Miscellaneous

Around the Elvis web in 80 seconds

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Today, I want to point you over to some great posts that I’ve recently found around the web.

The Elvis Shuffle, Revisited. A couple of months ago, I told you about the incredible, thought-provoking Elvis essays that have been cropping up lately at The Sheila Variations blog. Well, those high-quality Elvis posts have continued. For example, here is an excerpt from Elvis Shuffle: Notes Taken By Hand On Flight to Chicago:

“‘Solitaire’ – ‘A loonely man’. Who could imagine that the jiggly boy in 1955 could sing like this? No wonder people still have a hard time taking EP whole. They still feel the need to break him down, piece him apart, make him manageable, palatable. He is neither.”

He Touched Me (FTD, 2011)Elvis was focused during the He Touched Me session. Elvis biographer Peter Guralnick would have us believe that Elvis’ attention was wandering during this session, but the new FTD release seems to tell otherwise. Over on Elvis Today Blog, Thomas Melin has posted a well-written review of the FTD Classic Album version of He Touched Me, Elvis’ 1971 gospel album that earned him his second Grammy.

A daily blog on everything Elvis Presley. Finally, I want to mention Elvis Day By Day, a news blog that has been tracking events in the Elvis world since January 2010. As someone who struggles to get a half dozen decent blog posts up a month, I can tell you that trying to compile a daily news blog is much tougher than it looks. It’s not a challenge I would want to take on, I’ll say that. Elvis Day By Day does a fantastic job of compiling news from various sources, doing a service to Elvis fans by giving us a quick, at a glance view of what is going on each day. Highly recommended.

Elvis Talks: Richmond, Virginia, and the Mosque Theater

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Here’s a piece from a March 24, 1956, Elvis interview that took place at the Warwick Hotel in New York City. Elvis mentions one of his shows in Richmond, Virginia:

Reporter: “What’s your biggest kick? I mean, what’s been your really highest point of excitement since you’ve been…you know, the one peak? […] I’m thinking of, you know, one night that really made you feel…”

Elvis: “One night… well, one particular night was when in Richmond, Virginia, […] whoever it was booked me […] came on stage in the middle of my act and presented me with this scroll, and all these hundreds of names on it that were there. And it read in the scroll that I had drawn the biggest crowd that had ever been to Richmond before in that particular auditorium, the Mosque Theater. It was the biggest crowd that’d ever been in the auditorium before.”

This reporter (Robert Carlton Brown) treats Elvis with more respect than a couple of the others I’ve posted recently. Of course, Elvis was not nearly as controversial in March 1956 as he was in August 1956, the time of the other two interviews I mentioned.

Like the others, you can hear this entire interview on Young Man With The Big Beat: The Complete ’56 Elvis Presley Masters, available now on Sony CDs and Digital.

More unedited Elvis

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Here’s another snippet from a 1956 Elvis interview, this one from August 6 for TV Guide:

Reporter (reading from a Miami Herald article by Herb Rau): “‘Elvis can’t sing, can’t play the guitar.’ Can you play the guitar?”

Elvis: “No, and I can’t sing, either, but somebody likes it.”

Reporter: “‘And he can’t dance.’”

Elvis: “No, can’t dance. I can’t do nothing but read Herb Rau’s article in the newspaper. That’s all I can do.”

Reporter: “‘Yet two thousand idiots per show,’ to continue the quotation, ‘yelp every time he opens his mouth, plucks a guitar string, or shakes his pelvis like any striptease babe in town.’ Do you shake your pelvis like any striptease babe in town?”

Elvis: “Well, he should know. I guess that’s where he hangs around.”

Of all the ones I’ve heard, this is probably my favorite Elvis interview. Not so much for the clueless reporter, obviously, but for Elvis’ answers. You can hear nearly the whole interview on Young Man With The Big Beat: The Complete ’56 Elvis Presley Masters, available now on Sony CDs and Digital.

Elvis, unedited

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By 1958, Elvis had become more reserved when talking with the press. Not so in 1956, the year he rose to international fame. Here’s a refreshing example from August 29 of that year:

Reporter: “When did you first start singing…do you call it ‘singing,’ the stuff you do?”

Elvis: “Do I call it ‘singing?'”

Reporter: “Yeah, that is what you call it, right?”

Elvis: “Well, I’ve sold five million records. Somebody calls it ‘singing.'”

Tell him, E!

Hear the complete interview on Young Man With The Big Beat: The Complete ’56 Elvis Presley Masters, available now on Sony CDs and Digital.

James Burton: The Early Years coming October 4

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Be on the lookout for a new CD from Ace Records compiling over two dozen James Burton songs, covering his pre-Elvis work (“With A Little Help From His Friends: James Burton Anthology Features Everlys, Nelson, Hazlewood and Buffalo Springfield” — The Second Disc).

Burton first appeared on record in 1956 on the small Ram label, backing Carol Williams on ‘Just For a While,’ and [… i]t wasn’t long before Burton was an in-demand session musician, playing the famous and influential solo on Dale Hawkins’ ‘Susie Q’ in 1957. Within a year, Burton had taken his place alongside Ricky Nelson, building up a body of work that still endures […]. His association with Nelson lasted until 1967; two years later, he would take the stage in Las Vegas with Elvis Presley, where ‘Play it, James’ became a familiar catchphrase of The King’s.” (Source: The Second Disc)

James Burton: The Early Years – 1957-1969 is scheduled for release on October 4. For the complete track listing, follow the initial Second Disc link above. A planned second volume will include some of Burton’s work with Elvis and others.

2011 Emmy Awards to include tribute to 1968’s ELVIS special

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2011’s Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards will include a brief tribute to the 1968 ELVIS television special (“Emmy Awards Special Tribute to Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special” — Elvis.com).

Steve Binder, the ELVIS special’s producer and director, will appear, as will Priscilla Presley, Elvis’ ex-wife. Binder and Presley will also present four awards. The Creative Arts show tapes September 10 for airing September 17 on REELZCHANNEL.

The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards airs live on FOX the following day, September 18. Though the Creative Arts Emmys will be mentioned, this broadcast will likely not include the ELVIS special.

Notably, the ELVIS special failed to receive any Emmy nominations in 1968, though Binder went on to receive nominations for other projects, including a win in 1977 for the Barry Manilow Special.

Jerry Leiber, 1933-2011

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Jerry Leiber, best known as the lyricist half of renowned songwriting duo Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, passed away yesterday in Los Angeles. He was 78. His place in the Elvis legend cannot be overstated, co-writing such classics as “Jailhouse Rock,” “Love Me,” “Hound Dog,” “Santa Claus Is Back In Town,” “Treat Me Nice,” “Don’t,” “Bossa Nova Baby,” “Trouble,” “Loving You,” and “Baby, I Don’t Care.”

Leiber’s association with American music is not limited to Elvis, though. His list of song credits often reads like the history of rock ‘n’ roll. Other hits include:

  • “Charlie Brown” (The Coasters)
  • “Dance With Me” (The Drifters)
  • “Fools Fall In Love” (The Drifters [later covered by Elvis])
  • “Love Potion #9” (The Clovers; The Coasters)
  • “On Broadway” (The Drifters)
  • “Ruby Baby” (The Drifters)
  • “Saved” (LaVern Baker [later covered by Elvis])
  • “Smokey Joe’s Café” (The Robins)
  • “Stand By Me” (Ben E. King)
  • “There Goes My Baby” (The Drifters)
  • “Yakety Yak” (The Coasters)

For a full list of Leiber & Stoller songs, see their official site.

Leiber is survived by three sons and two granddaughters. My condolences go out to his family and friends.

Related Links
Leiber & Stoller: Official Site
“Christmas Blues” — Elvis Today Blog
“Jerry Leiber – RIP” — For Elvis CD Collectors Forum
“Songwriter Jerry Leiber Dies at 78” — Rolling Stone
“RIP Jerry Leiber: half of one of rock’s greatest songwriting teams” — LA Times
“Jerry Leiber, Prolific Writer of 1950s Hits, Dies at 78” — The New York Times