Linda Thompson, Sam Thompson, Jerry Schilling, Glen Hardin, Spencer Sutherland, Mike Deasy, Tanya Lemani George, Terry Mike Jeffrey, The Blackwood Brothers Quartet, 10 Ultimate Elvis tribute artists, among others! Plus more exciting guest and event announcements yet to come!
Tickets On-sale Wednesday, April 5
Go here to EPE for more 'Schedule of Events' info The '40th Anniversary Aloha from Hawaii' in Honolulu was a brilliant event.
Sadly way too many of Elvis' associates have died since then (News, Source;EPE/ElvisInfoNet)
Two New FTDs: FTD have announced the next release of two major sets
- 'Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden' 3-CD set.
After Elvis completed a hugely successful and sold-out tour filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for the 1972 documentary 'Elvis On Tour' in April, confidence was high in the Elvis camp with all four shows at New York's Madison Square Garden sold out, as did the rest of the June tour. Any reservations Elvis might have had about performing in the Big Apple were quickly dispelled as the noise from the MSG crowd was deafening. The New York Times 'Arts and Leisure' headline summing up the triumph read 'Like a Prince From Another Planet'. Elvis As Recorded at Madison Square Garden with the evening show of June 10 was a rush release later in the month and sold a million copies in the US in just a few weeks. Total US sales to date exceed 3 million, achieving triple platinum status. The afternoon show was eventually released by RCA as An Afternoon In The Garden in 1997, 20 years after Elvis' death.
This belated FTD 50th Anniversary Edition celebrates these legendary shows with remixed versions of both shows by Memphis recording engineer Matt-Ross Spang. Disc 3 contains the original press conference, recorded at the New York Hilton on June 9th.
Packaged in our 8' x 8' 'Sessions' slipcase, this deluxe 3-CD includes a 20-page color booklet, great photos, memorabilia, press conference transcript and stories from the late Phil Gelormine.
- 'The Making Of Blue Hawaii': Following on from the success of ‘The Making of Jailhouse Rock”, FTD Books announces the release of “The Making of Blue Hawaii”.
The deluxe movie book by David English / Pal Granlund contains 387 pages of rare photos and extensive memorabilia from the film including shooting schedules and memories from cast and crew.
The music book includes 85 pages of photos and detailed recording documents. 4 compact discs feature the soundtrack recording sessions which are newly mixed from the original 3-track tapes. Featuring 50 unreleased takes, the songs are sequenced in recording order for the first time.
A 33rpm vinyl EP is also included.
Perhaps to compensate Elvis fans who cannot afford the Deluxe books there is also the unusual announcement that "The recording sessions audio will be issued later this year as an FTD audio only release".
Author David English has posted two photos of the set on FECC.
EIN wonders whether Ernst has finally tracked down the missing sessions reel of Blue Hawaii.
We await the tracklists
(News, Source;FTD/DE/EIN)
Regarding the'Off The Record, We’re The Greatest’ Vol 1 & 2' releases The 'Elevated Stage Sound Records' label has contacted EIN to explain to us that these tapes were "Not taken without permission from Ed Hess" as we previously thought. They explained...
1. They bought various new unreleased shows from a collector, including these 2 shows. He confirmed that he had owned them for a long time.
2. Because of the On Tour release they wanted to start with these 1972 shows. Unknown and unreleased a good start for a new label.
3. After production had begun they then found the story of Ed Hess on youtube telling the story in response to their announcement. But already being in production what could they do?
4. They have since been in contact with Ed Hess to try and arrange an appropriate deal. Please see your Elvis Dealer for more info
‘Off The Record, We’re The Greatest’ Vol 1 & 2 New Import CDs: From a brand new label Elevated Stage Sound Records, two fully unknown AUDIENCE taped Las Vegas shows.
Elvis is bringing the house down, audience singing along and fans get crazy. And best of all, it’s never been available in any form until now! We will focus on two-mike- ambiance-, booth- and audience recorded shows.
This set features August 28 1972 Dinner Show, August 29 1972 Evening Show.
At Better Sound Studio they restored the audio, the recording itself was damaged although a good base. The rarity and the high-quality of the performances made us proceed to achieve a good result. For the purists, we did not remove all noise since it would also remove music detail and loses dynamic of the performance. In overall we tried to get the audio balanced, cleaning up where possible
in some cases it was impossible without degrading the audio, so we left it as it is. We raised the spoken parts to hear Elvis talking which was a challenge at some parts, his banter is fun at times and makes the whole show even better.
Both CDs are presented in a beautiful “Mini gatefold LP” CD package with inner sleeve and an inside poster. Wrapped in classic Vegas promotion style of 1972. No liner notes since the performances speak for themselves. Go here for tracklists
(News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
Agent Elvis: the King as a groovy 60s super-spy: The animated series works precisely because we like the King in all shapes and sizes. There's blood, nudity, cocaine —and retro pop-culture references.. (as noted by Mint-Lounge) Elvis Presley loved karate. We saw this on stage, most memorably in the Las Vegas shows, where the King of rock ‘n’ roll, wearing an unforgettable white jumpsuit, would launch into flying kicks and karate chops aimed at invisible adversaries. Presley had first learnt karate in the army, then took it up seriously - reportedly earning a black belt later - and had incorporated martial arts moves to give his performances some pizzazz. In the Netflix comedy Agent Elvis, Presley is battling actual demons - the man in the jumpsuit isn’t a make-believe hero no more. When the King starts to do it, it’s as good as done.
As with mythologically larger-than-life characters, “Elvis” is a cipher. We look at that colossus and ascribe
our own meanings: Elvis the undead, Elvis the alien, Elvis the eater of worlds, Elvis the Illuminati…. His name sold tabloids because even the most fanciful things were easier to believe than the truth. “Be formless, shapeless, like water,” the equally mythological Bruce Lee famously said. “You put water into the cup, it becomes the cup.” Elvis comes close. He flows into whatever outlandish shape we draw for him but he sure ain’t water. Read the full article (News, Source: Raja Sen, Mint Lounge)
'Elvis Week 2023' logo: This weekend Graceland revealed that their Elvis Week announcement is just around the corner – and they are so excited to reveal the Elvis Week 2023 logo!
Elvis Week 2023 is August 9-17 2023 so Save the date and stay tuned next week for the Elvis Week schedule to be revealed along with information on-sale dates, special guests and more!
Also If you stay two or more nights at The Guest House at Graceland during Elvis Week 2023, August 9-17, you will receive an exclusive Elvis Week ticket pre-sale for access to the hottest Elvis Week tickets!
Audiobook - '3 Days To Save A Legend' (Paul Farmer): The audiobook edition of Paul Farmer's sci-fi/time travel novel has been released. From the publisher's description:
... As a child of the 1970s, Nick loved "Jailhouse Rock". What if Elvis hadn’t died?
It’s 2010, he’s in his 40s, and Nick is throwing everything he has into developing his new app: an adventure game where the player can use time travel to try to change history, and he’s sure it will be a hit. As he loads in important dates in history, something unexpected happens. He’s gone back in time!
August 13, 1977. Memphis, Tennessee. Not far from Graceland, Nick tries to come to grips with the impossible. Maybe he has been working too hard and it’s a dream? Can it be real? It didn’t matter. Nick knew he had just three days to save the king. What’s his first move?
You’ll love this time-travel thriller, because Paul Farmer gives us the perfect mix of tension, humor, and twists to keep you listening. (News, Source: Paul Farmer)
When did Elvis Presley start going south? How so?: This interesting post is from Quora.com……… ‘I saw an interview with Ringo Starr. Ringo was asked about meeting Elvis in the early ‘60s. He said his first impression was Elvis was surrounded by people but he was all alone. Ringo said during Beatlemania he had his band mates and they were best friends. They cared about each other. They helped and looked out for each other. They kept each other in line.
Elvis was as surrounded by people who only wanted something from him. They didn’t care about Elvis only what he could do for him. Elvis didn’t have anyone looking out for him.’
Peter Hardy, star of “Elvis Killed My Brother”, has died: Many EIN readers will be unaware of the little known Australian made short film, 'Elvis Killed My Brother' (which was funded by a grant from the Western Australia Film Council). Its star, Australian actor, Peter Hardy, has died. The West Australian reports he was pulled from the water, unresponsive, at South Beach in Fremantle at about 10.40am on Thursday. Bystanders performed CPR until paramedics arrived, but were unable to save him. Peter had been snorkeling when he drowned.
He had roles in many Australian television series but is best known for his appearances as Phil Rakich in 44 episodes of McLeod's Daughters between 2006 and 2009 and in the Heath Ledger / Martin Henderson series Sweat where he played Sid Reilly in 26 episodes in 1996.
He also appeared in the hit film, Chopper, which starred Eric Bana.
The Faith of Elvis (Billy Stanley) - "downunder" release of "hardcover" edition delayed again: Originally slated for release in Australia and New Zealand in late 2022, there has been a third delay in release of the "hardcover" edition and the revised release date is May 23.
Stanley notes... “Elvis was a Christian, and most people don’t know that, he was a Bible-carrying Christian … wherever he went, he took the Bible with him. He read the Bible almost every day.
Nobody can really imagine the position Elvis was in … here you have a man that really changed culture. I always thought … he had the devil on one side, and he’s got God on the other side, and there was a constant battle going on inside of his head. Elvis did his best … whenever he was in trouble, he would always turn to God.” Elvis was also the most generous giver I’ve ever met my life, giving money, cars and homes … to people he didn’t even know."
Australia and NZ fans can NOW buy the Kindle, audiobook and CD editions, -- while US and UK fans can buy a copy NOW in hardcover, Kindle, CD and audiobook formats. (News, Source: Amazon Au/ElvisInfoNet)
'ELVIS – Come What May The Lost 1966 Album' New Import CD": What If RCA had released an LP album like our brand new REEL TRAX release in November of 1966?
We don't know for sure of course, but we assume that the view on Elvis´ career in the Sixties would probably be significantly different. Tracks 1 – 12 are taken from the forthcoming REEL TRAX vinyl release “Come What May” (LSP 3718), which deals with a so-called “Lost Album” theory for November 1966.
All other songs used for this CD release are mainly based on international 45 r.p.m single releases of 1966. While some of the titles are almost common knowledge when it comes to be known as single tracks on Elvis´ official RCA-
Label (like “Tell Me Why” and “Blue River” for instance), the “Girl Happy” songs ‘’Do Not Disturb’’ and ‘’Spring Fever’’ have been released that year only on a single in India. The “Paradise Hawaiian Style” LP tracks “Drums Of The Islands”, “This Is My Heaven”, “House Of Sand” and the title track of the movie only showed up on single releases in the Philippines (all on RCA as well).
Also included are original demos of four songs sung by Bobby "Red " West. Two of them were even written by him!
Go here to'All the CD News 2023' for all the details and tracklisting (News, Source;ReelTrax/ElvisinfoNet)
Friday 24 March 2023
'Elvis Live 72' VINYL Out NOW: The new 'Elvis Live 1972' (double-LP) from RCA is out today. Interestingly it features a kind of "best of" the four 'On Tour' concerts and while it doesn't feature each 'best-performed' song it cleverly uses one KEY section from each of the first three concerts (one per vinyl side) plus the missing unique tracks on Side D.
Thus if you play the album sides in sequence A/B/D/C you have a brilliant thirty song concert!
Elvis' classic 'Aloha' double album only included 25 tracks.
'On Tour' classics from Hampton Roads 'Polk Salad', 'Big Hunk O' Love', from Richmond 'It's Over', Greensboro 'Burning Love', 'Funny How Times Slips Away', 'For The Good Times' plus San Antonio 'Proud Mary', 'How Great Thou Art' are all included. This title was released today, March 24.
EIN is looking forward to this vinyl.
Go here to 'All The SONY / FTD News' for the tracklist (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
Nashville Elvis Festival 2023: Starting next week Elvis fans from around the world will gather in Nashville for the 7th annual Nashville Elvis Festival.
The 4-day festival March 30 - April 2, 2023 celebrates everything ELVIS at Liberty Hall in The Factory at Franklin, just south of downtown Nashville
The festival includes 10 shows and three late-night parties.
This year’s highlights include a 55th anniversary recreation of the iconic “’68 Comeback Special” and also a career retrospective called “Elvis Through the Years” and a 50th anniversary recreation of “Aloha from Hawaii.”
The multi-day event was created by two lifelong Elvis fans: Tom Brown and Brian Mayes both from Nashville.
Headliners scheduled to appear include:
- Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist world champions Ben Thompson and Bill Cherry
- Reigning Nashville Elvis Festival champion Michael Chambliss
- Award-winning Elvis tribute artists Michael Cullipher, Alex Mitchell and Jeff Lewis.
Confirmed special guests are Elvis’ friend and bodyguard Sam Thompson and gospel musician Terry Blackwood who performed with Elvis for years.
Also part of the event is the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest preliminary round, with the winner moving on to Graceland's Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest Semifinal and Finals in Memphis during Elvis Week each August.
The Nashville Elvis Festival is hosted by Tom Brown, longtime host of Elvis events nationwide, including Elvis Week at Graceland For full festival details, schedule and lineup, go to...www.NashvilleElvisFestival.com (News, Source;NEF/ElvisInfoNet)
'Agent Elvis' The Cast: Netflix's new series 'Agent Elvis' is getting surprisingly good reactions.
Netflix recently promo'd.... "We can’t help falling in love" with new adult animation series, Agent Elvis! The 10-episode comedy certainly puts the iconic singer in a completely different situation.
The animated version of Elvis is going to be going on all sorts of action-packed adventures as he’s recruited to be part of the secret government agency, The Central Bureau (TCB). While still taking to the stage as well, of course!
The adult series is co-created by John Eddie and Priscilla herself. So who are the actors behind the voices in the new show?
- Matthew McConaughey - Taking on the role of the King of Rock and Roll. We’re going to see the character being the amazing musician he is by day while working with secret agency TCB as a, well, agent, at night!
McConaughey became well known in the 2000s for rom-coms like The Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch, and more.
- Priscilla Presley portrays herself and she’s also the co-creator of the animation! She’s known for starring in the Naked Gun movies.
- Kaitlin Olson plays the role of CeCe Ryder, an “unpredictable” but highly skilled secret agent who becomes a part of Elvis’ life when he joins TCB.
- Johnny Knoxville portrays Bobby Ray, Elvis’ best friend and “not-so-bright sidekick.” And though that might be the case, he’s fully devoted to his singing sensation boss. Knoxville is best known for being the co-creator and starring in MTV’s Jackass series, as well as the movies.
- Niecy Nash takes on the role of Bertie. She serves as a strong-willed mother figure to Elvis since she’s known him since he was a baby. “She runs his day-to-day life and is the only one who can go toe-to-toe with him.”
- Tom Kenny lends his voice to bring the character Scatter to life! The king's “weaponized, chain-smoking, degenerate former NASA chimp with a
trigger-happy dark side.”
The actor is no stranger to animations as he’s the voice behind SpongeBob SquarePants himself and many other notable characters!
- Don Cheadle plays the character who is in charge of everyone at TCB, The Commander. The moody spymaster knows "where all the non-metaphorical bodies are buried!” Cheadle is well known for starring in the Marvel universe and in films like Out of Sight, Traffic, and the Ocean’s Trilogy. Future Agent Elvis guest stars will also include Ed Helms, Christina Hendricks, Kieran Culkin, Chris Elliot, Simon Pegg, Craig Robinson, Gary Cole and even George Clinton. ----- Check this crazy trailer >> (News, Source;Netflix/EIN
'Elvis: The King of Rock and Roll: Book 1: The Crowning of A King' New Book: From author Frank R. D'Onofrio "a frequent guest on a number of radio and podcasts all over the nation". 'Elvis: The King of Rock and Roll: Book 1 - of a potential four part series.
... Why is Elvis: The King of Rock & Roll? The distinction becomes more blurred by only looking at the definition from today's perspective. History was never meant to be told from today's perspective. It must be experienced in the context of the time it happened. You cannot decide based on "Elvis the end result."
Talking about this 60 years later illustrates a culture seeking to rewrite the history of what happened. Believing people at the time should have today's perspective and could do it better. Why Elvis was given the title harbors fierce debate, and racial tensons. Some take it personally, believing he should not have it and never earned it. This book seeks to end the debate once and for all. Starting with the premise: Music /artists of the time bear little resemblance to the music/artists playing today. After Elvis stepped into the future on July 5th, 1954, accidentally singing "That's Allright Mama." everything changed.
Elvis "The End Result" happened after his coronation on September 9th, 1956. Prior to that, Rock and Roll did not exist.
The answer is in the facts of what happened between 1954 - 1956.
The firestorm Elvis caused, transformed the definition of what popular music represented.
My objective: place the reader in the shoes of a young 19-Year-old Truck
driver from Memphis. Recreating and describing people and moments defining a young Elvis. His audition failing, the moment, he and Rock and Roll Music became his destiny.
The Baz Luhrmann film "Elvis" was an important, an exciting visual and musical film experience. But it left out his whole story. The film focused only on Elvis' physical attributes, leaving out his contribution of creating Rock and Roll music experience.
Not showing his true genius as the man who virtually transformed Rhythm and Blues into Rock and Roll. With Television catapulting him to international stardom.
This is Elvis' journey from local Truck driver to his coronation as The King of Rock and Roll. I Hope you will experience the journey again with me as your guide. - Paperback out 21 Mar. 2023
Author Frank R. D'Onofrio has been looking for a publisher for a couple of years and the book now appears to be self-published.
Go to his website for more info (News, Source; EDbyD/EIN)
Tuesday 21 March 2023
'Elvis UK - Beyond RCA' Book Review: UK specialists John Townson and Gordon Minto's new book 'Elvis UK - Beyond RCA - The Ultimate Guide To Elvis Presley’s British Non RCA LPs 1974-1997' flipbook follows on from their previous publications in the Elvis UK series.
This book..
• Is extensively illustrated in full colour
• Features a host of background information including a chronological list of all the albums included
• Deals with each album individually, in a detailed and forensic way, while the text is amply illustrated with scans of every known cover and label variation, relevant photographs, and scans of contemporaneous newspaper and magazine articles
• Includes background information about each release including historically significant events of the period
• Contains hitherto unpublished information from company files
• Includes a wealth of background information relating to the record industry incorporated throughout the text.
'Turning 50, 'Elvis On Tour' remains a valuable document of the 1970s': The recent Goldmine magazine featured a neat article by EIN’s friend Gillian G. Gaar. This edited extract is published with her permission “Make up your mind about either being an electrician or playing guitar. I never saw a guitar player that was worth a damn.”
Such was Vernon Presley’s advice, as recalled by his son, Elvis, during an interview that illustrated just how wrong his father had been. For Elvis Presley had, of course, become a phenomenal success as a performer, though singing had ended up being his strong suit, not playing guitar. Almost two decades after his father had made that observation, Elvis was reminiscing for the benefit of a film crew in the midst of making the second documentary about him, Elvis On Tour, the only Elvis film that would win an award during his lifetime.
The tour opened on April 5 in Buffalo, New York. Abel filmed the show himself on videotape, planning to use it as a reference guide for the subsequent shows the full film crew would shoot (though brief footage of Presley rehearsing with his singers backstage on this night was used in the final film). RCA also planned to record Presley’s April 8 shows in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the accompanying live album, but due to equipment failure, nothing ended up being recorded.
.. So the first material properly recorded and filmed from the tour would be the April 9 show in Hampton Roads, Virginia. There were eleven cameras in the film crew, each set to record on a staggered schedule, so that a show could be captured in its entirety. Along with the four complete shows that were being filmed, offstage and backstage footage would be shot in other cities on the tour.
Ronnie Tutt exlained, “When those cameras start whirring, it’s real easy to get wrapped up into that, - and then pretty soon you start watching what they’re doing and how you respond to what they’re doing instead of stepping away from that and saying, ‘They’re just there to try to capture what is going on in a live situation.’ Elvis, because of his film experience, would always try to mention something to us; he would say, ‘We just want to go out and do our show guys, don’t pay any attention to those Hollywood cameras’ — as he called them — ‘and those microphones; let’s just do what we do and everything else’ll take care of itself.’”
“Most of us were seasoned professionals,” adds Jerry Scheff. “As a recording musician, I was used to the tremendous pressure of having to play flawless music without losing the soul of the music. Even doing Aloha from Hawaii, you can’t think of the huge audience. You just go out hop on the train and enjoy the ride.”
.. Jerry Schilling, who edited the film’s end credits sequence, was also instrumental in getting Elvis to agree to sit for an interview, with the intention of having him provide voiceover narration for the film.
The interview was recorded on the MGM lot in July. Perhaps it was the setting that prompted Presley to spend much of the interview expressing his unhappiness with his film career; only a few brief comments ended up being used in the final film. Instead of the filmmakers showing Presley a rough cut of the movie to get his impressions, or tailoring their questions more specifically to what they envisioned for the film’s narration, it was a lost opportunity. ...... Elvis On Tour opened in November 1972, and received generally good reviews. Some cited how well the split-screen technique worked in giving the viewer a more well-rounded view of Presley’s performance, while others found the off-stage footage (Elvis arriving and departing from the concert venues, meeting with fans
and officials) to be repetitious. Presley was especially pleased when Elvis On Tour went on to win the Golden Globe for Best Documentary; it was a validation he’d never had from the film industry before.
Ultimately, Elvis On Tour captures Presley still caught up in the thrill of live performance. As adoring fans cheer on his every move, as dignitaries in each town jockey to meet him, as he’s hustled into and out of arenas with dispatch, he’s the calm eye in the center of the storm that swirls around him. As Ernst Jorgensen, the new set’s producer, puts it, “Elvis was still finding something new, was telling us who he wanted to be, was courageous and controlled in his performances. It all comes together for him, for real, in 1972."
'Elvis Remembered: Intimate Interviews' New Book: Shelly Powers was a contributor for the 'ELVIS International' magazine.
Her new book 'Elvis Remembered: Intimate Interviews from the Elvis International archives, With the People Who Knew Him Best' will be published this october.
When Shelly Powers was 7, she told her mother that she'd marry Elvis Presley when she grew up. She did -- though he was an impersonator, a tribute artist she met in Las Vegas.
But over her 12 years living in Vegas, she joined an Elvis fan club and what started as one interview with Ed Bonja became many more, and more friendships with people in Elvis' circle. Each of the 11 of Elvis' intimates interviewed here has a good story to tell. Each is accompanied by period photographs concert memorabilia, and unusual memories that every fan or Elvis will want to read.
Interviewees include:
Ed Bonja Tour manager and official photographer 1970-77
Cynthia Pepper Co-star in the movie "Kissin' Cousins"
Darleen Thompkins - "Blue Hawaii" and remained close till his death
Patti Perry - only female member of "Memphis Mafia"
Myrna Smith Elvis backing singer 1969-77
Joe (Diamond Joe) Esposito Lifelong friend
Sonny West Lifelong friend of Elvis and bodyguard
Jerry Schilling Lifelong friend
Larry Geller Spiritual advisor and personal hair stylist.
Jimmy Velvet Friend for 20 years.
Packed with remarkable photographs this will be a memorable resource
Priscilla Pleads for Postponement: While Priscilla has previously noted,“I have always been there for Elvis’ legacy, I will continue to forge a pathway forward with respect, honesty, dignity, integrity and love”according to RadarOnLine she has now pleaded with the court to postpone the first scheduled hearing on her petition to be named trustee of her late daughter Lisa Marie’s trust as her feud with granddaughter Riley Keough intensifies.
It was only days after Lisa Marie’s death that Priscilla filed a petition in court demanding an alleged amendment to the trust not be enforced. So much for 'dignity'.
In court documents Priscilla said the trust was created in 1993 and amended in 2010. She said she was named the co-trustee along with Lisa Marie’s ex-business manager Barry Siegel.
Recently however Priscilla revealed Barry intends to step down as co-trustee. She said per Lisa Marie’s will that meant Riley would take over his spot. She believed that both she and Riley should serve as co-trustees.
Lisa Marie died with $3-4 million owed to creditors but had life insurance policies that are set to pay out $35 million to her family. Her only beneficiaries are her oldest daughter Riley and her twins Harper and Finley.
Riley has apparently still not responded to the case in court.
RadarOnline sources claim that Riley has become upset with Priscilla’s actions and was taken aback by her move in court. Further, insiders claim the actress doesn’t appreciate her grandmother becoming friendly with Lisa Marie’s ex-husband Michael Lockwood.
Whatever is transpiring behind the scenes the “honesty, dignity, integrity and love” does not appear to be happening from Priscilla towards the extended Presley family (News, Source;Radar/EIN)
Sunday 19 March 2023
'Agent Elvis' now on Netflix: All 10 episodes of Agent Elvis are now available on Netflix. And the adults only satire (which was conceived by Priscilla Presley and John Eddie) has quickly found rave reviews for its tongue-in-cheek and raunchy take on Elvis as a secret agent. While it won't be to everyone's liking, there is much to admire about this offbeat animated show. The stellar cast is led by Matthew McConaughey as Elvis (although much like Tom Hanks' accent in Elvis, there have been mixed reviews about McConaughey's accent in Agent Elvis). If episode 1 is a guide, Elvis has two sidekicks, CyeCye Rider (voiced by Kaitlin Olson) and Scatter the chimp who is an hilarious show highlight. Other cast members are Don Cheadle, Niecey Nash, Johnny Knoxville, Christina Hendricks, Simon Pegg, Ed Helms, Gary Cole, Kieran Culkin, and Priscilla Presley The soundtrack is strong with good use of Elvis (and other) recordings. The debut episode also has features a neat nod to Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic.
Watch the 'Agent Elvis' trailer here
Guardian 4 STAR Review includes.. "Matthew McConaughey’s foul-mouthed, violent Presley is hilarious. This animation, co-created by Priscilla Presley, depicts The King as a secret agent with a psychotic sidekick chimp. He beats bad guys to death while tripping on LSD – and it’s hugely funny
.. Despite the scenes of Elvis tripping on LSD or pummelling various bad guys to death with his bare hands, this series comes with family approval, having been created by Priscilla Presley with first-time showrunners John Eddie and Archer scribe Mike Arnold. Priscilla also voices herself, as the series is set when they are still happily married and their recently passed Lisa Marie Presley is a babe in arms. Elvis is
portrayed as a loving husband and father and is easily the most morally upstanding of the ensemble, but it’s still surprising that the extremely adult antics of the show come with his estate’s involvement, However, without the support of his loved ones, the show would be an uneasy prospect given that Elvis himself was ultimately a victim of those that sought to squeeze every dollar they could out of him.
While the talent of Elvis is a one-in-a-generation phenomenon, the show takes gentle jabs at his status as an icon (“He’s like Marvin Gaye for white people”). But the talent of the voice cast extends into the many cameos made throughout the series, with particular highlights in Jason Mantzoukas’s “completely not insane” Howard Hughes and Fred Armisen’s Charles Manson. But the show has ambition beyond just being a who’s who of the late 1960s and the series builds up some intriguing mysteries and fun twists. CHECK OUT THIS BRILLIANT Official TRAILER on YouTube > (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
'Elvis Live 72' VINYL Out Soon: The new 'Elvis Live 1972' (double-LP) from RCA will be out next week. Interestingly it features a kind of "best of" the four 'On Tour' concerts and while it doesn't feature each 'best-performed' song it cleverly uses one KEY section from each of the first three concerts (one per vinyl side) plus the missing unique tracks on Side D.
Thus if you play the album sides in sequence A/B/D/C you have a brilliant thirty song concert!
Elvis' classic 'Aloha' double album only incuded 25 tracks.
'On Tour' classics from Hampton Roads 'Polk Salad', 'Big Hunk O' Love', from Richmond 'It's Over', Greensboro 'Burning Love', 'Funny How Times Slips Away', 'For The Good Times' plus San Antonio 'Proud Mary', 'How Great Thou Art' are all included. This title will be released on March 24, 2023.
FTD March Releases: OUT NOW: FTD new March 2023 releases are OUT NOW and at your local dealers.
1. 'Elvis: Let Me Be There' a three CD soundboard release from Elvis' January-Feb 1974 Las Vegas season.
Released as a 3-CD 5" digi-pak, this set features three 1974 concerts recorded via soundboard at The Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas on January 28, 29 Midnight and February 1, 1974. EIN Note: So far FTD have only released the January 27 Dinner Show from this season on 'I Found My Thrill'- and what a great performance that was.
We noted at the time that the "Bonus Track" from Feb 1 had some tape-hiss.
The January 29, 1974 Midnight Show is totally new for collectors. Both January 28, 1974 Dinner Show, and February 1, 1974 Midnight Show have only been released as bootleg AUDIENCE recordings 'Wild Tiger Vol.4' and 'First In Line'
2.'From Elvis Presley Boulevard' Special double VINYL.
FTD Vinyl is pleased to announce the release of a special blue vinyl edition of From Elvis Presley Boulevard. Each double album is individually numbered and features great outtakes and masters recorded in the legendary Jungle Room.
Songs include Hurt, For The Heart, Love Coming Down, I'll Never Fall In Love Again, Danny Boy, Solitaire and The Last Farewell.
Available only while stock of 3500 lasts!
Elvis' 1962 Lockheed JetStar's New Life: Great news that after sitting in a New Mexico desert for close to 40 years, Elvis' Lockheed jetStar has been reloacted to Tampa Bay, Florida.
Now Elvis' 1962 Lockheed JetStar is being stored in Plant City by owner James Webb of “Jimmy’s World” on YouTube, who bought it for $234,000.
He told the mdeia, “The airplane itself is flipping cool, even without the obvious connection, but if you add in the Elvis connection, there’s no rock ‘n’ roll star bigger than Elvis, in my opinion".
The jet was transported from Roswell, New Mexico, to Florida, traveling more than 1,600 miles.
Webb is known for buying planes and giving them new life while documenting the process on his YouTube channel.
He said the jet will be transformed into an RV to tour the country and raise funds for charities, such as St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
“We’re going to be able to create such a unique, Elvis-type of experience that the whole world would get to enjoy. Even more than if it was flying or stationary at Graceland,” Webb said.
The 1962 red Lockheed JetStarOne which Elvis purchased in July 1976 (via a trade-in on his previous investment in a Dessault-Falcon airplane) for $840,000 and used it to cart his TCB band and colleagues on tour to concerts and appearances across the country. It eventually became the center of a long drawn-out FBI investigation "Operation Fountain Pen" where Elvis and Vernon were swindelled in an aircraft refurbishment deal.
Untouched since Elvis owned it, the jet is the only plane once owned by the legendary singer that is privately owned. Two other Elvis owned planes, including the Lisa Marie are displayed at Graceland. (News, Source;LarryChasteen/EIN)
Wednesday 15 March 2023
'From Elvis At Sun' in Stereo: Coming soon from the Memphis Mansion label all of Elvis SUN recordings released "For The First Time In Stereo!"
This time promised in quality, realistic "Stereo" The Sun Singles:
1. That’s All Right
2. Blue Moon of Kentucky
3. Good Rockin’ Tonight
4. I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine
5. Milkcow Blues Boogie
6. You’re a Heartbreaker
7. Baby Let’s Play House
8. I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone
9. I Forgot to Remember to Forget
10. Mystery Train More Sun Masters:
11. Harbor Lights
12. I Love You Because
13. Blue Moon
14. Tomorrow Night
15. I’ll Never Let You Go
16. Just Because
17. My Baby’s Gone
18. Trying To Get To You
19. When It Rains It Really Pours
All tracks previously released in ‘mono’. EIN Note: Of course these tracks have been released in 'fake stereo' previously.
See EIN's review 'Elvis Reborn Mono-To-Stereo' - however the results were a little uneven and Memphis Mansion promise even better quality than the 'gold-standard' that until now has been ERIC records.
What EIN has heard is very impressive.
GoHERE to Memphis Mansion to pre-order. - Great value at €13 (News, Source;MM/ElvisInfoNet)
'Kid Galahad' BluRay Re-Release: Elvis' 1962 film 'Kid Galahad' was released on BluRay back in 2017 but with the heightened Elvis interest due to Baz Luhrmann's ELVIS biopic, Sandpiper Pictures is re-releasing the BluRay in the USA.
No word that it is any different from the earlier version.
Unfortunately the company suggest that “An early vehicle for Elvis' acting talents. Walter Gulick (Presley) is a garage mechanic who is inadvertently drawn into the world of professional boxing. He has to free himself from the clutches of a gambler (Gig Young) who is attempting to manipulate him. Songs include 'I Got Lucky', 'Love is For Lovers', <EIN- wtf?) and 'King of the Whole Wide World' .
Release date April 25.
(News, Source;NP/ElvisInfoNet)
Graceland Rumours: The rumour mongers have been feeding the tabloids that "Riley Keough changed the locks on Graceland shutting Priscilla out of the estate over the legal battle over Lisa Marie’s will."
Tabloid headings were "Priscilla Presley locked out of Graceland mansion".
However Graceland reps stated, “These reports are entirely untrue. No locks at Graceland have been changed since Lisa Marie’s passing.”
Last week Lisa Marie’s ex-partner Michael Lockwood filed to be appointed the "guardian ad litem" (court-appointed representative of a child’s best interests) of their 14-year-old twin daughters, Harper and Finley Lockwood.
Before her death, Lockwood and Lisa Marie were embroiled in a nasty custody battle over the twins that lasted until October of last year. Friends say Lisa Marie resented that Priscilla sided with Michael, and the tension trickled down to Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s eldest daughter.
Apparently Lockwood was “not invited” to Lisa Marie’s funeral but he came to Memphis under the pretence that he had to chaperone the twins and was there with Priscilla’s help.
A friend of Lisa Marie stated that "The last thing Lisa Marie would have wanted was for Michael to be there.”
Priscilla however has insisted there’s no family riff. “Please allow us the time we need to work together and sort this out. I have always been there for Elvis’ legacy, our family and the fans, I will continue to forge a pathway forward with respect, honesty, dignity, integrity and love.” (News, Source;Various/EIN)
Sam Phillips 'Legacy Class of 2023' Award: The TN Radio Hall of Fame announced that Sam Phillips, will be inducted into the hall as part of the Legacy Class of 2023. The induction ceremony, Mulehouse, Columbia, TN is July 29.
Phillips began his RADIO career in Alabama, but later worked for WLAC/ Nashville before landing at WREC/ Memphis, where he engineered big band remotes from the roof of Memphis’ Peabody Hotel and hosted Songs of the West and the Saturday Afternoon Tea Dance. In 1950, Phillips used his music and engineering background to open a small studio, Memphis Recording Service, which later became Sun Records. At Sun, Phillips discovered some of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, including Elvis Presley, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Charlie Rich.
In 1955, Phillips became a station owner with WHER/ Memphis, the nation’s first “All-Girl” radio station; Phillips’ wife Becky was its lead voice.
Ticket info will be released in the coming weeks. (News, Source;TNRadioHallofFame)
Baz Luhrmann’s plans for an Elvis stage musical: The AussieTheatre.com has annouced that Baz Luhrmann, best known for directing visually stunning and flamboyant films such as ELVIS, Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet, and The Great Gatsby has mentioned work on an Elvis stage musical.
In addition to his film work Luhrmann has also directed operas and stage productions.
Despite his recent ELVIS film not receiving any Oscars, it could potentially follow in the footsteps of Moulin Rouge! or Strictly Ballroom by making its way to the stage.
Luhrmann spoke about the musical on the Oscars red carpet, comparing it to Moulin Rouge! and confirming that he would produce but not direct it.
No final details have yet been announced. Moulin Rouge! is currently playing in London, New York and in Australia, Strictly Ballroom is touring in the UK and Ireland. (News, Source;AussieTheatre.com)
‘Off The Record, We’re The Greatest’ Vol 1 & 2 New Import CDs: From a brand new label Elevated Stage Sound Records, two fully unknown AUDIENCE taped Las Vegas shows.
Elvis is bringing the house down, audience singing along and fans get crazy. And best of all, it’s never been available in any form until now! We will focus on two-mike- ambiance-, booth- and audience recorded shows.
This set features August 28 1972 Dinner Show, August 29 1972 Evening Show.
At Better Sound Studio they restored the audio, the recording itself was damaged although a good base. The rarity and the high-quality of the performances made us proceed to achieve a good result. For the purists, we did not remove all noise since it would also remove music detail and loses dynamic of the performance. In overall we tried to get the audio balanced, cleaning up where possible
in some cases it was impossible without degrading the audio, so we left it as it is. We raised the spoken parts to hear Elvis talking which was a challenge at some parts, his banter is fun at times and makes the whole show even better.
Both CDs are presented in a beautiful “Mini gatefold LP” CD package with inner sleeve and an inside poster. Wrapped in classic Vegas promotion style of 1972. No liner notes since the performances speak for themselves. Go here for tracklists
(News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
EIN NOTE: We now find that these tapes have been taken without permission from "ED” from 'The King’s Court'. He writes, "The reason I’m open about my mother recording the Elvis Concerts back in the day is because it’s been over, or just about 50 years since she did it. I figure she’s due the recognition as she never sold, or profited from the tapes in any way since recording them. My intention is to get them out to whoever is interested. Someone took advantage of that and now they are being bootlegged for about $50 US each?.
See YouTube here'Elvis Presley “The Angela Tapes” Concerts'
Tuesday 14 March 2023
Oscar disappointment for "ELVIS": We was robbed! In what must have been a bitterly disappointing night for Baz Luhrmann and his team, after receiving eight Academy Award nominations, his ELVIS biopic went home without winning even one.
Two other films with eight or more nominations, Everything, Everywhere All At Once (11 nominations) and All Quiet On the Western Front (nine nominations), bagged seven and four Oscars, respectively, while The Banshees of Inisherin (nine nominations) also failed to win an award. Austin Butler, who missed out on the Best Actor gong, was seen on screen to be quick to his feet congratulating Brendan Fraser, who won Best Actor for his portrayal in The Whale.
Butler had been neck and neck with Fraser as "the bookies" favorite for the Best Actor Award, while Catherine Martin was a strong chance to win the award for both Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, as was Mandy Walker to win the award for Best Cinematography.
Austin Butler fans are truly feeling the disappointment of his two years of dedication playing every fact of Elvis' life from teenager to final days being beaten by an over-emotional one-trick fat-suit performance.
Butler’s commitment shone to critics circles world-wide winning
BAFTAs, Golden Globes and Australian Academy awards. Priscilla neatly added, "My whole life I’ve had to put up with people impersonating my husband, and I don’t know how that boy did it, but every move, every wink… If ELVIS was here, he’d say, ‘Hot damn, you are me!’”.
In the lead up to the Oscars, ELVIS had amassed an increasing number of major awards (nearly 50) including Austin Butler's best actor BAFTA.
Update on 'Elvis Sessions IV' (Joseph Tunzi): Despite rumors to the contrary, the fourth volume of Joseph Tunzi's informative Elvis Sessions series is still being published.... and hopefully it will be this year. Daryl R. (who is helping Joe Tunzi with the release) posted this message on the Phoenix Elvis forum (many thanks to Kevan Budd for letting others know):
Hello, Recently, I received an email questioning whether Elvis Sessions IV by JAT Productions has been cancelled, abandoned, delayed, whatever you want to call it. The answer is a resounding no, the book has not been cancelled or abandoned. We have too much time, effort and financial resources tied up into the book for it to simply be cancelled or abandoned.
I will say that the book will not be like any of Joe's previous "Sessions" books or for that matter any previous recording session book on Elvis, including the much beloved "Elvis Presley, A Life In Music" by Ernst Jorgensen. We have accumulated a massive amount of photographs, especially pertaining to the recording sessions over the last 10-15 years, if not longer.
That said, I do think some people will need to temper their expectations. Will there be some brand new recording that nobody knows about mentioned in the book? At this stage, probably not. Will there be plenty of rare or new recording session photographs? Absolutely! Joe and I have acquired a ton of new photographs over the years, especially recording session photographs from the 1950s through the 1970s. Up until now, there's only been known color recording session photographs from two recording sessions in the 1950s, those being the July 2, 1956 New York and the June 10-11, 1958 sessions in Nashville. Well, you can add at least two more session dates to that total. This doesn't even count a handful of rare recording sessions
photographs from other recording sessions in the 1950s that we have also located.
We've also located plenty of rare recording session photo from the 1960s and 1970s, including one in RCA Studio B in Nashville where you see one of sound engineer Bill Porter's pyramids hanging from the ceiling directly above Elvis in the studio.
I don't want to divulge too much, but we have located an alternate photograph of a pretty well known recording session photograph from the 1970s that has never been seen before, which when combined with the other photographs that we got from this photographer, it brings up questions about the story of how this alternate photograph and the well known one came to be taken as told by one individual.
Besides the photographs, where I think the book will really shine is in the documentation that Joe and I have located, not just pertaining to the actual recording sessions but in other areas as well. A couple of these would be :
*copies of Elvis' musician's union card
*a copy of his handwritten application in July 1954 to join the musicians' union (AFM - local 71 - Memphis)
*a letter from Elvis' father Vernon Presley to the local 71 in Memphis shortly after Elvis died pertaining to life insurance payment benefits
*a copy of the check for a $1 million USD made out to Elvis in
August 1971 for the November 1971 tour that Jerry Weintraub talked about
*a copy of the $2.5 million dollar check and pay stub from RCA for the March 1973 buyout
*copies of the various changes to Elvis' recording contract with RCA throughout the years
*copies of the legal documents from the reopening of the divorce proceedings in 1973 up until 1977 where Elvis still owed money on the property sale of one of the houses in California
*copies of nearly all (I'm going to say around 90% or more) of the AFM contracts for Elvis' recording sessions. We located all of the ones from 1956-1964, missing two overdub sessions in 1965, have all of 1966-1967, missing for the two informal tapings at NBC on June 27, 1968 and one overdub session in 1968, missing two overdub sessions in 1969 and for the Vegas recordings in August 1969. From 1970 onward, we pretty much have everything. In those cases where we are missing the AFM contract, we also have the RCA recording page as well, which should suffice.
Lastly, a definitive list of what soundboards do exist in the Sony / RCA archives.
And yes, the book will have a proper index section for easy reference.
We do plan on having the book out this year. I'm not going to definitively say it will be out this year, as I would have hoped to have already had it out by now. We've literally jumped down every rabbit hole that has come our way, as far as leads for photographs, documents, etc. and at this stage, I don't see Sony Legacy / RCA or FTD or MRS or the bootleggers for that matter releasing anything earth shattering or groundbreaking from this point forward.
I think the 'Elvis On Tour' set was more of the beginning of the end for releases featuring a substantive amount of new material
that was professionally recorded that had remained unreleased.
Yes, I know FTD will continue to do their sessions releases, 3 CD soundboard sets, vinyl releases and books but I don't think they will be able to offer anything of significance for the book. Yes, I know that "Elvis In Concert" has yet to be tackled by either Sony Legacy or FTD but we pretty much already know what was recorded in that instance. I hope I am proven wrong on whether any new tapes will be found but I also imagine over time, various things will eventually surface. That's just the reality of it. ... Listing some of the session photographs....
- Roughly 48 photographs from the Dec 1, 1955 photo shoot at RCA Studios in New York by Popsie.
- Roughly 100 photos taken by Don Cravens from the April 14, 1956 Nashville recording session.
- 35 photographs from the April / May 1956 engagement in Las Vegas
- At least 49 photos from the June 5, 1956 second appearance on the Milton Berle Show
- About 65 photos from the July 1, 1956 Steve Allen Show appearance
- 92 photos of July 2, 1956 RCA New York recording session
- from June 1958 Nashville sessions (89 photos)
I think when it's all said and done, this book will be about as close as you can get to being in the studio with Elvis. In fact, we found one individual who actually got to go into the studio and observe Elvis record and we got an exclusive on his story. - Daryl R. (News, Source: Daryl R., Phoenix Elvis; Kevan Budd/EIN)
The opening of Graceland to the public: Jerry Schilling was interviewed for an article in the current issue of People magazine. These comments are important:
... 'When Elvis died in 1977, his estate was only worth $5 million. He left his dad Vernon as his will's executor and Lisa Marie as his heir. But when Vernon died in 1979, Priscilla became the estate's co-executor. And it was she – who divorced Elvis in 1973 – who turned Graceland into the profitable tourist attraction that it is today.
She had to make all the hard decisions when it wasn't popular. Elvis wasn't at the top of his career when he passed away. She wanted to fulfill his wishes of Lisa at 26 getting Graceland, and there wasn't enough to pay the taxes. So, Priscilla [said], 'You know how Elvis liked to show the home to people? What do you think if we opened it to the public?'"
Schilling says Priscilla did her research by visiting other tourist spots like Hearst Castle in California. "She went around looking for a partner," he remembers. "Word on the street in Memphis was, 'This won't last for six months.'" '
EIN understands some fans dislike Priscilla, but it is well recorded that Vernon was being advised to sell Graceland before he died and other trustees were of the sentiment expressed in the last sentence of Jerry's comments above. Had Priscilla not pushed for another option, the Elvis world would be very different to the way we now know it. (News, Source:PeopleUSA/ElvisInfoNet)
Elvis & Heli (revised edition): Being released this month is a revised edition of Elvis & Heli.
The book description (from EPALIB):...
... Heli von Westrem was with Elvis Presley during his tenure as G.I. in Germany. The book gives us an insight into her life back then. Includes 40 chapters, photos, fan letters and a short biography of Heli. This book is the revised second edition of Elvis & Heli (2020). Chapters of the true love story of Elvis Presley and Heli von Westrem have been partially combined by the author and a new chapter has been added: the chapter ‘175 ?’.
Both editions of the book are available from the publisher: (it appears they only ship within the EC) go here
(News, Source: EPALIB; EDBD)
Sunday 12 March 2023
Study finds ELVIS has highest physical sales of any U.S. artist: Nearly 46 years after his death, Elvis Presley’s music is still making an impact.
In a study compiled by offline marketing company Oppizi comparing physical music sales among 10 of the biggest US artists – Presley, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Cher, Prince, Janet Jackson and Billy Joel – ELVIS came in at No. 1, with physical sales topping more than 320 million units. The majority of those sales came from vinyl albums that totaled more than 212 million, with physical singles reaching more than 135 million. Presley was recently brought into the national spotlight with the 2022 Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic, ELVIS which starred Austin Butler in the title role.
Sinatra comes in second place, with his physical singles selling north of 95 million. Jackson is in third place with physical single sales reaching 79 million sales. Rounding out the top five are Madonna and Wonder, who’ve amassed 75 million and 65 million physical single sales, respectively.
Oppizi noted, “The rise in LP sales is fascinating to witness, as physical copies of music make a comeback. It appears physical goods still hold value for many people, even in the digital age. ... Often, music lovers feel
like digital downloads make them lose out on any sort of physical interaction with the music they are listening to... Therefore, for music artists looking for ways to promote their music, pushing physical copies could be a great way to give fans that desired nostalgic purchasing experience.”
Though Elvis died 45 years ago a 2017 poll conducted by CBS News showed that 47 percent of respondents said they still consider themselves Presley fans. 55 percent of respondents over the age of 65 said they are Presley fans, with 43 percent of people aged 18-34 also marking themselves as fans of the late legend’s music. (News, Source: Cillea Houghton, AmericanSongwriter.com)
Blue Hawaii Super Deluxe Box Set: On March 24, Gonzo Distribution is releasing this interesting, but pricey, 'Blue Hawaii super-deluxe box set'. It is described as: Blue Hawaii is a 1961 American musical romantic comedy-drama film directed by
Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley. The screenplay by Hal Kanter was nominated by the Writers Guild of America in 1962 in the category of Best Written American Musical.
The film opened at number two in box office receipts for that week and, despite mixed reviews from critics, finished as the 10th top-grossing film of 1961 and 14th for 1962 on the Variety national box office survey, earning $5 million. The film won a
fourth-place prize Laurel Award in the category of Top Musical of 1961.
This is the definitive Blue Hawaii box set, is a MUST for all serious Elvis fans, strictly limited to 1,000 copies world-wide, pre-ordering this set early is a must to avoid
disappointment.
Each limited edition super deluxe box contains:
● Numbered Certificate DVD of the film
● CD of the Original Album
● CD of outtakes and bonus material
● Reproduction paper parts: 5 x A3 Film Posters Lobby Cards - 24 page Japanese film programme - 6 x 10”x8” Publicity Photos - 11 x A6 “Production” Stills. EIN notes that this is interesting timing with the news of FTD's future book/ combo 'The Making of Blue Hawaii' Deluxe set only being announced a few days ago. (News, Source: AmazonUK/ElvisInfoNet)
Upcoming book - Elvis Presley: Walk A Mile In My Shoes (Otto Fuchs): This book is due for release on March 31. It is described as shedding light on the various conspiracy stories that followed Elvis' death and also celebrating his music and
legacy. The author previously released two biographies on Bill Haley, the Father of Rock 'n' Roll
.
(News, Source: Book Depository)
Three Elvis Impersonators on Austin Butler’s ELVIS: After the success of Baz Luhrmann’s ELVIS, even the humor magazine /comic, Cracked, is capitalising on interest in things Elvis:
.... For nine months now, fans and critics alike have praised Austin Butler’s performance as the King of Rock and Roll in Luhrmann’s ELVIS, which the Academy looks likely to award with an Oscar this weekend. But what do any of them know about Elvis?
We shouldn’t be looking to alleged experts like the Academy to judge Butler’s Elvis, we should be turning to the men who know Elvis better than anyone — Elvis impersonators. After all, they’re the ones who have dedicated their lives to lip-curling and hip-shaking exactly like the King did.
And so, I called up a few of them to see what they thought of Butler, and while they were mostly complimentary, they did have a few notes. On ‘Elvis ’ the Movie: Danny Dale, (Elvis impersonator since 1999 in Louisville): I saw Elvis 10 times. I thought Austin Butler did a good job, but when people see all the drama Elvis went through with Colonel Parker in the movie, they may not realize that some of the story was just Hollywood magic to fill in the gaps. They didn’t really meet on the Louisiana hayrides, and they didn’t really ride the ferris wheel together. There are a lot of things like that, but it was a good portrayal of Elvis. Marek Brada, (Elvis impersonator since the late 1980s in Slovakia): I saw Elvis five times. The first time I saw it, I wasn’t that impressed with how the movie went back and forth all the time with quick cuts. That’s the filming style of the director, and
it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. I had to see it a couple of times to get the vibe going. I enjoy that it was a big budget production that put Elvis back front and center, and I thought Austin Butler was fantastic. Joe Kent Cochran, (Elvis impersonator since 1986 in Detroit): I didn’t see the whole thing, but I’ve seen so many snips of the movie that it seems like I’ve watched the whole thing. (EIN says if you didn't see the whole movie your comment is worth diddly-squat!) On Austin Butler’s Performance: Dale: When an ETA (Elvis Tribute Artist) takes the stage, they try to fulfill the full image of Elvis — his mannerisms, the singing, the gestures and how Elvis would cut up with the crowd. They try to capture his whole essence. Fifteen or 16 years ago, I was awarded the “Essence of Elvis Award” in Branson, Missouri and that can be the hardest part to get right. Austin Butler gave a good performance — especially because he had only two years to learn what ETAs learn over 20 years.
The talking part is hard to do, and Austin did a pretty good job of that. He also nailed the 1968 comeback special to a T. He really captured Elvis’ “animalism” as the women used to call it. The only thing that bothers me about Austin Butler is that, when you see him in interviews now, he’s still talking like Elvis. I don’t know if he’s having trouble getting out of his speech patterns or what. Brada: Austin Butler took two years out of his life to live and breathe Elvis, and he got everything down right — from the way Elvis shook his head to the walk.
Cochran: He’s okay. To me, he’s an amateur. Well, maybe not an amateur. He’s pretty good. On How Butler Could Have Improved:
Dale: He should have been a little more relaxed at certain times. A few times, there was a bit of tenseness where he was overdoing the performance a little. I see that with ETAs sometimes, they get a bit tense. But with Elvis, you’ve got to stay loose and let it flow. Brada: He did phenomenally well, I can’t think of anything. He got it all down perfectly. Cochran: When I first saw the trailer, it looked really good, but when I started looking at more parts of the movie I thought there was a bit of over-acting in the Elvis role — especially with his physical moves and his facial features. I’m an actor too — I’ve been in a couple of soap operas here in Detroit — and he was overdoing it. EIN note: Cracked cover image is of an earlier Elvis related edition (News, Source: Brian VanHooker, Cracked.com)
'Elvis: A Musical Revolution' to tour Australia in 2023. David Venn Enterprises (Cruel Intentions: The ‘90s Musical, The Wedding Singer, Bring It On: The Musical) is thrilled to announce 'Elvis: A Musical Revolution' to tour Australia in 2023.
Presented in partnership with ABG the new musical authorised by Elvis Presley Enterprises is coming to Australia. The Icon. The King. The story of a man who gave the world a musical revolution.
Penned by acclaimed international writers, Elvis: A Musical Revolution is a new bio-musical exploring the extraordinary life of the award-winning cultural icon and rock ‘n roll superstar, Elvis Presley.
The Australian premiere will open at Sydney’s State Theatre from July 2023, before rocking into Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre from September 2023.
Led by award-winning producer David Venn, this brand-new production will explore pivotal moments in Elvis’ life from his childhood in Tupelo, Mississippi through to his triumphant ‘68 Comeback Special. Featuring over 40 iconic Elvis Presley hit songs, audiences of all ages will have the chance to connect with the music of a generation that continues to have an undeniable cultural impact.
Songs include Jailhouse Rock, Hound Dog, That’s All Right, All Shook Up, Suspicious Minds, Heartbreak Hotel, Burning Love, Blue Suede Shoes, Good Rockin’ Tonight, Can’t Help Falling In Love, Earth Angel, Don’t Be Cruel, Are You Lonesome, Blue Moon of Kentucky, See See Rider, A Little Less Conversation and more.
With an all-star Australian cast, dazzling choreography, and hit after hit, you simply can’t help falling in love!
Tickets on sale now - in total SIXTY FOUR performances have been booked. Go HERE for tickets and more information. (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
Friday 10 March 2023
‘Las Vegas Summer Festival 1972’ MRS 4CD Set: The UK ‘Memphis Recording Service’ MRS label will release a 4CD Deluxe titled ‘Las Vegas Summer Festival 1972’ on 28th April 2023.
This 4CD set contains a varied selection of live performances drawn from Elvis’ seventh engagement in Las Vegas. The shows, recorded at the Hilton Hotel, took place during Elvis’ summer festival in the month of August 1972.
The four concerts are 11 August Dinner and Evening shows, plus 12 August Dinner and Evening shows. For the first time ever these performances are released in Stereo.
Bonus rehearsal tracks, recorded days before the engagement began, are also included.
The accompanying 40-page booklet includes rare photographs, memorabilia and liner notes help set the scene.
Key songs include My Way, Its Over, Until It’s Time For You To Go, American Trilogy, What Now My Love, Little Sister/ Get Back, Never Been To Spain, For The Good Times and A Big Hunk O' Love . EIN NOTE: These concerts have all been released by FTD on 'Summer Festival', 'What Now My Love' and '3000 South Paradise Road'.
EIN commented, "In Las Vegas Elvis performed his best at his Midnight Shows and his 1972 Summer Season was one of his greatest. Looking back there is little doubt that this would be the last Las Vegas season where Elvis would perform so many quality shows night after night for the entire season. Overall these performances showcase an energetic Elvis performing strongly for 1 hour and in great form, seem-ingly not yet bored by the ‘Casino’ crowd. With not much talk at all it is just strong performances with plenty of new selections, oldies and a couple of surprises along the way".
The soundboard recordings were great audio quality and so it is the MRS "Stereo mixes" that collectors will be buying this set for.
As for the general public they will certainly be impressed by some truly energetic performances and interesting set-lists.
'ELVIS' OST Deluxe Edition Out Now: Baz Lurhmann has unveiled the 52-track Deluxe Edition of the movie’s soundtrack which features a raft of previously unreleased recordings from Austin Butler.
Luhrmann noted, “The whole Elvis music team has answered the call from fans with this new Deluxe Edition of the ELVIS soundtrack. Featuring everything from previously unreleased recordings by Austin Butler to contemporary takes on Elvis’ classics and a fresh mash-up with the Backstreet Boys, the Deluxe album reveals all the complex layers of Austin’s performance, Elvis’ music and those who continue his legacy.”
The ELVIS deluxe edition is available NOW across music streaming platforms (spotify etc) and features 52 songs in total, 15 more than the standard edition.
Previously unreleased recordings by Austin Butler include ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, ‘Crawfish’ (which was recorded live on set), and ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’.
The expanded soundtrack also features “Fly Away Weave,” (a mix of ‘I’ll Fly Away’ / ‘That’s All Right’),
as well as Blind Lemon Jefferson’s ‘That Black Snake Moan’ which also features Gary Clark Jr., Shannon Sanders, the Nashville Urban Choir, Shonka Dukureh, Lanesha Randolph, and the film’s composer Elliott Wheeler.
Other additions include classic Baz Luhrman mash-ups of ELVIS music with modern hits - Jamieson Shaw’s “Toxic Las Vegas’ (a mix of Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ and ‘Viva Las Vegas’), which appeared in the film but was only recently released as a single. There’s also ‘Backstreet Bossa Nova’ (Daisy O’Dell’s wild remix of "Backstreet's Back" with "Bossa Nova Baby" ).
Additional contemporary takes on Elvis’ songs include G-Dragon‘s cover of ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’, Paul Oakenfold remixing “Rubberneckin’,” Kodi Smit-McPhee singing “How Do You Think I Feel” and Kacey Musgraves doing another version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” with Mark Robson.
The deluxe edition is released just days before the 2023 Oscars, where ELVIS is up for eight awards, including Best Picture.
Butler is also nominated for Best Actor and is certainly a favorite for the prize.
Go here for a mash-up taster 'Backstreet Bossa Nova' on YouTube.
EIN really enjoys Luhrmann craziness and OTT ideas, this track is hilarious! (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
'Elvis 1973' New Footage: Recently discovered footage of Elvis arriving at Lambert Field in St. Louis to throngs of adoring fans on June 28, 1973.
Presley would play before a capacity crowd at the Kiel Auditorium later that night.
KSDK reporter Max Roby talked with some of the fans.
There's only 30 seconds of Elvis but some fabulous 1970's reactions from his fans
(News, Source;NBC/ElvisInfoNet)
DVD 'Sold Out 19': 'Sold Out volume 19' contains 3 hours of rare Elvis footage live on 8mm film.
1971 is still in some ways under-documented, and underrated, but on this volume we have footage from 8 different nights in Vegas, which show how physical and dynamic he was. There’s plenty of cool moments, including Elvis throwing out teddy bears during that song, or improvising his way through ‘Jailhouse Rock’. Another rarity on film is him singing ‘I John’ during the ‘Polk Salad Annie’ intro. These eight films give a very good insight into Elvis’ stage shows at the time.
Elvis gave some of his best shows in Atlanta during the 70’s tours, due to the excitements of the fans there. We have four films from these shows on this release, and his interaction with the fans is priceless (riding a toy dog, etc). One of the highlights is a cool, funky ‘Polk Salad Annie’. There’s also Memphis footage, as well as two lengthy films from one and the same show. There’s also some of the last footage of Elvis and Red West together, which in light of the subsequent firing and the events after that is moving to see. You also see Elvis introducing his dad, Vernon. His generosity towards the other talent on stage is displayed when he asks The Stamps to do a solo performance.
There are various lovely close-ups, especially in the later footage. December ’76 was a return to form, as is evidenced in the footage on this release. Highlights include a strong ‘Fairytale’, as well as a dramatic knee-drop during ‘How Great Thou Art’. There’s also footage from the final June ’77 tour, including a fantastic ‘I Really Don’t Want To Know’.
All the footage is presented as it was originally filmed, with no edits or other manipulations done. All we did was a careful restoration. (News, Source;Pyramid/EIN)
'The Making Of Blue Hawaii' FTD Deluxe book: The recent Elvis The Man & His Music magazine notes that FTD / Flaming Star with author David English are currently working on 'The Making Of Blue Hawaii' the follow-up to 'The Making of Jailhouse Rock' deluxe volume.
This will again be a two-book set and 4cd combo - and again with a unique VINYL EP with double-picture sleeve.
The hardcover books will include newly discovered photographs, recording sessions and film production details.
The audio content covering the recording sessions will be "Newly mixed from the original 3-track tapes". No publication date has been mentioned
Note that the 'Elvis On Tour' FTD Deluxe book is now running a year late.
Way back in November 2019 Ernst Jørgensen confirmed with EIN that "The expanded deluxe FTD release of 'The Blue Hawaii Sessions' is already being worked on".
Jørgensen noted that FTD do not like to announce future releases anymore since this only makes bootleggers rush in to bang-out poorer quality copy-cat product. "We are normally working on a handful of these projects simultaneously" he added.
It looks like the expanded 'Blue Hawaii Sessions' has now become a deluxe book / CD combo. (News, Source;ETHHM/EIN)
Monday 6 March 2023
'ELVIS' Oscar chances?: The 95th Academy Awards will be presented on March 12, this time next week. The movie has 8 Oscar nominations.
Media reports indicate that Best Actor and Costume Design awards are looking good.
.. Austin Butler's portrayal of Elvis Presley is by far the most impressive and astounding performance of the year. Butler captured the essence of the king of rock 'n roll so well that even Presley's ex-wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie Presley made public statements commending his performance, saying it's the most accurate they've ever seen somebody portray Elvis. Baz Luhrmann is a true visionary and his unique style of storytelling seems as though it was made for the story of Presley's life. His use of costumes, colors, music, and visual effects elevates and enhances the film in all the right ways. Butler has already won a Golden Globe and BAFTA for his performance in Elvis, and is the leading contender for the Academy Awards. He was made for the role of Elvis Presley, and his portrayal is one that people will be admiring for years to come.
Brendan Fraser for his role in The Whale is also a strong contender, although his character does not change in the way that Butler carries the role of ELVIS. The award however could go either way.
The film also has nominations for Film Editing;
Sound; Cinematography; Makeup and Hairstyling; Production Design; and Costume Design.
Luhrmann, who is known for elaborate costume dramas and musicals, leaves no stone unturned to create the era of 1950s and 1960s in Elvis when the world was gripped by Presley's mystical charm. And how marvelously it worked in the film. In both Costume Design and Makeup and Hairstyling departments it stands a strong chance but it faces strong competition from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Those who follow the Oscar awards will know that the Academy has always got a soft spot for biopics. Actors who have portrayed real-life characters on screen have also been acknowledged with the best actor trophy in most instances.
So it comes as no surprise that Baz Luhrmann's ELVIS has clinched 8 nominations including Best Picture. One can't ignore the fact that ELVIS has rightfully earned its spot in several categories by the sheer brilliance of the plot, its implementation on screen, Luhrman's vision, and lead actor Austin Butler's stupendous performance as King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley...
(News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
ELVIS cinematographer Mandy Walker Wins: ‘ELVIS’ Director of Photography Mandy Walker made history becoming the first woman to win the top honors at the American Society of Cinematographers Awards.
The crowd at the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom erupted with applause and gave Walker a lengthy standing ovation as her name was called.
The Australian cinematographer the enthusiastic applause, “This is for all the women that win this award after me. This is an inclusive, representative community,” adding, “I didn’t cry, I thought I was going to cry.”
She thanked director Baz Luhrmann for allowing her to “create magic with him;” Catherine Martin for her “support and inspiration; and her crew for “dancing with the camera and flying with the camera” during Austin Butler’s performance as ELVIS.
Walker’s bold lensing of ELVIS topped a field that included ASC International Award recipient Darius Khondji for Bardo, Claudio Miranda for Top Gun: Maverick, Roger Deakins for Empire of Light and Greig Fraser for The Batman. (News, Source;AP/ElvisInfoNet)
Elvis tribute in 'Daisy Jones & The Six': The new Amazon series 'Daisy Jones & The Six' charts the rise and fall of a rock band inspired by 70s band Fleetwood Mac.
Riley Keough stars as the eponymous protagonist alongside Sam Claflin and Timothy Olyphant.
Elvis fan Deena Dietrich recently spotted this neat homage to Riley's grandfather Elvis in episode two. It features Daisy Jones (Riley) wearing the same patterned guitar-strap as Elvis in the ’68 Comeback Special.
The show’s costume designer Denise Wingate also discussed other Elvis-themed tributes in the series,
“We didn’t talk about Keough’s family that much or her Presley lineage, I was very respectful of her private life, but I did find this woman named Love Melody who made rock and roll clothes in the ’70s. She actually made two jumpsuits for Elvis so I had her make two beautiful, long coats for the show. One is a denim leather patchwork long coat and the other a beautiful rust leather. She made those. I thought it was nice to bring that back in the fold and have a little bit of that history.
A lot of the research I did was documentary footage and magazines, I just wanted it to feel real. The producers didn’t want it to look like people were dressing up for a ’70s dress-up, reality was the key” (News, Source;Various/ElvisInfoNet)
New book - 'Hollywood Chiama Elvis' (Ernesto Zucconi): This 72 page hardcover (the title translates as 'Hollywood Calls Elvis') about Elvis' films was released recently.
The text is in Italian.
(News, Source:Amazon/EIN)
Movie producer Gail Berman talks 'ELVIS': The Hollywood Reporter recently interviewed ELVIS co-producer Gail Berman.
Gail Berman co-produced Award winning 'ELVIS' along with Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss. She has served as president of Paramount Pictures and the Producers Guild of America, produced major Theatre and TV series but 'ELVIS' is her first-ever Oscar nomination.
She explained, "My staff and I were sitting around saying, “Wouldn’t it be cool to do something with Elvis? But what could it be that would really move the ball forward and tell the story in a way it hadn’t been told before?” Baz Luhrmann’s name popped up in the conversation. I was like, “That’s it. Baz, his use of music, his examination of America …” I called Baz’s agent and a few days later he called back and said Baz thought it was interesting. I went to see Baz and spent several hours with him. By then I had formed some additional thoughts, and I really sat and listened to him talk about it. He knew quite a bit about Elvis and quite a bit about how he would be interested in telling the story. It’s been an 11-year journey. I think when you go on a creative journey that lasts this long, it’s touching you in some way that you feel you’re going to hang on to in order to see it through to fruition. Not every project has that emotional tug. Q. What did the Oscar campaigning trail look like
from your end, and what was Lisa Marie’s involvement in the campaign?
Lisa, who was not involved in the making of the film, came to see the film and watched it alone in the Steve Ross Theater on the Warner Bros lot. It took her about five days after she watched it to really process her thoughts for Baz. May she rest in peace, she loved this movie. She thought, finally, the accurate portrayal of the beauty of the man and the beauty of the music and the beauty of the rebel had been told. She was very, very happy with it. Lisa decided, completely independent of us, that she wanted to be supportive of it, Austin and Baz, and she opened up her home at Graceland to us. Not only did we do a Memphis premiere at Graceland, but she threw a private event for us, a barbecue at Graceland where she opened up the Jungle Room to us to have a cocktail party and apparently that hadn’t been done in many, many years. She and her daughters were there. Everybody was incredibly supportive of this movie. We are all in a tremendous amount of sorrow to know that we lost her. I have known her only during this period of time. She was a lovely person, soft-spoken and extremely excited about this movie. Her love really permeated all of us. It was very heartbreaking — to hear the news was just devastating to all of us. Q. Aside from the best picture nomination, which obviously is the biggest one, there are seven other noms for this film. Which are you most excited about?
OK, let’s talk about the three women: Mandy Walker, our cinematographer, only the third woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for cinematography. No woman has ever won. I am extremely excited
about that. Working with Catherine Martin — costume, production design. We have three women involved in this movie that have had an amazingly long journey together. I’m the third girl. That has been an amazing experience for me, to get to know and get to work with these women. Now, of course, we’re thrilled to be in the mix on all of it, editorially, musically, etc. But I have to say that for me, the journey of these three women is a separate journey that I have really enjoyed being on.
The photo shows Luhrmann with Catherine Martin, Mandy Walker and Gail Berman (right)
go here to HR for full story (News, Source;HR/ElvisInfoNet)
'Elvis Childhood Home 1241 Kelly St, Tupelo' Auction: Showing that 'Elvis is Everywhere' and that his popularity isn't fading the UK tabloids have been reporting that 'Elvis Presley's Childhood Home 1241 Kelly St, East Tupelo recently sold at auction'.
The house belonged to Elvis' great-uncle Noah P. Presley and it is believed that the Presley family lived there for a while sometime between 1942 and 1944. Gladys could no longer afford to live at Elvis' birthplace Old Saltillo Road once Vernon was sent to prison and so had to move out in 1939. Vernon would later buy their next house on Berry Street in 1945.
Kelley Street actually had two Presley homes in the period both were built by Vernon uncle Noah P. Presley. Noah Presley was somewhat of a pillar of the East Tupelo community, in which he settled in the mid-1920s. He operated a
general store, drove the local school bus and was even elected Mayor of East Tupelo in 1936, and Sheriff of Lee County in the mid-1940s.
It is therefore likely that at some point Elvis and Gladys moved in to 1241 Kelly St for a while.
Elvis' school friend Guy Harris confirmed in the past, “These streets weren’t paved back in those days, they were dirt streets, they would bring a grader along, we would play in those streets, play ball and that kind of stuff. I spent a night or two or three or four when the Presleys lived there. I would have been about six years old, or seven. It was like a big old family out here, you’d run from pillar to post doing this and doing that.”
In 2017, the home was meticulously taken down and the disassembled elements of the home securely stored in a 30 foot Night Hawk Trailer, which is also included with the purchase of the house. The house was sold back in August 2022 by Rockhurst Auctions.
“The person who buys the house are going to get the whole trailer and the designs for putting back together” noted Rockhurst Auctions. -
It sold for $46,000 in August 2022 after 8 bids.
Why the tabloids (the UK SUN with everyone else copying) are reporting the recent sale EIN does not know.
There seems to be no confirmation of how long Elvis and Gladys might have crashed at this relative's property. (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
Friday 3 March 2023
'The Ultimate Music Guide to Elvis Presley' Magazine: From UK's UNCUT (NME) publishers.... John Lennon famously said that before Elvis there was nothing, but that wasn’t strictly the case. As you’ll read in this latest Ultimate Music Guide, there was a whole previous generation of pop singers, and Bing Crosby was the guy routinely quizzed about Elvis’s rise. What did he think? Would it last? Bing, not engaging with the rock revolution per se, observed that perhaps Elvis would do well to try some different styles of song. Good advice, as it turned out.
Bing wasn’t the only one to help the writers of NME and Melody Maker register the impact of this new singer, and his new sound. Among the manufactured rivalries (“Elvis v Pat Boone”; “Elvis v Johnnie Ray” “No Presley without Haley”) created at the time by a British press struggling for information in an enormous world, Johnnie Ray makes the wise observation that Elvis is a force helping to make the world smaller. Such is the demand for Elvis’s music, Ray notes, his records are being released at the same time in the USA and England.
The NME wasn’t slow to pick up on the fact that Elvis isn’t just a singer, but a force which portends far more. Elvis has “swarthy good looks” and “sex appeal”, and it’s this which gives him the power to unsettle parents. And in so doing, they imply, sow the seeds for something remarkable and generational to follow.
In this comprehensive guide, in a selection of gems from our archive of historic Elvis writing. We also bring you a definitive guide to the absolute pick of Elvis’s extraordinary catalogue. The landmark early sessions. The
religious ones. The decent film soundtracks. The comeback records and the late classics. You’ll find it all inside.
Hopefully we can help you navigate your way through his kingdom. Go here for info and to purchase. OUT NOW.
EIN has received an Australian copy early and while the music discussion is interesting, it is the early Elvis articles and interviews for UK's 'NME' and 'Melody Maker' magazines that makes this publication so fascinating.
There are archive interviews with Hal Wallis, Charles O'Curran, Nancy Sinatra, Mac Davis, Chet Atkins, Norbert Putnam, Austin Butler and plenty of lengthy quotes from others too. There are also a number of interviews with Elvis. Some of them pure joy to read... MM 12/9/1959-"From a musician's point of view I guess I'm pretty hopeless as a singer.... I can't read music and I don't pretend to. I've never had any lessons in music. I pick my numbers more by the lyrics than the music — though on some of my most successful ones, like 'Hound Dog', there isn't much of a lyric, I s'pose.
"At recording sessions I drive everyone mad, as I often take two or three days to
perfect a number. It's a good job a few kind people buy them when they're issued, otherwise I know the company would soon kick me out.
I read somewhere the other day that all my material is picked for me by my manager or a recording executive. That just isn't so. They may suggest somethin', but I always know what's right for me. It doesn't have to be rock'n'roll, either. Years ago I used to sing in church or at revival meetings with my mom and dad." (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
'Agent Elvis': Coming soon to Netflix, as noted by Cinemablend, "Matthew McConaughey's 'Agent Elvis' is a perfectly ridiculous James Bond substitute in Netflix's first trailer"
The program 'Agent Elvis' relies on the A+ high concept pitch of "What if Elvis was also secret agent?" and was co-created by none other than Priscilla Presley herself, along with famed rock star John Eddie. Both are also executive producers, with Eddie serving as co-showrunner alongside Mike Arnold, best known as a writer on FX's not-so-secret spy comedy Archer.
Even if Matthew McConaughey's take on the rhinestone-friendly legend wasn't enough of a blue suede draw 'Agent Elvis' boasts an all-star voice cast that stacks up with anything else on TV right now, and easily rivals that of the aforementioned Archer's consistently perfect ensemble. Apart from Matthew McConaughey voicing Elvis (which of course sounds very cool indeed), other well-known actors voicing characters on the upcoming animated show include Christina Hendricks, Simon Pegg, Kieran Culkin, Gary Cole, Don Cheadle, Niecy Nash, Ed Helms, Tara Strong, Johnny Knoxville, and Priscilla Presley (Priscilla is voicing herself!).
Elvis' Personal Acetate of Danny Boy For Sale: The well-known records organisation, eil.com, has a very interesting item for sale:
... Here we have a very special item for the Elvis collector - Elvis' own personal acetate copy of 'Danny Boy', obtained exclusively from the 'Elvis Presley Museum' Collection - that was licensed by EPE.
The song, performed as a request from Vernon Presley, was recorded in the Jungle Room of Elvis' home in Graceland in February 1976 and was Elvis' penultimate studio recording - as featured on the 1976 album, From EP Boulevard. The disc is one of a kind and appears to be a high-grade methyl cellulose metal based lacquer acetate cut to 10" size.
The label is custom studio made by RCA Nashville and is hand annotated in red pen with the artist & song detail. The acetate is mounted on black with a cream surround, housed in glass & superbly presented in a heavy wooden frame with decorative gold inset.
This impressive piece was once part of the world famous Jimmy Velvet collection, the largest collection of authentic Elvis Presley items in the world. It comes complete with a numbered certificate of authenticity signed by President & Chairman, Jimmy Velvet.
The piece was bought by its one fastidious owner at a private Jimmy Velvet Elvis collection auction until it was recently sold to us by its owner, Danny Davenport, a talent scout for Warner Brothers.
It was actually purchased as a birthday present for Danny [Boy] by country star Travis Tritt, who Danny helped discover.
The acetate also comes complete with the birthday card Travis included as part of the gift [& signed], as well as the table number card from the original Butterfield & Butterfield auction house which gives the original purchase date of June 18th & 19th 1994. Last but not least, there is a bonus CD-R acetate for the 3:59 'Danny Boy' track. Impeccable provenance, indeed and a star piece in any Elvis collection! Yours for US$3,600. Go HERE to eil for more info (News, Source:eil.com/EIN)
Why isn’t Elvis revered like the Beatles today?: Addressing this question, Charles Moore posted this thought-provoking post on the Quora site:
.... I’ll take a stab at this, or really just give an opinion. Elvis Presley was a really talented person, a great performer. His legacy was the cultural change he provoked. The sights and sounds of Elvis Presley influenced young people the world over, including the Beatles and a lot of the people who would further change the world, both musically, and culturally.
Elvis was a passable musician, he loved music. He was really trying to duplicate the soul and measure of the Southern Gospel Black music he loved as a child with the freedom of expression that was not common in “White” music of any kind. Many Black musicians were doing this, some maybe better than Elvis. But Elvis was White and there were doors open for him that Black artists couldn’t walk through. The intensity, emotion, and joyful abandon of the music was made available to the general public because Elvis was an “acceptable” proper, handsome young man.
Elvis was an atomic bomb waiting to detonate, with the Youth of the world the target. His musical missile was able to get through American societies’ defense because of his race, good lucks and megatons of talents. And he changed Western civilization, not so much with his songs, many which were cobbled together strictly to relieve teeny-boppers of their allowances. but by the freedom of expression he showed possible. The Beatles themselves were influenced by Elvis and many other early American Rock and Roll acts, and artists, who were themselves influenced by Black Blues artists. The Beatles took those influences and rose to a stardom which allowed them to experiment musically, and artistically and break new ground in popular music, which influenced in turn, newer artists, and continues to this day. Beatle music I think will likely be popular a hundred years from now, with people then appreciating and enjoying it as much as I do now.
To sort of sum my opinion up, Elvis kicked the Rock and Roll Door down, the Beatles walked through it and beautifully decorated the musical landscape inside.
"Elvis" episode in documentary series, 'The Day the Rock Star Died': Australian fans should note that an episode of this documentary series, to start screening on Australia's SBS TV channel as double episodes from Saturday March 4, focuses on Elvis. The series, which was originally broadcast in 2018, is described as:
‘This brand-new series will focus on the death and subsequent mourning of some of the greatest music legends. We’ll explore the days leading up to the artist’s death, and the unique impact these events have on fans and media. Each episode will include career highlights that lead them to legendary status and the adoration of fans…...’
Other artists featured in the series are David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Amy Winehouse, Tom Petty, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Whitney Houston, John Denver, Michael Jackson, Keith Moon, Hank Williams, and Michael Hutchence.
EIN note: the episodes on March 4 are about Whitney Houston (daughter of Sweet Inspirations member, Cissy Houston) and Amy Winehouse.
(News, Source: TV Tonight/EIN)
Wednesday 1 March 2023
'Elvis: From Louisiana and Memphis 1976' FTD In-depth Review: FTD continues their extensive look at Elvis' performances in 1976 with three July 1976 concerts. This is a FOUR CD 5” digi-pak, this set features three concerts, Shreveport Louisiana July 1, 1976, Baton Rouge, July 2, 1976 and Elvis' last home-town concert Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis July 5, 1976.
FTD have already released two soundboards from this June-July 1976 tour but both the Louisiana concerts have never been released from soundboard before.
By early 1976 Elvis’ set-list had become routine with few surprises along the way however this tour was one of the best for 1976 and for collectors the previously unreleased Shreveport July 1 1976 soundboard is a real bonus - and Elvis’ final show in Memphis should be in everyone’s collection. Elvis soundboard super-collector Geoffrey McDonnell along with EIN's Piers Beagley check out this new FTD 1976 triple-concert pack to see whether we can learn anything new... (FTD Reviews, Source;GM/ElvisInformationNetwork)
'Elvis News Report March 2023': Elvis super-fan Emiel Maier presents all the recent news including Netflix 'Agent Elvis', Lisa Marie's will dispute, Elvis movie BAFTA Awards,
Greatest Singers of all time, Elvis Trivia, co-star obituaries & lots of other news....
'Why Elvis should win the best picture Oscar': Something to enthuse ELVIS fans and film lovers... from the popular UK newspaper The Guardian .. "Why Elvis should win the best picture Oscar."
... Only in the flimsiest, most surface-level sense is 'ELVIS' a biopic – it takes profound, drastically misrepresentative liberties with the truths of Elvis’s life – and in name alone is Butler actually playing Presley.
The film, and Butler’s performance, are far greater than that: he is playing Presley as he exists in the cultural imagination, the man who saved American culture and who could unite American politics, a kind of messianic figure who had to use his God-given power to rebuild a world in flux. In other words, he is essentially playing Superman – and Elvis, true to that, plays like Luhrmann’s concession to a superhero film, filled with two-faced enemies creeping in the shadows and shady lobbies looking to thwart our hero at every turn.
Luhrmann clearly felt his job here was not to hew closely to reality (when has that ever been his job?) but to make viewers understand the gravity of Presley’s power, and he does so by making every scene feel like a deepfaked TikTok, the lingua franca of the early 2020s. Big Mama Thornton’s voice ripples into Doja Cat’s; Kacey Musgraves emanates from an AM radio; the phrase “In the Ghetto Remix featuring Nardo Wick”, pure gibberish before 2022, begins to take on great meaning.
For younger generations, Presley can feel a little like a caricature or a museum piece, and as ludicrous as some of Luhrmann’s choices may seem on paper, they genuinely help convey the singer’s reach and significance in a way that a more reverential director would have struggled with.
Crucially... Luhrmann builds the film’s central narrative around Presley’s relationship with Parker and uses it to tell a story about art’s thorny interaction with commerce. ELVIS was made about a decade after Luhrmann’s last feature, and in that time the kind of films he built his name on – innovative, auteurist but undeniably mainstream blockbusters – have been all but decimated by plasticky, characterless sequels and superhero films. The relationship between Presley and Parker is a perfect site for him to unpick the contradictions of
mainstream art: Presley is hardly at the height of his power without Parker’s mercantile instincts, which gave him the broadest audience possible; at the same time, it’s those instincts that ultimately destroy him.
Luhrmann clearly sees the middle ground between rampant commercialisation and wilful obscurantism as something vital and valuable, practically sanctified and ELVIS, for all its ridiculousness and pomp, makes a case for why. -
Go here for the full article (News, Source;Guardian/ElvisInfoNet)
'Elvis: The Man & His Music' #139: EIN's favourite Elvis music magazine 'Elvis: The Man & His Music' March 2023 issue is out now.
Articles include..
- July 2nd 1956 – Alfred Wertheimer Interview
- Elvis In Demand
- The Andreas Enigma Part 3
- Moments In Time – April 18th 1972
- That Reminds Me…
- Readers’ Letters
- CD, DVD & Book Reviews
'ELVIS' Costume Designers Guild Award 2023 Winner: The Costume Designers Guild Awards based in L.A. is one of the annual awards given by the Costume Designers Guild.
The 1998 inaugural awards year combined period, fantasy and contemporary films.
This year's 25th Costume Designers Guild Award winners presented on FEB 27, included ELVIS, ‘Wednesday’ and ‘House of the Dragon’.
Other winners at the 25th CDGAs were 'Everything Everywhere All at Once,' 'Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,' 'The Crown' and 'Glass Onion.
"Congrats to Catherine Martin and the entire ELVIS costume design team!
Your work meticulously crafting threads to recreate the iconic looks from Elvis Presley's life and career spanning three decades has won Excellence in Period Film at this year’s Costume Designers Guild Awards!"
(News, Source;ELVISMovie/ElvisInfoNet)
Elvis news from earlier this week ...
'The Airplanes & The King' In-depth review: The original spanish book 'Los Aviones Y El Rey' by Carlos Varrenti was republished as an expanded English version 'The Airplanes & The King' towards the end of 2022.
Not only that but it was expanded from its original 197 pages to an amazing 400 pages with a lot of unreleased material and stunning photos from the 'Elvis Files' vaults!
The English version was unfortunately delayed by supply issues due to the worldwide Covid pandemic - but has now been published as a High quality Hardback book.
As an Aeronautical engineer and Elvis fan, Varrenti is well qualified to write a book which details Elvis’ history with his aircraft and his link to aeronautics in general. With photos and stories from 1955 through to 1977 - and beyond - the book is also an interesting historical look at Elvis’ life "on tour" but this time with an delightfully original theme.
Please note that this review was added to our website back in November 2022 but got deleted when EIN and other locally hosted websites were maliciously hacked. We apologise for the delay in re-submitting it.
Lisa Marie / Austin Butler Interview: Here is a delightful and important reminder of what a kind soul Lisa Marie was and how important ELVIS was to her.
Looking in good form, Lisa Marie laughs and joked through the interview and her genuine friendship with Austin Butler is self-evident.
In the ABC interview Lisa Marie comments, "First watching the movie I was gripping my chair scared to death.. Baz Lurhmann is a wild card, I didn't know Austin yet, I didn't know what Baz was doing, I didn't know what I was in for."
"I feel so protective of Austin, I don't want anybody saying anything about him in a negative way" EIN thanks Ed Gibbs for the word-up (News, Source;EG/ElvisInfoNet)
Elvis' 1962 Lockheed Jetstar Sold At Auction: Elvis' 1962 Lockheed Jetstar which has been parked in the desert for close to 40 years sold at auction for $260,000 last month.
Bidding started at $100,000 and climbed slowly before its final sale to an unnamed bidder.
The last owner of the aircraft was Californian businessman Jim Gagliardi who bought the jet at a 2017 auction for $430,000.
He said he'd planned to use it as a "customer-drawing curiosity" for a dealership he owns, but never got around to relocating the jet from New Mexico — in fact, according to a report he had never even once visited his purchase in person.
The exterior of the plane shows considerable wear
however, the interior is a retro glimpse of luxury private air travel in the midcentury era. The 1962 red Lockheed JetStarOne which Elvis purchased in July 1976 (via a trade-in on his previous investment in a Dessault-Falcon airplane) for $840,000 and used it to cart his TCB band and colleagues on tour to concerts and appearances across the country. It eventually became the center of a long drawn-out FBI investigation "Operation Fountain Pen" where Elvis and Vernon were swindelled in an aircraft refurbishment deal. Despite the auctions' suggestion that the cool-looking red velvet interior was designed for Elvis, the previous owner has stated that this is not the case.
Though it is unclear where the buyer of the jet lives, the plane will have to be disassembled to be shipped.
Untouched since Elvis owned it, the jet is the only plane once owned by the legendary singer that is privately owned. Two other Elvis owned planes, including the Lisa Marie, are already displayed at Graceland in Memphis. (News, Source; Paul A. Clarkson/ElvisInfoNet)
Riley Keough talks Elvis and about her new musical journey: As EIN has previously noted, Riley Keough is following in Elvis' footsteps playing a musician in the new 'Daisy Jones & The Six' Amazon TV series.
Riley plays Daisy Jones one of the volatile lead singers of a 1970s California rock band.
In a recent interview with ET Riley talked about Elvis' legacy and her musical ability.. "It's pretty amazing. I think we really came from not being able to play anything on a guitar or sing really, to having a full record going out which is crazy to us. We had months of jam sessions, so we had months of rehearsals, so we were basically in band practice for, I don't know, a year."
The show also co-stars Sam Claflin who confirmed that they were both nervous when they first met with their singing coach together.
Riley added, "Up until then, it'd just been like me auditioning alone and him auditioning alone, and it was this moment of like, 'Oh, we're both f**king bad'!
Following the death of Lisa Marie earlier this year and amid a battle over her trust with Priscilla, the actress opted not to attend an event for her upcoming show, Daisy Jones & the Six, last week.
Although a "source" told ET that Riley and her grandmother "aren't communicating at this time," Riley acknowledges the impact her Presley upbringing had on her.
"I certainly wouldn't put that (Presley family) pressure on it. I don't know if there is continuing my grandfather's legacy, it’s its own sort of thing to me. But it was a really fun experience for me.
I'm not a musician -- or I am now I guess. I've been interested in film my whole life and so for me, it was more really loving to get to have a relationship with music in that way.
I've listened to music and my whole family are musicians and I've been around this world a lot and been on tour and all that kind of stuff, but I'd never really done it myself. So for me, it was more about my personal relationship with getting to play music, which was fun."
Riley and her brother, Benjamin Keough were named co-trustees of Lisa Marie's trust in 2016. However, Priscilla is contesting "the authenticity and validity" of Riley's appointment, claiming that "there are many issues surrounding" it.
'Daisy Jones & the Six' premieres March 3 on Prime Video. You can read ET's full interview here (News, Source;ET/EIN)
EIN Exclusives and News from earlier in February ...
‘ELVIS’ wins four BAFTAs: Austin Butler continued his awards success by scooping up the BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor during Sunday’s ceremony.
The BAFTA Awards are Britain’s "Academy Awards" and are closely checked for hints of who may win at the Oscars on March 12.
Lurhmann’s ELVIS also won 3 other trophies for Casting, Costume Design (Catherine Martin) and Best Hair and Makeup. ELVIS was also nominated for Best Editing which went to 'Everything Everywhere All at Once', as well as 'Best Sound' and 'Best Film' both of which went to 'All Quiet on the Western Front'.
Austin Butler thanked the Presley family, "I cannot thank you guys enough for your love, and for sharing with me who Elvis truly was.love and for sharing with me who Elvis truly was.”
He said, “I hope I made you proud. This means the world to me.”
Speaking afterwards Butler said: "It's been a really unimaginably tragic time, you know, and grief is a long process.
And so my heart and my love was with them always. I feel honoured to have been welcomed into the family. It's a bittersweet time."
Butler's comments come as the battle over the estate of the late Lisa Marie continues between Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough, who is the sole executor of the estate.
The BAFTA win for Butler’s portrayal of “the king of rock ‘n’ roll” added to the actor’s award season momentum.
Butler is nominated for a best actor Oscar for “ELVIS” and won a best actor Golden Globe for the performance in January. He is also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Australia's Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for her role in “Tár.” (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
'Elvis Presley, Burning Love: The RCA Rehearsals' Record Store Day VINYL: RCA Legacy is gearing up for one of their biggest line-ups in years for Record Store Day (April 22, 2023). 'Elvis Presley, Burning Love: The RCA Rehearsals' is being released as a double 12” Vinyl
The publicity notes.. 'Burning Love: The RCA Rehearsals' compiles the best of the rehearsal recordings around Elvis’ April 1972 US tour, all taken from the new Elvis On Tour collection.
The 2LP set features rare and unreleased versions of “Burning Love”, “Heartbreak Hotel” and “For The Good Times” along with some of Elvis’ favorite cover songs, gospel songs and more.
Side A
1. Burning Love - Take 3 *
2. For The Good Times - Take 5 *
3. Always On My Mind - Take 3
4. Separate Ways - Take 2
5. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Side B
1. See See Rider - Take 2
2. Proud Mary - Take 2
3. Never Been To Spain - Take 2
4. Until It’s Time For Me To Go
5. Polk Salad Annie
6. All Shook Up
7. Heartbreak Hotel
Side C
1. Help Me Make It Through The Night
2. Young And Beautiful
3. Lawdy, Miss Clawdy
4. Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)
5. A Big Hunk O’Love - Take 2
6. Funny How Time Slips Away
7. Can’t Help Falling In Love
Side D
1. I, John
2. Bosom Of Abraham
3. You Better Run
4. Lead Me, Guide Me
5. Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus /Nearer My God To Thee
6. How Great Thou Art *
Stella Stevens Dead Aged 84: Actress Stella Stevens best known for her roles in 1972's 'Poseidon Adventure' and playing opposite Elvis in 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' died last Friday at the age of 84.
To movie fans she is best known for her role in Irwin Allen’s epic 'Poseidon Adventure' alongside Gene Hackman and Shelley Winters.
Stevens starred with Elvis in 1962's 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' as well as with Jerry Lewis in 'The Nutty Professor' and Dean Martin in 'The Silencers.' Her other films include 'Too Late Blues', 'The Courtship of Eddie’s Father' and 'Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows.'
She was born on Oct 1, 1938, in Yazoo City, Mississippi, before moving to Memphis when she was 4. Stevens became a Playboy Playmate in January 1960, a career move that she would later regret for pigeonholing her as a sex symbol. She was then scouted by 20th Century Fox. She won a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer for “Say One for Me” with Bing Crosby and Debbie Reynolds.
On TV she appeared in 'Bonanza,' 'Magnum, P.I.,' 'Murder, She Wrote', and daytime soaps 'Santa Barbara' and 'General Hospital.'
Her friend Maria Calabrese stated, "She was an amazing animal lover, horse wrangler, rock and roller, so ahead of her time and so much more than a sex symbol... What a tremendous body of work and loss. The OG of badass women!”
In a 1968 interview Stevens talked about staring in an Elvis movie, "We both came out of Memphis, we were Memphis kids. However never be in an Elvis movie. His fans come for the sole, purpose of seeing Elvis. They don't look at anyone else on the screen.
I was under contract to Hal Wallis for one more picture, so I made the movie. Elvis is a nice guy; you can talk to him. One day I said, Elvis honey, why do you do this crap? He pondered and said, 'Don't knock success, Stella.' -
Which is true."! (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
Raquel Welch has Died Aged 82: Sixties pin-up-girl Raquel Welch came to the wide attention of moviegoers for her role in the 1966 sci-fi adventure Fantastic Voyage, followed by her iconic appearance later that year in the prehistoric drama One Million Years BC.
Although Welch had just three lines of dialogue images of her in a small bikini made her a bestselling pinup, transforming her into a global sex symbol.
Her father was an aeronautical engineer from Bolivia and Welch (then Raquel Tejada) first worked as a “weather girl” at a San Diego TV station before marrying James Welch in 1959. They had two children before separating, but Ms. Welch kept his last name while embarking on a career in show business, briefly working as a model in Dallas before moving to LA to act, including in the movie musical 'Roustabout' (1964) with Elvis. (photo-far right)
Welch died on wednesday, she was 82.
In addition to acting, Welch was a singer and dancer. She surprised many critics and won positive reviews when she starred in the 1981 musical 'Woman of the Year' on Broadway, replacing a vacationing Lauren Bacall.
Welch was a beauty queen-turned-single mom, but to the world, she was an exotic actor whose smoldering looks and curvy figure suited the mood of the swinging 1960s.
In that era Welch earned a reputation for being strong-willed and independent. In 1970, at the peak of her fame, she took
a role that no one wanted as a transgender woman in the film adaptation of Gore Vidal’s satirical novel “Myra Breckinridge.”
Welch said she asked to be in the movie because she was a fan of Vidal’s book and thought it would offer a dramatic role that might take her career in a new direction.
Being a strong-willed actress she earned a reputation for being difficult, and her film career largely faded out.
Though she would appear in exploitative films, she also surprised many in the industry with fine performances, including in Richard Lester’s The Three Musketeers, which earned her a Golden Globe, and opposite James Coco in Wild Party. She was also nominated for a Globe in 1988 for the TV movie Right to Die
Welch’s portrayal of strong female characters was credited with reshaping the stereotype of the traditional sex symbol, and her rise to fame was also seen as eclipsing Hollywood’s embrace of the blonde bombshell. (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
"Just A Boy From Tupelo": Warners bros delightful 30 minute promo video "Just A Boy From Tupelo: Bringing ELVIS to the Big Screen" has now been posted on YouTube.
Director Baz Luhrmann, actors Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, and others explore the life and legacy of Elvis Presley and the making of the acclaimed hit film, ELVIS.
EIN believes it a disgrace that Baz Luhrmann's unique style of movie directing did not score him an Oscar nomination with nods instead going to others far more run-of-the-mill. (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
'ELVIS: Opening Night 1972' MRS CD Review: Elvis’ first 1972 Las Vegas season ran from January 26th through February 23rd, 1972. Elvis was in great shape both physically and vocally, and he was once again serious about performing.
While a large number of fans think that Elvis started losing inspiration and impetus after the power-year of 1970, his rejuvenation of his first live performances in 1972 demonstrate another more positive aspect. Introducing the new songs 'You Gave Me A Mountain', ‘I'll Remember You’ , 'A Big Hunk O'Love' and the brilliant 'An American Trilogy' would enrich Elvis’ live shows for the rest of his career. So while Elvis collectors may have heard the bootleg recording multiple times before, you have never truly enjoyed this concert, or appreciated its importance, until this sessional MRS audio Remaster.
Elvis was in superb form and this set-list - along with the new MRS audio remaster - is truly sensational. Check out EIN's detailed review here
(CD Reviews;ElvisInformationNetwork)
FTD March Releases: FTD have announced two releases for next month.
1. 'Elvis: Let Me Be There' a three CD soundboard release from Elvis' January-Feb 1974 Las Vegas season.
FTD's first new releases for 2023 with possible release date of March 6.
Released as a 3-CD 5" digi-pak, this set features three 1974 concerts recorded via soundboard at The Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas on January 28, 29 Midnight and February 1, 1974. EIN Note: So far FTD have only released the January 27 Dinner Show from this season on 'I Found My Thrill'- and what a great performance that was.
We noted at the time that the "Bonus Track" from Feb 1 had some tape-hiss.
The January 29, 1974 Midnight Show is totally new for collectors.
Both January 28, 1974 Dinner Show, and February 1, 1974 Midnight Show have only been released as bootleg AUDIENCE recordings 'Wild Tiger Vol.4' and 'First In Line'
2.'From Elvis Presley Boulevard' Special double VINYL.
FTD Vinyl is pleased to announce the release of a special blue vinyl edition of From Elvis Presley Boulevard. Each double album is individually numbered and features great outtakes and masters recorded in the legendary Jungle Room.
Songs include Hurt, For The Heart, Love Coming Down, I'll Never Fall In Love Again, Danny Boy, Solitaire and The Last Farewell.
Available only while stock of 3500 lasts!
Priscilla contests validity of Lisa Marie's will: In what seems to be a tasteless family spat, and reported all over the media, Priscilla has filed a petition in LA Superior Court questioning the “authenticity and validity” of her Lisa Marie's will and disputing a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s documents that allegedly removed Priscilla and her former business manager, Barry Siegel, as trustees.
Lisa Marie replaced them with her eldest children, Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough - who sadly died in 2020.
Removing Siegel made sense since it was in 2018 that Lisa Marie sued Barry Siegel claiming he had mismanaged her finances, resulting in her $100 million trust dwindling to $14,000 in cash by 2016.
However Priscilla's lawyers now argue that the amendment was neither witnessed nor notarised. "Based on the foregoing, the Purported 2016 Amendment should be deemed invalid and the Trust, as amended and completely restated in 2010 is the controlling and authoritative document and its terms administered," the petition reads.
While Priscilla remarked on the anniversary of Lisa Marie's Birthday "My wish is to protect my three grandchildren and keep our family together" this action seems to be the opposite.
If there is true love within the family then surely this could have been worked out amicably and not in court.
This action beggars belief.
Lisa Marie’s children have not yet publicly commented on Priscilla’s filing. A representative for Riley Keough did not respond to LA Times’ request for comment.
The document was filed less than a week after the Presley family gathered at Graceland for the public memorial service.
In an interesting twist, Joel Weinshanker (EPE managing partner) appeared on Elvis Radio on SiriusXM to mark Lisa Marie’s 55th birthday. ,
There he asserted Lisa Marie’s stance to leave the estate to her children to best protect Elvis’ legacy, saying, "Everyone knew that when Elvis passed away, he left everything to his little girl. And he did so knowing that she would be the one to keep his legacy going, and I can tell you she has without falter, no matter what else was happening in her life, in her career, she has always been the one to look out for what was best for Elvis.
Lisa couldn’t be bought. She couldn’t be pushed. If she felt something wasn’t in Elvis’ best interest, it was never about money. And she really is the only Presley you can ever say that about. And she also was very, very quite certain and very direct about who she wanted to have the legacy left to ... and that was always Riley and Ben.
There was never a question in her mind that they would be the stewards, that they would look at it exactly the same way she did.” Poor Lisa Marie, Poor Elvis, Poor Presleys - (News, Source;ABC/Times/ElvisinfoNet)
MRS Vinyl - 'Opening Night 1972’: The MRS official announcement about their new release.
UK Memphis Recording Service will release its vinyl 180-gram LP version of ‘LAS VEGAS HILTON PRESENTS ELVIS – OPENING NIGHT 1972’ on 17th March 2023.
The live performance from 26th January 1972 was recorded at the Las Vegas Hilton. SIDE A
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 - Little Sister/Get Back
10 - All Shook Up
11 - Teddy Bear/Don't Be Cruel
SIDE B
1 - One Night
2 - Hound Dog
3 - A Big Hunk O' Love
4 - Bridge Over Troubled Water
5 - Lawdy Miss Clawdy
6 - An American Trilogy
7 - I'll Remember You
8 - Suspicious Minds
9 - Can't Help Falling/Closing Vamp
This is a Limited Edition set- and will be available in both Black and Clear vinyl. Please note, the clear vinyl is ONLY available from fan clubs and exclusive Elvis dealers and NOT be available to the mainstream public stores. See 'All The CD News 2023' for full details & tracklist
(News, Source;MRS/ElvisInfoNet)
Feb 1 2023 Lisa Marie's 55th birthday: Having noted the anniversary of Lisa Marie's birthday throughout her successful career, this year comes as a sad remembrance.
Today would have been Lisa Marie's 55th birthday.
Priscilla Presley posted a loving message on this sad day... “Today would have been Lisa’s 55th birthday. My wish is to protect my three grandchildren and keep our family together.
From the first moment I held Lisa in my arms, I’ve protected, loved and guided her, as I have my son.
Our hearts are broken, and I am having to learn to live without my only daughter.
We truly love all of you, and we feel your prayers.
Thank you so much for caring so deeply for our family.”
Lisa Marie's death, Tabloid Media Beat-up: Once again the tabloids can't leave the Presley legacy alone, trying all they can for Click-Bait and revenue.
Already the tabloids, such as the Daily Mail, are suggesting Lisa Marie died from opioid use.
The usual "Unnamed Sources" (=made-up facts to fit their headlines) have told the tabloids that Lisa Marie was "Taking Opioids again on an Extreme Weight Loss Regime".
This may be vaguely true, but so what? Fact - 2 million+ Americans abuse opioids and more than 90 Americans die every day from opioid overdose. Fact - Around 45% of US women have used some kind of supplement for weight loss. Fact - It would be the very same tabloids who shamed Lisa Marie into thinking she was fat. In 2014 the Daily Mail shamed her as becoming "fat like her dad" - only to be sued by Lisa Marie as she was in fact pregnant at the time!
With the high pressure on Lisa Marie to "look good" at the Golden Globes it is no surprise that she'd be dieting.
The tabloids now state that she did "extreme cosmetic surgery and a 40-50lbs weight loss in 6 weeks"
Looking at photos of Lisa Marie looking fine back in September it's hard to imagine that she had put on 40lbs that needed shedding.
The tabloids need to stop spreading their fantasy click-bait and explain who their "Unnamed Sources" are. - Poor Lisa Marie, Poor Elvis, Poor Presleys. (News, Source;Tabloids/ElvisInfoNet)
'Elvis UK – Beyond RCA' New Book Out Now: As promised last month, Elvis experts John Townson and Gordon Minto have now published a new book, 'Elvis UK - Beyond RCA The Ultimate Guide To Elvis Presley’s British Non-RCA LPs 1974-1997'
This digital book, a newly written 377 page, fully comprehensive text, follows on from our previous publications in the Elvis UK series, each of them acclaimed by collectors, and provides the ultimate guide to Elvis’s non-RCA LP album releases issued in the UK between 1974-1997. This new volume:
• Complements - and extends considerably - information relating to these particular releases included in our original books Elvis UK, published in 1987, and Elvis UK2, published in 2002
• Is extensively illustrated in full colour
• Features a host of background information including a chronological list of all the albums included
• Deals with each album individually, in a detailed and forensic way, while the text is amply illustrated with scans of every known cover and label variation, relevant photographs, and scans of contemporaneous newspaper and magazine articles
• Includes background information about each release including historically significant events of the period
• Contains hitherto unpublished information from company files
• Features a header block for each album release comprising information about the songs or spoken word material included, along with details about the writers, as well as showing the record modes
• Includes a detailed Song Index, showing recording dates, which album(s) each song has been featured on, along with details of outtakes used, as well as a Spoken Word Index referencing when and
where the material was recorded
And as readers have come to expect from each of the Elvis UK publications, there is a wealth of background information relating to the record industry incorporated throughout the text. Note: this definitive work is only available as a downloadable digital flip book and stored on your own device 'Elvis UK – Beyond RCA' costs just £20 and can be ordered via our website www.elvisukbooks.co.uk which also includes details of our other publications and how to order them.
Please check out EIN's review of their excellent last volume 'Elvis UK Cover Story 1956-1977' (News, Source;GM/ElvisInfoNet)
ELVIS gets eight Oscar Nominations: The 2023 Academy Awards nominations were announced yesterday. Crowd-pleasing mind-bender Everything Everywhere All at Once led the pack with 11, followed by Netflix’s German war movie All Quiet on the Western Front and the Irish dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherinwith nine and ELVIS with eight.
Just two days after Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin attended the memorial service for Lisa Marie their grief carried even more emotion knowing that Lisa Marie would not see Elvis being nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture.
The Australian director and his four-time Oscar winning wife are both producers of ELVIS which is also up for best actor, cinematography, costumes, production design, make-up and hairstyling, editing and sound at the 95th Academy Awards.
Other big grossing films Top Gun: Maverick, Black Panther: Wakanda Forver and Avatar: The Way of Water received 6, 5 and 4, respectively.
The 95th Oscars are on March 12 in Hollywood and televised live on ABC.
One of the real shocks was that Baz Luhrmann did not get nominated for Best Director. In the eyes of many this was creative robbery since the syrupy-schmaltzy-by-numbers 'The Fabelmans' saw Steven Spielberg getting a nod.
With Baz Luhrmann showing his stunning directorial style to-the-max with ELVIS, many wondered what was wrong with the Academy - Best Picture -
“All Quiet on the Western Front” /
“Avatar: The Way of Water” /
“The Banshees of Inisherin” /
'ELVIS' /
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” /
“The Fabelmans” /
“Tár” /
“Top Gun: Maverick” /
“Triangle of Sadness” /
“Women Talking”
The other contenders and rivals could be
- Actor in a leading role Austin Butler (“Elvis”) up against Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) - Cinematography ELVIS against “All Quiet on the Western Front” - Costume design ELVIS against “Babylon” - Film editing ELVIS against “Top Gun: Maverick” - Makeup and hairstyling ELVIS against “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” - Production design ELVIS against “All Quiet on the Western Front” - Sound ELVIS against “All Quiet on the Western Front” (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
Priscilla thanks the family's Supporters: Priscilla must be feeling the outpouring of love from fans following the death of Lisa Marie. On monday she shared a message on showing her appreciation for all the support she's received from those mourning the loss of Lisa Marie, who died January 12 after being rushed to a Los Angeles hospital for a possible cardiac arrest.
She wrote, "Thank you all for your condolences, you have touched me with your words. It has been a very difficult time but just knowing your love is out there makes a difference."
Her message came a day after Lisa Marie's public memorial at Graceland.
At Lisa Marie's memorial, Priscilla delivered an emotional eulogy, starting with something she said her granddaughter wrote for the fans who lined up far and wide to line up outside of Graceland. "I have no idea how to put my mother into words. Truth is, there are too many. Lisa Marie Presley was an icon, a role model, a superhero
to many people all over the world, but Mama was my icon, my role model, my superhero — in much more ways than one. Even now, I can't get across everything there is to be understood or known about her, but as she always said, I'll do my best.'" Priscilla then read from a poem titled "The Old Soul," written about Lisa Marie's life. 'In 1968, she entered our world, born tired, fragile, yet strong. She was delicate, but was filled with life. She always knew she wouldn't be here too long. Childhood passes by, with a glimpse of her green eye, she then grew a family of her own. Then came her second child, leaving her with suspicion — could this be the angel that takes me home? Time, of course, flew by. It was time for a tragedy. She knew it was close to the end. Survivor's guilt, some would say, but a broken
heart was the doing of her death. Now, she is home where she always belonged, but my heart is missing her love. She knew that I loved her. I fear I would never touch her but the old soul is always with me. She doesn't drift above.' - That says it all, and thank you all for being here… Our heart is broken. Lisa, we all love you."
The public service was attended by family members including Lisa Marie's daughter Riley Keough, her husband Ben Smith-Petersen, ex-husband Michael Lockwood, their 14-year-old twin daughters Finley and Harper and Diana Jay, the girlfriend of Lisa Marie's late son Benjamin Keough. Lisa Marie's half-brother Navarone Garcia was also by his mother's side. (News, Source;Various)
Lisa Marie Presley's World: EIN has always had an interest in how Lisa Marie fitted into her father's world. The pressures of her being Elvis Presley's daughter were immense and her desire to follow a musical career of her own was very impressive.
Lisa Marie could have taken the easy-road recording Elvis covers or singing other "golden-oldies" but instead she wanted to make her own music and follow her own musical interests.
EIN has tracked Lisa Marie's career and personal journey over the last twenty years.
You can read about all her highs and lows here at EIN's Lisa Marie Presley's World.
RIP Lisa Marie Presley 1/2/1968 - 12/1/2023
'ELVIS Prodigy of SUN Records' Out Now: The highly-anticipated new book 'ELVIS Prodigy of SUN Records' is out now.
Authors Erik Lorentzen and Robert van Beek commented, "The printing is much better than expected" and the book will be rushed to worldwide shipping asap. Most likely the set will not make it to your home before Christmas. Sorry for this but we really did our best to get everything done on time. Nevertheless, you will enjoy many hours of reading it over and over and drool over the quality of this box set. The photos in these two volumes are... gee, just awesome - breathtakingly - absurdly GOOD.
We wish you a very happy Christmas and thank you for all the trust you've placed in us, including your patience.
A BIG THANK YOU!"
Order now - as no reprints will be made of this rare and unique collector's item.
Go HERE to ELVIS FILES to order - and to see a flick-through of the book
Robert Van Beek Interview -author of 'Elvis: Prodigy of SUN': In this new book 'Elvis: Prodigy of SUN Records' hundreds of hours of research have revealed new facts and interesting anecdotes from Elvis' early life and career. From Old Saltillo Rd to the magic of SUN recording studios, the first Louisiana Hayride appearances and everything in between. This book is filled with a string of never-before-seen photos dated from 1935 till 1955.
Many of Elvis' early childhood friends share their memories in these two books. It includes a collection of jaw-dropping photos and, of course, the near to complete story from Elvis' birth until his big break in 1955.
As the book hit the printers EIN wanted to know more about this massive project, questions include... - What extra material does this new publication offer to collectors compared to 'A Boy From Tupelo' and 'Elvis Files Vol 1'?
- The book is described as a "day-by-day" travelogue, isn't that the same as Ernst's Tupelo volume?
- How many unseen photos will fans get to see in this huge book?
- What new material is featured in the 1955 volume of the book?
- How many copies were printed and is it selling out?
Author Robert Van Beek was kind to take time out of his heavy schedule to answer our questions and send us some preview pages. EIN's Piers Beagley asked the questions..
(Interview, Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)
'Elvis Live 1972 (2-LP)' New RCA Vinyl: In a surprise move we hear from "Bear Family" records that there will be a new RCA double-vinyl release from 'Elvis On Tour', 'Elvis Live 1972'
Interestingly it features a "best of" the four concerts listed below, thus creating the "ultimate tracklist", although the final side then features some kind of Col Parker "Bonus Tracks"...
April 9, 1972 - Hampton Roads Coliseum, Hampton, Virginia
April 10, 1972 - Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia
April 14, 1972 at Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, North Carolina
April 18, 1972 Convention Center Arena, San Antonio, Texas
Release date 27 January 2023
The tracklist however looks most enjoyable.
Priced at $57 I'm looking forward to this one
2023 UK Tour - Elvis Presley + The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, tickets on sale this Friday: Elvis never toured the UK, in recent years the magic of technology has made that possible with a series of acclaimed shows.
Hot on the heels of this year's hit Elvis biopic comes a return of 'The Very Best of Elvis – In Concert, Live On Screen with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra'.
The unique concert experience is coming back to the UK in autumn 2023, taking in a number of arenas.
"The full-scale concert brings the King up close on screen alongside the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra live on stage performing the King of Rock and Roll’s most well-known 'rocking' songs and his tender, heart-wrenching ballads, with special guests to be announced in due course," said promoters.
'A show like no other, expect an overwhelmingly encapsulating and enthralling evening'
'These shows are a chance to both honour the legacy of an icon who has defined popular culture for over half a century, and for fans to see The King live, who never had the chance to before.'
The full Elvis with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra 2023 tour dates are as follows:
• 25 October – Glasgow OVO Hydro
• 26 October – Manchester AO Arena
• 27 October – Birmingham Resorts World Arena
• 28 October – Newcastle Utilita Arena
• 29 October – Leeds First Direct Arena
• 31 October – London The O2
• 1 November – Cardiff International Arena
Tickets available from Friday, Dec 2 from venues, or via ticketline.co.uk, bookingsdirect.com or ticketmaster.co.uk. (News, Source:MayerNissim, smoothradio.com/EIN)
UPDATED - 'The Elvis RCA Camden Collection' EIN Spotlight:Most fans have had a love-hate relationship with Elvis' Camden collections. On one hand they are seen as an artistic misstep being released at a time when Elvis was back riding high on the charts saturating the market with a series of albums containing little-known songs. Yet on the other hand many younger fans used these budget collections as a way to enter the amazing world of Elvis’ vast back-catalogue.
The RCA Camdens featured the first release of an Elvis live recording, 19 previously unreleasedtracks and 58 tracks previously unreleased on an album. That is quite impressive even if Col Parker only had his increased revenue as the main goal.
Now updated with Readers' Feedback - Read this fascinating article and tell us YOUR THOUGHTSabout Elvis' Camden releases... EIN contributor Neil Colombari reveals all...
(Spotlight; Source;Neil Colombari/ElvisInfoNet)
'ELVIS' Original Soundtrack Vinyl:'ELVIS' director Baz Luhrmann promised a vinyl edition of his original soundtrack and the first announcements have it as a single album with 13 tracks plus the short Elvis "Vocal intro" 'Elvis - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack' is the music companion to the Warner Bros. film 'Elvis' This critically acclaimed film stars Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Vinyl track list is
Side A
1 Suspicious Minds (Vocal Intro) - Elvis Presley
2 Vegas- Doja Cat
3 The King and I - Eminem & CeeLo Green
4 Tupelo Shuffle - Swae Lee & Diplo
5 Can't Help Falling in Love - Kacey Musgraves
6 Cotton Candy Land - Stevie Nicks & Chris Isaak
7 Edge of Reality (Tame Impala Remix) - Elvis Presley & Tame Impala
8 Don't Fly Away (PNAU Remix) - Elvis & PNAU
Side B
1 Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child - Jazmine Sullivan
2 If I Can Dream - Måneskin
3 Power of My Love - Elvis Presley & Jack White
4 I Got A Feelin' In My Body - Elvis & Stuart Price
5 Suspicious Minds - Paravi
6 In the Ghetto (World Turns Remix) - Elvis Presley feat. Nardo Wick
RCA Records. OUT November 18, 2022
Amazon US listed at US$27.98 (News, Source;Amazon/ElvisInfoNet)
(Book Review) Elvis Live At The International 50th Anniversary Edition (Kieran Davis): In 2011, Kieran Davis released the highly praised book, Elvis Live At The International. In 2022, he has published an expanded 50th Anniversary edition…and what an expansion it is!
The latest edition dwarfs the original with 432 pages compared to 172 in the original release.
And the added 250+ pages of additional material is stunning, making the 50th Anniversary release one of the best Elvis books published in 2022.
As its title reflects, the book covers Elvis' appearances at the International Hotel in Las Vegas between 1969 and 1971 (it was renamed the Las Vegas Hilton in July 1971). The narrative element is significantly based around fan, Peggy Elzea’s copious diaries, and a bumper array of archival material. Peggy’s experience seeing Elvis in Las Vegas is one every fan will envy. There is so much fascinating information and so many striking images in the book that it is hard to know where to start in describing it...
'ELVIS' DVD, BluRay, 4K OUT Now: Baz Luhrmann's 'ELVIS' movie now released as DVD, BluRay and 4K Blu Ray, out September 13.
The BluRay review includes,, The 1080p transfer offers a very crisp and faithful representation of Elvis' specific appearance. Cinematographer Mandy Walker reportedly shot the entire film .. with custom "Elvis" lenses made from special glass. Meant to evoke the era in which it represents this formula genuinely produces an image evocative of a classic cinematic appearance. With the addition of artificial film grain, the illusion is even more convincing. Still, this is ultimately a purely digital image through and through, and one with a varied color palette that ranges from dark and muted to almost candy-colored in its overall intensity, especially in some of the specific background elements by costume and production designer Catherine Martin. Bonus features include
- Bigger Than Life: The Story of Elvis (22:22) The challenges and joys of adapting Elvis' life for the big screen.
- Rock 'N Roll Royalty: The Music and Artists Behind ELVIS (7:33)
- Fit for a King: The Style of Elvis (8:02) - An overview of the iconic stage outfits and period clothing used in the film.
- Viva Australia: Recreating Iconic Locations for Elvis (7:26).
- "Trouble" Lyric Video (2:15).
- Musical Moments (19 clips, 46:19 total) All of the music segments. (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet/Bluray.com)
USA >>>
UK >>>
(Book Review) Elvis The King of the Rings Volume 2 (Paul Bélard): The second volume of Paul Bélard’s two volume photo-journal record of Elvis’ love of rings has been released.
While on holiday, EIN’s Nigel Patterson spent a leisurely afternoon perusing the rich narrative detail and jaw dropping, visual splendor on offer....
... They say first impressions last! The cover image of Elvis’ famous TCB ring is truly striking and sets the tone for what is an impressive examination of another 100+ rings that Elvis owned during his lifetime.
This is more than a photo-book and while the mostly colour images dominate, the narrative component contains valuable and interesting information...
Interview with actor Adam Dunn / Bill Black in 'ELVIS':Elvis author-researcher, Paul Bélard, interviews actor Adam Dunn who plays Bill Black in Baz Luhrmann's movie 'Elvis'.
The interview is particularly of interest as Paul Bélard recently published the first detailed biography of super-bassist Bill Black.
In the interview Adam Dunn reveals.. - how he got the role,
- how he learnt to play double-bass Bill Black style,
- about meeting Tom Hanks and Austin Butler,
- working with Xavier Samuel and Terepai Richmond who played Scotty and D.J.
- the 'trouble' filming the Russwood Park riot
- and much much more...
The book includes a fabulous Elvis-related story about Ron Strauss visiting his bank manager to obtain a home mortgage and the time Ron fell asleep in Elvis’ bed will bring a smile to the reader’s face. Other interesting accounts include Ron’s reaction to Elvis carrying a loaded gun on board (in a pressurized cabin), and many readers will appreciate reading how Ron felt about Linda Thompson and Ginger Alden.
EIN’s Nigel Patterson recently took flight with an advance copy. What Nigel found, not only added appreciably to his knowledge of a rarely written about aspect of the Elvis Presley story and provided greater insight as to who Elvis was as a person, but also offered a wonderfully rich and entertaining account of the life and times of the underappreciated, Ron Strauss.
'Elvis UK Cover Story' Book Review: Elvis experts John Townson and Gordon Minto recently published their new (digital) book 'Elvis UK Cover Story: The Ultimate Guide To Elvis Presley's British EP & LP Sleeves 1956-1977' designed to add to and complement their original 'Elvis UK' book.
It is a 286 page, fully comprehensive book, providing the ultimate guide to Elvis’s EP and LP album sleeves released in the UK between 1956-1977.
Extensively illustrated in full colour and arranged in sections, this book addresses a wide range of topics including back cover photos, printing companies, sleeve notes, etc.
There are extended sections including 'Front Cover – Fact File', and 'For UK Fans Only' an in-depth study of those albums that originated in the UK, or were only ever available in the UK.
It includes a wealth of background info incorporated into the text.
It is a downloadable digital flip-book stored on your own device.
Reading through this fact-filled investigation, the amazing thing EIN discovered was just how many sleeve variations, UK only releases, and cheap RCA / Parker design decisions there were.
For the world’s biggest superstar some of their marketing decisions were truly bewildering. And some of their design choices total madness.
'Aloha From Hawaii' Deluxe FTD indepth Review: When seeking Elvis' key career highpoints, if one goes by the sales and the audience viewing numbers, there is only one answer. Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite. RCA’s double album of the show was released throughout the world in February 1973 and shot to the #1 spot in many countries including the U.S. It is certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA.
While in 2013 RCA/ Legacy released the '40th Anniversary edition' sadly the audio of the main concert left much to be desired.
In 2022 FTD released this upgraded 'Aloha From Hawaii' set with Matt Ross-Spang remixing the original broadcast - plus including the full after-concert 3am 'Insert Song' session in a 3-CD set. In 'large-size 8" format with 24 page booklet it is a stunning package.
(Interview) Alanna Nash talks to EIN: With the recent reissue of her best-selling book, 'The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley', renowned author, Alanna Nash, took time out of her busy schedule to discuss Elvis, the Colonel and other related issues with EIN’s Nigel Patterson, Elvis Day By Day’s Kees Mouwen, and prolific Elvis author, Paul Bélard.
In her candid interview, Alanna provides insightful commentary about the Colonel’s early years before coming to America, when he lost his way in promoting Elvis, the controversial source Byron Raphael, Lamar Fike’s finding about the rumor the Colonel was involved in the death of a woman in Holland, why Elvis didn’t take more control of his career, the new Baz Luhrmann 'ELVIS' biopic and much, much more...
ELVIS 'Austin Butler Pre-Production Test Footage': This is a sensational clip. Forget all those average Elvis Impersonators you might have seen, here Austin Butler truly inhabits Elvis character showing what he could do
at a pre-production jam.
As 'Depper' rightly comments, "Austin was a brilliant choice as there are millions of new young Elvis fans just based on the trailers alone. Many more will join us in the Elvis fanbase as soon as the movie drops. This movie successfully explains the contributions to music of Elvis Presley, to today's current generation. Elvis' legacy has been given a tremendous boost, and will help young people understand that he was a force of good for American music and humanity." (News, Source;EIN)
'ELVIS' EIN movie review: Keith Richards said, "Elvis hit like a bombshell ... it was like the world went from black and white to Technicolor." While those words apply to Elvis Presley they could similarly apply to Baz Luhrmann's style of film direction. Compared to the regular Hollywood output Baz Luhrmann movies have a similar feel of busting out of jail and going from black-and-white to technicolour. They are loud, brash, super-colourful, fast-edited and exciting, they have their own language and style.
The full-bore soundtrack, the glowing colour, the revelation of Austin Butler's truly stunning performance and the real excitement of the fast editing really does make it feel that Luhrmann has grabbed Elvis' true spirit. The film not only tells Elvis’ life but has the genuine excitement of the real Elvis, something that I've never felt from any previous Elvis Bio-Pic.
The incredible fact is that while the movie includes so many snatches of real Elvis (Hy Garner interview, Lisa Marie, Al Dvorin etc) yet Austin Butler has one so enthralled in playing Elvis' character that you can hardly spot the difference.
However typical of a Luhrmann movie you can see why fans' overly detailed fact-checking needs to be left at the door - and knowledgeable Elvis fans should just enjoy the ride. Go here for EIN Piers Beagley's exclusive and detailed review
(Review; Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)
'The Pot Luck Sessions' Deluxe FTD Review: Released back in December 2021, 'The Pot Luck Sessions' was the eighth in FTD’s “complete sessions” packages. An 8 inch deluxe 5-CD package featuring a 28-page booklet with an insightful essay, record and session data, memorabilia and rare photos. The set includes remastered complete RCA sessions from Elvis' June 25 and October 15 1961 and March 18-19 1962 recording sessions.
The set features a good number of previously unreleased outakes and EIN also uncovers plenty of Elvis studio discussions that had been previously edited out on earlier "Classic Album" releases such as Elvis saying, “Here we go already. How do like that
arrangement, Red?” an important question to his friend Red West who
had composed the song 'That’s Someone You Never Forget'.
(Book Review) 'Don't Be Cruel, Elvis: The Bill Black Story': It is easy to forget that, in the beginning, Elvis was only one part of a trio put together by Sam Phillips, which included Bill Black on bass and Scotty Moore on lead guitar.
The unique sound that emerged from their early sessions was the result of a close collaboration of like-minded musicians and an engineer who wanted to generate something as yet unheard. Bill Black's contribution to Elvis’ success went beyond the bass playing. His antics on stage — twirling his bass, riding it as if it was a bronco to be tamed, trading corny jokes with Elvis — delighted the audiences. Scotty confirmed that, “If it hadn’t been for Bill, we would have bombed many times in the early days.”
Memphis Mansion’s Henrik Knudsen fortuitously befriended Bill Black's family and was entrusted with the family’s treasured scrapbook.
Using this key source, plus the investigative power of author Paul Belard, key rock'n'roll bassman Bill Black finally gets the biography he deserves with this impressive 260 page book.
Packed full of rare photos, great stories and interviews, EIN's Piers Beagley spent some quality time enjoying this very fine tribute to "Blackie" a great musician and a true character ... go here to find out more.. (Book Review, Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)
"Elvis Back In Nashville" 8/10 Review: It's great to see the mainstream music press already giving truly positive reviews to the new "Elvis Back In Nashville" box-set that comes out next week. UNCUT uk music magazine have already reviewed it noting.... "The King's final recordings in the country music capital"
Elvis Presley was more ambitious than his late career output might suggest.
During his 1971 sessions in Nashville, he cut tracks for his dream project: a folk-rock record featuring songs by Buffy Sainte-Marie, Kris Kristofferson and others. Sadly, it never saw the light of day, and tracks from those sessions were scattered across cookie-cutter collections throughout the'70s. 'Elvis Back In Nashville' collects those recordings in one place, showcasing his stylistic range (gospel, carols, standards... you name it) and offering a glimpse of what might have been.
Despite being sold as a nostalgia act, Elvis was absolutely devoted to whatever he song he was singing. He immersed himself in the story and invested each line with nuance and character, whether it's the casually funky "Put Your Hand In The Hand" or the delicate "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (recorded while he had the flu). Box-Set rates 8/10. Extras: 6/10. Archival photos and liner notes by David Cantwell.
You can also have a sneak preview of 30 seconds of every track via PlatoMania -CLICK HERE to listen
(News, Source;NP/ElvisInfoNet)
'Think Twice: Elvis in The Studio 1971': The forthcoming 'Back In Nashville' boxset is going to shine the spotlight on Elvis' 1971 sessions which have traditionally been ignored by the official label. In this fascinating and detailed article EIN contributor Shane Brown examines these all too easily dismissed Nashville sessions and discovers some real gems.
It’s very easy to look at the March, May and June 1971 recordings out of context. While the recordings are certainly not up to the standard of those from June 1970, it’s also true to say that Elvis was in a very different place personally by spring 1971.
In June 1970 Elvis was riding the crest of a wave with his recent successes but by January 1971 he was in the newspapers due to an ongoing paternity suit.
The Presley’s marriage was on the rocks and Elvis was having problems with his eyes. However despite all of this there was something very interesting going on during the 1971 sessions. Find out more as Shane Brown investigates these controversial 1971 Nashville Sessions....
(Spotlight; Source;ShaneBrown/EIN)
Don't miss out on one of EIN's most-viewed and controversial interviews of all-time - Mike Stone tells all.
EIN Interview with Mike Stone: Mike Stone has had a long and successful career in athletics, in the entertainment business, as an author, sports instructor, bodyguard and personal fitness trainer.
Mike Stone was also a key figure in the emotional roller-coaster that described Elvis and Priscilla Presley's lives in the seventies. In this exclusive EIN interview Priscilla's ex-partner, karate champion and author talks about his amazing life, including... - Meeting Elvis and Priscilla
- Hawaii, Elvis and Karate
- Being Phil Spector's bodyguard
- Sitting next to John Lennon recording
- Priscilla and karate
- Fans blaming him for Elvis' marriage split-up
- Elvis putting a "Hit" out on him
- Finding peace in the Philippines
- His new autobiography
UPDATED- The collapse of the Elvis Bootleg Empire: Has Ernst won the war?’: Back in 1999 Ernst Jorgensen and Roger Semon convinced BMG to let them start the FTD collectors label in order to counteract the Elvis bootleg companies which had been selling unreleased material to fans since the very first vinyl bootleg 'Please Release Me' was issued back in 1970.
Of all the bootleg labels that have come and gone the 'Madison' label was one of the very few that always produced high-quality releases and which happened to start at the same time as FTD. The designs were top-notch and with detailed sleeve notes they easily competed with the legal Elvis releases.
In 2021 ‘Madison’ have returned with the new bootleg ‘A Legendary Performer Volume 9’ but all is not what was promised. The Elvis bootleg vaults are empty and FTD appears to have won the game. Go here as EIN’s Piers Beagley checks out the lack of new material and considers the bootleg era at an end... And EIN wants YOUR SAY -Our article is now updated with YOUR FEEDBACK - and more... (Spotlight; Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)
Don't forget that EIN's Elvis Facebook page regularly features fabulous RARE newly discovered photos of Elvis. This month EIN celebrates our 45,000 members! - including several of Elvis' own friends and colleagues So Elvis fans don't miss out on these rare and exciting photographs.
Now with over thousands of great photos, News and with more added every day – including YouTube footage.
Elvis "BACK ON DVD!": Paramount have re-released three classic Elvis movies this month on DVD. 'G.I. Blues'- BACK ON DVD! The year was 1960... 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' - BACK ON DVD! The year was 1962... 'Paradise, Hawaiian Style'- BACK ON DVD! The year was 1966...
From Paramount Pictures.-
Release date: March 12, 2021.
From Amazon for $14.99. (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
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‘From Elvis in Nashville’ Box-set EIN In-Depth Review:
A 4CD collection presenting the definitive chronicle of Elvis' 1970 marathon sessions with the "Nashville Cats".
Recorded live in RCA's Studio B over the course of an epic five day run in June 1970 now, for the first time, the sessions are presented in pristine audio, newly mixed by acclaimed engineer Matt Ross-Spang without the added overdubs appearing on earlier releases.
Elvis’ 1970 Nashville session was very different from the previous Memphis sessions or even Elvis’ later sessions. Nashville was a real mix of Elvis recording RCA supplied demos along with one-take spontaneous favourites Elvis threw into the mix.
As Elvis noted, "It don't take much to get these guys going, boy, I'll tell you…. Just give them a "well..." and they're gone. That's what I call 'Sittin' on ready". EIN's Piers Beagley explores this new box-set to discover one of the best Elvis releases in years..
(CD Reviews, Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)
US CD box-set
US Vinyl
UK CD box-set
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‘TTWII 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition’ FTD Book Review: FTD's most expensive set ever published, David English and Pal Granlund bring the complete background story of 'Elvis: That's The Way It Is'. Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the movie's 1970 release, this ultimate collector's edition includes two hardback books, eight cds with over 450 minutes of music,
including newly discovered unreleased performances.
With access to 2,000 original negatives and 35mm slides, restored and repaired, many of which have never been seen before, the book also contains items from the MGM and RCA archives including paperwork, documents, memos and recording information.
Two books, 600 pages, plus all the MGM recorded rehearsals - including 70 tracks officially unreleased.
FTD's most expensive set but with the vast majority of the rehearsals already out on bootleg, can it really be worth the US$270 plus postage. Initially Sold Out and already into its first reprint what makes it so desirable? EIN's Piers Beagley investigates and discovers plenty .. Go here to our 6000 word review including plenty of extracts and stunning images. (FTD Reviews, Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)
Amazon Deals on ELVIS Blu-rays - Beware of excessive prices at some Elvis dealers.
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'ELVIS In The 2010s' A Personal Review of the Past Decade: Rather like Elvis’s own career, each decade since Elvis’s death appears to have had a theme or identity of its own. Clearly the late 1970s were difficult for RCA as they struggled to find the right direction with which to take their posthumous releases, and so it was the 1980s that was the decade when the company slowly but surely learned how to look back at Elvis's legacy and start to make some sense of it.
The 1990s were when that reached a peak, with the decades boxed sets, and the Elvis in the 90s series, thus bringing virtually the whole catalogue back into print in a coherent way.
The 2000s were when errors of judgement at retail level started to occur (despite huge successes like Elv1s), but also when FTD came into its own and flourished. And so what will we make of Elvis releases of the 2010s when we look back on them from the future? Go here for EIN contributor Shane Brown's personal take on the highs and lows of Elvis product that has come our way over the last decade....
(Spotlight, Source;ShaneBrown/ElvisInformationNetwork)
Elvis LIVE Aug 23, 1969 Album Review + Elvis Concert Review 1969: ..."The atmosphere throughout the entire hotel was nail-bitingly electric! It is difficult for me to describe and paint a true portrait of attending in person this unique occasion - Elvis' Return to Splendor LIVE in 1969 - but I'll try my best. I want, and hope, you will understand the excitement of what has to be the pinnacle of Elvis' career to date!" Joan Gansky was lucky because not only was she in the audience for Elvis' TV musical renaissance of the '68 NBC Special but she also saw Elvis at his most dynamic - first at his August 22nd 1969 Midnight Show and then the following night at his August 23rd Dinner Show. Joan Gansky has written this insightful and emotional article for EIN in 2019, fifty years later, looking back at this special event from 1969 as well as providing her review of the new RCA vinyl album of the August 23rd Dinner Show. One of EIN's most important articles we have ever published- Go here for Joan and Paul Gansky's incredible articles and exclusive photos
(Review/Spotlight, Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)
'Elvis - Made In Germany’ In-Depth Review: The new MRS 'Elvis - Made In Germany – The Complete Private Recordings’ 4CD set contains more than 3 hours of the private recordings Elvis made while off duty in Germany when he was serving as a soldier in the US army during the 1958 -1960 period and, includes rare tracks from a recently discovered tape comprising over an hour of unheard personal recordings. The 152-page hardback book contains rare photographs and documents plus a comprehensive text provided by Gordon Minto, which discusses each of Elvis’ RCA studio (non-film) recording sessions held during 1957-58, before focusing on the private recordings he made in Germany.
The BONUS CD features the essential RCA studio masters from 1957-58.With such an expansive book, along with hours of Elvis jamming with his friends in Germany, there is plenty to discuss as well as finding out what extra material this set contains over the official releases. Go here as EIN's Nigel Patterson & Piers Beagley provide an in-depth review of this new MRS release
(Book Reviews, Source;ElvisInformationNetwork)
'What was Elvis searching for?' EIN Spotlight: The question is raised – but never answered – in the title of HBO’s recent absorbing, imperfect documentary 'Elvis Presley: The Searcher'.
At the start it seems clear what the teenage Elvis was searching for – an escape from the oblivion of poverty in the American South. Yet his quest was cultural as well as financial.
Later Elvis read obsessively, seeking out such books as The Impersonal Life, Joseph Brenner’s guide to self-discovery and Kahil Gibran’s book of fables, The Prophet. In his copy of Gibran’s tome, Elvis jotted down the line: “A singer can sing his songs but he must have an ear to receive the song”.
So what exactly was Elvis searching for? In this fascinating EIN Spotlight respected author Paul Simpson takes a close look at this all important question which, for some reason, was basically ignored in the recent HBO documentary..
Mindi Miller Interview with EIN: Mindi Miller was a working actress when she met Elvis in early 1975. She was interested in karate (she performed all her own movie stunts), exploring spirituality and the Bible and so they had a lot in common. Mindi Miller and Elvis bonded over their common interests and soon afterwards he asked her to go on tour with him in April 1975.
She stayed friends with Elvis through the years - along with members of the 'Memphis Mafia' - and attended his funeral.
EIN's Sanja Meegin recently caught up with Mindi Miller to talk about her close friendship with Elvis over the years.
In this fascinating interview she discusses. . . - Her first night with Elvis
- How Elvis persuaded her to cancel her overseas movie & modelling plans
- Their mutual interest in Karate
- Graceland and meeting Lisa Marie
- Attending Elvis' funeral . . . and much much more... Go here for EIN's Sanja Meegin and her intimate and detailed discussion with the delightful Mindi Miller - Now with Reader Feedback.
Official Elvis CD Box-sets at bargain prices through Amazon UK
'Marty Lacker: A Life Well-Lived' & Elvis at American Studio's Interview: It was with immense sadness that last month EIN had to report on the death of our great friend - and a true friend to Elvis - Marty Lacker. We will miss him dearly. Marty is well-known as one of the key members of the Memphis Mafia and also co-Best Man at Elvis' wedding. He was known for both his honesty and being forthright with his opinions. He was the only member of the Memphis Mafia who still watched and commented on recent Elvis News. He had no issue with holding people to account (especially ones who would inflate their importance within Elvis' legacy) and would regularly ask EIN to add his comments or to correct any inaccuracy. Elvis fans often ask about Marty Lacker's background, how he came to meet Elvis, as well as his involvement in the music industry outside of working for The King.
As a prelude to Ken Sharp's fascinating interview with Marty Lacker and a discussion about Elvis' famous American Studio' Memphis sessions, EIN presents "Marty Lacker: a life well-lived" in which Marty tells of his life in the music industry, his friendship with Elvis along with his dislike of the over-controlling Col Parker. Go here to learn all you need to know about Marty Lacker as well as Elvis outstanding Memphis American Sound sessions in 1969. (Spotlight; Source,KenSharp/ElvisInformationNetwork)
'The World of FTD' In-Depth Review: The new deluxe book 'The World Of FTD' has been received by some lucky fans and Elvis collector Mike Lodge has provided EIN with a very detailed review - of well over 3 thousand words! The book was authored and designed by Keith Flynn with input from a large number of other Elvis specialists including EIN's Piers Beagley, EM&HM's Trevor Cajiao, Geoffrey McDonnell, Gordon Minto and many others. It is 1,200 pages, hardbound three book set, chronicling every release by FTD.The book also features 100s of high-quality photos from the collection Erik Lorentzen
KJ Consulting are proud to publish this Box Set which weighs 8 kilos.
UPDATED - Paul Dowling EIN Interview Part Three: Paul Dowling is without doubt one of the major names in the Elvis World. He started collecting and selling Elvis vinyl over 40 years ago and has one of the world's largest Elvis Presley record collections. He started his "WorldWide Elvis" shop back in the seventies, way before the internet, where fans could get hold of rare Elvis records and memorabilia.
With such a fascination with Elvis, Dowling not only became a big name in the early years of Elvis bootlegs but later became friends with Ernst Jorgensen and helped RCA with various official releases.
In the final part of our fascinating interview Paul Dowling discusses .... - Dodging the FBI agents that were sent after him
- Unreleased Elvis material that still hasn’t come out
- Why does Ernst Jorgensen doubt this claims
- His BMG project 'For The First Time Ever' - what happened
- The true story of obtaining the Million Dollar Quartet tape
- His thoughts on Paul Lichter, Sean Saver, Sherif Hanna, Rex Martin
- Spending time with Alan Fortas
- Jim Curtin, newly added story
'Ultimate Elvis' New Electronic Edition: Announced by Elvis sessions expert Keith Flynn for publication November 1 is the brand new concept of the 1750 page super-deluxe Elvis sessions book 'Ultimate Elvis' Electronic Edition.
This incredible three volume book will now be available as an e-book on an i-pad or android tablet. - Created in HTML5
Fully updated e-books will open in any web browser on any operating system, so no need for separate downloads for different operating systems. - Life-Like 'Flipping' Pages
Flip through pages as if you are reading an actual book, but also being able to zoom-in to view smaller images and captions.
- View as Double or Single pages
View as double pages on a computer or laptop etc, and single pages when viewing in portrait on an i-pad or Android tablet. - Fully Navigational Table Of Contents
Jump back and forth to the sections of the books you want to read, instead of flipping through numerous pages to find what you want. PRICED AT - all 3 Volumes for £60 = US$93
On sale from November 1st 2015. Try Before You Buy -
Download free zip-file containing 27 pages from Volume 1, before you decide to buy the complete set. -
NOTE - These books are MASSIVE so you will need approximately 1GB of spare disc space for these three volumes, -
Click HERE to Keith Flynn's 'Ultimate Elvis' Electronic Edition to try.
Go HERE to EIN's independent review of 'Ultimate Elvis' (News, Source;ElvisInfoNet)
Did Elvis Record 'Tiger Man' At Sun?: A question that has puzzled Elvis fans through the years is whether he actually recorded the song ‘Tiger Man’ during his years at SUN studios.
The basic question is why did Elvis refer to 'Tiger man' several times in concert as “The second song that I ever recorded, not too many people heard it”?
And if Elvis DID record it, then why hasn’t any reference to it at SUN or proof of its existence been found?
Elvis would first perform ‘Tiger Man’ in concert at his first 1969 Las Vegas International season and would continue playing it through the years – usually in a medley with Mystery Train - until his last performance at Saginaw on May 3 1977. He would sing it over 150 times on stage! The thought that there might be an acetate or undiscovered tape of Elvis at SUN singing ‘Tiger Man’ is a mouth-watering concept - but is it an unlikely fantasy or strong possibility?
Go here to our detailed 'TIGER MAN' spotlight as EIN's Piers Beagley puts in the hard yards to check the facts from the fantasy . (Spotlight; Source;ElvisInfoNetwork)
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If you believe we have used copyrighted material please contact us and we will remove it immediately.
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The printed newsletters have extra content, articles and reviews to this website along with the popular Elvis EIN Mega Quiz.
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