Elvis Practising Tae Kwon Do

I love how when Elvis would do the ‘Hope that our love survives…’ breakdown in Suspicious Minds, he would actually crouch down and pretty much do the standard TKD calf stretch on each leg, also loved how he’d do a lot of front-snap kicks with knife-hand guards and L-stance type action on stage during the 70s.

Pretty sure these are Tae Kwon Do pics, not ‘Karate’ - judging by the blue and red TaiJi symbol in the background. Then again back then, and still today to a certain extent, every form of oriental martial art eventually gets called ‘Karate’ by someone at some point. Particularly glaring examples of this are the film Best Of The Best - where members of the actual Korean WTF Tae Kwon Do team are being called Karate practitioners, even as Hee Il Cho himself looks on and trains them!

Another one that always sticks in my mind, but it is actually just pretty amusing, is how the film ‘Spiritual Kung Fu’ starring Jackie Chan was at one stage named ‘Karate Ghostbusters’ - I have the VHS which bares that tragic name myself.

‘Out there in the dark,

 There’s a beckoning candle…’

Danzig - Trouble (from ‘Thrall:Demonsweat Live’) 

This is Danzig’s second recorded version of it - it was on a Samhain album beforehand, but that version had some pretty wierd string (synth workstation probably) accompaniment, and wasn’t as good as this version in my opinion. It really is a perfect song for Danzig to cover as he has often been referred to as the ‘Evil Elvis’.

Elvis Presley - Trouble 

A lot of people say ‘all Elvis films are shit’ but seriously, honestly King Creole  is a great film with (of course) an amazing soundtrack including; Hard Headed Woman, King Creole and Steadfast, Loyal & True.

Check out the look on Elvis’s face as he glares at Walter Matthau during these lines:

‘If you’re lookin’ for trouble,

You came to the right place,

 If you’re lookin’ for trouble,

 Just look right in my face…’