After 43 years of marriage, Mary Ann Mobley and Gary Collins call it quits. The couple filed for legal seperation earlier this month and records show that they have been living apart since October 1, 2010.
Mobley's rep tells TMZ, Maryann is miserable about the whole situation.
Maryann Mobley, former Miss America 1959 and best known to Elvis fans as the king's co-star in Harum Scarum & Girl Happy, is battling stage 3 breast cancer and is undergoing chemo and radiation at this time.
Gary is extremely depressed about his wife's illness and they both need the break. Gary has had his own battles, he was arrested 3 times and convicted twice for DUI.
My best memories of Gary Collins are from his 80's talk show, Hour Magazine. Here is a clip of an interview he did with Bette Davis. It's odd to see her light up on a tv talk show. Not seen today!
Mary Ann will be a special guest at Elvis Week 2012 in Memphis, TN this August.
We wish both Mary Ann and Gary much happiness and good health! Please keep these lovely people in your thoughts and prayers!
Grooveshark will become the first music streaming service to offer recordings from the world-famous Sun Records, the indie label with some justifiction for its slogan, “Where rock & roll was born.” Among the artists with music included in the deal are Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and others who may not be such household names but who also represent a seminal era in music history.
The new partners said this demonstrated how a streaming service like Grooveshark had the power to introduce classic artists, like those on Sun Records, into mainstream pop culture. This remark underscores one of the unappreciated aspects of customized radio: smart programming and algorithms put songs into users’ streams that data show they’re likely to enjoy, exposing them to new and catalog music they may never have heard otherwise.
Sam Phillips launched his record company in 1952. Collin Brace, vice president, Sun Entertainment Corp., observed that its legacy didn’t mean it was preserved in amber. “In a landscape where majors are fighting the inevitable reality of a new era, I’m proud Sun fosters a forward thinking direction,” Brace said. “Grooveshark’s platform and structure allow us to give our core fans what they want, while exponentially serving as a discovery engine to new listeners around the world.”
Grooveshark’s director of Music Strategy, Thomas Sharp Maxwell, said his company was “honored to work with such an iconic label and storied catalog that has proven itself fundamental throughout the history of the music industry.”
Elvis Presley’s Sun Records recordings are conspicuous by their absence from this agreement.
The London production of rockabilly tuner Million Dollar Quartet has released a live cast album! Recorded at the Noël Coward Theatre, the CD was released on September 29 in honor of original ‘million dollar quartet’ member Jerry Lee Lewis’ 76th birthday.
Inspired by the famed December 4, 1956, recording session that brought together rock icons Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley, Million Dollar Quartet recreates the legendary session and the story of the men who made it happen. With a book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, the production features a roster of classic rock and country hits, including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “I Walk the Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”
The Million Dollar Quartet London cast includes Ben Goddard as Jerry Lee Lewis, Derek Hagen as Johnny Cash, Michael Malarkey as Elvis Presley, Oliver Seymour-March as Carl Perkins, Bill Ward as Sun Records founder Sam Phillips and Francesca Jackson as Dyanne.
Chuy's will open its third Middle Tennessee location at 1901 Broadway on Oct. 11, the Tex-Mex restaurant chain said today.
The Austin, Texas-based chain already operates locations in Cool Springs and Murfreesboro.
The Nashville location will employ 180 people and feature an Elvis Presley shrine, metal palm trees and hubcap-covered ceilings.
Other restaurants with Williamson County connections that have recently opened or plan to open in Nashville include Saffire owner Tomkats Restaurant Group and Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant.
Founded in 1982, Chuy’s operates 23 locations in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas.
*What else could go wrong for convicted former governor Rod Blagojevich? Ted McClelland takes a satirical look at the coup de grace.
The world keeps turning its back on former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
A day after the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission asked the Illinois Supreme Court to suspend the convicted politician’s law license, the estate of Elvis Presley announced that Blagojevich has been banned for life from Graceland, the Memphis mansion that has been maintained as a shrine to Elvis since the singer’s death in 1977.
“Due to the egregious breadth of Blagojevich’s conduct while governor of Illinois, he is no longer welcome on any Presley family properties,” Elvis’s daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, said in a statement. “He is also prohibited from singing ‘Treat Me Nice’ in public, or impersonating Elvis in any way.”
Following the family’s lead, the international Elvis community moved swiftly to dissociate itself from Blagojevich. Elvisinsiders.com, the official online Elvis fan club, suspended Blagojevich’s account and asked him to stop displaying the membership decal on his SUV.
This is not the first time a musical act has attempted to dissociate itself from a politician. Smith’s guitarist Johnny Marr told British Prime Minister David Cameron he was “not allowed” to like the ’80s pop band. Miss Presley is taking a similar attitude toward Blagojevich.
“We’d actually prefer that Gov. Blagojevich just throw away all his Elvis CDs,” she said. “Being associated with a convicted felon is bad for dad’s image. We’re worried that some young person may first hear about Elvis in a story about the governor, and decide he doesn’t want to listen to the same kind of music as an impeached and convicted politician.”
Blagojevich reacted bitterly to the Presley family’s snub.
“Like Elvis, I’m a guy who’s had a lot of ups and downs in his life,” Blagojevich said. “I grew up in a poor family, but rose to the top of my field. I’ve never been a fair weather Elvis fan. I own the DVD of every Elvis movie -- even Clambake. I don’t just listen to Love Me Tender. I listen to bootlegs of Vegas shows when Elvis was so bloated and sedated he could barely gasp out the words to ‘All Shook Up.’ So for the Presley family to turn their backs on me goes against everything Elvis stands for. In fact, one of Elvis’s biggest hits was about convicts who deal with their imprisonment by forming a rock band -- which is just what I plan to do in prison.”
Blagojevich then announced he would defy the family’s wishes by watching Elvis’s 1968 Comeback Special, a favorite since his impeachment.
