I’ve done two previous articles on the Elvis Mr. Potato Head figures. The first was favorable, and that resulted in me getting an e-mail thank you message from from Dean Gorby of PPW Toys, the company that makes the Elvis Mr. Potato Heads for Hasbro. I wrote back and asked if I could get some in-house photos of the Elvis Live, as the first model was called.    more »

Recently, Jade Mills, a California realtor specializing in large estates, posted a new rental listing on her website. It was 1174 N. Hillcrest Rd, which you knowledgeable fans will recognize as one of the homes Elvis lived in while filming movies.    more »

Lately, there has been much in the press about Barack Obama’s shift to the center. He is said to be thinking and sounding a lot like Ronald Reagan. This, plus the 100th anniversary of Reagan’s birthday on February 6, has even prompted news magazines to pair the two presidents on their covers.    more »

Google and the other search engines have been very instrumental in helping people discover ElvisBlog. With over 380 articles covering every Elvis subject imaginable, ElvisBlog comes up high on just about any search topic fans type in – even the stupid ones.   more »

Most Elvis websites and blogs noted the announcement of Elvis Mr. Potato Head back in June. Some were actually hostile to the idea, but I liked it and said so. I may be old, but I like my Elvis toys, and this is a good one.    more »

Elvis music was the soundtrack for my teen years. Because of that, I can really appreciate a story written by one of my writer friends about a thirteen-year-old boy in 1958 who loved Elvis. The author is Bob Strother, an extremely talented writer of short stories, who will soon release his second book, titled Scattered, Smothered, and Covered. Bob’s book contains the story I mentioned. It is titled “Baby, Don’t Say Don’t,” and you alert fans will recognize that as the familiar repeated line from Elvis’ hit song “Don’t."    more »

Once again, it is time to thank John Biefuss at GoMemphis.com for the research he does each year which makes possible this series of ElvisBlog articles. As the movie critic for the Memphis Commercial Appeal, he sees every movie that comes to town. And since that town is the home of Elvis Presley, he makes note of every Elvis connection in those movies.   more »

I started collecting record albums back in the 80s when CDs took over as the dominant music format. When people bought CD players and started building CD libraries, their old LPs and 45s languished in disinterest. Ultimately, many people sold their record collections at garage sales. For years, I was a regular Saturday morning scavenger, hitting as many garage sales as possible, looking for records.   more »

Earlier this week there was a story in the Memphis Commercial Appeal about the discovery of four stained glass panels that were once part of a set with those in the Meditation Garden at Graceland.   more »

I told my wife that they were coming out with an Elvis Mr. Potato Head, and she replied, “Oh God, what’s next.” I think I have the answer to that question, but first let’s take a look at the latest in themed Elvis collectibles.   more »

Have you noticed how Elvis continues to loom so large in American pop-culture? One significant example of this is his presence in a dozen or so movies every year. Not necessarily as a character, but in more subtle ways, like his name being used in dialog, or his image in video clips or photos visible in a scene, or his songs playing in the background (or over the credits), or familiar Elvis trappings like jumpsuits and those famous sunglasses, or even his well-known moves and mannerisms.   more »

Every once in a while I check out the Hard Rock Café website. You might find it interesting as well. One tab I suggest you click on is “Memorabilia,” which contains photos and descriptions of 1452 items on display at Hard Rocks around the world. ElvisBlog is happy to present the cool Elvis clothing on display at seventeen worldwide Hard Rock Cafés.   more »

This week I did something I’ve never done before – I watched the same movie twice within three days. When I watched Lonely Street on Monday, my main purpose was to see what kind of job Robert Patrick did playing 70-something Elvis as the character Mr. Aaron. Well, I think he was superb.   more »

It has been a lot of fun following the most recent batch of Elvis goodies that were offered at auction. Bidding closed last Wednesday night on 278 Elvis items at the Gotta Have Rock and Roll Auction, and as usual there were several interesting developments. Let’s take a look at the hits and misses, as well as my choice for the biggest bargain.   more »

My son gave me Rolling Stone – Cover to Cover,a four-disc DVD set showing every page of every issue of Rolling Stone magazine from 1967 to 2007.   more »

If you have been a reader of ElvisBlog for some time, you know I like to follow the Elvis auctions and the general memorabilia auctions that include some Elvis goodies.   more »

Laurel Goodwin was the biggest omission in ElvisBlog’s original “Star Trek Elvis Connection”. She played Laurel Dodge, Elvis’ love interest in Girls, Girls, Girls.   more »

There’s another Cirque show coming to Las Vegas that I’m going to miss out on. It is their newest creation, based on Elvis’ life and music, and tentatively set to open on January 8, 2010, after several weeks of private showings.   more »

My idea was to come up with a connection between Elvis and Star Trek. Believe it or not, there actually is one. Three actresses have appeared in both Elvis movies and Star Trek TV episodes.   more »

I am 900 miles from home, living in a hospital room with my wife after open-heart surgery. She is doing fine now after several scary setbacks. I'm finally in the right frame of mind to write, but all my files of story ideas are back home. So, here is an easy blog using pictures saved in the hard drive of my laptop. You will be amazed at all the diffent stuff artists have used to depict Elvis.   more »

Michael Jackson died on Thursday, June 25, 2009. Did you know there was an auction containing many Michael Jackson items that closed at midnight that very same day? Do you think his death might have bumped up the last-minute bidding considerably? Let’s look at the auction and some of its more notable results.   more »

You get to read an extra column this week -- a special Elvis 4th of July tribute.   more »

You have to hand it to the supermarket tabloid Weekly World News. Elvis has been dead for thirty-two years, but they are still publishing cover stories about him. Two weeks ago, I’m in the checkout line, and what is staring back at me? Just my old favorite Weekly World News with a photo of Elvis on the cover.   more »

Elvis fans seem to be interested in every facet of his life, including some pretty obscure ones. So, what do these folks do to satisfy their curiosity? They Google it, of course.   more »

Four weeks ago, this blog discussed the upcoming auction of Elvis items presented by Gotta-Have-Rock-and-Roll. Although I didn’t express it in print, I did wonder how it would fare in these shaky financial times. The results are in, and, with the exception of Elvis’ jewelry and clothes, you could not call it a huge success.   more »

Every ten years or so, there is a big auction of Elvis memorabilia and collectibles. Back in 1999, I was fortunate to be in Las Vegas for a convention during the time that the Archives of Graceland auction had all the items on display at the MGM Grand Hotel. I spent three hours studying every item and reading all the information placards that accompanied them.   more »

Two weeks ago, I posted an article that chronicled an element of Elvis’ stature and importance – his painting in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. Hopefully, that respectful column will be enough to balance out this week’s post, which admittedly is stupid and irrelevant.   more »

What do you get when a 3D animation manager is also a huge Elvis fan? I found out in an e-mail from Tim Jones of Los Angeles, and what he sent me is simply spectacular. It is a YouTube video that knocked me over.   more »

Did you know you could find Elvis in the Smithsonian Institution? You can, if you check out the National Portrait Gallery’s “Bravo” exhibition.   more »

An e-mail from a PR person asks me if I might write an ElvisBlog article about an Elvis birthday party at a restaurant in Hawaii. Not just any restaurant, but the famous MAC 24-7 restaurant and bar in the Hilton Waikiki. This sounds like it could be a really good party, so I read on.   more »