Miscellaneous

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts decks the halls with Elvis December 24

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My VMFA Magazine - Elvis Kneeling At The MosqueAlfred Wertheimer’s Elvis Kneeling At The Mosque, taken in Richmond, Virginia, on June 30, 1956, graces the cover of the latest issue of My VMFA magazine. Distributed to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts members, this issue of the magazine promotes the upcoming Elvis At 21 exhibition.

The exhibition, featuring 56 of Wertheimer’s photos, will appear at the VMFA in Richmond December 24, 2011, through March 18, 2012.

In January, the museum will hold three special Elvis events, including a panel discussion with Wertheimer and local Elvis experts on January 20.

Shoppin’ Around: Elvis Presley 2011 Christmas Gift Guide

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For those of you that know and love an Elvis fan, here are some Christmas gift ideas that suit a wide variety of budgets. Price ranges listed are in US dollars, but most of these items are available around the world.

Under $10

The Elvis Today Blog (book): By relating his personal experiences, author Thomas Melin crafts a unique volume that follows the triumphs and trials of being an Elvis fan in the post-1977 era (Read full review). Available from Blurb.

Treat Me Nice (book, Kindle edition): “Treat Me Nice argues that Elvis and the Frankenstein Creature were condemned to self-destruction because they both horrified their creators,” states an intriguing marketing excerpt for this book by Howard Jackson (not yet reviewed). Available from Amazon. Also available in traditional book format.

That’s Alright, Elvis (book, 2011 Kindle edition): Long out-of-print, the autobiography of Scotty Moore is now available on Kindle from Amazon (not yet reviewed).

Under $20

Elvis Is Back! (2-CD set, 2011 Legacy Edition): This release contains 1960’s Elvis Is Back! and 1961’s Elvis For Everyone. Elvis is in top form here, and these recordings have never sounded better. A few bonus tracks are also included on each disc, from the same time period. Recommended for intermediate fans who are just beginning to explore Elvis beyond the typical greatest hits collections. Strong fans will already have this material.

Elvis: The Great Performances (2-DVD set, 2011 reissue): This set covers his life and career. The two volumes (Center Stage and The Man & His Music) are 1990 documentaries that updated 1981’s This Is Elvis. Though much ground is covered, watching the set often feels repetitive. Recommended for casual fans only. A modern documentary of Elvis is sorely needed.

Under $30

Elvis Sings Guitar Man (2011, booklet cover)

Elvis Sings Guitar Man (2-CD set): Strong fans will enjoy this release from the Follow That Dream collectors label. This is a unique album, compiling 1966-1967 masters and alternates to better document an important timeframe in Elvis’ career. A highlight is hearing him in the studio with Jerry Reed (Read full review). Find FTD releases at ShopElvis.com and other online Elvis stores.

Live In Vegas (2011)Live In Vegas: August 26, 1969 Dinner Show (CD): Another FTD release that every strong fan should have, this one showcases Elvis Presley at his best on stage in a sound presentation that is richly mastered and crystal clear.

Forty-Eight Hours To Memphis (2011)Forty-Eight Hours To Memphis: Recorded Live On Stage In Richmond, Virginia – March 18, 1974 (CD): At the Richmond Coliseum, Elvis proves he is still on top in this FTD release. Highlights of this newly discovered professional recording include “Steamroller Blues,” “Polk Salad Annie,” and the “Rock Medley” (Read full review).

Around $100

Young Man With The Big Beat: The Complete 1956 Elvis Presley Masters (5-CD set): For strong fans, the main draw of this beautifully designed, deluxe package from Sony is the first-ever release of Elvis’ final Louisiana Hayride appearance from December 1956. The concert is spectacular. For those fans who do not wish to purchase the entire set for just a few tracks, Sony has also made the tracks available for individual purchase and download. That means you can buy the Hayride show for only $10. No need to go with an unauthorized version on this one. For intermediate fans who do not yet have the other tracks, there is even more to enjoy.

Good luck with your Christmas shopping. Feel free to comment below on any other Elvis goodies you may find along the way.

Around the Elvis web in 80 seconds

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Today, I want to point you over to some great posts that I’ve recently found around the web.

The Elvis Shuffle, Revisited. A couple of months ago, I told you about the incredible, thought-provoking Elvis essays that have been cropping up lately at The Sheila Variations blog. Well, those high-quality Elvis posts have continued. For example, here is an excerpt from Elvis Shuffle: Notes Taken By Hand On Flight to Chicago:

“‘Solitaire’ – ‘A loonely man’. Who could imagine that the jiggly boy in 1955 could sing like this? No wonder people still have a hard time taking EP whole. They still feel the need to break him down, piece him apart, make him manageable, palatable. He is neither.”

He Touched Me (FTD, 2011)Elvis was focused during the He Touched Me session. Elvis biographer Peter Guralnick would have us believe that Elvis’ attention was wandering during this session, but the new FTD release seems to tell otherwise. Over on Elvis Today Blog, Thomas Melin has posted a well-written review of the FTD Classic Album version of He Touched Me, Elvis’ 1971 gospel album that earned him his second Grammy.

A daily blog on everything Elvis Presley. Finally, I want to mention Elvis Day By Day, a news blog that has been tracking events in the Elvis world since January 2010. As someone who struggles to get a half dozen decent blog posts up a month, I can tell you that trying to compile a daily news blog is much tougher than it looks. It’s not a challenge I would want to take on, I’ll say that. Elvis Day By Day does a fantastic job of compiling news from various sources, doing a service to Elvis fans by giving us a quick, at a glance view of what is going on each day. Highly recommended.

Elvis Talks: Richmond, Virginia, and the Mosque Theater

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Here’s a piece from a March 24, 1956, Elvis interview that took place at the Warwick Hotel in New York City. Elvis mentions one of his shows in Richmond, Virginia:

Reporter: “What’s your biggest kick? I mean, what’s been your really highest point of excitement since you’ve been…you know, the one peak? […] I’m thinking of, you know, one night that really made you feel…”

Elvis: “One night… well, one particular night was when in Richmond, Virginia, […] whoever it was booked me […] came on stage in the middle of my act and presented me with this scroll, and all these hundreds of names on it that were there. And it read in the scroll that I had drawn the biggest crowd that had ever been to Richmond before in that particular auditorium, the Mosque Theater. It was the biggest crowd that’d ever been in the auditorium before.”

This reporter (Robert Carlton Brown) treats Elvis with more respect than a couple of the others I’ve posted recently. Of course, Elvis was not nearly as controversial in March 1956 as he was in August 1956, the time of the other two interviews I mentioned.

Like the others, you can hear this entire interview on Young Man With The Big Beat: The Complete ’56 Elvis Presley Masters, available now on Sony CDs and Digital.

More unedited Elvis

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Here’s another snippet from a 1956 Elvis interview, this one from August 6 for TV Guide:

Reporter (reading from a Miami Herald article by Herb Rau): “‘Elvis can’t sing, can’t play the guitar.’ Can you play the guitar?”

Elvis: “No, and I can’t sing, either, but somebody likes it.”

Reporter: “‘And he can’t dance.’”

Elvis: “No, can’t dance. I can’t do nothing but read Herb Rau’s article in the newspaper. That’s all I can do.”

Reporter: “‘Yet two thousand idiots per show,’ to continue the quotation, ‘yelp every time he opens his mouth, plucks a guitar string, or shakes his pelvis like any striptease babe in town.’ Do you shake your pelvis like any striptease babe in town?”

Elvis: “Well, he should know. I guess that’s where he hangs around.”

Of all the ones I’ve heard, this is probably my favorite Elvis interview. Not so much for the clueless reporter, obviously, but for Elvis’ answers. You can hear nearly the whole interview on Young Man With The Big Beat: The Complete ’56 Elvis Presley Masters, available now on Sony CDs and Digital.

Elvis, unedited

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By 1958, Elvis had become more reserved when talking with the press. Not so in 1956, the year he rose to international fame. Here’s a refreshing example from August 29 of that year:

Reporter: “When did you first start singing…do you call it ‘singing,’ the stuff you do?”

Elvis: “Do I call it ‘singing?'”

Reporter: “Yeah, that is what you call it, right?”

Elvis: “Well, I’ve sold five million records. Somebody calls it ‘singing.'”

Tell him, E!

Hear the complete interview on Young Man With The Big Beat: The Complete ’56 Elvis Presley Masters, available now on Sony CDs and Digital.

James Burton: The Early Years coming October 4

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Be on the lookout for a new CD from Ace Records compiling over two dozen James Burton songs, covering his pre-Elvis work (“With A Little Help From His Friends: James Burton Anthology Features Everlys, Nelson, Hazlewood and Buffalo Springfield” — The Second Disc).

Burton first appeared on record in 1956 on the small Ram label, backing Carol Williams on ‘Just For a While,’ and [… i]t wasn’t long before Burton was an in-demand session musician, playing the famous and influential solo on Dale Hawkins’ ‘Susie Q’ in 1957. Within a year, Burton had taken his place alongside Ricky Nelson, building up a body of work that still endures […]. His association with Nelson lasted until 1967; two years later, he would take the stage in Las Vegas with Elvis Presley, where ‘Play it, James’ became a familiar catchphrase of The King’s.” (Source: The Second Disc)

James Burton: The Early Years – 1957-1969 is scheduled for release on October 4. For the complete track listing, follow the initial Second Disc link above. A planned second volume will include some of Burton’s work with Elvis and others.