July 298 - Elvis has left the building

A line used in this book, to describe escorting journalists completely out of a party.

July 25 - Soundtracks galore

Flipping thru the soundtracks at the Bev. Hills library, can't avoid the many CDs of Elvis soundtracks. Had a better picture for this post but it wouldn't load.

July 25 - I continue to heart YouTube

Elvis
01:07
These are the japanese greasers. The only ones keeping the elvis empire alive. Aparently these are part of the japanese mafia so Id watch out. pretty funny though.

July 24 -- Correction, this is Dolly's

So who was the other one? I'm trying to catch up and have emailed myself the stories but no longer remember what goes with what!


CMT: Is it true that Elvis also wanted to record "I Will Always Love You"?

Parton: I hesitated to tell it for a long time because I thought maybe people would not take it right because it was Elvis. But Elvis loved "I Will Always Love You," and he wanted to record it. I got the word that he was going to record it, and I was so excited. I told everybody I knew, "Elvis is going to record my song. You're not going to believe who's recording my song." It's like one of those things I told everybody. I thought it was a done deal because he don't just say he's going to do something. Anyway, he sent word that he loved it and he was doing it. They get to town and they call and they ask if I want to come to the session -- and, of course, I was going to go.

Then Colonel Tom [Parker, Presley's manager] gets on the phone and said, "You know, I really love this song," and I said, "You cannot imagine how excited I am about this. This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me as a songwriter." He said, "Now you know we have a rule that Elvis don't record anything that we don't take half the publishing." And I was really quiet. I said, "Well, now it's already been a hit. I wrote it and I've already published it. And this is the stuff I'm leaving for my family when I'm dead and gone. That money goes in for stuff for my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews, so I can't give up half the publishing." And he said, "Well then, we can't record it." I guess they thought since they already had it prepared and already had it ready, that I would do it.

I said, "I'm really sorry," and I cried all night. I mean, it was like the worst thing. You know, it's like, "Oh, my God ... Elvis Presley." And other people were saying, "You're nuts. It's Elvis Presley. I mean, hell, I'd give him all of it." I said, "I can't do that. Something in my heart says, 'Don't do that.'" And I just didn't do it, and they just didn't do it. But I always wondered what it would sound like. I know he'd kill it. Don't you? He would have killed it. But anyway, so he didn't. Then when Whitney [Houston's version] came out, I made enough money to buy Graceland. (laughs)

July 24 - Perez Hilton gossips about...

Elvis's granddaughter. Ryan Cabrera sure moves fast!

Ashlee Simpson's former boyfriend recently broke up with one of the chicks from Australian pop/rock duo The Veronicas, and he's already moved on to Riley Keough, Page Six reports.

As many of you may know, Riley is Elvis' granddaughter, the child of Lisa Marie Presley. She's a model and she just turned 17 on May 29th.

Ryan Cabrera, on the other hand, is 24.

Isn't that some sorts of illegal?

July 24 - Red Elvis

This was in a book review -- the title alone caught the eye:
Looking for meaning in the odd life of `Red Elvis'
By Anthony Day
BOOK REVIEW: The Life and Mystery of Dean Reed, the All-American Boy Who Brought Rock 'n' Roll to the Soviet Union Reggie Nadelson Walker & Co.: 334 pp., $14.95 paper

July 24 - Dolly on EP

This was from a Q&A with Dolly on CMT:
Appraising Elvis

Elvis was my first rock hero, and he remains the most charismatic performer I've ever seen.

Because Presley's manager, Col. Tom Parker, kept him from doing interviews to maximize the mystique, I never spent time with Presley. But I did meet him one night in 1971 before one of his Las Vegas shows. Parker came by my seat in the showroom and asked if I'd "like to meet the boy." It would be a social call, he made clear, not an interview. Elvis wanted to thank me for something I had written about him.

Over the next few years, I watched Elvis slowly decline — physically and creatively. It was years before we knew the reasons for the weight gain and the careless shows — the depression and cases of prescription drugs that led to his death in 1977. The sight of him turning into a caricature was so disheartening that in 1974, I wrote one of the most difficult pieces of my career, suggesting it was time for Elvis to retire.

Presley fans were so outraged that I received death threats. Elvis read it, I learned, and was said to be furious. There were no more backstage invitations.

July 27 - Old issue of People

Not this issue but the one with Sandra Bullock on the cover -- a full page color add for Cheap Tickets showing a Vegas Elvis Impersonator holding up a happy tourist. Elvis=Vegas=Fun!

July 23 - Hollywood Video

While looking the musicals section for South Pacific, saw a multi-episode music special on VHS that had Elvis on the spine of one. Didn't take the time to see what's what, but I think it was the Rolling Stone thing...

July 22 - EW comes thru again

Not this issue but the one on the Newsstand with the Miami Vice boys on the cover (EW has not updated their site with the new cover), there's a photo of a new ELvis book called Fortunate Son, comparing it to the Wlater Mosley novel Fortunate Son. Note to self: Must go to the library and reserve both books!

July 21 - Variety plug

In Friday's Variety, there was a photo of Elvis in Blue Hawaii promoting the Luau at the Am. Cinematheque.

July 20 - Defamer

I've been lax in updating because there have been sitings, but let's hope I'm back on track.

Here's today's, from Defamer:

Dakota Fanning's Team Takes Her Career To Higher Level Of Exploitation

Frustrated that preternaturally gifted child actress Dakota Fanning has failed to take home Hollywood's biggest individual award after half a decade of stardom, Fanning's mother and agent are anxious to push the 12-year-old's career to the next level through the careful selection of the type of completely non-exploitative, child-rape-related roles that tend to get the Academy's attention. Reports NY Daily News JV gossip Lloyd Grove:

The screenplay for "Hounddog" - a dark story of abuse, violence and Elvis Presley adulation in the rural South, written and directed by Deborah Kampmeier - calls for Fanning's character to be raped in one explicit scene and to appear naked or clad only in "underpants" in several other horrifying moments.
Fanning's mother, Joy, and her Hollywood agent, Cindy Osbrink, see the movie as a possible Oscar vehicle for the pint-size star. [...]

"It's not just the rape scene - the whole story is challenging Dakota as an actress," Fanning's longtime agent, Osbrink, told me. "And I've never been so proud of her in my life. I've seen the dailies, and in every scene she gets better and better."

July 12 - YouTube again

I cannot get enough of YouTube -- love it, love it, love it. Haven't had a chance to watch yet, but just noted that someone mixed up Robbie Williams and Elvis's Trouble. Should be fab!

July 11 - Rebels who play by the book

Prominently displayed at the Virgin Megastore is a book with Marlon on the cover called "Rebel Look" (or something close to that). Flipping thru the intro, I caught sight of Elvis's name, which did surprise me, and then there were photos of him mixed in with James Dean, etc.

July 10 - Invitation to Luau in Hollywood

The American Cinematheque sent me an email inviting me to a Blue Hawaii screening-luau. Fun!

July 4 - Specifically

I remember that there are several EP references in this special double issue of EW, but today I just read the Karl Pilkington quote "I like songs tha have stories in them. You've got Elvis's 'In the Getto' about a kid growing up in a rough area. You've gotta listen to the whole song to see how it ejnds up. It's like a little film."

July 4 - Feel

Decided to re-read the book and am surprised again by the many references....

July 1 - Mojo Tribute CD for $3.99

At the newsstand, they had a bunch of different CDs that were bundled with various Mojo backissues, for sale for $3.99. I think the Mojo one was entitled Fit for a King. It was based on the 500,000 Elvis fans can't be wrong cover, but since most of the artists on it I'd never heard of I didn't buy it....

July 1 - Elvis statue in the doorway of some diner on Highland

It must be new because I never noticed it before -- or perhaps they never pulled it out as early and as I used to drive up Highland every day to go to work... Anyway, it was this basic statue, which you find a lot of places.

July 2 - Blender loves Elvis references

This month's issue arrived in that period of June in which I was too overwhelmed with other things to keep track of the Elvis sightings. But this morning before going to work, I was flipping thru the issue (which always takes me several days to read completely) and there was a story about Michael Jackson's life now, and both the pull quote and in the article called MJ the most iconic singer since Elvis.

July 1 - Which trailer was it?

Went to see Devil Wears Prada at the AMC, and one of the many trailers had an Elvis impersonator looking inside someone's car window as part of a montage of people looking in -- but for the life of me I don't remember what movie the trailer was for....