Search Results for "elvis"
Dean Reed’s grave
Since I had just posted some cemetery shots from Denver, I thought it time to head into Boulder’s Green Mountain Cemetery to visit the final resting spot of Dean Reed.
The sweet Czechoslovakian woman who ran the front desk at the cemetery told me about what a huge star he was when she was young. His card in their files lists him as famous singer and movie star. Indeed he was, just not here in the U.S. But in Eastern Europe he was The Red Elvis. In fact, Eastern Europeans visit his grave all the time, take photos and leave all kinds of unusual things, like the black tv controller on the ledge above (and whatever that was in the tree).
Not only was Reed a celebrity singer and actor, but it is possible that he was a spy working for East Germany, and maybe even a double-agent working for the U.S. (My personal favorite mythology). We’ll never know as he was tragically found floating face down in a lake in East Germany in 1986. Either suicide or murder, depending on which story you tend to believe. Tom Hanks optioned the movie rights quite awhile ago.
(I have posted two other videos of Dean Reed in the past).
For more information, please visit the Dean Reed site.
April 30th, 2012 / 2 Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Rockmount Ranch Wear
Aside from the Sugar Building Annex below, the other example of Prarie-style in downtown Denver is the Rockmount Ranchwear Building, designed 1909 by the Fisher brothers before they changed the name of their firm to Fisher & Fisher.
Rockmount Ranch Wear, the world-famous western clothes manufacturer, took over the building in 1946. They have sold their trademark shirts with the sawtooth pockets and diamond-shaped snaps to Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Ronald Reagan, Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Toby Keith and of course, many others.
Here is a closeup of the Prairie-style decoration that is a simplified version of the work of Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.
November 11th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
The Big One!
From Elvis’ first visit in 1956. He made $4,000 after selling 16,000 tickets.
Francis Melrose of the Rocky Mountain News gets the controversy flowing. I love how she put ‘Singer’ in quotes! I bet she wasn’t ready for the backlash of letters she received.
The rage begins:
There are so many great quotes in these letter columns: “Johnny Ray with St. Vitus Dance”, “He’d get up on stage a take a fit, and those crazy dames in the front row would take a fit right along with him”, “I think you’re jealous, or else you’re working for Faron Young“.
Aside from Faron Young, also on the bill were the killer Jimmy & Johnny duo and Queen of Rockabilly Wanda Jackson!
May 16th, 2011 / No Comments » / by Tom Lundin
Tempest Storm
Crowds flocking to Warren St. Thomas’ night club, The Tropics on W. Mississippi, 1959.
Red haired Tempest Storm was a nationally-known, highly-in-demand exotic-dancer,
with a strong following in Denver at The Tropics. She called Las Vegas home where
she dated Elvis in that same year 1959, right before Elvis headed into the army.
Today, Tempest is retired and still living in Las Vegas.
(Click here for a related story about Tempest visiting Boulder.)
November 2nd, 2010 / 1 Comment » / by Tom Lundin
Dean Reed – American Rebel
A follow-up to my previous post on singer Dean Reed.
Reed was a Colorado boy who went on to become an enormous pop star in South America and Eastern Europe! He was very controversial as he embraced socialism! Do yourself a favor and make an effort to see the 2007 documentary, Dean Reed – The Red Elvis. While almost unknown in the U.S. it may astonish you to know that many consider him the most famous American in the world!
See for yourself:
German fan page: http://www.deanreed.de/
Russian fan page: http://www.deanreed.ru/
(check out the photo gallery to see loving photos like this one of his headstone in Boulder: headstone)
August 4th, 2010 / 1 Comment » / by Tom Lundin
Dean Reed, The Red Elvis
The mysterious Dean Reed, “The Red Elvis”, motorcycles through Moscow.
Denver-born Dean Reed graduated Wheatridge High in 1956.
In 1958 he took off for Hollywood, but suddenly became a huge star in South American
countries Chili, Peru & Argentina, where he heavily embraced Marxism!
He later moved to Europe where he became a socialist singing sensation in the U.S.S.R.
and East Germany. He became fluent in Spanish, German and Russian!
Reed’s body was discovered in a lake outside near Berlin in 1986. There is still
speculation on his cause of death. Was he murdered by the Russians, the Germans,
maybe even the Americans, or is was it suicide?
Reed is buried in Green Mountain Cemetary in Boulder.
Dean Reed was also a TV star and an actor, starring in many spaghetti westerns
like Adios Sabata and this odd film below:
July 22nd, 2010 / 2 Comments » / by Tom Lundin
