In case you were wondering, Elvis Presley is still dead and it hasn’t hurt his career a whit. He had another #1 pop single in Great Britain earlier this year, thanks to a remix commissioned for a Nike ad. And as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of his passing this week, there’s no lack of Kingly activity. When he perished on the pot at Graceland on August 16, 1977, Elvis was less than 24 hours away from a scheduled gig at the Cumberland County Civic Center (207-775-3458) in Portland, Maine. This Saturday, Florida-based Elvis impersonator Jack Smink returns to the CCCC during his one-date "Unfinished Business Tour" to perform the concert that never took place. Proceeds benefit Camp Sunshine for children with terminal cancer. Meanwhile, the Coolidge Corner Theatre (617-734-2500) in Brookline opens the Elvis-impersonator documentary Almost Elvis on death day — this Friday, August 16.

Back among the living: the immortal LL Cool J has bounced back from the lackluster Greatest of All Time with "Luv U Better"; the new, Neptunes-produced single from his forthcoming X (Def Jam), it serves as a reminder of why ladies love cool James. Tonight (Thursday, August 15), he’s at Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston before heading to Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on Friday; Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom (603-929-4100) in New Hampshire on Sunday; and Foxwoods Casino (800-200-2882) in Mashantucket, Connecticut, on Tuesday. Meanwhile, J-Live — an elementary schoolteacher and renowned MC who’s the Robert Pollard of indie hip-hop — leads a New-York-to-LA hip-hop underground tour with crate-digging pluralists the People Under the Stairs plus El Da Sensei. All three hit the Big Easy (866-468-7619) in Boston tonight; Higher Ground (802-654-8888) in Winooski, Vermont, on Saturday; and the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on Sunday.

If you didn’t get tickets to Friday night’s sold-out gig at the FleetCenter (617-931-2000) by Tool and Mike Patton’s power-sludge supergroup Fantomas, don’t despair: seats remain for their gigs on Saturday at the Dunkin’ Donuts Civic Center (401-331-6700) in Providence and on Sunday at the Verizon Wireless Center (603-644-5000) in Manchester. Meanwhile, Slayer bring Soulfly and In Flames to the Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester on Saturday.

You most likely know English second-wave punks the Anti-Nowhere League from Metallica’s version of their fabulously explicit gross-out novelty single "So What?", in which a man called Animal proclaims that he buggers goats and orally pleasures old men and then dares you to take issue. Animal and company are at the Met Café next Thursday, August 22, with Toxic Narcotic, Mung, and Tommy and the Terrors. Finnish punks Manifesto Jukebox are at Flywheel (413-527-9800) in Easthampton tonight and at the Berwick Research Institute (www.berwickinstitute.org) in Roxbury on Tuesday. And the LA synth-punk girl group Radio Vago hit Flywheel on Saturday with Ted Leo before advancing to the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on Monday for a gig with the Cancer Conspiracy.

Issue Date: August 15 - 22, 2002
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