Posted on 08/16/2002 2:35:16 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Elvis has left the building for good, but twenty years after his death, The King is alive and well on the World Wide Web.
If you've ever had a hankerin' -- and, let's face it, who hasn't? -- to climb into a white satin jumpsuit, scarf a couple of fried banana sandwiches, and try a few karate kicks, the Web might provide just the right outlet. One that won't worry your friends and neighbors quite so much, at least.
this is a link to a video/audio webcast of the 2002 vigil. I need help finding the link for the 2002 vigil. site says it can be accessed today.
once again, thankyou-thankyouverymuch. A fan I am! with a personalized autograph.
http://www.elvis.com/graceland/calendar/elvis_week.asp
I saw him a couple of time in Vegas in the 70's. It was amazing how he could hold an audience in his hands.
The King is gone - but not forgotten.
The King is dead, long Live, uhm, the President?
King again takes home the gold - and the platinums
By Bill Ellis
Gomemphis.com
August 9, 1999
Garth Brooks fans, read no further.
Elvis Presley in death has at least one achievement that Brooks in life will be hard-pressed to trump: The King of Rock and Roll continues to be the most-certified artist in the history of recorded music. To celebrate, RCA/BMG - which owns the Presley catalog - will present to the late singer's estate more than 40 plaques bearing new sales certifications and upgrades 11 a.m. today at the club Elvis Presley's Memphis.
The awards resulted from the latest tallies compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the official certification agency of record sales. Presley now has 80 gold albums, 43 platinum albums and 19 multiplatinum albums. Being the artist with the most gold and platinum albums (the Beatles have one more multiplatinum) - as well as the most gold, platinum and multiplatinum singles - Presley remains the top certified artist, according to the RIAA. Second-place contenders the Beatles and Barbra Streisand trail with 33 platinum and 40 gold records respectively.
"Elvis Presley is literally the all-time mover and shaker in rock and roll history," said RIAA chief executive officer Hilary Rosen in a prepared statement. It was issued the same day, July 13, that RCA released a new three-CD Presley collection aptly titled "Artist of the Century."
In 1992, RCA and the RIAA presented 110 gold and platinum records to the Presley estate. Gold status is awarded for album sales of 500,000 copies. Platinum is for a million, multiplatinum 2 million and more. The same record can qualify for more than one award as it continues to sell.
"One of the many remarkable things about this Elvis Presley phenomenon is that Elvis on an annual basis continues to sell what would represent an extremely successful career for a current artist," says Elvis Presley Enterprises CEO Jack Soden.
One such artist is Garth Brooks. He is the RIAA's best-selling male artist, with total album sales of 89 million. Overall, the Beatles rank No. 1, with 106.03 million certified sales. Presley sits at No. 4, with 77.28 million (Led Zeppelin is No. 3).
While Presley has 43 platinum albums, however, Brooks has 11. Brooks's "best-selling male artist" status derives from this distinction: One Garth Brooks album might sell 10 million copies (making a total of three awards, one each for gold, platinum and multiplatinum), while Presley might have 10 albums that sell a million each (a total of 20 awards).
"(Presley) is still a worldwide business," says RCA executive Michael Omansky, who oversees the artist's catalog and spearheads new products. "As a matter of fact, we probably sell more than we did five years ago. . . . It's like running a separate company."
Indeed, Presley is as much a priority as RCA's hot-selling acts 'N Sync, Natalie Imbruglia and the Dave Matthews Band, according to Omansky. He says the Memphis icon has been a billion-dollar industry for the label that he signed with in 1955.
That's largely because Presley sold his catalog's royalty rights to RCA in 1973 for $5 million, a deal "right up there with the Indians selling Manhattan for 24 dollars," says Soden. "Elvis has been like an inheritance for RCA."
RCA knows it. Through aggressive marketing and promotion, the label makes sure Elvis is everywhere, from record stores to mail order to television.
This year alone in the United States, RCA has released more than 10 titles, including "Sunrise," "Home Recordings" and the aforementioned "Artist of the Century" boxed set. In September look for the movie collection "Can't Help Falling in Love: The Hollywood Hits."
The strategy works, Omansky says, especially because the product, once the bedrock of budget-line releases, is packaged better these days. Fans are willing to pay for something that's reverent, informed and complete.
Case in point: The 1997 boxed set "Platinum (A Life in Music)," and a related marketing campaign tied to the 20th anniversary of Elvis's death made more than $100 million for RCA, Omansky says. "And that was only retail."
Presley continues to sell locally, too, especially during Elvis Week, when many tourists are in town, says Baker Yates, district manager of the Cat's chain.
"His catalog is just as strong as Sinatra's or whomever else (deceased) you want to compare him to," Yates says.
The real dividends, though, come from marketing Presley in other countries, which don't automatically receive the same titles and packages that this country does. Australians will get "The Country Side of Elvis" at the end of September; in France, "Love Songs From the '70s" and "Elvis Rock Songs" are forthcoming. Japan will get nine releases this month alone.
In England, to make it easier for stores to display, a Presley boxed set was divided into four separate compilations: country, ballad, movie and rock songs. And the "Love Songs" collection came out in different versions the world over.
Omansky says a typical new Presley title will sell about 100,000 copies its first year in the United States and perhaps a little more overseas. Perennial sellers include the Christmas albums, "The Number One Hits" and "Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Songs." Hopes are high for "Artist of the Century."
"In Australia by the end of August, there will be over 40,000 boxed sets," he says. "And that's a country where the economy is not kind to the record business."
Success also lies in the coordinated efforts of RCA and Elvis Presley Enterprises. The "Artist of the Century" box opens to reveal a leaflet advertising Graceland. Omansky says the companies share consumer information.
The majority of Presley music buyers are older Southern women, "but not as old as you might think. Maybe 30s, 40s, 50s," Omansky says.
Soden concurs: "We have just about hit the point where a third of our visitors were born after Elvis died. Theoretically, there's an endlessly regenerating new audience. It's a great sign of health, and it's exciting to us even if we, for the most part, don't get royalties."
Keep those gold and platinum albums coming, though.
... led by none other than Dr Nick himself, no doubt, with the participation of the last of his (barely) surviving patients, Jerry Lee "The Killer" Lewis!
Elvis, Schmelvis!
Remix, new boxed set prove the King still rules
By Bill Ellis
ellis@gomemphis.com
July 26, 2002
Elvis has left the building, you say? No such thing. Not only is the Big E still in the house, he is house (as in dance music).
Though it's been almost 25 years since Elvis Presley died at the "return to sender" age of 42, he is experiencing the most curious of revivals. And for once, it has less to do with the myth than the music.
Thanks to a techno remix of a throwaway movie track, Elvis has topped the singles charts globally. He's even done it by upsetting the summer's ubiquitous hit from Eminem, Without Me, on which the rapper declares, "Little hellions, kids feeling rebellious/Embarrassed, their parents still listen to Elvis."
The kids are listening too on A Little Less Conversation (4 stars), where Elvis is worth raving about again, so to speak.
The song, remixed by Dutch deejay act JXL (Junkie XL) for a Nike ad campaign, was originally recorded in 1968 for the Elvis flick Live a Little, Love a Little. On the new three-track single, released in America through the King's label RCA, you get both versions.
The difference? Not much really. One can see why RCA and Elvis Presley Enterprises finally allowed someone to tinker with their royal gold mine. JXL gets it. Like Fatboy Slim's appropriation of classic soul music for the Ibiza crowd, JXL takes what's inherently cool about Elvis - that voice for starters - and boosts it with a club-intoxicating rhythm, one that finds a colossal groove in the tiny tune.
No one could have predicted the song would become an international phenomenon (it has hit No. 1 in more than a dozen countries). And that's the eternal beauty of Elvis. No one saw him coming the first time around either.
For all its hullabaloo, A Little Less Conversation is mere icing on a multilayered cake of Elvis products to hit stores this summer.
this is a link to a video/audio webcast of the 2002 vigil. I need help finding the link for the 2002 vigil. site says it can be accessed today.
once again, thankyou-thankyouverymuch. A fan I am! with a personalized autograph.
http://www.elvis.com/graceland/calendar/elvis_week.asp
You have an autograph? Wow, that's great !
Thanks for the URL, and here's the link.........
Graceland Tours
I think that THESE are what your're looking for?
They're from the above link about halfway down.........
VigilCast 2002 will be available for viewing to non-AOL High Speed users beginning on August 16 at approximately 1:00 AM, CDT with a link from elvis.com. To view the VigilCast, you will need Microsoft Window Media Player or Real Player 8. Both are available as free downloads from Microsoft and Real.
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VigilCast 2001: High resolution VigilCast 2001: Low Resolution VigilCast 2001: Audio only |
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VigilCast 2000 |
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