Hi everyone

We have been stymied in the past 24 hours by a local (Australian Capital Territory) outage affecting our service provider, iinet/BigBlue. Australia's telco, Telstra decided it couldn't fix the problem for the service provider until tonight (Saturday) Australia time so as not to inconvenience other users when the block was temporarily turned off. We hate to think how many thousands of dollars were lost by local businesses operating online! To quote a famous Telstra ad..."Not good enough, Jan!"

Congratulations to the five winners in our recent Warner Bros 8 DVD competition: Peta Garriga, Christine Bamford, John Hogg, Laurie Barker & Michael Langley. Many thanks to everyone who entered and to Warner Bros Australia for providing the prizes. We'll have another competition soon.

Nigel & Piers

Some of the items added to www.elvisinfonet.com this week:

News

• July FTD soundboard likely to be called All Shook Up & will feature famous "laughing" version of Are You Lonesome Tonight?
• Elvis magazine mania on eBay
• EPE commissions two TV ads to boost visitor numbers at Graceland
• Goa "all shook up" over Elvis
• Elvis By The Presleys DVD to contain karate footage
• Aloha & Comeback Special single disc DVD news
• EPE updates Elvis Week 2005 calendar
• New TV Guide Elvis covers with mini-CD to be released next month
• Digital Elvis ad unlikely says Robert Sillerman, majority owner of EPE
• 1957 (Humes High) Herald reprinted
• Tom Jones on Elvis (some very funny stories)
• "Elvis" wins Starstruck
• New CD and DVD releases

Audio-visual

• Listen to Elvis "strung out" in Vegas audio
• Watch clips from opening night of "All Shook Up" on Broadway
• Watch the two Graceland "tourism" ads

Article

• Jimmy "Orion" Ellis gunned down and killed

Reviews

• My Home Videos of Elvis...Joe Esposito (VCD)
• Now What (EIN has a track by track listen to Lisa's new album
• Now What (Associated Press on Lisa's new album)
• Complete Guide to Elvis Presley (book)

Interview

• Bud Glass talks to EIN (Part 2)

Breaking News

Uncut Legends ELVIS: Available now in the UK is Uncut Legends ELVIS, a 146 page magazine, the definitive guide to rock's ultimate icon. The magazine has a foreword by Bono and features quotes and comments from many stars and celebrities including several modern artists, Trevor Cajiao and Alfred Wertheimer. The magazine is a real tribute to Elvis. Source: Elvis Presley Scrapbook

eBay book bonanza: One seller has listed 61 Elvis books and magazines on eBay! Each item is simply listed as Elvis Book 1, Elvis Book 2 etc and the start price for each item is US$9.99.

Billboard Weekly chart update

(courtesy of www.ElvisCharts.com)

April 30, 2005

(sg - sales gainer, gg - greatest sales gainer, ne - new entry, re - re-entry)

Top Christian Albums - Ultimate Gospel down 6 to #40

Top Country Albums - Ultimate Gospel down 3 to #60

Top Pop Catalog Albums - Elvis 30 #1's up 14 to #29 (sg)

Top Country Catalog Albums - Elvis 30 #1's up 1 to #3 (sg

Did you know?

• Elvis' rendition of White Christmas was based more on the interpretation by Clyde McPhatter than Bing Crosby's version
• In 1970 a magazine was published called Glen Campbell/Elvis Presley. It compared the two stars
• Elvis was the first entertainer to sell-out four concerts at New York's famous Madison Square Garden
• On this day in 1966 the album Frankie & Johnny entered the Billboard chart at #103 - it peaked at #20 for a 19 week chart run
• Suspicious Minds became Elvis' 48th gold single after its release in 1969
• In 1970 there were reports Elvis would perform in Paris, France on May 27
• Meet Elvis Presley by Favius Friedman was distributed throughout the US school system in 1971

New Elvis Blog site: http://elvisblog.myblogsite.com

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Book Review: "Inside Loving You"

Ger Rijff has done it again! His Inside Loving You photo-journal is a high quality product with superb design and chock full of rare, interesting photos and historical items. As the title implies the focus is on the making of Elvis Presley's second motion picture, Loving You.

It follows Rijff's similarly titles books, Inside King Creole and Inside Jailhouse Rock.

The photos in Inside Loving You are from the Chris Giles collection. The photo collection, a combination of color and b&w shots, is impressive. Staged and movie stills are neatly contrasted by fabulous "off camera" candids that show a relaxed, handsome young man obviously enjoying the fruits of his success. Female fans will relish the sight of a topless Elvis, rifle in hand, while glorious publicity stills in full color hit you right in the face.

Other notable visuals are Elvis with Liberace (both stars with beaming smiles) and Elvis off-camera with director, Hal Kanter and co-stars, Lizabeth Scott and Wendell Corey. Another shot of a topless Elvis shows him flexing his physique and there are several photos of Elvis relaxing with his parents between takes.

The narrative is an interview between producer/director Hal Kanter and Trevor Cajiao. Canter directed Loving You and wrote the screenplay for Blue Hawaii. The interview provides a valuable behind-the-scenes account of the young rock & roll King. From meals at the Presley home to teenage mass hysteria and Elvis' ability to recite, verbatim, General MacCarthur's farewell speech to Congress, the reader's knowledge about Elvis is significantly expanded. Cajiao is to be congratulated on conducting an intelligent, satisfying interview.

One of the reasons Ger Rijff's books are so highly regarded is their careful design which accommodates both the visual and textual aspects. Each visual is showcased so that it can shine. Beside each visual, the text is deliberately larger than normal with greater than single spacing and strategic use of 'white space' (which at times acts like a highlighting border around the photo). The result is that the text and white space complement each of the pictures rather than detracting from them.

The only negative with Inside Loving You is its softcover format, which means extra care needs to be taken to preserve the book.

It is unfortunate that the high cost of publishing in hardback is seeing less and less photo-journals released in the format best designed for their content. For some reason, photo journals of Elvis in a white jumpsuit seem to sell better than photo journals of a young, vibrant performer caught on and off camera in the halcyon days of the 50's.

Personally I don't understand this, as the 1950's photo journals offer much more in terms of rarity, interesting candids and higher quality narrative.

Verdict: Inside Loving You is simply one of the best Elvis Presley book releases of 2003. Full of visual treats and insightful narrative that adds appreciably to our knowledge and understanding of The King, this release is a must for the serious Elvis collector.

Elvis Trivia Question

What Elvis song peaked at #44 on the Billboard Singles chart in late 1967?

(Last week's answer:His Hand In Mine was the name of Elvis' 1961 gospel album)

Contact EIN

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