A Correction (Sort of): On September 2, 2007, I posted a blog article titled, “Vancouver celebrates the 50th Anniversary of An Elvis Riot.” I have now heard from two readers who say it was not a riot. One is Alan Hanson author of the book “Elvis '57: The Final Fifties Tours,” which contains a 10,000-word chapter on the concert. The other was from an anonymous reader who said she was there, which gives her some credibility. OK, let’s say we’ll agree it was not a riot, just a display of boisterous enthusiasm that caused the concert to be ended after twenty-two minutes. Very boisterous.
Numbers for The Year Almost In: With two weeks to go, it’s easy to calculate that the number of hits on Elvisblog this year will easily double the number for 2006. Cumulative hits since Elvisblog started in February 2005, is now at 153,000. The big thing that caused the jump was all the folks who discovered the site for the first time during Elvis Week 2007. It looks like a lot of them came back as regulars. Thanks to everyone for your support.
No New Posts over Christmas: As in previous years, I will take a break and not add any new Elvisblog articles on Sunday, December 16 and Sunday, December 23. However, there will still be new content – pretty special content, too — the third installment of “The ELVIS CLAUS TRILOGY.” Episode 3 is titled, “Elvis Claus Upstages an Elvis Impersonator,” and it continues the love story of pretty Judy Parker and the mysterious man behind a Santa beard. There will be more on this episode and the whole trilogy in the annual Christmas message from Elvisblog next Sunday, December 16. “Elvis Claus Upstages An Elvis Impersonator” will be posted on that date, as well.
More Numbers Stuff: My blog platform provides me with links back to the Google/Yahoo/etc. searches that led people to Elvisblog. On one Yahoo search for “Elvis Presley,” Elvisblog was link #374. That means that somebody had to go through 37 pages of other sites before getting to the screen that held #371 through #380. That’s some determined searching. I wasn’t too pleased to be #374, until I noticed how many total links Yahoo found – 66 million. Is Elvis on a lot of websites, or what?
Ike Turner and Elvis: Ike Turner died this wee at age 76. There is a small connection between him and Elvis. According to several internet sources, in the early 50s, Turner was the house boogie-woogie piano man in a West Memphis “blacks only” club. Young Elvis often snuck in and hid next to the piano to study Turner's boogie style and woogie-wild legs. The news reports of Ike Turner's passing mentioned that many historians credit him with making the first rock & roll record, “Rocket 88.” Did you know it was recorded at Sun Records three years before Elvis ever showed up? Click here to read an article I wrote about Ike Turner's historic recording session with Sam Phillips at Sun.