BackinMemphis

Guitarist and singer Lonnie Mack, whose instrumental recordings influenced guitar players including Stevie Ray Vaughan, has died in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 74. Alligator Records said in a statement that Mack died Thursday of natural causes. He lived in Smithville, Tennessee, about 65 miles east of Nashville. Born Lonnie McIntosh in West Harrison, Indiana, Mack played sessions for record labels in Cincinnati with blues and R&B greats such as James Brown, Hank Ballard and Freddie King. His 1963 instrumental recording of Chuck Berry's "Memphis," became a radio hit, and he followed that with "Wham!" -- a tune that inspired the nickname "whammy bar" for the tremolo bar he had on his Gibson Flying V. His style was influenced by country music, like George Jones and Merle Travis, but also blues singers like Bobby Bland. Mack released several albums subsequently that weren't as popular, but his career was re-energized when he and Vaugh...

Here's what the press took away from Ugly Elvis, Elvis and Nixon and what the general public will read about Elvis. I am so hurt for Elvis by this. Most Critics call Jerry's character, DULL. Elvis was traveling with some guns and his collection of police badges , and he decided that what he really wanted was a badge from the federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs back in Washington. "The narc badge represented some kind of ultimate power to him," Priscilla Presley would write in her memoir, Elvis and Me. "With the federal narcotics badge, he [believed he] could legally enter any country both wearing guns and carrying any drugs he wished." Arrayed in a purple velvet suit with a huge gold belt buckle and amber sunglasses, Elvis came bearing a gift—a Colt .45 pistol mounted in a display case that Elvis had plucked off the wall of his Los Angeles mansion. In 1988, years after Nixon resigned and Elvis died of a drug overdose , a Chicago newspa...

  Michael Shannon , or as one of my friends calls him, UGLY ELVIS gave an interview to USA TODAY. Here is part of it. Preparing for the movie, which retraces Presley's 1970 meeting with President Nixon (played by Kevin Spacey), Shannon knew exactly what he didn't want to do: An Elvis impersonation. Presley's old colleague and confidante Jerry Schilling, who served as executive producer (and is represented as a character), warned the actor against such an approach.  "Jerry said, 'People don't know my friend as well as they think they do,' " says Shannon. Though he's tall and striking, with prominent blue eyes, Shannon's strong features hardly recall Presley's prettiness. But the actor's nuanced performance suggests the softer feelings and self-consciousness underlying the rock icon's blazing charisma. "The shake, rattle and roll — that all came out of being nervous," Shannon notes. "Early on, (Presley) wou...

SiriusXM runs Elvis Radio at Graceland. The new film, Elvis and Nixon is a comedy about Elvis meeting Nixon. Many fans are up in arms about this film. Elvis Presley Enterprises has no involvement in the film. Elvis isn't even on the sound track. YET the movie is HEAVILY promoted on Elvis Radio. And the opinion is ONE sided. Maybe they should change the name to Elvis and Nixon The Movie. If I was running the show at EPE, there would be ZERO POINT ZERO promotion of this film. It is negative towards Elvis' image and there is not one dollar coming towards EPE. Promoting this film is throwing $$$ out the window. As long as Elvis Radio on SiriusXM doesn't promote anything else NON EPE, it saddens me they allow this. This HURTS Elvis' brand. But then again when the company releases a comment to the press that Elvis isn't relevant in Vegas anymore, what do you expect? It's like saying our brand is dying. So question is then WHY sign a deal in Vegas at all? ...