I guess he was a little undersized for Elvis. Although he was around the same age as the King was when he was in his prime, I doubt he could match the cultural icon’s lifestyle. Elvis once said in an interview that he could tuck away eight deluxe cheeseburgers, two bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwiches, and three milkshakes—it’s little wonder he was called the King.
There was no denying it, though, this guy running his hands around the picture frame of Elvis in his US Army uniform wanted to be Elvis. People who want to be someone else are always puzzling. For starters, the crooner is dead, died back in August 1977. Many still dispute his demise, believing the King is still going strong and living in the backwoods of Memphis.
People wanting to be Elvis is not new, they’ve been around since the 1950’s. The first known Elvis impersonator was Carl ‘Cheesie’ Nelson, but Elvis’s favourite pretender was the comedian Andy Kaufman. And then there was the story that Elvis entered himself into a lookalike competition and came third. The story was reported in the tabloid Weekly World News right next to the headlines, Aliens Abduct Bigfoot.
As he gazed at pictures of the Memphis Flash, I imagined thought bubbles floating above his head flashing like LED door signs saying The Elvis Sighting Society is not a joke, or Elvis was seen in a Chuck E. Cheese.
“That was the ’68 Comeback Tour,” he said pointing to Elvis in a black leather jacket.
But it was the picture of Elvis in a white jump suite with a Mexican Sundial that captured his interest.
“The ’77 Tour,” and I caught a tone of sadness in his demeanour as he studied the corpulent face, sweating profusely, yet smiling.
“I’ll be back to get that one.”
Yeah, sure you will. Elvis hated the tag, Elvis the Pelvis, but the guy walked away with a swagger and a hip-thrust jerk, with thought bubbles floating above his head, saying, ‘Everybody in the whole cell block is dancing to the jailhouse rock’. Given that the King would be in his eighties if he were alive today and considering his diet of cheeseburgers, it would be safe to say Elive is has left the room.
Michael Jackson, on the other hand, is most definitely alive.
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