Rockpedia.info

39 years ago today, a young man dressed in a black velvet jacket, adorned in gold chains and an oversized gold belt buckle presented himself at the northwest gate of the White House.

Elvis Presley, the most popular singer of his time, handed the White House security agents a handwritten letter addressed to the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, requesting a meeting with him. His five-page letter, written on American Airlines stationery, also indicated his desire to become a federal agent in the war on drugs and said, “P.S. . . I have a personal gift for you which I would like to present to you and I hope that you can accept it. . . ” The gift was a World War II-era Colt 45 pistol.

The letter set of a chain of events that eventually led to a meeting — within hours — between the “king of rock ‘n’ roll” and the “leader of the free world.” Security prevented Presley from presenting the President with the gun, but Nixon’s aides accepted it on his behalf, complete with some bullets.

At the meeting, pictures and detailed notes were taken. The photograph of Presley and Nixon, major figures in American culture and politics at the time, is still one of the most requested photographs from the National Archives’ holdings of 15 million images.

The famous meeting will be the highlight of a special event at the National Archives on Wednesday, January 6, 2010. Two eyewitnesses: Egil “Bud” Krogh, who was an Assistant to the Counsel to the President, and Jerry Schilling, a music industry professional and long-time friend of Presley will describe the encounter. The discussion, which is free and open to the public, will be moderated by Timothy Naftali, Director of the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California, and introduced by David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States.

The program commemorates the 75th anniversary of Presley’s birth on January 8; the next day is the 97th anniversary of Nixon’s birth.

The program will be held at 7 p.m. in the William G. McGowan Theater at the National Archives. Admission is free. The McGowan Theater will open 30 minutes before the start of the program. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The public should use the Special Events Entrance to the National Archives, 7th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW.

Source: National Archives

Golden Globe(R) and Multiple Primetime Emmy(R) Nominated Motion Picture Starring Kurt Russell, Shelley Winters, Season Hubley, Bing Russell, Pat Hingle, Robert Gray, Joe Mantegna and Ed Begley Jr. THE ACCLAIMED BIOPIC FINALLY COMES TO DVD FROM SHOUT! FACTORY

Few figures in popular culture have endured in our collective consciousness as has multi-Grammy® Award-winning artist Elvis Presley. Crowned as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Presley’s revolutionary rockabilly music and captivating performances were as much a part of his legend as his uninhibited hip swivels, blue suede shoes, his charm and good looks. There have been motion pictures, television specials and books chronicling the roller-coaster life of Elvis Presley, and one of the most successful of these properties came in the acclaimed 1979 film ELVIS, starring Golden Globe nominee Kurt Russell in the title role, directed by John Carpenter. This highly regarded production captures the essence of The King at a time when his many fans were still mourning his passing. Hailed by audiences as one of the most powerful and moving biographical films, ELVIS garnered a Golden Globe nomination and multiple Emmy® nominations, including one for Kurt Russell as Outstanding Lead Actor for his incandescent performance as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The film also marked Carpenter and Russell’s first collaboration in what would become a legendary pairing.

Timed closely to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birth, Shout! Factory, in association with dick clark Productions, present ELVIS on DVD for the first time March 2, 2010. This collectible DVD features the main presentation of the movie restored from the original film elements as it was meant to be seen, as well as an array of bonus features including: “Bringing A Legend To Life,” a featurette with archival interviews of Kurt Russell and John Carpenter (1979); commentary by “The Voice Of Elvis,” Ronnie McDowell, and author Edie Hand; rare clips and captivating photo gallery. Even 33 years after his passing, Presley continues to burn a powerful image of rock stardom and still conquers new legions of fans through his indelible mark in worldwide pop culture. Available for the first time in the home entertainment marketplace, this long-awaited DVD debut of the film ELVIS is priced to own at $19.97.

Directed by John Carpenter, the biopic of Elvis Presley stars Kurt Russell and features the voice of ’70s country music hitmaker Ronnie McDowell re-creating Presley’s signature vocals. Tracing Presley’s life from his impoverished childhood to his meteoric rise to stardom to his triumphant return to Las Vegas, this film boasts an all-star ensemble including Academy Award® winner Shelley Winters (A Place In The Sun) as Elvis’ mother Gladys; Season Hubley (All My Children) as his wife Priscilla; Kurt Russell’s real-life father Bing Russell (The Magnificent Seven) as Elvis’s father Vernon Presley; Pat Hingle (Batman) as Colonel Tom Parker; Robert Gray (Murder She Wrote) as Red West; Golden Globe nominee Joe Mantegna (Searching for Bobby Fischer) as Memphis mafia member Joe Esposito; and Golden Globe nominee Ed Begley Jr. (St. Elsewhere) as D.J. Fontana.

IN-DEPTH DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
– “Bringing A Legend To Life” Featurette With Archival Interviews Of Kurt Russell And John Carpenter (1979)
– Commentary By “The Voice Of Elvis” Ronnie McDowell And Author Edie Hand
– Rare Clips From American Bandstand
– Photo Gallery

Source: Shout! Factory

Rhino and Bright Midnight Archives unleash four inspired performances from The Doors’ final tour with Live In New York. The latest addition to the band’s acclaimed series of archival concert releases, this six-disc collection contains all four of The Doors’ performances – in their entirety – recorded in 1970 at the Felt Forum in New York City.

The collection will be available November 10 at all retail outlets, including www.thedoors.com and www.rhino.com, for suggested list price of $89.98 for the physical boxed set. A digital version featuring select highlights from all four Felt Forum shows will also be available at all digital retail outlets for $9.99. An exclusive stream of “Break On Through (To The Other Side)” from the second show on January 17, 1970 will premiere at spinner.com beginning this Thursday, August 27.

Recorded January 17 and 18, 1970 – just a few weeks before the release of Morrison Hotel – these concerts find Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger, and Ray Manzarek locked in tight as they deliver smoking takes on soon-to-be-classics from their forthcoming album, including “Roadhouse Blues,” “Peace Frog,” “Ship Of Fools,” and “Maggie M’Gill.” The shows also feature a number of driving blues covers, such as Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love,” Howlin’ Wolf’s “Little Red Rooster,” and John Lee Hooker’s “Crawling King Snake.” “Those were the bluesy songs we always used to do,” Krieger says. “We probably hadn’t done them in years, but we resurrected them for these shows.”

The year prior to these shows, The Doors became one of the first rock bands to play New York City’s Madison Square Garden. When they returned in 1970, Densmore says they chose to play the Felt Forum, a smaller venue at the Garden. “It was more intimate, and you could feel the audience more,” he says. “There was more interaction, and the acoustics were much better, because it was designed for music.”

Manzarek hails these shows as a return to the group’s early days, when they used to play a small Los Angeles club called the London Fog. “I mean, talk about going back to basics. We used to do four sets a night at the London Fog, and we only had a small block of songs written up to that time. So we would do other people’s material. And in New York, it was like the same thing. We’ve got four shows to play here, two sets tonight, two sets tomorrow night. Let’s play whatever we want! Let’s just go!”

And go they did. Along with a mix of then-unheard new songs and old covers, the band also tapped into its 1967, self-titled debut, peppering the set lists with signature songs such as “Break On Through (To The Other Side),” “Soul Kitchen,” “The End,” and “Light My Fire,” The Doors’ first #1 hit.

For the final show of the Felt Forum stand, the band was joined onstage by two guests – The Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian (who played harmonica on the studio version of “Roadhouse Blues”) and drummer Dallas Taylor, who’d played on Crosby, Stills & Nash’s debut. Sebastian sat in for “Rock Me” and was joined by Taylor for “Going To N.Y. Blues” and “Maggie M’Gill.”

Fans will be blown away by the crisp sound found on LIVE IN NEW YORK. All four shows were mixed and mastered by the band’s longtime engineer, Bruce Botnick, who recorded a number of shows from The Doors’ 1970 tour on multi-track tape for the Absolutely Live album. While most of the music contained on LIVE IN NEW YORK is unreleased, a few songs (and portions of songs) surfaced in 1970 on Absolutely Live and in 1997 on The Doors Box Set.

Sadly, these shows represent The Doors’ final New York City performances with Morrison, who passed away July 3, 1971.

Rhino released 180-gram vinyl versions of all six Doors studio albums on September 15. Previously available only in 2007′s The Doors Vinyl Box, original stereo mixes of The Doors, Strange Days, Waiting For The Sun, The Soft Parade, Morrison Hotel, and L.A. Woman will now be available individually at all vinyl retail outlets for a suggested list price of $24.98 each.
Disc 1
January 17, 1970 (First Show)
1. Start Of Show
2. “Roadhouse Blues”
3. “Ship Of Fools”*
4. “Break On Through (To The Other Side)”
5. Tuning
6. “Peace Frog”
7. “Blue Sunday”
8. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)”
9. “Back Door Man”*
10. “Love Hides”*
11. “Five To One”*
12. Tuning/Breather
13. “Who Do You Love”
14. “Little Red Rooster”
15. “Money”
16. Tuning
17. “Light My Fire”*
18. More, More, More
19. “Soul Kitchen”*
20. End Of Show

Disc 2
January 17, 1970 (Second Show)
1. Start Show 2
2. Jim “How Ya Doing?”
3. “Roadhouse Blues”
4. “Break On Through (To The Other Side)”*
5. “Ship Of Fools”
6. “Crawling King Snake”
7. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)”
8. “Back Door Man”*
9. “Five To One”
10. Pretty Neat, Pretty Good
11. “Build Me A Woman”
12. Tuning/Breather
13. “Who Do You Love”*
14. Tuning/Breather
15. “Wild Child”*
16. Cheering/Tuning
17. “When The Music’s Over”

Disc 3
January 17, 1970 (Second Show) continued
1. Tuning/Breather
2. “Light My Fire”*
3. Hey, Mr. Light Man!
4. “Soul Kitchen”*
5. Jim’s Fish Joke
6. “The End”
7. End Of Show

Disc 4
January 18, 1970 (Third Show)
1. Start Show 3
2. “Roadhouse Blues”*
3. “Ship Of Fools”*
4. “Break On Through (To The Other Side)”*
5. Tuning/Breather
6. “Universal Mind”*
7. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)” – False Start*
8. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)”*
9. “Back Door Man”*
10. “Five To One”
11. Tuning/Breather
12. “Moonlight Drive”
13. “Who Do You Love”*
14. Calling Out For Songs
15. “Money”*
16. Tuning/Breather
17. “Light My Fire”
18. More, More More
19. “When The Music’s Over”*
20. Good Night – End Show

Disc 5
January 18, 1970 (Fourth Show)
1. Start Show 4
2. “Roadhouse Blues”*
3. “Peace Frog”*
4. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)”*
5. “Back Door Man”
6. “Five To One”
7. We Have A Special Treat
8. “Celebration Of The Lizard”
9. Alright Let’s Boogie
10. “Build Me A Woman”
11. “When The Music’s Over”*
12. More, More, More

Disc 6
January 18, 1970 (Fourth Show) continued
1. “Soul Kitchen”*
2. For Fear Of Getting Too Patriotic
3. Petition The Lord With Prayer
4. “Light My Fire”
5. Only When The Moon Comes Out
6. “Close To You”
7. The Encore Begins
8. “Rock Me”*
9. What To Do Next?
10. “Going To N.Y. Blues”*
11. Tuning/Breather
12. “Maggie M’Gill”*
13. Tuning/Breather
14. “Gloria”*/End Of Show

*Previously unreleased