The 21-year old Midtown mom killed it on American Idol tonight with her version of Aretha Franklin’s “Never Loved A Man.”

Even Simon Cowell was impressed, comparing Grace to Kelly Clarkson and calling her
a potential “dark horse in this competition.”

CA arts critic Christopher Blank caught up with the singer for an interview that appeared in today’s newspaper.

Said Grace, “My dad is a Memphis musician. I’ve been around soul and blues all my life. There’s always been musicians coming and going in my house. Ann Peebles is a big influence of mine. You know, and Stax records from back in the ’60s. I love that era. As far as my style, I’d say it is soul and a little bit of country in there too. A little twang.”

Go here for the rest of the interview.

Meanwhile, the Memphis Music Foundation is mounting a “Vote for Memphis Music” campaign to support Grace and Lil Rounds, another local American Idol finalist who is slated to appear on live TV later this week.

The Fox TV program is shining a light on Memphis in other ways: 28-year old Jackie Tohn opened tonight’s broadcast with her version of Elvis’ “A Little Less Conversation”, while 22-year old Nashville resident Ann Marie Boskovich weighed in with a take on Aretha’s “Natural Woman.”

The fabulously soulful Cee-lo Green, best known for fronting Gnarls Barkley, his collaboration with Danger Mouse, covers Elvis Presley’s “Stranger in the Crowd” (off the 1970 album That’s the Way It Is) for this brand-new Coca-Cola commercial, which is slated to debut during the Super Bowl. Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, you can watch — and listen — here first!

Tonight: Kick off the weekend with a free performance from Good Luck Dark Star at Shangri-la Records at 6 p.m. Afterwards, have dinner with Bobby Rush at the Center for Southern Folklore. Later, head to the Hi-Tone Cafe for some fabulous local power pop, served up by the Everyday Parade and Van Duren. Also: Free Sol and Haymaker Project are at Quetzal, Will Graves is at Cafe Soul, and Shortwave Dahlia is at the Full Moon Club.

Saturday:Get up early and take the kids to the “Peanut Butter and Jam Session” at GPAC, with Wild Willy and the Memphis Jam Band. Shows are at 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. My pick of the night is a triple bill — J.D. Reager and the Cold-Blooded Three, plus Billy Worley and the Candy Company and Dragoon — at Nocturnal. There’s also Pavement Band and Tyler Keith at the Hi-Tone; the Elvis Birthday Pops Concert at the Cannon Center; the Grascals at the Lucy Opry at BPACC (go here for Mark Jordan’s profile in this week’s CA); Facedive, Painbreak, Dark Embrace, and more at the New Daisy; a Mozart concert at St. Benedict; a performance of the Eroica Ensemble at First Congregational Church in Midtown; Reba Russell at Neil’s; a MAMA concert with Dan Montgomery at Otherlands; and Duke Hex and the Firm Foundation Riddim Squad at the P+H Cafe.

Sunday:Chris Chew’s last free Sunday afternoon show starts at the Hi-Tone at 4 p.m., and later, blues guitarist Scott Holt plays at the East Memphis Huey’s.

If it weren’t so serious, this would be like the plot of Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe…

In late December, a few weeks after guitarist Corey Osborne was killed in a 1-car crash, DJ Squeeky was injured in a car wreck.

On New Year’s Day, singer Ruby Wilson suffered a mild stroke.

And on Tuesday, Elvis co-hort — and former “Talent Party” host — George Klein got banged up when his car hydroplaned on this way to Tunica.

Be careful out there, folks. The world can be a dangerous place.

Today, the King turns 74.

AllMemphisMusic.com celebrates by playing only Elvis, all Elvis, all day long.

The CA has been running Presley-related stories by Michael Lollar all week:

An interview with Charles and Ruth Cobb, who lived at Graceland before Elvis purchased it in 1957.

This piece on CKX Inc., the parent company of Elvis Presley Enterprises.

A story about Priscilla Presley’s efforts to rescue horses and bring them to Graceland.

This piece about former Elvis girlfriend Elisabeth Stefaniak Mansfield, who’s visiting Graceland this week.

And here’s a rundown of Elvis events scheduled for today and tomorrow:

Right now, they’re holding the Elvis Presley Day Ceremony on the front steps of Graceland. Priscilla Presley hosts as Graceland cuts an Elvis birthday cake and government officials take part in an Elvis Presley Day proclamation. Free admission. Cake and coffee will be served.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, Elvis tribute artist Terry Mike Jeffrey performs in Graceland Plaza. Free admission.

From 8 p.m. ’til midnight, visit Club Elvis at Graceland in the Elvis Presley Car Museum. Party and dance as a disc jockey plays Elvis records. Cash bar. Admission $20.

Tomorrow, from 5-8 p.m., take the Official Elvis Insiders Reception and Graceland Tour. Progressive tour of Graceland Plaza attractions, including the Elvis planes, and tour of Graceland with guests including Elvis Army buddy Rex Mansfield and his wife, Elisabeth, a former girlfriend and secretary to Elvis. Guests also include The Memphis Boys, the rhythm section during sessions at American Sound Studios. Adult admission is $44, children 7-12 $22, under 7 admitted free. For reservations or information call (800) 238-2000 or 332-3322.

On Saturday, the annual Elvis Birthday Pops Concert goes down at the Cannon Center. Read Jon Sparks‘ story for more.

Elvis made his last appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Hound Dog,” “Love Me Tender,” “Too Much,” and “Heartbreak Hotel”.

Samuel Cornelius Phillips was born in Florence, Alabama on Jan. 5, 1923. On January 3, 1950, Phillips opened the “Memphis Recording Service” at 706 Union Avenue. The rest is history…

I say yes — and ac- cording to this article by CA report- er Michael Lollar, so does Liz Scott, a resident of Florence, AL, Phillips’ hometown.

Reports Lollar: Scott wrote a petition that has more than 10,000 names on it, which she will present to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee of the U.S. Postal Service, which sorts through more than 50,000 requests a year for commemorative stamps honoring people and events in U.S. history. The committee recommends only about 25 subjects a year to the U.S. Postmaster General, according to its Web site.

In recent years, Sun Records artists Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Elvis Presley have all been honored with official USPS stamps.

Lollar reports that even U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis) is also behind the push for a Phillips stamp:

“I am a Sam Phillips guy,” says Cohen, who included Phillips as a music legend honored by Tennessee at rest stops along Interstate 40. He also led an unsuccessful effort to rename a portion of Marshall Avenue in Downtown Memphis as “Sam Phillips Place.”

Cohen wrote this week to Postmaster General John E. Potter, formally asking for a Phillips stamp and citing Phillips’ pivotal role in the careers of Elvis, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, Rufus Thomas, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Go here to cast your vote on a Sam Phillips stamp.

Mark your calendars for April 29th and 30th, when the Ponderosa Stomp hits New Orleans’ House of Blues.

The roster of performers for next year represent a wide swath of Memphis music: Sun rockabilly stars Carl Mann, Alton Lott, Jack Earls, and Johnny Powers; Elvis sideman James Burton; American Studio songwriters Dan Penn and Bobby Emmons; the Hi Rhythm Section; and the Bo-Keys are all slated to perform.

Also: Wanda Jackson, Roddy Jackson, Dale Hawkins, Howard Tate, Otis Clay, The Remains, Question Mark And The Mysterians, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Bobby Patterson, Wiley And The Checkmates, Lil Buck Senegal And The Top Cats Featuring Stanley “Buckwheat Zydeco” Dural, Dennis Coffey, Robert Parker, Jivin Gene, Ray Sharpe, Long John Hunter, Texas Johnny Brown, Little Joe Washington, James Blood Ulmer Trio, L.C. Ulmer, Little Willie Littlefield, Lil Greenwood, Jerry McCain, Kenny And The Kasuals, Classie Ballou, Deke Dickerson And The Eccofonics, Roy Loney And Cyril Jordan Of The Flamin Groovies Backed By The A-Bones, and, of course, the man behind the song “Ponderosa Stomp, Excello blues genius Lazy Lester.

Tickets go on sale next month. Go here for details.

Meanwhile, the line-up for JazzFest, which bookends the Stomp, has also been announced. Memphis-born Aretha Franklin and Booker T. Jones (performing with the Drive-By Truckers!) are slated to perform. Go here for the full list.

In the latest re-write of Pygmalion, the former Alice Elizabeth Tiffin is taking her cue from Elvis Presley, not Henry Huggins. The Washington State resident changed her name to Eliza Presley this summer; a few months later, she said that she’s the daughter of Vernon Presley (seen with Gladys and Elvis above) — and therefore the King’s half-sister. In a court claim filed in October, she claims that DNA from a still-living Elvis Presley showed her to be a relative.

Yesterday, CA reporter Lawrence Buser wrote that Presley “voluntarily dropped her effort in Probate Court to be named as an heir to the father’s estate.”

From the article: “The issues are still alive and well,” said attorney Kathleen Caldwell, adding that Monday’s dismissal was a procedural move. “It’s not over by a long shot.”

Her mother, former Memphian Florence Sharp Clark of Oregon, said she was part of the Elvis social circle for a period, but that she had no child by Vernon and that the father is another Memphis man.

Clark also has suggested that her daughter has undergone plastic surgery in an effort to bolster her claim of kinship.

Eliza Presley insisted Monday that she can support her claim and said her mother is not to be believed.

“I would love to have these thousands of dollars I’ve allegedly spent,” she said. “I have never had plastic surgery of any kind.”

Attorney William Bradley Jr., who represents Elvis Presley Enterprises and Lisa Marie Presley Lockwood, said her case has no merit and that over the years there have been a dozen or more people claiming kinship to Elvis, including several Elvis Jrs.