THE RESURRECTION OF ELVIS

Today marks the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  

• Russia currently controls 20% of Ukraine's territory.
• Nearly half a million have died, with 1.5 million wounded or missing.
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy is under heavy pressure, from the Trump administration, to cave-in. 
• Will he?

This latest from Truthout on the Epstein files:

Files relating to allegations of sexual abuse committed by President Donald Trump are being withheld or removed from the public database of files compiled by the Department of Justice (DOJ) relating to Jeffrey Epstein.  Some of these files are related to allegations that Trump sexually abused a minor. They include over 50 pages of an FBI interview with a woman who accused Trump of sexually abusing her when she was a minor decades ago.  According to reporting from NPR, the DOJ is withholding those files and others that feature Trump’s name from the searchable database of the Epstein files.

Tonight, President Donald Trump's State of the Union address.  Don't hold your breath waiting to be refunded after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump's assorted tariffs were illegal.  While he announced a 10% across the board tariff, he later indicated a 15% tariff on all countries.  Here is how countries stand after this latest burp.  The graphics below from the New York Times this morning.

Finally, violence following the assassination of cartel boss El Mencho by the military continues across Mexico, stranding tourists, who are here and there sheltered in place, waiting for normality to return.  Where in the country?  Read what to know about travel to Mexico. (We’re offering free access to this article.)

Now, on to my topic of the day.  The top entertainer in U.S. history depends on who you ask.

• Billboard's top three (in sales) are all from the UK, with the next eight from the USA:  #4 Mariah Carey, #5 Madonna, #6 Barbra Streisand, #7 Michael Jackson, #8 Taylor Swift, #9 Stevie Wonder, #10 Chicago and #11 Whitney Houston.  Elvis Presley is #13.

• 
  Wikipedia's list of the highest certified artists:
• #1    The Beatles with 183 million album-equivalent units sold.
• #2    Garth Brooks with 162 million

• 
  #3    Elvis Presley 146 million
• #4    Eagles 120 million
• #7    Michael Jackson 90 million
• Asked Google AI, who is the most influential entertainer in U.S. history:
• 
  Michael Jackson: Often considered the greatest entertainer of all time, he profoundly influenced pop music and shattered racial barriers, per Wikipedia and the document.

• 
  Elvis Presley: Known as a top-selling American musician who revolutionized music and culture, changing the landscape of entertainment, according to IMDb and Regents Prep.

• 
  The Beatles: A sociological phenomenon that revolutionized American music and culture, becoming the best-selling musical act in the U.S., say Strike Magazines.  A video of their meeting in 1965.  Here is a second video titled, Why Elvis HATED the Beatles.

• 
  P.T. Barnum: Defined showmanship in the 19th century and laid the groundwork for modern American entertainment, notes The Wall Street Journal.
• Louis Armstrong: A 20th-century cultural icon who revolutionized music, says this YouTube video. 

The individual who seems always to be highly rated is Elvis Presley.

• Was born in 1935.  His twin was stillborn.
• Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, moved to Memphis, Tennessee (will be staying at Graceland as one stop in our trip beginning in about a month) at the age of 13 and began his music career at 19 with Sun Records.

• 
  Was a pioneer of rockabilly, fusing country music and rhythm/blues.
• First hit was Heartbreak Hotel in 1956.
• Filmed Love Me Tender in 1956.  Rotten Tomatoes:  58/65.
• Drafted into the Army in 1958.
• Relaunched his career in 1960.
• 
  Became a fixture in Las Vegas.  Saw him at the International Hotel the night Sammy Davis visited in 1970.
• Gave the first concert by a solo artist in 1973 to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii. Click on that to view the entire 1 hour 4 minute show.
• Passed away in 1977 at the age of 42.
• Posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018 during Donald Trump's first term.

Opening on February 27 in your home theater is Baz Luhrmann's EPiC:  Elvis Presley in Concert.  How fabulous is this film?  Rotten Tomatoes scores of 96/99!!! Luhrmann directed the 2022 biopic Elvis, starring Austin Butler.  Says Time magazine, this latest is less a documentary than a kind of spiritual conjuring.  Maybe this is why I bought a copy of the album with the gold jacket in the 1950s.

Luhrmann has also unearthed some hypnotic clips of Elvis performing live in Hawaii in 1957, wearing a shimmering gold jacket, his neck ringed with a lei. This was Elvis near the peak of his beauty, a time when the pleasure he took in performing seemed to bathe him in radiant light, not unlike the way medieval painters used to render the grace of the Holy Spirit as a ray of gold leaf. 

Shawn Klush is considered to be the World's Greatest Elvis.  

Here is Bruno Mars when he was 5-years old in 1991 doing Elvis on the Arsenio Hall Show.  

Story might be apocryphal, but Elvis considered Andy Kaufman as his best impersonator.  Watch this.  

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