Iconic Shot: The King & Ali

I don't believe in self-given monikers. Whereas fans were responsible for christening Elvis as "The King," it was the man formerly known as Cassius Clay who was only too happy to inform the world that he was "The Greatest" of his chosen profession. However debatable Ali's status in boxing lore – welterweight and middleweight powerhouse "Sugar" Ray Robinson (173-19-6, 108 KO) is the pound-for-pound greatest – the historical merit of the picture below presents a rare meeting of pop culture royalty that far exceeds the dislikable figureheads enthroned today.

In addition, Elvis was a legit karate black belt. First exposed to the art while stationed in Europe during his time in the Army, Presley earned his first degree {Shodan} rank in March 1960 from a Chitō-ryu instructor (and a very interesting fellow) named Henry Slomanski. In an actual head-to-head versus Muhammad Ali, "The King" would have held his own quite well.

Original source unknown, c/o Julien's Auctions

On This Day in History

1456 – Better late than never (I guess): A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after she was unjustly burned at the stake.  She was finally canonized by the Catholic church 453 years later in 1909.

1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri.  So when someone says you're the greatest thing since sliced bread, they're really saying that you're the best thing to come along in the past 83 years.

1940 – Richard Starkey – better known as Ringo Starr, or as I prefer it, the luckiest man who ever lived – was born in Liverpool, England.

1954 – Elvis Presley made his radio debut when WHBQ in Memphis played "That's Alright Mama," his first recording for Sun Records.  Formerly an R&B station, WHBQ became a sports-themed station in the late '80s that currently boasts one of the worst morning rush hour shows among any of the major radio markets.  Believe me on that one.

1985 – Boris Becker, at age 17, became the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon.  He did it again the following year en route to six career major championships along with an impressive 38-3 record in Davis Cup competition.  He remains one of my all-time favorites.

Information obtained via Wikipedia and confirmed, with revisions, through various sources. 

Iconic Shot: Dave and The King

c/o The Official Elvis Presley Facebook page

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl pays homage to Elvis at Graceland just prior to his band's show at the FedEx Forum here in Memphis on May 20, 2011.  I'm told the Foo boys played over 25 songs in their set, far more than the average concert normally lasts.  They do it because they care, which is just one reason why Kurt Cobain's former drummer is, quite possibly, the Elvis of Generation X.

Sunday's Quote/Did You Know (or Care): Elvis

There are a variety of notable topics to address, and I'll get to each issue in the near future.  In the meantime, a recent Beatles documentary on the History Channel got me to ponder a relatively famous quote about Elvis Presley from perhaps the most important member of the Fab Four.  Hence the customary Sunday's Quote is preceded by a Did You Know:

Initially broadcast via satellite on January 14, 1973, Elvis Presley's "Aloha from Hawaii" is believed to have reached over a billion viewers worldwide, which included 40% of the Japanese television audience and at least 90% of the available audience in the Philippines.  An estimated 51% of the American television audience watched when it aired in the United States for the first time on April 4, 1973.

Sources: 1, 2

"Elvis was the king.  No doubt about it.  People like myself, Mick Jagger and all the others only followed in his footsteps."

-- Rod Stewart, one of the best-selling artists of all-time with over 100 million records sold worldwide
 

"A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man's music, when in fact almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis."
-- Jackie Wilson (1934-1984), inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987
 

"Before Elvis, there was nothing."
-- John Lennon (1940-1980), co-founder of some group called The Beatles

Iconic Shot(s): Dave, a nice sunset, & a "Million Dollar Quartet"

(click to enlarge)

Dave Matthews Band performs at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival last Sunday in Manchester, Tennessee.  Photo by Mark Humphrey

"Sunset at 10,000 feet"

© Eric Rolph

"Memphis" won four Tony awards, including one for Best Musical, last Sunday.  So here's another piece of music history from the city of Memphis.

The above picture is the only known shot of an impromptu jam session that took place at Sun Studios in downtown Memphis between Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash.  Dubbed "The Million Dollar Quartet" by Memphis Press-Scimitar entertainment editor Bob Johnson, a comprehensively detailed story about the picture, including the identity of the woman in the shot (unknown for over 50 years) can be found here.

On This Day in History: June 5

70 AD: Amid the first Jewish-Roman War, legions of the Roman Empire breach the middle wall of Jerusalem, conquering the city and sacking the Second Temple, which, according to traditional rabbinic literature, stood for 420 years.

1956: Elvis Presley sings "Hound Dog" on The Milton Berle Show in a performance best remembered for The King's suggestive hip movements which, at the time, was considered highly scandalous.

1968: Presidential candidate Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY, pictured) is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles by a Jordanian nationalist named Sirhan Sirhan.  RFK died the next day.

1977: Running at 1 MHz with 4 kB of RAM and an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, the Apple II -- recognized as the first practical personal computer -- is made available to the public at a base price of $1,298.

1981: The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five people in Los Angeles are infected with a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with severely weakened immune systems.  Initially referred to as "The Gay Plague" by Michael VerMeulen in the May 1982 issue of New York magazine, and later called gay pneumonia, gay cancer, and GRIDS (Gay-related immune deficiency syndrome), the five patients turn out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.

"At this moment, one in four gay men in New York City is infected with HIV, an incurable disease that has infected more than 100,000 men in New York City, 20,000 of whom have no idea they have even been infected.  In the last six years, new diagnoses of the disease among gay men in New York City under the age of 30 rose by 33 percent.  Among gay males between the ages of 13 and 19, the rate of infection has doubled."

-- from "The Plague Returns," New York Press; October 3, 2007