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3D Elvis done with Lightwave.
3D Elvis
2008/04/30 Youtube /
www.epgold.com
Why the lyrics to Hound Dog
were changed.
Hound Dog" is a twelve-bar blues written by Jerry Leiber and Mike
Stoller and originally recorded by Willa Mae "Big Mama" Thornton in
1952. Other early versions illustrate the differences among blues,
country, and rock and roll in the mid 1950s. The 1956 remake by Elvis
Presley is the best known version. This is the version that is #19 on
Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "Hound Dog"
was also recorded by 5 country singers in 1953 alone, and over 26 times
through 1964.
Thornton gave this account of how the original was created to Ralph
Gleason. “They were just a couple of kids, and they had this song
written on the back of a paper bag.” She added a few interjections of
her own, played around with the rhythm (some of the choruses have
thirteen rather than twelve bars), and had the band bark and howl like
hound dogs at the end of the song.
In fact, she interacts constantly in a call and response fashion
during a one minute long guitar "solo" by Pete Lewis . Her vocals
include lines such as: "Aw, listen to that ole hound dog howl..
OOOOoooow", "Now wag your tail", Aw, get it, get it, get it". Thornton's
version is a slow, powerful, country blues.
Record producer Bernie Lowe suspected that "Hound Dog" could potentially
have greater appeal, and asked Freddie Bell of Freddie Bell and the
Bellboys to rewrite the lyrics to appeal to a broader radio audience. "Snoopin'
round my door" was replaced with "cryin' all the time", and "You can wag
your tail, but I ain't gonna feed you no more" was replaced by "You
ain't never caught a rabbit, and you ain't no friend of mine."
This new version of "Hound Dog" was recorded on Lowe's Teen Records in 1955 ((TEEN 101 with "Move Me Baby" on the flip side, two of four songs the group did with Lowe that year). The regional popularity of this release, along with the group's showmanship, yielded both a tour, and an engagement in the Las Vegas Sands Hotel's Silver Queen Bar.
2008/04/30 Wikipedia -
www.elvisinfonet.com
/
www.epgold.com
Governor of Antwerp retires.
The governor of Antwerp, Camille Paulus, retires today. The
governor, appointed by the Belgian government and the Belgian King, was
the highest official in the Province of Antwerp for the last 17 years.
Mr. Paulus has never hidden his sympathy for Elvis and ElvisMatters,
proof of which is this picture - taken at the governor's office in
Antwerp with John Wilkinson 5 years ago.
John was greeted as an honorary guest and received a deluxe picture
album of Antwerp as a souvenir of his visit. We'd like to thank governor
Paulus for all his dedicated work, his support and friendshop, and we
wish him all the best for his future endeavors.
2008/04/30
www.elvismatters.be
/
www.epgold.com
Original Album Classics 5 CD Box Set.
Sony BMG Australia will release the five CD set 'Original Album
Classics' in July.
The set will contain the following albums; Elvis Presley, Elvis, Loving You, Elvis Is Back and G.I. Blues.
2008/04/30
Sony BMG -
www.elvis.com.au
/
www.epgold.com
Japanese DVD Re-issues.
The 2007 Paramount DVD re-issues of "Fun In Acapulco", "G.I.
Blues", "Girls! Girls! Girls!", "Roustabout", "King Creole", "Paradise
Hawaiian Style", "Easy Come Easy Go" and "Blue Hawaii" will be re-ssued
again June 20, 2008 in Japan.
2008/04/29
www.biwa.ne.jp
-
www.elvisnews.com /
www.epgold.com
Memphis Mafia members dispute Radford Ellis claim.
EIN received the following message from Marty Lacker after
yesterday's story about Radford Ellis' claim Vernon Presley offered him
a job as Elvis' double:
"Although my memory is still very good, just to be sure and fair I
checkerd with Billy,Sonny and Lamar and NONE of us remember anyone by
the name of Radford Ellis. Seems like, although he's a bit harmless in
his story, Ellis is another bullshitter like Billy Miller.
At least one of the four of us was with Elvis every day during the
period Ellis states and he was not a friend of Elvis.
These people come up with their stories because Elvis and in this case
Vernon too, is gone but they forget one big thing, we are still here.
These people don't understand that we know just about everything Elvis
did and who he did it with and who was around. In many instances we knew
more than his father, Priscilla and certainly Lisa Marie.
I don't say that to make ourselves important. Fame and a $1.25 will get
you on the bus. It doesn't mean anything to us. All we do is state fact
and we tell it like it is for a number of reasons. One being that Elvis
is too important of a historical icon for false information to be put
out there.
First of all, that's the way it should be with anyone. It's a dis-service
to Elvis just as it is a dis-service to the millions of worldwide fans.
They often complain that they don't know who or what to believe about
Elvis,us and all those years and that's one reason we have been sticlers
for the truth.
There are a number of things in that story sent in by EP Gold that Ellis
stated that are so unlike Elvis to do and I will leave that alone for
now.
We just thought your readers should know the truth."
Note EpGold:
This Story was from the source as mentioned in the original story by EpGold dated April 26,2008:
http://members.tripod.com/~radfordellis/bio.html
2008/04/29 Marty Lacker -
www.elvisinfonet.com
/
www.epgold.com
No.1 Elvis fan Eunice dies.
Cannock’s most well-known Elvis Presley fan has died after
suffering a massive heart attack in hospital.
Charity campaigner Eunice Fitch was known across the region for her love
of the King and her house in Danby Drive, Prospect Village, had become a
shrine to the star over the years.
It was dubbed Graceland after his Memphis mansion and her extensive
collection of memorabilia included statues, neon lights above her door,
a gold bust of him on a plinth in the garden and a stained glass window
of him.
Mrs Fitch, aged 65, a mother-of-four, had suffered from poor health over
recent years and underwent a bowel operation three weeks ago from which
she was recovering in hospital.
Her son Paul, aged 34, and of Cannock, today said doctors had warned the
family there was a 60 per cent chance she would not pull through
although she had appeared to be making good progress.
He said: “She was getting better but suffered a mild heart attack on
Wednesday and then she had a massive heart attack on Friday.”
Funeral arrangements were due to be made by the family today.
She was known across the region for having an annual display of
extravagant Christmas lights in aid of Cancer Research and crowds braved
the cold each year to see them switched on.
Last year’s event was televised on BBC1’s The One Show and the lights
included Elvis with Vegas lights, a star of Elvis and a 4ft angel
looking down on him.
She also organised several fundraising concerts at Cannock’s Prince of
Wales Centre.
Richard Kay, manager at the Prince of Wales Centre in Cannock, said: “We
knew Eunice for a good number of years. She was a real stalwart of the
community and will be very sadly missed.”
2008/04/29
www.expressandstar.com
/
www.epgold.com
High Spirit In Vegas &
Getting Down To Business.
For the first time these two concerts will be available under their
original titles, but not on CD-R and at the correct speed.
High Spirit In Vegas and Getting Down To Business were recorded from the
audience but quality was above average for this type of material.
Both should be released soon on the Vegas Strip label.
High Spirit In Vegas - Las Vegas, NV September 2, 1973 MS
1- Introduction: Also Sprach Zarathustra 1:02 ; 2- C.C. Rider 3:21 ; 3- I Got A Woman / Amen 4:26 ; 4- Love Me 1:40 ; 5- Steamroller Blues 2:48 ; 6- You Gave Me A Mountain 3:11 ; 7- Trouble 2:02 ; 8- Rock Medley : Long Tall Sally/Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On/Mama Don't Dance/Flip Flop And Fly/Hound Dog 2:37 ; 9- Love Me Tender 1:32 ; 10- Fever 2:37 ; 11- Bridge Over Troubled Water ( with reprise ) 5:24 ; 12- Suspicious Minds 4:05 ; 13- Introductions of the band and celebrities : Hugh O' Brian, Marty Allen and Vernon Presley 3:45 ; 14- My Boy 3:24 ; 15- I Can't Stop Loving You 2:18 ; 16- An American Trilogy 4:25 ; 17- The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 3:16 ; 18- Mystery Train / Tiger Man 3:12 ; 19- How Great Thou Art 3:38 ; 20- A Big Hunk O' Love 2:08 ; 21- Release Me 2:12 ; 22- What Now My Love 3:08 ; 23- Can't Help Falling In Love / Closing vamp 1:58
Getting Down To Business - Las Vegas, NV August 31, 1973
DS
1- Introduction: Also Sprach Zarathustra 1:09 ; 2- C.C. Rider
3:21 ; 3- I Got A Woman / Amen 4:20 ; 4- Love Me 1:32 ; 5- Steamroller
Blues 2:46 ; 6- You Gave Me A Mountain 3:09 ; 7- Trouble 2:04 ; 8- Rock
Medley : Long Tall Sally/Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin' On/Mama Don’t
Dance/Flip Flop And Fly/Hound Dog 2:35 ; 9- Love Me Tender 1:40 ; 10-
Fever 3:31 ; 11- Bridge Over Troubled Water 3:57 ; 12- Suspicious Minds
3:52 ; 13- Introductions of band and celebrity : Charlton Heston 2:41 ;
14- My Boy 3:19 ; 15- I Can't Stop Loving You 2:15 ; 16- An American
Trilogy 4:01 ; 17- A Big Hunk O' Love 2:30 ; 18- The First Time Ever I
Saw Your Face ( beginning only ) 0:58 ; 19- How Great Thou Art ( reprise
only ) 1:32 ; 20- Can't Help Falling In Love / Closing vamp 2:01
22008/04/28 E-Mail /
www.epgold.com
Elvis' Back Catalogue Online For Free.
Songs by artists on the Sony/BMG label, including those by the
likes of Mark Ronson and Leona Lewis, are available on a free music
website.
Users on the We7 website can listen to music free while they are online,
with ten-second advertisements played between songs. They must still pay
to download songs.
Steve Purdham of We7 told BBC Newsbeat: "You can pay for a track with
money, but most people don't like to do it these days. So the deal we
are giving is free music in return for some of your time."
The website currently has a catalogue of around 250,000 songs. As well
as the new additions from Sony/BMG, songs by artists including Elvis
Presley and Michael Jackson are available.
2008/04/28 Brian
Quinn -
www.nme.com
/
www.epgold.com
You´ll Never Walk Alone.
(REELTRAX 47-9600-2 – 2nd Edition)
Out NOW is the 2nd edition of the first cd from the new „REELTRAX“–label
titled „You´ll Never Walk Alone“. While the content of the cd stays the
same as the first edition, this new edition features a different
portrait of Elvis on the frontcover.
About five years ago the legendary „2001“ label released it´s series
„How Great Thou Art Sessions Vol. 1 – 3“ and the content was absolutely
fascinating – especially for those who just love to hear how Elvis was
working in the studio on „his“ gospel music. Still the three cds
suffered quite a bit from rather bad sound.
REELTRAX is now able to present a great variety of HGTA-Outtakes on it´s
„You´ll Never Walk Alone“-release in absolutely breathtaking sound –
MUCH better than you have heard it before.
And if this would not be enough reason to get the cd while you can: Did
you ever hear a complete and uncut 12:32 minutes of the first six takes
of the title „You´ll Never Walk Alone“? If not, it is now the chance for
it! Needless to say that the sound quality on this real treasure is just
perfect! The same goes for the unreleased Take 1 of „We Call On Him“.
„You´ll Never Walk Alone“ contains a 16 page-booklet with all necessary
information regarding Elvis´ love for gospel music. Have a look at the
enclosed pictures to get an overview how it looks like.
We hope you like our first release on REELTRAX!
PS: By the way, there will be a brandnew cd-
release by REELTRAX coming in June 2008!
2008/04/27 EpGold.Com
Local fans still have vivid memories of brushes with Elvis.
Courtesy of Danny Holiday. Danny
Holiday, a retired radio disc jockey who lives near Stanwood, sent this
photo of Elvis Presley with Vancouver, B.C., disc jockey Red Robinson.
“It was taken in Vancouver, B.C., during the Elvis performance on Aug.
31, 1957, said Holiday, who describes Robinson as his mentor. Holiday
said the Vancouver show lasted just 20 minutes because the crowd rushed
the stage, and that Robinson still has the teddy bear “wrapped in
plastic."
In the wonderful world of Elvis Presley fandom, there's
always more.
Unflagging interest in all things Elvis means that even 30 years
after Presley's death, there are more stories to hear and more images to
see. In that sense, the King is definitely not dead.
Two weeks ago, after reading an Associated Press story about newly
discovered 1972 Presley concert photos, I shared a picture I have. It
shows Presley in the 1950s, when he apparently visited the Dallas radio
station KLIF. My late father-in-law David Muhlstein, a radio news
director there, is standing right next to Elvis.
Seeing that was all it took to coax a few Herald readers into sharing
their personal Presley pictures. I also heard from far-flung Elvis
fanatics, who sent theories about my photo. A Danish gentleman, Brian
Petersen, is such an Elvis aficionado he believes he can precisely
pinpoint the date of my picture -- Aug. 10, 1956. Another e-mail
directed me to a message board where Elvis fans guessed at the timing of
my photo based on Presley's sideburns.
My goal was to find other candid shots.
Diane Woodall's snapshot may be the fuzziest of the bunch, but the
Everett woman has a good story to go with it. Her mother, Arlene
Dinsmore, worked at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. She was there while
Presley was filming "It Happened at the World's Fair."
Along with the picture her mother took -- Presley flanked by police
officers -- Woodall sent a statement her mom wrote about the scene.
Dinsmore wrote that during the time Presley was at the fair, "September
Fourth to the 17th, 1962," he was walking to the Seattle Monorail one
day with two police officers. "I rushed up to him and grabbed his arm
and told him I had two daughters who would like his autograph. He very
kindly signed two World's Fair postcards for me," she wrote.
In 1999, Woodall's mother went so far as to have her statement, with the
Presley picture attached, signed and stamped by a notary public.
The story behind it may be a riddle, but the photo Mark Hibbert sent
looks to be a sharp-looking Elvis posed with a hotel maid -- to me, that
maid looks pretty nervous. Hibbert of Marysville said the picture was
taken by his late grandmother, Wynn Barry, who was a beautician at
Seattle's posh Olympic Hotel.
Describing Barry as quite a character, Hibbert said she lived an elegant
life in San Francisco before divorcing and moving here. At the Olympic,
she once styled the hair of opera star Maria Callas, among other famous
clients. During the Seattle filming of "Cinderella Liberty," Hibbert
said, his grandmother landed his brother, Scott, a role as an extra in
the 1973 James Caan movie.
About the Presley photo, though, Hibbert is short on details. Searching
the Internet, where Elvis Web sites trace an almost day-by-day history
of Presley's life, I could find no mention of him being in Seattle in
1966 -- the year marked on the photo's border. Along with his 1962
World's Fair visit, Presley sang at the old Sicks Stadium and in Tacoma
on Sept. 1, 1957. HistoryLink.org, an online encyclopedia of Washington
state, puts Presley in Vancouver, B.C., and in Spokane on Aug. 31, 1957.
Perhaps Elvis made an unreported Seattle visit, or Hibbert's grandmother
photographed him on her travels elsewhere. "If my grandmother saw Elvis,
she would have pinned him down," said Hibbert, who runs a Marysville
music studio, Whiskey Ridge Recording.
In the mid-1960s, Hibbert played bass guitar in a successful local band,
Axis Drive. The band was a regular at Seattle's Warehouse Tavern, and
once backed up Bobby Sherman. It was hardly Elvis fever, but Hibbert
recalls girls throwing jelly beans at the band.
Retired KJR disc jockey Danny Holiday, who lives near Stanwood, sent me
a picture of Presley taken with Holiday's mentor and close friend, Red
Robinson.
Taken at Vancouver's Empire Stadium on Aug. 31, 1957, the day before
Presley played Seattle, it shows a 22-year-old Elvis with Robinson, then
20. Robinson, who emceed the Vancouver concert and is in the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame, is still heard on Vancouver's CLEAR-FM, 104.9, every
Saturday night.
A half-century ago, Holiday said he went with his parents to Vancouver
to see Elvis. "The Vancouver show only lasted 20 minutes because the
crowd rushed the stage," Holiday said.
In the summer of '57, Presley's "Teddy Bear" had been a No. 1 hit. With
the smoldering look of a star at his peak, Presley posed with the
fresh-faced Robinson while holding a cute prop, a plush toy bear.
"Red still has the bear wrapped in plastic," Holiday said.
2008/04/27 By Julie Muhlstein, Herald Columnist
/
www.epgold.com
"He Touched Me Radio Special" CDR promo.
This is the first issue of the He Touched Me Radio Special.
2008/04/27 Barry McLean -
www.elvisinfonet.com
/
www.epgold.com
New (small) Elvis auction.
Regency Superior has announced a new Elvis related auction for
May 3rd. Among the 20+ items are signed Sun-records, promotional 78 rpms,
contracts, signatures, pictures and even a 2 piece buff-colored leather
suit, custom made for Elvis by the famous North Beach Leather Company
(bearing its label).
The jacket, the highlight of the Elvis items, is hand-stitched,
5-button, with 2-button cuffs. The pants, also hand-stitched, feature a
football-style fly, and slightly bell-bottomed. The suit appears
moderately worn with some sweat stains. Even Elvis, apparently,
appreciated a casual Friday in Las Vegas.
This leather suit was one of his favorites and sometime around 1974 had
similar ones made for the stage. It is very similar to his 'Mermaid' and
'Rainfall' suits.
The suit was a gift from Vernon Presley to Jim Curtin. (Letter of
authenticity from Jim Curtin included).
An overview of the other items is available here:
2008/04/27 www.elvismatters.be / www.epgold.com
Promo CD from Chile.
BMG / Sony of Chile released a promotional CD commemorating the
30 anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley.
This promotional disc was originally due for release August 2007 but
just recently arrived at radio stations in Chile. The CD is a replica of
a 1956 vinyl 10-inch release from RCA Chile.
The original is considered the most rare and important vinyl release
made in South America.
2008/04/27
www.elvispresley.cl -
Various /
www.epgold.com
Last 'Elvis World'
After the death of Bill Burk, many fans wondered what would
happen with his magazine, 'Elvis World'? Bill's wife Connie has now
commented to that: "It just won't be the same without him", she writes
in an email - making this February 2008 issue the last one since 1986,
when the first EW-magazine came out.
Proof again that all things come to an end, ufortunately.
2008/04/27
www.elvismatters.be
/
www.epgold.com
Newsman covered life, career of Elvis.
Bill E. Burk
Columnist wrote books on Presley, published magazine.
Bill E. Burk was a newspaperman with a front row seat for the life and
career of Elvis Presley who later kept the King alive in books and a
magazine.
Mr. Burk, 75, died Thursday following a heart attack.
During the last 20 years of Presley's life, Mr. Burk, a columnist for
the Memphis Press-Scimitar until it closed in 1983, wrote roughly 400
stories and columns about the King's life.
And over the last 20 years he published 13 Elvis books and the quarterly
Elvis World magazine.
The latest issue of the magazine was published in February and Mr.
Burk's wife, Connie, said it would likely be the last.
"He's such a gifted writer it wouldn't be the same without him," she
said.
Mr. Burk lived one minute from Graceland and at times visited the
entertainer there. Every so often Presley would return the gesture with
a visit to Mr. Burk's home.
Mr. Burk, a native Memphian who was also a international pilot and
standout athlete in three sports, uncovered plenty of Elvis photos and
stories, particularly from his early days.
"The Elvis I have come to know in talking to scores of his friends,
classmates, teachers and neighbors since 1985 have greatly deepened my
knowledge of Elvis and today I find I admire the man much more than I
did during those 20 years we were neighbors," Mr. Burk said in a recent
column on the Elvis Information Network.
Mr. Burk, nicknamed "007" because of the way he signed his last name,
said he always enjoyed the thrill of the investigation, unearthing those
personal moments with greatness that so many Memphians shared.
"He enjoyed the hunt," said Mrs. Burk.
Mr. Burk was given the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau Tourism
Award in 1980. He was the first journalist to win the award that honors
supporters of the tourism industry in Memphis.
He was also twice named United Press International Columnist of the Year
in Tennessee.
"He was a great friend to Elvis fans and a respected journalist who
covered Elvis for a number of years," said Kevin Kern, spokesman for
Elvis Presley Enterprises.
Burk is also survived by two sons, Gary and Randy, and his daughter,
Jennifer.
Services will be at 1 p.m. Monday at Memphis Funeral Home Poplar Avenue,
with burial later in the week at West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery.
The family asks that any memorials be donated to St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital, stjude.org .
2008/04/26 By Amos Maki - www.commercialappeal.com / www.epgold.com
Vernon Presley offered Radford Ellis a job as Elvis' double.
Radford Ellis is a singer and performer who was born and raised
in Memphis, TN. He has won many local and regional talent contests; his
first at age 5.
Radford first met Elvis around 1966 at Graceland while helping his older
brother repair a pinball machine. Before this meeting, he was just an
average Elvis fan, but afterwards, Elvis musically influenced Radford.
During the early 70's Radford fronted a band called Radford Ellis and
the McCarver Sisters. It was during this time that he began his tribute
to Elvis. The band regularly played at Liberty Land Amusement Park in
Memphis, TN, a launching ground for other Elvis Tribute Artists.
In 1972 during a 2am conversation with Harold Lloyd, Elvis' first
cousin, at the Graceland guard house, the phone rang. It was Elvis.
Radford was then invited to come to the house and show off his
customized motorcycle. After looking at the bike, Elvis asked if he
could take it for a ride. A few minutes later Elvis returned and a
friendship began that lasted until Elvis' untimely death in 1977.
Radford saw Elvis perform live 3 times and was personally invited to
many parties and get togethers at Graceland and the Memphian Theatre,
many of which included Christmas and New Year's Eve parties. Elvis gave
Radford a rawhide fringe jacket and a TCB necklace that he removed from
around his own neck. These things are still in his posession to this
day.
It was at one of the many parties at Graceland that Radford performed
Elvis for Elvis. It was at this time that Vernon Presley offered him a
job as Elvis' double. Radford was to be a decoy for Elvis after
concerts. The job would have included leaving the arena dressed as
Elvis, getting into a limo and driving to the airport and/or the hotel
to divert an onslaught of fans while Elvis safely left the building. Due
to a conflict with his 1st wife, Radford turned down the job.
In 1973 or 1974 while Elvis returned from riding a big black horse named
"Sombitch" (a name recieved after throwing Elvis), he gave Radford the
nickname "Chief," a nickname he still uses to this day.
After Elvis' death in '77, Radford stopped doing his tribute to Elvis
out of respect for his friend and to persue his own musical career.
Radford fronted many bands in the late 70's and 80's including The
Diamond Steel Band which achieved much success in the southeast region
of the US.
He also worked with producer, Fred Morris in Nashville, on a
solo career. While performing for audiences throughout the country
Radford has often been asked to perform Elvis songs. He reminded so many
people of Elvis that requests started pouring in for him to perform an
Elvis tribute. So after much thought and consideration, Radford Ellis
put together "Thanks For The Memories" as a tribute to Elvis' fans and a
personal message to an old friend.
Even though Elvis has long since "left the building," Radford will hold
these memories and the private conversations with Elvis very deep in his
heart and soul. So when you see a Radford Ellis show, you are not
watching the usual impersonator or tribute artist, you are watching a
friend say "Thanks For The Memories."
2008/04/26
http://members.tripod.com
/
www.epgold.com
'The King' by Ron Galella.
The famous American celebrity photographer Ron Galella, known for his
'historic' pictures of Marlon Brando (Ron Galello lost 5 teeth at his
first encounter with the actor), Liz Taylor, Robert Redford, Jackie O
and Bruce Springsteen, has published his 'Best Off' in 'GUP Magazine'
(Guide to Unique Photography).
Galella, one of the firs paparazzi in Hollywood, also managed to snap
Elvis in 1975. This picture is the highlight of Ron's "Best Off", and is
simply titled 'The King'.
2008/04/26
www.gupmagazine.com
/
www.elvismatters.be /
www.epgold.com
Original Album Classics.
Due for release from SONY / BMG on July 16, 2008 is the five CD
budget set "Original Album Classics".
2008/04/26 Various /
www.epgold.com
Elvis International Shop - The
Netherlands.
OPEN: Saturday & Sunday April 26 & 27, 2008 - 1300. PM - 1800 PM.
E-Mail:
elvisinternational@casema.nl
The Netherlands : 0251 - 821240
Other Country's Dial : 00 - 31 - 251 - 821240
2008/04/26 ElvisInternational /
www.epgold.com
We welcome you to Ep Gold Web-Shop.com.
You can now take part in the various services we have to offer you and create a free account.
Some of these services include:
Permanent Cart - Any products added to your online cart remain there until you remove them, or check them out.
Address Book - We can now deliver your products to another address other than yours!
This is perfect to send birthday gifts direct to the birthday-person themselves.
Order History - View your history of purchases that you have made with us.
Products Reviews - Share your opinions on products with our other customers.
And free subscribed Newsletter for update on any new Elvis items.
For help with any of our online services, please email the store-owner: elvisinternational@casema.nl
EpGold WebShop
Click on the banner to enter the shop
2008/04/26 EpGold.Com
That's The Way It Is fever!
That's the way it is is back in the spotlights thanks to the great
releases from FTD.
A couple of years ago this BMG (back then) was released as a 3 Cd-set
and is now again available in a jewelcase for a limited period of time.
2008/04/25
www.elviscorner.nl /
www.epgold.com
Retiring CBI boss got car from Elvis.
Bob Cantwell, director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation,
has announced his retirement, ending a 44-year law enforcement career
that brought him into close contact with two of the most famous figures
of the 20th century.
Cantwell, who has been CBI director since July 1, 1999, was working for
the Denver Police Department in 1976 when he befriended Elvis Presley on
a moonlighting job and was given a Cadillac by the singer.
He was one of three officers the singer gave a luxury car.
Cantwell was still with Denver when he was assigned to a security detail
for Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa in Estes Park in the late
1980s.
Cantwell worked with the Colorado Department of Corrections before he
was named to the CBI post.
He expects to leave the CBI in late May or early June.
"I've grown up with law enforcement," he said this week. "I love it. I
just love helping people."
Cantwell, who's turning 65, isn't sure what he will do when he retires.
He's had some job offers, he said, and he's thought about working cold
cases or finding a ghost writer to help him write a book about his
career.
But he's not worried about what he will do next.
"When God shuts one door, he opens another," said the graduate of
Metropolitan State College and the FBI National Academy.
Cantwell's successor will be selected through a competitive process.
Peter Weir, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public
Safety, will make the final selection.
The job pays $11,073 to $11,859 a month.
28/04/25 By
Marilyn Robinson -
www.rockymountainnews.com /
www.epgold.com
ELVIS US CHARTS - Week May 03, 2008.
CD: Elvis 30 #1 Hits is #1 on the Top Country Catalog Charts for
the 4rd week in 2008.
At the same time the album is number 14 on the Top Pop Catalog charts
(last week number 12) and on the Billboard Comprehensive Albums list,
#130 (last week # 122).
None Elvis dvd's did chart this week.
2008/04/25
Elvis For Everyone /
www.epgold.com
Richard Nixon And Elvis Presley Kept In Touch By Phone.
New information is being made available courtesy of Egil Krogh regarding
the relationship between Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley. It was a most
remarkable scene, if you can image it, when the King of Rock and Roll
walked into the office of the straight-laced President. In fact, the
images from that meeting are now legendary. To be a fly on the wall……
Of all the requests made each year to the National Archives for
reproductions of photographs and documents, one item has been requested
more than any other. That item, more requested than the Bill of Rights
or even the Constitution of the United States, is the photograph of
Elvis Presley and Richard M. Nixon shaking hands on the occasion of
Presley’s visit to the White House.
And now new information that keeps the story growing more interesting.
Friendship apparently meant more to Elvis Presley than politics. Egil
“Bud” Krogh, the presidential aide who was convicted of running Richard
Nixon’s “plumber” unit and who also guided Elvis around the White House
on Dec. 21, 1970, reveals that the King and the former president kept in
touch even after Watergate forced Nixon from office.
Krogh, who is updating his The Day Elvis Met Nixon with the new revelation, says Elvis phoned Nixon in 1974 when the ex-prez was suffering from life-threatening phlebitis. “Something obviously happened when they met,” says Krogh, whose latest book, Integrity, is a primer on how to ethically serve a president. “They liked each other very much.” And Nixon returned the favor when Elvis fell ill. “Nixon was a defender of Elvis,” Krogh tells us.
Published in: Elvis History Republicans
Richard Nixon Society
2008/04/25
http://dekerivers.wordpress.com
/
www.epgold.com
Bil Burk Passed Away.
It is with such great and abiding sadness that I am telling you
that Bill passed away peacefully today at Baptist Hospital at 10:10 am,
surrounded by his 3 children -- Gary, Jennifer, Randy -- and me.
(10:10am
on Thursday 24th April Memphis Time)
He had irreversable brain damage from cardiac arrest suffered Monday
afternoon, and it was his living will that he not be kept alive
artificially in a situation like that.
It is terribly painful for those of us left behind, who will miss him so
dearly, but Bill is now in a much better place.
Services will be at Memphis Funeral Home, Poplar Avenue. Visitation on
Sunday, April 27, 3-6 pm. Service Monday, April 28, 1 pm. Burial at West
Tennessee Veterans Cemetery at a later date next week.
We ask that any memorials be donated to St. Jude Children's Research
Hospital, www.stjude.org, in Bill's name.
Thank you for all your prayers and support throughout Bill's illness. We
both truly appreciated it!
Connie
2008/04/25 Connie
Burk /
www.epgold.com
Elvis featured in Tennessee Treasures Magazine.
From Tennessee Treasures Magazine
Elvis and Graceland are featured in this month's Tennessee
Treasures magazine. (Issue 4) The magazine's article features photos by
Elvis Australia's Scott Jenkins
Tennessee Treasures Magazine is distributed to advertisers who have
locations for visitors, by subscription, Welcome Center's, bookstores -
Barnes & Noble, David Kidd, Borders in Memphis, Bookstar in Memphis, and
Books-A-Million throughout the state. They also go to Senators and
Representatives of the state.
2008/04/25
www.elvis.com.au - Various /
www.epgold.com
The Truth about Elvis in UK in 1958...
Rock rival: Tommy Steele in action in
1958
Daniel Lombardy and Joe Esposito have recently released an audio
recording
revealing the truth about the Elvis UK visit in 1958 with Tommy Steele.
Listen to the audio recording here:
http://www.tcbjoe.com/TruthaboutUKvisit.mp3
2008/04/24
www.tcbjoe.com
/
www.epgold.com
Elvis in East Anglia 1958.
Another snippet of news regarding Elvis' supposed trip to London
in 1958 has suggested that he flew into the American Airbase at RAF
Mildenhall in Suffolk.
By doing this Elvis could avoid the paparazzi at the major airports and
gad off to London with his new-found chum.
An RAF Mildenhall spokesman could not confirm these new details adding
that 'I cannot speculate whether he came because it is not in our
records.' However, with clearance from superiors, a record of this
landing may not have been made.
It gets more like a James Bond movie every day!
Tommy Steele is still refusing to give any more details on the meeting,
except to say he was sworn to secrecy by Elvis and he honors that
agreement.
But would Elvis?
His entourage always maintain that Elvis was terrible at keeping a
secret.
'If you didn't want everyone to know your private business,' they often
quote. 'You certainly never told Elvis.'
Comment on Elvisblog:
Elvis Secretly Visited London with Tommy Steele?
Everyone is talking about Elvis’ secret visit to London in 1958?
Is it true?
Did the King really meet up with Tommy Steele or, as the UK Rockers hit
suggests, is this Little White Bull?
The press and media are hotly covering the story as fans debate this new
enigma, while spokespeople from Prestwick Airport are insisting they see
photographic evidence before they hand back their title as the only
place in the UK that Elvis ever visited.
This morning I was interviewed on BBC Breakfast for the story, along
with Elvis tribute artist Ian Coulson, none of us were convinced by the
tale, but like all Elvis fans, deep down we really would love this to be
true.
As much as I love to remain optimistic, you have to be cynical when you
hear that Bill Kenwright, who revealed this story on Radio 2, also
happens to be managing Tommy Steele.
So come’ on Tommy… it’s time to tell all!
According to the story, Elvis flew over for a one-day sightseeing trip
in 1958, when he was stationed in Germany. However, Elvis did not arrive
in Germany until October that year and was put straight into winter
manoeuvres.
He did make a trip to see Bill Haley and the Comets in Frankfurt and
later again in Stuttgart. He visited Paris twice, once in 1959 and again
in 1960 and his only other break was a hospital trip in Frankfurt for
tonsillitis…. Or was he really in hospital?
Another point is that Elvis travelled everywhere with his entourage. He
even took his Dad and Nan to Germany with him!
When we were in Germany a few weeks ago, we visited a lake in Gedern,
where Elvis had stayed for a while in a hotel on the grounds. The owners
were convinced that this was all a secret and no one knew of Elvis’
hideaway, but then we came home and found a page full of pictures in
that fantastic book A Date With Elvis. Nothing in Elvis' life remains a
secret.
Also in this book is a snapshot of Elvis in disguise. Head to toe in
Arabian gear he looks like…. Well, just like Elvis Presley in an Arabian
costume. There is no fooling anyone.
In the ‘70s when Elvis was in the midst of his adventures as a wannabe
policeman, he travelled in disguise with the Memphis police on their
night patrols - wearing a bright orange oversized ski mask!
‘You have the right to remain silent…’ he was famous for saying
‘And all that other S***.’
Somehow, I think he would have been easily spotted in London.
Julie Yeardye
2008/04/24
www.elvis.co.uk
/
www.epgold.com
Elvis spokesman denies Presley ever made secret visit to England.
LONDON - Elvis Presley was only in England once, says a spokesman
for the King's estate, who has denied claims by a theatre producer that
the singer made an earlier secret visit to London in 1958 to see the
sights.
"Sgt. Elvis Presley made his only appearance in the U.K. when he stepped
off a U.S. Air Force plane at the Prestwick Airport in March of 1960,"
Kevin Kern of Elvis Presley Enterprises in Memphis, Tenn., said in a
statement. "The aircraft made a brief stop to refuel."
For decades Elvis Presley's English fans have accepted that the King of
Rock and Roll's only known visit to Britain was that quick stop at
Glasgow's Prestwick Airport in Scotland. An Elvis lounge and a plaque
commemorates his 1960 stopover there.
But theatre producer Bill Kenwright has challenged that.
He says Presley made another trip with the help of popular British
rocker Tommy Steele, and he promised never to reveal that they had gone
to famous landmarks together.
Kenwright told a BBC radio show that Steele had told him that Presley
flew in for a day after calling out of the blue to say he liked the
British rocker's music.
Steele, now 71, has basically confirmed the claim in a written note to
London's Daily Mail that he wished the secret had never come out.
"I can only hope he can forgive me," he said of Presley, who died in
1977 at the age of 42. "It was an event shared by two young men sharing
the same love of their music and the same thrill of achieving something
unimaginable."
The alleged visit was apparently kept secret at the time so that Presley
wouldn't be mobbed by fans, but it was not clear why Steele would want
to keep it secret now.
The call to Steele came while Presley was stationed at a U.S. Army base
in Germany, Kenwright said.
Presley had been known to visit Paris while stationed in Germany,
attracting hundreds of fans, and went to some well known Parisian
nightspots. But there have been no prior reports of him touring England,
where he never performed.
The news was not welcomed at Scotland's Glasgow Prestwick Airport, where
officials are proud of their Elvis connection.
The bartender at the Elvis-themed lounge hung up the phone Tuesday when
asked about the King's visit to London, and airport Chief Executive Mark
Rodwell told the British Broadcasting Corp. that he wants photographic
proof that Presley was actually in London.
"As far as we are concerned, until it is proved otherwise Prestwick
Airport remains the only place in the United Kingdom that Elvis Presley
ever set foot," he said.
2008/04/24 By The
Associated Press /
www.epgold.com
Elvis Slot Machines Now
Online.
Based on the Elvis slot machines in Las Vegas, an online version of the
Elvis slots is now available. This is a non-download game featuring
Elvis’ voice and song lyrics, with features such as the 2 x and 4 x
multistrike, Fan-o-Meter, Pick a TV and Photo Memories.
www.paddypowercasino.com
This casino game is licensed by Elvis Presley Enterprises and is
available across the internet.
2008/04/24
Various /
www.epgold.com
James Bond Takes On Elvis.
In the new James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace", featuring Daniel
Craig as James Bond, one of his opponent's (Mathieu Amalric as Dominic
Greene) partners is named "Elvis" (Anatole Taubman).
2008/04/24
www.elvis-infos.de -
www.elvisnews.com /
www.epglod.com
Eco Elvis.
This is him: "Eco Elvis" from Kansas City an environmentally
friendly Elvis impersonator. His job is to educate people and get them
to take action for the environment.
I do this by singing recycled versions of the King's songs and speaking
to diverse audiences. Song titles include Burnin' Globe (Burning Love),
Can't Help Recycling It All (Can't Help Falling In Love), etc.
"The oceans could start rising,
Floods and droughts could come our way,
People, plants and animals could start dying
From a burnin' globe" - Burnin' Globe
http://www.ecoelvis.com/Home_Page.html
2008/04/24
www.itselvistime.nl
/
www.epgold.com
Livio Monari.
Livio Monari Today!
Even today after more than 40 years Livio Monari continues to be
as a reference point for many Elvis' fans from different generations. It
is thanks to him that the first italian fan club was born in 1962,
living until 1986.
Livio is one of those rare people who always looked at Elvis with
intelligence, love and respect. We from
www.onenightwithelvis.it
have known Livio for more than 20 years and we are honored announcing
that he accepted to write interesting topics for us.
In 1962 I founded the first Elvis Presley Fan Club in Italy.
Obviously my greatest wish at the time was to see Elvis in person and
this happened in August 1972. In the 70’s it was not very common for a
young Italian to make a trip to America, but together with Nicla, a
personal friend and member of my Fan Club, we started following that
dream.
With our personal money we bought a special gift for Elvis: a very nice
award made as a silver cup, with a plate at the bottom that read “TO
ELVIS FROM HIS ITALIAN FANS”. This cup is actually at Graceland in the
awards room to this day....
Read Livio's full Article: When I met Elvis
2008/04/23 Livio Monari - www.onenightwithelvis.it / www.epgold.com
Elvis Presley is second behind Britain's World War II leader Churchill.
Winston Churchill is the historical figure people would most like
to travel back in time to meet, a poll suggests.
Elvis Presley is second behind Britain's World War II leader.
Physicist Albert Einstein is the third favourite, the poll for the
magazine Doctor Who Adventures found. Screen legend Marilyn Monroe is
fourth.
The poll of 1,000 people also finds the Swinging Sixties, the era of The
Beatles and the sexual revolution, is the period people most want to
visit.
Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi came sixth in the list,
followed by the late Princess Diana.
Former South African president and human rights activist Nelson Mandela
takes eighth place - despite still being alive.
Isaac Newton, the British scientist who first formulated the laws of
gravity, is joint ninth with Elizabeth I and Beatle John Lennon.
The year 2006 was the second-most popular period people wanted to
experience, with the Victorian era third and 1966, the year of England's
victory at the World Cup, fourth.
MOST POPULAR FIGURES.
1 Winston Churchill
2 Elvis Presley
3 Albert Einstein
4 Marilyn Monroe
5 Martin Luther King
Source: Doctor Who Adventures magazine
2008/04/23
http://news.bbc.co.uk /
www.epgold.com
ELVIS A LEGENDARY PERFORMER - TALKING AND MORE I.
A new part of the A Legendary Peformer series - "Talking And More
I". The release of this cd with 18 tracks will be next week.
Tracklist:
1. Elvis At NBC (Steve binder, Alan Blye and Chris Beard talking with Elvis about the live segment for the NBC TV Special) 2. Elvis As The One Called Charro! (radio movie spots) 3. Elvis In Texas (interview, Odessa, Texas, 1960) 4. Back On Stage (Las Vegas show excerpts, 1969) 5. The Sweet Inspirations (show excerpts, 1974-1977) 6. Strung Out - Remix (remix of Elvis telling the audience that he is absolutely pissed of by the head-lines and stories from the tabloid press) 7. The Elvis Hour Ed Parker (radio program) 8. 'The Exorcist' Girl (recorded on tour) 9. High School Interview (1956) 10. To Whom It May Concern (radio program with Lisa Marie Presley - Lisa talks about her debut album) 11. A Billboard Presentation (1956) 12. Jingle All The Way (recorded in Las Vegas) 13. With Elvis On Stage - The Story ('After season' interview with John Wilkinson) 14. The Show Taht Never Was (radio spot for the Elvis show, August 20,. 1977) 15. New Years Eve 1975 (Elvis speaks about the show) 16. Germany, March 1959 (Dick Clark calls Elvis) 17. Germany, August 1959 (Dick Clark calls Elvis) 18. Happy Birthday Elvis! January 8, 1960 (Dick Clark calls Elvis)
2008/04/23
www.elvismagazine.eu
/
www.epgold.com
Update: comment on claim Elvis toured London with Tommy Steele.
Rock rival: Tommy Steele in action in
1958
I sent a e-mail to tommys website and heres what they sent back.
Hi, Jeanette. It seems that Elvis and Tommy made a pact to keep the
visit out of the public eye. They did not want to be mobbed and ruin the
visit.
Tommy has now admitted that the visit did indeed occur, but he is sorry
that it has been made public at this late date. Of course, there are no
pictures. Alas and alack!
Lots of information regarding Tommy on the fan club site. Many
well-informed members ready to share.
It's free!
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/tommysteelefanclub
Thanks for writing. Joy also i have had info from close sources that
there are pics, so you never know they might apear.
2008/04/23
Elvislady - Tcbworld /
www.epgold.com
Elvis & Wanda.
Collectors, attention. Following Wanda Jackson's tribute album "I
Remember Elvis", there's a limited 7" release on white vinyl.
The A side is her version of "There's Good Rockin' Tonight", while the
flip site has a remix of the same song, as recorded by Elvis in the Sun
Studio.
This release is limited to 300 copies worldwide, so...Happy Hunting! A
hint: the label is Goldenlane Records CLP-2012
2008/04/23 www.elvismatters.be / www.epgold.com
Elvis Presley 2nd In UK's Hero Poll.
A new poll of people under 25 conducted by Sky.com found that the
singer was rated above Princess Diana in the top heroine category.
Babyshambles singer/guitarist Pete Doherty was voted the second most
popular male hero, behind footballer Stephen Gerrard.
Psychologist Donna Dawson told PA that Winehouse may have topped the
poll because she "seems to portray a certain sense of vulnerability or
having had to fight against some adversity in their lives".
Among the general population, with categories not restricted by gender
or age, Winston Churchill was voted top hero figure. Elvis Presley came
second.
2008/04/23
www.nme.co.uk
-
www.elvisnews.com /
www.epgold.com
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE.
1st Edition YOULL NEVER WALK ALONE
Since the 1st Edition was completely sold out - Within the next few days (on many request by ElvisFans) a second edition of the import Cd YOULL NEVER WALK ALONE, containing a different coverphoto will be out .
The content of the cd is the same as before.
Tracklist:
01 – You’ll Never Walk Alone [Takes 1,2,3,4,5,6] – 12:32 02 – We Call On Him [Takes 1,2,3] – 05:47 03 – Run On [Takes 1,2,3,4,5,6] – 10:08 04 – Stand By Me [Takes 8,9,10] – 05:39 05 – Where No one Stands Alone [Takes 1,2] – 05:53 06 – Where No One Stands Alone – workpart [Takes 1,2,3] – 03:42 07 – So High [Takes 2,3] – 02:21 08 – Farther Along ]Takes 1,2] – 04:05 09 – By And By [Takes 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] – 10:30 10 – Somebody Bigger Than You And I [Takes 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10] – 07:51 11 – If The Lord Wasn’t Walking By My Side [Takes 3,4,5] – 04:04 12 – Statement Ray Walker – 01:05 13 – Statement Joe Moscheo – 01:08 14 – You’ll Never Walk Alone (live July 19, 1975) – 02:21
2008/04/22 E-Mail
/
www.epgold.com
Hilton retiree reflects on Elvis, glamour, life lived in Vegas.
Janie Steele hugs Elvis Presley in
this 1960s photo. Steele has retired after nearly 30 years at the
Hilton, where she worked in photography and bookkeeping.
Janie Steele’s theme song should be “Thanks for the Memories.”
The 67-year-old photographer-turned-bookkeeper retired Friday
from the Las Vegas Hilton, where she hobnobbed with Elvis Presley and
other celebrities during her almost 30 years at the venue.
“When I feel sorry for myself about not having done anything, I think
that for somebody who thought they would never leave their small town,
I’ve seen and done quite a lot,” says Steele, a native of Westminster,
S.C., population 2,763.
As Steele thought of retirement, she began turning back her pages:
She saw Ike & Tina Turner, Redd Foxx and Frankie Laine at the Hilton
lounges and such memorable entertainers as Barbra Streisand, Bill Cosby,
Juliet Prowse and Maurice Chevalier with the Kim Sisters at showrooms
around town.
And of course, Elvis.
Steele went to work at the Hilton — then the International Hotel — as a
photographer in 1970. Streisand was the headliner at the International
when it opened in 1969, but then it was Elvis.
“He would do two shows a night, seven nights a week, for four weeks,”
Steele says. “I don’t know how he did it, but that’s how all the
entertainers used to do here. They never had a day off.”
She lost track of how many times she saw Elvis. She would attend his
shows even if she had to pay for them. She often joined members of the
public who were invited to his suite.
“It was the only way he could meet normal people,” Steele says. “They
would just invite people up to his rooms. Music would be playing. He’d
sometimes demonstrate his karate kicks. He’d chitchat with everyone,
mingle with the little groups of people who were all around the suite.
He was such a gentleman to me. It breaks my heart that things happened
the way they did.”
It wasn’t unusual for her to bump into Priscilla Presley and their
daughter, Lisa Marie. “The last time I saw Lisa Marie was in the
showroom. She was about 6 years old. A gorgeous child.”
When Steele arrived from South Carolina in 1964, she worked in data
processing at the Nevada Test Site. “A bus would pick up employees in
the morning and take us home in the evening. It was 180 miles
round-trip, an hour and a half each way.”
She lived in the Naked City neighborhood near South Las Vegas Boulevard
and Sahara Avenue. In those days it was a trendy part of town where
showgirls lived and sunbathed by the pools, hence its nickname. “I never
saw anyone naked, but they did have awfully tiny little bikinis.”
She married Charlie Steele, music teacher by day and drummer in relief
bands in the casinos by night, and they moved to different parts of
town. “I loved Las Vegas back then. You could go anywhere in 15 or 20
minutes.”
After her job at the test site ended, she went to work taking pictures
in the Hilton’s showroom and lounges. “I was really shy. I had the
hardest time walking up to people and asking them if they wanted their
picture taken.”
She moved back to South Carolina for four years but returned to Las
Vegas and worked at Saks Fifth Avenue when the Fashion Show Mall opened
in 1981. She returned to the Hilton to work in the accounting
department. “When I left, Siegfried & Roy were a small part of ‘The
Lido’ show at the Stardust. When I came back, they had a show of their
own.”
Her fondest memory of Old Vegas?
“I always wanted to live where people wore long gowns and gloves and
fixed their hair,” she says. “When I first moved here, that’s what you
did. You dressed up.”
2008/04/22 by
Jerry Fink -
www.lasvegassun.com /
www.epgold.com
Revealed . . . Elvis's secret visit to London (with a little help from rock rival Tommy Steele)
Elvis the same year: He is said to have rung Steele to ask, 'Are you as
good as me?'
Showbusiness impressario Bill Kenwright, made a startling
revelation on national radio yesterday. He told BBC Radio 2 host Ken
Bruce that Elvis Presley made a secret visit to England in 1958 and was
shown the sights of the capital by UK rocker Tommy Steele.
(Follow the BBC Radio Player and listen to Ken Bruce's Tuesday show)
They say the King never set foot in
England....
But in 1958, an American boy with a sneering smile and perfect Southern
manners was shown around town.
His guide was a cheeky Cockney lad with a mop of blond hair.
But the day a young Tommy Steele showed Elvis Presley the sights of
London has remained a rock 'n' roll secret for 50 years.
Until one of Steele's friends blurted it out on the radio yesterday.
Had the pair been spotted together in Britain at the time there would
almost certainly have been a riot.
Presley, then 23, needed military guards to control crowds whenever he
appeared in public in the U.S. while 21-year-old Steele was widely, if
briefly, being billed as his British equivalent.
The story of Elvis and Tommy's trip around the city was told in a
pre-recorded Radio 2 interview yesterday with showbusiness impresario
Bill Kenwright, who has known Steele for decades.
Rock rival: Tommy Steele in action in
1958
He let listeners to Ken Bruce's show, Tracks of My Years, know how
Steele had told him about the visit. Unfortunately he hadn't realised
the singer had guarded the secret for so long.
Yesterday he told the Daily Mail: "I'm absolutely steeped in 50s rock
'n' roll. I love it.
"So when I get together with Tommy Steele I just say, 'Tell me about
Buddy Holly...tell me about Guy Mitchell, and that sort of thing'. He's
a great storyteller and he can just reel them off.
"I remember him telling me about when Elvis came to England very
quietly.
"Evidently Tommy got home one night and the phone rings. A voice says,
'They tell me you're good'.
"Tommy says, 'Who's this?' 'Elvis,' says the voice. 'Get outta here,'
says Tommy. 'Are you as good as me?' says Elvis...and they sort of
started this mock rivalry.
"It all came from that. It's quite something, isn't it - the thought of
them wandering around London together?
"But the impression I got was that they never got out of the car. It was
more like, "There's Buckingham Palace ...there's the Houses of
Parliament".
"Tommy is a very private person who doesn't go into the past. It's only
me who makes him talk about it. As soon as I started talking about it on
the radio I wondered if I'd done the right thing.
"I remember saying, 'Bloody hell - I hope that was all right'. I'm sure
Tommy will want to kill me when he finds out."
Mr Kenwright said the date of the Presley visit was some time in 1958 -
the year Pele's magic won the World Cup for Brazil.
That timing raised the possibility that Presley, who joined the U.S.
Army in March that year and saw service in Germany, might have been in
uniform, his slicked back quiff shaved into a military short back and
sides.
Everywhere he performed, his female fans were swept into the kind of
hysteria that would not be seen on this side of the Atlantic until the
advent of Beatlemania.
Yet Britain - already jiving to Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock - never got
to see an Elvis show.
He returned two years later for the briefest of stopovers, not getting
any farther south than Ayrshire. At the time he was returning to the
U.S. after serving in the Army in Germany in March 1960.
He stopped off at Prestwick airport when the military DC-7 touched down
to refuel.
Archive pictures show him there in his sergeant's uniform, signing
autographs and phoning his teenage sweetheart Priscilla, soon to become
his bride.
That night he told the crowds gathered to see him: "This is quite a
country. I must see more of it."
But he never did. And the belief that the airport stopover was his sole
visit was set in stone. So why didn't Tommy Steele simply set the record
straight?
Last night the 71-year-old entertainer-performing in Dr Dolittle in
Woking, Surrey, retained his discretion.
In a note to the Daily Mail he wrote: "What actually happened many years
ago is something secret and memorable.
"It was an event shared by two young men sharing the same love of their
music and the same thrill of achieving something unimaginable.
"I swore never to divulge publicly what took place and I regret that it
has found some way of 'getting into the light'."
"I can only hope he can forgive me."
Kenwright says, "Elvis flew in for a day and Tommy showed him round
London. He showed him the Houses of Parliament and spent the day with
him."
A spokesman for Elvis' Graceland estate says, "To the best of our
knowledge there was only one stopover at Scotland.
2008/04/22
By Paul Haris -
www.dailymail.co.uk
/
www.contactmusic.com
/
www.epgold.com
Chapter from Donnie Sumner's upcoming book .
There is an interesting posting regarding the Elvis book Donnie
Sumner is writing. In one of the chapters, Donnie tells the story about
how he (and 'Voice') got their contract with Elvis - see excerpt below.
However, Donnie also states that it was actually him hitting the high
notes for Elvis. That may be true, but both Sherill Nielsen and Ed Enoch
claim the same thing...
"What a voice that man's got!"
I know that's what everyone was thinking when Elvis came to the close of
songs like, "My Way," "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," "American Trilogy,"
"How Great Thou Art" and other "big production" type songs. Elvis would
get into his "one of a kind" stance, eight or more carbon arch
spotlights would go to full white on him, the orchestra would crescendo
to their loudest peak and twelve back-up vocalists would open their
mouths so wide, sometimes you could almost see their socks. Together
they would attack the last note and the audience would rise to their
feet with admiration at Elvis' rendering of his climatic last note.
Surprise! Usually, it wasn't him. It was ME! It wasn't that Elvis
couldn't hit hi notes, because his vocal range was phenomenal and most
of the time he did sing the last note, but more than frequently he would
point to me and I would hit it for him due to the fact that he wanted to
do something else. If you notice our show videos real closely, you will
see that very often after Elvis attacks his last note, it appears he is
still singing but he is either kissing someone or involved in a martial
arts kata of some sort.
This, along with arranging the backup vocal parts, was my main
contribution to the Elvis show during the time I was with the Stamps
Quartet and before I organized Voice Inc. It was this ability that
prompted a phone call to my home shortly after I resigned from the
Stamps Quartet.
After leaving the Stamps, I, along with two other gentlemen, Sean
Nielsen and Tim Baty, organized a group known at the time as The
Rangers. Elvis would later change our name to Voice Inc.
As the Rangers, we had become a part of the Grand Ole Opry doing
background vocals along with a well know female back-up vocalist, Ms.
Carol Lee Cooper. Arriving home on a Saturday night after a performance
at the "Opry," I received a phone call. Charlie Hodge was on the other
end and he said, "Hey, man! This is Charlie. What's happening?"
After we "howdied" for a minute he said, "I'm calling for Elvis. He
heard you had a new group and he wants you to do him a favor." “Of
course,” I said, "What is it?"
Charlie went on to explain why he had called. "Tom Jones is working at
Caesar's Palace and the desert air is getting to his throat and Elvis
wants to hire you to come out and do his high notes for him."
Quickly considering the venue from which I had just returned and the
offer to go be with Tom Jones and Elvis in Vegas, I swiftly replied,
“Far out! When does he want me?” When Elvis wanted something, he usually
wanted it ASAP or quicker. In about three hours, I had made the
necessary arrangements to cover our absence from the Opry and Sean, Tim
and myself were at Big Brother Aircraft in Nashville preparing to board
Elvis' private jet, soon to be en route to Las Vegas.
For the next seven days, three "Opry Hillbillies" got to play "star"
courtesy of my friend, Elvis. The following Saturday night, Elvis closed
out at the Hilton, Tom Jones finished at Caesar's Palace and several
lounge acts were concluded that starred such celebrities as Red Fox,
Marty Allen, Bobbie Gentry and Jack Lord.
With all his friends closing their schedule on the same night, Elvis
decided to throw a big party after everyone's second show and
consequently all the above mentioned artists along with the afore
mentioned "Tennessee Redneck's" all found ourselves in Elvis' suite on
the twenty eighth floor of the Las Vegas Hilton having a most enjoyable
evening. After several hours of loud and boisterous activities, the time
eventually came that I was to come to know as Elvis' favorite time of
the evening. Unaware of it at the time, I was about to embark upon my
"first," "Private Gospel Music Concert for Elvis."
From across the room someone hollered, "Hey Donnie!" It was Elvis and I
responded to his beckoning that night, just like I would eventually do
countless times in the future. I said, "Yes, Sir!" Elvis called me over
to where he and Linda were seated between Tom Jones and Mr. and Mrs.
Jack Lord and said to me, "You remember that song you sang with The
Stamps that I like so much?' I knew exactly what song he was referring
to and I answered him, "Yes, Sir!" Elvis smiled at me and said "How
'bout singing it for me." When Elvis smiles at you and ask you for a
favor, how can you refuse! I said, "OK" and called for Sean and Tim to
join me.
After going to the piano against one wall in the suite we began to sing
an extremely old gospel hymn called, "In The Sweet Bye and Bye".
As we sang, the room got quieter and quieter. When we came to the end of
the song, the room was totally silent. Tom Jones spoke first and said,
"Nice! That's one of the prettiest ballads I've ever heard. Did you
write that, Donnie?" "Heaven's no!" I replied. "Do you like Gospel
Music?" I asked him. Tom Jones said, "I don't know too many church songs
but I know 'The Old Rugged Cross’. Can you sing that?"
At Mr. Jones' request we sang a verse and chorus of "The Old Rugged
Cross." When we had finished, I noticed that Elvis had disappeared and I
became fearful that I had offended him by doing a song that perhaps he
didn't want to hear. So, I quietly settled into a big chair and began to
mind my own business.
In a short while I noticed Elvis coming thru the bedroom door that
opened up into the living room and he was walking straight toward me. "O
Lord!" I thought, "Here it comes!" As he walked up to me, I noticed he
had a folded piece of bathroom tissue in his hand and I wondered to
myself, "What in the world is he gonna do?" He stopped in front of my
chair and reaching out to hand me the paper in his hand, he said, "Check
this out and tell me what you think!" I took the folded tissue and
noticed it had writing on it. I unfolded it and began to read.
"I, Elvis Aaron Pressley, agree to pay to Donnie Sumner, Sean Nielsen
and Tim Baty, over the next twelve months, the sum total of XX dollars
for their full time service to sing at my request.
Once my eyes uncrossed, I said, "Are you kidding me!" Elvis said, "No
man! You wanna come back and work for me personally!" I thought for a
split second about my former memories with Elvis as part of the Stamps
and us being "only back-up vocalists" and now I’m being offered the
opportunity to be with Elvis "all the time!"
Without any further delay, I said, "I'd love to!" Have you ever tried to
write on bathroom tissue with a ballpoint pen? It’s practically
impossible, especially if you are excited. Never the less, the three of
us finally got the document signed and after we handed it back to Elvis,
he walked over to his dad, Mr. Vernon Presley, and said, “Daddy, I
finally got in a quartet!”
Mr. Presley later transcribed the impromptu contract into a legal
agreement and once again the three of us were asked to sign it. From the
looks of the signatures on that document, still in the possession of
Sean Nielsen, we were all in much better states of mind and body at that
point than we were at the original initiation.
Never in my wildest thoughts could I have ever suspected that a contract
opening the door to my highest dream would have been penned in Elvis'
restroom on a piece of bathroom tissue. Starting that night and every
night thereafter until September of 1976, at some point during the early
morning hours, we found ourselves around the piano singing old, slow
gospel tunes for Elvis, as he would request them. Often included among
the songs was, "In The Sweet Bye and Bye."
You would think that at some point, one would become wearied with a
particular musical selection. Not so with Elvis! I recall one night when
we sang, "In The Sweet Bye and Bye," eighteen times, back to back … all
four verses. I inwardly declared numerous times during the next few
years that unless Elvis wanted to hear it, I would never sing, "In The
Sweet Bye and Bye" again. Surprisingly enough, on the first recording I
made after entering the ministry in 1982, you will find a song entitled,
"In The Sweet Bye and Bye!" Never say "never!"
2008/04/22
www.elvismatters.be /
www.epgold.com
Large selection of '68 Special' souvenirs in production.
The 40th anniversary of the '68 Special' will deliver a large
amount of new souvenirs in the coming months.
The British company 'Copyright Promotions' (CPLG) recently signed a
contract with EPE. They received all the rights to use and promote
images of the 68 Special. The company will not design souvenirs, but
will sell the material to license holders to use on their products.
CPLG now represents brand like Sesame Street, Dora The Explorer, Star
Trek, The Simpsons and Marvel.
2008/04/22
Licensing.biz -
www.elvismatters.be /
www.epgold.com
German Release Elvis Presley Vs. SPANKOX "Baby Let´s Play House" RE: Version.
German release of the "Re: Version" by the Italian DJ Spankox of the Elvis' classic "Baby let's Play House" by the EMM (EMI) records label on May 16, 2008.
2008/04/21
Various /
www.epgold.com
JAT Productions latest book Portraits is now in stock!
Announcing the new book release of "Elvis - Portraits" on Youtube from JAT Production.
Click Here:
Order now!
Click on the banner to enter the shop
2008/04/21 EpGold.Com
PRE SALE FOR ELVIS 2008 BEGINS TODAY.
Imagine this dream concert: The TC