‘The King’ lives on

The "King of Rock and Roll" had humble roots in the American South, but from them went on to embody the American Dream, becoming nothing less than the most popular entertainer the world has ever seen. Here’s a glance at the King's life, career, music, and legacy.

It’s been 75 years since the ‘King of Rock and Roll’, Elvis Presley was born. Elvis, remains to this very day, one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. Legions of fans around the world are reminded of the melodious rhythms of his legendary music, his personal style that unselfconsciously broke down barriers and the unforgettable velvet sounds of his voice that will always be etched in our minds for decades to come.

His Life.

Elvis Aaron Presley, in the humblest of circumstances, was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child. Living just above the poverty line, he and his parents soon moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948, and Elvis graduated from Humes High School there in 1953. Elvis began his career there in 1954 when Sun Records owner Sam Phillips, eager to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience, saw in Presley the means to realize his ambition. From here on he went on to embody the American Dream, becoming nothing less than the most popular entertainer the world has ever seen.

Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967 after 7 years of courtship. They had one child, Lisa Marie Presley, born in 1968. They separated in 1972, Priscilla retaining the custody of Lisa Marie.

His Music.

Though not the first or only American to mix various musical styles into one singularity that would come to be called "rock and roll," Elvis Presley may have had greater command of more styles of popular music than any other musician of his day -- white or black taking the world by storm. Presley performed this music with a natural hip swiveling sexuality that made him a teen idol and a role model for generations of cool rebels.

Nominated for 14 competitive Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into four music halls of fame. Some of Elvis's greatest hits were 'I Want You, I need You, I Love You', 'Heartbreak Hotel', 'Hound Dog', ' Jail House Rock', 'All Shook Up' and many, many more. Globally, he has sold over one billion records, more than any other artist.

Elvis in Hollywood.

With 33 films to his name and box office smashes such as Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, Elvis transitioned from singer to on screen star and how he took Hollywood by storm to become its highest paid actor.

Farewell Elvis.

His last song. Elvis performed in private was a rendition of "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain," done on his piano in Graceland hours before his death. Similarly, Presley's last performances, both public and private, don't reveal much in the way of understanding his demise, if he was planning on slipping away into obscurity or simply realizing his mortality, it didn't show in the music. Then again, the very circumstances make his song selection seem sadder than usual.

His last recording. Elvis made a vocal overdub of "He'll Have To Go" on October 31st, 1976 in the "Jungle Room" at his home at Graceland.

His last words. Elvis always kept his mind on the future, even as he was physically and emotionally falling apart towards the end of his life. His last words to anyone outside of Graceland were to his first cousin and assistant, Billy Smith: "Billy, son," he said, referring to his upcoming series of concerts, "this is gonna be my best tour ever."

His Legacy.

Even though Elvis Presley died from a heart attack in 1977, he lives on through his legacy of music, movies and the never-ending impersonators which has become an integral part of American culture today. They can be found in Vegas, on Hollywood or in shows or attractions across the country.

Over thirty years have passed since his death was reported, and yet Elvis is just as popular today, if not more so, as he was during his career. Look up the legend on the internet and you will be amazed to know what great lengths, family, friends and fans have gone to pay tribute to his name. An umpteen number of results on how to dress like Elvis, dance like Elvis, play like Elvis to lists that entail on how to bake an Elvis Presley pound cake, prepare an Elvis mixed drink, celebrate birthdays and how to take an Elvis Presley tribute vacation only prove that he will always be 'The King' in the eyes of his countless admirers.

Photocredit: gossiboocrew.com

This article was published in Khaleej Times Newspaper on July 4th 2010, as a feature celebrating the anniversary of America's Independence Day.

Mahatma Gandhi, The Journalist

Almost everyone knows that Mahatma Gandhi was a Political Leader, but very few know that Gandhi was also a journalist! Yes, Gandhi was a Journalist. For 40 years he edited and published weekly newspapers!!!

Mahatma Gandhi, lawyer by profession, was a freedom fighter and social reformer. He used newspapers for achieving his goal of complete freedom. Chalpathi Raju (an eminent editor) wrote that ‘Gandhi is probably the greatest journalist of all time’ as he intelligently used the pen to lead a mass movement against the British rule.

Gandhi started his journalistic foray in South Africa with Indian Opinion in 1903. The intention behind the newspaper was to give the Indians a weekly round-up of news and to educate them in sanitation and hygiene.

When Gandhi came to India in 1915, he immediately jumped into the freedom movement. He started with Young India to educate the people on Satyagraha as a potent weapon. Harijan, a weekly, was intended to push his social reform agenda of eradicating unsociability and poverty. Gandhi wrote on almost all subjects under the earth. What was striking was that his writings were simple yet clear; it came from passion and burning indignation.

Main objects of journalism according to Gandhi are:

Ø Understand popular opinion and give expression to it.

Ø Arouse desirable sentiments among the people and

Ø Fearlessly expose popular defects.

His newspaper didn’t carry advertisements, yet it had high circulation. He felt that journalism should not be a vocation for earning a living. It should be a means to serve the public, an aid to a larger goal. ‘Journalism is very powerful- to be used in a controlled manner; control from within not outside’ (Gandhi was against censorship). He reached a large number of the Indians with his newspapers at a time when mass media was limited.

"My newspapers became for me a training ground in self-restraint and a means for studying human nature in all its shades and variations. Without the newspapers a movement like Satyagraha could not have been possible." -Mahatma Gandhi

Photo Credit: Wordpress

Living life, by the moment...

'It's always the little things that make a big difference.' And I bet this isn't the first time you're reading it.

But, its true, down to every word that the smallest, most mundane things that we experience on a day-to-day basis become little pieces to a (soon-to-be-complete) jigsaw puzzle. Things like waking up in the morning with your loved ones next to you, following your daily routine that you may hate, love or miss one day or another, the everyday chatter with your friends and probably about them as well- what I'm trying to say is that it could be normal things- the forgettable things that we often take for granted- little things that make life worth living.

I always tell myself to 'live in the present' or 'savour each moment as your last' or 'live each day as it comes', but who am I kidding, I don't. We are currently living in an age that is so competitive with everyone tirelessly racing against each other, racing against time and for what only to be either rich, famous or more successful.

We are always thinking, planning, organizing the next step, stressing on what should have or shouldn't have said or done, making assumptions on what could have happened....so engulfed in our bottomless unworthy list of worries that we have no point or meaning in the end.

When all that time, what we should have done instead, was 'Live in the moment' (something else you haven't heard for the first time)- but come to think of it how many of us actually apply this overly clichéd phrase.

I doubt many of us actually live, act and breathe that waking moment of your life. By just beinghere and now and not there or somewhere around, we could actually live up to simply living life, for real this time by taking one step at a time, doing one thing at that time, relishing, retaining and living that memory as if it were your last. It's simple not that hard and I urge you to start now.

Some people drift through their entire life. They do it one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time. It happens so gradually they are unaware of how their lives are slipping away until it's too late. Do you want that to happen to you? Cause before you realize it, life is going to inevitably end and you don't want to regret that you didn't 'live life to the fullest'...

=

I am here. Are you?

Stop and Smell the flowers...

With our lives so busy
We fail to notice
Things around us
Things, we take for granted
Cause we know
It will be
Tomorrow and the day next.

Flowers for instance,
Grow quietly,
Unknowingly,
Spreading its warmth and joy to everyone and anyone.

But do we once

Stop and smell the flowers.

No instead
We pluck them,
We tramp them,
We throw them,
And we walk passed them

Never do we praise its beauty,
Selflessly,
And lovingly.

That's because we are too absorbed
In our very own machine-like lives, that
We refuse to notice anything but ourselves!

So I beg
I plead
I kneel to you now
Stop and smell the flowers
Before it's too late!

(Also view http://portugal.com/blogs/azorzen/)

Photograph by Megna Kalvani

Leaving a mark...

“You can’t exist in this world without leaving a piece of yourself behind” was one sentence that struck me as I read ‘The Pact’ by Jodi Picoult.

We are born today, only to leave tomorrow. There is no guarantee on what may happen in the next second, minute, hour or day. Each moment we live is gradual yet unexpected. Nevertheless, we live on, waking up to a new day, time and time again with the same circumstances of unpredictability still lingering in the air.

You meet hundreds of people every day, millions by the end of your lifetime, they maybe faces looming past you; faces you’ve come to recognize; faces you have come to despise or faces you seem to have memorized.

Life is a giant web, one string depending on the next, leaving imprints on each other as we move forward.

We are not alone in this world, someone, somewhere thinks of us when we think not.

Someone, somewhere is motivated by our actions, by our decisions, by our love or by hate.

Someone, somewhere is reading this right now, as I leave my mark…

Print Design: Paramore: Live in Dubai

Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. Members are lead vocalist Hayley Williams, lead guitarist Josh Farro, bassist Jeremy Davis, drummer Zac Farro, and rhythm guitarist Taylor York.

The group released their debut album All We Know Is Falling in 2005, and their second album, Riot! in 2007, which was certified Platinum in the US and Gold in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Brand New Eyes, Paramore's third album, was released on September 29, 2009. Brand New Eyes is the band's highest charting album to date.

This poster was designed in the name of Paramore, if ever they decide to come to Dubai! (A wish, come true!)

Your feedback on the poster, would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance!

The First of Daran

Lourens Blok has made his debut as a director, with The Seven of Daran: Battle of Pareo Rock, a Dutch 2008 movie. An independent film was produced by Amsterdam-based Rolf Visser and Felice Bakker of AAA Pictures on a budget of about $8 million, the live-action film shot in South Africa and Namibia has played at Middle Eastern and European festivals and was even distributed by Walt Disney in Holland.

The Battle of Pareo Rock tells the story of a rich 11-year old European boy, Jimmy Westwood (Johann Harmse) who resides in Africa with his mother, (Caroline Goodall, Princess Diaries;2001) who is too indulgent in her work as an executive, establishing a golf resort. On the other side, there seems to be some tension brewing up between two once-friendly African tribes who have turned arch enemies over the land (Pareo Rock) which they now don’t remember who it rightfully belongs to. As one tribe, the Bombattas tribe want to sell it while the Saladir tribe wants to preserve their ancestral grounds and so the war instils….

On his way home, Jimmy meets the talking white giraffe, Seraf, at a busy market. Seraf tells Jimmy that he has to stop this tribal battle and presents him a precious medallion. So together with Charita, (Ketrice Maitisa) a poor African girl at his side, they embark on an adventurous and enchanting journey facing obstacle after obstacle, making it even more difficult than it already is, urging us to know whether Jimmy will reach Pareo rock in time?

The movie has all the ingredients a great movie would need, good direction, an interesting plot coupled with intriguing acting from the actors. One is also compelled to commend the music by Maaten Spurijt; nominated by Golden Calf Awards, as it was really apt arousing the right feelings at the right time leaving one deeply touched,

The Seven of Daran, ventured from fantasy, suspense, action, violence, romance thus with so many varied genres, the movie puts across a strong message to its audience of varied ages, particularly children; ‘we must believe in ourselves, set our goals and we will eventually achieve them in good time’.

(This film review entered the finals for 'The Young Journalist Award', Dubai International Film Festival 2008)