Will Elvis take up the site again?

Pretty self-explanatory
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Gillibeanz
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Will Elvis take up the site again?

Post by Gillibeanz »

With a new album in the running do you think the old board will suddenly spring to life again? And do you think Elvis will make an appearance on it?

As much as I love his music I really dont think he has much of an allegiance to his fans - he dropped it like a hot cake as the last tour was nearing an end. Pretty shallow stuff. I know a lot of you said he doesnt have to give anything back to his fans, but I didnt think a few paragraphs once a month was such a big deal to him but meant heaps to us loyal followers. I for one was very dissapointed in him. :?
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Ha' Penny Millionaire
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Post by Ha' Penny Millionaire »

Gilli, I have been a fan since 1978, and have always believed your observation to be true. My view is that, unlike a typical "pop" artist, whose continued success depends on his/her relationship with the fans, Elvis focuses on his relationship with the music. Having said that, I also believe that Elvis is kind of egomaniacal (most artists are), and that he makes deliberate calculations regarding the product he chooses to develop and release. I point to NORTH as the most recent example of this (I'll expound more on this later).
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A rope leash
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Post by A rope leash »

It's called acquired narcicism, and I think Elvis probably has his under control. It's a horrible affliction related to egomania. I have no idea what I'm talking about. We should feel sorry for him.

Please expound on your view regarding the focus of Elvis's deliberate calculations.

I think someone said that North was not coming out on the Island label, so we can't expect much from that site.

From looking at this board, it doesn't seem to be too diffucult to get a photo of oneself next to Elvis, so he does give his fans that...
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Post by Ha' Penny Millionaire »

Rope, here is the ha' penny analysis.

Elvis wants to be a songwriter (with a capital "S") in the Carole King/Burt Bacharach/Leiber-Stoller/McCartney-Lennon/George-Ira Gershwin vein. Each of these writers produced a body of work that is universally considered classic in the pop medium, transcending time and trends. Thus, on a philosophical basis, producing classics produces immortality.

On a more practical level, writing classics gives rise to lucrative cover versions by other artists. Sir Paul didn't build his fortune from his version of "Yesterday." The real bucks came from royalties from cover versions by everone from William Shatner to Kenny G.

This takes me to NORTH. Through repeated listenings, I have gotten myself familiar with the new recocrd. I think it is quite good, for what it is. What it is, in my view, is an effort to create some coverable classics for the likes of k.d. lang; Harry Connick, Jr.; Michael Feinstein; etc. Nick Lowe discovered how to mint money this way about ten years ago.

I hope you don't think I'm cynical about Elvis' work. Quite the contrary: I do not think there is anything wrong with an artist stretching out, and introducing new colors to his palette. I enjoy following Elvis on his creative journey. I also think he's interested in making a buck. I'm happy to give him mine (although I'm still a little pissed about GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD).

Have a great weekend, all!
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bobster
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Post by bobster »

I have to say I really disagree with a few of you all on the whole matter of "giving back to the fans."

Of course artists do owe something to their fans. Actually, only one thing and one thing only -- their work! Anything else is pure gravy. In return, we owe them money and nothing else. Two way street, very simple.

All famous and semi-famous people are pretty busy and I don't blame them one whit if they don't feel the need to write us little love notes. I'd probably be the same way, as would most of us.

Now, there is one thing that all humans beings owe to all other humans beings, and that's politeness. From all accounts, EC seems to be that and does do more than he has to (greeting the fans after the shows, etc. -- really not neccessary but a nice thing to do, and probably good for business besides). Again, paying attention to a website is not a requirement.
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Post by PlaythingOrPet »

If people were to expect nothing more than a record every couple of years or so we'd all be happy. Anything else is a bonus in my mind. He discontinued with the old site because it had gone to pot. He was pissed off at Island, and quite rightly. It was, and still is, a terrible official website.

Ha'PM - Don't you think if he was interested in making a buck then he'd still be singing about "fucking and fighting"? Those were the records that made him his money, weren't they? Of course he wants to earn a living, but I don't think he's as obsessed with money than say, Elton John.

*edited*
Last edited by PlaythingOrPet on Sat Aug 16, 2003 6:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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laughingcrow
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Post by laughingcrow »

Bobster hit the nail on the head...he's just a normal bloke, and Im guessing that he must have got loads of those email questions (and if he only answered the best, then judging by the quality of questions asked on the site, he must have got some shockers!)...

Whether there'll be another site....hope so, and it looks like that Streetarmy thing might be something vaguely official for the record companies to keep us up to date on the 'special editions' available...
the poisoner
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Post by the poisoner »

i am appreciative for the time and depth of ec liner notes.
a paragraph from him on a website don't float my boat.

to me, it's like a gift.
he does it cause he wants to, irregardless of the 'motive'
and you accept it graciously. you don't demand a gift
oh, i useta be disgusted
now i try to be amused
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tokyo vogue
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Post by tokyo vogue »

i don't need essays or questions asked or anything like that. it's fun, but i agree with poisoner; it's a gift.


what i DO demand is some up-to-date information. we don't need a complete overhaul (if they had done it right the first time, they'd have something that would work no matter what cd he put out, like Bob Dylan's incomparable site), just a paragraph or two typed out and uploaded by some flunky or other. all these bits and pieces are getting leaked out over the net, and it would be nice to have it all in one place.
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Danny
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Post by Danny »

I really don't think there's an onus on an artist to keep a website updated - that's up to the record company. All the artist has to do as far as I'm concerned is keep producing great records and giving great live performances. How can he be expected to answer every fan's question? Why should he? He hasn't forced you to buy any of his records - the reward for your money is, you get music that you like.

I really don't think there's anything disappointing about him stopping his involvement with that site - it was more time-consuming than he'd thought, so he dropped it. Fair enough, I reckon!

It's up to the record company to keep news updated, but they obviously ain't interested. It would probably be more useful for a star's agent or management company to keep a website updated, as there's more in it for them if their star is well publicised.
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Post by bambooneedle »

I'm still waiting for a 24hr Elvis cam.
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Gillibeanz
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Post by Gillibeanz »

I disagree. Yeah we buy the records and he gets the money we get the music. What I disliked was the way he dangled a little titbit and reeled us all in. He spent a couple of weeks on the board and we all got excited, then cos the tour was coming to a close he gave us all the old heave ho. Shallow stuff - he didnt give a damn about us, just selling his record and promoting the tour. There we are devoted fans buying the music paying for expensive gig tickets (I spent over £100 on concert tickets last year alone) and you'll say so what - you didnt have to. Thats not the discussion here.

I was dissapointed that he was so shallow. Some people like me have been loyal fans for over 25 years and I personally felt let down. I was impressed that he wanted to interact with us - I was wrong, it was just marketing. I just think that a few paragraphs a month so the fans could ask their own questions and get answers to questions that may never be asked was cool. Some of those questions were impressive. I wouldnt have thought feedback from fans for him was a bad idea either!

But there you go - it was not to be. Apparently Elvis doesnt give a flying fuck - what was it he said...something along the lines of "im quitting the site and if you dont like it too bad - if I see you I see you, if I dont I dont". Nice. If he had hung around they might have improved the site, instead of that once he left it went downhill. The old site wasnt so bad until certain people came along and spoilt it, and we all wouldnt have had to keep finding new ones.

I'll still buy the music and go to the gigs but personally I think its a shame - we could have all benefited from a little interaction with very little effort from Elvis and a lot of fans would have been very happy - is that such a bad thing?. :?
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Post by BlueChair »

Elvis can do whatever the hell he wants as far as I'm concerned.
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Post by PlaythingOrPet »

Gilli, I see your point (to a point), but he didn't leave us (*boohoo*, she thinks, sarcastically) when the tour was coming to a close -- it was a good few weeks before the end of the first North American leg. If I remember correctly, the band still had dates in the UK, Australia, Europe and a return junket to the US to complete. I was thinking what a drag it was when he packed it in before he got to the UK. He'd've probably gone on about what a shit place it still is anyway *yawn*.
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Post by A rope leash »

I suspect he's way behind on answering his fan mail. Nothing from you on his birthday, then, Gilli?

Perhaps the blogging was just taking up too much of his head. (I know what that's like). If he makes any differentian between blogging fans found here or the millions of prospectively fervent non-blogging fans remains to be seen. If he wanted to, I'm sure he has the resources to set up his own system of communicating to his fans in cyberspace, though that whole business may just be of minuscular interest to Elvis.

Island probably said to him, "try this", and he did, and he found that it wasn't worth the time. Or, maybe he found that he was becoming a bleary-eyed late-night cyber-blatherer, and nipped it in the bud before he got hooked. After all, he had to write "North". What were we doing? You got yer Costco socket set?

Back in the late '70's, Elvis was blamed for causing a riot in Australia. Wasn't one of the clear attitudes among punk and new wave musicians quite simply "FUCK YOU"?

Me fans are all pukes!

He's an artist, and, if anything, he should be sheltered from us and allowed to have a life whereupon to take perceptions from in order to create art. Any time spent talking to us fawners is just a waste.
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pip_52
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Post by pip_52 »

I always got the feeling Elvis wasnt much interested in the internet. Didnt he once call it a "breeding ground for obsession"?

Hmm, wonder whatever gave him that idea . . .

:oops:
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Post by Danny »

Hi Gillibeanz - I just doubt that it was as premeditated as 'reeling us all in' and all that. It's the first time a record company has suggested a website for him, he thought he'd give it a go, found it was too time consuming, then dropped it. I just don't believe there's any premeditated 'let's leave these poor suckers dangling' in the decision. Why should he update a website forever? Where would it stop? Before the internet, it didn't bother anyone - stars just performed and released records. Why is it incumbent on him to suddenly be more one-to-one with his fans just because the technology is available?

Also, there are internet users who become obessive and would not be able cope with the addiction of their fave star posting regularly - it's perhaps best that he nipped it in the bud early. If he'd carried on posting, say, for a whole year, then dropped it, he might've got some real ill-adjusted types taking it really personally, unable to cope with their fix being gone, and starting up one of those sad internet hate campaigns.

I think he was shocked at some of the emails that were sent to Ask Elvis - I remember there was one where he was particularly offended - can't remember what about - and I think he realised that the net is sadly host to a large number of strange types, so got out early.

He's written some great sleeve notes as an insight to his life and work, he wrote some great diary stuff on that site, answered some great questions, and probably looked at the messageboards and thought 'yikes'!

I think his snappy rejoinder was toward those nutters on the boards, and the ones who annoyed him in 'ask Elvis' - he just thought: nah, this net lark ain't for me - think I'll bugger off and write some songs.

I'd rather he did that, and went out and enjoying himself with his mates! All he has to do is keep releasing records as far as I'm concerned.
Last edited by Danny on Mon Aug 18, 2003 5:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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I think he WILL

Post by Sour Milk Cow »

A few months ago, the elviscostello.com site announced it would soon be unveiling a re-design, presumably to gear it more towards the new album.

I hope there will be a return of "Ask Elvis" and maybe a few journal entries and such. I thought that last year's site activity was pretty good, despite the complaints I've seen here. He answered tons of people's questions, and wrote a bunch of lengthy journal entries. That's a big switch from how he had previously shunned the internet, and I think it was a nice effort. The message board was good before it self-destructed, and I think that with time he could develop an even better site.

It would help if fans responded by being more positive, though. The worst thing on the net is the surge of negativity and the expectation that the artist somehow OWES fans a website with regular updates and tons of new content. And as far as him suddenly stopping all web activity, a few months later he started writing all the songs from NORTH plus about 25 more that we have yet to hear. If that's the way he wants to spend his free time, I don't mind if his website occasionally goes out-of-date!
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Post by bambooneedle »

EC: "Oh, I'd better coddle my fans. They're sooo special ,compared to anyone else out there who might buy my records, that they deserve my special attention. Lucky I know exactly who they are from the messageboard, and know what they're thinking. That's how I know that three journal entries a month is enough to win their favor, and, you know, I feel so obligated to them for er... making them buy their fifth copy of My Aim Is True.... so they'd better get loads of my time and attention...

NOT! :twisted: :roll: (heh heh heh :lol: ) "
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Gillibeanz
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Post by Gillibeanz »

It's mainly us loyal 'special' fans that keep him living in the style in which he is accustomed to and have done over the last 25 odd years! We dont buy CD's and concert tickets - he dont live in luxury, simple as that!

And we are not talking about loads of time and attention or invasion of personal space - just a few measley paragraphs a month: :roll:

I wrote to Elvis a couple of times via the music company in the last 25 years - never even got a printed acknowledgement. I wrote to Roger Daltry when the Who were the top group too many years ago I care to mention when I was a teenager. Not only did he reply with a personal handwritten letter but he also sent me a signed huge poster. A little feedback goes a long long way.....
Last edited by Gillibeanz on Mon Aug 18, 2003 11:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
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. . . and it's "Daltrey"

Post by HungupStrungup »

I'm sure Roger's a fine guy who really cares about his fans, but I expect with all that fame and enormous record sales came the money to fund a staff of people to reply to correspondence. Plus, it's not as if he's spending all (or any) of his time writing Quadrophenia.
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Gillibeanz
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Re: . . . and it's "Daltrey"

Post by Gillibeanz »

HungupStrungup wrote:I'm sure Roger's a fine guy who really cares about his fans, but I expect with all that fame and enormous record sales came the money to fund a staff of people to reply to correspondence. [/i].
It wasnt from staff - it was from him personally - I sent it to his home address and it was in his own handwriting. Some stars give a little time to their fans - its not so hard to believe.

Im not going to harp on about this bigtime and of course Elvis is his own man and can do what he likes. I thought the old website was a good idea and it was nice to have some interaction of sorts with our hero the very short period it lasted. At one point it seemed Elvis was getting a kick out of it, - but as it was so short lived perhaps not.
HungupStrungup wrote: Plus, it's not as if he's spending all (or any) of his time writing Quadrophenia.
Apparently a few papragraphs a month is too taxing for poor Elvis to manage :roll:

Im just disillusioned thats all - but that just my own personal opinion. End of subject :?
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Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I've only just read this, so it's the start of the subject for me. Actually, I don't want to add, just to say a new CD and a good gig is all I want from him this year, the rest is frippery. But I do think the OTT and indulgently cynical H'PM words at the top here that he's writing North to go down in musical history and get loads of cover version royalties is absurd. He doesn't need to milk it, and we all know that on top of his full-on work-rate he has far too much artistic integrity to ever work on something that wasn't 100% because he believed in it as valid in itself.
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Post by jack of parades »

You shelled out money for the albums, and you paid for the concerts. I have done the same, and I have always felt I have recieved more than my money's worth. That is his obligation to us, and we have been rewarded handsomely, in my opinion.
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tokyo vogue
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Post by tokyo vogue »

mmm. i'm a little bothered that the record company isn't putting up a promotional website. i want Elvis to be promoted. i want people other than his loyal fans to actually give a damn.

i mean, the first site was all 'it's the return of the angry young man, and by jeebus, it will SELL!!' and maybe it didn't work out so well. maybe Elvis got bored. hey, i haven't touched my website in months. i know how it is. whatever. the point is...what the fuck was my point?


oh, man, i totally just zoned out there...

um.
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