Tell Me What The Papers Say
Elton and David Furnish have two new family members. Hello! reports that David ”melted hearts” with his announcement about Regine and Nicole, a pair of young French bulldogs.
A dog was an integral part of an Elton John tribute artist’s clever video, made during the coronavirus lockdown. Steve-Hollington, who appeared in many of the scenes with his pet, sang a different version of Your Song. He ”sat on the sofa” instead of the roof and urged people to ”keep their distance” and ”just stay at home.”
For the first time since 1960, actors and writers have been on strike together. That means that the Emmy awards, set for 18 September, are being postponed. Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium has been nominated for three awards. A new date has yet to be revealed.
Jim Irsay, CEO of the Colts in Indianapolis, Indiana, owns the piano Elton used at his 1975 Dodger Stadium concerts. His curator, Larry Hall, told the Elton Blog that Jim also has a pair of the singer’s spectacles which could be exhibited alongside the piano in the future. They are yellow but have lots of other colours ”like confetti.” The instrument, says Larry, is in very good condition. That’s not the case with another in the collection–John Lennon‘s, which is far more fragile. No wonder, seeing that the piano dates back to 1872!
Some people are wondering how much Elton earned for his Glastonbury performance last month. Music consultant Lyle Bignon told Metro that between 35,000 and 300,000 pounds would be the norm for a festival headliner. He reckons that Elton earned even more than that. And according to figures submitted to Billboard, the entertainer made an astonishing £269 per second on the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
Far Out magazine claims there’s a correlation between artists’ monthly Spotify rankings and how well-attended their shows are. Elton isn’t cited, but he has been a popular live act for decades, long before the birth of the streaming service. Having said that, Elton has done well here. He currently has 49.6 million listeners, and in 2020, he hit 1.1 billion Spotify streams. More recently, the platform reported that streams of Elton-John songs rose 294 percent across the UK in the hour following his Glastonbury set.
Uproxx has posted a list of their fifty favourite Elton John songs, starting with Sacrifice at #50. Sinead O’Connor covered Sacrifice on the 1991 album, Two Rooms: Celebrating The Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Sadly, the singer has died. She was only 56, and the reason has not been revealed.
We were also sorry to learn that 80-year-old Savile Row tailor Edward Sexton passed away. Through his collaboration with Tommy Nutter, he created bespoke suits for Elton and other high-calibre clients. Elton would buy 20 suits at a time. His former manager, John Reid, told the Telegraph it was quite an event going to Nutter’s. ”You’d write the day off. Maybe you’d have lunch and a couple of bottles of champagne.”
Russell Tovey is offering a new way to enjoy some of the National-Portrait-Gallery’s most iconic portraits–Elton among them. The installation, consisting of 52 cubes suspended in the air, is called Art Reframed. It’s at Leicester Square in London, England, until October.
Russell interviewed Elton a couple of years ago on his (and Rob Diament‘s) Art Talk podcast. He told the Times’ Weekend magazine he believes Elton will be an important archivist. He was impressed to learn that Elton is an avid collector of newsworthy images. ”If he sees a news photo from Ukraine, he’ll contact the photographer and buy it and archive it.”
Incidentally, the Elton-John-World back catalogue can be accessed anytime. And it’s not gonna-be-a-long-long-time before EJW‘s next Archive of the Month is published!
