Tag Archives: Elvis Presley

“I don’t cook and I don’t care.” — Ann-Margret

Ann-Margret entertaining US troops in Vietnam, 1966 Today is Ann-Margret’s birthday. Her autobiography, Ann-Margret: My Story is wonderful. What a career. And it’s still unfolding. There are so many classic scenes. Tommy. Carnal Knowledge. Of course, too, there is the … Continue reading

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“Sometimes I can sing it when I can’t say it.” — Carl Perkins

“The music was new, the kids were just eatin’ it up. They were claiming it as their own music. But I really think when the kids were comin’ to the sock hops and to the rock and roll shows, I … Continue reading

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“I heard Ruth Brown, and I just found my kind of music,” — Janis Martin

Cultural history is peppered with What Ifs. What if someone like Janis Martin had gone the distance? What if she hadn’t lapsed into obscurity? Would she have carved out a small space for women in rock ‘n roll (alongside the … Continue reading

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“If it hadn’t been for the videocassette, I may not have had a career at all.” — Kurt Russell

It’s his birthday today. How I love him. I grew up with him. The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes. I remember that being screened for us in grade school in what they called “the multi-purpose room” (lol: gym, cafeteria, theatre). … Continue reading

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“Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.” — Johnny Cash

It’s his birthday today. Johnny Cash, singing “Man in Black” in Denmark: Here he is on Tex Ritter’s Ranch Party, 1956 or so. Great guitar solo, too. He’s not just strumming that guitar. The guitar CHUGS along, with an irresistible … Continue reading

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“He is a good listener. When you have a good listener you have a good actor.” — Norman Taurog on Elvis

American director Norman Taurog was born in 1899, literally during the first gasps of cinema. What an improbable journey. He was born into a world before cinema had even cohered into an artform … and he ended his career helming … Continue reading

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It’s Ron Eldard’s Birthday: the first famous person I interviewed

Here’s the story of the first famous person I interviewed – an actor I had admired for a long time: Mr. Ron Eldard. I saw the excellent Roadie at the Tribeca Film Festival. Eldard plays a roadie fired from his … Continue reading

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“I still keep my watch two hours behind.” — Lisa Marie Presley

It’s her birthday today. Her absence still seems a little unreal. My reaction to her untimely death was so strong – and had nothing whatsoever to do with her dad, but with my own experience of her presence in the … Continue reading

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Don’t you DARE take Elvis away from me.

Susan Zakin, editor of the wonderful online magazine Journal of the Plague Year (definitely check them out), read something I wrote on Facebook about getting diagnosed bipolar and how this connects with Elvis (lol: everything connects with Elvis). The original … Continue reading

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Warren Beatty, Quentin Tarantino, and Elvis

My thanks to my friend Jeremy Richey for uploading this clip of Quentin Tarantino talking about Elvis to David Letterman. (For context, because it comes up as a joke, the guest before Quentin was Priscilla Presley.)

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