Elvis News

The history of 20th-century popular music in America has often been a story of race.

CARL WILSON H By Elijah Wald Oxford University Press, 323 pages, $24.95US When Elvis Presley made his first appearance on Milton Berle's then-must-see-TV variety show in April, 1956, the other guests were Harry James and Buddy Rich, two big-band musicians.

The death hadn't even been confirmed, the body not yet cold, before the comparisons were being made.

The King was reincarnated at the Penticton Pacific Northwest Elvis Festival in the form of Gino Monopoli.

MICHAEL Jackson was a towering presence in the world of popular music - a giant who could stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Elvis, The Beatles and Frank Sinatra.

Let's quash this rumor before it gets started: Michael Jackson did not fake his own death to escape the exhausting rigors of stardom.

With millions around the world mourning his death and some commentators hitting outlandish heights of hyperbole while trying to assess his cultural impact, Michael Jackson poses two fascinating questions for students of popular music.

MTV's Bill Flanagan says if Michael Jackson had not been able to write songs such as "Beat It" and sing them so powerfully, none of the rest of the circus that was his life would have mattered.

FANS of Michael Jackson may be mourning the King of Pop's death, but if one thing is certain it's that his music will live on.

The funeral for the late King of Pop Michael Jackson may be bigger than that of the services honoring Princess Diana and the King of Rock n' Roll, Elvis Presley, experts say.

When Elvis did his swan dive from the throne in 1977, a cynic declared that death was a good career move for the fallen king of rock 'n' roll, whose singing voice and jumpsuit inseams had taken to faltering in public.

Everybody did The Moonwalk. Or at least tried. Everybody had The Glove. Or pretended they did when singing along to "Billie Jean" and "Beat It." Everybody watched the "Thriller" video over and over and had every line memorized, from the opening "I'm not like other guys" monologue to Vincent Price's ghoulish outro.

Elvis Presley, the undisputed King of rock 'n roll, returned to the stage for the first time in eight years in December 1968 with perhaps the greatest performance of his stellar career, electrifying the screen with 27 of his greatest hits.

Notwithstanding their considerable shortcomings, Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley changed people's lives and will, as time passes, be linked together forever .

Like Elvis before him, Michael Jackson is topping the charts in death as in life.

When Smokey Robinson appeared on last season's "American Idol," Debra Carey was transported back to her teenage years.

Through the looking glass, there was a time when I derived some of my income from a jukebox.

It's hard to believe Michael Jackson is . . . dead. A truly singular human being, music and pop-culture icon shuffled off this mortal coil Thursday, leaving 750,000 comeback concert ticket holders with collector's items and millions of fans around the world - including some who had lost faith in Jackson the artist - shocked and saddened.

"The CBS Evening News" on Aug. 16, 1977, led with a story on the Panama Canal. Former President Gerald Ford had come out in favor of a plan, announced the week before, to give control of the canal to Panama.

Michael Jackson was the king of pop and Elvis was the king of rock n' roll. One show at the Jenny Wiley Theatre this summer features many of Elvis' biggest hits... "All Shook Up". It's a love story that's sure to shake things up in eastern Kentucky.