"When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer.
I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book.
I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie.
So every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times...
I learned very early in life that 'Without a song the day would never end;
without a song a man ain't got a friend;
without a song the road would never bend - Without a song.'
So I keep singing a song."
— Elvis Presley, January 16, 1971
Singing the song
Shane Paterson, trained as a tropical marine biologist, has been preparing even longer for his role as an Elvis Presley impersonator (aka 'illusionist,' 'tribute artist,' and various other euphemisms). After moving to Las Vegas, Shane found himself in the right place at the right time to don jumpsuits in the course of a day's work. He has since taken thousands of photographs with tourists to the Neon City, performed live in Nevada and elsewhere, and kept busy with promotional jobs, weddings, and corporate and convention events.
Elvis was unmatched and unmatchable, a musical and cultural phenomenon that could only happen once, but Shane finds great reward in trying to give a sense of the man: "I'm a serious fan and collector first, Elvis impersonator second, and accuracy and authenticity are extremely important to me. I don't want to be one of those caricatures who apparently never heard the man sing or speak, who sounds like an inebriated extra from Deliverance."
As Elvis often said with a nod and a wink, it's a tough way to make a living, baby.
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FIND OUT WHAT'S HAPPENING...
July 30, 2010
Survived both contests here in Las Vegas. Haven't slept, and I'm run into the ground, but it was an invaluable experience.
My own experience and observations suggest the contest's not really the main point for most who competed, because these people are really -- for the most part, anyway -- an extended brotherhood linked with a good dose of camaraderie and I think most of them actively look out for the best interests of the others. I made some friends.
That was of tremendous value because it's really easy to get isolated in a place like Las Vegas, and that goes double when you've got people and entities who are actively blocking your attempts to get something done, as is too often true here. Also, though there're some great Elvis performers here in Vegas and there's a definite band of Good Guys in the Elvis subculture in this town (a subject that'd actually make a really cool PhD dissertation for someone), a lot of the men doing this kind of work are marked by being both free of observable talent and by being horrible, nasty little men who seem to think they're actually Elvis but who get it wrong from the outset because Elvis Presley was not an arrogant putz. So, yeah, taking part in both of these contests was a real revelation and extremely refreshing, because after years of running across the paths of those nasty Vegas anti-Elvis types I was getting pretty jaded and decided that most Elvis impersonators really, really suck; to encounter such genuinely nice and caring people (some from right here in Vegas, who I'd never met before) who also happen to, for the most part, be very good at what they do was really a great thing. I've never been networked in with this thing, really, and it's a real pleasure to share connections now with so many really good people, most of whom feel like me in that they really do want to pay tribute to the music they love and a good number of them also know a LOT about the man and his music and have the same less-than-official video and audio recordings I have, with similar level of obsession over getting as many performance-related details right as is possible. Very cool.
Backstage in Fremont Street on the second night of the event with James Kruk (L) and Lloyd Douglas (R), both from California. Picture 'liberated' from Lloyd's Facebook pages...
The one thing I quickly learned NOT to pay much attention to was the judging. Even very experienced performers (including those who advance to the final stages, reducing the likelihood of almost inevitable 'sour grapes' playing a part) said that the scores were usually worthless and impossible to figure out, and it's obvious that the actual contest itself is largely incidental, in the big picture, for most of these guys. I know, for myself, that I was hoping to glean some insight from the judges' scores that might help me but, really, when the scores are peppered shotgun-style all across the spectrum, often varying wildly among judges and sometimes even within a single judge, there's nothing to learn -- not from the scores, anyway, 'cos the rest of it's a very beneficial learning experience.
And with regard to that Heart of the King event, of course...well, I performed on Elvis' stage. THAT is quite something and even if it's hard for me to figure how a New Zealand-born marine biologist ended up singing Elvis' songs in HIS showroom, it's something that'll always be with me. Both events -- the Heart of the King and the Ultimate Elvis preliminary on Fremont Street, were successes and they're going to be repeated next year. Guess I'll be there!
Standing on a small portion of the original 1969 stage that's been preserved backstage at the Las Vegas Hilton (then the International).
I was also finally persuaded to get myself a Facebook presence and so I'll move this recently added 'news-update'y section to Facebook, which is a lot more amenable to quick additions and the like.
By the way, I have just decided that I have to cancel my intended visit to Memphis this year -- to the Images of the King event -- largely because I'm exhausted, I'm in need of restocking my fiscal coffers and, basically, I don't even think I could make it all the way there in time for the contest given some other things going on here. Next year, I hope! It'd be a valuable experience, I'm sure.
More news on its way, over on my Facebook pages:
July 6, 2010
From out of the proverbial blue yonder, I decided it'd be a good idea to enter a contest (an Elvis-oriented performance contest, I mean). I've never really been attracted too much to the idea before, and never before done anything like it in this sphere of endeavour (other than competitive auditions), but now that I've got a good hold on the idea I'm finding myself merrily registering for more of these events.
The first of my outings will be at the 'Heart of the King' event held at the Las Vegas Hilton starting on July 14. Even if I were still not too taken with the idea of competing, it'd be hard to turn down this one because its venue is the Hilton's main showroom, the same room Elvis played starting with his return to the stage in July, 1969 and ending with his final of many Vegas shows on December 12, 1976. Oh, yeah, baby. There's a lot more going on during this event, too, that should be quite a thing to behold. Worth a try. Any positive thoughts you have spare would be greatly appreciated!
More about this event here:
Hard on the heels of the announcement of the Heart of the King festival the Elvis Presley Estate (in cooperation with Legends In Concert) announced an Elvis-tribute/impersonation performance contest to be held on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas on July 23 and 24. A dude's gotta do what a dude's gotta do, so of course I signed up for this one. This contest is one of a few preliminaries to the big Ultimate Elvis contest (held in Memphis in August) the Estate's been hosting for a few years now. Shawn Klush, who's performing a concert as part of the unaffiliated Heart of the King event, won the first Ultimate Elvis contest in 2007.
More here:
As of right now I have little idea of the format for either of these events, or much of anything else but, again, any positive vibes that you might have loose can only help me out here as I determine whether I was inspired or insane for signing up for these contests. Actually, I was originally thinking about traveling to the far side of the country to try my hand at one of two contests held in late summer in the Land of Dixie when the contests here in Vegas came to light, handily saving me significant money and time.
But that's not all...I also signed up for the Images of the King contest, held in Memphis this coming August. This one's been around for quite a few years and is the contest that's the ultimate subject of the documentary Almost Elvis. No news yet, but I'll update here when and if this one's a go:
I should probably place a self-imposed moratorium on my signing up for any further contests for a while; I don't even know if I like them.
Please click here if you want to read some of my (in need of updating!) Web pages that focus on the real Elvis...
All contents copyright Shane E. Paterson, © 2005-2010
