Music/Film: Elvis In Vegas on CMT
I got hitched in Vegas. I got hitched in Vegas by the King. I'm pretty sure it was him. He was real tall though, like 6'8.
I asked him if he ever played any ball. "No man, I always been the king".
Good enough for me.
Elvis and Vegas is real close to maybe the best match for performer and venue ever. The ironic thing is that Elvis was so obviously not a dapper Vegas cat - he was a hillbilly badass who could split your lip with a Karate chop and got buried in the backyard. Anyone wonderin' about the King's countrified-ness would do well to watch Elvis '56 which, just through photos and interviews - no videos - tells the story of the King's breakout year in 1956. It's him stealin' a kiss with a high school sweetheart, roughhousin in a half full swimming pool with his buddies, buying his first ring (the horseshoe, for good luck). Narrated by another great Southern wildcat - Levon Helm of The Band - it's a portrait of a real sweet country boy about to go poof like those fireworks Kerouac wrote about.
Frank Sinatra seemed at home in Vegas, swingin' with a deck of songs about heartache, booze and the good life but New York was really his town. The King, on the other hand, was just trying to find a place big enough to contain him. He was bigger than that ol' out-of-luck cowboy hitchin' a ride in all those postcards. Now Elvis in Vegas is like Santa at the North Pole. But there was a time when it wasn't so. Those jump suits everybody finds so damn funny were a brand new thang. He looked kinda like a crazy hillbilly super hero, like he'd just piloted a home-made spaceship that carried him and David Bowie back to earth. That suit was so fly that Evel Kenievel even co-opted it, jumping sharks and school buses in (a version of) it. And after all, if yer gonna do athletics, a high collar white polyester jumpsuit covered in rhinestones is just what you wanna wear. Remember Kurt Russell in the John Carpenter-directed Elvis TV Movie, telling his costume guy - I'm playin' Vegas man, can you make me somethin' you know.. .like a karate Gi?"
Now CMT will air a special all about Elvis in Vegas on Monday Aug 11th at 8pm (and the Blue Ray DVD will go on sale at Walmart for $10 bucks the same day). The take on it is how Elvis Presley reinvented Vegas and how it reinvented him. This thing oughta be pretty interestin' with everyone from 50 cent to The Rock to Tom Jones and Nancy Sinatra - you even got 'ol crazy-ass but very artful David Lynch - waxin' poetic on the king. I wonder if they're gonna have those flyin' Elvis's there? They got performers too. Everyone from rappers Three 6 Mafia doin' In the Ghetto to Toby Keith and Joe Perry doin' Mystery Train. And you got Chris Isaak and Brandi Carlile doin' love me tender, and you even got 'ol Celine Dion doin' Can't Help Falling In Love, which is when I'll be takin a peanut butter and banana break. But hey man, you can't have it all. I might even watch Celine, I just won't tell no one. What happens in Viva Las Vegas, stays in Viva Las Vegas. Check out the trailers for the show here.
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Livin': Mabe In America - Tom Mabe’s New Show on CMT
If ya don't already know about Tom Mabe, well it's about time ya did - his CDs, where he pranks telemarketers, are damn-near workin' man classics. But he's more than a prank phone call guy, he's a workin' comedian. He's got a blog on CMT.com, and he's got a new TV show fixin' to air on CMT as well. The clip above has been viewed over two and a hlaf million times on youtube. It's classic! (except for the goobers laughin' it up over the tape!) Here's a bit from his blog:
"Wow, I almost gave up! I’ve been in this industry since I was a teenager. I’ve been paying my dues for so long I was about ready to ask for a refund! Finally a show. And a good one at that! Here’s the journey, a lot of people know my work butdon’t know it was me that did it. I have several prank phone call CDs, Revenge on the Telemarketers round one and two, A Wake Up Call For Telemarketers and my latest CD that shares the same name as the show Mabe In America.
I guess the most famous call would be the Murder Scene Call, where I tell a telemarketer from Littleton, Co. that I was homicide detective and he was a suspect. Me and my best friend Jimbo have been producing CDs and video pranks since we were teens (4 years ago). After about 20 million views on youtube and 12 years of doing radio, networks started to pay attention again. I had two other pilots on other networks but had people from out west telling me how a guy from Kentucky should talk. “I’m from Kentucky, let me just talk!!!” OK, I was younger and just didn’t have the skills to deal with those Hollywood types." Read on here...
CMT has a contest goin' on where they're givin' away $10 Gas Cards to folks who watch his new show but don't laugh. They're callin' it "The $10,000 Laugh Guarantee. According to Andy Holeman over at CMT, “I think we will be hard pressed to find 1,000 people who don’t agree this show is hilarious, but considering the cost of gas, I don’t think we’ll have a problem finding people who overlook the ‘honor system’ for a little help at the gas pump.”
“It’s a sad day when your car’s Blue Book value doubles with a full tank of super unleaded,” says host Tom Mabe, commenting on the rising cost of gasoline. “Won’t be long before NASCAR adds a carpool lane!”
The show, Mabe in America, which gets started on the 4th of July at 9:30 pm and runs again throughout the weekend, has Tom and his gang wreaking havoc on loud cell-phone talkers and blue-tooth users, as well as reactions to incompetent doctors and lazy-ass ambulance drivers.
Mabe's a Southern guy who makes a livin' delivering jokes about junk-email, bad customer service, high gas prices and anything else that ticks off Americans. They've called him the “troubleshooter-troublemaker”.
You wanna split a gut - take a listen to this bit below - Tom gives a guy selling cemetary plots a hard time, and this fella --- well, you gotta hear it for yourself.
He's over at www.MabeinAmerica.cmt.com.
Posted in Livin'
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Music/Film: The Best Of The Johnny Cash TV Show
Who don't love the Man in Black? Thanks for readin', Loststar! There's this great DVD/CD (If ya don't know already) for sale at Starbucks of some of the best of Johnny Cash's TV Show from 1969-1971. Here's Twang Nation's take on it: (BTW - check out the Twang Nation blog if ya haven't. It's top shelf.)
"Now the cover is different from the one I’ve seen on the notoriously difficult to find version (at least difficult to find in Manhattan, where all the stores are sold out. No country music fans in New York? HA!) so I’m a little suspicious, but I’ve had a hard time finding the other version and it was the last one, so I snatched it up with my Grande of the day. The Starbucks version has only one DVD where the Sony Columbia Legacy has two. So, the Starbucks version omits some pretty tasty bits like Creedence Clearwater Revival playing “Bad Moon Rising” and Waylon Jennings doing “Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line” and “The Singing Star’s Queen” with Johnny (Waylon’s “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” did make the SB cut.) But the Starbucks version does come with a CD containing some performances not found on the original DVD. Brenda Lee doing “Johnny One Time” and Johnny Cash, The Carter Family and The Statler Brothers doing “Belshazzar” are some highlights. Alas, the Starbucks version comes in a cheapo snap-case with no liner notes and I haven’t watched the DVD yet, so i don’t know if there are any interviews or features left out, but if you're like me and finding it hard to find the original and want a CD of some of the selections, the Starbucks version is a nice make-due while waiting on the other to arrive in the mail."
I snatched up a copy as well, and I'm enjoyin' the hell out of it! I have not seen the other version, so I can't compare 'em, but I look forward to gettin' my hands on a copy.
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