Two months ago we looked at ten Elvis websites recommended on WashingtonPost.com back in 1997. Columnist Andrea Basora had organized her selections into four categories: “The Basics,” The Absurdists, “The Truly Weird,” and “The Music, Movies and Memorabilia.” Well, we’ve already covered weird and absurd, so let’s take a look at the more mainstream blogs she liked. How many of them were able to thrive and continue on to 2008?
It was not even necessary to click on the links for two of the Basics to see if they still exist. Of course, www.elvis.com is the official site of Elvis Presley Enterprises, and I check it out often. I assume you do too, but if not, there is a lot there for you to see if you follow all the links out to the many choices. I wish we could go back and see what the site was like back in 1997. It certainly has evolved a great deal since then. The other no-brainer link in the article was www.rockhall.com, and this one takes you to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. You really should spend some time on this site, as it is full of good stuff. I recommend you check out the year-by-year lists of new inductees. You will note that Elvis was in the inaugural class of 1986. Also be sure to read about Scotty Moore and James Burton who were picked in the Sidemen category back in 2000 and 2001, respectively.
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The Sites We Lost Along The Way
Elvis Women – Actresses in Elvis Films: This site didn’t come up when I clicked on the URL, and even Googling the name didn’t work. I’m surprised this site has bit the bullet, because there are several other sites out there today that cover the subject of the women in Elvis’ movies.
Elvis In Latin: Clicking on the URl goes nowhere, but a search on Google for “Elvis In Latin” does take you to the site of a Finnish guy who has recorded a CD of Elvis songs in Latin. His biography indicates that this happened in 1995, so maybe he changed his URL along the way. Still, I don’t see much there to recommend. I mean, Elvis songs in Latin – who cares.
The Doghaus Collection / The Hillbilly Cat and Me: This was actually two websites, but neither exists today. The Washington Post article summarized them as “Fun stuff for collectors. Everything from the Elvis Presley Board Game to Love Me Tender Conditioning Shampoo.” Oh well, you can find Elvis goodies for sale on dozens of other sites today, so these two oldies won’t be missed.
The Elvis Movie Guide: I really expected this site to pop up when I clicked on the URL, but it didn’t work. A search of Google led only to several places where the phrase was used in a generic way. Like the three previous dead ducks, this one is no great loss. You can find guides to Elvis movies on probably hundreds of websites.
The Third Annual International Conference on Elvis Presley: This looked like it might be a long shot for survival to 2008, and it was. It sounds like it might be a bunch of boring academic psychobabble about why Elvis’ popularity endures and so forth. I wouldn’t read it all even if it came up. Elvis is fun for me, and this doesn’t sound like much fun.
Elvis Lives In Evil Levis: Clicking on the link in the article brought up nothing, but Googling that interesting phrase did bring up as the first choice a foreign language site with that title. However, after I clicked the box to translate it, I couldn’t find anything about Elvis, so I quickly moved on.
The Sites That Are Still Around
The Original (Unofficial) Elvis Home Page: I like the justification presented by the WashingtonPost.com for this selection: “… Has the honor of being sued by Elvis Presley Enterprises.” Indeed, the fine print at the bottom of the home page says, “The Elvis Home Page, as it once was, is unavailable due to legal problems.” If you are interested, you can read about the squabble with EPE. It appears that not much new has been added to this site for several years, but it still contains a wealth of content, so you might want to give it a look.
Pelvis: The Washington Post capsule summary of this site was: “For a more academic view … actually a rather dull site, but worthy of mention due to its place of origin, Princeton. The King is truly ominipresleyent.” How do you like that fancy word? I wonder why they would recommend a rather dull site? If you go to it, you will see that it is just a list if links, most of which do not work. The one good thing I found was an Elvis quote I had never seen before: “Computers may out-think us one day, but as long as people got feelings, we'll be better than they are.”
Down In The Alley: A click on this link took me to a site now called Elvex Pages, which surprisingly I had never discovered before. As in 1997, the best feature of this Dutch site is the lyrics to over 700 Elvis songs. There are some other sections you might want to explore, particularly the photos of Elvis in various jumpsuits taken at concerts from 1969 to 1977.
Elvis In the Machine: A click on this link takes you to one section of the Elvis Home Page listed above. It is supposed to be a collection of virtual Elvis computer stuff, but almost every link I clicked on brought up one of those boxes that give you scary warnings should you continue. I got out of there pretty quick.
So that’s it. Of the twelve recommended Elvis websites from 1997, only four exist today that are worth checking out. But, that’s not so bad, really. In 2008, we now have thousands of websites devoted to Elvis to choose from.
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