Congratulations to reader Kevin Coyle for the Elvis caption below.  There will be another caption contest next week.

"Stupid cow, wandering in here where we're doin' maneuvers.  Welcome to splatter city."

This week we have an honorable mention.  Although the intent of the contest is to come up with a hunorous caption, reader Anna Ferroni  provided one that was so historically accurate, it deserves posting here, too.

Elvis in Germany, 1958 to 1960, Graffenweir, West Germany, with the Company D, 1st Battallion, 32nd Armor, 3rd Armor Division

Have you ever visited Graceland and written a message on the fieldstone wall that surrounds the property?   This phenomenon started while Elvis was still alive, and the grounds keepers worked diligently to keep the wall clean.  After Elvis died, the volume of fan graffiti proved overwhelming, and the estate decided to leave the wall alone.  Only crude messages were pressure-washed off.  The rest would last a year or so until exposure to sun and rain faded them, giving newer visitors a chance to add their thoughts.  

A few years ago I purchased a small book called ?Dear Elvis:  Graffiti from Graceland,? written by Daniel Wright, and It contained a selection of messages from fans.  Mr. Wright returned to Memphis numerous times between 1989 and 1996 to record and photograph the ever changing Graceland graffiti for his book, and I would like to present some of the best here.

If this was Disneyworld, I?d buy a pair of Elvis ears!

Elvis.  I wish I was your belt buckle for a day.  Gina

Please quit writin? on my wall.  Thank you, thank you very much.  ?E?

George Burns is bringing cigars and news about Ann-Margret!

Elvis, yesterday I realized how much I love you, so I broke off my engagement to Adam.  Please come home to Mama! ? Monique

Elvis, you had great taste in women.  Priscilla is a babe! ? Dave

Elvis kicks butt!

You had a weird decorator.  Thank God he didn?t write music! ? Connie

Elvis, Elvis, let me be.                                                                                                

Keep your pelvis far from me!

Elvis, thanks for helping me celebrate my fortieth birthday.  Too bad you missed the party!  Sheila

Elvis, I?m bearing your ghost child, and I?m confused because I?m a man!

We love you, and so does the rest of Oz! ? Melissa

You wouldn?t have liked the way Caddies look today, anyway. ? Mary Lou

?If you can?t find a partner, use a wooden chair??!?  Ouch!

AGB ? Atomic Graceland Babes

I can?t believe I?m doing this!  Please don?t sandblast me! ? Riedy

Elvis makes me hot! ? Jerrie

Dear Gladys & Vernon ? YOU DONE GOOD!

Elvis I came for a short visit, but a part of me will always remain? Jen

Elvis, it?s me again in ?93.  Remember?

Hey Elvis:  Lisa Marie made a big mistake.  Come back and straighten her out.  Mary, 1994

Dear God:  Bolton and Cyrus for Presley?!?  Let?s TRADE!!!

Can Elvis come out and play??  Jewels

Elvis, please call Kevin.  He heard you were dead and he?s BUMMED.

Elvis, your burning love left a hole in my heart.

THANK YOU dear Elvis for all the happiness and the miracle.  Wish I could stay forever.  I will come back? Hatice

I love you now and forever.  I will be with you someday.  I will dream of you until then. --- Jen

We travelled a long way, but, for you, we?d do it again in a minute!  T.L.C!

You are fantastic!  I never got to see you, but I have come to Graceland each August for 15 years.  It still hurts, but the love from your fans all over this world helps mend these broken hearts.  Thank you, Love, for your music and all the wonderful things you did and will forever do.  You bring the world together in friendship and love.  The world is full of beautiful people.  Elvis, you are the most beautiful in every way.  The world has learned, and always will learn, much from you and be grateful always.  Till next year.  You sing forever in our hearts.

©   2008   Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister   All Rights Reserved   www.ElvisBlog.net

Like many of you, I receive e-mail notices from www.ShopElvis.com announcing their latest hot deals on Elvis merchandise.  I?m not sure, but I think I?m on their mailing list by virtue of being a member of Elvis Insiders.  As noted in ElvisBlog before, I am trying not to accumulate any more Elvis stuff because I have plenty (too much according to my wife).  However, I do scan through the ShopElvis offers out of curiosity.

Their latest e-mail touted ?Special Free Items,? but it turns out the four free items are only free if you spend over $50, $100, $150, or $250.  One in particular interested me.  If you spend $100 on other stuff, you get a free M&M Ornament Set.  This had the potential to challenge my no-more-Elvis-stuff position, because I love M&M collectibles and have accumulated a few over the years.

Congratulations to reader John Migacz for the Elvis caption below.  There will be another caption contest next week.

The result after Vernon lectured Elvis on not spending all his money so fast.

I saw something in the sports section this week that had me shaking my head in disbelief.  A California winery has introduced a line of boutique red wines called the Vicktory Dogs Wine Collection.  That is not a misspelling on Vicktory.  It is spelled that way because the bottles feature portraits of 22 pit bulls confiscated from Michael Vick?s sordid kennel that provided combatants for illegal dog fights.

Well, if they can put Michael Vick?s pit bulls on wine bottles, I guess it is not so strange that Elvis Presley?s name and image adorn a line of wines.  Graceland Cellars wines were introduced in 2004 and obviously have been a success.  Back in March 2005, I wrote about Graceland Cellars in just the seventh article in the young life of ElvisBlog, so now might be a good time to do an update.

About a week ago, a press release was sent out announcing the special edition Blue Christmas 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  At $18.99 suggested retail price, Blue Christmas is touted as ?a serious wine in a fun package.?  The key here is ?serious wine,? and I?m starting to think all Graceland Cellars wines can truly be thought of with this designation.

The Party Pack includes Jailhouse Rock 2006 Merlot, Blue Suede Shoes 2007 Chardonnay, and The King 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Here?s what they say about Jailhouse Rock Merlot:  ?Young and vibrant.  Aromas of berries and fresh herbs are followed by varietal characteristics of red currant, green olives, sage and wild berries.?  Did you think you would ever hear green olives mentioned in the description of a wine?

The Blue Suede Shoes Chardonnay spin says:  ??has attractive floral, citrus, pear and appley aromas followed by a rich, complex beam of apple pie, fig, apricot and peach flavors.?  Hey, this is an Elvis wine; let?s get some banana and peanut-butter aroma in there.

The King Cabernet Sauvignon has more fruit references in its description:  ?This wine is lush, ripe and juicy, with intense black cherry, current and blackberry fruit that?s smooth and focused.?  We certainly don?t want any unfocused wine now, do we?  I wonder why wines don?t smell and taste like grapes.

   
There are other Graceland Cellars wines available for holiday giving, including the Stuck On You 2005 Shiraz, a bargain at $9.99.  I must admit I have no idea what Shiraz is, but it sounds yummy:  ?Crafted in a fruit-forward, ripe style, our Shiraz is brimming with red berry, pepper, and chocolate aromas.  Spicy tannins layer with vanilla and cedar to build flavor upon flavor in this medium-bodied red.  A perfect partner to outdoor grilling or to Memphis style slow cooked ribs.?   Sorry, I would rather have beer with my ribs.  Barbeque sauce on a beer can is OK, but it looks bad all over your wine glass.

I would have thought Elvis and Tom Jones were performing artist rivals, but I keep coming across things that say they were buddies.  The most recent came from Uncut magazine, and it is so funny.  I?ll share it with you, but first, let?s look at Elvis? history with Tom Jones.

When Tom Jones was teenager, his idol was Elvis Presley.  In early 1965, Jones rocketed to popularity with the huge hit ?It?s Not Unusual.?  Later that year, they met at the Paramount stage, where Elvis was filming Paradise Hawaiian Style.  After that, they became good friends, spending more and more time together in Las Vegas. Their friendship endured until Elvis' death in 1977.

Elvis had some good natured fun at Jones? expense during the 1970 filming of his performances at the Las Vegas Hilton for the movie That?s The Way It Is.  Elvis pretended to read four telegrams of congratulations including this one:  ?Here?s hoping that you have a very successful opening and that you break both legs.? [Signed.] Tom Jones.

Later in 1970, Elvis was headlining in Portland and mentioned Jones during a monologue:  ?I played this town when Tom Jones was first learning how to do this??  Elvis was just five years older than Jones, so when Elvis first played Portland in 1957, Jones would have been sixteen, a teenager working on his singing.

Here is a quote where Tom Jones talks about Elvis and him sitting around and singing in Elvis? suite at the Las Vegas Hilton, where Elvis performed for so many years.  Jones said, ?I think he was the only person I?ve spoken to that felt the same way about music as myself, as far as versatility is concerned.  Because he loved ballads as well as rock ?n? roll, he loved Gospel, he loved pop.  And we would sit in the suite and talk about music? and we would sing, mostly jam??

In August 1974, Elvis gave a big introduction to Tom Jones, who was catching one of his shows:  ?There?s somebody in the audience I?d like you meet.  To me? he?s my favorite singer.  He?s one of the greatest performers I?ve ever seen, and the greatest voice, Tom Jones.  There he is.  He?s too much.  Tom, you open at Caesars palace tomorrow night, right?  Folks, if you get the chance, go over and see him.  He?s really something.  He always comes to see my show here and I go to see his.  It?s a mutual respect.?

A few photos exist that show Elvis taking in Tom Jones? performances in Las Vegas.  Here is a shot showing Elvis sitting in the audience watching Tom Jones on stage at Caesars Palace.  It looks like his seat was right up front.

Here is Elvis on September 4, 1973, as Tom Jones introduces him in the audience.  Note Linda Thompson to Elvis? right.

Congratulations to reader Dave Newell for the Elvis caption below.  There will be a new caption contest next week.

Elvis' new and improved Memphis Mafia stands by, ready for action.

You have probably seen different types of Rock & Roll lists presented in the media. Over the years, I?ve been able to write a full ElvisBlog column about three of them.  They all had to be categories that interested me, of course; serious polls like ?The 50 Most Awesomely Dead Rock Stars? and the ?Sexiest Rock & Roll Artists of All Time,? and the ?100 Most Outrageous Moments in Rock & Roll.?  There was lots of Elvis stuff in all three, so they were fun to write about.

However, the rest of the lists I?ve come across have been put in a file folder for extended languishing.  Now it is time to empty the contents of that list file and make a few comments as we go.

The results I am happiest with are on a list from Q Magazine: the ?Top Ten Singers Ever?.  Elvis heads the list, just ahead of Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra.  Aretha was the only woman.  Number 4 was a big favorite of mine, Otis Redding.  I remember going to parties in the late 60s and dancing to Otis Redding songs for hours.  If your music horizon doesn?t go back far enough to include Otis Redding albums, you need to learn about this great performer.  Get some of his CDs; his live concert recordings are incredible.  Number 10 on the list is Tim Buckley, and I don?t think I?ve ever listened to his music.  I guess I need to follow my own advice and get a Tim Buckley CD and find out why he ranked so high.

Here is the award winner for the list with the longest name: ?Best Ever Acting Performance By A Musician,? put out by Contact Music.  Elvis got nudged out by Frank Sinatra for his performance in From Here To Eternity.  We all know Frank did a superb job in that role, so I?ve got no problem with Elvis coming in second for his work in Jailhouse Rock.  But, look at who came in next: Eminem, in his only acting job, 8 Mile.  I haven?t seen it, so I really can?t say anything, but if he?s such a good actor, why hasn?t he made any more movies?  Even though I?m pleased that Elvis? acting in Jailhouse Rock was so esteemed, I can?t imagine why Elvis in King Creole didn?t make the Top 10 on this list.  For my money, the best acting job Elvis ever did was in King Creole.

Billboard has done a number of lists, and they have some credibility when it comes to making their picks.  However, they won?t get me to accept Elvis as #4 on their list of ?The 100 All-Time Top Artists.?  Maybe I won?t quibble with The Beatles being picked as #1, but Madonna and Elton John are not above Elvis. He wasn?t the only one given a bum rank.  The Rolling Stones came in #10 ? behind Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey.  No way.

VH1 produced two of the lists in my file, and one of them just amazes me.  They selected the ?50 Greatest Teen Idols,? and you?ve got to figure Elvis would do great in a poll like that, right?  Well, he did not.  In fact, he didn?t make the cut.  I read that list three times to make sure, but Elvis? name was not to be found.  That?s ridiculous.  They had top winners Britney Spears (1), David Cassidy (2), and N?Sync (3).  All big teen idols for sure, but nothing compared to the idolatry Elvis received in the 50s.  How in the world did anyone think Rick Springfield, Scott Baio and Corey Feldman were bigger teen idols than Elvis?  To show you how skewed against older icons this stupid list was, it did not even include James Dean.

To their credit, VH1 partially made up for their omission by placing Elvis #3 in another list: ?100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons.?  He was behind Oprah Winfrey and Superman, and ahead of Lucille Ball.  They sure must have had an older group of judges for this one.  There were older icons all over this list.  I?ll bet that when the judges picked Elvis, they were thinking about him in white jumpsuit and cape saying, ?Thank you, thank you very much.?

I just noticed something interesting on one of the pages in my list file.  It shows that VH1 has also produced ?The Greatest: 40 Hot Rock Star Girlfriends? and ?The Greatest: 100 Most Wanted Bodies.?  Elvis had dynamite girlfriends and young Elvis has to rank pretty high in that bodies list.  I need to check out these two polls and see if there is enough there for another column.  They sure sound interesting.  Don?t know how I missed them before.

© 2008  Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister   All Rights Reserved  www.ElvisBlog.net

Colonel Tom Parker?s Dancing Chickens:  Many Elvis fans know that Col. Parker managed Eddie Arnold and Hank Snow before taking over Elvis? career.  However, I?ll bet you didn?t know this.  According to www.leftlion.com, Colonel Parker once had a carnival act with dancing chickens.  He got them to dance by putting them on an electric hotplate covered with sawdust, accompanied by a record player.  Lucky for him, PETA wasn?t around back then.

Another Chicken Story:  This comes from the caption under an Elvis picture on Flickr.  ?In January 1961, Elvis signed a 5 year contract with Hal Wallis.  To celebrate, he went out and bought a Rolls Royce Phantom V from a Beverly Hills dealer, only to bring it home and have his mother?s chickens pick away at their reflections in the elegant finish.?  Well, Gladys died in 1958, so we know this is a fabrication.  But if you are going to tell a fib, you might as well go for a big one.  Chickens at Elvis? home in exclusive Bel Air while he?s filming movies in 1961?  Yeah, sure.  There?s a lot of bogus stuff about Elvis floating around on the Internet, but this takes the cake.

Elvis Ultrasound:  Do you like the comic strip ?Baby Blues??  I love those kids Zoe, Hammie and Wren.  The authors of the strip have published their work in a number of books.  One of the compilations is titled, ?I Saw Elvis In My Ultrasound.?  Why not?  Elvis has been sighted everywhere else.

A Bidding War For Elvis:  The website Elvis Presley From Poland has a story about the Army and the Navy fighting over which service would get Elvis.  Supposedly the Navy offered him the opportunity to form an ?Elvis Presley Company? comprised of sailors from Memphis, and he could personally pick his friends to be part of this special company.  Well, if Elvis? Memphis buddies had escaped the draft so far, I bet they were glad he didn?t agree to that one.  The Army supposedly offered Elvis the chance to perform on a worldwide tour of all the Army?s prestige posts, with first-class travel to them.  However, Colonel Parker decided that ?a front-line combat unit was where he should do his soldiering.?  Front-line combat?  What fighting was the Army doing in Germany in 1958?

That?s A Big Velvet Elvis:  According to www.canada.com, the largest velvet Elvis is on display at the Tattoo Factory in Chicago.  It measures 12 ft by 12 ft, and depicts Elvis with a tear in his eye.  Put that on your list of stops for your next visit to the windy city.

The Man From Psycho Scores Higher Than Elvis:  This story tickles me for a couple of reasons.  One of Elvis? soundtrack songs from the movie Blue Hawaii is ?Moonlight Swim.?  So, where was the scene?  On a beach at midnight?  No, Elvis sang the song in the daylight while cruising in a convertible filled with lovely young babes.  Elvis never released the song as a single, but Tony Perkins did.  Before becoming famous for his role in Psycho, Perkins sang in a few Broadway plays.  His version of ?Moonlight Swim? reached #24 on the charts in 1957.

Metal Elvis:  The website for Talent Booking USA has a promo for an Elvis tribute band (not a tribute artist ? a whole band).  The singer looks and sounds like Elvis, and the musicians are look-a-likes of famous members of heavy metal groups Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue, etc.  If these guys ever show up in Memphis during Elvis Week, I might just take in their show.

Elvis Bootleg Songs In Russia:  Back in 1957, the Los Angeles Daily Mirror reported that bootlegs of Elvis? hit singles were selling for 50 rubles ($12.50 US dollars).  What does that equal in dollars today?  $200?  $500?  Where did Russian kids get that kind of money?  Guess what the songs were recorded on.  Used X-ray film.  Pretty clever, but how did they play them on their turntables?

Fired For Playing An Elvis Presley Song:  There once was a disc jockey at radio station KEX in Portland, Oregon who got fired because he played Elvis? recording of ?White Christmas.?  The station manager banned the song and fired Al Priddy because the song ?is not in the good taste we ascribe to Christmas music.  Presley gives it a rhythm and blues interpretation.?  If an R&B interpretation of Christmas music gets you fired, it?s a good thing the DJ didn?t play ?Santa Claus Is Back In Town.?  That could have gotten him banned from the city.

©  2008   Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister   All Rights Reserved   www.ElvisBlog.net

Elvis' only grandson, Benjamin Keough, was born on Ocyober 21, 1992, so he turned 16 today.  He has an older sister, Danielle Riley, and twin baby sisters born ten days ago.  To see photos of Ben, please click on this ElvisBlog column from Last December.

Happy Birthday Ben

A while back I checked in with Darwin Lamm, Publisher of Elvis?The Magazine, to see what the theme would be for the next issue.  Although it gets mailed to subscribers in December, it will be the January 2009 Birthday Issue.  For his themes, Darwin likes to commemorate the anniversaries of important events in Elvis? history, such as Elvis? first recording, first hit, going into the Army, ?68 Comeback Special, Aloha From Hawaii, and so on.  This time, it is going to be ?Back To Vegas? - the 40^th anniversary of Elvis? return to live performances in 1969.  Elvis had a four-week run from July 31 to August 26 at the very new International Hotel (now called The Las Vegas Hilton).

So, I needed to come up with an angle to write about.  Then it came to me.  I could write about the songs that Elvis chose for this milestone event.  The playlist had to be an important concern for him, because he wanted this to be a special show.  He had not performed in front of a live audience for nine years, and his only previous appearance in Las Vegas in 1956 was mostly a bust.

I started checking out references to find the playlist for Elvis? first night concert on July 31, 1969.  My books were no help, so I turned to the internet.  I knew the FTD label had released CDs of many Elvis concerts in Las Vegas, so that seemed promising.  I found two from shows in 1969: Elvis All Shook Up and Elvis Live at the International.  Unfortunately, the first covered his concert on August 23, and the latter featured his August 26 show.  Because Elvis frequently changed his playlists, these wouldn?t do.  I wanted to find out what he sang at the start of his run, not at the end.

Next, I checked out original RCA albums and found In Person At The International Hotel, released three months after the finish of Elvis? run in 1969.  That didn?t suit my needs either, because it was a selection of songs from the last three nights, August 24, 25, and 26.

The final option I could think of was bootleg albums and CDs, and a quick Google search brought up a wealth of resources.  I found soundboard recordings from August 14, August 12, August 6, and best of all, a CD titled Opening Night 1969.  The title was something of a misnomer, because it is not a recording of Elvis? July 31 performance.  However, it was either August 1 or August 3, according to different reviews I uncovered. Close enough.  I had found the reference I needed for my magazine article.

However, my research had an unexpected result.  After reading several extremely positive reviews, I decided that Opening Night 1969 was a CD I needed to own.  I had to hear these great performances that the reviewers raved about.  Keep in mind that years ago I decided I had enough Elvis music and wasn?t going to spend money on any more.  Also, my least favorite period for Elvis music is what is generally called the Las Vegas Years.  Most important, I don?t like all the pretentious sound of the overblown orchestration in the later Vegas concerts, and there are too many ballads.  So, it took a lot for me to want to own this CD.

Here are some highlights from the review at www.elvis-collectors.com that convinced me:  ?This is the jewel of all Elvis? CDs and recordings? his incredible voice was more richer and vibrant than it had ever been.  This CD is a must for everyone.?

Equally positive remarks on http://home.online.no included: ??powerful and dynamic? an unbelievably good concert? excellent sound quality?

Of course, these praises could me made about other recorded live concert performances by Elvis.  What made Opening Night 1969 so appealing to me was the fact that Elvis was still thinking like a rock & roller, not an accomplished Vegas showman, as he would later.  He loaded up the show with nine of his biggest rock hits of the fifties.  They were all fresh to him and he put maximum soul and energy in them.  Look at this list songs followed by the appraisals by home.online.no:

Blue Suede Shoes                          Very good version

I Got A Woman                                 Superb

All Shook Up                                     Pure rock & roll

Jailhouse Rock                                Just great

Don?t Be Cruel                                 Excellent version

Heartbreak Hotel                              Incredibly good

Hound Dog                                       Energy-loaded, wild

Mystery Train                                    Superb

Baby What You Want Me To Do   This song is great

What?d I Say                                     Full of energy

Of course, the concert wasn?t just these terrific fast songs. It also included several ballads to slow down the pace, plus ?Suspicious Minds? and two Beatles songs.  But, it was all those classic rockers performed by Elvis at his peak that made me decide I need to own Opening Night 1969.

I must admit that fulfilling this desire has proven to be something of a challenge.  It?s not like you can go to Amazon.com to buy bootleg albums.  I looked it up on eBay, and found three completed auctions.  The CDs sold for $18, $20 and 10 Euros (whatever that is in American money).  But I?ll keep looking.  It will either show up on eBay again, or I?ll find it somewhere else on the web.  And when I get it, the first thing I will do is burn my own CD with just those above songs on it.  Now that is going to be a really great CD.

©  2008   Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister   All Rights Reserved   www.ElvisBlog.net

Recently, I have accumulated additional information or photos related to past articles on ElvisBlog.  Here are some updates you may find interesting:

Benjamin Keough Photos:  This is the title of a blog I posted on December 23, 2007.  It contained three photos of Elvis? grandson Benjamin Keough, and it has been a consistent source of traffic to ElvisBlog ever since.  Whenever his mother Lisa Marie is in the news, there is always a big spike in hits.  News accounts that she married Michael Lockwood, that she was pregnant, and that she would be having twins, all mentioned she had a daughter Riley and son Benjamin from her first marriage to Danny Keough.  And when people started Googling Benjamin Keough, the search results brought many of them to ElvisBlog.  Well, Lisa Marie gave birth to twin girls by Caesarian section yesterday, and it happened again.  So far, 1115 visitors have linked to this site to learn more about Elvis? grandson.  He turns 16 this month, and his sister Danielle started her modeling career at that age.  Do you think we might see Benjamin doing anything in the music business soon?  I sure hope so.

Elvis? Frantic Sex Show:  Back in May, I wrote a blog to debunk the assertion printed in the LA Mirror-News that Elvis was a sexibitionist at his October 28, 1957 concert in Los Angeles.  I quoted two lines from competing columnist Wally George in the LA Times as verification.  Recently, I discovered another quote from Mr. George?s column when he discussed Elvis? pre-concert interview:

?All in all, he was a pleasant, mild-mannered person who might have been any other 22-year-old young man, were it not for the high gleaming pompadour, the rhinestone belt, and the gold jacket.?

Yeah, that might give you a clue.  Hedda Hopper also had a favorable report on the concert, and I love her assessment of Elvis? psyche as he performed.

?He knew what he was doing? You felt he was mentally saying to himself: ?Do you know an easier way of making a million a year.??

Elvis & Johnny Cash Concert Poster:  Back in an August ElvisBlog column, we discussed the unique concert on December 12, 1955, that featured Elvis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.  One illustration was a photo of a poster supposedly advertising the event, but the wrong date on it proved it to be a fake.  Alert reader Paul MacPhail sent a Comment concerning where the photograph on the poster came from.  I?m not sure where he gets his information, but he states:  ?The photo was taken backstage at the Grand Ole Opry December 13, 1957. Elvis was visiting the Opry and Cash was appearing on it at the time.? 

A little research in the great book ?Elvis: Day By Day? shows that Elvis did in fact visit the Grand Ole Opry eight days later, and he bought a tux for his brief appearance on stage to wave at the audience.  Note that the bogus concert photo shows Elvis wearing a tux.  So, Mr. MacPhail certainly has the loctation and circumstances right, but he might want to change that date to December 21, 1957.  Either way, the photo was taken two years after the concert supposedly promoted in the poster.

Rock Around The Dock:  This June blog covered Elvis? 1956 concert aboard the SS Mount Vernon, docked on the Potomac River in Washington, CD.  I mentioned the promoter of the concert was Connie B. Gay, and I referred to her.  Well, it turns out that Connie is a he.  Hopefully, I can be excused for the error, because there aren?t many male Connie?s around (I do remember famous baseball manager Connie Mack).  Anyway, I received a nice e-mail from Jack Burnish setting me straight.  He knows what he?s saying; Connie B. Gay is his wife?s uncle.  Jack also said I do a great column, so I thank you, sir.

A Look at Elvis Websites, Circa 1997:  Last month, we took a look at a list of Elvis websites in existence back in 1997 and noted which ones thrived until 2008 and which ones went away.  Of course, www.elvis.com, the official site of Elvis Presley Enterprises, still continues to this day.  In the column, I said, ?I wish I could go back and see what the site was like in 1997.?  Thanks to my buddy Ty, head blogger honcho at www.thefilmfrontier.com, I learned this is possible.  In fact, we can go back to December 21, 1996, by clicking here.  It appears that it was called Elvis Presley?s Graceland back then and had a slightly different URL, but this is the official EPE site that evolved into today?s Elvis.com.  The Homepage sure isn?t much, and when you click to enter, you are taken to a page of links.  ?Elvisology? is the best one, particularly the ?Trivia? and ?Elvis on The Screen? features.  I also liked ?News from Graceland,? because it gives you a historical perspective of the state of Elvisworld in 1956.  It announced a substantial volume of Elvis movie, concerts, and specials coming up on VH1.  I gave up on that channel a long time ago, but I?ll bet you won?t see much Elvis on VH1 now.

Anyone who would like to check out archived versions of your favorite websites through the years, go to http://www.archive.org/web/web.php and kill a few hours.  As my friend Ty said, ?Have a ball surfing in the past.?

Pappy and Elvis (Elvis Commentary Mini-Nuggets -11):  This Mini-Nugget covered a 1966 Foghorn Leghorn cartoon with two chicken hawk characters named Pappy and Elvis.  I was not too pleased to report that both were depicted as ignorant rednecks, and Elvis was a total air-head.  Well, it turns out that the cartoon?s producer smeared The King the same way years earlier.  In ?Backwoods Bunny,? his 1959 Bugs Bunny cartoon, two hungry vultures chase after Bugs while he tries to vacation in the Ozarks.   The buzzards where just as stupid as the chicken hawks, and their names were Pappy and Elvis.  I hope I don?t discover any more offensive portrayals like these two.

Fun With Gold Lame:   If you surf the internet as much as I do looking for interesting Elvis stuff, you will constantly run into variations on famous photo of Elvis in the gold lamé suit.  I showed eight of them in a column a month ago.  Now, I have found one more that must be shown.  The British music magazine Mojo included a free bonus CD with their May 2006 issue.  It is titled Hail To The King, and it contains 15 versions of Elvis songs done by other rockers.

The artists in gold lamé above are, from left to right, Roy Orbison, Link Wray, Jeff Beck, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

©  2008   Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister   All Rights Reserved   www.ElvisBlog.net

I assume all readers of ElvisBlog have seen the famous photo of Elvis and President Richard Nixon.  It was one of twenty-eight photos taken on April 21, 1970 when Elvis made a surprise visit to the White House (and Elvis wore his trademark sunglasses in the first eleven).  You can see the other twenty-seven at the National Archives website, but they are easier to access at this site by George Washington University.  There is an interesting story to tell about this event, but that will have to wait for another column.  Today we are going to have some fun with the iconic picture.

You may already know it is the best selling souvenir at the Nixon Presidential Library, and it is the most popular reproduction sold by the National Archives (even more than the Constitution or the Bill of Rights).  It may also be the most Photoshopped picture in the world.

As a work of the United States government, the image is in the public domain.  So, clever folks have put their imaginations to work and used computer photo manipulation software to come up with interesting variations.  For example, suppose the heads were reversed.  We would have President Presley receives rocker Dickie Nixon at the White House.  Nixon doesn?t make much of a rock idol, does he?

Because the men?s heads were simply cut and pasted on the picture above, that switch seems like it was probably fairly easy.  A greater challenge would be to switch the nose, mouth and chin, but not the hair of the two men.  Nixon looks pretty good with Elvis? hair, but Elvis with Nixon?s hair is bad news.

If you don?t like Richard Nixon, why not try two other presidents:  Ronald Regan and George W. Bush.  I used this photo in the February 3, 2008 ElvisBlog article titled ?Fun With Elvis In Photoshop,? where both of these men are shown in individual variations of Elvis, as well.

If you don?t like American presidents, let?s have two Elvises.  Personally, I would have switched the roles:  young Elvis face with the cool outfit, and the thirty-five year old Elvis as the President.

Suppose you don?t like Elvis.  What better than to show Bubba Ho-Tep going after him?  (How did Bubba get past the Secret Service?)  When he puts his boney hand the King?s shoulder, can?t you see Elvis spin around and say that great line from the movie:  ?Come on and get it, you undead sack of shit.?   Could somebody do that and put it on U-Tube, please.

If you don?t like either Elvis or Nixon, I guess you could replace them with two cats.  Looks like the Nixon cat sort of kept his hairline, doesn?t it?

A couple of months ago, I did an ElvisBlog column that showed two fake Elvis concert posters.  It appears that this concept works for political posters as well.  Notice who is at the top of the ticket.

And finally, here we have a bogus photo that supposedly came from the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library.  This is so clever, and I wish I could give it proper attribution, but I copied it to my computer a long time ago and don?t have an Idea where I found it.  If its creator contacts me, I will either give credit or remove the picture, whatever preference is expressed.  Same on the other pictures.  Anyway, here is a great reworking of one of the other photos taken during Elvis? visit to the White House .  Bill Clinton?s head is on Red West?s body, and Rush Limbaugh?s (Rusty Limbo?) head is on Jerry Schilling?s body.  If you have any trouble reading the handwritten sentence on the photo, it is:  ?Elvis tells President about Billy Clinton?s Watergate Break-in idea.?  What a hoot.

©  2008   Philip R Arnold, Original Elvis Blogmeister   All Rights Reserved   www.ElvisBlog.net

Some of the best titles for ElvisBlog columns have come from the texts of Elvis reviews in the New York Times.  One was ?Virtuoso of Hootchie Cootchie,? taken from the Times review of Elvis? June 5, 1956 appearance on The Milton Berle Show, and there was ?Turgid, Juicy, and Flamboyant,? which came from the Times review of the first Elvis movie ?Love Me Tender.?  You might remember that the Times columnists slammed Elvis pretty hard in both cases.

Well, there is also the Times review of Elvis? 1973 worldwide TV special ?Elvis - Aloha from Hawaii.?  That?s the source of the above title for this article.  So, what do you think?  Did they slam Elvis once again?  Let?s take a look.

Favorable opinions about Elvis in the New York Times were rare in his early days, but this column by John J. O?Conner stayed fairly balanced.  Perhaps neutral would be a better characterization, as he barely said anything good about Elvis.  The most positive line about ?Aloha? was this:  ?Smartly produced and directed by Marty Pasetta, the program maintained an effective and attractive fluidity, not easy with ?live? concerts on TV.?  That?s not Elvis? fluidity he?s complementing, it?s the show?s.  Not a word about Elvis? voice or how he mesmerized the live audience of 6000 folks at the Honolulu International Center.  At least there was mention that the show was broadcast live by satellite to 1.5 billion people in 40 countries.  This was a monumental technological feat back in 1973.