Elvis Presley

Happy E-Day: What If Elvis Had Lived?

Note: Elvis Presley would be 78 years old today, if he had not (supposedly) died in Memphis in August 1977. This article originally appeared as part of Rocks Off's "Elvis Week" in January 2011, and still seems plausible two years later. Do you realize that Woody Allen, Julie Andrews, the dude who w ... More >>

Nixon Meets the King: The White House Tapes Revealed

Forty-two years ago today, one of the trippier meetings in the annals of U.S. music and politics went down when Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll and a global icon of the youth movement, paid a friendly White House visit to President Richard Nixon, that same movement's sworn enemy. Put blun ... More >>

Top 10 Heartbreaking Holiday Covers

Last week we took a look at some of the most holiday spirit-dampeningly awful songs ever recorded. We aren't quite done ruining your holiday spirit just yet however, as this week we have compiled ten of the saddest holiday cover songs ever recorded. Rewind: The 10 Worst Holiday Cover Songs Ever ... More >>

Top 5 Rockers Who Overcame Stammering

Recently, I became somewhat concerned as my formerly flawlessly articulate three-year-old daughter began to stammer whenever she tried to talk. It was a very sudden onset that is still occurring, and I wondered if this was the first sign of a serious problem that she would have to work to overcome. ... More >>

Select Elvis Presley Artifacts From Graceland Are On A Media Tour

Angie Marchese started working at Elvis Presley's Graceland over 23 years ago while still in high school, as a tour guide. Today, she is the archival director for the museum and Presley household. The Memphis native travels the country showing items off from the Presley estate, and Rocks Off was luc ... More >>

Notice: Mariah Carey Still Has More No. 1 Singles Than Elvis

Four years ago this week, Mariah Carey made music history by scoring the 18th No. 1 single of her career. Think about that for a second: If you're reading this, Mariah Carey has recorded more No. 1 singles than women you've had sex with (a lot more). What makes the feat even more incredible is that ... More >>

Elvis: Why A 22-Year-Old Still Loves The King

Elvis Presley was one of my first favorite musicians. Around 1994, my parents had signed up for one of those ridiculous 99 cent CD clubs, getting endless amounts of CDs. An Elvis Presley compilation was one of them. I found myself jumping around my house doing my own kind of five-year-old version o ... More >>

Nine Covers of "Heartbreak Hotel" on Its 58th Birthday

Exactly 58 years ago, Elvis Presley released Heartbreak Hotel on RCA Records, which had just bought his contract from Sun Records for a measly $35,000. Heartbreak sold 300,000 copies in its first week and would eventually become the King's first certified gold record. Also, it's worth noting that, ... More >>

Elvis Presley's Graceland: A Peek Inside With My Crappy Cell Phone Camera

A few weeks back I went on a Mid-South trip through Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and sadly, Arkansas. Along the way I followed the Mississippi Blues Trail as much as I could, before hitting Memphis and Sun Studios and Graceland, and moving on to Nashville for a whole new set of museums and att ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Elvis' Christmas Album

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​In 1957 at the near peak of his early success, Elvis Presley did what many artists did: He made a Christmas record. The result was what would become one of the best s ... More >>

9 People Who Could Play The King In New Elvis Biopic

tonkoorevaar.be​Tuesday, Paste reported that director John Scheinfeld will be adapting Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business, the memoir of Elvis Presley confidante Sonny West, who was one of the King's bodyguards for 16 years. West was a member of the "Memphis Mafia," Elvis' merry band of bone ... More >>

10 Odd Things Left At Elvis Presley's Grave

Chris GrayAs close as Rocks Off has ever come personally to Elvis' grave. Graceland was already closing for the day by the time we got there in April.​Today is the 34th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, which means that even as you read this, Graceland workers are hard at work sorting, cat ... More >>

The Most Bizarre Music Memorabilia Ever Auctioned Off

michaeljacksonfuneral.orgNote: Not the actual million-dollar jacket.​Have you ever worked in a souvenir store, memorabilia outlet or run an online auction? If so, odds are you have developed a venal, burning hatred for collectors. Rocks Off isn't going to mince words: collectors are some of t ... More >>

Who Are You? Songs Commonly Attributed To The Wrong Artists

​Last week, after the tragic, alcohol-fueled passing of Jackass hero Ryan Dunn, Rocks Off at Taco Cabana wearing a promotional shirt for The Hangover II that we stole borrowed from the office here at the Press. As we were loading our hands with condiment containers, a guy came up to us and sai ... More >>

Future Elvis: What If The King Had Lived?

​Do you realize that Woody Allen, Julie Andrews, the dude who was in the Darth Vader suit, and Ron Paul are all the same age as Elvis Presley would be on Saturday? Look at Woody Allen next time you see him on TMZ and just think, he's as old as Elvis. In order to get in the frame of mind to t ... More >>

Does Elvis Still Matter?

As part of our ongoing celebration of Elvis' birthday week, Rocks Off asked our writers the simple question in the headline. ​Chris Gray: Absolutely he still matters. When I was compiling that list of quotes and lyrics about Elvis earlier this week, I wasn't that surprised to see that even Be ... More >>

Celebrate Elvis' 76th Birthday with a Feast Fit for the King

Stuff that diet indeed, Mr. Presley.​I'll never forget my first trip to Graceland. Memphis is a magical city in and of itself -- Civil War sites, steamboats, Beale Street, the Smithsonian Museum of Rock & Soul, amazing meals at the Inn at Hunt Phelan -- but there's something about the great, h ... More >>

Elvis: 30 Famous Quotes About The King

​Rocks Off is celebrating Elvis week this week - the King would be 76 years old on Saturday. (Or hell, maybe he will be 76 years old on Saturday.) That's more than three-quarters of a century, but it just doesn't seem like a very long time. Maybe that's because whether or not he actually died ... More >>

Rock Stars' Troublesome Family and Friends

​Wednesday, the NAACP released an extensive, in-depth study of the main six groups which provide the lion's share of support for the infamous Tea Party movement, and the results of their study are not encouraging. It chronicles a great deal of cross-pollination between Tea Party and white supr ... More >>

Five Onstage Meltdowns Funnier Than Courtney Love In D.C.

Universal Music Group​As far as Rocks Off knows, everything is hunky-dory for Hole's show at House of Blues this evening. Courtney Love and friends are scheduled to play from 9:45 to 11:15, which Rocks Off is interpreting as they could go on anywhere from 9:45 to 11:15. As Hole's rambling, sl ... More >>

Return Of The King: Elvis Presley's Great Comeback

​In 1957, Elvis Presley was the epitome of cool. But what a difference a decade makes. By the Summer of Love, the still-pompadoured singer was - at the ripe old age of 32 - a musical anachronism in a year that brought the Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Monterey Pop and Sgt. Pepper's. Plus, he'd been c ... More >>

G.I. Blues: A Soldiers' Playlist

​Today is the anniversary of one of the truly momentous occasions in popular music: On March 23, 1958, Elvis Presley reported for induction into the U.S. Army, thus opening up a thousand alternate timelines for musical historians to formulate "What if he hadn't?" scenarios. For the next few years, ... More >>

Pop Rocks: The King Is Dead

​Last Friday -- January 8 -- marked what would have been the 75th birthday of Elvis Presley. The milestone was dutifully noted on most national new broadcasts and publications, tastefully hitting the high points of the King's life without dwelling overmuch on this drug- addled final years. ... More >>

Happy 75th Birthday, Elvis, Wherever You Are

Remember that scene from Pulp Fiction where Mia Wallace explains to Vince Vega that there are two kinds of people in this world - Elvis people and Beatles people? Well, Rocks Off is an Elvis person. We're not a fanatic or anything, but we have been to Graceland, have a huge hole in our heart for th ... More >>

The Top Rock-Star Death Conspiracies: Elvis, Michael, Kurt, Tupac and More

It seems that the stranger and weirder our world gets by the day, humanity struggles to find reasons behind all this calamity and tragedy. We try our best to find conclusions to why bad things happen, and when we can't fully fathom that the awful truth is just that, instead try to blame the influen ... More >>

Thursday Is World Toilet Day; We Celebrate Without Using An Expletive In The Headline

​Hair Balls would like to take the time to discuss a very serious matter: pooping. Specifically, pooping in a toilet. More specifically, not having a toilet in which to poop. It's a serious situation that affects 2.5 billion people in developing nations, according to the World Toilet Organization ... More >>

Upcoming Events

© David Nathan-Maister and Oxygenee Ltd.​Although it's taking place next month, spots will fill up quickly for Absinthe: Revealed, so we're doing you a favor by telling you about it now. On December 5 at 7:30 p.m., Avant Garden will be hosting a "celebration of tastings and truths" about o ... More >>

Five Memorable - But Not Necessarily Good - Astrodome Concerts

Bobby Weatherford​It was (semi-seriously) billed as the Eighth Wonder of World, the brainchild of Judge Roy Hofheinz was the first domed ballpark and - for better or worse - ushered in the era of the homogeneous, multipurpose stadiums. The Structure Formerly Known as Harris County Domed Stadium si ... More >>

For April 15: Five Movies About Taxes

April 15 each year brings with it the journalistic challenge of covering yet another "last-rush filers" story, or some clever way to say that it's the deadline for getting your return in. (We still wonder if anyone's ever been prosecuted because their return had an April 16 postmark.)The subject of ... More >>

"If The Real Thing Don't Do The Trick" -- A Barracuda, Elvis & San Antone

Photo courtesy Leake Auction CompanyFor a moment there, it seemed like a lost piece of Elvis Presley memorabilia was rediscovered.No, not the mason jar where they kept his stillborn twin brother Jesse Garon, but something almost as cool - a Plymouth Barracuda thought to have been bought by the King ... More >>

For the King: Elvis Impersonators from Around the World

Elvis Presley would be - or, depending on who you believe, is - 74 years old today. But he's as popular as ever, and alive or dead, as Mojo Nixon has noted many times, Elvis really is everywhere... Rob Kingsley, Elvis Tribute UK's 2008 European Champion   "Turkish Elvis" Nevrez Caliska ... More >>

Why do Mexicans Love Elvis, and Why Do White People Love Tans?

Elvis Takes a Milby Coed to the Carhop

Drenched In Blog: Heartblog Hotel

Elvis Is Everywhere

Suspicious Minds

commercial tie-ins

Tuna Does Vegas

Place your bets, everybody

Them’s Fighting Words, Broseph!

Wanda Jackson

Wanda Jackson appears Thursday, October 19, at the Continental Club, 3700 Main. Call 713-529-9899 for more info.

Royal Flush

The King serves up a clumsy portrait of James Marsh's America

King Me

Big Boss Man

Jimmy T99 Nelson predated and outlived Elvis P. and has won the affections of Elvis C.

"Delinquent" Behavior

A gang of back-alley artists shares its love of squalor

Ted Roddy and the King Conjure Orchestra

Saturday, April 5

¡Viva El Vez!

Don't you step on the Mexican Elvis's huaraches azules

Best Music Store

Soundwaves

Elvis Is Dead!

Amplified

Local Music News

Natty Pompadour

Take This Show on the Road