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 TV SPECIAL

Tonight I am going to talk about the TV Special that came on last year called Elvis Viva Las Vegas. The show was to focus on Elvis in Las Vegas. Elvis' friend would talk about being there and such while some of today's stars performed some Elvis tunes. Man, nothing gets me more excited than listening to someone kill and Elvis classic! Anyway lets start with the documentary side of the show. It was alright but nothing special. To any real Elvis fan it was nothing new with no new insight. They only touched the surface of the history that city and Elvis shared. Basically it was Elvis was out of the loop in the 60's, Elvis came back in Vegas, Elvis was the biggest thing in Vegas up to that time, Elvis went downhill, Elvis got caught up in drugs. Blah, blah, blah, same old shit man. I guess for the casual fan or someone who doesn't really know Elvis and his time in Vegas it would be somewhat informative. To me it was nonsense and there was so much more that could have been talked about. The usual suspects were on there from the Elvis circle talking. Joe, GK, and Jerry Schelling. The only Elvis buddies still in the good graces of EPE. Of course Priscilla was on there. Tom Jones actually spoke some on the show. That was interesting for the simple fact I have not seen Tom speak about Elvis and the time they shared in Vegas. Really though he just said we sang in his penthouse to late in the night. Not much more than that. I have never been big on Tom Jones or his music. Just never struck me and I have not been able to see the appeal in it even though many people think he is great. Some other people speak on Elvis and his impact such as 5o Cent, Beyonce, and Dewayne Johnson. That was cool I guess. I liked seeing The Rock speak on Elvis because I know he is a really big fan.
Now for the performances. I am not going to go into detail about every performance. I just didn't like many of them. Though I can't take many people singing any Elvis songs. Some though were just really bad. Maranda Lambert singing Jailhouse Rock was awful! I am sorry, I am sure some people find her talented but she need to leave one of the greatest rock songs ever alone! Instead of the raw out of control feel that the original offers, this has a sloppy somewhat country/pop about it. Though some of the songs I did like a lot. Chris Isaak and Brandi Carlile did a version of Don't Be Cruel that was pretty good. I think Chris Isaak is great and the song had a real good feel about it. Also The Little Willies with Norah Jones did a version of Love Me. Now if anyone else to ever walk the earth had been singing this song I would have been freaking out. Love Me is one of my favorite songs ever. Though Norah Jones is one of my top three favorite artist ever and she did a great job on this song. It was wonderful and it is a version I listen to quite often. Elvis' version is still a lot better, but she puts a great spin on it and it is very enjoyable. Now the only other song on the show that I liked might surprise some. It was In The Ghetto with Three 6 Mafia. It was actually a rap song they did with a nice beat from In The Ghetto that used Elvis' voice in the chorus. I am not a big fan of rap but I do like a few groups and artist a lot. I have been down with Three 6 Mafia since high school. They are from Memphis and some of the baddest producers/rappers ever! I would much rather hear a rap song with Elvis singing the line "In The Ghetto" then hear some hack butcher the real song.
So overall I do not rate this very high but it was worth buying for me just for the three performance's mentioned above which I loved. The information contained on here is alright but if you see it keep in mind a lot of interesting stuff has been left out and it would be worth researching.

Check out Chris and Brandi singing Don't Be Cruel

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

Elvis and Wanda Jackson. I am guessing this has to be sometime in 1955 by looking at Elvis' hair. The two dated for a short time but it was not serious. They did remain friends and Elvis was found of her singing. She was known at the time as the Queen of Rock and Roll and she sang a lot of rockabilly. One of her biggest his was Let's Have A Party which Elvis recorded for his movie Loving You in 1957. She also had a album come out a few years back where she sang some other songs of Elvis' and even sang about him. I have always liked her and she has spoke well of Elvis.

CHRISTMAS DUETS

I have spent some time listening to the duets release. I got pretty much what I expected. Lets start off first with the artist that are on here. It is a pretty good list I guess. Lets be honest, I am not going to favor anyone while they are singing on the same track as Elvis. Some do better than other though on here. Blue Christmas with Martina McBride is the first track, and is probably the one I like the most. It comes closest to somewhat resembling the same song as Elvis did in the 50's. Martina sings pretty well to.I'll Be Home For Christmas by Carrie Underwood and White Christmas by Amy Grant are also alright. Even though I am not a fan of their music, all these ladies can sing pretty well and showcase that on here. Wynonna Judd also sings on Santa Claus Is Back In Town. She does a pretty good job and I really can't say that I was disappointed with hearing her on here. I am actually I fan of hers to some degree and she is a huge Elvis fan. Everyone else on here does an alright job I guess but I wont listen to any of the songs again more than likely. One song really bothered me. That was Marry Christmas Baby with Gretchen Wilson. It is not really because of here because honestly I couldn't even make it to her part. I tried three times and kept pushing the skip button. Song is awful. They new sound is really bad in my opinion and seems to drown out Elvis. This in my opinion is Elvis' best Christmas song. The original had such a nice blues feel and the instrumentals on the track was awesome. My big problem with the whole thing is the new instrumentals on the tracks compaired to the old ones. I am sure a lot of people think the new sounds better. Not to me I think it sounds awful and when it kills the voice of Elvis I have a huge problem with that. Overall I would rate this release 5 on a 1-10 scale. It has some nice vocalist on it and maybe it will gain Elvis some new fans, I don't know. Though the CD has some really bad quality's in this Elvis fans eyes. I for sure will be playing the originals this Christmas.

Track Listing:1. Blue Christmas with Martina McBride2. I'll Be Home For Christmas with Carrie Underwood3. Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) with LeAnn Rimes4. Santa Clause Is Back In Town with Wynonna Judd5. Silent Night with Sara Evans6. White Christmas with Amy Grant7. Merry Christmas Baby with Gretchen Wilson8. O Little Town Of Bethlehem with Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town9. Silver Bells with Anne Murray10. O Come, All Ye Faithful with Olivia Newton-JohnBonus Tracks11. The First Noel (2008) Elvis Presley12. If I Get Home On Christmas Day (2008) Elvis Presley13. Winter Wonderland (2008) Elvis Presley

Also this newest addition to my collection puts my CD count to 145.

Now to put me back in the right frame of mind after listening to this nonsense this weekend, lets listen to the song I was yelling about without the "new and improved" sound and guest on the track.

Elvis Christmas duets.

Last night I was out and picked up the Elvis Christmas duets CD that just came out. If anyone has been reading the blog for anytime they know I was going off about this when I first heard about it. I can't stand the thought of anyone singing with Elvis hardly. Also the rumor of Jessica Simpson being on there lit me up. Not many people can stand side by side with Elvis on a song and hold their own. She has zero talent and would have looked like a fool and butchered a song. Anyway after hearing a few samples I thought I would give it a shot and see what it is all about. I have kinda scanned through it and have mixed feelings on it. Over the weekend I will listen to it all a few times and post a review with my thoughts on it. Fallow the link below to see a video about the making of this album and get some insight from some of the artist on it. It is pretty cool and neat to see these people speak about Elvis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h30z1CuYCkM

Tom Hanks digs Elvis movies!

This is a clip of Tom Hanks on the David Letterman show a long time ago. He talks about Elvis movies and even mentions Clambake!

BLUE MOON

I have been gone for a time now. This last weekend my life revolved around football and so far this week I have had a hard time at work and have pretty much crashed when I got home. I have a lot to write about though because I have been going over and over a live concert during the days that I was to review. I also got the DVD of the Vegas special that aired on ABC and I'm going to watch it and review it as well. One of the guys on that DVD is Chris Isaak who is a huge Elvis fan. He is one of the few people I have heard sing one of Elvis' songs and I actually like it. I am a fan of Chris' own stuff as well. This video here I found is of him performing at an Elvis tribute a long time ago singing Blue Moon. Blue Moon has always been one of my favorite songs from the Sun era and Chris does it well. Watch and enjoy! I will be back with more tomorrow hopefully.

EW-DAY 5 pictures

Here are some of my pictures I didn't get to post from Thursday from day 2 of the conference. Above is a picture of Joe Guercio and Jerry Schilling.
Ed Faulkner who played in GI Blues and Tickle. As well as many westerns in the 60's and 70's.

Ed Faulkner, Francine York, and Celeste Yarnell. All played in movies with Elvis. These are a few of my favorites from the day. I have many more I will post in the coming week after I get home.

Eddy Arnold passes away

Music legend Eddy Arnold passed away today. He was to turn 90 on the 15th of this month. He is one of the most successful Country music artist of all time. He was managed by Tom Parker early on and had great success. They ended there relationship after a dispute that is unknown to this day. The two would remain friends though. Elvis recorded many hits of Arnold's including How Is The World Treating You.

Honoring a legend

Otis Blackwell is one of the most underrated song writers ever. Elvis fans know him, but most people do not give him his proper due. He is by far my favorite songwriter ever. Otis was born in in Brooklyn and raised in New York. He grew up a fan of country and admired Tex Ritter. He gave performing a try but was not very successful. He kind of got thrown into song writing. in the mid fifties, at 24 Blackwell scored a big hit with the song Fever. In 1955 Blackwell was in New York and was trying to come up with some money. He sold a few songs, the Hill& Range people happened to be there. The bought a song for $25, it was called Don't Be Cruel. Blackwell did a demo of it along with another song, Paralyzed. Elvis would go on to record both of course. Blackwell would do several songs for Elvis in the 50's including All Shook Up. We all know the story of All Shook up. Blackwell's friend once said "Otis, you can write about anything. Write a song about this(shook up a Pepsi bottle) and call it All Shook Up." That's how that classic came to be. All Shook Up would be the biggest hit of 1957. Don't Be Cruel was the biggest hit of 56, and they both stand as Elvis' most successful singles. Blackwell would also write many other classics in the 50's. One of the was Great Balls Of Fire for Jerry Lee Lewis. Blackwell would also write several songs that would Elvis would record in the 60's including Return To Sender, One Broken Heart For Sale,(Such An) Easy Question, and Make Me Know It. All which are favorites of mine. Blackwell would make an attempt to do his own thing again. He had the album "These Are My Songs" and the tribute album "The No.1 King Of Rock and Roll".

Elvis and Otis never met. It is said it was because Elvis never met any of his song writers, which is false. I guess there was some reason behind it, I just can't say for sure. Blackwell did not mind, they both has a system down and it worked. Though I would have been pissed If I was Otis, he shared the writing credit with Elvis on the first few records. That was Parker's doing. Though When Elvis found out, it stopped. Health problems stopped Blackwell from performing in the early 90's and he could not even talk. He had to communicate by computer. He passed away at his home in Nashville in 2002. Otis is my man, he wrote most of the songs which I consider my all time favorites. All Shook Up was the song that got me into the whole Elvis thing so hardcore. (Such An) Easy Question is on of my all time favorites. Gotta respect the man who wrote the tow most successful songs ever for Elvis.Hey Little Girls and Priscilla are also songs I have loved for a long time by other artist. Of course I am big on The Killer and he is responsible for both Breathless and Great Balls of Fire. Classics, all of them. Also, I would have loved to have heard Elvis do Hey Little Girl. I think he could have rocked that pretty well.

Anyway, lets show Mr. Blackwell some love. For some reason most people do not even know of him. Unless you are up on Elvis are a serious rock historian, you probably have not heard of him. Damn shame, one of the most talented writers ever. Below are some of his songs not sung by Elvis that I dig.

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and his influence on Elvis

Tonight I am going to talk a little bit about one of Elvis's greatest influences, Arthur Crudup. I am also a huge fan of his and enjoy his original recordings every bit as much as the same ones Elvis would go on to cover. Crudup was born in Mississippi in 1905. He went to Chicago in the late 30's or early 40's and begin working as a street singer but could barely get by. He was later on discovered and would record a lot of songs in the 40's and early 50's. He actually got paid very little for his record sales and it would cause him to leave the business in the 50's. He tried to comeback in the 60's but never made it all that far with it. He wrote and sang three great blues numbers. That's All Right, So Glad Your Mine, and My Baby Left Me. All three Elvis would record early on. My favorite song on the three is So Glad Your Mine. I love Big Boy's and Elvis' version. We all know of course That's All Right helped Elvis as it was his first record and would go down in history. My Baby Left me is an awesome song Elvis did and I like even more then That's All Right. So Glad Your Mine though is a true blues song and Elvis keeps it true to its original form in his recording. When Elvis did honest to god blues, he was the baddest white boy to ever sing it. He just never sang it as much as he should have. Especially post 1970. Anyway, back to Big Boy. He would eventually just go to moon shining in his later days. Crudup would pass away in 1976 at the age of 70. Elvis really thought a lot of Big Boy and loved his music and fell back on it a lot in his early days. Elvis would even pay for one of Crudup's recording sessions in the 1960's since Arthur did not have the money to do so. Elvis said the fallowing in 1956, "I used to hear old Arthur Crudup bang his box the way I do now, and I said if I ever got to the place I could feel all old Arthur felt, I'd be a music man like nobody ever saw.". Elvis was right, he was a music man like nobody ever saw. We will never see one like him again either. Listen Arthur's classic My Baby Left Me. It is truly something great. Listen, you hear some of the ingredients of the early Elvis sound.

That's not alright

In September of last year ABC aired a special called Viva Las Vegas. I am not going to get into what it was about or my rant on it. Really it was just a bunch of today's singers doing Elvis songs. Faith Hill was on there and happened to do two songs. She is premiering two videos from that special today on her site. She did That's Alright Mama and Peace In The Vally. I am not a big fan of either one she did. Nothing against her, she is a pretty good singer I suppose. If you dig Faith you might like these songs. I have no love for her version of That's Alright. Her version of Peace In The Vally was a lot better in my opinion. I can handle her doing that one. I am cool with some people doing some Elvis songs to pay tribute, but pick wisely. If you want to check out the videos of these two songs be sure to visit faithhill.com.

CLYDE MCPHATTER

Clyde McPhatter was one of the best vocalist of all time. For my money he is the best. This is an Elvis blog, so you might ask why am I rambling about Mr. McPhatter. Not only do I think Clyde is one of the greatest, but so did Elvis. Elvis had so many influences, but a great deal of them where r&b singers or groups. In 1950 Mcphatter would join a group called Billy Ward and his Domino's. This group was known as a favorite of Elvis's when he was a teen. Mcphatter was on the track Sixty Minute Man which was a big hit and one of the first few songs that could be put under the label rock and roll. After a few more hits Clyde would quite the group. Despite being the lead on most of the songs and being the strongest singers, he made little money. He would then would form a group called the Drifters. They are without a doubt one of my favorite groups of all time. The early stuff really stands out to me. The reason is simply Clyde. He would have a few hits with the group including Money Honey and Such A Night. Two songs Elvis would go on to record. No doubt he has a impact On Elvis. McPhatter would soon leave the Drifters to start a solo career. He would record the hits A Lovers Question and The Treasure Of Love. He never had a whole lot of success as a solo artist. McPhatter past away in 1972 at the age of 39 due to several health issues. McPhatter never has got the credit he deserved for whatever reason. Many of the great pure vocalist of the 50's and early 60's get overlooked for the most part. In early days when Elvis was asked who his favorite singer was he replied that is was Clyde McPhatter. I am with Elvis. McPhatter was truly something great.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

The picture above is of Elvis and Fats Domino is Las Vegas. I am thinking this picture is from 64 from just a guess by the way they both look. I might be off a little but not by much. Elvis is by far my favorite singer ever. Fats however is my second favorite and miles ahead of anyone else in my opinion. Fats is the most underrated rocker ever. He was making records long before Elvis or any other of those boys of the mid 50's that took off. As far as sales and achievements in the 50's Fats is the only artist that even comes close to Elvis. All the other artist who run there mouth about how they did this and that in the 50's, and should get respect, need to bow down to Domino first. He did it bigger and better than most. He lasted a lot longer than most of them as well. All the while he stayed as humble and generous as a person could be. Alright I will shut up now. I started this IMAGE OF THE WEEK thing just to show some raw Elvis pics and I have got off into a ran. I just get pissed cause Fats does not get the run he deserves. FATS IS THE FREAKIN MAN! Elvis loved Fats and looked up to him when he started out. Fats has much love for Elvis as well and speaks high of him to this day.

Elvis and Three 6 Mafia, it doesn't get any better

Memphis rap legends Three 6 Mafia recorded a song at the end of the last year where they sampled Elvis's vocals from In The Ghetto. They throw a sick beat on the music from the original song and add some lyrics. If this was any other rap artist doing this I would be having a fit. They would have probably made a mess of it. No such thing happened in this case though. DJ Paul and Juicy J are two of the best producers in the rap game. They have a long history of success and are always being asked to produce for today's top artist. Elvis is my all time favorite singer, and Three 6 Mafia is my all time favorite group. So I was all about this track. I give it a big thumbs up and glad they did this. It was also neat to hear them comment about Elvis when they appeared on the Elvis special late last year. Three of Memphis's finest on one track, that's pretty baller.