It’s starting to look like Postscripts will be an ElvisBlog feature every three months or so. New stuff keeps popping up that relates to old columns. That is likely to happen now with over 300 articles posted since February, 2005. It would have been nice to know about these items back when I did the original writing, but it’s also fun to go over them here. Plus, where it is appropriate, I’ll go back into the archives and add any new photos to the old article.
An Elvis T-Shirt in Braille:
Back in July, 2008, I posted a column on my 15 favorite Elvis T-shirts. If this one had been available then, the list would have increased to 16. This is a real T-shirt, not a joke, but I don’t know how many people who read it will know that is Braille spelling Elvis on front (unless they get real close and see (elvis) in small print. And blind people can’t use their fingers to read it, because the dots are printed on, not embroidered or something where you can feel it. Anyway, this is a clever, unusual idea.
Elvis in the Funny White Hat, Again:
Just last week, I posted a photo of Elvis in a floppy white hat, and I mentioned that there were other pictures out there showing him wearing the hat in different scenes. Well, how about this one? We can’t see who the woman is, but Linda Thompson does appear in one of the other white hat pictures.
Another Aid for Hosting the Perfect Elvis Party:
Three weeks ago, we looked at www.PartyThemeShop.com, which has decorations, games, recipes, puzzles and everything else Elvis fans could want. Well, now we find that there is also a kit titled, “Host Your Own Elvis Night Tribute Party.” Included is an audio CD with Elvis Karaoke sing-alongs and Elvis memorabilia/trivia games. But my favorite item in the party kit is “tips to turn your house into Graceland’s Jungle Room.” You can get yours for just $19 at Amazon.com.
How To Make A Painting of Elvis Using Crushed Cheese Puffs:
Last month, one of the features in “Mixed Media Elvis Art” was a portrait made from Cheese Puffs. Recently, I discovered a U-Tube video showing how the artist, EclecticAsylumArt, did it.
A Super Memento from Elvis’ Last Concert:
Three months ago we looked at Elvis’ last concert on June 26, 1977, at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. The article mentioned a time capsule erected on the site, and one of the articles a fan donated to put in it. It was a scarf Elvis threw to her during the concert. I wonder if it was autographed like this one:
Elvis and Nipper:
An article from May, 2008, took a look at a review of Elvis’ first live concert appearance in Los Angeles on October 28, 1957, by LA Mirror-News entertainment editor Dick Williams. Williams titled his review, “6000 KIDS CHEER ELVIS' FRANTIC SEX SHOW,” and he made the ridiculous assertion that “Elvis writhed in complete abandon, hair hanging down over his face. He got down on the floor with a huge replica of the RCA singing dog and made love to it as if it were a girl.” Months later, I found a photo of Nipper (the RCA dog) and went back and added it to the article. Here is another one I will be adding.
Better Photo of TCB Band Member John Wilkinson:
Back in May, I campaigned for all members of the TCB Band to be enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Sideman category. Guitarist James Burton has been a member of the Rockhall since 2001, so drummer Ronnie Tutt, piano player Glen D. Hardin, bassist Jerry Scheff and rhythm guitarist John Wilkinson should be recognized as well. I illustrated the article with photos of Elvis with each of the band members. Unfortunately, the only one I had of John Wilkinson was dark and fuzzy. This one is much better.
Elvis and Michael Jackson Spotted in Hiding Together?:
As mentioned twice previously, I’m not crazy about having the count of visitors to ElvisBlog swelled by Michael Jackson fans linking from Google. However, there are lots of MJ fans that keep wanting to know about him and Lisa Marie, a subject I covered in an article back on June 28, 2009.
Also, I don’t really like the “Elvis is still alive and living incognito” thing anymore. It was fun for a few years after his death, but now it is just silly. However, some clever person came up with a picture that really made me laugh. I will delete this one pretty soon, before the Michael Jackson fans start linking to it.
© 2009 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net
Elvis Commentary Mini-Nuggets — # 15
A Name Suggestion for Cirque du Soleil: While researching the upcoming Cirque show celebrating Elvis, I noticed something about the six permanent Cirque shows in Las Vegas. They all have one-word (or one-letter) names.
So, you have to figure they will stay with that theme when they name the Elvis production. I have two suggestions: “E” and “TCB.” If they already have on “O,” why not an “E”? That was, after all, what Elvis’ best buddies called him. Seems like a pretty good title for a show that celebrates his life.
Of course, “TCB” stands for Taking Care of Business, which has become synonymous with Elvis. And, it already has a ready-made logo with Elvis’ design of the famous pendant. I’ll stick my neck out and predict Cirque du Soleil will choose either “E” or “TCB” as the name of their new Elvis show in Las Vegas. If you have any good suggestions, add them using Comments below.
The Real Guitar Man: Country music star Jerry Reed died just over a year ago. You may know he wrote two songs Elvis recorded: “U.S. Male” and “Guitar Man.” There is a good story about why Reed also played the guitar part on the latter. The studio musicians were unable to duplicate the sounds Reed had laid down on his own earlier recording of “Guitar Man.” Producer Felton Jarvis advised Elvis, “Well. You’re gonna have to get Reed in here to play on it, then. He’s a fingerpicker, and these guys don’t have any idea what he’s doing because he does all this weird stuff, anyway. He tunes them strings so weird.”
After Reed was quickly summoned to the Nashville studio, he turned the E-string down and the B-string up and nailed the intro in his easily identifiable personal style.
Elvis Column Takes Back Most Popular Spot From Michael Jackson: On July 28, I posted an article titled “Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie.” I knew his death that day would pique people’s interest, so I assumed the article would do well on Google and bring lots of hits to ElvisBlog. Boy, was that right. For the next two months, more folks linked to the site because of that article than any other. After a while, this started to bother me, because ElvisBlog was created for Elvis fans, not Michael Jackson fans. Finally, on August 26, order was restored and an old Elvis article took back the top spot as the favorite ElvisBlog article. It was “Another Chance to Vote on Elvis Images,” originally posted on June 29, 2008. I think I’ll do a Part 2 on that topic and see if we can push Michael Jackson even farther down the list.
We Missed Col. Parker’s 100th Birthday: One thing very big in Elvisworld is the celebration of anniversaries. For example, the 50th anniversary of his first recording, or the 40th anniversary of the ’68 Comeback Special. Graceland uses the anniversaries to draw more visitors, magazines cover them right on schedule, and ElvisBlog uses them as inspirations for new stories. So, how did I miss the 100th anniversary of Col. Parker’s birthday? Maybe, I just didn’t care. Nobody else did either, it seems. (For the record, he was born on June 26, 1909).
Elvis’ manager was never a real Colonel, and his real name was not Tom Parker. He was born Andreas van Kujik, and he illegally immigrated to the USA from Holland at age seventeen. He quickly joined the US Army (Can you do that when you’re an illegal alien?).
After leaving the Army, he took the name of a commanding officer, Tom Parker. Sixteen years later, he was well established as Tom Parker and was promoting Country singer Eddy Arnold, when he got Governor Jimmy Davis of Louisiana to give him the honorary title of “Colonel.”
Here’s a short story that is so typical of Col. Parker. When Elvis toured Canada in 1957, Parker sold “I Love Elvis” buttons to the adoring fans. However, there were plenty of Elvis detracters around, so he covered all bases by selling “I Hate Elvis” buttons, too.
Just Plain Ol’ Elvis: As filming began in 1961 on the movie “Kid Galahad,” Elvis’ buddies presented him with a director’s chair. Stamped on the back was Mr. Presley. Elvis hated the formality of it, even though the Director assured him that it was “only the best for our star.” Elvis wanted to be treated like one of the boys, and the chair destroyed that image. Soon, a new chair replaced it. In bold print on the bright red canvas back were the words JUST PLAIN OL’ ELVIS. He liked that one a lot.
I Stand Corrected: Back on December 7, 2008, I posted this in Elvis Commentary Mini-Nuggets # 13:
The comparison was intended to provide a little ironic humor, but it appears I may have been guilty of spreading mis-facts about Elvis on the internet. My friend and fellow Elvis blogger Alan Hanson called me on this in his August 13 article on Elvis-History-Blog.com. He presents a pretty good case that the 1956 quote was not accurate. Alan backed up his assessment by reproducing two paragraphs of Frank Sinatra quotes from the October 28, 1957, edition of the Los Angeles Mirror News. Here is a portion of that:
So, Sinatra actually slammed all of Rock & Roll. I guess he gave Elvis a pass and didn’t include him with those cretinous goons.
© 2009 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net
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