August 16th, 33 years later -The Day Elvis Died. Jon Pareles was right: "In death as in life, Elvis Presley has something for everybody."

1993 Elvis Presley postal stamp -Watercolor of Elvis by Mark Stutzmamn

This is the song and performance that my friend Shannon and I always loved best, and loved most to sing along to together when she lived in D.C., because, for me at least, it's the secular song of his that's closest to the power of his great gospel performances.

Elvis Presley - An American Trilogy, LIVE, 1973

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xcZCigY3gE



Another fabulous story by author David Comfort, today, on the relationship between Elvis and his doting mother, Gladys.

TheWrap
Elvis, Gladys & Their Double Doomdate, Aug. 16
By David Comfort
Published: August 15, 2010

In 1934, Vernon Presley, age 18, recalled blacking out at the instant of his son’s conception; then, regaining consciousness, he had seen the night sky thronged with brilliant blue stars. Elvis Aron’s twin brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn.

The future King’s God-fearing mother, Gladys -- who herself almost died in the delivery -- believed he had inherited Jesse’s soul, and was “the One.”

Years later, Gladys would suffer a miscarriage, making her all the more protective of her only surviving child.

Read the rest of the story at:
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/blog-post/there-goes-my-everything-elvis-gladys-rip-20137

See also:
http://rockandrollbookofthedead.com/
http://www.thewrap.com/


This article has some really great photos, some of which you may never have seen.

Memphis Commercial Appeal
Sweltering heat can't keep Elvis fans from annual vigil
By Christopher Blank
Posted August 16, 2010 at midnight
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/aug/16/always-faithful/


Elvis Presley: Ten of Our Favorite Performances
This Week Marks 33rd Anniversary of the King's Death
August 16, 2010
http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1645830/elvis-presley-ten-of-our-favorite-performances.jhtml


If you never saw my previous post mentioning singer Calle Kristiansson, prepare to be amazed. This gets me every time I see it, because this guy, whom nobody had ever heard
of, just casually walks up to the microphone and belts a home run on the first pitch like it's nothing -perfect.

TV4.se
Calle Kristiansson - Walking in Memphis -
IDOL Sweden 2009, auditions in Malmö

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CESHAeCxV4




Calle Kristiansson Walking in Memphis - XL Live Expressen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQtKe9qQYH8



See also: http://www.expressen.se/ and
http://www.youtube.com/ExpressenTV


Yohanna -Butterflies and Elvis from her Butterflies and Elvis CD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8XlKt0eSYc



See also: http://www.youtube.com/TEAMYOHANNA
and http://teamyohanna.blogspot.com/
The guys at TY have got some brand new photos of this super-talent up on their blog, so check 'em out!

My previous posts on Elvis contain lots of helpful hints on discerning why I am the way that
I am, how my personal world-view was shaped and why I write about the topics I do here,
many of which I never see anywhere else, even though there are, as we're constantly being reminded, tens of millions of blogs and websites.

January 8, 2010:
Walking in Memphis on Elvis' 75th birthday: some Swedish and Icelandic treats
to celebrate with
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/walking-in-memphis-on-elvis-75th.html
and
August 15, 2009
Sunday morning at 2 a.m. - Elvis In Memphis on QVC
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/sunday-morning-at-2-am-elvis-in-memphis.html

TCB baby!

Heavenly! Yohanna sings "Butterflies & Elvis" Live in Reykjavik (HD); "The Winner Takes It All" at 2010 Icelandic Eurovision Finals

Yohanna a.k.a. Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir

Just received this HD version of Yohanna
performing "Butterflies and Elvis" with the
Icelandic Symphony Orchestra in a sell-out
concert in Reykjavik in 2008.

I posted a regular version of this song she
co-wrote back in January on what would've
been Elvis' 75th birthday, for obvious reasons.
TCB, baby!


And here with one of the most popular of all
the ABBA songs, "The Winner Takes It All"
-a real vocal showpiece for Agnetha Fältskog
back in the day- performing Feb, 6th at
Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2010, where she
won last year with "Is It True," Jóhanna
Guðrún Jónsdóttir is PERFECTION!





For more on Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir, see:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TEAMYOHANNA
http://www.youtube.com/yohannamusic
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=J%C3%B3hanna+Gu%C3%B0r%C3%BAn+J%C3%B3nsd%C3%B3ttir

If you haven't already heard the news,
Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees
will induct ABBA at the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame's 25th annual induction ceremony
on Monday, March 15th, at New York City's
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Walking in Memphis on Elvis' 75th birthday: some Swedish and Icelandic treats to celebrate with

1993 Elvis Presley Stamp -Watercolor of Elvis by Mark Stutzmamn

As some of you who've been coming to this blog
for awhile know by now, after my family moved
from San Antonio, where my sister and I were
born and my mother grew-up, my family moved
to Memphis in 1965, where we lived for three
years, and where my youngest sister was born.
We moved to South Florida in July of 1968
just a few weeks after Dr. King was assassinated,
following the horrific aftermath in the city.

It was in Memphis specifically, and the Mid-South
in general, on our weekend family drives around
Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi -not always
so great in an un-air conditioned car with two
younger sisters!- where I first developed my
deep and enduring love and preference for many
things that still remain with me to this day:
the Mississippi River; rhythm 'n' blues; Al Green;
The Andy Griffith Show; Dusty Springfield;
Petula Clark; St. Louis Cardinals baseball on
the radio in the summertime during their mid-60's
glory era; smoky sweet Memphis-style barbecue ribs;
cornbread, and, of course, The King - Elvis.

To a devout Elvis fan like me, who knows just
about everything there is to know about him,
the good and the bad, the best books ever written
on Elvis -by far- are Peter Guralnick's masterful
"Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis
Presley" and the great follow-up, "Careless
Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley."

Each is written with honesty and empathy,
free of the judgmental cant and analysis that
doomed other books that purport to tell the
tale.

It was also while living in The Mid-South,
that I first became greatly interested in the
American Civil War, following a summer
day-trip to Shiloh, the site of the bloody
April 1862 battle.

It was on that summer day-trip that I had
a chance encounter with a VERY old man
on the battlefield itself.
A man whose own father had actually
fought in the battle -and lived to tell
the tale!

For more info on Shiloh, see
http://www.nps.gov/shil/

Spending a day there is an awesome and
eye-opening experience and really puts
things into their proper perspective,
just as my later trips to Gettysburg,
Harper's Ferry, Winchester,
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania
did as well, after I moved to the
D.C. area.

You'll recall that a few days ago I shared
video with you of Yohanna singing
Don't Save It All For Christmas Day
at En Sång För Hemlösa 2009 in
Stockholm and encouraged you all
to watch the entire TV program if
you could, because it was so well done.

Well, on what would be Elvis' 75th
birthday I return to our talented friend
from Iceland and share a song that she
recorded last year called Butterflies
and Elvis.

I'm choosing today to also write for the first
time here -though some of you know from
emails- about another young singer whom
I know you all have never heard of before,
but whose talent is so obvious that...
well, the first time I heard him, let's just say
that I was just thunderstruck.

Just like I was the first time I heard
Molly Sandén or Yohanna.
Obvious transcendent talent!

A friend in Europe has seen him on the
Idol Sweden program and she sent me
a video of his audition in Malmö in an
email last year that had the simple words,
"Must see!!!" in the subject header.

Wow! Was she ever right!

I'm talking about Calle Kristiansson,
a name you will be hearing a lot more
of in the future, because seeing and hearing
IS certainly believing.

-----
First, the original version of Mark Cohn's song
that you probably first heard sung by Cher.



When the song was incorporated into the
1997 X-Files episode called The Post-Modern
Prometheus, it instantly became my favorite
episode.
See video of it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CKs8NjusTQ

----

Prepare yourself to be wowed and remember
in the future who first told you about a Swedish
singer named Calle Kristiansson.
Me!

TV4.se
Calle Kristiansson - Walking in Memphis -
IDOL Sweden 2009,
auditions in Malmö

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CESHAeCxV4



-----

Calle Kristiansson - Walking in Memphis -
XL Live Expressen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQtKe9qQYH8



See also:
http://www.expressen.se/
and http://www.youtube.com/ExpressenTV

-----

Yohanna -Butterflies and Elvis
from her Butterflies and Elvis CD



See also: http://www.youtube.com/TEAMYOHANNA
and http://teamyohanna.blogspot.com/
plus http://www.myspace.com/yohannamusic


Memphis Commercial Appeal
Bitter cold can’t keep these Elvis fans from his birthday party
By Michael Lollar
January 8, 2010
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/jan/08/bitter-cold-cant-keep-these-elvis-fans-his-birthda/