Tag Archives: Elvis Presley

Today, the Sheila Variations turns 24

The above pic of me – taken by Michael in a field somewhere in Ithaca – graced the top of my original blog, when I set it up 24 years ago today. I never should have put my picture up … Continue reading →

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Seasonal change shuffle

It’s been a while. I used to find putting together these shuffle posts soothing. I’m “writing”, kind of, but I’m not trying to sound a certain way, and the pressure’s off, because the subject matter isn’t up to me. The … Continue reading →

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“I like to sing to women with meat on their bones and that long green stuff in their pocketbook.” — Wynonie Harris

It’s the birthday today of the influential blues shouter Wynonie Harris. I’ll hand the microphone over to Nick Tosches, because why would I bother to try to add to it? Tosches devoted a chapter in his book Unsung Heroes of … Continue reading →

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“The thing I really wanna say is—and really, really mean is that real things last. Any way you look at it. Real things last.” — Dale Hawkins

Dale Hawkins, 1957, playing on the Louisiana Hayride radio show (just a year after Elvis completed his world-shaking run on the program) It’s his birthday today. Time moved really fast in the mid-50s rock-rockabilly world. Elvis exploded and made everyone … Continue reading →

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“I never bought a Ricky Nelson record. I bought a James Burton record.” — Keith Richards

James Burton (born on this day) is still alive. He turns 85 today. He’s in every music Hall of Fame there is (just a couple months ago he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame). His style is … Continue reading →

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The last photo and the Stutz

Celebrating Elvis Week is not my thing, although of course I always mark it here, because what the hell else would I do with my time. Other anniversaries matter more to me. But I figured I’d share here the last … Continue reading →

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“I had never seen anything like him . . . I vowed nothing would stop me from signing this boy for films.” – producer Hal Wallis on Elvis Presley

Published during Elvis Week in 2017, here’s my piece for Film Comment on Elvis as an actor. And here’s the talk I gave at The Memphian in Memphis, on Elvis’ acting career. And finally: the piece I just wrote for … Continue reading →

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“I’m not a yesterday’s woman. I’m a tomorrow’s woman.” — Barbara Stanwyck

A real actor’s actor. She was great from the start. She was tough and practical. She didn’t have to act that. She also had deep wells of feeling, and she didn’t have to reach. She could break your heart and … Continue reading →

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“People are always asking me if I thought Elvis was a handsome man and my answer is ‘I am not blind you know’!” — Millie Kirkham

Millie Kirkham had an unearthly high soprano voice, and recorded with some of the biggest stars of her era (and other eras and ours). Perhaps most famously, she provided the swoopy woozy soprano part on Elvis’ original recording of “Blue … Continue reading →

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For Father’s Day:

Photo by Alfred Wertheimer, 1956 Because when you become a father, you never know how it’ll all turn out. Vernon looks like an anvil dropped on him from the sky, an anvil in the shape of his famous son. Lisa … Continue reading →

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