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| Java Dreams by Chris Cosani |
Showing posts with label elvis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elvis. Show all posts
Thursday, May 3, 2012
The evolution of espresso, Doctor Who style!
So I was hanging a really, really cool poster in my living room this weekend...
Really neat, huh? James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, Elvis and Marilyn all in the same image and it's one of the better fantasy images I've seen of dead icons. And since I work as a barrista, I was naturally checking out the vintage espresso machine behind James Dean in the pic. And then it struck me...
Maybe the creators or Doctor Who were drinking too much espresso when they came up with the design for the Daleks? We just need to add a coffee grinder and a steaming wand! Come to think of it, has anyone created a Dalek espresso machine for Whovians? That would be so incredibly cool!!!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Thrift Store Luxury: Elvis Clock
I have great luck when it comes to stumbling across cool things in out-of-the-way places. I was in Savers (Oracle and Fort Lowell) a few weeks ago looking for some exercise shorts for the gym when I randomly wandered down the knick knack aisle and discovered this great vintage Elvis clock!
It has pictures of Elvis during his Vegas years marking each of the hours, a black center reading "King of Rock and Roll" and a gold frame.
It was damaged, missing the pictures from the 2 and 6 hour spaces so it was selling for only $3. I took it home, decoupaged two images from the internet into the missing spaces and reinforced the remaining images with Mod Podge so they wouldn't come loose. The images I chose were a scene from the film Viva Las Vegas and the cover from the soundtrack for the movie. And then, because I couldn't control my crafty side, I added black glitter to the frame to balance the play between gold and black throughout the clock.
Now I just need new batteries and a hook for my wall and I have a great vintage treasure for my home!
It has pictures of Elvis during his Vegas years marking each of the hours, a black center reading "King of Rock and Roll" and a gold frame.
It was damaged, missing the pictures from the 2 and 6 hour spaces so it was selling for only $3. I took it home, decoupaged two images from the internet into the missing spaces and reinforced the remaining images with Mod Podge so they wouldn't come loose. The images I chose were a scene from the film Viva Las Vegas and the cover from the soundtrack for the movie. And then, because I couldn't control my crafty side, I added black glitter to the frame to balance the play between gold and black throughout the clock.
Now I just need new batteries and a hook for my wall and I have a great vintage treasure for my home!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Movie Review: Charro! (1968)
I have to admit, I didn't think this film was going to be any good. Most of the movies I've seen with musicians trying to act are iffy at best. But I am on an Elvis kick so when I saw this in the Classics section of Bookmans, I had to snag it. Elvis in a gritty western? Cool!
Elvis as Jess Wade is actually very believable as an ex-outlaw trying to go straight. I kept forgetting it was 'Elvis' on the screen. He appears to be doing at least some of his own action sequences: riding a horse, being wrestled to the ground by the bad guys, being bucked about (albeit rather gently) by a 'wild' stallion he captures in an arroyo. And as a lover he practically smolders a hole in my screen! Seriously! Those clear blue eyes and the scruffy beard he is sporting? Ay chihuahua!
His lover Tracey Winters (played by the lovely Ina Balin) is no slouch either. Vaguely Hispanic with long black hair and dark eyes, she is curvaceous, runs her own saloon and doesn't take any crap from anybody, including Jess Wade. In one scene Jess comes into her room while she is in her bath and she goes out to confront him clad only in a diaphanous white robe that clings to her wet body, leaving very little to the imagination. Talk about a jaw dropper! I guess I figured that most classic movies were more prudish than that. And when Jess grabs her and kisses her? Oo lordy! I was cranking my air conditioner and punching rewind!
The plot is fairly straightforward. Jess ran for a while with a group of outlaws about a year prior to the film when he falls for the girlfriend of his gang leader, the lovely Tracey. He leaves the gang, vowing to go straight but they catch up with him in Mexico and frame him for stealing a victory cannon, which is covered in gold and silver and was used in the Mexican War of Independence. The Mexican army desperately want it back. So the rest of the movie sees Jess dodging his gang and the Federales while trying to clear his name and return the cannon back to the Mexican authorities.
There are a couple flaws to the film, at least in my opinion. They seem to spend a lot of time just riding through the desert (killing celluloid so the movie doesn't seem too short is my guess). One of the outlaws has this high-pitched crazy laugh that is meant to be disturbing but he does it so often its irritating. Some of the lines are clumsily handled. And I don't know where the heck the movie title comes into play, but it makes a great title song for Elvis to sing during the opening credits!
Charro! sucked me in! Great entertainment!
To find out more about the movie, see IMBd: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064155/
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| Image courtesy of IMDB. See link below. |
His lover Tracey Winters (played by the lovely Ina Balin) is no slouch either. Vaguely Hispanic with long black hair and dark eyes, she is curvaceous, runs her own saloon and doesn't take any crap from anybody, including Jess Wade. In one scene Jess comes into her room while she is in her bath and she goes out to confront him clad only in a diaphanous white robe that clings to her wet body, leaving very little to the imagination. Talk about a jaw dropper! I guess I figured that most classic movies were more prudish than that. And when Jess grabs her and kisses her? Oo lordy! I was cranking my air conditioner and punching rewind!
The plot is fairly straightforward. Jess ran for a while with a group of outlaws about a year prior to the film when he falls for the girlfriend of his gang leader, the lovely Tracey. He leaves the gang, vowing to go straight but they catch up with him in Mexico and frame him for stealing a victory cannon, which is covered in gold and silver and was used in the Mexican War of Independence. The Mexican army desperately want it back. So the rest of the movie sees Jess dodging his gang and the Federales while trying to clear his name and return the cannon back to the Mexican authorities.
There are a couple flaws to the film, at least in my opinion. They seem to spend a lot of time just riding through the desert (killing celluloid so the movie doesn't seem too short is my guess). One of the outlaws has this high-pitched crazy laugh that is meant to be disturbing but he does it so often its irritating. Some of the lines are clumsily handled. And I don't know where the heck the movie title comes into play, but it makes a great title song for Elvis to sing during the opening credits!
Charro! sucked me in! Great entertainment!
To find out more about the movie, see IMBd: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064155/
Monday, June 20, 2011
Music Review - The Essential Elvis Presley
"I was thinking last night about Elvis, the day that he died, the day that he died." - Gillian Welch, Elvis Presley Blues
I grew up listening to Oldies. Mostly to the Beatles and the music of the late 60s and 70s when my parents grew up but we also had a couple local stations on the AM that featured the even older stuff. Dean Martin. Sinatra. Roy Orbison. The Andrews Sisters. It was all really, really good. More polished than the subsequent music for sure even if it lacked the same fire that rock & roll gained through its association with the hippies, the Civil Rights Movement and its exposure to the great songwriting of the folk and blues artists. But there is something utterly delicious in listening to Oldies in general, like having a virtual time capsule in a song. I can envision my mother as a little girl sitting on her bed listening to a Beatles record. Or my Grandmother puttering about the kitchen making supper while Elvis is playing in the background.
Elvis vs. the Beatles. My Grandma vs. my mother. Mentions of Elvis always drew a hilarious adolescent eye roll from my mom, like she had never quite gotten past razzing her for her older tastes. I listened to a lot of the Beatles growing up. A lot! Mom owns every single album they ever recorded and a few they didn't as well as all the movies and virtually every book written on John, Paul, George and Ringo. George Harrison is her favorite. John Lennon is mine.
For some reason I never really listened to Elvis. Until recently. I was strolling through Bookmans (I'm there a lot; just check out my previous post) thinking I should really get some Oldies cds. Patsy Cline, for example. Johnny Cash, certainly! And then I saw it:
I took it home and stuck it in my cd player. And I was hooked!
Elvis has an energy to his music that is utterly contagious. It's like you can hear, in the rhythms, in the syncopation, in the blues, in the electric guitars, the very fabric that came together so that Elvis could exist. He has all the fire of a gospel singer, the sexy swagger of a blues man, the rich voice that could have recorded anything on Tin Pan Alley.
Before I knew it I was playing the cd to get ready to go to work in the morning. I was playing it while pouring myself a glass of wine and dancing through my living room at night. I ripped it to my mp3 player and discovered just how hard it is to sit still on a public bus crowded by people while Elvis is shouting "That's alright mama!" in my ear! I could just imagine being in a live audience, maybe during the fifties having to fight for breath amongst the crush of screaming teens. I could imagine being in Vegas, being dazzled by the rhinestone covered white jumpsuit while he plays his hits and karate chops his way across the stage.
My favorite songs? That's All Right. Heartbreak Hotel. Jailhouse Rock. Viva Las Vegas. And on and on and on.
I now own six Elvis cds. I've turned into an Elvis groupie! And it doesn't help that he is pretty darn hot too. ;)
If you are interested in snagging The Essential Elvis Presley, follow this link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Essential-Elvis-Presley/dp/B00138H1MS
Or, for you Tucsonans, check out your local Bookmans or Zia Record Store.
Have a fascination with the King of Rock & Roll? Or another figure from popular music from times past? Leave me a comment and tell me about your Oldies music obsession!
I grew up listening to Oldies. Mostly to the Beatles and the music of the late 60s and 70s when my parents grew up but we also had a couple local stations on the AM that featured the even older stuff. Dean Martin. Sinatra. Roy Orbison. The Andrews Sisters. It was all really, really good. More polished than the subsequent music for sure even if it lacked the same fire that rock & roll gained through its association with the hippies, the Civil Rights Movement and its exposure to the great songwriting of the folk and blues artists. But there is something utterly delicious in listening to Oldies in general, like having a virtual time capsule in a song. I can envision my mother as a little girl sitting on her bed listening to a Beatles record. Or my Grandmother puttering about the kitchen making supper while Elvis is playing in the background.
Elvis vs. the Beatles. My Grandma vs. my mother. Mentions of Elvis always drew a hilarious adolescent eye roll from my mom, like she had never quite gotten past razzing her for her older tastes. I listened to a lot of the Beatles growing up. A lot! Mom owns every single album they ever recorded and a few they didn't as well as all the movies and virtually every book written on John, Paul, George and Ringo. George Harrison is her favorite. John Lennon is mine.
For some reason I never really listened to Elvis. Until recently. I was strolling through Bookmans (I'm there a lot; just check out my previous post) thinking I should really get some Oldies cds. Patsy Cline, for example. Johnny Cash, certainly! And then I saw it:
Photo courtesy of Amazon.com
I took it home and stuck it in my cd player. And I was hooked!
Elvis has an energy to his music that is utterly contagious. It's like you can hear, in the rhythms, in the syncopation, in the blues, in the electric guitars, the very fabric that came together so that Elvis could exist. He has all the fire of a gospel singer, the sexy swagger of a blues man, the rich voice that could have recorded anything on Tin Pan Alley.
Before I knew it I was playing the cd to get ready to go to work in the morning. I was playing it while pouring myself a glass of wine and dancing through my living room at night. I ripped it to my mp3 player and discovered just how hard it is to sit still on a public bus crowded by people while Elvis is shouting "That's alright mama!" in my ear! I could just imagine being in a live audience, maybe during the fifties having to fight for breath amongst the crush of screaming teens. I could imagine being in Vegas, being dazzled by the rhinestone covered white jumpsuit while he plays his hits and karate chops his way across the stage.
My favorite songs? That's All Right. Heartbreak Hotel. Jailhouse Rock. Viva Las Vegas. And on and on and on.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia. Publicity still from Jailhouse Rock (1957).
I now own six Elvis cds. I've turned into an Elvis groupie! And it doesn't help that he is pretty darn hot too. ;)
If you are interested in snagging The Essential Elvis Presley, follow this link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Essential-Elvis-Presley/dp/B00138H1MS
Or, for you Tucsonans, check out your local Bookmans or Zia Record Store.
Have a fascination with the King of Rock & Roll? Or another figure from popular music from times past? Leave me a comment and tell me about your Oldies music obsession!
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