My wonderful wife Beverly had lung cancer surgery last weekend. It was successful, but the recuperation is slow. So, it’s been a hectic, stressful time for me, and I didn’t get a new post written. Please come back next week and enjoy ElvisBlog as usual.
Phil Arnold, Original ElvisBlogmeister
When you approach the end of your eleventh year of blogging, it’s natural to wonder How much longer do I want to do this? Then you see a stat like the above that shows new visitors keep coming to ElvisBlog, and it gives you renewed enthusiasm.
I’m curious why 749 people checked in on New Year’s Eve, making it the blog’s biggest day of the month. Seems like that would be a low volume day with all the other distractions (especially two college football playoff games).
For what it’s worth, the record day for ElvisBlog in 2015 was October 22 with 2,175 hits (page views). I have no idea why so many people showed up. I Googled to find out what Elvis-related news might have triggered extra interest, but nothing special had gone on.
So, ElvisBlog had a very good year again in 2015. The number of visitors was up a healthy 11% over the previous year. But less than half of all visitors come from the United States. If you can read the fine print under the map, it says, “148 countries in all.” If you ever wanted proof that Elvis still has fans all over the world, here it is. The blue shading on the map indicates the yearly ElvisBlog visitor totals from countries, the more blue, the more visitors. Here’s the way the top five countries stacked up:
USA 46%
UK 17%
Germany 8%
France 5%
Canada 3%
There are a few countries that apparently have almost no Elvis fans. Just one visitor came from each of these nations last year: Indonesia, Turkey, Chile, Pakistan, and Israel.
In 2015, the most read post on the blog was: “So, How Much is an Elvis Autograph Worth, Pt. 1,” originally written back in November 2010. I must thank Google and the other search engines for this.
It appears there are many people out there possessing an Elvis autograph who want to sell it or are at least curious about its value. So they type Elvis Autograph Worth or something similar into the search box, and the top result is the ElvisBlog article. I love that. The more people you attract to the blog, the more who will like it and become regular readers.
However, I can’t explain the reason for the fourth most popular ElvisBlog post: “The Strange Odyssey of Elvis’ Shot Up TV,” written way back in 2007. Maybe a lot of fans find this silly piece of the Elvis legend intriguing, and want to learn more about it.
.
There was one new feature added to ElvisBlog in 2015. In the top right corner of the home page is a box where people can subscribe. That simply means that as soon as a new post is added, you get it sent to you via email. You can read it there, or open it up and see the whole home page. The pace of people signing up for this is increasing, so you might want to consider opting for this convenience, too.
I would also like to take this opportunity to cover my other project in 2015. BIG E and the SANTA MAN was a huge success. The outpouring of praise from those who bought the book and loved it is most gratifying. My thanks go out to each of you.
Encouraged by this positive response, I have completed writing a sequel. Both books will be back for sale prior to the 2016 Christmas season. However, my next sales efforts will include every avenue of modern-day book marketing: Amazon, eBook, PayPal. Facebook and other social media presence, you name it. I’ve got nine months to get knowledgeable on this stuff and get it set up prior to the kickoff of the next sales push.
I sent a free copy the book to a person with strong connections to Elvis Presley Enterprises. He emailed me back and said:
“I loved it. Very, very entertaining. I see it as an every year annual Christmas holiday movie.”
When I called to thank him, he said something that floored me.
“When you are ready to present your idea to Graceland, I will send a copy of the book to Priscilla, along with a personal letter of recommendation. I’ll emphasize they should consider how an animated Christmas special made from this story would be a huge revenue producer for EPE. Plus it would attract new young Elvis fans every year it is shown. Graceland is looking for ideas to keep the fan base going even as the older ones pass away. I believe BIG E and the SANTA MAN could do that.”
WOW! It doesn’t get much better than that. I’m ecstatic.
Of course, even if it all unfolds like I hope, it will still be years before the finished product shows up on TV. So, you’ll have a chance to buy the book and add your voice to the ranks of those who want to watch the story on TV.
I HOPE YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO 2016 AS MUCH AS I AM.
The Move to WordPress is Complete:
You probably noticed that ElvisBlog looks a little different. Over the weekend it completed migration to a different blogware platform. Hope you readers will like it. So far, I do.
The big improvement is changing from two-columns to three-columns. I have lots of interesting content planned for the new right column, and that will be installed over time. I also like the way captions under photos are done.
Comments are now so much easier for readers to make. The old set-up was cumbersome and confusing, so there weren’t a lot of comments made. I also started with a negative feeling about comments, because I’d seen them devolve into nasty back and forth epithets by commenters on other sites. Fortunately, that never happened on ElvisBlog. So, now comments are encouraged, and I will reply to any that warrant it. Let’s have more comments.
I’m still working on some things. The banner on the Home Page is justified left, not center, so I have to decipher the CSS style code and figure out how to fix that. Same with the width of the center column, which I want to increase. I’m also deluged by something called Pingbacks. I’m studying about them, and it’s pretty murky, so now I am deleting all of them. I hope I don’t find out that they are something good.
The last report from the old blog platform showed that the total hits (page views) for ElvisBlog had passed over 3 million since the start in 2005. Thanks for your support.
Enjoy the new and improved ElvisBlog.
Phil Arnold
Original Elvis Blogmeister
Posted in ELVISBLOG NEWS, Main Page
BLOG ISSUES:
I am less than a month away from the date my blogware supplier shuts down all the sites. You have to switch over to WordPress or end it all.
I’m finished with the migration to the new platform, but I still have to learn how to manage the theme, banner, archives, font, bla, bla, bla.
For the last ten days, there have been some problems uploading new photos to illustrate the stories. That’s why last week’s post was all text. (Ed. note: photo uploading problem has now been resolved)
Posted in ELVISBLOG NEWS, Main Page
Changes Coming:
For the second time in the 7-1/2 year history of ElvisBlog, our blogware provider has decided to close up shop and migrate us off to a different platform. The first time this happened, the number of visitors and total hits dropped off drastically, and it took almost a year to get them back up.
Perhaps it will be better this time, because ElvisBlog is moving to WordPress, and a number of other bloggers seem to be very happy they use it.
Supposedly the transition will be easy, and there will be tech support available to help with any snags. I’m not so sure, because I always seem to have trouble with this sort of thing. One expected problem may be self-inflicted. ElvisBlog will be going from 2-column format to 3-column, which means the width of the center space for articles will shrink. This probably means that the layout of pictures in articles will change and require going back and adjusting each one. Sounds pretty time consuming.
Anyway, this is an advance warning that the appearance of old articles on ElvisBlog may look screwed up for a while. Sometime in the next two weeks, we’ll pull the trigger and switch to WordPress and see how it goes. Please bear with us.
Phil Arnold
Original Elvis Blogmeister
ElvisBlog
Posted in ELVISBLOG NEWS, Main Page
One Million Hits:
It took the first five years and three months for ElvisBlog to accumulate 1 million total hits. Now, that magic number has been achieved in one year. The final tally for 2011 was actually 1,217,847 hits, as measured by total page views. This compares with 729,000 in 2010 and 339,000 in 2009.
I guess people like what they see on ElvisBlog because the number of readers keeps growing. Thanks so much for all your support.
Phil Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister
Posted in ELVISBLOG NEWS, Main Page
No Post Last Weekend:
Since I started ElvisBlog back in 2005, I have tried to consistently post a new article each weekend. Blog tutorials all declared that a regular schedule was necessary to keep readers happy and coming back. During the first six years, the only time I missed a post was when my wife had open-heart surgery in 2009. Well, now it has happened twice. A rogue virus got into my laptop and screwed up everything. It took two trips to the Geek Squad at Best Buys and $280 to get it fixed, and I was without my laptop for ten days. So, I’m real sorry if you checked into ElvisBlog recently and found nothing new, but now you know the reason.
Two Million Hits:
Last April I was happy to announce that ElvisBlog had reached one million hits (total page views). It took five years and two months to reach that level. Now, twelve months later, ElvisBlog has passed two million hits. Thanks to all you readers for making this happen. I appreciate your support.
New Logo, Tag Line and Banner:
Over the years, there have been numerous references in ElvisBlog to the famous Elvis lip curl. One article last February showed several artists’ interpretations of the Elvis snarl, and that got me fascinated with the image. So, I utilized the considerable talents of graphic designer Carol Stephens to come up a really distinctive Elvis lip curl. She did such a terrific job I decided to use it as a logo for Elvisblog.
At the same time, I have been considering changing the tag-line for the blog. The original “A Weekly Column of News, History and Commentary about Elvis Presley” seemed too stuffy. The subjects of my posts have trended more to the fun side, celebrating Elvis as a pop culture icon. So, I decided a better tag-line would be: “All the Cool Stuff Out There in Elvis World.”
With both a new logo and a new tag-line, it was time to change the banner at the top of the ElvisBlog home page. This is the first time it has appeared, and I hope you like it.
Phil Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister
Posted in ELVISBLOG NEWS, Main Page
One Million Hits:
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I haven’t done any ElvisBlog News articles since April last year. It seemed like it was just a vehicle for bragging, so I backed off until there was something really big to report.
Well, now there is.
ElvisBlog recently passed 1,000,000 total hits since its start back in February 2005. Readership growth each year has been excellent and shows no signs of leveling off. New Elvis fans continue to discover ElvisBlog and must like it, because they are coming back as regular readers.
As I explained in the last News, the hits count is based on what my blogware shows as Total Page Views. I believe this is how other sites measure hits, as well. Elvisblog has passed the 45,000 page views per month level, so the 2 million mark should be reached before the end of next year.
I recently discovered two websites that can tell you how your site ranks compared to all of them out there on the internet. I typed in the ElvisBlog URL, and the results were very gratifying. www.sitelogr.com says ElvisBlog ranks #568,016in the world. www.siteluck.com tallies it at #589,678. That may not sound so good until you consider how many websites there are worldwide. SiteLuck.com displays a list of recent searches, and one website was #24,000,000 + on the list. So, ElvisBlog must be in the top 2 or 3 % in the world. I’ll take that.
Thanks to all you readers for your continued support.
Phil Arnold
Original Elvis Blogmeister: ElvisBlog
www.ElvisBlog.net
Posted in ELVISBLOG NEWS, Main Page
On January 30, 2005, the first blog devoted to Elvis made its debut. Five years and 800,000 hits later, ElvisBlog rolls on. There have been many changes, so it’s fun to go back and look at the first three articles that started things off. My original concept was for the weekly posts to contain 200 words or so, but today word counts of 800 to 1000 are common. For the first two years, there were no photos or pictures to illustrate the columns. Today, there are 8 or 10 in each, and many get picked up by Google Images and bring more new readers to ElvisBlog. Let’s look at those first three, very basic blog articles.
Elvis Jukebox Rankings – 1/30/05:
Back in 1989, on the 100th anniversary of the jukebox, the Amusement & Music Operators Association published a list of the top jukebox hits of all time. Elvis’ two-sided hit “Hound dog/Don’t Be Cruel” came in third. This premier ElvisBlog article racked up a grand total of six hits the entire first month of the blog’s history.
Riley Keough Presley? – 2/6/05:
When Elvis’ fifteen-year-old granddaughter started her modeling career in 2005, she was listed in press releases as Riley Keough Presley, not her given name of Danielle Riley Keough. I wondered if she might be using the Presley name to advance her career, but now, five years later, she is all over the press and the internet, and everyone refers to her as Riley Keough. She is to be congratulated for achieving quite a bit on her own. This ElvisBlog article ranked as the most popular for the next 54 weeks after it was posted.
Riley Keough in 2005
The Guitar that Rocked the World – 2/13/05:
I was so happy for Scotty Moore when I wrote this article. He was finally going to be honored with a TV special filmed at the famed Abbey Road Studios in London. Unfortunately, Scotty was far too trusting of the European producers of the project, and little turned out as promised. Instead of a TV special titled The Guitar That Changed the World, what resulted was a DVD titled A Tribute to the King. Click here to read more detail about what happened. Scotty Moore has now been the topic of seven ElvisBlog columns over the years. I really like this man.
© 2010 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net
Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland are registered trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.
Posted in ELVISBLOG NEWS, HISTORY, Main Page
When you’re in a bookstore, you read the first few pages of a book to see if you like it before purchasing. You have a similar option at Amazon.com, too. If you click on a book’s cover image, a Look Inside link appears.
If you click on Look Inside, you can read the first seven pages of my rock & roll Christmas fantasy.
I’d like to make it even easier for you to do that right here, so you can see what the story is like, how Elvis is portrayed, how well the writing is done, etc. Please read following Chapter 1 of the book. I’m confident you will enjoy it a lot, and maybe you will be motivated to click on this Amazon link to buy a copy. [Note: the illustrations are not in the book, but it is a blogger axiom that you must break up large chunks of text with pictures.]
The relentless arctic wind swirled over a harsh and desolate world. Glacial fields, broken by jagged ice outcroppings, stretched between ridges of foreboding mountains. A solitary figure, with a backpack and guitar case slung over his shoulders, climbed up one of the lower slopes. He slipped and stumbled, beaten by wind-driven snow, as he fought to reach the top of the ridge.
Without warning, his footing gave way and he slid downward at a frightening speed. His shoulder bounced off a large crag, slowing him down. He flailed wildly with both hands, and grabbed an outcropping to stop his fall. The man clung there, panting, and shifted his feet around until he found a solid foothold. He pulled himself together, checked to see that the guitar case was undamaged, then struggled on.
He clawed himself to the top and saw the object of his incredible trek – an inviting valley, bathed in sunlight, with beautiful evergreen trees and holly bushes all around.
And, right in the middle, stood Santa’s castle. Not far from it, a tall red and white object stood by like a sentinel. Even from this distance, the traveler felt certain it was the North Pole.
He took a deep breath and started down the incline toward the castle with new resolve. Suddenly, a shaft of energy shot down from the sky, locked onto his body, and lifted him three feet in the air.
“What the heck!”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Weasel, put that man down immediately.” The thin old man’s outburst shattered the quiet hum of the spacecraft’s command bridge. He managed to get his anger under control, but his disposition remained as dark and grim as his soiled black lab coat and tangle of unkempt hair.
Weasel jutted out his chin, flashing his displeasure with the command, but he grumbled, “Yes, sir,” and moved a lever on his control panel.
The old man continued his rant. “You need to get over this idea that I’m merely a brilliant scientist. I’m also the commander of this spacecraft, and you guys don’t make the decisions. I do. Sometimes you Humbahs are so stupid.”
Weasel headed a group known as the Humbahs, four elves who had washed out with Santa a few years earlier. They were all surly and stubborn, especially Weasel. He had purple spiked hair, and wore a heavily studded, sleeveless black leather jacket. His face sported several piercings, and numerous tats covered his little arms.
The commander turned back to his telescope monitor screen and watched as the traveler settled slowly back to the mountainside. Dammit, I really have to keep these Humbahs under tighter control, he thought. Evil elves with no qualms about ruining Christmas ought to make the right crew for my plot, but sometimes that independent streak of theirs drives me crazy.
Then the old man twisted to face the elf again. “Weasel, what the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Just having a little fun,” he said with a tone of insolence. “I wasn’t going to hurt the man – just shake him up.”
“We’re not here to have fun. We’re here to complete a mission.”
Weasel straightened up in his chair and puffed out his chest. “Well, we’ve tested our prototype transporter beam on big rocks and stuff, so why not on a person? It didn’t do any harm.”
The scientist snorted at Weasel’s continued defiant attitude. “You better hope there’s no harm. That man is obviously going to Santa’s castle. Suppose he tells what happened to him, and Santa gets suspicious and figures out we’re back with another plot this year to ruin Christmas.”
Weasel shot back, “Even if he does, there’s nothing Santa can do about it.”
The commander shook his head in exasperation and turned back to the monitor screen.
~~~~~~~~~~
The traveler settled gently onto the mountain slope. He sat there for a moment, unhurt, wondering what just happened. Then, he looked ahead and locked his eyes on Santa’s castle. His mind spun back to the task at hand, and he stood up, shrugged, and continued his journey.
About halfway down the mountain, the traveler realized it was getting warmer – but the snow was not melting. The lower he went, the warmer it got. When the slope leveled off, he thought, it feels like a gorgeous spring day, but there’s snow on the ground. This is pretty cool. He unzipped his heavy parka and pulled back the hood.
Soon he reached a point where he could make out the details of the North Pole. It looked to be almost two feet in diameter and over thirty feet tall. The traveler hadn’t known what to expect, but its massive size surprised him.
The traveler spotted two young elves ahead playing in the snow. They looked up and stared at him, then scurried off around the corner of Santa’s castle and out of sight.
As the traveler passed the North Pole, he noticed a small compartment door about three feet off the ground. It looked like it might cover some sort of control panel and had a combination lock securing it. He wondered why it was so low, then smiled when he realized the answer. That door is set for elf height. I’ll bet one of them opens it up and works some kind of switches or dials. Wonder what it does?
He trudged forward to Santa’s castle, a sprawling stone structure with multiple turrets and Tudor-style wood trim on the gables. The snow on the roof made it a picture-perfect image, and it beckoned him with an irresistible pull.
The traveler reached the steps, climbed up to the porch, and paused in front of the door. Well, this is it. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
In a few seconds, the door opened to reveal a familiar face. Santa smiled broadly when he saw his new visitor, and said, “Welcome to the North Pole. We don’t get many visitors here, but we’re real glad to see you, Mister….“ Santa paused.
He didn’t greet me with ‘Hello Elvis,’ so I guess he doesn’t know, or else he’s cuttin’ me some slack. Yeah, that’s probably it. “Well, sir, aaah, aaah…you can call me… aaah….Big E.”
Santa reached out and shook his hand. “Well, Big E, won’t you come on in?”
“Thank you, Santa,” he said as he passed through the door. “I’m really sorry to show up unannounced like this, but I’m hopin’ I might be able to stay here for a while. There’s some stuff goin’ on with my life, and I need to get away, you know?”
“You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like, Big E.” Santa looked at the guitar case. “I presume you can play that guitar or you wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble to lug it up here.”
Big E laughed. “There’s some debate about that, but I can hit a few licks.”
“Well, four of the elves entertain us with music occasionally,” Santa said. “They would like to play rock and roll, but it’s not going so well. Maybe you could work with them and help them along.”
“Oh, I’d love to. It would be great to get back to makin’ music again, just for fun.”
“Excellent. Say, can I help you get that heavy parka off?”
After Big E shed his gloves and coat, he tugged on his loose pants and shirt. “I guess I lost about fifty pounds making this trek. It’s been years since I’ve been this trim.”
“That’s nothing,” Santa said. “It’s been centuries since I’ve been trim.” They both laughed.
Big E looked around and took in the grandeur of Santa’s living room. Massive beams and sturdy wood decking towered over rough-sawn walls and a dark-pegged hardwood floor. A huge couch and two overstuffed armchairs formed a semi-circle facing the massive stone fireplace. Christmas decorations adorned the tables and walls, and a sturdy Christmas tree somehow supported an extensive display of ornaments.
"Oh, wow,” Big E said. “This is some place you’ve got here.”
Santa nodded. “It suits Mama Claus and me quite well. Say, let’s go out to the kitchen and I’ll introduce you to her.”
As they headed across the room, Big E asked, “I noticed the temperature around your castle is quite mild, but the snow doesn’t melt. Why is that?”
Santa stroked his chin. “For now, let’s just say that it’s one of the many magical properties of the North Pole. I’ll explain it all to you later, but you’ll be happy to know that anyone living at the North Pole never gets any older.”
Big E smiled but did not reply. Oh, man, this is going to be even better than I thought.
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of BIG E and the SANTA MAN. Like any good writer, I tried to work in as many things as possible to hook the readers. There’s our two iconic title characters, an evil villain and his bad-elf henchman, hints about all the magical properties of the North Pole, and mention of the four musically-inclined elves who will pair up with Big E to play some serious rock & roll.
Of course, the whole idea is total fantasy, but it sure makes for a fun story. I say this every year: BIG E and the SANTA MAN is the perfect Christmas present for Elvis fans. Please click here to go to the Amazon page, then email the link to your sweetie with this in the subject box: I want this book for Christmas.
Or. if you live in the U.S. and want a signed copy, and you have a PayPal account, send an email to philarnold@charter.net. Tell me what inscription you want on your book, and I’ll take care of the rest.
I would like to end by paraphrasing the message on the above magazine cover.
Who is this Big E guy?
And will he be under your Christmas tree?
Thankyouverymuch,
Phil Arnold, Original Elvisblogmeister
Even if you are just reading ElvisBlog for the first time, I’m sure you recognized them as Santa Claus and Elvis Presley. However, if you’ve been a reader for the past two years, then you know them as Santa Man and Big E, the characters in my rock & roll Christmas fantasy.
Why do they have different names? In my story, Big E is how Elvis introduced himself to Santa when he first arrived at the North Pole. Santa Man is simply a playful nickname that Big E gave Santa once they became good friends.
OK, so what is the strange-looking thing they are flying around in? Again, first-time visitors to this blog might say: “Looks like a gold Caddy convertible with runners instead of wheels and some kind of red propulsion flame coming out the back. Long-time blog readers know this is Big E’s jet sled. It was specially made for him by Santa’s elves, and it plays a significant part in their teaming up to save Christmas in my book BIG E and the SANTA MAN.
This sorry-looking drawing was the jet sled image on the first printing two years ago. I traced the lines of a 1959 Cadillac and drew the runners. I was trying to keep the costs down because graphic artists are expensive. I did have to pay for her to add flames and sky background and to cut and paste Santa and Big E into the jet sled.
I knew it was pretty amateurish, so I put it on the back cover. I spent the real money getting the designer to make a professional-looking front cover. Then, last year, I saw this picture.
I was like “Wow,” that’s the kind of runners I want on Big E’s jet sled. More to the point, they would be the kind of sharp, stylish accessories Elvis would want on a prized vehicle. I had made a little money on book sales, so I forked out some of it to have the designer put them on my so-so drawing.
The shiny metal runners look so much better, and the red flames were an improvement, so this image went on the back cover last year. Still, I wasn’t really happy with it. Then I found this picture on the internet:
I sent the picture to the graphic artist an asked, “Can you change it to gold, and replace the wheels with runners, and put Santa and Big E in it?” She said, “Sure, but it will take some time and cost you some real money.” I swallowed hard and said, “Yes, do it, but be gentle with your bill.” What she produced was outstanding, so it was time for a new cover.
The title font is the same as on the first printing, and two weeks ago I explained about the change in the tag line.
Coming up with a book cover is a learning experience. Several folks suggested that because there are two title characters, they should both be on the cover. This was not the case on the first printing, and I could see their point.
Some observers said the first cover was too busy, too much stuff. I could see that, too. But, another thing surprised me. Half of the folks I asked had no idea what the building was. This was in spite of the presence of Santa in the title, the North Pole nearby, and the word Claus over the front door. One non-Elvis fan even asked, “Is it Graceland?" Give me a break.
As I mentioned two weeks ago, the tag line in the red ornament didn’t give any clue what the story was about. So, once I had the new jet sled picture, it was time for a complete front cover redesign. I’m really happy with it.
And you will be happy, too, if you get a copy of this book. It is available on Amazon.com. Click here to go to the book’s page where you can get it for $7.99 or the Kindle eBook for $2.99.
There is also one thing I failed to mention in the first two Christmas season promotional pitches. Although I wrote the book to appeal to Elvis fans, it can be enjoyed by adolescent or young adult readers. The story is squeaky clean. I want to get Graceland to buy my book and make it into a one hour animated Christmas special, which would be watched by all ages. Plus my chances with Graceland will be enhanced if Big E is portrayed as straight-arrow kind of guy. We all know he used some saucy language in real life, but not in my story.
The phenomenon of Elvis’ continued popularity is because new generations of fans keep coming along. Where do they get this inclination from? Mostly their parents or even their grandparents.
So, if you have a young family member who doesn’t know about Elvis like you do, give them my nifty Christmas fantasy. Once they’ve read BIG E and the SANTA MAN, they will like this Big E guy, and you’ll have an opening to tell them all about Elvis.
But don’t forget to get a copy for yourself or copies to give to others. The record for books purchased by one person to give to others is eleven. Like I’ve said before, this is the perfect Christmas present for all Elvis fans. So, how about clicking on this Amazon link and getting a copy?
Thankyouverymuch,
Phil Arnold
__________________________________________________
Yes, that could be quite a dream… Elvis goes up to the North Pole, and Santa welcomes him to live in the castle with him and Mama Claus and the elves. But there could be more to this fantasy.
Much more!
Suppose there’s a diabolical villain hovering above the North Pole in a space station, intent on ruining Christmas.
What if he has invented a device that would enable him to do just that? And when he puts his plot into action on Christmas Eve, he forces Santa to dump all the presents over the side of the sleigh. If that wasn’t bad enough, Santa’s sleigh crashes during the frantic attempt to land back at the North Pole.
At this point, the dream is more like a nightmare about Christmas being ruined.
But, that’s where Elvis jumps into action. Big E, as he is now known to the North Pole family, emerges as a dynamic, resourceful foe for the villain. Do you remember how young Elvis was enamored with Captain Marvell Jr, and fantasized about doing all that kind of hero stuff? Now as an adult, he gets his chance, and he is up for the challenge. Not even Captain Marvell Jr got to save Christmas. But Elvis does in my book…
Don’t get the idea that Santa is just along for the ride while the confrontations play out. Rest assured that Santa comes through with a few clever tricks up his sleeve, too. He may be jolly old fellow, but he has inner strength to draw on when needed.
Yes, teamwork between Santa and Big E is the key to saving Christmas. This story follows the best traditions of what are known as buddie movies. Elvis never made a buddie movie, so this is as close as you’re ever going to get. You will just love Santa and Elvis teaming up to save Christmas. You just will -- if you buy this book.
You will notice this cover design is different than the one I posted the last two years during the book’s promotion on ElvisBlog. Gone is the subtitle:
I really liked this at first because it was such an accurate description of the story. In fact, if Amazon.com had a genre called Rock & Roll Christmas Fantasy, my book would be the biggest seller. Because there has never been another book billing itself as that.
But gradually I began to think a better subtitle would help potential readers understand what the two title characters do in the book. What I needed was a short, concise line, so nothing could be better than:
There is also a big change in the image on the cover of BIG E and the SANTA MAN. I will talk about this in the next promotional post here on ElvisBlog. Between now and Christmas, I will be discussing my book several times. But I’ll keep the regular posts coming as well.
For now, let me give you a quick pitch. You regularly read my blog and like it. If you read my book, you will like it, too. Most important, you like Elvis, and this is a nifty story about him doing brave heroic deeds to save Christmas. Dozens of Elvis fans have read this book and said great things about it in emails and reviews. I am confident you will feel the same way.
The price is just $7.99 on Amazon.com. Get the book for yourself or have somebody give it to you as a present.
So, why not click here now and order BIG E and the SANTA MAN on Amazon.com? Or, you can get the eBook for your Kindle at just $2.99. A bargain, either way.
Thank you, thankyouverymuch.
Phil Arnold
The past two Auctions at Graceland have been loaded with Elvis rings. The one on January 7 (during the celebration of Elvis’ birthday) had five rings, and the one on March 4 (during the opening celebration for Elvis Presley’s Memphis) had six. And one ring at first appeared to have been sold at both auctions, but a closer look revealed they are examples of Elvis purchasing multiples of the same or similar rings from his favorite jeweler, Lowell Hays. First, here are the rings sold in January.
In the last two two auctions I’ve followed this year, eleven rings owned by Elvis have come up for sale. We will probably never know exactly how many he had over the years, but with this post, ElvisBlog will have covered over sixty-five in the Elvis’ Fabulous Rings series.
The first eight rings here were offered at the Julien’s Rock Icons Auction in May 2016.
In the first five parts of this series, ElvisBlog has featured over 50 rings Elvis owned. He sure did love rings, didn’t he? The January 7, 2016 Auction at Graceland had a few more, so let’s take a look.
The previous four articles in this series required a lot of legwork. I would find one or two rings at different auctions or websites, and over time would have enough to fill a post. This time, I’m lucky. The recently completed Auction at Graceland had eight fabulous Elvis rings, and six beat the estimates.
I don’t know how many rings Elvis owned in his lifetime, but ElvisBlog has reported on 33 of them so far in the first three parts of this series. Here are nine more.
Horse Head/Horseshoe Ring;
Diamond Cluster Ring:
In March 2011, ElvisBlog presented a pictorial essay showing thirteen Elvis-owned rings that had sold at auction in the previous five years. A few more Elvis’ rings have changed hands in auctions since then, but various websites have provided photos of other rings he owned, most including significant historical or price information. So, let’s take a look at ten more of Elvis’ fabulous rings.
Diamond and Opal Ring:
The next time you look at concert photos of Elvis in his jumpsuits, check out his fingers. You will note that he usually has three or four rings on each hand. Elvis must have really loved rings, but he was also very generous with them and gave many away. Because of that, quite a few have ultimately ended up at rock and roll memorabilia auctions. During the past three years alone, thirteen Elvis rings have been offered at ten different auctions.
Diamond Owl Ring:
ElvisBlog Mini-Nuggets #19
We haven’t done Mini-Nuggets since March 2014, but Elvis’ 80th birthday has provided some short subjects to report.
Record Number of Hits for ElvisBlog:
On January 1, I checked Google Analytics to see how well ElvisBlog did for the year. 147,000 people (users) visited the site, resulting in 279,991 pageviews (hits). That’s an average of 2,800 users a week, a gain of 30% over the 2013 results. Definitely a good year.
Which makes the results in the graphic above even more remarkable. Yesterday, on what would have been Elvis’ 80th birthday, ElvisBlog had nearly 2,600 people visit the site. Wow. I hope I’m still around to see the results on Elvis’ 100th birthday.
Elvis’ Movie Costars Pass Away:
When time permits, we will take a deeper look at two late actresses who appeared with films with Elvis. Mary Ann Mobley (Girl Happy, Harum Scarum) died on December 19, 2014.
Donna Douglas (Frankie and Johnny) passed away on New Year’s Day, 2015.
Elvis’ leading ladies have been a staple for print and video interviews about him for decades. Has there ever been an Elvis Week without one or two of them being “Special Guests” for talks, panel discussions, and autograph sessions?
Well, the list is getting short, and you have to wonder what authors, journalists and EPE will do when Elvis’ female costars are all gone. Now we have a hint. In celebration of Elvis 80th birthday, an article in the Boone, NC Mountain Times featured an interview with Donna Butterworth who was ten-years-old when she appeared with Elvis in Paradise, Hawaiian Style. You are going to see more of this.
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Peanut Butter ‘N Banana Ice Cream:
I received an email from the PR firm representing Baskin-Robbins telling me about their new flavor to celebrate Elvis’ 80th Birthday. It will be available for the entire month of January, and it is described as banana-flavored ice cream with a chunky peanut butter ribbon. They are sending me two $31 gift cards – one to use to sample it and write a review. I expect to like it, but I did have a bad experience at Elvis Week 2007 when I tried peanut butter and banana coffee, and it was lame.
The other gift card will be offered as the prize in an Elvis Caption Contest which I will post in a couple of days.
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The Elvis Auction at Graceland:
The auction last night was a huge success, highlighted by the 1953 acetate of Elvis’ first recorded songs “My Happiness”/”That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.” The pre-auction estimate was for $75-100,000, but it went for $300,000! That’s got to be the highest priced record ever. Let’s see a record by Michael Jackson, or the Beatles, or Mariah Carey top that.
There were 67 items up for auction, so it will take two or three blogs to cover all the interesting elements of this Elvis 80th birthday event, and I’ll get them posted as soon as possible.
© 2014 Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister All Rights Reserved www.ElvisBlog.net
Elvis, Elvis Presley, and Graceland are registered trademarks of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc.
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Posted in AUCTIONS / MEMORABILIA, ELVIS COMMENTARY MINI-NUGGETS, ELVISBLOG NEWS, HOLIDAY GREETINGS TO ELVIS, NEWS, PRODUCTS BASED ON ELVIS
Tagged Auction at Graceland, Donna Douglas, Elvis auctions, Google Analytics, Mary Ann Mobley, Peanut Butter and Banana