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The bean counters at Elvis Presley Enterprises plan on wringing every drop of cash they can from The King’s name in this New Year. In addition to marketing on the way that we’ve mentioned like the Elvis Reese’s Cup (”Hey, you got peanut butter in my ‘nana!”), look for a limited line of Elvis Harley-Davidson motorcycles amid the over 200 Elvis-related items on the market.

The Presley people also plan to try their best to hip up Elvis’ name with the generation born after his death. Specifically, they’re set on flooding youth-magnet Web sites like My Space and You Tube with Elvis material.

Elvis’ name rang up $42 million for the company in 2006.

Meanwhile, I read where the Elvis stamp issued by the Postal Service remains the most popular ever. 124.1 million of the 1993 29-cent stamps have been saved by Americans (I am proud to say I am one of those … That is, an American and an Elvis stamp saver).

* More of ‘06: The Dixie Chicks’ “Taking the Long Way” reigned as the top Internet sales album of ‘06, according to Billboard. The Chicks also topped all comers in overall online sales. And you want to see a little diversity? Then dig … the rest of the top five artists selling the most product through the computer were: Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Andrea Bocelli and Barry Manilow.

Johnny’s “16 Biggest Hits” was the top country catalog seller in 2006. He had HALF of the top 10 catalog sellers. “16″ was also number one on the Top Pop Catalog chart for the year. Tim McGraw’s first “Greatest Hits” followed Johnny on both charts.

Alison Krauss and Union Station’s “Lonely Runs Both Ways” was the top Bluegrass seller of the year.

Whenever an Alison album is released, it usually hibernates on the charts; “Lonely” was originally released over two years ago.

George Strait fronts the best of ‘06 in country albums, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Sugarland, Keith Urban and Alan Jackson’s efforts follow. Their critic stands alone, though (I believe), in selecting that Van Halen bluegrass tribute album in the No. 10 slot.

Hank Williams III’s September show at the Rex Theatre was picked as the best ‘Burgh country show of the year.

Skimming the country critic’s choices around the nation, George’s album received mucho love on many lists. Also showing up often: Alan, Willie Nelson, The Dixie Chicks, Vince Gill and The Wreckers.

Kudos to regional faves Possum Holler. Their “Substantially Blue” disc was selected as one of the year’s 25 top independent albums by Indie Music magazine.

* Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing: Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman’s plan for a quiet Christmas in Australia took a nosedive with a flood of media reports.

There was the question of whether Keith was done with rehab (He’s not, according to the Associated Press).

Then an early December report from Life & Style magazine picked up traction at Yule time. It involved allegations that Keith was partying with a model in Nashville in early October while the wife was away making a movie.

That model, Amanda Wyatt, then tattled to The Mail newspaper in London, alleging that she and Keith were involved until a month before his wedding to Nicole last summer. She also claimed that Keith was using a number of illegal drugs at the time.

Urban’s spokeswoman called the Wyatt adventure a “fictitious tale.”

Meanwhile, Country Nation tells us, Nicole and Keith were so peppered Down Under by one member of the paparazzi that they had to sic the police on the camera-totter.

* Rerun for the Rose: Alan Jackson’s new single should have a familiar ring to it. “A Woman’s Love” was originally recorded on A.J.’s “High Mileage” disc.

When Alison Krauss was digging around for tunes as she produced Alan’s “Like Red on a Rose” disc, she came up with the idea of re-cutting it. Also ready with a new single: Eric Church. “Guys Like Me” is a few weeks away from release.

And it’s not a new single, just more hardware for the curio cabinet for Jimmy Buffett. His “Take the Weather with You” disc has just been certified Gold.

* So Long: Longtime Grand Ole Opry star Del Reeves died on New Year’s Day after a long illness. He was 74. In addition to performances sprinkled with humor and celebrity impersonations, he’s best remembered for the 1965 million-seller, “Girl on a Billboard.”

In the 1960s, he also hosted his own variety television program and appeared in a number of films.

He also was involved in the early promotion of Lee Greenwood and Billy Ray Cyrus’ careers.

* Rom(e)o: I read somewhere this week that Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells was getting on his quarterback Tony Romo for being overconfident. Well, coach, try stopping the lad now.

Reports are flying all over the field that Romo is dating Carrie Underwood. You’ll recall that Carrie entertained at the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving game and she was seen with the QB at the ‘Boys Christmas Day game against the Eagles.

Romo told the “Charleston, IL” Journal Gazette/Times Courier that the two are definitely an item. He might also want to tell the paper to shorten their name to save ink each day.

* Volunteer of the Year: Nashville’s Tennessean newspaper has selected Dolly Parton as Tennessean of the Year. The legend was lauded for her Imagination Library, which distributes free books to children.

* TV Land: Allow me to steer you to Sunday’s telecast (on NBC) of the Versus Invitational Professional Bull Riders event. That’s because Clay Walker will perform there and the Peacock will air the performance.

Later Sunday, NBC premieres its new reality-fest, “Grease: You’re the One that I Want.” Look for the film version’s fetching Sandy, Olivia Newton-John, to pop up to offer advice to Rydell High wannabes.

Just a heads up here: “Nashville Star” is back on the USA Network this Thursday. Jewel and Cowboy Troy are the hosts this go ’round, while returning judge Anatasia Brown will be joined on the panel by Alabama’s Randy Owen and Blake Shelton.

By the way, Blake’s new album, “Pure BS,” lands in late March.

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BLAIRSVILLE–Marge Patz doesn’t consider herself an Elvis Presley disciple.”I wouldn’t say I was a fanatic,” Patz humbly stated. “I just like Elvis.”

But saying that she simply likes the late”King of Rock ‘n Roll,” who would have turned 72 on Monday, is an understatement.

As the anniversary of the King’s birthday approaches, Patz likely will bake a cake to honor the legendary rocker. She’ll do so in the Blairsville homeshe shares with her husband, Tom, and an ever-growing array of Elvis memorabilia, ranging from figurines to trading cards.

Among the collection’s items are coffee mugs, drink stirrers, soap, stamps, salt and pepper shakers, a napkin holder, coins, collectible spoons, puzzles, even a bingo blotter bearing Elvis’ image.

“He’s everywhere,” Marge Patz acknowledged.

And he truly is. He sits at the front entrance in the form of a doorstop. Match books with his image sit in the curio cabinet among numerous figurines of the sideburned one.

Figurines also have a prominent place in the couple’s bedroom, sitting alongside three dolls decked out in Elvis’ most famous costumes.

A snow globe featuring the famed crooner, when shook, swirls about not snow, but musical notes.

“Your writing instrument has to be Elvis, too,” Marge Patz said, holding up a pen decorated with Elvis’s features.

Also among Patz’s collection is a Pepsi bottle celebrating the singer’s designation as Artist of the Century in 2000, at the turn of the millennium.

A Franklin Mint print, complete with a gold medallion marking its authenticity, has a spot of honor in the couple’s sitting room.

The family’s Christmas tree provides yet another opportunity for Marge to display her enthusiasm for all things Elvis.

Among her ornaments are a large blown glass likeness of the late singer and several miniature jukeboxes that play his tunes.

Two of Patz’s favorite belongings are a pair of picture discs–LP records with Elvis’ likeness on their front.

Patz especially likes an animatronic teddy bear dressed in the black leather outfit Elvis wore for his 1968 comeback TV special. When turned on, the stuffed figure comes to life, rocking its hips in true Elvis style while crooning the singer’s hit, “Your Teddy Bear.”

Elvis even has a presence in the Patz kitchen.

An Elvis-themed perpetual calendar given as a gift hangs on the wall, with interchangeable plates for each month. Magnets stuck on the refrigerator, notepaper sitting on the counter and a set of dish towels all bear Elvis’ likeness.

Patz’s most prized pieces hang in the laundry room. “This is where I spend most of my time,” she laughed, “so all of the good pictures are in here.”

The pictures include a black and white portrait that has become one of her favorites.

“Now if I could just teach him how to iron, I’d be set!” she joked.

In the couple’s computer room, a life-sized Elvis cutout stands in the corner. It was a gift from her sister, who placed the figure next to the guest book at Marge and Tom’s wedding.

Marge Patz’s aunt created a needlepoint wall hanging, another favorite because of the sentiment behind it.

One of Patz’s most unusual items is a whiskey decanter in the form of Elvis.

“Usually, if I see something I want, I just get it,” she said of how she acquired such a collection.

She knows her Elvis history, too. She has read a number of biographies of the singer.

“If it has Elvis’ name on it, whether it’s a book or a record, I probably have it,” she said.

She has even become a bit of an Elvis impersonator, in a way. She dresses as Elvis most every Halloween.

“I wore it to work the first year I bought it,” she said. “No one knew who I was. My boss didn’t even know me. But every time I left the department that day, he yelled, “Elvis has just left the department!’”

Lined up along the walls of the sitting and living rooms are Patz’s collection of over 60 plates bearing every combination of Elvis’s image–from young to old–a collection she began in the 1970s.

All but two of the plates are from the collectibles company The Bradford Exchange.

Patz explained the company usually sold plates in sets of four, six or eight.

“But after Elvis died, they went up to 16″ in a set, she said.

One pair of plates was purchased from that Elvis mecca, Graceland.

The Patzes have only made the journey to Elvis’s home once, in the early 1990s.

They were on their way to Blairsville from Boston for a family reunion, and decided to take the long way–through Memphis, Tenn.

They spent a few days there, exploring Elvis’ hometown.

“It was amazing,” Marge Patz said. “All of the hotels play Elvis songs in the elevators.”

The wall that surrounds Graceland has become almost as well-known as the grounds themselves.

“People write their names on the wall,” Patz explained. “I wasn’t going to write our names, but the security guard at the gate came up to us with a pen and said ‘Here, use this, it will stay on better.’ I said, ‘You mean you don’t mind?’ He said, ‘Look, we couldn’t stop these people if we tried.’ He said there is somebody always at his grave site,” where an eternal flame is lit.

“When we were in Memphis, I had to stop by the wall every night so she could say good night,” Tom Patz said.

The couple had the opportunity to visit the grave of Elvis, which was moved to the Graceland grounds after an attempted theft of the body.

Marge Patz never had an opportunity to see her favorite singer perform in person, although she did have tickets to see him once in Connecticut, in September 1977.

“The one and only time I got tickets to see him, he died,” Patz said. “My brother-in-law was taking me. And he kept the tickets.”

Patz, who grew up in Boston, has been a fan of Elvis Presley for as long as she can remember.

One of her very first memories, she said, was of an amusement ride at a park as a toddler.

“I refused to go on the merry-go-round unless they played an Elvis song,” she recalled. “‘Hound Dog’ came on and I went on. Even when I was in grammar school, my books were wrapped with Elvis. So I always liked him.”

Though she has been a fan of Elvis since she was a young girl, Patz can’t quite put a finger on what it is about the icon that she admires so much.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “He was always so polite. And I definitely like the music. I don’t think there is anything he did that I don’t have.”

She’s particularly partial to his tune, “Loving You.” One of her favorite songs, though, is one that is little known to the general public, “Edge of Reality.”

“No one’s ever heard of it, hardly,” she said, noting it was the song on the flip side of the 45 rpm single “If I Can Dream.”

“I had a very hard time getting it,” she added.

Though she’s a big fan of his music, there is one thing about Elvis that doesn’t appeal to Patz.

“What I don’t like are his movies,” she acknowledged, but she does prefer “Love Me Tender” above all of his other big screen appearances.

Patz is more partial to the “young Elvis” as opposed to the image of him in his older–and heavier–years.

When the United States Postal Service offered fans the chance to vote on which image of Elvis would be placed on a commemorative stamp, Patz put in her vote for the younger portrait.

Several of Patz’s articles have been given to her by friends or family members who know of her love for the iconic singer. Her artistic niece has even made her a number of ceramic busts and wall hangings, one of which is displayed in her living room.

A friend stitched an Elvis tablecloth for her, with records scattered over the white background.

Patz also has compiled a thick album filled to the brim with 660 Elvis collector’s cards released by The River Group. “It took forever to collect them all,” Patz said, explaining that they were released in packs, similar to baseball cards.

The cards are broken down into classifications of Elvis’ life: the Early Days, Movies, Television Shows, Graceland, Las Vegas, Personal Life.

Like many Elvis fans, Patz remembers exactly where she was on Aug. 16, 1977, the day Elvis Presley died of a suspected drug overdose, at the age of 42.

Patz was at work when his death hit the national media.

“My boss called me into his office to tell me,” she said. “He actually asked me if I wanted to go home.”

She was admittedly upset by the news, but she wasn’t distraught. Regardless, her family and friends expressed their concern in the form of phone calls.

“I must have gotten 44 phone calls that day, asking ‘Did you hear?’ and ‘Are you OK?’” she said. “One of my cousins came down to my house to make sure I was OK.”

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