Saturday the 8th would have been Elvis Presley's 70th birthday. I Heart Elvis. In fact, my very first real post on this blog was written about Elvis just in time for his birthday.
I don't know if anything is happening in LA in honor of this momentous occasion. The Burgundy Room, my favorite Hollywood hang, always does a tribute. Expect to hear "Kentucky Rain." Beauty.
Elvis spent lots of time here... He liked to meditate at the Self Realization Center (he was always on a quest for personal fulfillment) and ditched Priscilla in a house in the hills when he wanted to play with his boys in Vegas. Lisa Marie lives in the Valley. There is definitley an appreciation of The King in Los Angeles, especially at Palms Thai in Hollywood where the Thai Elvis (aka Kevin) performs on weekends. And well, I may add. Members of Elvis' backing vocal group from his Vegas days have been known to jump on stage with Thai Elvis (who I saw open for the Lords of Altamont once - radical).
Europe is doing all sorts of stuff, from a 3 day convention in England to a tribute concert at the "Elvis My Happiness" shop in Paris. Did you know that SIRIUS Satelitte has an Elvis Channel? Pretty cool. Anyway, on Saturday they'll have all kinds of guests ranging from backup singers The Jordanaires to Kissin' Cousins co-star Cynthia Pepper. AMC will be showing Elvis movies all weekend (of course) and if you stay up till 1AM PST, you can see "King Creole" which is seriously one of the best movies ever. Walter Matthau, bad guy! Elvis' girl, killed! The crap movies are on during the day, but catch "Easy Come Easy Go" for the original "A Little Less Conversation" and that goofy song about yoga. (I'm pretty sure it's that movie, anyway.)
Elvis is everywhere, as Mojo Nixon says, and that won't be changing any time soon. In fact, it may get worse. Lisa Marie Presley sold off the bulk of Elvis Presley Enterprises on December 16th to some guy named Robert Sillerman. In the deal, he gets all trademark rights to the name, likeness and image of Elvis Presley and all EPE-owned intellectual property, including its collection of photographs, archival documents and footage, and EPE's successful music publishing catalog, as well as the Graceland visitor center complex and Heartbreak Hotel across the street from the mansion and all other EPE real estate investments. Lisa Marie gets Graceland and her dad's knick knacks. Well, it's her money. And her kids.
It's supposed to rain this weekend, so I'll probably light my Elvis divinity candles and watch Nick Cage doing his best King in "Wild At Heart," cos he does it good. Catch the comeback special (Elvis in leather, yum!), play some good old rock and roll, have some fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Actually, I'll pass on those - thank you, thank you very much.
