DOLL OF THE WEEK

The doll we dig the most this week if Riley. I am sick and can't do much today. Not much needs to be said. We know who she is and how great she is. I will be back tomorrow hopefully with all kinds of nonsense to make up for the lack of jabbering the last two days.

Today in Elvis history....Feburary 27

Elvis overdubbed vocals in Spanish for the song Guadalajara at Radio Recorders.

The picture posted here is of some fool I ran into during EW08 dancing to Guadalajara. I might add he had it down so good I thought I was watching Mike Windgren.

New FTD's for April

In April FTD is releasing some new material. They will have a classic album release of That's The Way It Is. It will be the 7" with the booklet. It is going to be two disc. They will also re-release The Way It Was as a standard 5" disc. That was a CD that came with the book that FTD came out a few years ago. I am very excited to get The Way It Was. I missed out on getting the book and you cant buy it anymore. This CD has some great music that is not on the three CD set that came out years back. I have been yelling about wanting to hear it for a long time. Most of the stuff that is on the classic albums release is the same stuff on the set that came out a few years ago from what I can tell. Although the sound should be a lot better from what I have heard. Either way I will pick both releases up as soon as I possibly can.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Elvis,Scatter, and some of the guys taking a break during shooting of It Happened At The Worlds Fair. Scatter was key, look at him go.

Everett Top 5

1. Can't Help Falling In Love
2. Blue Hawaii
3. Blue Moon Of Kentucky
4. Clean Up Your Own Backyard
5. If I Can Dream

Mr. Mike's top 5

1. Love Me(1956)
2.Any Way You Want Me(1956)
3.(Such An) Easy Question(1962)
4.MilkCow Blues Boogie(1955)
5.You'll Think Of Me(1969)

I want this jacket...

The jacket pictured here is a jacket you can buy from the store Love Me Tender in Memphis. This jacket is supposed to look like one that Elvis wore a lot in 1957. I don't know when Elvis got the jacket but in the pictures of him at Graceland when he was buying it, he has it on. You also see it on him in a lot of pictures while out in Hollywood during the filming of Jailhouse Rock. Elvis must have liked this jacket because he would sport it for the next few years. Anyway, you can buy this jacket for around $600. It would be key, but I don't know If I would spend that much for it. Love Me Tender is a store in the old Lansky building that has a lot of old rockabilly type clothing. They have a line that are items inspired by famous Elvis clothing from the 1950's.

Give me a story with a Happy Ending

As usual this morning I woke up with an Elvis movie on. I am going to talk about my favorite movie ever, It Happened At The Worlds Fair. It was shot in the later part of 1962 and was released in April of 1963. Elvis plays the part of Mike Edwards, a pilot barnstorming the north west with his partner Danny. They end up getting there plane took away because of gambling debts ran up by Danny. They go to the Seattle Worlds Fair hoping to find an old friend who can give them work. Mike and Danny meet a little girl Sue-Lin while catching a ride to the Fair. Mike ends up spending the day with Sue-Lin at the fair. Mike ends up falling for a nurse who works the fair. The movie is pretty much about Mike trying to woo the nurse while working and taking care of the little girl. This movie is short in part on location of the actual Worlds Fair. This movie took a lot to be made. They needed an extra one hundred police officers to help protect Elvis during shooting at the fair. Elvis also had all the mafia on location to make him feel better. Elvis's wardrobe cost over $9,000 for this movie. A lot of money for an actors clothing for a movie at the time. It was worth it Elvis never looked cooler in any of his 60's movies. Ten songs were featured in the movie and some real hidden gems lay in this work. A very underrated soundtrack with some great vocals by Elvis. There are many reason this is my favorite movie. The location is really cool and seeing the Worlds Fair is really neat. I have always had a fascinating with the Worlds Fair. The script is not that bad either, Elvis seems to have a pretty good time during the movie. The music is outstanding. Unfortunately is gets overlooked like most of the early 60's work. Also like any other Elvis movie it has a lot of beautiful ladies. It Happened At The Worlds Fair is my favorite movie without a doubt and ranks in the top ten or so of Elvis's best screen work.

DOLL OF THE WEEK

Nancy Sinatra is the doll of the week. She appeared in the movie Speedway with Elvis in 1968. Nancy was waiting for Elvis the minutes he stepped off his plane at McGuire Air Force coming home from Germany. She was the official greeter and was there on behalf of her father supposedly. She also appeared on the Sinatra special Welcome Home Elvis. She was very fond of Elvis and thought a lot of him. Most people say they defiantly hooked up while shooting Speedway. From what I understand it got pretty hot until she found out Priscilla was pregnant. Things with Elvis came to a halt then. She then threw a baby shower for Priscilla. I have never been a huge fan of her music. I thought she was pretty damn hot back in the day, and still is a very nice looking lady today. She also seems pretty damn cool from what I have seen and read about her.

Elvis At Sun

I love lots of 50's music including Elvis as expected, but Im a huge fan of the late 60's Elvis. I ran across this CD at Best Buy and decided to purchase it to get more familar with Elvis when he first began. I gotta say that this CD easily jumped to my top 4 Elvis CDs that I have behind Memories (68 Comeback Special) , Thats The Way It Is Disc 2, and Elvis Aloha from Hawaii. This CD lets you hear how raw Elvis was with songs such as "Blue Moon", "Good Rockin' Tonight", "Baby Let's Play House", "Mystery Train", "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" (my personal favorite), and his first hit single "That's All Right". I'm already on my third time listening to this cd. This is a must buy for any Elvis Collector.

Gracland to go blue for the Tigers

The fallowing was found on the offical Elvis site, Elvis.com.


Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. and The University of Memphis proudly announce that Elvis Presley’s Memphis mansion, Graceland, will be bathed in blue light for the weekend of February 22, 2008 in honor of the Tiger’s success as the nation’s #1 NCAA basketball team. Priscilla Presley, Elvis Presley’s former wife and cast member of the upcoming season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars will be on hand along with EPE, Inc. CEO Jack Soden, U of M Athletic Director R.C. Johnson and Pouncer the Tiger mascot to flip the ceremonial switch and light up the National Historic Landmark in the Tiger’s trademark color of blue. The lighting ceremony will take place Friday, February 22, 2008 at 7PM CST at the famous gates of Graceland. In what is being called Operation: Blue Suede Shoe, Graceland’s employees have outfitted over 150 spotlights scattered around the 13 acre Graceland compound with special bulbs to illuminate the King of Rock n’ Roll’s famous home in a glowing shade of blue. Each year over 600,000 visitors from all over the world travel to Memphis and tour Elvis Presley’s Graceland and its related attractions. To see Elvis Presley’s Memphis mansion bathed in Memphis blue, log onto elvis.com and check out the Graceland Cam.

I think this is super cool. The Tigers play the Tennessee Vols Saturday in a match up between the number one and number two teams in the country. It is being called the biggest and most important game in the history of the two programs and the state. I am torn on who to cheer for. I know one thing, it will be a hell of a game.

TTWII(part three)

I am back to finish my thoughts on TTWII the two disc set. I am so glad they came out with this. I have enjoyed the 2001 special edition ever since I first seen it back in 01. I have always wanted to see the entire 1970 production though. I can't really say which one I like the best. If I had to pick one I would go with the 01 edition because it has so much more music. For historic purposes it is important to have the original. Also some of the music that is so great on the first one is left off the second disc from 2001. I still cant get over Just Pretend being left off of it. It is one of the best but most underrated songs of Elvis's from the 1970's. Watching TTWII and really putting some thought into what I thought of it over the last few days has got me to thinking. This documentary was shot over the period of five or six shows. You see bits and pieces of the shows on the documentary, but I wish we could see all the shows in their entirety. Most of the footage they have has been put on these discs. I bet a lot more footage existed at some point and has been lost and was done away with. What a shame it is we don't have all the shows from this engagement from start to finish. Wouldn't that be something. Elvis gave some of his best performances ever during these shows. He had not done a show at this level in over 12 years. He still had it up to the end in spots from time to time, but he probably never reached this level again putting the whole package together for an extended period of time. TTWII is an important part of the Elvis musical history that has been wonderfully preserved in the new two disc special edition.

Mike's take on Elvis figures/dolls

I am going to give you an idea of my five favorite dolls or figures. Note that this list of mine is made up of the figures I have at the moment. At a later date I might shed some light into a few I don't have that I really want.

1.1993 Hasbro Elvis doll-Teen Idol(pictured above)
2.McFarlane Elvis 2-Rockabilly
3.X Toys Elvis doll-Blue Hawaii( not for sure I think these came out around 97-98)
4.1993 Hasbro Elvis doll-Jailhouse Rock
5.McFarlane Elvis 5-Jailhouse Rock

Overall I have about 10-12 Elvis toys of some kind. I think the Hasbro and the X toys are actually the best. The McFarlane are pretty damn cool, but I have an issue with the likeness of Elvis. With most of McFarlanes figures they look pretty life like. Elvis's however look nothing like him. All of them look different in the face for the most part. I mean it is not even close. Other then that they are key. If you take the face issue out of the McFarlane toys, they are top of the line.

Elvis Immortalized

After looking at different variations of Elvis figures from the past and present, I think it's safe to say that McFarline has won out hands down. The detail put into each figure is impeccable and they actually look like they will come to life. Ive narrowed it down 5 figurines in which I think are pretty damn cool.

1. 68 Comeback McFarline Figure

2. 50's Elvis McFarline Figure

3. Elvis in Gold Suit McFarline Figure

4. Elvis in Vegas McFarline Figure

5. Jailhouse Rock McFarline Figure

I just found out coming in August of 2008 McFarline is releasing a Aloha from Hawaii figure featuring Elvis in the famous American Eagle Jumpsuit. I know that figure is gonna kick ass. Maybe they should release one in the Tigerman Jumpsuit, ol Tiger doesnt get the respect it deserves. Speaking of Tigerman, tomorrow im gonna blog about the history of the song and how Elvis made it freaking awesome STAY TUNED!

TTWII( part two)

I am back to talk more about TTWII. I am going to talk about the 2001 special edition. Where the original edition was kind of took from the fans prospective at times, the 01 special was more of the process from Elvis's view. A lot more music is included in this edition. You see a lot more of Elvis rehearsing with his band and singers. One part I really dig that's not in the original is Elvis singing Love Me during the rehearsal on the MGM lot. The concert footage made of of several shows is pretty good. Several songs that are not in the original edition can be found on this disc. Though a lot of the songs on the 70 version is left off the 01 edition. I can't get over Just Pretend being left off, this song freaking rocks. The sound on the 2001 edition is top notch. Also they have a special look at the way they came up with the new edition of TTWII. A lot of footage that had been shot had not been used. For the longest people thought the unused footage was lost. So they went digging and found the footage no one thought was still around. It is a neat and interesting story of all it all came together. That does it for part two of my review. Tomorrow I will be back with part three with my final thoughts on not only the two versions of this release but my over all thoughts on the event. Also we will have track listing for the two discs and compare the two.

I'M THE KING OF THE JUNGLE THEY CALL ME TIGER MAN!!

Hey folks, Vince here...yes that's right Vince lol I'm not dead lol. I wanna apologize for the hiatus that I took out of nowhere and disappearing from the blog for awhile. Ive been working nonstop and hopefully planning out the trip for EW 08 with Mike. Anyways all excuses aside, im currently reasearching diffrent Elvis figures that's out or has been out and i think im gonna make a top 5. Anyways its good to be back and I wanna say thanks to Mike for carrying the blog. I know I'm late but here's VINCE'S TOP 5!

1. Don't Be Cruel

2. Long Black Limosine

3. All Shook Up

4. Tigerman (68 comeback)

5. Let yourself Go

ELVIS-That's The Way It Is(part one)

I am going to talk some tonight about the two disc set that came out last year for That's The Way It Is. One disc is the 2001 special edition and the other disc is the original 1970 theatrical version. I am going to start off talking about disc two first. I was very excited to see the original version. I had seen parts of it before but not the whole thing. When you see it, you see that there is quite a bit of a difference from the two versions. The 1970 version is kind of took from the fans point of view. There is a lot of segments on there with fans. They talk about how they became Elvis fans, what they like about, how they honor him, etc. This cuts into quite of bit of the music. The original does not show all that much of the rehearsal with Elvis and his band or his backup singers. The concert also has a lot of different songs then they 2001 version. Keep in mind the documentary was shot over a period of six shows so Elvis mixed up some of the songs as usual. One thing I loved in this version that was missing from the new one is Elvis's rehearsal of The Next Step Is Love. That was freaking great. I lost it when he came out with "the next step is sex" instead of "the next step is love". Also in showing the interaction with the fans on this disc, they show some of the many celebrities that where at these shows. They showed Juliet Prowse being interviewed and she said she had been to see the show twice. She was about to see it for the third time and thought it was great. I got a kick out of that, she probably wanting a fling with E for old times sake. Also on this disc is many songs that don't make it on to either disc in the outtakes section. That was pretty neat, Little Sister was awesome. I had heard it on disc before, but to see it was neat.This was part one of three of my TTWII review. I will be back shortly with my take on the 2001 special edition.

Rockin out with Elvis

I am holed up at the house on my day off because I have had some work done on my teeth. I am currently watching GI Blues. I plan on watching quite a bit of Elvis today and start reading a book about Elvis. I might get back on later to share some thoughts. Right now I'm going to get back to GI and enjoy Juliet Prowse.

Cilla to perform on Dancing with the Stars

It was announced that Priscilla will be on this seasons Dancing with the Stars. I am not a fan of this show but I will give it a shot to support her.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

This weeks picture is from a publicity shoot done for Viva Las Vegas. This was the first time that Elvis and Ann had ever met. From what I have read the sparks between them flew immediately. Everyone there said they picked up on there instant connection.

Edwards Top 5

My current favorite songs

1.All Shook Up(studio version)
2.Love Me
3.A World Of Our Own
4.Playing For Keeps
5.How Can You Lose What You Never Had

I am on the lookout for a much needed Elvis item

I am needing a copy of Girls!Girls!Girls! on VHS. It is the only movie I don't have on VHS. I don't really need it, I wont ever use it seeing that I have it on DVD. I fill like a part of my collection is incomplete not having it. A new copy is going for around fifty dollars right now. I think I might have a source on a good used copy. Hopefully I can get it.

HAWAII...USA

I just finished watching Paradise, Hawaiian Style. I will give some takes on it this afternoon. Paradise was filmed in late 65 and was released in July of 66. This was Elvis's twenty-first film. Elvis plays the part of Greg (Rick) Richards who has just been fired from being an airline pilot. He goes back home to Hawaii and hooks up with his old friend Danny Kohana. The two guys set out to start a business together where they fly people to various parts of the islands in helicopters. Along the way Rick finds himself in all kinds of trouble with all his girls, customers, people of authority, and even his partner. The storyline is not that greatest but I find the movie entertaining. The soundtrack is not that great and I cant pick out one song that stands out as something top notch. Some of the songs are fun and I dig them, but Elvis Presley should not have been singing that crap. Overall the movies is pretty good. Not his best as far as acting or script. It is not terrible though and is worth watching for even the casual fan. The movie ranked number forty on the list of top grossing movies for 1966 bringing in around 2.5 million.

Junior strikes again

Dale Jr wins the first Gatorade duel yesterday. He will start in the second row at Daytona on Sunday. I will be yelling and cheering him on in front of the TV while eating some chicken and drinking some beer. Its good to have NASCAR back.

DOLL OF THE WEEK

Julie Parrish is our doll of the week. She appeared in the 1966 movie Paradise Hawaiian Style. She played Joanna, one of the girls who helps Rick get clients for his business. She also had the pleasure of being in the classic A Dogs Life musical number. Julie was a great woman who did many great things in her lifetime. Julie passed away in October of 2003. I was lucky enough to see her and hear her speak during EW 03. She seemed so nice, and had a lot of interesting things to say. She never had a romantic relationship with Elvis. She thought very highly of him though and enjoyed being around him. I am off to watch Paradise in honer of this weeks doll.

SOUTHERN NIGHTS

I am going to talk about the FTD Southern Nights. This live concert CD is from April and May of 1975. The shows were in Georgia and Louisiana. This is a pretty damn good CD. We all know that towards the mid 70's some Elvis shows really didn't live up the the standard he had set. Hell, some of his shows were just terrible compared to anyone's standards. This CD lets us know that Elvis could still bring it when he wanted to. I'll Remember You is done well and is one of my favorite songs Elvis does live. Little Darlin' is a treat to hear. I would have loved to hear Elvis record this song in the early 60's. Elvis sings Trouble here before eventually doing T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Hearing Trouble is pretty cool because I have never heard this performed in concert before. I cant fail to mention the version of It's Midnight. Elvis did this song a lot from what I understand around this time. Every time I hear this song it kills me. That song rocks and Elvis does it great. Overall I would rank this CD pretty high when it comes to the live stuff. To all the people who say Elvis was way past being good in 75, go get this CD. If you still think that Elvis did not have it, then go fuck off.

He is alive

Vince is alive and well. He has been working like a fool and has not been seen or heard from in a while. I seen him tonight for a short while and can say he is doing well. He was showing off some new Elvis collectibles he had picked up.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

This picture is believed to be from sometime in 1954. I have no idea who the girl is. Elvis would have only been nineteen at the time. He is not sporting the slick duds that made Elvis so cool back then but is still looking like the coolest cat ever. It was not often you saw Elvis in shades so I find this picture to be quite interesting.

Edwards Top 5

I might not be able to post tomorrow because I won't be home tomorrow night. I am going to do my weekly top five Elvis tunes and Image of the week tonight just in case.

1.Love Me
2.Shake,Rattle &Roll
3.Playing For Keeps
4.Shake A Hand
5.Little Sister

Just leave it to me
Don't ever be ashamed
Just give me a chance
I'll take care of everything
Your troubles I'll share
Let me know and I'll be there
I'll stay close to you
Anyplace and anywhere
Shake a hand, shake a hand
Shake a hand if you can

IMPOSSIABLE FIND

The above is a picture of the diecast car like the one Kevin Harvick ran with the special Reese's Elvis scheme. I have been looking for one of these since last September. I want one of the larger models, but can't even find the smaller version. I found out last night the larger ones were limited to like 724 of something like that. They are going for over $700 of ebay. I guess I am just fucked on that. I was wanting one of these bad to go with my Dale Jr Elvis diecast with the scheme from Richmond on it.

HE'S BACK!!!

Dale finally got back in victory lane tonight winning the Budweiser shootout. It was a non points race. It was still good for him to get a win. He has been stuck driving junk the last few years and has had only a few wins. He is with the best team in Nascar now and ready to get back to winning four or five races a year like he had before. Talent+the best equipment=wins and lot of them. See Johnson and Gordon. JR is going to break out this year. Whats this got to do with Elvis you might say. Well JR is a huge Elvis fan and his grandmother is a self described Elvis freak so we can pump him up here on the site because of that. Also he is my favorite driver and I run this, so we are going to cover him from time to time.

Now I have had a few too many and I need to chill. Time to put in Spinout and get some rest.

ELVIS WEEK UPDATE

It is official, I will be in Memphis for EW 08. It was never in doubt, but I had made it official now by booking my room. It is a wight off my shoulders knowing I have a room. I will be getting my tickets to all the key events in early March. This is already looking like it might shape up to be the second best Elvis week for me. Nothing will ever pass the 30th anniversary. Only 182 days to go. I cant wait for the nights down at Elvis After Dark at the tent.

I'll Take Love

This morning I have woke up to Easy Come, Easy Go. This was Elvis's twenty-third film. It came out at the first part of 1967. The movie is based on a Navel officer who find some sunken treasure on one of his last missions before he gets out of service. When he gets out he tries to salvage it with the help of some friends. A girl Elvis runs across in the movie happens to be related to the captain of the of the ship that went down. In the end Elvis's character finds out the treasure is not as great as he thought it would be and he is better of with the girl he find. This movie is pretty good. It is not his best, but certainly not his worst. I would put it in the middle of the pack someplace as far as Elvis movies go. The soundtrack is about what you would expect from the late 60's movies. Nothing special, but fun with a few standouts. The Love Machine and I'll Take Love are my two favorites from the movie. Easy ranked #50 on the list of top grossing films of the years in 67 at 1.95 million. A far cry to the success Elvis was having 60-63.

True Romance

I like you, Clarence. Always have. Always will. -Elvis talking to Clarence

True Romance is a movie from the genius of Quentin Tarantino. It is a great movie that even ranks up there with Pulp Fiction. Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette star in this movie. A loser is set up with a hooker for his birthday. They get married after the first date and the guy has to kill his girls pimp. He steals a large amount of cocaine by mistake and throughout the movie the men who the drugs belong to chase the couple down. Meanwhile the couple go to LA to try to off it for a few hundred grand. That pretty much sums up what the movie is all about. I am not going to give the ending away in case some of you have not seen it. It is for sure worth seeing. The main character in the movie Clarence is a huge Elvis fan. He is always looking to Elvis for answers to his problems. He starts out his conversations with a lot of the people he comes across by talking about E. If you notice in the movie all kinds of small stuff is Elvis related. His glasses, shoes,car, Alabama's ring, ect. Val Kilmer played the part of Elvis. You really don't ever get a good shot of him. You just see him walking about and talking, which is the way it should be. We don't need to see anymore terrible looking people trying to pull Elvis off. Good story, good actors, and Elvis. A movie can't get much better. I give it high praise and it is for sure one of the best movies of the last 25 years. Also it is interesting to not that Tarantino is a huge Elvis fan and often references him or pays tribute to him in some small way in his work.

DOLL OF THE WEEK

Mary Tyler Moore is one of the most talented and most successful actresses of our time. She appeared in the 1969 movie Change Of Habit with Elvis. The movie is alright and the soundtrack was not one of the better efforts. Still I can't get tired of the movie. MTM makes it worth watching. She was one of the most beautiful women ever in her day. She is for sure one of my ten favorite Elvis female costars.

Elvis fans finally get it done.

Yesterday the official Elvis Presley Tennessee license plate was unveiled at Graceland. Elvis fans have been trying to get this done for a few years. It looked for a long time like we could not get it to happen due to the lack of pre-orders that is required to get a special plate done in Tennessee. Well it finally got done and now we can have one of these key plates. People who pre-order them will get them first but soon anyone will be able to buy these. I suggest everyone spend a little extra money and go get one. They are top of the line. Best of all the proceeds from the sale of the plate will benefit the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center at The Med and The Med Foundation, the fundraising arm of the Shelby County owned hospital.

CALATHES-BIG BALLER OF THE SOUTH

No blog today. It is Florida/Tennessee tonight. I'm going to spend a few hours drinking and then go watch the young Gators get ran out of the building. Then spew venom to the hick Tennessee fans. Should be loads of fun. It is going to be worth every penny to get to see Nick Calathes(pictured above). He is on his way to being the coolest Gator in Gainesville. Boy can ball. I will be back on track tomorrow, I have all kinds of stuff ready to rant about.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

This was the picture that was in Elvis's high school annual. This was from 1953. Elvis was only 18 years old at the time. This might be one the the coolest pictures ever.

Edwards Top 5

1.Love Me
2.Baby Let's Play House
3. It's Now Or Never
4. See See Rider
5.Shes Not You

PIMP CLOTHING

I was checking out the Lansky's site and ran across this shirt. It is made by Nat Nast. This is a key shirt that I might need to get at some point. It is silk/cotton with pick stitch detail. The name of the shirt is Santorini. It also available in white. This is for sure a shirt a baller would were. I got to have it.

Lets slice some sand

This afternoon I am watching on of my favorite movies Blue Hawaii. In March 1961 Elvis would begin filming the movie which was to be his eight release. Elvis would play the role of Chad Gates. Chad is a young man who is just out of the army and wanting to find his own way without his parents help. This movie is shot on location in Hawaii. The backdrop for this movie is beautiful. Elvis shows he had some talent with comedic timing in some of his scenes with his mom, played by Angela Lansbury. This movie has always been a popular one among Elvis movie fans. I have seen this movie more than any other movie and never get tired of seeing it. Elvis seems to really enjoy himself in this movie and the soundtrack was off the charts. Fourteen songs appeared in this film. My personal favorite are Moonlight Swim and Can't Help Falling In Love. Despite coming out late in 1961, Blue was #18 on the top grossing films list. It also came in at #14 for the year on 1962. The early 60's was a great time as Elvis was strong in the music and the movie side of things. Blue Hawaii is one of Elvis's better efforts on both sides and is highly recommend for any fan of movies. Blue is top 5 for me for sure.

DOLL OF THE WEEK

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!