BackinMemphis

Elvis Presley is so iconic, it's sometimes hard to remember he was just a guy. And bodyguard Sam Thompson remembers Elvis as a funny guy. Elvis would quote Peter Sellers' lines from "Pink Panther" movies on tour, Thompson says: "Things would be going crazy, and he would look at somebody and go, 'Do you have rhoom?' " in Sellers' Inspector Clouseau accent. Or, "Does your dog bite?" The King loved "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," the Black Knight scene in particular. After a bad show, he would tell guys backstage, in character, "It's only a flesh wound." Thompson, who later became a lawyer, judge and music producer with David Foster, lives in Las Vegas. This weekend, he, local singer Nellie Norris and I judged Fremont Street's Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest. (Winner: Las Vegan Johnny Fortuno.) Thompson regaled the crowd with a great story about Elvis' onstage splits. "Elvis would ...

America may not find out the winner of this season’s popular TV show “American Idol” until the end of the month, but the fate of its parent company is clear.Media company CKx Inc., which owns proprietary rights to “Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance,” said Tuesday is being sold to a private equity group for about $511 million in cash.. CKx also owns the rights to the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. The buyout group, led by Apollo Global Management, agreed to pay $5.50 per share for CKx, a 24 percent premium to the stock’s closing price Monday of $4.45. Shares rose $1.02, or 22.9 percent, to $5.47 in morning trading Tuesday. The company had about 92.9 million shares outstanding as of March 31. The board and The Promenade Trust, a group that benefits Lisa Marie Presley and is the company’s partner managing the Elvis Presley name, support the deal, as does Robert F.X. Sillerman, the company’s largest shareholder with a nearly 21 percent stake. A cash ten...