The Zippin Pippin now has extended hours. The roller coaster, which opened May 21 as the latest attraction at Bay Beach Amusement Park in Green Bay, was lit up for the first time Monday night. The city spent $3.8 million to acquire the Zippin Pippin rights and recreate the attraction at city-owned Bay Beach. The wooden roller coaster previously operated for several decades in Memphis, Tenn., where it was renowned as Elvis' favorite amusement park ride. With the new lighting system, the roller coaster will be able to run after dusk. Orion Energy Systems makes the lights that have been installed, and Orion Engineered Systems Of Wisconsin donated the product.Officials originally projected that the city would need 200,000 riders annually, at $1 each, to make the roller coaster a financial success. That milestone was reached July 14, barely halfway through a season that continues until September. At the end of the day Sunday, the coaster had 310,778 riders.
Memphis FlyerThe August 11-17 edition of the Memphis Flyer featured Elvis Presley on the cover and contains the article 'Elvis Lives Here' on Graceland constantly reinventing itself, but it may be “time to write a big check.”
Promo CD Samplers:
Those attending the Graceland Trivia Tour on Friday, August 12 and all VIP package holders will receive a 'Young Man With The Big Beat' CD sampler. This exclusive sampler features 3 songs from the new deluxe set.
Desert Serenade
The Touchdown Productions import release 'Desert Serenade', containing the former unreleased Midnight Show from August 16, 1972, as recorded in Las Vegas, was released.
Changes coming to Cirque du Soleil's 'Viva Elvis'
Cirque du Soleil announced Wednesday that "Viva Elvis" will get a makeover to "make it less of a biographical representation of Elvis Presley and more of an acrobatic Cirque du Soleil spectacular production," according to a statement from the company's senior publicist, Renee-Claude Menard.
The Aria production will take an extended break in January. Cirque and its landlord already had "common agreement" that "the bio expression of Elvis is not necessarily appealing to our demographic, the type of demographics we'd like to have, so let's look at it a different way. Make it a Cirque du Soleil spectacular featuring Elvis as a singer," Menard said.
As such, the character of Elvis' manager, Tom Parker, as narrator likely will be eliminated, though "I think we have to wait until the changes are all done," Menard said. The size of the company will remain "at least the same, if not bigger," Menard said. The show will remain as is until the end of the year.
Failure is not an option for Cirque in Las Vegas, which has seven shows on the Strip and hasn't closed one since "Mystere" debuted in 1993. But
"Viva Elvis" is the second consecutive production to undergo dramatic revision after underwhelming public and critical reception.
"The really big changes are taking time to come because they're expensive and needed approval," artistic director Gene Lubas said in January. "I want to use more Cirque trickery and magic to bring the show closer to the public."
(Source: EPE / FECC / Memphis Flyer)