Carr's Cocktail Shack Spotlite: ELVIS

Yes, a little more than an hour away from Carr's Cocktail Shack "Paradise in the Jungle Room: AN ELVIS EXTRAVAGANZA!"

I took it upon myself to inform the good people of The Irish Elvis Presley Fan Club, who were quite happy to receive the news. No doubt this organization will gladly link to the ChoiceFM Dublin site when this show joins the archives!

Today's Elvis news item is from The Las Vegas Sun. It's a story I've been sitting on for a couple of weeks now, but it is still unfolding and may even have implications for Hawaii:

Elvis managers in Memphis

look toward Las Vegas for expansion

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - The new owners of Elvis Presley Enterprises are making a first move toward an expansion from Memphis by buying an Elvis museum in Las Vegas.

But they expect to close the independently run museum and no firm outline has been drawn for what will replace it.

"There are no specific plans," Ed Tagliaferri, a spokesman for CKX Inc., said Thursday.

A statement from CKX Inc. says, however, that the overall plan is "to bring a world class Elvis-themed attraction to the Las Vegas strip."

Elvis Presley Enterprises, the business arm of the Presley estate, was sold last year to an investment group headed by businessman Robert F.X. Sillerman.

The Presley business is now part of CKX Inc., which also owns 19 Entertainment, the company that produces the TV show "American Idol," and is expanding into other entertainment ventures.

While the business in selling Elvis merchandise and marketing the use of his name and image is a worldwide undertaking, the most visible part of the Presley estate is his former Memphis residence, Graceland, and its complex of souvenir shops and museums.

But CKX has vowed to change that by opening other Elvis ventures, such as museums, in other parts of the United States and abroad.

Now, CKX says it has an agreement to buy "Elvis-A-Rama," a Las Vegas museum created by Chris Davidson, a longtime collector of Presley memorabilia.

As part of the agreement, CKX said Davidson will get the rights to open an Elvis museum in Hawaii.

Tagliaferri said no plans have been laid out for a project in Hawaii, either. But if one is put together, CKX will hold a "significant" interest in it, the company said.

CKX said "Elvis-A-Rama" will be closed and its name and Web site permanently "retired."

Now I've heard quite a bit about this CKX and its approach to the King's legacy. My sympathy here is with Chris Davidson and the slightly fanatical but loving approach that he no doubt brought to Elvis-A-Rama in the style of the more maverick days of vintage Vegas.

This may be the pre-CKX Elvis-A-Rama website. Check it out before it disappears!

From the way this CKX seems to operate, I'd image that Sonny West and his King's Ransom exhibit might be next on the acquisition list!

DALLAS - Sonny West is takin' care of business.

The former bodyguard for Elvis Presley is traveling with the King's Ransom exhibit, which features about 250 of Presley's personal belongings and is on display at the State Fair of Texas.

West, 67, re-cently talked about how he became the King's bodyguard, what Presley always carried with him and what Presley would think about his daughter Lisa Marie's career.

Question: How did you first meet Elvis?

Answer: We went to the same high school, but we were in different grades. The first time I saw him playing was at Tech High School in Louisiana in 1954. We were sitting on the lawn, and he walked over with his guitar and started playing That's Alright Mama. I thought, "He's pretty good."

Q: When did you become his bodyguard?

A: In April 1960, my cousin Red West brought me to meet Elvis. Red had defended him throughout high school where kids tried to beat him up because of his long hair. When we spoke, he asked me to be his bodyguard.

Carr's Cocktail Shack Spotlite: ELVIS

Carr's Cocktail Shack isn't just focusing on Elvis this coming Sunday. The show promises to evoke the exotica rhythms of Graceland's famed Jungle Room.

Bartender Hugh of Des Moines is already there!

BAR BIO By JEFFREY BRUNER
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

WHAT TO EXPECT: Elvis Presley never left the building — he just moved into this lounge on Douglas Avenue that used to be home to Jazzy Willy's. There's a lot of Elvis here, but owner Hugh Duoblys also has created it as a tribute to the people and music of the 1960s and 1970s.

"I just didn't want to have a bunch of younger shooters come in here," said Duoblys, a longtime bartender who opened his own place July 15.

THE CROWD: You'll find young people but also car sales staff, bikers and other regulars from the Merle Hay area. Couples have their own section — "Heartbreak Hotel" — where they have a little more privacy and it's not quite as loud.

TUNES: Sure you get to hear The King, but it's much more than that. Expect to find country and classic rock on the jukebox — Johnny Cash, the Bee Gees, Waylon Jennings. Patrons can give karaoke a try on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

ON THE WALLS: Photos of Elvis and other celebrities of the 1960s and 1970s. But check out the floor — tiger carpet!

MUNCHIES: There's a full kitchen offering sandwiches that are $6.50 to $7.50 as well as the usual appetizers. After 8 p.m., you can get a 14-inch pizza for $10.

BARTENDER'S CHOICE: The bar has a specialty drink called Jungle Juice (vodka, chambord and Red Bull) that's popular with younger patrons; the Bird of Paradise also sells well. Both cost $5.

Hugh's music menu needs a little work, but just so long as there is Elvis!

Carr's Cocktail Shack Spotlite: ELVIS

Remember this Sunday Carr's Cocktail Shack on 92.1 ChoiceFM, Dublin is going wild at Graceland with a special show on The King of Rock and Roll.

And you can listen LIVE on the Internet at www.choicefmdublin.com!

Today's Elvis news item is a bit trashier, but evokes the classic shopping mall poster shop art entitled "Game of Fate" (with green and yellow L.E.D. lights!)


(Game of Fate image from www.portrait4u.co.uk)

Presley's Uncivilized Pals cost him a date with Monroe

MARILYN MONROE once snubbed a date with ELVIS PRESLEY because she didn't like the company he kept.

Presley's longtime confidante BYRON RAPHAEL, who was hired to wrangle beautiful one-night stands for the king of rock 'n' roll, reveals his boss met with Monroe on a film set at 20th Century Fox studios in Hollywood.

But, he tells men's magazine Playboy, the encounter never hit the headlines because Presley was keen to play down the fact the actress had turned down his advances.



Smitten Presley continued to woo Monroe until she became one of the only women ever to turn down a date with the King - when she cried off with a headache excuse.

Raphael says, "It was one of the rare times Elvis was refused."

Datin' is a game that grown-ups play
Datin' means acting in a silly way
Datin' makes girls start wiggle walking
Datin' makes a guy start baby talking

Dizzy like children on a merry-go-round
Grown-ups are the biggest kids I've found
You'd think they belong in a baby carriage
They're doing things that lead to marriage
But don't you laugh at what they do, oh no
'Cause some day you'll be datin' too

Carr's Cocktail Shack Spotlite: ELVIS

Part of our ongoing promotion of next Sunday's mix of music and cocktail lore from the Jungle Room at Graceland on Carr's Cocktail Shack, 92.1 ChoiceFM, Dublin.

No Rock and Roll Fun covered this story, with a nice nod to Oscar Wilde, sometime back, but the news should continue to receive raised eyebrows for some time to come:

Justin Timberlake Buying Sun and Stax Labels

Teen pop sensation Justin Timberlake is dabbling in the recording industry by heading back to his hometown of Memphis and snatching up some music history.

Timberlake is heading up a group of investors planning to buy up both Stax Records and Sun Records, as well as a recording complex in Memphis.

Sun Records is typically hailed as the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll. Founded by producer Sam Phillips in 1952, the label received little attention until 1954 when a young man named Elvis Presley walked into the building. Elvis later switched to RCA, but many of his first recordings were made at Sun. Artists like Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis also got their starts at Sun.

Stax Records was known in the sixties as a major influence on soul and funk music. The Stax sound was mostly cultivated by Booker T. Jones and his band Booker T. and the MGs. Other major acts on the label included Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Isaac Hayes.

Justin already owns his own record label, called JayTee.

Well a hundred years from now I won't be crying
A hundred years from now I won't be blue
My heart will have to forget that we ever met
But I won't care a hundred years from now

I'll never forget sweetheart the night you told me
That you could Live without my love somehow
That's all in the past I knew it wouldn't last
But I won't care a hundred years from now

Carr's Cocktail Shack Spotlite: ELVIS

This coming Sunday, Carr's Cocktail Shack goes to Graceland with a special tribute to the King.

In a blatant attempt to go along for the ride and clear out all the Elvis news alerts in the inbox, "Horslips and Other Music" will highlight Elvis news and trivia all throughout the week.

Our first story: Frankfurt Germany

The runways that once helped feed a blockaded Berlin, bade Elvis farewell after his Army service and provided the first glimpse of freedom for hostages returning from Iran now stand empty.

A hub of U.S. military activity for decades, Rhein-Main Air Base is being given back to Germany and its logistical functions taken over by bases at Ramstein and Spangdahlem. Ceremonies set for Monday will mark the handover, which will take until the end of the year.

"The mission has moved," said U.S. Air Force Col. Tom Schnee, who is overseeing the shutdown. "We're all set for the symbolic closure."

...

The closure also marks a passing for Frankfurt, the financial center of Germany and Europe.

American soldiers and airmen brought jazz, cheap cigarettes, hot dogs and other Americana to the city immediately after World War II, and were a part of the Friday and Saturday night bar scene in the city's Sachsenhausen district.

A young Elvis Presley flew from Rhein-Main back to the U.S. when his Army service ended.

"I can close my eyes today and hear all those engines waiting to take off," said Moore, the Navy aviator and Berlin airlift veteran. "There goes the gateway to Europe."

Now I picked this one because the Rhein-Main airbase was a significant part of my childhood and I still get a pang whenever business travel takes me through Frankfurt.

Muss i denn, muss i denn
Zum Stadtele hinaus
Stadtele hinaus
Und du, mein schat, bleibst hier?

There's no strings upon this love of mine
It was always you from the start
Sei mir gut
Sei mir gut
Sei mir wie du wirklich sollst
Wie du wirklich sollst
'Cause I don't have a wooden heart