Dec. 31 - In a Country News Story

Written by this guy in the photo: "Noted Nashville songwriter Dennis Linde has died of a rare lung disease at the age of 63. Linde wrote Elvis Presley’s last big hit, "Burning Love," and the Dixie Chicks’ "Goodbye Earl.""

dec. 28 - friend thought of me

My friend Katie included a clipping in her Xmas card from a catalogue that has an Elvis Xmas tree ornament. Now, it's no Cow Elvis like this illustration, but it's pretty nice!

Dec. 28 - Magnets at checkout

While I was asking the guy at the counter at Samuel French's on Sunset if they had a specific book, my eyes wandered to the magnet display where there were indeed 2 different elvis magnets.

Dec . 27 - Elvis Snowman Ornament

At the gym, this woman showed me an ornament that was an Elvis snowman that some other woman made. It looked nothing like this illustration but nothing decent came up in Google Image search under elvis snowman.

Dec. 26 - YouTube Take That Tape That

This time the Elvis mention was not in relation to Robbie Williams but to bandmate Mark Owens, whose mother adored Elvis and liked Mark and his sister to sing Elvis songs. They illustrated with photos of Elvis. This was from a doc done in 1994.

Dec. 25 - Rolling Stone names top 10 Youtube videos

And the number one was Elvis at his fattest from the last TV special shortly before he died singing at the piano. Search youtube and you can easily find it.

Dec. 25 - Doc on Sundance Channel

So my brother was watching this doc on the photographer Wm. Eggleston, who is from Memphis, and I came in for the last few minutes, including the ending credits, which referenced that they had used an Elvis song -- I think Love Me Tender, but now I can't be sure.

Dec. 25 -- Dreamgirls for Xmas

This year for Xmas my family went to see Dreamgirls, which none of us particularly enjoyed, other than Eddie Murphy's performance. There's a scene where a character says "Who was the first person to record Hound Dog?" And they discuss how it wasn't Elvis, it was big Mama Thorton. Which those characters would have known already. So it was a stupid example.

Dec. 25 - Book of the script of the movie

I was reading the published script to ABOUT A BOY and once in the script and again in the production notes there is reference to Elvis covering the Xmas hit that Will's father wrote.

Dec. 24 - Finally getting around to reading this

As the dedication promised, Elvis is all over this book, which I am quite enjoying. So far, she's made a trip to Graceland and defends EP quite wonderfully.

Dec. 23 - Why does Elvis Sightings Always Equal Tabloid Hell?

The main character works for a magazine called "Famous" and it's clarified as not being the kind of thing that does Elvis sightings.

Dec. 23 - Other than Elvis Presley?

My brother was trying to describe who would be on a rockabilly collection, and he said "Other than Elvis Presley..."

Dec. 23 - Mural drive by

Not this mural, but a very small black and white one with Elvis, Marilyn and someone else... Driving up and down Motor, I saw it several times on a little corner of a wall...

Dec. 22 - Eddie channels Elvis

It was in reference to Dreamgirls, and it said Eddie did Smokey Robinson with a little Elvis Presley-style hip wiggling...

Dec. 22 - Dead guy

According to the end of the year wrap up issue, Freddie Fender was known as the Mexcian Elvis.

Dec. 22 - Xmas music at Bristol Farms

No surprise, the muzak in the grocery store at lunch was holiday theme. The Elvis song was an interesting off beat choice -- the Red West penned song.

Dec. 22 - Elvis's Blue Christmas makes the list

Today in the LAT there was an article about popular Xmas songs, so I followed the link to ASCAP and read where EP's Blue Christmas is #16.

Dec. 21 - Score from BHPL

I got the Jerry Schilling book "Me and a Guy Named Elvis" at the library.

Dec. 21 - Defamer report

This was in the Defamer spotting, accompanied by this photo. The headline was: "Hollywood PrivacyWatch: Some Holiday Cheer With Elvis's Special Ladies"

· Monday evening 12/18 - Polo Lounge - While having a drink at the bar I saw Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie & her strange looking husband with the hat. Scott Baio was at a nearby table.

Dec. 20 - Variety loves using Elvis photos

This story was about the Fox archives selling stuff, including a contract that allowed Elvis to wear his hair however he wanted for the Love Me Tender shoot. Accompanied by a photo of Elvis, not from Love Me Tender.

Dec. 15 - His Third Favorite Song He Can't Live Without

There's a column in Daily Variety every Friday where they ask a person a bunch of things they love, etc. And today David Lynch picked Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel as one of three songs.

Dec. 14 - Free CD

Spotted the free Elvis CD on TV guide, and stole my own copy from work, and then a co-worker gave me hers. So now I have two.

Dec 13 - Working my way thru the vanity fair

A reference to pre- Army Elvis in one of the articles...

Dec. 12 - Target Stickers

Today for the first time I was in the cards/stickers section of Target and saw they sell the Elvis in Gold Lame suit stickers. Don't need to buy as I own ROLLS!

Dec. 12 - Tim McGraw + Elvis

This article was triggered by my Google Tim McGraw News search:

With Elvis Presley’s seventy-second birthday just around the corner on the eighth of January, it would seem there would be little new to learn about him, but it turns out there is. Although he may not have realized it, Elvis Presley’s sexy moves actually modeled the ideal physical techniques for supporting a rich, warm singing voice – techniques still studied today by some of the recording industry’s biggest stars.

“Elvis was the perfect singing machine,” says celebrity voice coach Renee Grant-Williams. “He had all the right moves.”

“I constantly reference Elvis in my teaching,” claims Grant-Williams. “He had very strong legs, which he used as the basis for his support. He literally pushed into the floor using that karate-type crouch. He kept his entire upper body very loose so that it could resonate. And the way he cocked his head over the microphone really allowed the sound to vibrate freely.”

“Did he know what he was doing?” Grant-Williams asks. “Probably not, but he had extraordinary instincts and in his own way, I think he truly studied singing. He used to sit out on the back porch for hours on late summer nights with the guitar his mother gave him, trying to imitate the singers he heard at gospel churches and nightclubs.”

Grant-Williams teaches the wisdom of using Elvis’ techniques to stars such as Hannah Montana, Faith Hill, The Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Larry Gatlin, Bo Bice, and Huey Lewis.

“My students are surprised and grateful to have someone familiar they can relate to,” Grant-Williams says. “In fact, the first time I worked with Tim McGraw on using his body to support his voice, he looked up with mischief in his eyes and mumbled in true Elvis-style, “Thank you. Thankyouverymuch.”

Grant-Williams feels that even Elvis’ famous lip curl gave his voice an edge. “As sound leaves the body it needs to resonate against something specific,” she says. “There are options – you can direct that flow of sound to the nose, the throat, the jaw or to the sinus cavities in the face. But, I think what Elvis did – as evidenced by his lip curl – was to aim the vibration stream right at his teeth.”

“This was ingenious,” Grant-Williams says. “There’s a kind of sweet spot at the front of the teeth where vibrations can focus and still pick up resonance from all the other areas.”

“Because his moves and techniques live on, Elvis will never completely leave the building,” adds Grant-Williams.

Grant-Williams offers more advice in her book, “Voice Power: Using Your Voice to Captivate, Persuade, and Command Attention” published by AMACOM Books, New York. This book is endorsed by Paul Harvey and was selected by “Soundview Executive Book Summaries.”

Grant-Williams coaches aspiring performers as well as celebrities including Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana), Faith Hill, the Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Christina Aguilera, Linda Ronstadt, Randy Travis, and Huey Lewis. She has been quoted by Cosmopolitan, the Associated Press, Business Week, UPI, Southern Living, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, and San Francisco Chronicle. She has appeared on many broadcast outlets including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Bravo, USA, MTV, GAC, BBC, PBS, and NPR. Grant-Williams is a former instructor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as the former director of the Division of Vocal Music at the University of California, Berkeley.
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For more information or to schedule an interview with Renee Grant-Williams, call 615-259-4900 or visit www.MyVoiceCoach.com.

Dec 10 - Vegas = Elvis

In the LAT, there's an article about Liza doing a private performance for other Vegas performers, a trend she and Sammy Davis Jr. used to do years ago (obviously a long time ago since SDJr. is long gone) but the article mentioned Vegas performers of the '80's and said by that time Elvis was dead.

Dec 10 - What's wrong my short term memory?

I just finished this book this morning, and like with EW, I remembered to remember that there was an Elvis reference, but I've been reading so much since then today that I can't remember what it was. Too much reading and not enough sleep, I guess!

Dec. 10 - EW mystery

I read the magazine this morning, but for the life of me, I can't remember what the reference was!

Dec. 9 - Tom Petty in a bar

After we finished playing foosball, our food arrived. I had a BBQ pork sandwich. The pub/restaurant/bar was playing bar music rather than the Xmas music we heard everywhere else. Tom Petty's Freefalling came on. She's a good girl, crazy about Elvis!

Dec. 8 - Good movie idea mocked by bad people

In Defamer there was an article about a high concept romantic comedy that sold involving a modern day jesus who works at IKEA, and someone posted in the comments: 'Jack Black needs to be Jesus. I mean, we have Fat Elvis, why not Fat Jesus?"

Dec. 7 - Elevator News

At work, the elevators have screens which list news stories. Sad to say, the elevator is the main source of my news throughout the day. A sad testement to how often I am in the elevator and how little I get other news. But anyway the story today was about one of Elvis's capes going up for auction.

Dec. 7 - Girls Girls Girls

I was on a conference call today in which someone made reference to Girls Girls Girls as being an Elvis movie.

Dec. 7 - Article on Rock Star Supernova lead singer

Still making my way thru Blender, and in the article about the guy who won Rock Star, it said he spent some time being an Elvis impersonator. His quote was something like it's hard picking up girls wearing gold lame.

Dec. 7 - Amoeba, as always

There's always the album in the wall in the staircase, but also today was the suprise sighting of 3 "Elvis at 21" books for $39.99. Still too much for me as I already own most of those images. Then there were tons of box sets of DVDs as well.

Dec. 6 - Xmas again

Elvis music and name all over the Xmas CD section at Best Buy. I, however, bought the Billy Idol Xmas album - for $9.99.

Dec. 7 - All over the Megastore

Everytime I turned around, there was another Elvis thing, from the Graceland book, to that other big book that I previously saw at Book Soup, to something else I can't even remember now. He was all over the place.

Dec. 3 - Old issue of People with TomKat wedding on cover

Catching up on the People with the Cruise wedding photos, there are gift guides and the one for the "Die Hard Fan" includes the Elvis 21 book (plus the U2 book I read). I guess I'm a die hard fan. P.S. Couldn't find the photo of the People cover, but this is image is what comes up when searching for Tom katie wedding people magazine.

Nov. 3 - Blender gets letters

Someone wrote in something about Billy Joel, claiming some fact that referenced Elvis's sales. Not such an exciting mention but I'm sure EP will show up again as I make my way thru the issue.

Dec. 3 - 3 Elvis movies for $9

At Target, wandering thru the DVD section on my way back from the book section, on a lower level of the end cap was for $9.99 a DVD that contained Harum Scarum (bad), Speedway (nancy sinatra, good), and Trouble with Girls (Cindy Brady - bad).

Needless to say, I did not buy.

Dec. 2 - New old RW DVD

Okay, so you know when you watch a Robbie Williams documentary he's going to be shown doing the Elvis serenity prayer...

Dec. 2 - Purse for sale

Today walking in the Grove on our way to the movie theatre, I caught out of the corner of my eye a vendor in a stall that was selling an Elvis purse with the GI Blues album cover as the design.

Dec. 1 - White Christmas - 24 days and counting

I loaded up a mess of Xmas songs on my ipod shuffle. And just a little while ago Elvis singing White Christmas came up.

Nov. 30 - Gawker

And Gawker reports, "Britney Spears put the classy makeover on hold until . . . tomorrow! Tomorrow, we're sure of it! by hanging out with Fat Elvis impersonator/oily haired oil heir Brandon Davis."

Nov. 30 - Defamer

Has a quote describing a movie: "And in an as-yet-untitled Southern gothic directed by Deborah Kampmeier ("Virgin"), Dakota Fanning plays a precocious girl in 1950's Alabama who sings and dances like Elvis Presley. But the film includes a scene in which the 12-year-old Miss Fanning's character is raped."

Nov. 29 - On the wall of books

There was the Elvis 21 book.

Nov. 27 - Bono loves Elvis

Watching the Off the Record talk show on HBO, Bono and the Edge were the first guests. And Bono went off on a rant about how Elvis Presley was on fire while performing.

Nov. 26 - Robbie again

Someone commented on the photos of Robbie in GQ: "he remind me of Mel C in Spiceworld in those Elvisesque pictues. Bless. :D" And someone else wrote: "him as elvis looks like a homer simpson/elvis mix"

Nov. 26 - A Star Ain't Born

In this week's EW, there's a review of the DVD of the Streisand "A Star is Born" with a sidebar article about how Elvis (complete with photo) was supposed to play the Kristofferson role.

Nov. 25 - Santa Baby

Bought the new Xmas CD from Starbucks, which has an EP Xmas classic.

Nov. 23 - Without Who?

Was suprised to hear Eminem's song today.