a blog about elvis presley's music and records
IN THE GHETTO includes articles that don’t fit under the other, more specific category titles. This includes aspects of Presley’s personal life, and criticisms of other writers and critics for their promulgating non-facts, myths, and lies about Elvis.
A regular target is Wikipedia, where writers who know little about the history of rock & roll write articles which are approved by editors who apparently know less.
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I AM DISCONTINUING THE SERVICE that sends pop-up messages to readers. Subscribing to these pop-ups—called push notifications—required you to click on the bell (the large image pictured above) in the lower corner of this blog. Due to their negative impact on the speed and efficiency of this blog, these notifications will cease immediately. [Read more] “no more bell, no more pop-up notifications”
ELVIS FOUND ALIVE is, despite its pretense and tackiness, basically a biography of the man. It compiles facts and quotes from various sources and links them together, more or less chronologically, offering no new factual data and no interesting opinions or insights. You pretty much know it’s a “mocumentary” of some sort from the get-go. [Read more] “elvis found alive (a movie review)”
SELLING ELVIS PRESLEY was never that difficult. Even during his low periods, each new record generally sold hundreds of thousands of units (although few were number ones) while his back catalog sold millions. Because of that, RCA took Presley for granted and failed to issue quality compilations and properly promote the ones they did release. [Read more] “elvis’ number ones and golden hits”
MY APOLOGIES IF YOU ARE HERE looking for something to read about Elvis’ movies. I started writing some notes for a series of mini-reviews of each of Presley’s movies—trying for some “objectivity” about the movie and its soundtrack music in each review—and accidentally pressed the Publish button instead of the Save Draft button. [Read more] ““elvis movies” is a work-in-progress”
E‑Z COUNTRY PROGRAMMING was the title of a series of promotional LPs manufactured by RCA Victor in the 1950s. Each record collected sides from current singles by various country artists. One of these records featured “I Forgot To Remember To Forget” and “Mystery Train” by Elvis Presley. [Read more] “was “e‑z country programming 2” the first LP to feature an elvis track?”
BAZ LUHRMAN’S “ELVIS” has made thousands of know-nothings into overnight experts on both Presley and Tom Parker. While I loved the movie (and appreciate the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing Austin Butler’s phenomenal performance), Luhrman took some serious “artistic license” with many facts about both men’s careers. [Read more] “just gimme some truth about colonel parker”
WHEN I BEGAN MY BOOK A Touch of Gold book way back in 1988, I was mostly concerned with vinyl records. While the book eventually embraced a broad spectrum of music-related collectibles, I focused on 78 and 45 rpm singles and EP and LP albums. I paid little attention to prerecorded tapes than I did. [Read more] “Elvis Presley Tapes is up and running!”
SOMEONE ASKED ME, “Should I believe anything I read about Elvis on Quora?” I believe in answering yes-or-no questions with a yes or a no, so I responded with a simple “Yes.” But I also believe in adding necessary caveats to those one-word answers so I followed that with, “But only if I wrote it.” [Read more] “should I believe anything I read about elvis on quora?”
I DON’T NORMALLY DO BOOK REVIEWS because I find it difficult to communicate my enthusiasm without including spoilers. But here I offer a short story review. Twenty-five years ago, I was turned on to Lew Shiner’s novel Glimpses. I loved the book and found Shiner’s other novels and read them and I became a fan. [Read more] “lew shiner, elvis, and “mystery train””