Post #6147 by johntiki on Fri, Aug 16, 2002 5:19 PM

I really got into Elvis when I was about 18 years old. My parents were never into Elvis so I never heard it around the house. My parents were from the era but were into Doo – Wop and Motown. But anyway, I first started getting into Elvis not for the music but for the whole fiasco surrounding him. One summer our local mall had the Jimmy Velvet Travelling Museum come pay a visit. I wandered around looking at all the Elvis canceled checks, rings, sunglasses, they even had a couple Caddy’s but what really caught my attention were the people. The people wearing the t-shirts, buying all the junk that was for sale, posing for pictures with the Cadillacs in front of the Dollar Store, the real Elvis fans. Later that evening, they had Mike El, a local Elvis impersonator performing and armed with our video camera we were there front and center. Mike had a full back-up band and when they broke into 2001/C.C. Rider the crowd erupted like E himself had emerged on stage in the Food Court of the Harford Mall. We watched a bit of the show but found the camera lingered longer on the audience than on the stage. Women were crying when Mike El sang “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You” – not just tearing up but sobbing uncontrollably. My friends and I were in awe. We spent a good three years checking the local papers for Mike El appearances and we went to every one! We saw him at the mall 2 other times, at a car show and probably the best appearance was on a flatbed truck in a K-Mart parking lot. We bought the t-shirts, envied the women who got autographed scarves from Mike while on stage, bought the 45 single he recorded in Nashville, got his autograph on every newspaper ad and even got a glossy 8X10 autographed. But, it didn’t stop there. We wrote a little write-up for a movie we wanted to make (on video) and started combing the thrift stores for jumpsuits that we could transform into a Mike El costume. Our movie got made shooting different scenes whenever we got a chance – improvising dialogue – making it up as we went along. The story was about 2 Elvis impersonators – our hero Mike El, the genuine nice guy and his competitor Little Elvis – the evil corrupt impersonator. But when I was editing the video, listening to tapes of Elvis music for a couple music montages I realized that it wasn’t too bad. I actually started listening to the tapes in my car and I still do. It was kind of weird that I got into the real thing via the imitation. I think in honor of Elvis this weekend I’ll listen to his music and throw in the Mike El VHS tape – it makes for some real entertaining viewing.

:drink: