The private mausoleum crypt in Memphis, Tennessee in which Elvis Presley was first buried is to be sold at auction.
The lot includes the crypt itself, the right to open and
close the vault for a burial, a memorial inscription and the use of a
small chapel for a service.
Bids are expected to start at $100,000 (£63,781).
Other items in the sale, to be held on 23 and 24 June in
Hollywood, include clothing worn by the guitarist Keith Richards and the
late Amy Winehouse.
Following Presley's funeral at his Graceland home in August
1977, his body was temporarily entombed in a crypt at Forest Hill
Cemetery.
Around 80,000 people lined the processional route that Presley's coffin took from Graceland to Forest Hill.
Within two months, both his body and that of his mother
Gladys were moved to a permanent site in the meditation garden on the
Graceland grounds.
According to the Julien's Auctions website, Presley's original crypt "has remained empty... as a visiting place for those coming to remember The King".
The Sports Legends and Music Icons sale will be held at Julien's auction house in Beverly Hills on 23 and 24 June.
Other lots include a robe Winehouse used in her Rehab video
and a ripped T-shirt worn by Richards while playing for the Rolling
Stones.
Just as Elvis was simply ‘The King’ and Michael Jackson was the ‘King of Pop’, so Madonna
has been titled the ‘Queen of Pop’. It’s both a recognition of her
phenomenal three decades-long career and an easy narrative hook by which
her every comeback and fall from grace can be measured. Given the
moniker is bandied about so much, we decided to investigate what it
actually means and whether Madge still deserves such an illustrious
honour?
Rather than give you a straight up answer, we’ve decided to play
devil's advocate instead. Mainly because it seemed more fun to nudge and
wink at a conclusion than shout it out load. After all, no one
understands the power of suggestion more than Madonna.
“Of course Madonna is still the Queen of Pop! All other female popstars are a pale imitation.”
Before we delve into Madonna’s pervasive influence over pop culture, a few statistics for you:
60 - the total of UK Top 10 singles Madonna holds to her name (including 13 Number 1 singles)
6.3 million - the number of people who saw Madonna in concert over the course of the 2000s
300 million - the global records sales Madonna has achieved to date
Until any female popstar matches these figures they can’t possibly
claim to be the Queen of Pop. To suggest otherwise is as laughable as Crossroads when compared to the triple Golden Globe winning Evita. It’s Madonna’s world, we all just happen to be living in it.
No other performer has managed to manipulate the showbiz world to
their benefit while codifying society’s changing attitudes to sex,
religion and celebrity. Sure she’s a walking contradiction, able to
garner the praise of pro-choice campaigners for ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ and
the condemnation of the Papacy which called for a boycott of her Blond
Ambition tour. Yet it’s this relentless dedication to controversy and
its resulting publicity, that has set a model on which modern popstars
thrive to this very day.
Take Katy Perry foaming whipped cream out of her
boobs in the ‘California Gurls’ video. Shocking? Sort of, but not quite
as provocative as Madonna simulating sex in a wedding dress and ‘Boy
Toy’ belt live on stage at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. What about Nicki Minaj
undertaking an exorcism during ‘Roman Holiday’ at the Grammys this
year? It’s a good effort but still not quite up there with filming a
Church altar-based interracial sex scene with a Christ-like figure for
the ‘Like A Prayer’ video.
Lest we forget, these iconic instances were built on the back of some
of the best pop songs of all-time. Where many tracks from the 80s and
early 90s heyday of synthetic dance-pop have wilted in the 21st century
spotlight, ‘Into The Groove’, ‘Vogue’ and ‘Express Yourself’ remain
ubiquitous to this very day. Much as Lady Gaga might
wish otherwise. The hits have continued to roll in too, from ‘4 Minutes’
to ‘Ray Of Light’, Madonna’s thriving existence serves as a staggering
riposte to pop’s eternal obsession with youth.
In her older, more demure guise, the ‘Hollywood’ star still shines at
a record breaking radiance. Her 2008-09 Sticky & Sweet jaunt around
the world grossed $408 million, making it the fourth highest grossing
tour of all time. Last month, MDNA also broke the record for
iTunes pre-orders hitting the Number 1 chart spot in 50 countries. No
wonder Live Nation shelled out a mind-boggling $120 million in 2007 for a
10-year deal encompassing all of Madonna's future music and
music-related businesses.
If such a formidable legacy combined with her global pull as a live
performer does not ensure Madge’s status at the top of the pop pile,
then what does? As Nicki Minaj proclaims herself on MDNA’s ‘I’m A
Sinner’, “There’s only one Queen and that’s Madonna. Bitch!”
“How can Madonna possibly be the Queen of Pop? She can’t even make the Radio 1 playlist"
Before we delve into Madonna’s waning influence over pop culture, a few statistics for you:
37 - The peak UK singles chart position for ‘Gimme All Your Luvin’’ (Madge’s last single ‘Revolver’ only reached 130)
£183,000 - The total UK box office receipts for Madonna’s W.E. (it’s original budget was $28.2 million)
No female popstar who so desperately clings to relevance and fails to
achieve it can be described as the Queen Of Pop. To suggest otherwise
is as laughable as Glitter when compared to the twice MTV Movie Awards nominated Crossroads.
Being the Queen of Pop is like holding the Olympic 100 metres gold
medal; it’s great while you have it but once that title is lost, you’ll
never get it back. While Madonna redefined the roles of sex, religion
and celebrity in pop music, she did so by pillaging from various
pre-established cultural narratives. The sultry blond persona of Marilyn
Monroe, the glossy MTV productions of Michael Jackson and Duran Duran, plus a wealth of dance music genres like house, rave and disco.
To deny Madge’s modern rivals top dog status simply because they’re
stepping in her footsteps is a line of argument that’s as preposterous
as Emeli Sandé’s quiff. Rihanna’s forthcoming role in Battleship may be vaguely reminiscent of the ‘Girl Gone Wild’ hitmaker’s appearance in Desperately Seeking Susan but that itself bore to mind Elvis’ dalliances in Love Me Tender. Likewise Lady Gaga’s 500,000 shifting The Remix album directly emulates Madonna’s You Can Dance, yet this championed a format popularised eight years earlier by Sly & The Family Stone.
If Madonna is not the Queen of Pop, who is? Run through the list of
super massive popstars and there’s only one real answer. Katy Perry? Too
reliant on her (loose) girl next door image to really push the
envelope. Britney? As great as Femme Fatale
was, it remains the ‘If U Seek Amy' chanteuse’s lowest selling album in
the US to date. Rihanna? Arguably but her definition of ‘shocking’
rarely extends beyond performing in a pair of ‘fuck you’ embossed
trainers with the offending phrase written in an impossibly small font.
Obviously, this leaves only Lady Gaga. A woman who deems the best way
to arrive at the Grammys is in an egg. A woman who uses her position at
the pinnacle of pop culture to pontificate on gay rights via the medium
of unicorn-based imagery. A woman who in the space of two album cycles
has already released ‘Bad Romance’, ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Judas’. No wonder
Madge recently tried to pass her off as "reductive".
Gaga has re-appropriated imagery long associated with Madonna but
she’s also clever enough to make what she borrows her own. Certainly,
the ‘Alejandro’ video is similar to the promo for ‘Like A Prayer’ when
viewed from the perspective that Benedict XVI is going to be adding
neither to his private YouTube playlist. Stylistically, the pair are
miles apart. Just try to imagine Madonna in a meat dress or Gaga nabbing
an Abba sample for her next single. Ed Sheeran will record an album of
black metal Michael Buble covers before either happens.
Just as Elvis was simply ‘The King’ and Michael Jackson was the ‘King of Pop’, so Madonna
has been titled the ‘Queen of Pop’. It’s both a recognition of her
phenomenal three decades-long career and an easy narrative hook by which
her every comeback and fall from grace can be measured. Given the
moniker is bandied about so much, we decided to investigate what it
actually means and whether Madge still deserves such an illustrious
honour?
Rather than give you a straight up answer, we’ve decided to play
devil's advocate instead. Mainly because it seemed more fun to nudge and
wink at a conclusion than shout it out load. After all, no one
understands the power of suggestion more than Madonna.
“Of course Madonna is still the Queen of Pop! All other female popstars are a pale imitation.”
Before we delve into Madonna’s pervasive influence over pop culture, a few statistics for you:
60 - the total of UK Top 10 singles Madonna holds to her name (including 13 Number 1 singles)
6.3 million - the number of people who saw Madonna in concert over the course of the 2000s
300 million - the global records sales Madonna has achieved to date
Until any female popstar matches these figures they can’t possibly
claim to be the Queen of Pop. To suggest otherwise is as laughable as Crossroads when compared to the triple Golden Globe winning Evita. It’s Madonna’s world, we all just happen to be living in it.
No other performer has managed to manipulate the showbiz world to
their benefit while codifying society’s changing attitudes to sex,
religion and celebrity. Sure she’s a walking contradiction, able to
garner the praise of pro-choice campaigners for ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ and
the condemnation of the Papacy which called for a boycott of her Blond
Ambition tour. Yet it’s this relentless dedication to controversy and
its resulting publicity, that has set a model on which modern popstars
thrive to this very day.
Take Katy Perry foaming whipped cream out of her
boobs in the ‘California Gurls’ video. Shocking? Sort of, but not quite
as provocative as Madonna simulating sex in a wedding dress and ‘Boy
Toy’ belt live on stage at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. What about Nicki Minaj
undertaking an exorcism during ‘Roman Holiday’ at the Grammys this
year? It’s a good effort but still not quite up there with filming a
Church altar-based interracial sex scene with a Christ-like figure for
the ‘Like A Prayer’ video.
Lest we forget, these iconic instances were built on the back of some
of the best pop songs of all-time. Where many tracks from the 80s and
early 90s heyday of synthetic dance-pop have wilted in the 21st century
spotlight, ‘Into The Groove’, ‘Vogue’ and ‘Express Yourself’ remain
ubiquitous to this very day. Much as Lady Gaga might
wish otherwise. The hits have continued to roll in too, from ‘4 Minutes’
to ‘Ray Of Light’, Madonna’s thriving existence serves as a staggering
riposte to pop’s eternal obsession with youth.
In her older, more demure guise, the ‘Hollywood’ star still shines at
a record breaking radiance. Her 2008-09 Sticky & Sweet jaunt around
the world grossed $408 million, making it the fourth highest grossing
tour of all time. Last month, MDNA also broke the record for
iTunes pre-orders hitting the Number 1 chart spot in 50 countries. No
wonder Live Nation shelled out a mind-boggling $120 million in 2007 for a
10-year deal encompassing all of Madonna's future music and
music-related businesses.
If such a formidable legacy combined with her global pull as a live
performer does not ensure Madge’s status at the top of the pop pile,
then what does? As Nicki Minaj proclaims herself on MDNA’s ‘I’m A
Sinner’, “There’s only one Queen and that’s Madonna. Bitch!”
Sweden's Loreen clinched the top spot at this year's Eurovision Song
Contest with her dance hit "Euphoria," pushing aside competition from a
sextet of Russian grannies and a Serbian balladeer.Juries and television viewers from across Europe awarded Loreen a
total of 372 points, handing her an easy win in an event that ended in
the early hours Sunday in host country Azerbaijan. Sweden will take over
hosting duties next year.
Softly spoken Loreen, a 28-year-old of Moroccan-Berber descent, thanked her fans for their support.
"I wouldn't have been able to do this without you. Thank you so much," she said after her victory was announced.
Russia's
Buranovskiye Babushki garnered much public affection for their cute
onstage presence, but their folksy dance ditty "Party for Everybody"
couldn't quite match Sweden's more contemporary offering and ended up
second on 259 points.
Zeljko Joksimovic, a Eurovision regular from
Serbia, came in a distant third with his slow and stripped-down "Nije
Ljubav Stvar."
The 57-year-old pan-European competition viewed by
some 125 million people worldwide is hailed by its legion of devoted
fans as harmless, kitschy fun that allows Europeans to forget their
differences — and economic troubles — for at least one night. The winner
is picked by juries and television viewers across the continent, so a
broad appeal is deemed key to success.
Amid the usual jamboree of
youthful exuberance — and questionable taste — a pair of elderly acts
had featured among the most high-profile contenders.
The UK's
black-clad veteran crooner Engelbert Humperdinck, who Scottish comedian
Robert Florence acerbically remarked on Twitter looked "like an
inaccurate waxwork of Johnny Cash," proved a flop, however, scoring a
dismal 12 points. Only Norway's Tooji did worse, coming 26th with seven
points.
The Buranovskiye Babushki offered a static stage show, but
did liven up their rendition of "Party for Everybody" with some
choreographed baking in an onstage oven.
Europe's more boring
countries lived down to expectations with performances that were
forgotten even before they were over. Slow ballads were very much the
flavor of the evening, with Estonia arguably achieving new depths of
bland.
Past the half-way mark, Romania's six-piece Mandinga
mercifully livened up proceedings with a pounding musical potpourri of
bagpipes and brass, extravagant wardrobe choices, and a sultry
performance by lead vocalist Elena Ionescu.
Winner Loreen went for
the windswept look as she battled a wind machine to belt out the club
music-lite hit "Euphoria" and assay some vaguely robotic dance moves.
Once
the competitive section of the show was over, Emin, the pop star
son-in-law of Azerbaijan's authoritarian President Ilham Aliyev, was
winched down onto the stage to perform his own song.
Emin's
inclusion in the night's entertainment roster raised eyebrows and
refreshed claims of the rampant nepotism that is widely said to benefit
members of Aliyev's family.
Azerbaijan, a comparatively
little-known former Soviet republic, dug deep to make sure it took full
advantage of its rare moment in the world limelight.
The new
Crystal Hall concert venue, a light-bathed arena on a point jutting out
into the Caspian Sea, cost $134 million to build and was put up in a
speedy eight months. Countless more millions have been spent
embellishing the capital, Baku, and buying a huge fleet of brand new
London-style taxis.
Such profligacy has aroused concerns about the spiraling costs involved in holding the contest in times of austerity.
"At
the moment, if the costs are growing more and more every year and it
needs to be more splendid, there are countries that would have huge
difficulties, especially with financial situation in Europe at the
moment, in organizing it," said Annika Nyberg Frankenhauser, media
department for the European Broadcasting Union, under whose auspices
Eurovision is held.
Rain fell hard throughout the night in Baku,
although diehard Eurovision fans were not deterred, and stuck it out on
the windswept seafront promenade to cheer along their contestant in
front of the big mega-screen provided.
Amid the glitz,
antigovernment activists have held a number of protests in the week
running up to the final, seizing on the opportunity of the increased
international media presence to draw attention to what they describe as
the government's authoritarian style of rule.
On Friday, police
quickly shut down a small flash mob near the competition venue, roughly
dragging away dozens of demonstrators and stuffing them into waiting
buses, at least of one which bore a Eurovision logo.
Three
demonstration participants were sentenced to jail terms of five and six
days on Saturday, while 17 others were fined 20-25 manat ($25-32).
May 25, 1977, the Wednesday before the Memorial Day weekend — “Star Wars” opened in theaters and changed the pop cultural landscape.
Our three “Star Wars” heroes.
(Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved)
To borrow the words of a Washington, D.C. resident whose Cleveland
Park neighborhood was overrun that summer with “Star Wars” fans, waiting
in line over and over to see Luke, Han and Leia at the Uptown Theater: “It’s ... it’s an invasion.” (Read this whole Washington Post article
about the neighborhood consternation back in ‘77. The quotes in it are a
riot: “I told my wife, ‘Hey, some clown is blocking the driveway.' The
funny thing is that it turned out to be a friend of my wife whose car
was blocking the drive, a person who had just graduated from clown
school.")
Indeed, “Star Wars” was an invasion, and not just on the once
pleasantly serene streets of D.C.’s Cleveland Park. It firmly
established the power of the summer blockbuster, surpassing “Jaws” as
the highest-grossing movie of all time and making every studio executive
in Hollywood anxious to replicate its secret Skywalker sauce. It
ushered sci-fi into the mainstream. It made us believe that wearing buns
on either side of your head was incredibly cool. It gave us the best movie theme song ever, and the best villain’s theme song ever, and made us giddy every time we saw words written in Franklin Gothic font soaring off into a black sky.
It also proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that Han shot Greedo
first, since we saw the movie in the ‘70s and didn’t even think there
would be a debate about this 20 years later when a special edition came out because, for God’s sake, Han totally shot first.
But perhaps the biggest game-changer that “Star Wars” led to is this:
it created a generation of people desperate for pop culture
merchandise.
As hard as this might be for young ’uns to believe, there was a time
when movies were released without a cavalcade of products to accompany
them. Maybe there were T-shirts here and there, a re-release of the book
that provided a film’s source material (see “Jaws” or “The Exorcist”) or maybe a soundtrack. But usually, that was about it.
“Star Wars” changed all of that. Kids absolutely loved this movie and
they wanted anything they could find that would allow them to recreate
its universe of Stormtroopers, Death Star blow-ups and awesome singles
bars on Tatooine. Thus, the action figure was born. And the
radio-controlled R2D2. And a Death Star space station with a working
trash compactor. Seriously, look at all this stuff Kenner successfully
sold us!
In 1953 at age 19, Moog founded his first company, R.A. Moog Co., to
manufacture theremin kits. During the 1950s, composer and electronic
music pioneer Raymond Scott
approached Moog, asking him to design circuits for him. Moog later
acknowledged Scott as an important influence. Later, in the 1960s, the
company was employed to build modular synthesizers based on Moog's designs.
In 1972 Moog changed the company's name to Moog Music. Throughout the
1970s, Moog Music went through various changes of ownership, eventually
being bought out by musical instrument manufacturer Norlin. Poor
management and marketing led to Moog's departure from his own company in
1977.
In 1978 after leaving his namesake firm, Moog started making
electronic musical instruments again with a new company, Big Briar.
Their first specialty was theremins, but by 1999 the company expanded to
produce a line of analog effects pedals called moogerfoogers. In 1999, Moog partnered with Bomb Factory to co-develop the first digital effects based on Moog technology in the form of plugins for Pro Tools software.
Despite Moog Music's closing in 1993, Moog did not have the rights to
market products using his own name throughout the 1990s. Big Briar
acquired the rights to use the Moog Music name in 2002 after a legal
battle with Don Martin who had previously bought the rights to the name
Moog Music. At the same time, Moog designed a new version of the
Minimoog called the Minimoog Voyager. The Voyager includes nearly all of the features of the original Model D in addition to numerous modern features.
The Cannes Film Festival has its origins in the late 1930s when Jean Zay, the French Minister of National Education, on the proposal of Philippe Erlanger and with the support of the British and Americans,[clarification needed]
set up an international cinematographic festival. In 1947, the festival
was held as the "Festival du film de Cannes", where films from sixteen
countries were presented. Moreover, the principle of equality was
introduced, so that the jury was to be made up only of one
representative per country.[4] Also, this year the festival was held at the made-for-the-occasion Palais des Festivals,
although the roof was unfinished and blew off during a storm. The
festival was not held in 1948 and 1950 on account of budgetary problems.
In 1951, owing to better relations between France and Italy, the Cannes
Festival was moved to Spring, while the Mostra remained in Autumn.
In 1955 the Golden Palm was created, replacing the Grand Prix du Festival
which had been given until that year. In 1957 Dolores del Rio was the
first female member of the jury as a Sélection officielle – Member. In
1959 the Marché du Film
(Film Market) was founded, giving the festival a commercial character
and facilitating exchanges between sellers and buyers in the film
industry. Today it has become the first international platform for film
commerce.[5]
In 1962 the International Critics' Week was born, created by the French Union of Film Critics
as the first parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival. Its goal was
to showcase first and second works by directors from all over the
world, not succumbing to commercial tendencies.[6] In 1965 an hommage was paid to Jean Cocteau after his death, and he was named Honorary President for life. The next year, Olivia de Havilland was named the first female president of the festival.
The 1968 festival was halted on 19 May 1968. Some directors, such as Carlos Saura and Milos Forman, had withdrawn their films from the competition. On 18 May, filmmaker Louis Malle along with a group of directors took over the large room of the Palais and interrupted the projections in solidarity with students and labour on strike throughout France,[7] and in protest to the eviction of the then President of the Cinémathèque Française. The filmmakers achieved the reinstatement of the President, and they founded the Film Directors' Society (SRF) that same year.[8] In 1969 the SRF, led by Pierre-Henri Deleau created the Directors' Fortnight,
a new non-competitive section that programs a selection of films from
around the world, distinguished by the independent judgment displayed in
the choice of films.[9]
The "Palais des Festivals" (2000)
During the 1970s, important changes occurred in the Festival. In 1972
Robert Favre Le Bret was named the new President, and Maurice Bessy the
Managing Director. He immediately introduced an important change in the
selection of the participating films. Until that date, the different
countries chose which films would represent them in the festival. Bessy
created one committee to select French films, and another for foreign
films.[10] In 1978 Gilles Jacob assumed the President position, introducing the Caméra d'Or award and the Un Certain Regard
section. Other changes were the decrease of length of the festival down
to thirteen days, reducing the number of selected films thus; also,
until that point the Jury was composed by Film Academics, and Jacob
started to introduce celebrities and professionals from the film
industry.[11]
In 1983 a new, much bigger Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was built to host the Festival. It was nicknamed "The Bunker" and provoked many reactions against it.[12] In 1984 Pierre Viot replaced Robert Favre Le Bret as President of the Festival.
Stars posing for photographers are a part of Cannes folklore.
It wasn't until 1995 that Gilles Jacob created the last section of the Official Selection: la Cinéfondation.
Its aim was to support the creation of works of cinema in the world and
to contribute to the entry of the new scenario writers in the circle of
the celebrities.[13] The Cinéfondation was completed in 2000 with La Résidence and in 2005 L'Atelier. The Festival's current President, Gilles Jacob, was appointed in 2000, and in 2002 the Festival officially adopted the name Festival de Cannes.
The lot includes the crypt itself, the right to open and
close the vault for a burial, a memorial inscription and the use of a
small chapel for a service.
Juries and television viewers from across Europe awarded Loreen a
total of 372 points, handing her an easy win in an event that ended in
the early hours Sunday in host country Azerbaijan. Sweden will take over
hosting duties next year.
