I had tickets to see Elvis in Las Vegas in August of 1974. My connection knew the maitre d’ and had set us up for a good table. It didn’t pan out. Then on March 30, 1977 Elvis was in concert in Alexandria, LA, where I lived at the time. It was a great concert complete with J.D. Sumner, four female backup singers, and musicians to rival the Tonight Show Band. There was the now-famous announcement at the close, “Elvis has left the building.“ Five months later he was really gone.
Shreveport, LA has a unique connection with Vegas other than former governor Edwin Edwards and casinos. The Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium was home to a country music show called The Louisiana Hayride. First a radio, then later a television show. Radio station KWKH -AM was the flagship station for the Louisiana Hayride and it would soon be heard on a regional network of 25 stations. Elvis performed on the radio show in 1954 and then the TV show in March of 1955 — twenty-two years to the month before I saw him.
Cirque du Soleil opened Viva Elvis at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas earlier this year (2010) to pay tribute to the life and music of The King. According to the press release, this production “focuses on the essential humanity of the one superstar whose name will forever be linked with the history of Las Vegas: Elvis Presley.”
Viva Elvis: The Album includes twelve tracks from the show two of which are instrumentals and ten are The King himself. Every track is a re-mix by accomplished producers including three by Grammy Award winner Brendan O’Brien of Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen fame. Accompanying Elvis are the added voices of Dean Norberg, Jennlee Shallow, Sherry St-Germain and Stacie Tabb. Throughout the CD are dubbed-in comments from announcers, movie scenes and Ed Sullivan.
Article comments
1 - MauriceColgan
Thanks for the great review.
So far, very promising sales results at HMV etc.
Elvis Presley's amazing voice is bound to attract the attention of discerning listeners.
2 - whyvonne
good review .got the album its fab
3 - john t
Just bought viva elvis cd , i have been a fan of the king for over 45 years and have a large collection of his music i wasn't sure if this was a good idea or not to mess with perfection . the good news is i love it its different a lot of fans might not like it but ive listened to it several times and its magic. im sure on the strength of this album a whole lot of new elvis fans will be born , and that cant be a bad thing . as elvis himself said when asked by sam philips at elvi's first recording ,
" so who do you sound like " AH DONT SOUND LIKE NOBODY SIR " how right he was ,
4 - fcetier
Thank you all for your comments, I appreciate them all.
5 - ricardo b. prospero
I have been a fan since I was nine years old of Elvis and I am a living witness to what he have achieved music wise. His songs are timeless and has no boundary whether it is the good old rock and roll or the modern sound of today.
6 - reg monks
Brilliant Remixes UGuys, Sure 2B a Winner @ Attract New Fans. Cant wait 2 hear the next batch. Long Live Elvis.