Last year (two days ago), Kees wrote a guest post here on The Mystery Train covering what he considers some of 2012’s Elvis news highlights.
To return the favor, I wrote a guest post today for his site covering my Top 10 Elvis News Stories of 2012. Check it out over at Elvis Day By Day.
There are still a few hours left in 2012, so I’m going to squeeze in one last post for you this year.
According to iTunes, out of 2,953 unique Elvis tracks, the one I played most often this year was “Mystery Train/Tiger Man,” as released on FTD’s 2011 CD Live In Vegas: August 26, 1969 Dinner Show. I played the track an astounding 26 times.
I listened to 7,935 Elvis songs using iTunes or my iPods in 2012 (including duplicates). That’s an average of 22 Elvis songs a day.
Out of 3,364 non-Elvis tracks, my most played song this year was “She Never Cried In Front Of Me” by Toby Keith, from his 2008 album That Don’t Make Me A Bad Guy. I played that one 17 times.
Believe it or not, this actually marks the first year since I started keeping track in 2009 that an Elvis song was my most-played recording. I sent many of the play counts for tracks in my 100 Greatest Elvis Presley Songs Of All Time list into the stratosphere when I played them repeatedly to determine the rankings.
Overall, I listened to 13,499 songs using iTunes or my iPods this year. That works out to 37 songs a day. That is actually down significantly from 55 songs a day last year. However, CD and vinyl spins are obviously not captured in these totals. Lately, I’ve been playing more CDs and vinyl.
Sure, this post was a little self-indulgent . . . but aren’t they all? See you in 2013!
As yet another year winds down, I’d like to take a moment to thank some of the people who helped keep The Mystery Train on the tracks in 2012.
Thank you to Mike Hermenet, Thomas Melin, and Kees for contributing guest posts.
Thanks to all who took the time to comment on a post, especially the most frequent commenters – including:
Thank you to those who participated in Elvis Trivialities. One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to create some questions that stump the seemingly unbeatable Thomas.
Thanks to Sheila O’Malley for changing the world’s perception of Elvis one reader at a time. Her Elvis Essays are both informative and inspiring.
Thank you to everyone who has linked to The Mystery Train from their sites, blogs, emails, message board comments, etc.
Thanks to Ernst Jorgensen, Roger Semon, and the rest of the Elvis gang at Sony Music and Follow That Dream Records for yet another year of high-quality Elvis releases. What other fan base gets A Boy From Tupelo and Prince From Another Planet in the same year? Not to mention all of the other terrific releases.
Thank you to all readers of The Mystery Train.
Have an incredible 2013!
Congratulations to Thomas (elvistoday), who unscrambled his way to victory in Elvis Trivialities #12.
He receives a Christmas gift box full of bragging rights and yet another spot in The Mystery Train’s Night Riders.
And the answer is…
1.) “The Wonderful World Of Christmas”
2.) “I’ll Be Home On Christmas Day”
3.) “O Come All Ye Faithful”
4.) “It Won’t Seem Like Christmas”
5.) “The First Noel”
6.) “Holly Leaves And Christmas Trees”
7.) “Merry Christmas Baby”
8.) “If I Get Home On Christmas Day”
9.) “Silver Bells”
10.) “On A Snowy Christmas Night”
11.) “Winter Wonderland”
are the Elvis songs represented by the following scrambled letters:
1.) RTSHLOHICMDRADOOFLERTWWUNEFS
2.) SRHTLISCYOEMDIHALOMNBEA
3.) YOLAULTHFEFMAEIOCL
4.) MWIKSSRMATLOTTIESCHNIEE
5.) SINOEETHTRFL
6.) SRAOSESIENVDETHLLHSRLTACEYAM
7.) EMRMIARBSSATRYYBHC
8.) DGIHMOIHSAESMINACYFORTET
9.) LVBLEISSRLE
10.) NROSNASTSMHNAITOCGWIYH
11.) DILDRNRTEONNAEWW
* * *
Have a Merry Christmas!
The Mystery Train’s Night Riders
Well, folks, this must have been the busiest December on record for me. After finishing university in May, I thought my schedule would be lighter. Instead, other commitments keep rushing in to fill the void.
One thing that helped get me though this tiring but fun month has been listening to lots of Christmas music, including, of course, many Elvis songs. With that in mind, I think it’s time for the last Elvis Trivialities of 2012.
Here we go!
Will you be first to unscramble the Elvis songs?
Name the Elvis songs represented by the following scrambled letters (punctuation and spaces have been omitted):
1.) RTSHLOHICMDRADOOFLERTWWUNEFS
2.) SRHTLISCYOEMDIHALOMNBEA
3.) YOLAULTHFEFMAEIOCL
4.) MWIKSSRMATLOTTIESCHNIEE
5.) SINOEETHTRFL
6.) SRAOSESIENVDETHLLHSRLTACEYAM
7.) EMRMIARBSSATRYYBHC
8.) DGIHMOIHSAESMINACYFORTET
9.) LVBLEISSRLE
10.) NROSNASTSMHNAITOCGWIYH
11.) DILDRNRTEONNAEWW
The first person to get all eleven right in the comments below will unwrap a huge box full of bragging rights.
Good luck!
Last month, Thomas Melin released a new book, The Elvis Today Blog: Volume 2. Available from Blurb, the paperback compiles 230 more Elvis Today Blog posts. It also features a foreword by Michael Jarrett, writer of “I’ll Be Home On Christmas Day” and “I’m Leavin'”, as well as a previously unreleased interview with DJ Fontana, Elvis’ first drummer. Melin recently took the time to chat about Elvis and the 328-page volume.
Cover of The Elvis Today Blog, Volume 2
“Since the first time I heard Elvis, when I was nine or ten years old, I’ve been a fan,” said Melin. “I became really dedicated a short while later when I borrowed a bunch of Elvis albums from a classmate.” The titles included Elvis In Concert, A Canadian Tribute, and C’mon Everybody.
Melin, who lives in Sweden and is now 45, notes that it has always been Elvis’ music and variety of singing styles that have drawn him in. “Being a fan for me also means trying to learn more about the man that was Elvis Presley by listening to alternate takes, reading books, talking to his musicians, and watching documentaries,” he said.
He began blogging about Elvis on August 16, 2007. Five years worth of posts later, he is not sure if it has changed his perspective on the singer, but feels that it has enriched his life as a fan. “I’ve been able to share my ‘Elvis experiences’ with other fans,” Melin said, pointing out that the blog has helped him get to know other Elvis fans around the world.
The Elvis Today Blog: Volume 2 picks up right where the first volume ended. It collects all of the posts from January 8, 2010, through August 16, 2012. “I think it’s nice to have them all in one place, so to speak, and to be able to leaf through the pages and read a bit more thorough when something catches your eye,” said Melin.
“The kind of posts I’ve always loved to write the most has been […] ‘Special Moments With FTD,’ where I, with the help of an alternate take, some studio banter, information in books, and last, but not least, some imagination, try to describe what was going on in the studio or on stage when the recording equipment caught Elvis in his line of work. In my second book, the one that I’m the most satisfied with is the ‘Special Moments With FTD 11’ post, describing the recording of the song ‘Guitar Man’ on September 10, 1967,” he said. The post was inspired by the 2011 FTD release Elvis Sings Guitar Man.
As mentioned, one of the special bonuses this time around is a foreword by Michael Jarrett. “It all started in December 2008 when I wrote about one of the biggest daily newspapers in Sweden ranking Elvis’ ‘I’ll Be Home On Christmas Day’ as the second best Christmas song ever,” he said. Jarrett subsequently got in touch to thank him for mentioning his song.
“From there on we have stayed in contact, and I’m honored to have Michael Jarrett among my readers, which obviously means a lot. When I asked him if he would write the foreword and he accepted, I was thrilled,” he said.
The other special bonus, of course, is Melin’s interview with drummer DJ Fontana. In April 2006, Fontana was touring Sweden as part of a Swedish group called The Cadillac Band. At that time, Melin was working as a reporter at a radio station, where he also produced a one-hour program about Elvis’ religious music. He says he “begged” his news editor to let him interview the drummer when The Cadillac Band came to town. Melin said, “I found DJ Fontana very friendly, and he seemed to enjoy talking about his time with Elvis.”
Blurb specializes in self-publishing and provided the platform for both books based on Elvis Today Blog. “What you need is a PDF version of the book to upload on Blurb, and I’m lucky to have a brother who is very, very good when it comes to design and page layout,” he said. He explains that Staffan Melin used the Adobe Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop and Indesign) on the first volume, but decided to try open source software (Scribus, Inkscape and GIMP) on the latest volume.
“This book is actually part of [Staffan’s] master’s thesis in media technology, where he examines if free software can be used for book and magazine production. Obviously, it can,” said Melin.
Elvis Today Blog celebrated its 500th post on August 16, 2012, which was also the cutoff date for the new book. Since that time, Melin has been in semi-retirement from blogging. “When I decided to take an indefinite break from blogging, it was because so much was going on in my life, mainly due to my two-year-old daughter. I just didn’t have the time or energy to write about Elvis anymore. I still don’t,” he explained.
“I still listen to Elvis all the time, and my daughter seems to like his music, too, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss blogging at times. That’s why I’ve written one or two posts since ‘retiring,’ and I guess it will continue that way,” Melin said.
“For now, I’m satisfied with my 500 posts and two books. Every time I look at them sitting in the shelf I feel a bit proud, thinking in my own small way, I’ve done something to keep Elvis’ memory alive,” he said. “It’s been a fun ride!”
Elvis talks to the media, 1969
“Sometimes when I walk into a room at home and see all those gold records hanging round the walls, I think they must belong to another person. Not me. I just can’t believe it’s me.” –Elvis Presley, 1969
Elvis rarely talked about his success. I was inspired to dig this quote up, one of my favorites, based on a twitter conversation I was having this morning with Sheila O’Malley (of the thought-provoking Sheila Variations Blog).
The source of this quote is from a 1969 interview with Elvis by Ray Connolly for the London Evening Standard on the occasion of Elvis’ return to live performances. You can read the full article over on Connolly’s site.
[I do not, however, agree with Connolly’s post-script that Elvis did little but disappoint after 1969. Thomas Melin over at the Elvis Today Blog has previously addressed a similar dismissal by Connolly – and, ironically, pointed to the same Sheila Variations post that helped spark my quote search this morning. The circle continues!]
The Mystery Train 