FTD "Sun" Project out in August 2012 :

 'A Boy From Tupelo - Complete 53-55 Recordings' the deluxe book + 3CD set has been announced for August release. For over five years “Follow That Dream” /Sony Elvis Committee president Ernst Jorgensen has been working on the Definitive Elvis At Sun Records & book, which is possibly the most ambitious project of his entire career. The Genesis of rock n roll has to be the combination of Elvis and the Memphis based Sun Records Company, and at last this outstanding labour of love is about to be published.
This will be no ordinary volume of facts and figures. It will be a massive superlative Elvis Presley production including the rarest of pictures, recording data, the real story behind Elvis’ time at Sun with unique Elvis artifacts, photographs, together with a companion of Elvis Sun recordings on THREE CDs which will excite your senses.
"A Boy From Tupelo - Complete 53-55 Recordings" includes for the first time in one collection every known Elvis Presley SUN master and outtake, plus two private records Elvis paid for with his own money, as well as thrilling radio and concert performances from the period. This 3 CD package features 10 previously-unreleased cuts.
The accompanying book is, in essence, a fully-illustrated travelogue. It thoughtfully details the birth of Elvis' career through

facts, anecdotes, documentation, many rare photos, and a succinct narrative. Independence Day 1954 is when this uniquely American saga begins, less than 24 hours before his first professional recording session, and it ends in December 1955, when the rights to Elvis' SUN tapes officially expire, and the singer leaves Sam Phillips to record for RCA. This is Elvis Presley before he becomes world-famous, and the mystery of how this amazing young man readies himself for stardom, achieving success on a level that no one could have dreamed possible.
All audio has been re-mastered and restored as best we could, but Disc 3 has pretty rough audio. The book is 512 pages in 12” by 12” format and includes more than 500 photos of which about 200 are previously unpublished. If you are not an expert in this period of Elvis’ career, a lot more photos will be new to you. Many familiar photos will be seen in best ever quality, but since this is a historical document, there will also be many images of less quality, included for their rarity value and support of the story. The book also includes, for the first time, Steve Sholes’ original notes on the Sun tapes.
The project will come in a slip case (like “Young man With The Big Beat”) that holds both the book and the CD holder (a double album type package).
The purchase price noted is EU:99 euro = US$126

ElvisInformationsNetwork

Coming in July 2012 – 'BOOTLEG ELVIS' new Book:

People get ready…
Don’t miss the most extensive ever book on Elvis vinyl bootlegs!
Don’t miss the adventurous history of Elvis bootlegs!
Don’t miss the never before told stories from various Elvis bootleggers!
And… don’t miss the Elvis bootlegs in close to 1,000 entries illustrated with more than 1,200 photos.
For your reading pleasure the bootleg entries are divided into the following chapters:
7 inch singles, 7 inch extended play albums, 10 inch albums and 78rpm singles,
12 inch albums and maxi singles, Interviews and session talks, Novelty and tribute bootlegged records, Far Eastern bootlegged records.
It’s all here in a massive 640-pages high-quality hardcover book!
It’s for you, the Elvis collector, the fan and the vinyl- and music lover!
It’s a labor of love by five diehard European Elvis collectors and scholars.
It’s possible because of the fantastic support from many fans all over the world.

Tupelo gambles with bigger Elvis Festival budget:

The Tupelo Association hopes higher quality of entertainment will draw in bigger crowds to the 2012 Elvis Festival set for May 31-June 3.
For the first time in the history of this festival, three of the past five National Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artists will perform at the Lyric Theatre. Featured artists include Bill Cherry, the 2009 Ultimate ETA, Brandon Bennett, D.J. Fontana, Sonny Burgess and the Pacers and the reigning 2011 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Cody Slaughter.
The Main Street board has approved a budget with proposed income of $167,418 and expenses of $247,622. Jim Goodwin, the immediate past president of the board, says the figure does not include money from Fairpark gate ticket sales or from beer sales.
He says last year walk-up ticket sales were about $60,000 and beer sales were around $15,000.
Goodwin says the talent budget rose from $40,000 to $80,000