Well, bust my britches, here it is January 8, Elvis Presley's birthday! Now, a mere 20 days after the young rock crooner had celebrated his 21st, back in 1956, he stepped onto the stage at CBS Studio in New York City and made his
US national television debut, on the Dorsey Brothers show. Seems he was hot property from the get-go, cause he was back on that stage, straightaway, for five more appearances, on February
4th,
11th and
18th, then again on March
17th and
24th. And, yeah, heck, he was pretty good.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jan 8, 2012 -
42 comments
A decade on, the Coen brothers' woefully underrated
O Brother, Where Art Thou? [alt] is remembered for
a lot of things: its sun-drenched, sepia-rich
cinematography (a pioneer of
digital color grading), its
whimsical humor,
fluid vernacular, and
many subtle references to Homer's
Odyssey. But one part of its legacy truly stands out:
the music.
Assembled by
T-Bone Burnett, the soundtrack is a cornucopia of American folk music, exhibiting everything from
cheery ballads and
angelic hymns to
wistful blues and
chain-gang anthems. Woven into the plot of the film through radio and live performances, the songs lent the story a
heartfelt, homespun feel that echoed its cultural heritage,
a paean and uchronia of the Old South.
Though the multiplatinum album was recently
reissued, the movie's medley is best heard via famed documentarian
D. A. Pennebaker's
Down from the Mountain, an
extraordinary yet
intimate concert film focused on a night of live music by the soundtrack's stars (among them
Gillian Welch,
Emmylou Harris,
Chris Thomas King, bluegrass legend
Dr. Ralph Stanley) and wryly hosted by
John Hartford, an accomplished
fiddler,
riverboat captain, and
raconteur whose struggle with terminal cancer made this his last major performance. The film is free in its entirety on
Hulu and
YouTube -- click inside for individual clips, song links, and breakdowns of
the set list's fascinating history.
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Dec 22, 2011 -
107 comments
He Touched Me: The Gospel Music of Elvis Presley -- Where other documentaries have focused on the early rock-and-roll of the Sun years, the Memphis Mafia, or the fat, drugged Elvis of the Las Vegas era, this documentary focusses on a side of Elvis many people may not be familiar with, and does a convincing job showing that it was early Southern gospel groups (both black and white) which were his true love and the main musical influence throughout his life. Filled with wonderful archival footage and revealing, and rather tender interviews from his band and his backup singers. (Part One)
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11 And here is a clip of Elvis singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic section from his American Trilogy, used to good effect in the
Bazooka & Jetpack Scene from the movie Kick Ass. [This post dedicated to "The King" of Metafilter music, the mighty mighty
flapjax at midnight]
posted by puny human
on Jan 24, 2011 -
13 comments
For the 75th birthday of Elvis Presley (yesterday in most time zones), here is an Elvis Impersonator doing famous TV theme songs:
The Flintstones,
The Partridge Family,
Rawhide,
WKRP (opening theme, wish he'd try the end theme),
Danger Man (Secret Agent Man, the full-length Johnnie Rivers version),
The Brady Bunch,
The Love Boat and
Cheers (maybe next time Frasier's 'scrambled eggs song'?).
Other wacky musical repurposing from the same silly singer includes David Bowie (celebrating his 62nd birthday on the 8th) doing Elvis'
Viva Las Vegas.
posted by oneswellfoop
on Jan 8, 2010 -
13 comments
Fifty years ago, those decrying rock 'n' roll as devil music that would crumble the morals of America needed to look no further than
Wanda Jackson for evidence. Her
raspy, brassy voice,
suggestive lyrics, and
sexual energy were almost unbelievable for the Eisenhower years. Coaxed into singing rockabilly by her then-boyfriend,
Elvis, she had a
string of
rock hits, before marrying and IBM programmer and switching to more traditional,
conservative country music.
posted by Jon_Evil
on Aug 20, 2009 -
23 comments
"The most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear," Frank Sinatra wrote of rock 'n' roll during the time of Elvis Presley. But Frank wasn't stupid... he knew his relevance was fading and if you can't beat 'em, you have to join 'em. So in
1960, Elvis Presley was welcomed home from his two year
military tour by the
Frank Sinatra Timex Show "Welcome Home Elvis" special. Later Sinatra said,
"I'm just a singer. Elvis was the embodiment of the whole American culture."
posted by miss lynnster
on Feb 26, 2008 -
17 comments
Today is the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley so it seems somewhat appropriate that we remember not only
The man King but his music as well, including
Jailhouse Rock,
Love Me Tender,
In The Ghetto,
Unchained Melody,
Always on My Mind,
Burning Love,
Suspicious Minds,
Return to Sender,
Blue Christmas,
Heartbreak Hotel,
It's Now Or Never,
Hound Dog,
My Way,
Don't Be Cruel,
Way Down,
Are You Lonesome Tonight,
Amazing Grace,
You've Lost That Loving Feeling,
Promised Land,
Viva Las Vegas and
many more.
Here's the lyrics if you want to sing along to any of those. Not a fan of his music? Fair enough. Why not go make yourself
a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich? Just don't eat 12 to 15 of them in one sitting!
posted by Effigy2000
on Aug 15, 2007 -
78 comments
Fifty years ago today
Elvis Presley recorded what would prove to be one of the iconic standards of the rock'n'roll canon,
Leiber and Stoller's
Jailhouse Rock. The song's sly allusions
("number 47 said to number three, you're the cutest jailbird I ever did see") to same-sex prison liaisons went unnoticed (or at least uncommented on) at the time, and it stayed a US #1 radio hit for 7 weeks straight. The unisex
production number [youtube] from the
movie of the same name has come to be recognized as one of the grandfathers of the pop/rock video. A black-leather-clad, still-svelte Presley performed the song on his
1968 [youtube] "comeback" TV special, and was singing it (slurred delivery, sequins and all) right up into
1977 [youtube], the year of his death. In 1980 John Belushi and company turned in a fine
version [youtube] as the closer to the Blues Brothers movie, and the song was a regular feature of their
live [youtube] shows as well. Happy 50th birthday,
Jailhouse Rock!
posted by flapjax at midnite
on May 2, 2007 -
52 comments
Rock 'n Roll Disciples [qt] (also known as
Mondo Elvis and
The Cult That Is Elvis) is a 30-minute 1984 indie documentary about Elvis worshippers.
Artie Mentz, professional Elvis impersonator, tells of how Elvis' death has altered his experience as an impersonator. "Now it's sort of like being a duplicate without an original." He also discusses his five year old son following in his footsteps. Artie's wife Ellie is obviously supportive of Artie's profession, despite financial hardships. Judy and Jenny Caroll, teenage identical twins, on their relationships with boys: "If they say anything against God or Elvis, they get thrown out on their ass." They reveal their belief that Elvis is their father. Frankie "Buttons" Horrocks tells us that her husband left her because of "excessive devotion to Elvis."
Poignant and hilarious
. Also available on YouTube in three segment:
1,
2,
3.
posted by Armitage Shanks
on Mar 14, 2007 -
7 comments
The Afghan Elvis (with
YouTube clip),
the Soviet Elvis (
played by Tom Hanks),
the French Elvis (now seeking
Belgian citizenship),
the Mexican Elvis,
the Swedish Elvis,
the Filipino Elvis,
the Chinese Elvis,
the Sikh Elvis,
the Japanese Elvis who became a Prime Minister, and other
foreign Elvii.
posted by jonp72
on Aug 21, 2006 -
20 comments
Elvis Post-It Note Mosaic "My boss decided that we needed to do something fun and creative in one of our conference rooms - the one we use for brainstorming and internal meetings - and together we came up with the idea of filling the wall with post-it notes in a multicolored mosaic of (and i’m not sure whose idea this was)
Elvis."
posted by ColdChef
on Jun 22, 2005 -
15 comments
Doctor Ammondt. When
Jukka Ammondt is not too busy teaching European Romantic Literature at Finland's
Jyväskylä University, he enjoys recording rock'n'roll covers in Latin. For Dr. Ammondt's 1997 CD, "
Rocking in Latin", he has covered, among others,
Shake, Rattle and Roll (Quate, Crepa, Rota) and
All Shook Up (Nunc Distrahor). More recently, Dr. Ammondt has released
an EP in which he sings Sumerian, featuring a cover of the Elvis hit "Blue Suede Shoes" ("E-sír kusv-za-gìn-g-á", which roughly translates to "On my sandals of sky-blue leather do not step!"). Live, he wears a leather kilt, blue sandals and is "
backed up by musicians dressed as Sumerian governors". He has received the Pope's Medal in 1994. Ammondt will release a single,
Codex Fluitans, and dedicate it to the Pope on the day of his funeral. (Previous Metafilter mention
here.)
posted by ori
on Apr 7, 2005 -
1 comment
Cutting up the King: This seems sacrilegious, even if the tapes
are deteriorating. They're planning to cut up some of Elvis Presley's original master tapes from Sun Studio and
sell them as collectibles. I suppose one could email the
publicity contact if this bothered them. The snipping starts tomorrow.
posted by bendybendy
on Jan 26, 2004 -
8 comments
Elvis so loved the world that he died, fat and bloated, in a bathroom. For unto you is born this day in the city of Memphis a Presley, which is Elvis the King. And Elvis saw them berating the poor recording artist, whose music was terrible and lyrics insipid, and Lo, the King said unto the mob: "Let him who is without bad singles cast the first rhinestone." And the mob turned down their eyes, each considering his own Don't Worry Be Happy or Man in the Mirror, and shuffled off. "Thank you," said Elvis. "Thank you very much."
posted by quonsar
on Feb 28, 2003 -
18 comments
The King As Art. Artist Naoki Mitsuse writes, "I remember reading an article in the morning paper about a local teenage girl who had thrown herself out of a balcony of a tall apartment building, leaving a note that said something like, 'now that Elvis is dead, I have nothing to live for and goodbye.' This had a profound impact on me and I realized then, that Elvis was a very powerful man." So the artist created
two series of Elvis paintings that are way better than any Elvis on black velvet you might find on eBay.
posted by VelvetHellvis
on Dec 30, 2002 -
10 comments
Elvis was a hero to most but he never meant shit to me … "Media arrogance and dishonesty means we are eternally bound to live in a skewed world where Elvis is king of rock'n'roll, Clapton is the guitar god, Sinatra is the voice and Astaire is the greatest dancer."
Is it right to celebrate an artist who’s fame derived from appropriating and diluting the
original music of black America?
posted by niceness
on Aug 16, 2002 -
111 comments
Is The King Finally Dead, After 25 Years? Elvis Presley died on 16 August 1977 and, silly season or not,
The Observer, kicking off with
Nik Cohn's above-linked essay, has assembled a cracking collection of articles, interviews and humorous pieces about the controversial crooner, mainly directed (I'd say) at
non-fans. To my mind, the most enjoyable are
Nigel Slater's brave attempt to make the famous
Presley sandwich; the weird interview with
Larry Geller, his
hairdresser and spiritual advisor; the account of Elvis's only (secret)
visit to Britain;
Michael Odell's funny set of instructions on
how not to behave at an Elvis party; an
interview with George Nichopoulos, the doctor who wrote out more than 10,000 prescriptions for him; a round-up of ludicrous
ex-girlfriends' memories and, as an after-thought, a collector's report on locating that legendary first
"Uh-huh" of his. It's all good stuff but one has to ask whether, in this day and age, it isn't, er,
overkill. Is Elvis Presley still that relevant or is he slowly becoming a figure of fun? Whether or not he's actually dead, of course, is entirely another matter...
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Aug 11, 2002 -
22 comments
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