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Go behind the scenes at Hollywood

Experience — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:30:02 +0000

Ever watched a movie or television program and wonder what goes on behind the scenes? Well why not live the LA. dream and go behind the scenes of Hollywood with a Warner Bros. Studio Tour. Hollywood has had such a huge impact on pop culture all around the world. So experience the glitz and glamor of Hollywood and the rags to riches stories with a Warner Bros. Lot VIP Tour.

The Warner Bros Studio is a real, working film production area, not a theme park. Every tour is different, depending on film and television production schedules, but they generally include a visit to a set or two and a peek at some of Hollywood behind the scenes. Once you’ve been on the studio tour, you’ll never think of a movie or television program in quite the same way again.

Website: http://www2.warnerbros.com/vipstudiotour/

Cut a single at the birthplace of rock and roll Sun Studio

Experience — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 05:46:12 +0000

The legendary status of Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee makes visiting an essential experience. When you visit Sun Studio, “the birthplace of rock n’ roll” you’ll step back in time to 1954, the year that a then-unknown singer named Elvis Presley recorded his first hit, “That’s All Right (Mama),”.

Sam Phillips opened the Sun Recording Studio in 1950. However he probably never guessed at the worldwide impact his business venture would produce. He could not have known that his recording studio would be the birthplace of Rock ‘n’ Roll, as cutting edge symbols for facebook” title=”music symbols for facebook”>musicians of the 1950s fused Blues and Country to create a unique and revolutionary new sound.

Today, you can see Elvis Presley’s first microphone along with memorabilia illustrating the rich symbols for facebook” title=”music symbols for facebook”>musical legacy of Sun Studio Records. You can also hear outtakes of recording sessions at Sun Studio. Among the other well-known performers whose careers were launched at the Memphis Sun Studio are Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, Howlin’ Wolf and Bobby “Blue” Bland.

These people created a new sound in the Studio. It had the beat, the soul and especially the attitude that came to be called Rock N’ Roll. Sun Studio gave the world some of its early rock ‘n’ roll hits, including “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis and “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins.

More than 50 years after it was founded, Sun Studio remains an active recording studio, and if you want to try and follow in the footsteps of these symbols for facebook” title=”music symbols for facebook”>musical greats, you can even cut your own single. You will be taken into a sound booth in the control room of the studio where you put on headphones and sing your lyrics into a microphone. Your lyrics will be burnt into background symbols for facebook” title=”music symbols for facebook”>music and put on a personalized CD with the Sun Studio label and your name and song imprinted on it.

Sun Studio’s important symbols for facebook” title=”music symbols for facebook”>musical heritage and collection of one-of-a-kind memorabilia make it an unforgettable stop for visitors to Memphis.

Visit Graceland

Experience — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:24:40 +0000

If you’re a die hard Elvis Presley fan you have to visit his legendary home, Graceland. A tour of Graceland is a one of a kind experience that will lead you on Elvis’s fascinating journey to superstardom. You’ll experience the cultural changes that led to the birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll and see, first-hand, how Elvis became the most celebrated entertainer in the world.

Located in Memphis, Tennessee, Graceland is a14 acre (5.6 hectare) estate which Elvis bought in 1957 for $100,000. He moved both his parents and grandmother in to Graceland to share his new found fame and fortune at the ripe old age of 22. Today around 750,000 visitors a year pass through the front door, and its easy to see why.

Graceland takes you on an incredible journey through the life of Elvis. The mansion tour consists of the living room, symbols for facebook” title=”music symbols for facebook”>music room, Elvis’s parents’ bedroom, the dining room, kitchen, TV room, poolroom, “jungle” den and annex in the main house. Behind the house, you can tour Elvis’s racquetball building and his original business office, a museum of Elvis’ automobiles, personal planes used by the King and a variety of other displays and multimedia experiences. Another highlight is Elvis’s trophy building, which houses his enormous collection of gold records and awards, along with an extensive display of career mementos, stage costumes, jewellery, photographs, and much more. A fitting finale to a Graceland ‘pilgrimage’ is viewing Elvis’ grave located in the Meditation Garden. The grave may or may not contain the body of Elvis, you will have to decide.

Elvis still holds the title of the world’s biggest recording star, having sold over a billion records. With a sound and style that uniquely combined his diverse symbols for facebook” title=”music symbols for facebook”>musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American symbols for facebook” title=”music symbols for facebook”>music and popular culture, which rightly earned him the title “King of Rock and Roll”.

Whether you’re a fan of Elvis or just curious as to how the King lived, you have to go to Graceland. Its an experience you wont forget.

Stay in Frank Sinatra’s house

Experience — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:27:58 +0000

If you love Frank Sinatra you have to spend a night in his Palm Springs hideaway. Twin Palms, the four-bedroom, 4,500-square-foot (480 square meters) mini-mansion, sitting just a mile from busy downtown Palm Springs, is where Sinatra lived from 1947 until about 1954. However today its available for vacation rental.

Back when Palm Springs was a drowsy desert village, Frank Sinatra commissioned the house to be built as the primary residence for himself and first wife, Nancy Barbato. And he wanted it built fast. Workers using floodlights laboured around the clock so the house could be ready in time for Sinatra to celebrate a New Year’s party in the house.

Twin Palms itself is a spectacular example of mid-century contemporary architecture in the heart of Palm Springs’ Movie Colony community. Designed in 1947 by Stewart Williams, the four-bedroom, seven-bath home boasts Sinatra’s original state-of-the-art sound system. (The sound system is still in the house, but it is not connected for use.) Every window looks onto the pool, the sliding glass wall leads out to the pool, the house bends around the pool, and its easy to understand that the pool was the architect’s focus, the turquoise nexus around which Twin Palms was meant to revolve. Shaped like a piano and heated in the winter to 90 degrees, the pool is where Sinatra liked to hang, drink, talk, and entertain his legendary friends.

However not long after moving in, Sinatra had a change of heart. He met Ava Gardner, the love of his life, and promptly left his wife Nancy, who begrudgingly granted him a divorce. Twin Palms then became the setting for one of the 20th century’s great romances, the hideaway in which Sinatra and Gardner conducted their operatic affair. If the walls could talk… The home was also host to some of the valley’s most glamorous parties with Hollywood’s brightest stars, including Bob Hope, Joan Crawford, Phil Silvers, Mary Livingston, George Burns, Gracie Allen, and even the reclusive Greta Garbo. As well the house was witness to some of Sinatra’s most memorable bouts. One of the most outrageous was when Frank threw then-wife Ava Gardner’s possessions onto the driveway after she appeared at the house in an attempt to catch him with Lana Turner. You can still see the chip in the sink where Frank threw a bottle in a rage.

So if you’re Sinatra-besotted, or just curious to experience first hand where and how Ol’ Blue Eyes lived, rent Twin Palms for the night and sleep in Frank Sinatra’s bed. A night at Twin Palms costs around $2600.