We’ve entered the holiday shopping season! Elton is getting into the spirit with a line of illustrated Christmas-cards inspired by some classics. Most amusing is a depiction of Elton in a Santa hat, his arm around a reindeer, and titled Hold Me Closer, Tiny Prancer.
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The tradition of the Christmas panto is alive and well, and there’s one which should interest EJ fans. We’re talking about Jack and the Beanstalk, at the Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, England. The Shropshire Star‘s Nick Humphreys wrote that the audience was ”dazzled” by ”Elton,” somersaults, and a puppy dog. He explained to ej.w: ”In a nutshell, the character of Jack was singing Sorry Seems to be The Hardest Word after selling the family cow for magic beans. Halfway through, the dame appeared and started joining in dressed as Elton John.”
Christmas jumpers inspired by Elton, Leona Lewis, and Mariah Carey are available to rent or buy through the 31st of the month. This UK-fundraiser benefits the children’s charity, NSPCC. Lidl teamed up with designer Lydia Bolton for the bespoke items. You might expect The John to have images of piano keys or sunglasses, although it’s actually a blue turtleneck with frills, sequins, and stars.
Remember the EJAF‘s Let Your Inner Elton Out campaign? Smokey-Robinson went with rhinestone-rimmed specs, a shimmery jacket and a straw hat.
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Let Your Inner Elton Out is being considered for an Anthem-Award, launched in 2021 by the team behind the Webby Awards. It’s a way to recognise people and organisations for mission-driven work. Winners will be announced in January.
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Charlotte Tilbury‘s PR team has gotten an award for effectively generating publicity. Thanks to their collaboration with Elton and his AIDS foundation, they snagged Best Publicity Placement at the first annual Consumer Placement Awards.
Bernie Taupin has joked about getting two Rock & Roll Hall of Fame trophies. When Elton was inducted in 1994, he handed his award to Bernie, saying there would be no Elton John without him. And more recently, the lyricist was inducted by Elton. Bernie also made a quip about Your Song, claiming it’s an ”urban legend” that he wrote it in 10 minutes. It was more like 15-30, he told ITV’s Good-Morning-Britain . . . as if that weren’t impressive enough. Even so, there are some he’s put aside and gone back to years later.
Bernie went on to share his admiration for Elton, when he addressed his drug and alcohol problems. He was Elton’s first visitor after rehab, and tried to encourage his friend, who wasn’t sure he could be as successful while sober.
Elton still has regrets about the time he didn’t egg the Watford Hornets on before the FA 1984 World Cup Finale. The former chairman seems to think that had he told them, ”You can win this. Don’t freeze,” they wouldn’t have lost to Everton. Elton addressed the situation on That-Peter-Crouch podcast, adding that in his career, he got ”more moments than a footballer does of playing big events and having to pull them off.”
Sociologist and Watford devotee Keith Khan-Harris has read Watford Forever by John Preston and Elton. He wrote in The Quietus that it’s obvious Elton didn’t just get out his chequebook and ”buy success.”
Rather than shell out a fortune for players, a good deal of money was spent on improving the Vicarage Road ground and ”building a proper management set.”
Keith commends Elton for chairing board meetings, reaching out to potential players, and attending games. While Elton endured homophobic chants at times, Keith believes the singer found what he was missing in his career . . . routine, community, friendship, and lack of pretension. We think that’s overstating things a bit, but do agree it’s easy for superstars to become spoiled and ”unanchored from the world.”
A microphone used by Elton in Cardiff, Wales, during his farewell tour is part of the Gotta Have Rock and Roll‘s Pop Culture Auction, which runs through 16 December. It was obtained by a crew member, and is accompanied by a ‘working crew’ pass.
Head production rigger Mike-Gomez said that the crews’ work on the farewell tour might have looked easy, but wasn’t. With heavy equipment (just the portal weighing over 30,000 pounds) and needing to make sure conditions were safe, who’d think it seemed easy?
We’ll close things out with a TV alert. Elton is to be among the guests when Disney 100: A Century of Dreams–A Special Edition of 20/20 airs on Thursday, 14 December (9 p.m. ET on ABC). It streams the following day on Hulu and later this month on Disney+.
