Books about Elvis Presley
Last Train to Memphis
Amazon.com Promo Editorial ImageAugust 16 marks the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, one of the greatest American entertainers who ever lived. His life was fascinating to people across the world, and his music remains in the collective consciousness of his fans. Numerous books have been written to commemorate the life of this magical, tragic man and for those with even a passing interest in his life or his music, any of these books would be perfect for a read in memory of Elvis.
Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, by Peter Guralnick, details the live of Elvis Presley before his name was a common household word. For the first 24 years of his life, Elvis was relatively unkown, and Guralnick does a thorough job of explaining the man before he was a star.
Elvis by the Presleys
Amazon.com Promo Editorial ImageCareless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, by Peter Guralnick, is one of the best of the multitude of biographies written on the life and career of Elvis. The counterpart to Last Train to Memphis, it follows Presley’s life from his introduction to stardom to his untimely death. Many biographies take creative liberties with the facts surrounding aspects of Presley’s life and death, but Guralnick’s work has been noted for its rigorous fairness and meticulous attention to fact. For those looking to start learning about the life of Elvis or for a dedicated fan, Careless Love is an excellent choice.
The Elvis Encyclopedia, by Adam Victor, is a very detailed portrait of the life of Elvis during his time in and out of the limelight. Featuring numerous photographs of the star, including some rare pictures unseen by many, this is one book sure to delight any fan. In addition to more basic biographical facts, there are also entries on Elvis’s opinions on religion, as well as his last will and testament.
E is for Elvis
Amazon.com Promo Editorial ImageElvis by the Presleys, a book written by Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley, is filled with family stories, photographs and acts as a companion volume to other media recollections of Presley family members. Although it is not a comprehensive retelling of life with Elvis, Elvis by the Presleys is a warm and inviting series of memories and images pair in tribute to the man they knew and loved.
E is for Elvis: The Elvis Presley Alphabet, by Jennie Ivey, W. Calvin Dickinson and Lisa W. Rand, is a whimsical and interesting look at the King. Beautifully illustrated by Ron Wireman, Jr. and featuring entries like O is for Overweight, E is for Elvis offers a humorous and magical look at the image of Elvis and the magic h
August 13, 2009
Books about Elvis Presley
The Gospel According to Elvis Presley: Elvis' gospel recordings (gospel videos included)
The Gospel According to Elvis Presley: Elvis' gospel recordings (gospel videos included)The Gospel According to Elvis Presley
Born and raised in the Bible belt and baptized at First Assembly of God Church in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis grew up singing in church, reading the Bible and developing his life-long interest in spiritual matters. According to elvisgospel.com, Elvis held Bible studies at his home in Bel Air, California, where he lived while making films during the mid 1960s, and Wikipedia indicates "It is well known that Elvis Presley was a devout Christian."
As reported in Who Was Elvis Presley? Elvis had a fascination with gospel music from his childhood and he named gospel pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe as an early influence. Rolling Stone once reported, "Gospel pervaded Elvis' character and was a defining and enduring influence all of his days." According to Christian Century, Elvis wrote more than 50 gospel songs and recorded many classic hymns in his career.
Elvis recorded and performed with gospel groups throughout his long career. Some of the gospel groups Elvis worked with would include: the Blackwoods, the Songfellows, the Imperials, The Jordanaires, the Sweet Inspirations, and J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet.
In 1957 Elvis released his first gospel EP as well as a Christmas album. The best-known gospel song Elvis recorded and performed is probably the hymn "How Great Thou Art" released on a 1967 album and again as a single. Elvis would sometimes personalize the song by singing "my God how great I think You are." His live version of "How Great Thou Art" won Elvis Presley a Grammy award in 1974.
In total, Presley won three Grammy awards for his gospel recordings: "How Great Thou Art" the album, "How Great Thou Art" the single, and the album "He Touched Me."
Although Elvis Presley turned to spiritualism in his later years, he never completely turned from his Christian roots. According to his friend and background singer Joe Moscheo, not only was being a gospel performer the first dream of his life, it was one one Elvis never fully left. His last gospel recording was Promised Land in 1975. Two years later, on August 16, 1977, Elvis Presley was dead.Elvis Presley's gospel albums and EPs
A list of gospel albums and EPs recorded by Elvis Presley would include:
1957 Elvis' Christmas Album - this album was reissued and repackaged several times over the years
1957 Peace in the Valley - released as an extended play
1957 Elvis Sings Christmas Songs - released as an extended play
1958 Christmas with Elvis - released as an extended play
1960 His Hand in Mine
1967 How Great Thou Art - How Great Thou Art was Presley's second full-length gospel album and won a Grammy Award in 1967 for Best Sacred Performance
1971 Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas
1972 He Touched Me
1975 Promised Land
Another popular gospel music video on YouTube is Elvis Presley singing "O Happy Day."
For more info:GMA 2004 Year-End Release (features Elvis)
Mr. Skin’s Top Celebrity Nude Scenes!
Mr. Skin’s Top Celebrity Nude Scenes!
“Mr Skin finally unveils the top 10 sexiest, barest babes in all of cinema. Alyssa Milano, Halle Berry, and Jessica Biel are all included, but which sexy celebrity grabbed the #1 spot? Find out from Mr. Skin and a few of his famous, funny friends!”
Mr. Skin’s Top Celebrity Nude Scenes!Back to Big Star | Music Features | Memphis Flyer
Back to Big Star A CD/vinyl reissue and companion book inspire a new look at a classic Memphis band.by Chris HerringtonArticle Tools * Email a Friend * Print * Share o Digg o Newsvine o del.icio.us o Facebook o Reddit * Save this Story Saving… * Add to Custom List Loading… * Comments (1)music_feature1-1.jpgPerhaps no artist or band in the annals of Memphis music has had as long and significant a shelf life based on such a small catalog and as little success in its own time as Big Star, the '70s Memphis rock band that united former Box Tops lead singer Alex Chilton with a pre-existing trio of Chris Bell (vocals/guitar), Andy Hummel (basBack to Big Star | Music Features | Memphis FlyerBack to Big Star
A CD/vinyl reissue and companion book inspire a new look at a classic Memphis band.
by Chris Herringtons), and Jody Stephens (drums). (Though initially his band, Bell left Big Star after the band's first album and died in a car crash in 1979.)In its initial run, the band recorded three haphazardly distributed albums over the course of just a few years (only Chilton and Stephens on board for each record), toured sporadically, got good press, and had no hits. This obscurity grew over time into a considerable cult that famously yielded a generation's worth of alternative and college-radio bands such as R.E.M., the Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, and countless others inspired by Big Star's skewed Memphis take on what became known as power pop.Recently, the band's afterlife — a reunited version of the band, led by Chilton and Stephens, now performs and records occasionally — got a couple of new chapters: The single-disc edition of the band's first two albums, #1 Record (1972) and Radio City (1974), has been remastered and reissued by Ardent/Stax via the Concord Music Group, with the addition of singles mixes of the songs "In the Street" and "Oh My Soul." There are also separate re-released vinyl editions of each album with faithful re-creations of the original artwork.Simultaneous with the CD and album reissues is an installment in Continuum's 33 1/3 book series — a popular collection of pamphlet-style treatments on individual albums — on Radio City by Bruce Eaton, a Buffalo, New York-based jazz concert producer who is an acquaintance of Chilton. In the preface, Eaton recounts first buying Radio City at a used bin of a Buffalo record store in 1976 and three years later finding himself on stage with Chilton playing the Big Star classic "September Gurls."The Radio City book can be rough going at first: Eaton's repeated faux-self-deprecating descriptions of himself as a "vinyl junkie" and recovering "rock snob" become annoying. (Typical example: "For rock snobs, the more obscure your favorite band, the better.") And his fandom sometimes results in overwritten overstatement, as when Eaton connects his post-college love of Radio City to the '60s pop he listened to on the radio as a teenager:"It's as if all the music coming out of all the little transistor radio speakers ... had somehow been beamed into outer space to some distant planet and then transformed by a band of musical alchemists into something both fresh and yet familiar and sent back to Earth in a stream of glowing super-charged electrical particles by a wizard of sound."Um, yeah, dude. (The book is also hampered by frequent copy-editing oversights.)music_feature1-2.jpgWhat Eaton's book has going for it is a personal connection to Chilton that provides him with rare access to the somewhat reclusive icon and an insistence on focusing more on the music itself and the circumstances of its recording than the more familiar personality-based story of the band's brief initial life.Eaton tells the story in something close to oral-history form with lengthy interview segments primarily from Chilton, Stephens, Hummel, and Ardent founder John Fry, including song-by-song commentary that is particularly illuminating if you're reading along with the album.The musical discussion includes lots of techie talk and recording jargon that non-musicians may struggle to fully grasp. (Example: "We used an oscillator to vary the speed of the two-track tape recorder, and thus vary the pitch of the instrument being overdubbed.") But you'll also learn a lot about the record and hear things in it you may not have before.In the discussion of "Life Is White," for instance, you see that, in Big Star's hands, slide guitar, honky-tonk piano, folkie harmonica, and maracas somehow joined forces to create "power pop." Eaton's book helps you hear the influence of baroque classical music on the middle guitar-only verse of "Way Out West" and the Paul McCartney influence on Hummel's bass playing on the same song.Partly it seems due to Eaton's own musicianly biases and partly because of Chilton's at times dismissive and at times regretful attitude on the subject that the Radio City book doesn't spend much time on lyrics or even meaning."I had no clue about what songwriting stuff I wanted to do," Chilton says to Eaton. "I knew what musical structures I wanted to play, but putting lyrics with it was not my strong suit in those days. I tried, but I don't think I ever succeeded on the Radio City album. I don't think there's one good song of mine on the record. To me the only good song on the album is Andy's ['Way Out West']. I definitely prefer #1 Record. There are four or five tunes on that record I think are really good."Chilton is too hard on himself here, but there's a kernel of truth to it, which is probably why I agree with him in preferring #1 Record, with its classic, hushed teen anti-anthem "Thirteen" and the rock-and-roll haiku of "In the Street" sitting beside Bell's devotional testaments "My Life Is Right" and "Try Again."With the new two-albums-on-one-disc reissue, it's easy to judge for yourself — in the event you haven't already spent years doing so.
Perhaps no artist or band in the annals of Memphis music has had as long and significant a shelf life based on such a small catalog and as little success in its own time as Big Star, the '70s Memphis rock band that united former Box Tops lead singer Alex Chilton with a pre-existing trio of Chris Bell (vocals/guitar), Andy Hummel (bass), and Jody Stephens (drums). (Though initially his band, Bell left Big Star after the band's first album and died in a car crash in 1979.)
In its initial run, the band recorded three haphazardly distributed albums over the course of just a few years (only Chilton and Stephens on board for each record), toured sporadically, got good press, and had no hits. This obscurity grew over time into a considerable cult that famously yielded a generation's worth of alternative and college-radio bands such as R.E.M., the Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, and countless others inspired by Big Star's skewed Memphis take on what became known as power pop.
Recently, the band's afterlife — a reunited version of the band, led by Chilton and Stephens, now performs and records occasionally — got a couple of new chapters: The single-disc edition of the band's first two albums, #1 Record (1972) and Radio City (1974), has been remastered and reissued by Ardent/Stax via the Concord Music Group, with the addition of singles mixes of the songs "In the Street" and "Oh My Soul." There are also separate re-released vinyl editions of each album with faithful re-creations of the original artwork.
Simultaneous with the CD and album reissues is an installment in Continuum's 33 1/3 book series — a popular collection of pamphlet-style treatments on individual albums — on Radio City by Bruce Eaton, a Buffalo, New York-based jazz concert producer who is an acquaintance of Chilton. In the preface, Eaton recounts first buying Radio City at a used bin of a Buffalo record store in 1976 and three years later finding himself on stage with Chilton playing the Big Star classic "September Gurls."
The Radio City book can be rough going at first: Eaton's repeated faux-self-deprecating descriptions of himself as a "vinyl junkie" and recovering "rock snob" become annoying. (Typical example: "For rock snobs, the more obscure your favorite band, the better.") And his fandom sometimes results in overwritten overstatement, as when Eaton connects his post-college love of Radio City to the '60s pop he listened to on the radio as a teenager:
"It's as if all the music coming out of all the little transistor radio speakers ... had somehow been beamed into outer space to some distant planet and then transformed by a band of musical alchemists into something both fresh and yet familiar and sent back to Earth in a stream of glowing super-charged electrical particles by a wizard of sound."
Um, yeah, dude. (The book is also hampered by frequent copy-editing oversights.)
What Eaton's book has going for it is a personal connection to Chilton that provides him with rare access to the somewhat reclusive icon and an insistence on focusing more on the music itself and the circumstances of its recording than the more familiar personality-based story of the band's brief initial life.
Eaton tells the story in something close to oral-history form with lengthy interview segments primarily from Chilton, Stephens, Hummel, and Ardent founder John Fry, including song-by-song commentary that is particularly illuminating if you're reading along with the album.
The musical discussion includes lots of techie talk and recording jargon that non-musicians may struggle to fully grasp. (Example: "We used an oscillator to vary the speed of the two-track tape recorder, and thus vary the pitch of the instrument being overdubbed.") But you'll also learn a lot about the record and hear things in it you may not have before.
In the discussion of "Life Is White," for instance, you see that, in Big Star's hands, slide guitar, honky-tonk piano, folkie harmonica, and maracas somehow joined forces to create "power pop." Eaton's book helps you hear the influence of baroque classical music on the middle guitar-only verse of "Way Out West" and the Paul McCartney influence on Hummel's bass playing on the same song.
Partly it seems due to Eaton's own musicianly biases and partly because of Chilton's at times dismissive and at times regretful attitude on the subject that the Radio City book doesn't spend much time on lyrics or even meaning.
"I had no clue about what songwriting stuff I wanted to do," Chilton says to Eaton. "I knew what musical structures I wanted to play, but putting lyrics with it was not my strong suit in those days. I tried, but I don't think I ever succeeded on the Radio City album. I don't think there's one good song of mine on the record. To me the only good song on the album is Andy's ['Way Out West']. I definitely prefer #1 Record. There are four or five tunes on that record I think are really good."
Chilton is too hard on himself here, but there's a kernel of truth to it, which is probably why I agree with him in preferring #1 Record, with its classic, hushed teen anti-anthem "Thirteen" and the rock-and-roll haiku of "In the Street" sitting beside Bell's devotional testaments "My Life Is Right" and "Try Again."
With the new two-albums-on-one-disc reissue, it's easy to judge for yourself — in the event you haven't already spent years doing so.
Michael Jackson Laid to Rest at The Insider
After weeks of speculation regarding the burial site, Michael Jackson has finally been laid to rest. The King of Pop was buried in an unmarked plot at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills over the weekend. According to a source, the Jackson family and Forest Lawn management are the only people who know the exact location of the grave. The source said “The fear is that thousands of Jackson fans will descend on the cemetery and damage or deface the grave.” If the site is discovered, they already have plans to move the body. It is also being said that the singer has been laid to rest near his grandmother, Martha Bridges, who passed away in 1990.Michael Jackson Laid to Rest at The Insider
Michael Jackson and Self Esteem » Blog Archive » Genetic Lottery
Michael Jackson and Self Esteem » Blog Archive » Genetic LotteryOn Monday, August 10, 2009—two women filed court papers saying they were biological mothers of Michael’s kids. Billie Jean Jackson (apparently her real name) claimed that she was Blanket’s mother while Claire Elisabeth Fields Cruise (CEFC ) filed a petition with the Los Angeles Superior Court saying that she is bio mom of all three MJ’s kids.
Earlier, CEFC had also claimed that she was legally married to Michael back in the 80s and at one point had claimed and she and Michael are biological parents of one of Tom Cruise’s son Connor Cruise!
L. Londell McMillan, Katherine Jackson’s lawyer called these allegations a “genetic lottery” after Mark Lester, a friend of Michael Jackson and ex-Oliver (child artist from the 50s) claimed to be the father of Paris Jackson – but not of either Prince Michaels.
Now, the latest ‘lottery’ is being played by a Mexican nurse who goes by the name of “Helena”. She claimed earlier today that she is Blanket’s mom and was paid by Michael to carry His sperm and another woman’s embryo to term. Basically, she, Michael and an unknown woman are biological parents of Blanket. That Michael paid her (Helena) $20,000.00 to give birth to Blanket while the other woman got approx $3,500.00 to donate her eggs to Michael. Michael is the sperm donor.
While it is funny initially, especially when you hear the likes of CEFC give a “press conference” like Q & A session with the media, the humour quickly runs out when you realize what Michael had to go through since his early teens and still isn’t done answering allegations of who parented what child of his.
And, while it really doesn’t matter who gave the sperm or who carried what child to term, what does matter is the three kids surfing the net and reading all this crap (as Michael would put it) about them and their origins.
Michael’s three kids will really have to work very hard all their lives to remember how much their dad, their ONLY dad, Michael Jackson loved them. And even if He turns out not to be their biological father, fact of the matter remains that no one loved those kids as much as Michael Jackson did.
I truly hope Prince, Paris and Blanket grow up to love, respect and appreciate their father for not only the great human being that He was but also for what He faced daily not only from the media, the paparazzi but also from evil children of satan like Evan Chandler, Jodie Chandler and his family, Martin Bashir, Tom Sneddon, Ian Halperin, Diane Diamond, Randy Taborelli, Uri Gheller and all the others like them who tried to make a buck by taking advantage of Michael’s good heart, innocence, His trust in human decency and His love for children of all ages and race.
It will take those kids to muster the strength of Michael Jackson’s name and fame to face the world and say SO WHAT? Who cares what people think? It will have to take Michael Jackson’s love from the grave to get these kids to say “Michael Jackson, and only He was our daddy and we love Him even today—just as He was”!
Michael Jackson—He will always be in my heart!
Les Paul R.I.P. - June 9, 1915 - August 13, 2009 - OBITUTWEET via @mrjyn
jimmy page and i say, thanks for 'the log'!http://bit.ly/BhJmn
June 9, 1915 - August 13, 2009via @mrjyn
Lester William Polfuss, known as Les Paul (June 9, 1915 - August 13, 2009
STAY TUNED @mrjyn http://twitter.com/mrjyn for more Les
Paul tribute news and video:
He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which "made the sound of rock and roll possible."
His many recording innovations include overdubbing, delay effects such as "sound on sound" and tape delay, phasing effects, and multitrack recording.
He was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin to George and Evelyn Polsfuss. The family name was first simplified by his mother to Polfuss before he took his stage name of Les Paul. He also used the nickname "Red Hot Red".
Paul first became interested in music at the age of eight, when he began playing the harmonica. After an attempt at learning to play the banjo, he began to play the guitar. By 13, Paul was performing semi-professionally as a country-music guitarist. At the age of 17, Paul played with Rube Tronson's Texas Cowboys, and soon after he dropped out of high school to join Wolverton's Radio Band in St. Louis, Missouri on KMOX.
In the 1930s, Paul worked in Chicago in radio, where he performed jazz music. Paul's first two records were released in 1936. One was credited to Rhubarb Red, Paul's hillbilly alter ego, and the other was as an accompanist for blues artist Georgia White.
In January 1948, Paul was injured in a near-fatal automobile accident in Oklahoma, which shattered his right arm and elbow. Doctors told Paul that there was no way for them to rebuild his elbow in a way that would let him regain movement, and that his arm would remain in whatever position they placed it in permanently. Paul then instructed the surgeons to set his arm at an angle that would allow him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him a year and a half to recover.
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Guitar legend Les Paul dies at age 94 - Stay Tuned @mrjyn for Tribute
The Associated Press: Guitar legend Les Paul dies at age 94Guitar legend Les Paul dies at age 94WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.
According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.
As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock 'n' roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the "tracks" in the finished recording.
Art hotels of the world | Travel | guardian.co.uk
Art hotels of the world | Travel | guardian.co.uk
The Hotel Chelsea, New York: One of the original 'art hotels'. In the 50s and 60s artists, writers and musicians took up cheap lodgings here, leaving works of art in lieu of rent, which decorate the hotel today. The roll call includes Sir Arthur C Clarke, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Stanley Kubrick, Arthur Miller, Dee Dee Ramone, Larry Rivers, Dylan Thomas, and Tennessee Williams. Rooms from £96 a night. +1 212 243 3700hotelchelsea.com
Photograph: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
Hotel du Petit Moulin, Paris: French designer Christian Lacroix has transformed the interior of this former bakery. The 17 rooms represent 17 ways to discover the area Le Marais, from rustic history to zen spaces. Doubles from €190, room only (+33 1 42 74 10 10; paris-hotel-petitmoulin.com).
Propeller Island Hotel, Berlin: One of several art hotels in Berlin, at Propeller Island even the hotel music is part of the art experience. Some rooms are more user-friendly than others. Shown here is the Freedom room, which one suspects might inspire the need to escape. Rooms from €69-115pp pn. +49 (0)30 891 9016, propeller-island.de
21c Museum Hotel, Louisville, Kentucky: The hotel is housed in what were five abandoned tobacco and bourbon warehouses and displays works of art in elevators, courtyards, roof, and even the toilets. Visitors can see installations and exhibitions by emerging and recognised artists, such as Bill Viola, Tony Oursler, Sam Taylor-Wood and David Levinthal. Doubles from $165 (low season), +1 502 217 6300, 21cmuseumhotel.com
Broomhill Art Hotel and sculpture garden, North Devon: This six-bedroom Victorian hotel has its own contemporary art gallery and 10-acre sculpture park, displaying over 300 sculptures which guests are free to view during their stay. Doubles from £75 a night B&B, +44 (0)1271 850262, broomhillart.co.uk
Gramercy Park Hotel, New York: The hotel's design is the creation of Julian Schnabel, whose painting Suddenly Last Summer (Picasso Painting No. 2) hangs above the fireplace. In the back corner is Andy Warhol's Rorschach. Doubles from £240. +1 866 784 1300, gramercyparkhotel.com
Hotel des Arts, San Francisco: Leading emerging artists from the around the world were given full artistic control to turn rooms into individual art spaces. The results range from full installations, to pop art or graffiti. Doubles from £39 a night. sfhoteldesarts.com
The Colombe D'Or, St Paul de Vence, Provence: An art hotel where great artists like Picasso and Matisse really did hang out, and left their work for future guests to enjoy. Here an Alexander Calder mobile stands next to the swimming pool. Doubles from £283 a night, +33 4 93 32 80 02, la-colombe-dor.com
Fox hotel, Copenhagen, Denmark: Manga cartoons, street art, whimsical fantasy creations or graphic designs adorn the rooms at Fox Hotel. In this room UK designers Container have used a royal theme based on the suits in a pack of cards 'to emphasise the feeling of being special that one gets when one stays in a hotel'. Doubles from about £89 incl breakfast (depending on season). +45 33 95 77 55, hotelfox.dk
Atelier Sul Mare, Sicily: Sitting right on Sicily's coast at Castel di Tusa, Atelier Sul Mare sets out to be a hotel-museum where guests wake up among the art works. This room recreates a fairytale by Sicilian author Vincenzo Consolo about the fall of the moon (represented by the bed). Nineteen olive tree sculptures represent wisdom. Art rooms from €80 (£69) a night B&B, regular rooms from €60pp pn. +39 (0)921 334 295, ateliersulmare.it
Gladstone Hotel, Toronto: The 37 individually artist-designed rooms are not the only draw of Toronto's oldest continuously operating hotel. It's home to a buzzing cultural scene, hosting gig nights in the bar, regular exhibitions and has a lively cafe and various function rooms. Rooms range from classical to theatrical and start at C$195 (£107) a night. +1 416 531 4635, gladstonehotel.com
Photograph: PR
Michael Jackson Dies, Masks Come Off - Prince and Blanket on a shopping trip | Mail Online
Michael Jackson's 'secret son' joins Prince and Blanket on a shopping trip | Mail OnlineThere may be conflicting opinions over whether Omer Bhatti really is Michael Jackson's secret fourth child, but he certainly looked like part of the family as he enjoyed a shopping trip with the singer's other sons in Santa Monica yesterday.
The 25-year-old dancer, who was dressed in a bright yellow T-shirt, jeans, hi-top Nike trainers and a baseball cap, joined Prince Michael, 12, and long-haired Blanket, seven, on a trip to a book store.
With another friend and minder in tow, the group looked in good spirits as they headed home after their outing.
Prince Michael and Blanket were free of the masks their father always insisted they wore on public outings and both were dressed like average boys in shorts and T-shirts.
Jackson clan: Prince Michael, in red, Blanket, in blue, and Omer Bhatti in yellow enjoyed a shopping spree with friends in Santa Monica yesterday
Jackson's father Joe insists Bhatti is the King Of Pop's child, saying last month: 'I knew Michael had another son - yes, I did.
'He looks like a Jackson, he acts like a Jackson and he can dance like a Jackson. This boy's a fantastic dancer - as a matter of fact, he teaches dance.'
According to reports, Michael told friends in 2004 that Bhatti was his son from a one-night stand.
Boys' day out: Prince and Blanket seemed in good spirits while their sister Paris sat the trip out
Bhatti attended Michael's memorial service and has been staying with the Jacksons ever since. He is said to be planning a DNA test.
However several other sources say that claims Bhatti is Jackson's biological son are inaccurate.
Several insiders, including musician and Jackson friend Ricky Harlow, say Jackson took him under his wing after they met in Europe in the mid-1990s, when Bhatti was around 11.
'They had a father-and-son type of connection,' Harlow told America's People magazine, 'but I never thought he was his biological father.
'They met when "Little Michael"[Bhatti] did a contest impersonating Michael Jackson in Europe in the mid-1990s, and Michael saw it and was blown away and got in contact with the family.'
Meanwhile, it has been announced that Michael's mother Katherine, 79, and Prince Michael and Paris' biological mother Debbie Rowe will share custody of the three children.
Yesterday, a raid on a pharmacy uncovered evidence that Jackson's personal doctor bought a powerful sedative of the type thought to have killed him, sources said.
Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) searched Applied Pharmacy Services in Las Vegas for evidence including prescriptions written by Dr Conrad Murray.
After the raid, a law enforcement official said that documents showing that Dr Murray had purchased propofol had been found on the premises.
The source added that the anaesthetic had been purchased legally.
Police are reportedly working on the theory that the doctor administered the powerful sedative in the hours leading up to the singer's death.
Jackson died aged 50 at his rented Beverly Hills home on June 25.
Dr Murray, his personal physician, was with him at the time of death. It has been suggested the doctor gave Jackson the powerful drug to help him sleep.
Family ties: Omer Bhatti (circled) sat among Jackson family members at the memorial service at LA's Staples Center on July 7
It is understood that during today's raid, DEA agents were looking for prescriptions written by Dr Murray for Jackson or any aliases.
It is the latest in a number of warrants placed on premises connected to Dr Murray. His home and office in Las Vegas were raided last month, as was a site in Houston, Texas, connected to the doctor.
Dr Murray has been quizzed twice by police as part of their probe and a third interview is planned.
He has not been named as a suspect, but court records have identified the 51-year-old physician as the subject of a manslaughter investigation.
It is widely believed the results of Jackson's post-mortem examination will show the singer was on heavy medication when he died.
On Monday, the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office said it had completed its post mortem on Jackson's body and related toxicology tests.
But the results will be delayed until after the official investigation is complete.
Los Angeles Police Department asked the office not to release any findings while its probe continues. Ed Winter, assistant chief coroner, declined to say when that would be.
He added that the office would not respond to queries until the inquiry is completed.
Video: Las Vegas pharmacy raid in Jackson death probe
Houston man learns credit problem could be due to Jackson's doctor | LOCAL NEWS | KHOU.com | News for Houston, Texas
Houston man learns credit problem could be due to Jackson's doctor | LOCAL NEWS | KHOU.com | News for Houston, TexasHouston man learns credit problem could be due to Jackson's doctor
08:34 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 12, 2009
HOUSTON—A Houston man has been swept up into the firestorm surrounding the death of Michael Jackson, and he says his social security number might be the reason why. “It’s surreal and kind of unbelievable,” said Robert Carter, at his northwest Houston home.
11 News VideoHouston man learns credit problem could be due to Jackson's doctorFor years, Carter says he’s had problems with his credit but only recently started to figure out why.
“I was watching the news and saw a reporter about Jackson’s doctor. That’s when I knew.”
Jackson’s personal physician was Dr. Conrad Murray. It turns out his social security number is identical to Carter’s except for one digit. Carter says when he applied for a car loan once he was turned down. He was told he had a bankruptcy on his credit.
“I just didn’t understand it because I had never filed bankruptcy,” Carter said.
A public data search reveals a bankruptcy filing for Doctor Murray from 1992. Carter’s social security number was also on the document. Both men’s names also appear on a social trace using Carter’s social security number.
A local activist brought the information to the attention of Murray’s attorneys.
“We just want to clear things up by speaking with their client to get his take on things, “said Erskin Hill, the president of Houston-based All People for Justice.
Attorney Ed Chernoff, who represents Murray, released the following statement: “Why would Conrad Murray in the hopes of extinguishing his dept use anyone else’s social security number? This is either a mistake, a typo or fraud. And if it’s fraud, it was not committed by Conrad Murray.”
For now, Carter just wants to have a clean credit report. “That way I can put this behind me,” he said.
Clair Elisabeth Fields Cruise - Songwriter: 2 Videos ('not gonna say a thing, except "this is the crazy blog repost of the year"')
LET IT BE KNOWN THAT I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO KNOWN RELATION TO THE OB/GYN KNOWN AS WARREN DUNLAP ELLIOTT M.D., OR HIS WIFE, CLAIRE V. ELLIOTT (WHOSE MIDDLE NAME ISN'T EVEN "VIRGINIA"): BOTH OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA.
By the way, Ross Dreiblatt and I co-wrote the Queen classic you hear: We Are the Champions.
Yet another song Ross and I co-wrote is one of the favorites of MY high school sweetheart (now MY OFFICIAL fiance), Chris Caputo and mine: George Michael's "Careless Whisper." Ross and I wrote this in March of 1984 right after I had moved from Princeton to New York City. This is when Ross finally told me about how Chris had been cheating on me with my very best friend in high school, Susan Taylor Shellenbarger. And, YES, Chris had just called ME "Susan" in one of his careless whispers in MY bed during some of the last days that I would ever live in Princeton. The only time I would ever return back to Princeton in order to visit with Chris was in June of 1984.
This became the moment when Chris and I conceived "Blanket" Prince Michael Jackson, II.
Because Ross once threatened to implant Susan with the embryo I had conceived together with Chris just prior to March of 1984, I am sure that, to this day, Susan believes the biological father of her son, Daniel (born in 2002), is Chris. But, no, Susan, I was initially right when I first told you that Ross is the biological father of Daniel. Daniel greatly resembles Ross, the NYC photographer/friend of John Casablancas who went by the name of Bill Harris: the one night stand Susan always said she could have married.
Ross and I naturally conceived Daniel sometime in 1983... probably around the time that Susan and Chris first hooked up in May of 1983.
To be clear, I naturally conceived this baby without my prior consent or knowledge, by way of date-rape drugs... for breeding purposes. Towards the end of 1983, I finally went on the pill without any conscious idea that the pill does not work on me, enabling me to unknowingly procreate with all men I came into sexual contact with.
It is intentional that the girl in our video resembles me in 1983, and, for some reason, it was really important to me back then that Ross get a girl with a turned-up nose (apparently, he did).
By the way, George Michael, who is actually one of Ross's many personas whom I helped to name, also slightly resembles Chris Caputo in 1983.
At the very end, you can hear my muted, misty voice ending the song. Ross used a disguised version of my voice in so many of our co-written songs; in fact, another such song that comes to mind is one that features a speeded up version of my 9-year-old voice: Michael Jackson's "PYT."
Next is the story of how MY high school sweetheart (now MY OFFICIAL fiance), Chris Caputo, has always broken my heart. How amazing that Ross and I co-wrote this song all the way back in 1975. Of course Ross would release "Borderline" in 1984 during the full height of my heartbreak. The Spanish guy Madonna likes in this video also remembles Chris Caputo in 1983:
But it is this next video that is Chris Caputo's most favorite of all time. Always will Chris really dig how I am always "Burning up for [his] love."
Listen carefully for my young, 9-year-old girl voice mixed together with Madonna's, explaining why all Madonna songs sound like a little girl sang them (I did!).
I can't tell you how disappointed I was when Ross finally told me that all MY tracks that we had taken so long to record and perfect in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1975 would be mixed together with Madonna's voice. Then to find out that Madonna would be performing these same precious songs instead of me, nothing could have been more traumatic.
It is important to note that part of the reason Madonna was chosen to "stand-in" for me is due to her slight resemblance to me.
Oh my god, I just noticed that the guy in this video slightly resembles my ex-boyfriend, David Wayne Craig...SOON TO BE CONTINUED...
Ferriday, LA - Jerry Lee Lewis Museum and Liquor Store
Ferriday, LA - Jerry Lee Lewis Museum and Liquor StoreFerriday, Louisiana - Jerry Lee Lewis Family MuseumVisitor Tips and News About Jerry Lee Lewis Museum and Liquor Store
Following are Jerry Lee Lewis Museum and Liquor Store reports and tips that were sent in by RoadsideAmerica.com visitors. Some tips may not be verified. Submit your own tip or update.
Bizarre, the place is a dump inside the twilight zone. Frankie Jean was not there; the niece gave the tour. She actually locked us in a room that was dark and dingy and raised the tour rate on the spot. Gave no info about Jerry Lee, and the drive up liquor store was closed up. I recommend that you run, don't walk away from this tour site. No wonder that Jerry Lee wasn't around either. [Joan, 07/06/2008]
[RA: And yet... there's something strangely appealing about what you describe....]
Ferriday, Louisiana - Jerry Lee Lewis Family MuseumThis is the home of Frankie Jean, sister of rocker/country singer Jerry Lee Lewis. The house has become a Jerry Lee shrine, with family photos, bills, family mementoes, clothes, guns etc. covering every space in the still inhabited house. It is the most amazing experience.
The day I visited I was shown around in semi-darkness (he couldn't find the light-switches) by one of Jerry Lee's cousins(clutching a can of Bud)and giving the lowdown on the colorful family history. I understand that Frankie usually does the tour herself. Even stranger is the fact that the house incorporates a drive-through liquor store at the side (no walkups!) which is worth a visit by itself. The whole thing is bizarre but wonderful. Donation expected. [jack, 10/04/2000]
Nearby Offbeat Places
- Mammy's Cupboard, Natchez, MS - 15 mi.
- A Ghost Town, Rodney, MS - 28 mi.
- The Windsor Ruins, Port Gibson, MS - 32 mi.
- In the region: Giant Crawfish, Alexandria, LA - 59 mi.
Staff Picks | Best of Memphis | Memphis Flyer
Staff Picks | Best of Memphis | Memphis FlyerStaff Picks
The Flyer staff chooses their Best of Memphis 2008.
Best Crab Leg Feast: I love crab legs. There's something slightly barbaric about cracking open the spiky shells and really working for slivers of that delightfully juicy meat. I've found that a short drive to the Hollywood Casino in Tunica on a Friday evening can really satisfy my crab-leg craving. They offer an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet, which includes my personal favorite, king crab legs. At under $20 per person, you can't beat it. Get 'em while they're hot, think about bringing a bib, and maybe sit by an empty table, so you'll have somewhere to put all the cleaned-out shells. — Shara Clark
Best Rehab Job: The Levitt Shell at Overton Park. Saved from oblivion by local activists and the Los Angeles-based Levitt Foundation, this WPA-era jewel looks mighty nice after a $1.3 million renovation. With its old wooden benches jettisoned for a lake of gleaming grass, the rechristened Levitt Shell probably won't be dependent on the name recognition of its bookings to attract a crowd. Like AutoZone Park, the venue itself will be the draw. Early returns have seen a diverse, friendly cross-section of Memphians coming together to enjoy fresh air, live music, and civic fellowship. — Chris Herrington
Best Legit Way To Drink in Public: Combine artwork with great hangouts, wine and beer street vendors, and a designated driver (the trolley), and "ding, ding, ding" goes the bell at the South Main Trolley Art Tour held the last Friday of every month. It's a place to run into friends, particularly since you can grab a bite at the Cheesecake Corner. But the best part may be admiring artwork in a slightly tipsy state, which allows you to make comments you would never make otherwise, like, "What? I can make that!" — Alicia Buxton
Best Yard Art: The giant concrete Buddha in the front yard of the house at South Mendenhall and Dargen. The family who lives there is actually Buddhist, and the statue is a serious religious shrine, but the bright spotlights that keep the figure illuminated really make it something special. — Michael Finger
Best Yard Art #2: The bomb planted in the front yard of 1082 Colonial. Actually, it's an old river bouy, erected by the home's owner, who was a self-described "river rat." But since it was placed in the ground upside down, with the fins showing, it certainly has an ominous look to it. It's a wonder the family gets any mail delivered there. — MF
Best Homegrown Theater: Voices of the South is a multitalented collective that's as comfortable adapting classics of Southern literature as they are developing original theatrical experiments. Steve Swift's larger-than-life creation Sister Myotis has deservingly attracted a cult following and VOTS' annual Children's Festival has become a springtime tradition at Rhodes College. — Chris Davis
Best Tease: We've never seen such joy, such jubilation, such sheer emotion, as when Mayor Willie Herenton announced he was going to retire. It was like the Rapture or the Tigers making it to the Final Four.
Phone lines were jammed. People were getting out of their cars and thanking their higher power. Former council members Brent Taylor and Carol Chumney both did cartwheels.
And what happened? Herenton didn't resign, he's still mayor, and that is that. — Mary Cashiola
Best Tease, Honorable Mention: March Madness became March sadness as the Tigers were defeated in the national championships against the Kansas Jayhawks.
And yeah, we're proud of them for making it to the Final Four. But we were so close — so close! — to the national championship and then it slipped away. — MC
Best Place To Feel Like a Turn-of-the-Century Socialite: With its ornate crown molding, raised damask wallpaper, and antique furnishings, it's hard not to imagine yourself a part of the 19th-century bourgeoisie at Mollie Fontaine Lounge in Victorian Village. But you can leave the hoop skirts and calling cards at home. Instead, bring plenty of friends and raise a toast to the ghost of Mollie Fontaine, the wealthy daughter of the cotton businessman Noland Fontaine. — Bianca Phillips
Best Website: If you're like me, you have a couple dozen bookmarked websites on your browser. Mine are mostly politics, music, news, journalism, travel, and a few aggregator sites. I "check my traps" daily, sometimes more often. But there are also times when I'm tired of the usual fare, when I crave something fresh and stimulating. That's when I click on the little icon on my browser that says "Stumble." And away I go, exploring new and amazing worlds.
Stumbleupon.com aggregates millions of other people's favorite sites — and believe me, it's a big, wide, weird Internet out there. You can download the Stumbleupon software onto your browser in seconds, then you simply choose a few favorite categories (mine include humor, art, travel, and photography, to name a few), and click away. Each new website will be in one of your categories but extremely unlikely to be familiar. I've been amazed at things I've discovered and learned. It's an instant cure for Internet boredom.
— Bruce VanWyngarden
Best Obscure Local Band: This award lovingly goes to a local avant-garde group, A Funeral Walkaway Parade. The group's self-produced album, Colours and Of Tones, came out under the radar earlier this year. These six musicians are doing something completely different — something you surely won't hear on any mainstream radio station and something meant for open, indiscriminate ears. It's a near impossibility to pin down exactly what style their music is. In trying, I might say classical/experimental/modern folk. But what they really create is a feeling through sound. With ambient electronics and guitar effects, piano, organ, Autoharp, Theremin, percussion, and emotive, almost vulnerable vocals, their music tends to be transcendental. During a live AFWP performance, I've been known to hold back tears. There's an alluring intensity at their shows. If you haven't heard them yet, you're in luck: They've got two shows this week: Saturday, September 27th, at South Park Bar on Highland, and Monday, September 29th, at Murphy's. — SC
Best Company Mascot: The giant mouse atop Atomic Pest Control on Elvis Presley Boulevard. He's been nibbling on that cheese since 1978, and we still think he's pretty cool. — MF
Best-Kept Grocery Store Secret: Yes, you can keep your Schnucks, your Krogers, your Piggly Wigglys.
We love us some Superlo. What do we like in particular? The prices are right; the workers are Supernice (hi, Nancy!). — MC
Best Buffet: You may not win big at the casino, but you won't leave hungry, thanks to the new Paula Deen Buffet in Tunica. Boasting six stations of deep-fried and slow-simmered goodness, the newest addition to Harrah's Casino offers some of the Queen of Southern Cooking's most cherished recipes. Don't miss the famous smoky collard greens, the fried hoe cakes, or Uncle Bubba's char-grilled oysters. — BP
Best Overlooked Natural Gem: Shelby Forest offers a quick getaway from our omnipresent flat Delta terrain and harried urban lifestyle. Twenty miles of hiking trails line steep river bluffs, swampy bottomlands, and Mississippi River banks. There is great fishing and boating at Piersol and Poplar Tree lakes. (You can rent a boat at Poplar Tree; Piersol is BYOBoat.) A disc golf course offers another diversion. The park even has a beach (unofficial) you can walk to, if the river is low. But all this and the more than 40 cabins and dozens of campgrounds in the woods don't overpower the natural feel of this huge 13,000-acre forest. It's a true escape, less than a half-hour away. — BV
Best Food Porn: Does anybody else blush when the hyper-flirty Pat and Gina Neely make vaguely suggestive comments on their Food Network show, Down Home With the Neelys? All that stuffing and dry rubbing! — CD
Best Regional Sickness: College football fandom — a chronic condition in which grown men obsess and agonize over the extracurricular activities of college students (and "students") to whom they aren't related. — CH
Best Local Music Breakout: Jay Reatard. The onetime enfant terrible of local rock is having the best year ever, signing a deal with indie-rock heavyweight Matador Records, polishing his growing reputation on the road, and releasing a series of sharp, anticipation-building singles for the label. The former punk provocateur continues to evolve into a versatile, melodic, but forever agitated music maker. His Singles 06-07 collection, released earlier this year as a farewell to his former label, In the Red, doesn't just chart the progress: It might be the best collection of made-in-Memphis music released this year. — CH
Best Enduring Myth: That the big stone in the park across from the downtown MATA station was a slave trading block. Nothing supports this claim, and in fact, old newspaper articles from the 1920s specifically say the giant chunk of granite was brought to what was then called Colonial Park by a group called the Colonial Dames of America. They mounted a nice shield-shaped plaque on it — since stolen — to mark the site where (they thought) Hernando de Soto may have first seen the Mississippi River. That claim, it turns out, is just as bogus as the one about the stone being an auction block. — MF
Best Fast Fingers: First of all, get your mind out of the gutter. Second of all, speaking of produce, have you ever seen the checkers at Easy Way blanch as they ring up assorted fruits and vegetables?
They know the difference between an English cucumber and a zucchini (you might be surprised). They never seem to have to look up a code. And they type those codes into their cash registers faster than a secretarial pool on speed. — MC
Best Place To Get Pets Spayed or Neutered: Two dogs can produce 12,288 puppies in five years, and two cats can make 11,801 kittens in the same amount of time, which is all the more reason to follow Bob Barker's advice to spay and neuter your pets. You can't even use the financial excuse anymore. The Animal Protection Association only charges $25 to $35 to spay or neuter a cat and $45 to $65 for a dog. That's far cheaper than what most vets charge. You can also throw in a rabies or distemper shot for $5. — BP
Best Thing About the Energy Crunch: It makes the downtown trolley look at least a little less anti-visionary. — CD
Best Block: If you stroll unawares onto Carr Avenue in Midtown, between Diana and Cooper, you may find yourself thinking you've entered another dimension — or at least another city. The houses on this shady and intimate block are almost all small shotgun-type domiciles, painted in fanciful colors, with odd and delightful additions poking up from behind or on the side. Porches are filled with flowers and ferns. Odd sculptures adorn some of the tiny front "lawns." The block is a testament to the creative and wonderful things that can be done in small spaces. — BV
Best New Name: Ovinton J'Anthony "O.J." Mayo. The Grizzlies' much-heralded rookie — nationally known since junior high — rivals Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway and Stromile Swift for most memorably monikered Memphis baller. The Grizzlies just hope he plays more like the former and can pair with emerging star Rudy Gay to give the franchise some much needed, um, juice. — CH
Best Thing About Flying into Memphis: The smell of barbecue that hits you as soon as you step off the plane. — CD
Best Local Radio Lunatic: Mike Fleming. The 600-AM afternoon host's jabbering and provincial invective about the candidacy of "Barry Hussein Obama" would be excellent unintentional comedy if only Fleming's small-minded belligerence didn't attract so many fellow travelers. — CH
Biggest Outrage of the Year: That members of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church would have the gall to drive to Memphis to picket Isaac Hayes' funeral because they thought his songs were somehow anti-Christian and — oh, it's too stupid to get into here. The ceremony, held at Hope Presbyterian Church, had already attracted far too much controversy because of the singer/songwriter's ties with Scientology. Hayes was a pillar in our community and an inspiration to thousands of kids here. He deserved to be treated with far more respect than that. — MF
Best Thing To Do with that Overstuffed Chair You Bought at the Platinum Plus Auction: Burn it! Burn it now! Quick, before the long gestation period is over and it gives birth to half-human/half-chair monsters bent on global insemination. Or domination. — CD
Best Art Show To Anticipate: Look, despite what you may think, there's not much money in publishing. Prestige, yes. Wine, wanton women, yes. Money, no.
Which is one reason why we like David Lusk Gallery's annual Price Is Right show, where all the art is priced under $1,000.
And who doesn't want to get the work of a young up-and-comer at a steal? — MC
- Best Local Music Breakout
Best Free Music Festival: You can see Jason D. Williams, Bobby Rush, Joyce Cobb, and the Klezmer All Stars all for no money down? At the Center for Southern Folklore's annual Heritage Festival, yes you can. — CD
Best Place To Find Exotic Produce: Looking to try the infamously stinky durian fruit? What about cactus? Or daikon? The massive Winchester Farmers Market (which isn't actually a farmers market at all) on Winchester Avenue has the largest selection of exotic fruits and veggies in town. The store, which caters to the city's Hispanic and Asian populations, also carries a large variety of ethnic specialty foods, such as Pocky Biscuit Sticks, pure Mexican cane sugar, and sweet red-bean sticky buns. — BP
Best Bubble Tea: Whoever decided to toss cute little tapioca pearls into a cup of flavored, sweetened tea was a genius. There's just something magical about sucking that chewy "bubble" up an extra-thick straw. At Chang's in Cordova, diners can ask for tapioca pearls in fruit smoothie teas or classic milkshakes, such as the popular almond milk tea or raspberry chai. For something totally different, try the green-bean tea or mix-and-match with coconut and taro root teas. — BP
Best Plan for the Pyramid: Develop it as the Boondoggle Hall of Fame. — CD
Graceland Scavenger Hunt | Graceland | Holiday Events | Memphis Flyer
Graceland Scavenger Hunt | Graceland | Holiday Events | Memphis FlyerWhen: Thu., Aug. 13, 5 p.m.Graceland Scavenger Hunt
Phone: 332-3322
Price: $29 adults/$14 children ages 7 to 12
www.elvisweek.comElvis Week keeps a-rollin’. Wipe your brow, fuel up on fried PB and nanner samwiches, and head once more into the breach.
On Thursday, August 13th, at 9:30 a.m., in front of W.C. Handy Park, a brass-note dedication ceremony will be held for Dewey Phillips, the DJ who introduced the world to Presley. At 5 p.m., there’ll be a scavenger hunt at Graceland, and at 7 p.m., the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest finals go down at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.
Friday has a 2 p.m. book launch and signing for The Genuine Elvis, by country star Ronnie McDowell, among others, at Graceland Plaza. The night rocks out with “Elvis 1969: A Celebration Concert” at the Cannon Center at 8 p.m. Live performances will merge with video and audio of Elvis’ return to the stage in Vegas back in ’69, and many of the original cast will reunite for the twice-in-a-lifetime event.
Saturday’s events start at the gates of Graceland at 8 a.m. with the Elvis Presley Run, Walk, Rock & Roll, to benefit United Cerebral Palsy of the Mid-South. “Conversations on Elvis,” where the King’s friends and associates reminisce, will drop in for two sessions at 10 a.m. and at 1 p.m. at the Cannon Center. And the night culminates with the Candlelight Vigil beginning at 8:30 p.m. at Graceland and ending whenever the last pilgrim has marched by Elvis’ grave, usually sometime Sunday morning — the actual anniversary of Presley’s death. Respect!
On the unsanctioned-event front, how can you go wrong with a night of drunken debauchery called “Stumbling Elvis”? On Saturday beginning at 7 p.m., downtown blogger Paul Ryburn and Mike King will lead a pub crawl starting at Flying Saucer and then stopping by Bluefin, Beale Street, Red Rooster Bar & Music Hall, and back to the Saucer, with about 30 minutes spent at each spot. Costumes are encouraged, and canned goods will be accepted for MIFA. — Greg Akers