THE PRESIDENT, THE PRIME MINISTER, poorboys and pilgrims with families are all going to Graceland. President Bush, took Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi — a self-described Elvis Presley maniac — to the former home and final resting place of the King (after giving him an Elvis-heavy jukebox). They also had some fine Memphis BBQ and visited the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. CBS News has a nice photo gallery, though you may need to watch some video for the full flavor. There's even a Pate angle, as PM Koizumi said at Graceland that “I sometimes see the image of the United States as Gary Cooper in my favorite movie, High Noon.“ I didn't want anyone who was traveling this weekend to miss it. I recently rounded up a whole mess 'o' Presley video, but let's throw in audio of Marc Cohn's “Walking In Memphis” (live at KBCO), along with the King's “A Little Less Conversation” (JXL Remix).
JAMES BROWN: An interview with the Godfather of Soul in London's Independent reveals him to be more than a little eccentric. “And still we come back, for the simple reason that Brown is worth the trouble. He is often described as being, to black music, what Elvis Presley was to white – a serious understatement of Brown's stature. Presley, iconic as he was, was ultimately derivative; the most accomplished of the numerous performers delivering black music to white people. Without Brown, popular music would not exist in the form that it does today.” And if it's hot where you are, break out in a “Cold Sweat.”
JOHNNY CASH: The posthumous American V: A Hundred Highways is released tomorrow, but you can stream the whole thing now. Not particularly festive, though.
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS, otoh, were festive enough playing WXPN and World Cafe Live on June 30th, which you can stream from NPR.
BIG BLACK is reuniting for a couple of songs at the September concert marking the 25th anniversary of the Touch & Go label. I might have to go see my ol' law school classmate, Santiago Durango.
THE FEEL-GOOD HITS OF THE SUMMER: The NY Post solicits odds on this year's candidates and posts a 50 year list of summer hits.
THE SUMMERTIME BLUES: There ain't no cure for them, according to Eddie Cochran, some murky video of The Who at the Superdome in '75, Blue Cheer from the Beat Club, and Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band on the Darkness on the Edge of Town tour.
STAX PROFILES: The latest set of Stax reissues is a series of 10 Profiles, on which fans, friends or associates choose their own favourite tracks by an individual artist. London's Independent particularly liked the compilation of Otis Redding selected by MGs guitarist Steve Cropper, who produced and co-wrote many of the soul giant's classic tracks. You can listen to a streaming Stax sampler via eMusic for free (but you have to sign up if you also want to download it).
GNARLS BARKLEY: London's Guardian calls them a 21st-century version of Sly and the Family Stone. Moreover, “(t)he Gnarls persona and the attendant costumes might well appear like some kind of Snap, Crackle and Pop gimmick, but they are (Cee-Lo) Green and (Brian) Burton's attempt to deflect attention away from themselves and towards the music.”
LLOYD COLE is lightening up on Antidepressant, which is due in September. Until then, we have to make do with the audio and video at Lloyd's MySpace page.
BOB DYLAN need only mention Alicia Keys in a song to get her “crazy excited.” Not bad for a senior citizen.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The troubled singer had to leave all his belongings at the front desk of a Paris hotel and make a round-trip to the UK to pay his bill. Meanwhile, the supposedly sober supermodel is spending evenings downing champagne and becoming dissheveled. And publishers have uncovered a “woeful poem” Moss wrote about Doherty and his addictions.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Superman Returns obviously took the weekend with 52 million bucks, with a total of 84 million since opening. That sounds like a lot of money, but in reality the box office is far less than super, falling between Batman Begins and The Fantastic Four, and less than X-Men 3 did in its three-day opening. And all of those cost much less than Superman Returns. In contrast, The Devil Wears Prada earned 27 million from only 2,847 venues, making for highly effective counter-programming. Click, Cars and Nacho Libre round out your top five.
SUPERMAN RETURNS: In this case, Superman is Dean Cain, who found Lois Lane's behavior in the new movie to be disturbing. The latest Lois, Kate Bosworth, was voted the sexiest Lois ever, beating off competition from Erica Durance and Teri Hatcher. It's an online poll, so it would be interesting to know how many Warner Bros. employees voted.
PIRATES: Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom had a lot of red wine right before a surprise greeting from the Prime Minister of the island of St. Vincent's. Oops. Jack Davenport, who courted Keira Knightley's character in the first Pirates, says, “I've never done a job where I've felt so much like a seedy uncle.” Unsurprisingly, Depp said much the same thing on the DVD commentary during the scene where he and Knightley share an island. Knightley and Bloom suffered near-dehydration on the world's longest red carpet at the sequel's Disneyland premiere.
HEATHER MILLS McCARTNEY reportedly will accept a £10 million divorce pay-out from Sir Paul, rather than the £200 million she might have won. Maybe she's hoping that will stem the stream of porn from her past that has surfaced since the couple separated.
EVA LONGORIA and TONY PARKER are crashing Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's honeymoon.
BRADGELINA may next adopt an older child, which could save on those nanny expenses.
COURTNEY COX-ARQUETTE and her daughter, Coco, were having some fun at the beach. Of course, Coco's next move was NSFW, because kids live to embarass their parents.
WOODY HARRELSON allegedly choked a cameraman. But wait, wouldn't Woody Harrelson be smart enough to realize that you're likely to be photographed if you choke a camerman? I didn't think so, either.
BRITNEY SPEARS syas she has an obsessive compulsive cleaning disorder. Which would explain why she can't seem to leave Spenderline.
DAVID HASSELFOFF was hospitalized following a freak shaving accident. No, really.
JESSICA SIMPSON and NICK LACHEY are officially divorced.
JESSICA BIEL, Esquire's reigning “Sexiest Woman Alive,” and CHRIS EVANS (a/k/a the Human Torch) have called it quits after dating for more than two years. And before I start getting any e-mail, I had nothing to do with it.
NANOTECH: Scientists from MIT think nanotech could provide significant breakthroughs for solar energy. N.Z. Bear looks at the underlying math, which is sobering.
IRAQ: At ITM, Omar looked at the number and size of insurgent groups open to the national reconciliation plan, but noted an attack he suspects was made by al Qaeda to provoke followers of al-Sadr. Sure enough, fighting followed in the mostly Sunni Aadhamiya district in eastern Baghdad. After an initial drop, insurgent attacks in Baghdad have risen during Operation Together Forward, which seems to surprise Reuters, but not US commanders. This is what happens when you take the fight to the enemy. Interestingly, the informal numbers suggest that the increase in attacks has not increased the number killed, thoug July is off to a bad start. Meanwhile, conditions in some parts of Ramadi have improved to the point where the US can do “hearts and minds” work and advance reconstruction.
IRAN: State television has bought the rights to 65 episodes of the Teletubbies, with experts dubbing them into Farsi. Apparently, no one told the mullahs about Tinky-Winky.
THE ACLU LOVES WHISTLEBLOWERS… until someone blows the whistle on the group, in which case it tries to censor any dissent.
WHEN THE FLOOD COMES, A frog helps a mouse. Awww… Bigger pic at the link.
A HAMMERHEAD SHARK caught off Boca Grande last month was impressive, not only for its 3-foot-wide hammer, 14-foot length and 1,280 pounds, but also because it was carrying 55 shark pups. Pics of the shark and the pups at the link.
SUMA THE ELEPHANT was bereaved and inconsolable after her pachyderm partner of 10 years died of cancer, until she heard Mozart.
A RUNAWAY DOG returns home after three years in the wild.
AND A SPECIAL TREAT for everyone stopping by during a holiday weekend: The Bodydoubles International Twins Search. Oh. My. Somebody get Wrigley's on the phone.