Elvis Presley enterprises released a press release regarding the 35th anniversary year of Elvis' death:
Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. is preparing for what promises to be one of the biggest years in the Elvis world as plans take shape for a year-long celebration of the life and legacy of the Rock ‘n Roll icon on the 35th anniversary of the late singer’s passing.
The 35th Anniversary Year of Elvis will kick off in Memphis during the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s annual birthday celebration held Thursday, January 5 - Sunday, January 8, 2012, followed by The Elvis Cruise from Jacksonville, FL, to Nassau, Bahamas on January 6 – 12, 2012 and continues through Elvis Week 2012 which is expected to draw 75,000 fans from around the world making the pilgrimage to Memphis to visit Graceland and take part in a week-long event that celebrates the music icon.
Three new exhibits will be unveiled at Graceland starting with “Elvis on Tour” that opens to the public on January 5th. The exhibit celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Golden Globe award-winning documentary of the same name. “Elvis…Through His Daughter’s Eyes” will open on February 1st, Lisa Marie Presley’s birthday, and will highlight the relationship between Elvis and his only child. The largest exhibit launching during the 35th Anniversary year, “Icon: The Influence of Elvis Presley,” will open on March 1st and will feature many artifacts on loan from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. The exhibit will celebrate Elvis’ status as a music pioneer and icon that paved the way and influenced many of today’s artists and notable celebrities.
Numerous licensees and partners are also celebrating the 35th Anniversary Year of Elvis with special events, promotions, products and tours on a global scale. The largest ever international Elvis Presley exhibition will be unveiled in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2012 featuring hundreds of artifacts on loan from Graceland in Memphis. Elvis Presley In Concert, an astounding production that reunites former Elvis band mates live on stage with a state of the art video-projected Elvis, is returning in March of 2012 for a 16 date tour through Europe which includes London, Paris, Dublin, Zurich and Frankfurt in addition to Sao Paulo, Brazil, timed to coincide with the opening of the grand exhibition.
The new theatrical concert experience ELVIS LIVES “The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Event” will embark on a 29 city U.S. tour featuring finalists from The Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest as they perform in an unforgettable multi- media and live musical journey across Elvis’ life. Licensed Elvis festivals will be taking place all over the world in 2012. From Elvis’ birthplace in Tupelo, Miss. to Canada, the UK, Germany and Australia, fans will be gathering to celebrate Elvis Presley during this special year.
In August 2012, tens of thousands of fans from around the world will gather at Graceland in Memphis from Friday, August 10th through Saturday, August 18th for a week of special events, concerts, panel discussions and more during a multiple day celebration which has become known as Elvis Week. One of the largest events during the week, and one that has become a rock ‘n’ roll pilgrimage for many, is the annual Candlelight Vigil on August 15th.
“International fan clubs that normally bring 50 or 100 fans to Memphis for Elvis Week have told us they are bringing 500 or more in 2012,” said Scott Williams, Vice President of Marketing and Media for EPE. “And thanks to the growth of social networking, fans will be able to join us online making this the biggest celebration of Elvis in history.”
In recent years, the 20th, 25th and 30th year anniversaries saw a dramatic increase in awareness and participation by the media, licensees and fans from all over the world. During the 30th Anniversary celebration in 2007, some 75,000 people attended Elvis Week events and toured the king’s castle, Graceland, during the 7 day celebration in Memphis. In 2012, there will be even more ways than ever for fans, many of whom were not yet born when Elvis passed away, to celebrate their love for the undisputed King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
2012 will be an exciting time to visit Graceland. For more information about planning a trip to Graceland or to buy tickets, visit Graceland’s online travel planner. For additional information on the year-long 35th Anniversary celebration of the life and legacy of Elvis Presley, please visit Elvis.com or ElvisWeek.com.
BMW have been running their new commercial in the UK since yesterday, it features the remix of "A Little Less Conversation" on the soundtrack. It is nice to know that there is still so much interest in Elvis. In those dark days of August 1977, I really thought that everything would come to a sudden end. Elvis was gone and that was my natural assumption. Thankfully, I could not have been more wrong.
I am glad to see some focus on Elvis as an icon and his truly historic cultural role. For once, it would be great if EPE and the other "owners" of Elvis actually celebrated the man and his contribution rather than just another excuse to milk the cash cow. Leonard Bernstein considered Elvis to be "the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century" that is why I want to be in Memphis this August.
Boy how nice it would be for an Elvis Anthology DVD set for the 35th. I was just watching some of The Beatles Anthology and it still irks me nothing like this was ever done on Elvis. No other artists deserve it but these two. Elvis needs it for the definitive look at his career in chronological order. Forget Tunzi and others who have put out DVDs. We need the definitive set.
you're so right steve - its way way overdue. just as historical record its important. There's so much footage and interviews etc. to pull from it couldn't fail. I said before I made my own 3 and a half hour version by expanding 'This is Elvis' and everyone I've shown it to loves it - fans and non-fans, young and old! someone even suggested sending it to EPE!
I'm hoping for boxsets on DVD of EOT and TTWII and directors cut of the 68 special but I reckon we won't get it.
Amen to an anthology. There is noting in the way of a good documentary. The Tunzi DVDs are awful ripoffs and Elvis By The Presleys is not that good either other than some nice clips. I dont expect EOT ot TTWII anytime soon, so how about the definitivie DVD anthology? If the Beatles can do it (and 4 parties had to agree to it) why cant Elvis' estate?
JeanMarie, as has been pointed out to you on several occasions: the Elvis Estate cannot produce and release a re-made version of Elvis On Tour because they don't own the footage. The Pearl Harbour concert was released on the Elvis Aron Presley set, where it doesn't even fill a single disc - how they could turn it into a "fab double CD" is beyond me. You are right, all classic albums could have been released a long time ago, but if they had, you wouldn't have anything to complain about.
The Pearl Harbor concert has awful sound and would never sell. (a million copies, are you serious?) Only die-hard Elvis fans would buy it and many wont because it has been out before as pointed out. How well do the Legacy Series releases sell? Not close to a million. Lets face it, who cares about 50 year old music except the people on this site? It would have to be presented in an updated way to get the media attention the world now craves, if that means the dreaded remix or the dreaded duets, so be it. I cant see Elvis selling any other way anymore in big numbers anyway, steady slow sales yes, but big no. And who cares anyway? Does Lias, Priscilla? They have milked it dry for so many years now, people turn a deaf ear to new Elvis releases. The marketing strategy of The Beatles was the way to go (less is more), but it is too late for that now.
You're line Steve about the Beatles strategy of less is more is spot on and why an anthology now will not work. We have been saturated with material over the years and i wonder exactly what would go on an anthology that we don't already have or haven't seen before. Shame i know but i think it's too late for that to happen. The well has run dry and it's just the same old thing in a different sleeve.
An Anthology sounds like a good idea. However I could see it now. They would put together a shoddy product wich for the most part contain same footage with different commentators. Let's face it the Beatles product was first class, the Elvis would not be. Just look at the shoddy product over the past years. Dream on SteveV cause your dreams will be better than anything that will be put out on the King.
oldscudder & andy - I agree with you for the most part but I think an Anthology with some class is still needed. Would anyone other than Elvis fans care anymore? I dont know, but my goodness if all we have to rely on is This Is Elvis and Elvis By The Presleys as DVDs looking at Elvis' career it is quite sad. This Is Elvis is very amatuerish, and Elvis By The Presleys is not a true bio since it only is Priscilla's memories from the Army on. I suppose an outside film maker would have to be involved in putting it together and a good screen writer. One advantage The Beatles had was the 3 surviving members were involved in the process. It truly puts all Elvis DVD bios to shame including any official Graceland DVD. Oh well, bring on the 35th anniversary coffee blends!
Hell will freeze over before there's a decent anthology that mirrors the one put out on The Beatles. There simply is not enough interesting/unreleased material available on film, especially for the 50's and 60's. Elvis never really did recorded interviews for TV etc. The Beatles material has been taken from all kinds of appearances on TV, not just in the UK, but worlwide. Also specially produced promo films for their singles, something which Elvis never did, apart from bits in the films. Sorry, as much as I would love an anthology to match The Fab Four, it ain't going to happen or give a decent return on the capital invested in such a project.
I have no idea what the Beatles Anthology looks like/ Still I think SteveV's idea is great one. Yes we have to admit that recording in the sixties was upgraded in regard to the fifties, especially in the pop scene. And Elvis was not exposed in that way (Parker as manager failed to realise the impact - he was still living in the thirties and fourties). However, there is enough basic material to start with and if all parties cooperate (yes I know ... rights and so on) even movie material can be edited in such a nice way that it will compass the sixties too in valuable material. The seventies is pretty well documented. I would not mind buying these materials again IF and only IF it is a real view on his legacy and life (yes SteveV not only Priscilla's). Moreover I think there are enough people who are interested in this fresh approach at a reasonable price (not like $ 100 - $ 120 for Young Man...). And yet I share the sentiment that it is just a dream, as the rights are a problem AND having the right team to work on it to prevent it from being a shabby product like we are used to for how many years. On the other hand I also thought it was a dream to ever see the Tupelo concert.
JeanMarie, how exactly is the re-made version of TTWII a 'bad' one? Looking forward to your becoming the next CEO of Graceland, hopefully your press releases will be more coherent than your postings are.
JeanMarie you must learn to read the posts before spouting forth. I said the right people need to be involved, like professional film makers & screen writers, I never mentioned the EPE estate doing it did I? In fact I would not want them at all involved. All they need to do is give up the footage and let the pros handle it.
I don't quite know how the "TTWII-Special Edition" can be described as a "bad remake", I thought it was a masterpiece. Sometimes I do wonder if people have actually watched, listened to or read the product they complain about, because comments from certain directions get more absurd by the day.
I may sound trite on my part, but I hope Sony picks up where they left off on the 75th anniversary releases with this 35th anniversary. Like the Camden C'mon Everybody, the mssing soundtracks like Speedway, and the missing classic albums like Moody Blue and EP Boulevard. And maybe a Deluxe issue of Elvis In Concert and so on.
I agree with the previous poster. I'd like to see Sony finish the soundtracks and budget releases on cd. I also really like Steve's ideas about an Anthology. While I'm at it I'm still hoping for TTWII and Elvis On Tour DVD box set, but that doesn't seem likeley this year.
Bastogne-fan, your postings are amazingly like JeanMarie's, even down to your demands regarding FTD's and Elvis On Tour and the remarks about TTWII. My, you and JeanMarie must be the only fans in the world who don't like the re-made version of TTWII.
Martin DJ - figure it out, they are same person! He/she also has other names on this site as well. If you look at the profile of the last posting, the person just joined! Its a game this person has been playing for a few years now and all the posts and rants lead to the same thing. It wouldnt be so bad if the postings made sense, but they rarely do. The same questions and they have been answered on this site many times.
What's the fascination with 'On Tour' anyway? It's not as good as TTWII and Elvis looks washed out and not in the best of shapes. I've seen some of the outtakes that have sneaked out and wasn't too impressed. JeanMarie's three hour version would be pretty grim, methinks.
Steve, of course I figured it out - I looked at Bastogne-fan's profile before posting. Indeed, the postings rarely make sense, yet they are somewhat amusing.
