Product Description
ELVIS:SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY is a brand-new hardcover book of "wall-to-wall" rare and unique images spanning the career of ELVIS PRESLEY. It's high quality, glossy pages are filled with dozens of stunning color and black&white photographs, most of which have never been seen. It features private, candid, concert, studio portrait and movie-set photos, from the 50's through the 70's, that will delight and impress even the most ardent fans and collectors. Authors JOE RUSSO ("Elvis-Straight Up" (w/Joe Esposito), and noted Elvis archivist STEVE BARILE have assembled an amazing volume that fans throughout the world are sure to consider one of the finest Elvis photo books ever published!***** We selected the title "Something For Everybody" because it contains, quite literally we hope, something for everybody. Whatever your favorite Elvis era, type of photo,"look" or performance setting, we have tried to represent it with a unique image that will be new to your eyes. We also chose to do a random presentation of eras, rather than a chronological one. The mention of Elvis Presley conjurs literally hundreds of vastly variant images within our own individual imaginations, almost simultaneously. We wanted our book to reflect that type of experience.-That's All Right Publishing**REVIEWS"I dare say, I like your photo book better than (title held)" -Sue L/Viva Las Vegas Club***"If people don't buy this book they must be blind.It stands out a mile when real Elvis people who love Elvis are involved" -Chris Giles Sr./The Elvis Shop,UK***"Shockingly beautiful page after page. A virtual rainbow of Elvis Presley's career awaits the reader. Joe Russo and Steve Barile give the King the quality his name deserves. A lavish production from true fans. Truly there's "something for everybody " inside this knockout"-Phil Gelormine/Elvis World ... Read more

Product Description
This is a novel about friendship, a novel that spans the decades that changed America forever. Orson is a young boy whose mother works at a U.S. Army base in Germany in the 1950s. There, he becomes a fan of a G.I. stationed at the base, one Elvis Presley, whose music is played over and over on the radio. When Orson is caught stealing recordings of Elvis's tunes from the PX, the attendant publicity catches the star's attention, and he comes to visit his young fan. Thus begins a lifelong friendship. As Elvis's career rockets ever higher and his behavior becomes ever more erratic, the two share many adventures. The sixties explode, and Elvis becomes the icon of the nation, while Orson, a college demonstrator, drifts away from regular life while looking for something of substance to believe in. Each man is an emblem of his time, as social conventions crumble, barriers fall, and the cultural landscape changes forever.A panorama of change and dissent, of the ability of friends to stay true despite distance and time, Elvis in the Morning portrays a nation in change and the effects of celebrity on innocence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Politically Correct
Fictitious schoolboy Orson Killere lives with his widowed American mother, who works at a U.S. Army base in West Germany.When Orson watches Elvis make his television debut in 1956, Orson becomes captivated. The lesson Elvis imparts unto Orson is: do what you believe is right and ignore the establishment.

Orson is also strongly influenced by his teacher, who is a socialist.Then, in 1959, when fourteen year old Orson decides that Elvis' music is common property, he breaks into the Army base's PX and steals the Elvis acetates.Orson gets caught and a judge sentences him to a month without Elvis' music.

When G.I. Elvis learns about the incident, he decides to meet his young fan. Orson subsequently introduces Elvis to his Elvis Presley Fan Club co-president, Priscilla Beaulieu. It is then that a lifelong friendship between Orson, Elvis, and Priscilla develops.The story chronicles the true milestones in Elvis' life through Orson's eyes.

While Orson's character was vivid, the depth of the real characters fell short.For the reader who is not knowledgeable about the Greek-tragedy like life of Elvis and its ramifications, the book lacks emotion and power.

However, what I particularly love is the political spin.As an ardent fan of Elvis, I have always vocalized that it was he who single-handedly refaced the landscape of pop culture. It was his very innocence, talent and charisma that empowered Elvis to mainstream Rock and Roll. Elvis made it acceptable for one to be a non-conformist, different and unconventional.This revolution ultimately led to the breakdown of socioeconomic and racial barriers.

Therefore, Elvis was not just an entertainer and was indeed much more of a political influence than we realize.Hence, Mr. Buckley could not have been more politically correct than to have written Elvis in the Morning.

Interesting book & it worked for me
Overall, I truly enjoyed this boy-meets-pop-idol story.I, oddly, find this an interesting topic, and did long before this book.Here, a teenager meets Elvis Presley and becomes Elvis's friend.It's a rock and roll fantasy.

In this book, Orson is our Elvis fan who becomes the King's most trusted confidante.Their friendship spans 15 years and, for me, worked better for, approximately, the first half of the book than the latter.By the end of the book, which is very much about Elvis Presley--the real guy--it's hard to keep the focus on Orson while knowing, feeling, awaiting Elvis's fate. And I don't think Buckley pulled this element off; the real Elvis overshadowed the literary fantasy of their relationship.

Orson is a well-fleshed-out character, and he has a life and a wife who is also a solid, full character; they've got their own story and lives that work and are interesting.I would have enjoyed reading even more about them.

But, when we are in the 1970's (chapters are titled by date and place), it became, for me, nearly impossible not to dread and anticipate what would become of Elvis.Chapter headings 1971, '72, '73, etc. - I was thinking to myself: Elvis is going to be dead in five years; Elvis is going to die in four years...Elvis Presley is such a looming figure, and his real life well described in this book, that my focus--and the book's, to a great extent--became Elvis rather than Orson.

What began as boy-meets-hero turned into story of Elvis.And at that point, the fantasy element got lost in the largeness of Elvis Presley.This, then, created other flaws for me. Buckley went to great lengths to tell us Elvis's real life.Elvis's relationship with Orson, then, by the end, was nearly superfluous and, therfore, more "not-believable" than it was fantasy.Similarly for Priscilla's (and Lisa Marie's and others') relationships with both Orson and Orson's wife.Orson had become part of a real life that was vividly described, and the book beame so much about Elvis, that Orson got lost, as did the hero-fantasy (as well, Orson is now an adult with a very real Elvis Presley considering him the only person he can trust -- their friendship took on a far-fetched feel).

All that said, I liked it very much.I liked the beginning for the hero-fantasy, and I liked the latter part for the Elvis story.What I liked in the end is not, I think, what the book was "about," but what I took from it - what a sad, sad story, Elvis Presley.By then, I didn't need Orson - the book had become about Elvis Presley.

Buckley gets the downbeat!
It's a lot of fun to see debonair and sophisticated William Buckley drop his erudite (often pedantic) airs and just write for the fun of it (or as one fan noted, "so the rest of us can understand what he's saying!").In "Elvis in the Morning," Buckley, the noted politico pundit, takes an unlikely subject (for him) and develops/presents it in a fascinating, readable, and enjoyable manner.

To say his prose moves rapidly is an understatement, as this clever--yet in places ever so poignant--novel moves with a real rock 'n roll upbeat, although hardly taking time for the traditional chorus rounds! Orson Killere is the young son of a German mother who works for the US Army in Wiesbaden.A devout Presley fan, he gets caught stealing Elvis records at the local PX.Elvis, stationed nearby, hears about it and arranges for a meeting. They become lifelong friends and confidents.

This is not the story of Elvis, but of Orson, or "Killer," as Elvis playfully calls him.Elvis, of course, is the pivotal point of the book, as like a proper musical recitative (or even leitmotiv), we keep coming back to him, continually until the King's death.This relationship between the two--often symbiotic, often close--make a fascinating story, whether one is an Elvis fan or not.

While this is a work of fiction, Buckley exercises literary license here and there, but his research is thorough and can't be faulted (after all, remember, this is fiction).His ability to capture the landscape and atmosphere is unquestioned and Buckley shows once again that reading (and in his case,writing) is also a fun undertaking."Elvis in the Morning" is an odyssey or sorts and that said, don't expect to find the proverbial Trojan horse; just think of Orson as Cassandra, knowing what lies ahead but powerless to stop the inevitable. (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

He got old.
One day, little Orson decided that, since all property should be owned commonly (see: Karl Marx), it was right for him to take all of the Elvis records from a local store, and distribute them among the populace.Unfortunately, he was caught, and the judge's punishment declared that he was forbidden from listening to Elvis Presley on the radio for the next few months.Elvis, hearing of this, drives to meet little Orson and sing for him personally.Elvis in the Morning is the story of the relationship of Orson, Elvis, and Orson's friend (and Elvis' real-life future wife) Priscilla.It is, reportedly, the story of each one's development, and also about Orson's eventual repudiation of socialism.

I know this because I have read about Elvis in the Morning in newspapers and magazines.The book offers no such clues as to where these attributes may be hidden within it.The problem is that nothing in the novel seems connected.I was never quite sure as to what the point of it all was - not a political point, but I was looking for a final lesson learned, a theme, or a message.Orson, and everyone else, seem just the same at the end of the book as they do at the beginning.Maybe a little more world-weary, but they haven't changed in any definable way.And not only have the characters not changed, but the plot doesn't seem to be connected in any discernable way.Elvis and Orson fade in and out of each other's lives, with no real reason.In the end, you're left with a few sparkling scenes, but mainly pages upon pages of filler journalism, merely describing each character's actions.

That was what ended up being my main problem with the novel: the feeling of vacuousness I got reading it.Why was any particular scene happening?Who knows?It wasn't even entertaining, because you were left with a bunch of empty scenes describing characters you didn't care about.If Mr. Buckley was trying to advocate a message (though I don't think he was), he failed.If he was trying to tell a fun story (and I do think he was), he failed.

Now, I'm a huge fan of Bill Buckley.God & Man at Yale, his first novel, still rests only a few feet away.He was always interested in being cute - in including a funny turn on words or slightly off topic jab at a rival - but he always managed to also include substance in what he wrote.Unfortunately, in Elvis in the Morning, and his current columns, he's kept the desire to be cute and lost the ability to be substantive.It's too bad.Still, on the other hand, Mr. Buckley has, in his younger days, written many, many excellent books, both fiction and non-fiction.Go pick up one of those instead of Elvis in the Morning.

Impressive fiction from Buckley
Having been a fan of Buckley's political commentaries for some time, I decided to check out some of his fictional work. For better or worse, I began with this short novel. I was pleasantly surprised.

On one level, the novel is an "Edmund Morris-esque" biography of Elvis Presley, with the main character, Orson, finding himself caught up in the major events and dramas of Elvis' rise, fall, rise, and death throughout the 60's and 70's.

On another level, the book is a creative commentary on American political history - not too out-of-line with Buckley's other works. Orson's journey in and out of socialism begins with him stealing Elvis records in an attempt to give them out to people who can't afford them. He is kicked out of college for heading a botched student protest. His cross-country journey in search of an identity, all the while keeping in touch with Elvis, is symbolic of his gradual metamorphosis into a rational man - who, at least by his actions, rejects the ridiculous tenets of socialism that marked his failed early life.

Overall, it was a creative, refreshing way for Buckley to illustrate his insightfully conservative view of America during the turbulent 1960's and 70's. ... Read more

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4th Anniversary Portrait Album. Volume 1 Number 6 Modern Screen Present, published by Sterling's Magazines, Inc. 1981. ... Read more

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Midway of the Ponte Vecchio at Florence, where three arches break the
lines of the little jewellers' booths glittering on either hand, and
open an approach to the parapet, Colville lounged against the corner of
a shop and stared out upon the river. It was the late afternoon of a day
in January, which had begun bright and warm, but had suffered a change
of mood as its hours passed, and now, from a sky dimmed with flying grey
clouds, was threatening rain. There must already have been rain in the
mountains, for the yellow torrent that seethed and swirled around the
piers of the bridge was swelling momently on the wall of the Lung' Arno,
and rolling a threatening flood toward the Cascine, where it lost itself
under the ranks of the poplars that seemed to file across its course,
and let their delicate tops melt into the pallor of the low horizon.

Download Indian Summer Now! ... Read more

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Features - Even Kirsten and Bryce Have Quarter-life Crises, 30 Under 30: Meet inspiring young women who are doing amazing things, and more! Also in this issue: Diablo Cody thinks women should be able to be as inappropriate as men, Jami Attenberg wonders what the guy she's daig looks like without his beard, and Amy Karafin finds pride in her big, white butt while living in Africa. ... Read more