Our weekend in Memphis

Well Vince and I had a good time in Memphis even if it was way too short of a trip. We left at about 1:30 in the morning Friday and arrived in Memphis at about 9:00. We went straight to Graceland after getting a quick bite to eat. It was just opening up for tours and we just walked around and checked out all the shops. We spent the afternoon going to some stores in Horn Lake. We finally got to check in at the Heartbreak Hotel about 3:30 so we could get a little rest before the meet and greet with Darlene Tompkins and the screening of Blue Hawaii. Darlene spoke some before the movie came on about the movie and Elvis. The movie started and Darlene kind of mixed with the crowd and spoke some about things throughout the movie. Unfortunately I missed a good portion of the movie because I was out in the hall on the phone tending to some things going on back home. After the movie we got some food and headed back to the room. We turned on the 24 hour Elvis channel the hotel had and watched Girl Happy as we went to sleep. We both could barley function by that time!
Saturday we got up pretty early and headed over to Graceland for our VIP tour. Going up to the mansion was as great as it always is. This was my thirteenth time and it was as moving as the first time I ever went in. As soon as I step into that house I just get the best feeling. You feel so welcomed and know Elvis would be glad you were there. I can't really come close to describing it. The reason for this big weekend trip was to see the new exhibits. The special VIP only Graceland exhibit was very cool. A lot of the same stuff as usual was in the room but a lot of stuff had been added as well. Old documents, receipts, letters, and such telling the history of the home. I was very fascinated by this. The thing that intrigued me the most was some of the receipts from when Elvis redecorated Graceland after he has purchased it. It kind of gives you insight of how the house looked and the feel it might have had. I was trying to imagine that anyway. You could really tell he was going all out and was for sure making good on his promise to give his mother the nicest home in town. The automobile museum also had two new additions to it. They added another Rolls Royce Elvis owned as well as a 6-door Mercedes Benz limousine featured in the movie Elvis on Tour. I has seen the limo last EW at the expo, but I had never seen the Rolls. That was a pretty sharp car. Another new thing added was the exhibit Elvis Lives: The King and Pop Culture. It was loaded with books, collectibles, cd's, movies, and more that has to do with Elvis over the years. The last exhibit was called Elvis In Hollywood. This was my favorite part of the tour because I am such a big fan of his movies. It showcases all 33 movies and documentaries Elvis made. Some cool stuff from Jailhouse Rock, Clambake, Viva Las Vegas, and Blue Hawaii I never have seen are on display. I was very excited over getting to see that stuff. After spending way too much money on cd's we finally started to make our way home late Saturday.
Overall it was a great trip. I am glad we decided to go. It was very tiring(I am still dead tired!) and I was a little preoccupied by some other stuff but I don't regret going. I really can't wait to go back in August. I picked up some new FTD's while out in Memphis. No way I was going to be in those shops and not buy a few. Nevada Lights,On Tour,Blue Hawaii,Kid Galahad, Elvis Today,Raised On Rock, and Wild In The Country was added to the collection. I have really enjoyed what I have got to hear from them. I will be doing some reviews on here for sure.
That puts my cd collection up to 157. I am really getting it built up now!

Ann-Margret talks about Elvis

I ran across this video some time ago and have enjoyed watching it.This is from an interview Ann did in 1994 where she talked about Elvis. She doesn't talk about Elvis all the much. I respect that about her. She could make all kinds of cash talking about the relationship between the two. Though she doesn't talk all that much about Elvis you can tell she cared about him very much. She is pure class and always been on of my favorite people ever.

Viva Las Vegas in Blu Ray is freaking awesome!

I got my copy of Viva Las Vegas on Blue ray today and I am watching. I was wondering if it would be that much better looking but thought it would be worth a try. I am so glad I got it, It looks great! The colors just pop out at you, and Elvis never looked better. That Ann-Margret chick looks pretty damn good as well! The only other Elvis movie offered in the Blue ray format currently is Jailhouse Rock, which I will get pretty soon. I hope they come out with some more. I would love to see Blue Hawaii in this format, it would be stunning.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Always been on of my favorite photographs. From the set of Viva Las Vegas.

Retraction...

I just said I could not listen to another artist sing with Elvis on a song. One lady could, and she was awesome. That is the exception to the rule though. Ann and Elvis were pure magic! I needed an excuse to post something about Ann anyway, I have not in a long time. How the hell was this cut from the movie? Great song and it has a cool vibe.

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.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

The image of the week comes from Viva Las Vegas. I was really just looking for some excuse to put a picture of Ann on here.

I thought we could go dancing....or something

Last night I watched Viva Las Vegas for the second night in a row. Viva was Elvis's fifteenth movie and would go down at one of his most popular movies ever. Elvis would start shooting this movie in mid to late 63 and the movie came out in the spring of 64.This movie also starred the wonderful Ann Margret. We all know the story there. Elvis plays the part of Lucky Jackson.The movie is about a race car driver in Las Vegas getting ready for a big race. Along the way he looses all the money he won while in Vegas and is in danger of not getting the motor he needs for the race. Lucky also falls for a lovely swimming instructor Rusty(Ann). Lucky enters a talent show to try to win some money and ties Rusty for first place. After winning a coin flip Lucky realizes the prize of a Honeymoon in Vegas does him no good, and he thinks his chances for the race are gone. Then a mysterious donor, who turns out to be Rusty's father, gives money for a motor. Elvis then enters the race, and of course go on to win it. He then marries Rusty. I suppose after that they live happily ever after. It is kinda of odd seeing them at the end of the movie getting married. Makes you think about what It would have been like had gotten married. The soundtrack is pretty solid and I think way underrated. It also has my personal favorite, The Climb, which Elvis sings back up on. Overall this movie is really great, and for sure an Elvis classic. It was one of his best because of the great chemistry he had with Ann Margret. He never had that kind of spark with any other actress. It is probably in my top ten favorite movie, and it is for sure in the top ten of Elvis's best work on screen. It was also one of Elvis;s most successful movies bringing in around 4.7 million at the box office.

Also, I have to admit something. I have seen this movie well over a hundred times in my life. I just noticed something though.I never noticed Red West and George Klein in the first of the movie and the casino. I thought that was pretty funny. I was actually yelling about it in the middle of the night. Funny how after all these times of seeing the movie that I just now noticed that.

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.

Doll of the week

Rusty Amo was smoking hot. I could watch Ann all day long. She could sing pretty well too. The Lady Loves Me and You're The Boss are fantastic songs she did with Elvis. You could just see that the chemistry she had with Elvis was something special. It is too bad they didn't do another movie together. I was feeling the need to watch Viva Las Vegas tonight so I thought it was only appropriate Ann was the doll I spotlighted this week. Love you Rusty!