a blog about elvis presley's music and records
MEMORABILIA collects articles addressing the staggering array of products that have been manufactured to promote or exploit Presley’s fame during his life. I tend to focus on the ads and items that RCA Victor made to promote or exploit Elvis’ records, and the studios made to promote his movies.
Of course, the most collected memorabilia are the toys, trinkets, photos, dolls, and bubblegum cards manufactured in the 1950s and authorized by Elvis Presley Enterprise.
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IT’S NOT JUST ELVIS! Jeff Jampol is an estate representative who handles the “brands” and assets of such stars as Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and the Ramones. He tells a story of having dinner with friends in their thirties and forties and asking them to name the titles of three Beatle songs. [Continue reading]
THE PRIVATE LIVES of other human beings rarely interest me. This includes the people I deal with every day along with the people I enjoy as artists, athletes, entertainers, and even politicians. Consequently, I don’t read many biographies and rarely write about people’s lifestyles. 1
When I write biographically about a musician on my Rather Rare Records blog, their sex lives or the drugs they used only interest me to the degree that it affected their music and creativity. [Continue reading]
COUNTERFEITING ELVIS ITEMS has been going on since at least the early ’60s when the FBI believes that mob-related organizations printed millions of copies of several best-selling albums from the 1950s and early ’60s. Other records include fine reproductions of the Sun 45s and 78s, various pieces of memorabilia, and fake sets of the 1956 Topps bubble gum cards. [Continue reading]