Finally! Date for release of Elvis and Priscilla Barbie's

The Elvis and Priscilla Barbie's are going to be released at Graceland during EW. You will only be able to get them there and they will be released in stores and such I would say very soon after that. 200 will go on sale August 12 at Graceland for around $70. I am going to be on a tour of the house when the go on sale. Damn my luck! If they still have one you can bet I will have one in my hands as soon as I can get to where they are. I think these look pretty cool and they are going to be limited. So I have to get one.

Vince's Random Song Of The Week

Vince's Flippy Five

1. Suspicious Minds (TTWII)
2. Feels So Right
3. Don't Be Cruel
4. When It Rains It Pours
5. Money Honey

ITS FUN IN ACAPULCO

I have not done anything on any Elvis movies in a long time and feel it is time to post some thoughts and facts about one. I have been watching a lot more Elvis movies than usual the last week or so. Tonight I am going to talk about one of my favorites, Fun In Acapulco. In January of 1963 Elvis would arrive in Hollywood to start filming. The movie was set in Mexico but Elvis filmed all his shots in Hollywood. Another crew went to Mexico to film some of the background shots used in the film. Elvis plays the part of Mike Windgren who is in Mexico working on a boat as a deck hand of sorts. He was part of a circus act with his family and had been involved in an accident that left him shook up pretty bad. He ends up getting fired from his job as a deckhand and is stuck in Mexico. He becomes friends with a young boy names Raoul. Together they work to find Mike work. Mike ends up becoming a lifeguard by day and a entertainer by night. Along the way Mike is of course involved with the ladies. He has two after him. One of them is Dolores, a lady bullfighter. The other is Marguerita, who is played by the beautiful Ursual Andress. Mike is also working on his fear of height's. In the end Mike takes care of this fear by jumping 136 feet off a cliff into water. In the end everything works out, Mike ends up with the girl he wants Margaurita, and along with Raoul they head back to America.

Fun In Acapulco is not the best movie Elvis made, but certainly not the worst. For some reason it has always ranked high with me for as long as I can remember. I think the supporting cast has something to do with it. Larry Domasin plays Raoul Almeido the young boy Elvis befriends. He cracks me up and he plays the part really well. Elsa Cardenas plays the part of Doloras. She is smoking hot and I would love to see more things with here in it even if I can't make out most of what she is saying hardly. Morano, who plays Mike's rival for Margurita's affection, is played by Alejandro Rey who is a good actor. Along with Elvis being pretty good in the movie and a few tunes I really like this movie probably ranks in my top ten or twelve favorite Elvis movies ever.

The soundtrack is either hit or miss for me, but overall I still dig it. See the review I did for the Fun In Acapulco FTD if you have not already. The movie would open on November 27th and by the end of 1963 would do 1.5 Million and reach number 33 for the top grossing films of 1963. That number might not seem that great but considering it was released at the end of November, that is a pretty good number. A few Elvis films from the early 60's got released late in the year and the numbers did not look as good as they actually were. Interesting note that the working titles for the movie had been Holiday In Acapulco and Vacation In Acapulco. I do not think either work as well as Fun In Acapulco.

Below is a video of my favorite number of the film. It is key and Elvis is in top form in this clip. The suit rocks as well, he was still wearing some key clothes in his movies at this point.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Edwards top 5

My five favorite Elvis songs of the moment.

1.Love Me
2.You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
3.Polk Salad Annie
4.Pocketful Of Rainbows
5.One Night(Of Sin)

DOLL OF THE WEEK

Deborah Walley is the doll of the week. She appeared in the movie Spinout with Elvis. I have always enjoyed her movies and thought she was pretty cute. She and Elvis became close friends during the filming of their movie despite the face she did not think very much of him when she signed on to appear. She always said Elvis opened her up to a spiritual life. She always had very kind things to say about Elvis and their relationship. Sadly she passed away in 2001 due to cancer.

3000 Miles To Graceland

I just recently watched a movie called 3000 Miles To Graceland. It's a great action flick that stars Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner. This movie is about a gang of guys that rob a casino in Las Vegas during International Elvis Week. This movie has so many Elvis references it's crazy. The soundtrack includes "Trouble" "My Way" "Such A Night" and though it's not sang by Elvis "Money Honey. Since Kurt Russell was in 'It Happened At The World's Fair" with Elvis, they have a couple of references towards the movie such as Kurt Russell getting kicked in the shin like Kurt did to Elvis and Kurt Russell autographing the vinyl copy of the "It Happened At The Worlds Fair" soundtrack. All in all it's a decent movie and pretty fun to watch.

15 days

Fifteen more days until we leave for Memphis. Pretty much everything is set except when we are leaving for sure, maybe Saturday, maybe Sunday. EW can't get here fast enough. I am ready to enjoy Memphis, the Elvis fans, and drop a bunch of cash on Elvis stuff.

Tired

I am dead from the day I spent in hell today. I am drowning myself in Blue Moon and watching Golden Girls in honor of Estelle Getty who passed away today. She was freakin awesome. So I am not in the right mind to do any blog tonight to enjoy the video. I have been blaring this song a lot the last few days.

Vince's Random Song Of The Week

Vince's Flippy Five

1. Suspicious Minds (TTWII Disc 2)
2. Never Been To Spain
3. Return To Sender
4. Mystery Train/Tiger Man (TTWII)
5. Mary In The Morning

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Edwards Top 5

My top five Elvis songs of the moment are....
1.Love Me
2.You'll Think Of Me
3.Polk Salad Anne(TTWII version)
4.Pocketful Of Rainbows
5.Trying To Get To You(studio version)

No Jailhouse Rock this October

The talk to Jailhouse Rock being released by FTD in October turns out to be just a rumor. They have not announced what the releases will be but it is for sure not going to have Jailhouse Rock in the mix. I am very disappointed over this. I was looking forward to that more than anything Elvis related in a long time.

JAILHOUSE ROCK TO BE RELEASED BY FTD

According to Elvis Information Network FTD is going to be putting out Jailhouse Rock on FTD later in the year. I have been screaming over this for a long time now. I had heard about it sometime last year, that it was in the works. I am super excited. Apparently it will contain many things never head before. I always was curious why we had not heard more from the sessions for the movie. I assumed the material was lost, but I guess not. I have not been this excited about a release in a long time.

DOLL OF THE WEEK

Between work and playing golf this past week I have not got to blog as much as I would like. I am working a lot more than normal but I hope to get back on track. For our doll of the week we feature Michele Carey. She appeared in the movie Live A Little, Love A Little alongside Elvis. I always liked her character and she is very hot. She also appeared in another movie I am fond of, El Dorado with John Wayne.

Freaking rip off

I ran across this DVD set sometime at the end of last year and picked it up because it had Frankie and Johnny in it and I did not have it on DVD. I had watched it a few times since as I was going to bed but always went to sleep during it. Anyway, the other night I put it in to skip over to the Frankie and Johnny production number because it has always been one of my favorites. I was furious when I saw it. They had edited it and cut out most of it. The original number was a little over seven minutes long. I don't know how long this one is because I got mad and turned it off. I was very mad. I don't understand why they have done this. The song has always stuck with me for whatever reason and the longer version is super cool. This almost makes me as mad as having to go all those years with Girl Happy on VHS with the Startin Tonight number took out. At least when they brought it out on DVD it was there. I feel cheated and as you can tell by my rambling, very upset.

Vince's Random Song Of The Week

Vince's Flippy Five

1. Feels So Right
2. Make Me Know It
3. Suspicious Minds (TTWII Disc 2)
4.Return To Sender
5. Mess Of Blues

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Elvis and Red in 1971 in Nashville at Studio B.

Edwards Top 5

My current five songs I am loving the most are....

1.Love Me
2.Please Don't Drag That String Around
3.You'll Think Of Me
4.I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine
5.Fame And Fortune

New from Lansky's

Check out the cool shirts Elvis has on in these pictures. Lansky Brothers are going to be offering shirts and sweaters just like these. They should be out at the first of August. Damn, something else I am going to have to find money for when I am in Memphis. I am sure like anything else Lanksy's puts out, these will be top notch.

FTD's to be pushed back

The three new FTD's that had been scheduled to come out later this month has been pushed back until the first of August. The releases are Elvis Sings Memphis Tennessee(The Lose Album), Love Letters From Elvis(classic album re-release) and the April 76 soundboard. This is really not a big deal to me. I was not going to be able to get them for some time due to saving all my money that I have not spent on my teeth and golf for EW in August.

DOLL OF THE WEEL

Our doll of the week is Pamela Austin. She appeared in two Elvis films, Blue Hawaii and Kissin' Cousins. She was so so hot in Kissin' Cousins.

30 days!

It is only 30 days until EW. I am having a fit. I am ready to go and it is going to be a long 30 days.

Vince's Flippy Five

1. Don't Be Cruel
2. Paralyzed
3. Too Much
4. Rip It Up
5. Tryin To Get To You

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Edwards top 5

My favorite songs for the last week.

1.Love Me
2.Anyway You Want Me(That's How I Will Be)
3.Playing For Keeps
4.Anyplace Is Paradise
5.Sentimental Me

New FTD coming in a few weeks

In a few weeks FTD has three new releases coming out. They are three look to be pretty good and I am looking forward to getting them all at some point. I am most excited about the one called Elvis sings, Memphis, Tennessee. This album was originally called The Lost Album and contained songs that should have been the next studio album for Elvis after the Pot Luck Album. The music is from 63-64. I was shopping at a used music store about eight or nine years ago and found a used copy of the original Lost Album release on CD. I fell in love with it right away. I am really looking forward to this release. FTD does such a good job with these releases I know it will be great. It of course is a two disc set which will have all the first takes and other outtakes from this group of songs. I can't wait!

Today In Elvis History

July 4, 1956 Elvis arrived in Memphis just coming off a trip to New York which he had appeared on the Steve Allen show and also had a recording session in which he made some of the best music ever. Anyway, Elvis would hop off his train and walk across town to his home on Audubon and spend the day with his girlfriend and family. That night he put on a show at Russwood Park which was one of his greatest ever. This is the concert which he announced no one was gonna change him. He was pissed about the way he was treated on Allen's show and came home and tore the freakin place down. I have heard stories about people blocks away feeling what was going on in that park with all the noise and such. If I could go back and see some of Elvis performances they would almost all be the 50's and this would be at the top of my list. Just listening to the stories you know that it was really special.

DOLL OF THE WEEK

Debra Paget is our doll of the week. She appeared in Elvis' first movie, Love Me Tender. Elvis had a crush on Debra and I do not blame him! I have always thought she was pretty damn hot myself. Despite Elvis having a thing for her it was never serious between the two as she was heavily involved with someone else at the time. They were close friends during the movie and she went into detail of their friend ship back in the 50's in a magazine. I have got a copy of it around here someplace. She and her mom loved Elvis and though highly of him. She never really did that that great of a acting career but made several films. She did however appear in one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, The Ten Commandments. Another film she made that you might now know about was a German film. I honestly can't remember the name off the top of my head but here is a clip from it. It is key, she was so freaking hot. The snake as well is cracking me up, even though it is as fake as hell.

VIVA LAS VEGAS

Today I am going to talk about one of my favorite FTD's ever, Viva Las Vegas. I still remember the day I came across this. I was out in Memphis for EW and spotted it at one of the shops at Graceland. I have always liked the music from this movie so I went to check it out. I was looking over the tracks and spotted track 25, The Climb. I was having a fit. I had been wishing this would be put on a CD for over ten years! I bought it right then and have wore this CD out ever since.

On July 9, 1963 Elvis would start on recording the music for the movie at Radio Recorders. After the movie was released the four track Viva Las Vegas EP was released, and the soundtrack LP would never see the light of day. It was too bad, because I have always thought the movie contained some pretty good songs.

As for the FTD, it starts out of course with the title song, Viva Las Vegas. Good song, it has grown on me over the years. It is for sure a classic. What'd I Say is a rockin song, but I like it much more when hearing it in the movie so I can watch the dance scene. It is one of the coolest ever. If You Think I Don't Need You is a underrated song in my opinion. I think Elvis sounds pretty good in it. I Need Someone To Lean On is a great song in my opinion. It has a very haunting a bluesy sound and Elvis delivers this perfectly. The Lady Loves Me is my favorite song from the movie. I really dig the way him and Ann sound together. Also another key song on this disc is the song You're The Boss. Another duet with Ann-Margret that was recorded but left out of the film. I think it is every bit as good as The Lady Loves Me. It is a freakin crime this was not put in the movie. The disc also has some other songs that were not included in the movie but were recorded for it. Outtakes are included as with most all FTD's which is awesome. By now you should know I love the outtakes. Some have been heard before but some have not ever been released. As I said before the song The Climb is on here. It was a song sung by the lead singer of The Forte' Four with back up vocals from The Jordanairs and Elvis. The Forte' Four is the group who is singing the song on the stage during this movie. This has the whole song on here instead of the chopped up version from the movie.

All in all this is a great CD. FTD did great as usual with it sounding pretty damn good and have great material on it. This group of songs never got the treatment they deserved back in 64 when this movie was released. I think it they had put out a LP and pushed it, it would have been a hit. I think this is probably one of his top three or four efforts as far as movie music in the 60's.

New items for the collection

I picked up a few new items for my Elvis collection last night. The 3D Elvis On Tour sign shown here was one of them. I have been wanting it for a long time and finally got it. I think it is pretty cool looking. Vince got one as well and discovered that it lights up, which I did not know. I also got the latest mcfarlane Elvis figure, Gospel Elvis. It is not the best looking one of the series, but not the worst. It still is pretty cool. I also got one of the Vegas edition figures as well. I have the 12 inch, but it has been the only one of the 6" that I did not have. I am glad I have them all now.