Miscellaneous

Elvis news . . . in a flash

/ TY / 2 Comments

Now that we’re starting to get back to “normal” here on The Mystery Train Elvis Blog after wall-to-wall coverage of Elvis On Tour, I thought it would be a good chance to catch up on some of the other things going on in the Elvis world.

Too much, plus tax

While I’ve got some book and Blu-ray reviews in the works, one upcoming Elvis release I’m not likely to be reviewing anytime soon is The Complete Elvis Presley Masters collection, formally announced by Sony Legacy this week and available for pre-order. This 30-CD set checks in at $749 US, plus tax and shipping.

The initial run is limited to only 1,000 units worldwide. You get 814 recordings, a new 240-page hardcover book, and a display case.

Don’t get me wrong here. This looks like a terrific set, and I’m drooling over it as we speak! $749 is simply too much for me personally, especially considering I already have all of the songs (though not always in the same sound quality as what will no doubt be included on this set).

Checking out the other Elvis blogs

Over on Elvis Today, Thomas recently reviewed the FTD edition of How Great Thou Art. He notes, “Getting a front seat in RCA’s Studio B in Nashville and being able to listen to Elvis’ new producer Felton Jarvis directing the session with his supportive comments and encouragement, offers a valuable insight into how the recordings took place and how the songs evolved.” Certainly, a must-read post and, apparently, a must-listen CD set as well.

Phil has some great coverage this week on ElvisBlog about what he calls “Two Very Rare, Weird, and Valuable Elvis Records.” Each one of those rare records will actually cost far more than the 30-CD set referenced above, by the way. One features “Doncha’ Think It’s Time” by Elvis accidentally pressed by RCA on a record labeled as “One For The Money (Part 1)” by The Whispers. How Elvis’ 1958 recording ended up on this 1976 single is anyone’s guess.

This reminded me of a similar mistake that Sony Legacy recently made – in reverse! Some editions of their 2-CD reissue of On Stage-February 1970 have an Alice In Chains album as the first CD – though it is still labeled as Elvis. Sony is offering a disc exchange, but that’s one I’d recommend keeping if you happen to have it, even if you don’t like Alice In Chains. It’s kind of a double collectible, for Alice In Chains fans may want to obtain this unique disc as well.

Continue keeping Myrna Smith in your prayers

One of the beautiful voices you’ll hear on the real version of On Stage is that of Myrna Smith. Because of Elvis, I’ve been listening to Myrna for all of my life.

I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but I want to bring it up again. If you’re going to be in Memphis during Elvis Week, be sure to attend Elvis Unlimited‘s Back In Memphis concert, which will benefit Myrna – a founding member of the Sweet Inspirations vocal group that backed Elvis in concert performances from 1969 until his death in 1977. Myrna is hospitalized with a serious illness in California and the medical bills are quickly adding up. Kudos to Elvis Unlimited for taking the initiative to bring fans together to help her.

Even if you can’t attend the show, keep Myrna in your prayers, everyone. May she recover soon.

Education, Elvis Style (Part 2)

/ TY / 2 Comments

Read Education, Elvis Style – Part 1

Back in the early 1990s, while finishing up high school, I spent all of the gift money I received for graduation on three Elvis items. My way of thinking was, what better way to further my education?

Here are some of the things I’ve learned from those items.

Elvis Today CD

  • About Elvis: Just because the record company actually bothered to print the lyrics in the liner notes of an Elvis CD doesn’t mean they always used the right words.
  • About life: Hold on to the most important pieces of your life, or they may soon be gone.

ELVIS: His Life From A to Z book

  • About Elvis: His favorite board games were Monopoly and Scrabble. He played Monopoly with the Beatles when they met in 1965.
  • About life: If an entire 620-page encyclopedia can be devoted to your life, you’ve hit the big time.

ELVIS: The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll-The Complete 50s Masters 5-CD set

  • About Elvis: He played electric bass on 1957’s “Baby, I Don’t Care.”
  • About life: Life can change at a moment’s notice, sometimes due to our actions (paying to record a demonstration record) and other times due to circumstances beyond our control (being drafted into the US Army).

No need to send me any gifts now, though, folks. My graduation from studying Elvis and life won’t be for some while, I hope.

The one where I try to explain The Film Frontier [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

Since I first began The Film Frontier in 1997, my small corner of our universe has gone through many changes. What started out back then as a simple set of static pages cataloging quotes about making the Star Trek movies has now grown into something more difficult to define.

In order to have a place to send people who want to know what this site is all about, I thought I would take this opportunity to write an introduction of sorts to the current incarnation of The Film Frontier. I’m not even entirely sure I can explain, but I’m going to give it my best shot.

With only a few scattered remains of those old static pages still waiting to be cleaned up, The Film Frontier today is mostly a blog featuring personal commentary, reviews, and news about pop culture/entertainment. At first, I focused this blog on science fiction & fantasy, but I have since expanded it to include pretty much any subject that moves me to write.

This violates all sorts of rules of good content, since I should maintain a clear focus so that readers will know what to expect and keep returning for more. For that, I am sorry. I am too lazy to maintain separate blogs for separate topics. You will just have to muddle through. If you insist on narrowing your focus, you can use the “Labels” list in the column to the right. You’ll miss part of the fun that way, though.

Though I’m actually an eternal eight-year-old who bought into that whole “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us kid” thing, my driver’s license claims that I am now 34. That seems quite impossible, especially when you consider my favorite blog topics.

Star Trek
As a child of the late 1970s and early 1980s, I grew up watching re-runs of the original Star Trek series and new Trek adventures in the Harve Bennett films. After I saw 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in the movie theater, I started to become a more obsessive fan – reading as much as I could about the show and movies. My heart still pounds with excitement at Star Trek IV‘s reveal of the Enterprise-A, the most beautiful version of the famous vessel and one of my favorite moments in the movie series.

I enjoyed parts of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine but, for me, Star Trek will always be about Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the Enterprise. It’s great finally to have them back to the forefront, where they deserved to be all along.

Superman
Though I follow the comic books from time-to-time, I am primarily a Superman fan through the five Warner Brothers movies and the Lois & Clark television series. Yeah, I know, I catch some flack for the Lois & Clark thing, but, hey, I like what I like. There has not been a ton of Superman news of interest to me lately, but I have no doubt that, much like classic Star Trek, Superman will eventually return to prominence.

Star Wars
I pretty much lived and breathed Star Wars when I was growing up. I would’ve probably given anything to become Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight. While I favor the original trilogy, I’m somewhat rare among old-school fans in that I actually enjoy the prequel trilogy as well. The current Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon series? Not so much.

Elvis Presley
Okay, so maybe Elvis sticks out next to Star Trek, Superman, and Star Wars, but I eventually decided to start covering him and his music here anyway. Sure, he was a real person rather than a fictional character, but he still has legendary status.

One of my earliest memories is the day Elvis died in 1977. I regret that I’ll never get to see him perform live in concert. My Mom and older brother are both big fans, so his music was always there while I was growing up. He’s my favorite singer, has provided much of the soundtrack to my life, and, best of all, his music is still here.

One of the connections that can be drawn among these four key topics of interest on The Film Frontier is that all of them are pop culture cornerstones with huge fanbases. Unfortunately, many of the most vocal in those fanbases often are oddly negative, feel entitled to control the franchise in question, and have lost all of the fun of being a fan somewhere along the way. For the most part, I try to keep The Film Frontier as a positive alternative to the kinds of “fan” rants you may find elsewhere. If I ever consistently start spewing venom about these subjects, I’ll know it’s time to walk away.

Other Stuff
Since I work during the day and attend university classes at night, I am constantly running out of time. However, I also try to cover some of my other favorites when I can – stuff like The Twilight Zone, Get Smart, the Peanuts gang, Voltron, and Mystery Science Theater 3000, to name a few.

At the end of the day, the main connection between these seemingly random things is that I love and enjoy all of them. I hope you find something to enjoy here on The Film Frontier, too.

Elvis conquers Vegas: 40 years since the return of the King [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

Forty years ago tonight, only eleven days after astronaut Neil Armstrong took his famous “one small step” on the moon, Elvis Presley took his own giant leap.

On that July 31st night in 1969, the singer stepped onto the stage of the International Hotel in Las Vegas and began proving once and for all that he was the greatest and most dynamic performer the world will ever know.

His “comeback” after years of making movies had actually started the year before, with his highly rated and critically acclaimed ELVIS TV special. He rode the tide of that success into his first Memphis recording sessions in nearly 15 years, resulting in smash hits “Suspicious Minds,” “In The Ghetto,” and “Don’t Cry, Daddy.”

Elvis was on top again, and his Vegas engagement was another crown jewel. With two shows a night, seven days a week, for four weeks, the concerts represented his first live appearances in nearly nine years, outside of four studio audience shows for his TV special.

RCA started recording the Vegas shows on August 21, capturing eleven complete concerts in all that summer. Some of the best tracks were selected for an album, Elvis In Person. More recently, several of the shows have been released in full:

  • August 21 Midnight Show on 2007’s Elvis: Viva Las Vegas (Limited Edition) Disc 2
  • August 22 Dinner Show on 2008’s Elvis In Person (FTD Edition) Disc 2
  • August 23 MS on 2003’s Elvis At The International
  • August 24 DS on 2001’s Live In Las Vegas Disc 1
  • August 26 MS on 2005’s All Shook Up

These recordings are some of Elvis’ best available concerts. To commemorate the fortieth anniversary of this engagement, author Ken Sharp (Writing for the King) next month is releasing ELVIS: Vegas ’69, a 200-page hardcover book examining the concert series in text and photos.

Elvis vs. Star Trek: There is no comparison (or maybe there is. . . .) [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

There is a middle ground between genius and insanity. . . .
That’s the signpost up ahead!
You’ve just crossed over into . . . The Film Frontier.

A blogger pal of mine, Thomas over at Elvis Today, is looking to widen his knowledge of Star Trek. He has collected a few DVDs in the past, but this year’s new film has given him the bug again.

I am always looking for content, and this sparked an idea. What better way to acclimate an Elvis expert like Thomas to Star Trek than to relate them to each other? I am not sure how this is going to work out, but I am going to give it a shot.

I suppose Star Trek experts that are looking to expand their knowledge of Elvis could use these same comparisons in reverse. We here at The Film Frontier want to go green, so that makes this a dual-use post.

You have to be very careful when reading a post like this, or you might strip your gears!

  • Star Trek: The Original Series–The Complete Seasons 1-3 is to Star Trek as ELVIS: The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll-The Complete 50s Masters is to Elvis.
  • Inside Star Trek: The Real Story by Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman is to Star Trek as Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture is to Star Trek as Paradise, Hawaiian Style is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is to Star Trek as Elvis: That’s The Way It Is is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is to Star Trek as “Are You Laughing Tonight?” is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation Seasons 1 & 2 and Star Trek: Insurrection are to Star Trek as “C-O-N-F-I-D-ENCE” and “A Dog’s Life” are to Elvis.
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation Seasons 3-7 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are to Star Trek as ELVIS: Command Performances-The Essential 60s Masters II is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise are to Star Trek as lousy imitators are to Elvis.
  • Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda is to Star Trek as Elvis Day By Day: The Definitive Record of His Life and Music by Peter Guralnick and Ernst Jorgensen is to Elvis.
  • Star Trek: Remastered is to Star Trek as Elvis vs. JXL: A Little Less Conversation is to Elvis.
  • The 2009 Star Trek film is to Star Trek as ELVIS (’68 Comeback Special) is to Elvis.With apologies to the great Rod Serling for stealing and mangling his words at the top.

Lisa Marie Presley offers new insight into Michael Jackson and her father [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

When news broke yesterday of Michael Jackson’s sudden death, I instantly thought back to August 16, 1977, when Elvis died. The coverage had an eerie sense of familiarity, as if I was re-living that event in some way. Some of it I can vaguely remember from back then, while other parts I have watched on videos over the years. I felt sympathy for Jackson’s many fans because, as an Elvis fan, I know some of what they will go through in the coming days and years.

I also felt sympathy for Lisa Marie Presley. If someone like me, who never met either person and was only a fan of one of them, could feel the sense of déjà vu between the two experiences, I could only wonder what Elvis’ daughter and Jackson’s ex-wife would feel.

Lisa Marie released a brief statement yesterday, which you can read at Elvis.com. Today, she released a much longer blog post about the topic, “He Knew,” on her MySpace page. In the post, she offers new perspectives on why she was attracted to Michael Jackson and on the deaths of both Jackson and her father. It is a compelling read.

Incidentally, today marks the 32nd anniversary of what would prove to be Elvis’ last concert. It is also the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis’ father and Lisa Marie’s grandfather, Vernon Presley. Today is also the 100th anniversary of the birth of Elvis’ longtime manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

Late Night Elvis [The Film Frontier blog]

/ TY

It’s funny how a song you don’t normally like can suddenly sound good. It’s the middle of the night, I’ve got my headphones on, and I decided to play some Elvis music from the 1960s. The first song that came up is “A Little Bit Of Green,” a track I normally skip. Yet, tonight, it sounds like a great song to me for some reason. Just a random thought to start out a random post.

Playing now is “Don’t Cry, Daddy,” always a favorite. Maybe it’s the headphones, not that they’re anything special. Even this one sounds better than normal, though.

Anyway, I can hardly believe that summer is nearly over. Oh sure, I guess there’s another month or so, officially, but I’m back in school again starting Monday night, so that means summer is effectively over.

“Power Of My Love” is up now, another winner that sounds even better tonight. Maybe I’m just in an Elvis mood.

I’ve been taking one class a semester, but this semester I’ll be taking two. Actually, one of my classes was canceled as of yesterday, so I had to pick another one at the last second. Even one class a semester was an awful lot of work, so I can only imagine how bad two classes are going to be.

I’ve liked my recent update routine for The Film Frontier, confining my work on the site to Friday through Sunday. I’ll try to keep that up as best I can, though I’ll no longer have every Friday off effective September. I should be able to sneak at least one post in per weekend, I would bet. I actually miss this place when I’m not able to post. This blogging thing can be quite addictive.

When it comes to movies, what a summer this has been. My favorite film this summer was The Dark Knight, putting me on the same page as most other bloggers out there – but sometimes the majority can be right, you know. My next favorite was Get Smart, which was actually the one I was looking forward to seeing the most. A fine movie it was, but not a masterpiece like The Dark Knight.

We even had a decent Indiana Jones movie after a 19-year wait, not to mention a minor league Star Wars movie via the animated The Clone Wars. I wish they would just re-release one of the live action Star Wars movies every summer. They would make plenty of money, I guarantee it. Especially if they didn’t tinker with them too much.

* * *

Ah, well, this post kind of turned into a dud. I got distracted reading some other web pages, not to mention listening to the music.

Until next time, try to enjoy your daylight. . . .