ETA Blog

Friday, July 27, 2007

So what will “Elvis Week” 2007 be like…in three words…a rip off !!!

Just in from Sid Shaw "Elvisly Yours"

So what will “Elvis Week” 2007 be like…in three words…a rip off !!! Who would have thought in 1987 for the 10th Anniversary, the first big anniversary since Elvis died that it would cost $250.00 to see an Elvis Concert for so-called VIP seats? There will be no variety of Elvis souvenirs to buy as EPE controls the entire market. There is only ONE independent store in the Graceland area “Boulevard Souvenirs” and that is being forced out of business by EPE after a directive from their stupid management that Elvis licensees cannot supply any store within five miles of Graceland. That ridiculous Soden-inspired directive is against all competition laws in the USA. EPE are being sued for $13 million and $26 million punitive damages. I wonder what Bob Sillerman now thinks about keeping the same EPE Management on the payroll after landing him in a massive lawsuit that they will lose because of the very powerful Anti-Trust Laws in the USA. Boulevard Souvenirs do not rip off the fans; their prices for exactly the same Elvis memorabilia are a lot cheaper than that of Graceland.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

"Ultimate ETA Contest" - Rapid City - Questions

Ultimate Elvis Tribute Festival
Preliminary Round Location: Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Rapid City, South Dakota
Contest Date: June 22 & 23, 2007

Winner coming soon!
-
Fans have written us to ask what is up with the ETA Contest winner listings at elvis.com.
Emails to EPE have not been returned.

All of their regional rounds list name and photo of the winner.

We were told that Justin Edwards was the winner of the contest above. Congratulations.
Justin also won the EPE Ultimate ETA Contest Regional at Lake George.

Although his name and photo are posted as the Lake George Winner - the Rapid City result
still have yet to be posted in spite of the fact that other winners since then have been recognized.

Is he entered into their finals in Memphis twice?

We'll see...

Visit Elvis Extravaganza at www.elviscontest.com.
Visit Elvii Radio - The Elvis Tribute Artist Radio Station at www.elvistributeradio.com

TCB!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Elvis Cruise a Fun Nightmare

Our friend Hilda Obuseka and her husband ETA Don Obusek took on the task of planning a group Elvis Cruise and in spite of a great time and the company of Kathy Westmoreland - the planning and communication process with Carnival was a nightmare...read on...

Continued success to Don and Hilda...Keep at it! We need more independent people promoting independent events in the Elvis World...


Hi friends - well, I finally got around to getting our cruise pictures on our website. My husband, Don, is an Elvis Tribute Artist and we wanted to do something special to commemorate 2007 being the 30th anniversary of the passing of Elvis. We came up with the idea of a group cruise. Our special guests were Kathy Westmoreland, who was Elvis' lead female singer of the '70's, and her assistant, June Moore.

Kathy and June are very lovely ladies and a lot of fun. Kathy was very kind to the fans, posed for pictures and talked about her memories of Elvis.

The cruise itself was fun, lots to do and the Bahamas were very beautiful. Pre-cruise, I had a lot of problems with Carnival. We were originally told that we could sell merchandise on the cruise. In preparation for the cruise, we bought some things that we wanted to sell and June started to make special 'Bahamas Cruise CD's", etc. to sell. One month prior to the cruise, Carnival supposedly came up with a "No-Solicitation Policy" and they said we couldn't sell anything. This caused us nothing but grief and problems as we already had invested a lot of time and money for special things we wanted to sell. We've had many other groups tell us that they sold lots of their merchandise, and many said they have upcoming cruises planned and they still plan on selling their products.

At any rate, for whatever very strange reason, (and I have my theories on this, can't prove anything yet tho), Carnival came down hard on me and insisted if I didn't sign this agreement, they wouldn't let Don do his shows.

Some of you know that my mom is in poor health and almost everyday, I spend time taking care of her. Instead of doing all I normally do for my mom, I had to spend many, many hours on the phone with various Carnival reps and all I got was the run-around from them. It took up tons of my precious time, time I desperately needed to take care of my mom and our business.

Pre-cruise, I spoke to various Carnival employees, but never got thru to the executive offices. I also had my legal firm write a letter to Carnival, asking that we either be allowed to sell our merchandise this once, ( since we were originally told we could) or for them to compensate us some way. They never responded. Unbelievable. I figured I better not try to contact them again until after the cruise, coz with my luck, I figured we'd get on the ship and we wouldn't have cabins or something.

Post-cruise, I wrote TWICE to the president of Carnival, and never got a response. After several weeks, I got a letter, saying my complaint was forwarded to another department, but I never heard back from them.

In November, we were originally told we could sell our merchandise, so we started to get things ready to take with us. One month out, they tell us we can't sell anything and they won't do anything to compensate us for the money we spent making special cruise souvenirs. Then, they don't answer my lawyer's letter and two of mine to the president! Had I known that we couldn't sell things or that they would be this difficult to deal with, we would have used a totally different cruise line. To those of you planning a group cruise with Carnival, just be careful.

visit:
www.elvistributeradio.com
Elvii Radio
The Elvis Tribute Artist Radio Station

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

AdelaideNow... Elvis Andy swan song

"ELVIS has left the building. Well, he's leaving, soon. Adelaide's favourite Elvis tribute artist Andy Seymour is leaving to live permanently in the United States.

Before he goes, Andy's going to do one final show, The Elvis Story – The Man and His Music with part proceeds going to the Make a Wish Foundation.

Charlie Hodge, Elvis' best friend and backing vocalist, once said 'Andy has the closest voice to Elvis I've heard'. Don't miss a last chance to see Andy and help a great cause, at the Highbury Hotel, Friday, July 20."

Elvis Extravaganza Fan Club Theme
Elvis Extravaganza the Worlds Largest Elvis Presley Fan Club free membership has announced it's theme for the upcoming season. " Take me to the Fair".It is fitting being they tour the fair market with their World Known Elvis Contest.The Elvis Extravaganza International Contest Finals and Fan Convention location and 2008 date to be announced August 8th, 2007

Monday, July 02, 2007

Happy Summer!

Greetings...

The contests have been a real pleasure this year.

Be sure to join us for the double-header in Michigan in July:

Elvis Contest

July 22 in Lewanee Fair in Adrian, MI and
July 23 in at the Ionia Free Fair in Ionia, MI

Another note: Elvii Radio (www.elvii.com) went thru a server upgrade last week and things are slowly getting back to normal.

Look for a new and exciting show from Jerry Presley and Patsy Andersen very soon...

Still playing all the ETAs and going strong. We love bringing Elvii Radio to the people.

See you in Memphis!