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Something happens when we hear Elvis music; it's familiar and gets deep inside your soul, especially when a hunk of a guy with black hair and an open shirt sings it looking straight at you. It brings back eighth grade and slow dances and sock hops and that first kiss. Suddenly waves of pure emotion wash away everything else and it's just you and Elvis once again. The guy with the black hair and sideburns isn't really Elvis, sock hops are the memory of a former generation, and actually its been over 25 years since Elvis died. It would have been his 70th birthday in 2005, and now it is over 50 years since the birth of rock and roll. But to fans, Elvis is alive in their hearts. Listening to his music is more than rekindling a memory, it is more like a burning secret love that relieves some of the everyday boredom and reality of contemporary life filled with franchises, cell phones, and taxes.
Going to an event of Elvis music performed by a good Elvis Impersonator (or illusionist) is to participate in a sacred love fest. True Elvis Impersonators bear the message of love. This is not the sappy , cute love of a greeting card. Nor is it the recipe of "love your neighbor" preached in traditional churches but washes away at the end of every Sunday. This is Elvis kind of love; the kind that fuses sex and religion and longing and passion and fun. Elvis mostly sang of love. Whether ballads, gospel tunes, or fast rock and roll, the songs are filled with emotional, gutsy passion and longing for love, women, and peace. A good Elvis performer strives to reach that emotional tone and rekindle the fire that Elvis originally lit. It is a hard road to go down, and many of them fall very short of imbuing their act with passion and love. No matter how far short they fall or how terrific their acts are, and after attending Elvis events in every imaginable kind of place from Church basements to huge concert halls, and seeing hundreds of guys from all over the world try their damnedest to put on a great Elvis show, it really gets under your skin.
Elvis Impersonators are not just people who maybe look or sound like Elvis. In fact, Elvis Impersonators come in every size, shape, age, color, nationality and sex with varying resemblance to the King. The resemblance in looks or voice is only part of performing as Elvis. What starts as a fascination with his music often develops into a career based on love, hard work, and substantial investment of time and money.
For the most part, Elvis Impersonators are people who live out their fantasy on stage while paying tribute to their hero, the King of Rock and Roll. Generally, they identify with Elvis very personally. Many Impersonators identify with the mythical Elvis; the one that symbolizes their own dream of fame and significance, the guy with the glittering suits that gave away Cadillacs. Some feel a spiritual connection to Elvis, or find "coincidences" between their lives and Elvis', such as shoe size or aspects of their astrological charts. Many do not relate to the early Elvis, who was shy as a child and couldn't stop shaking his leg when he sang. That Elvis is too real to imitate, and perhaps represents aspects of their own fears and insecurities; the very vulnerability that made Elvis so attractive in the first place, or they are of an age where emulating the ³young² Elvis is inappropriate for their body and voice. For the most part, the Impersonators simulate the older Elvis, as the protected showman who exudes power and undeniable stage presence. There is no question they feel his power and energy in themselves when they start singing.
Every Impersonator has his own personal reason to emulate Elvis. All of them seem to be intrinsically, emotionally , or spiritually connected to Elvis inside themselves. All want to pay tribute to "the King." For some performers, they just want to be like their hero. For others, it might be a last-ditch effort at sex appeal with the opportunity of women overtly adoring them. Some have small-town dreams with nowhere else to go. A few take the illusion so far that they become Elvis in their waking and dreaming lives emulating his life style as well as his stage antics. For instance, some performers have an entourage of buddies, bodyguards, back-up singers and helpers who accompany them on tour, adding to the illusion. Many professional Impersonators have their own fan clubs; they might travel world-wide with their shows, some playing with musicians who accompanied Elvis such as Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana or the Stamps. These are performers who train their voices, take karate lessons, do music full time, and want to break into the larger music industry. There are a few Impersonators who become completely obsessed with ³Everything Elvis.² For instance, I know of at least one person who has had plastic surgery to alter his face to look more like Elvis. When it becomes not enough to wear long black hair with sideburns, dress in his style and know as much as possible about Elvis, other options are taken up. I have seen many stories about wives who look like Priscilla, who also wear their hair in a black bouffant style etc. Some guys have legally changed their name to Elvis. Many drive Cadillacs or other old style cars which have Elvis flashiness to them. Most have a closet full of Elvis type clothes, which they wear not just for stage performances, but also in their normal activities.
But for most part, in spite of their rich inner life with Elvis, Elvis Impersonators lead fairly normal outer lives; they have wives, kids, other jobs, and perform as Elvis part-time for charity. They are from every part of society and age group. There is even a student at Old Miss who performs seriously as Elvis, cleverly with wit and humor. These are not crazy people. These are people just like those of us who find excitement in the adulation of Elvis, but instead of dancing and dreaming on the sideline, the Impersonators cross an imaginary line when they step up on to the stage, and become him. They sing about our dreams and fantasies. They become the dream itself. They fuse memory with the present.
The one thing that happens to almost all Impersonators, no matter how amateur or professional , is a transformation of personality when the suit goes on and the music starts. Elvis the icon becomes real in them. They become a larger, powerful personality with fame, good looks and sex appeal. They can reach into deeper parts of themselves as Elvis. They can feel generous and loving. They have fun. They can command attention not available otherwise. They can do things they could never otherwise do. They may experience the very thing that happened Elvis himself when he performed. They are free when they become Elvis.
To become Elvis is also to escape. Elvis helps the world go away for fans in general, but to put on a suit, make-up and a hairstyle that is his, also allows one's real self to go away for a while. Like a secret love affair that exists outside the bounds of everyday life, becoming Elvis is to secretly love oneself in a different image. To escape oneself for awhile can be invigorating. Even people who have strong self images have the urge to step outside themselves awhile. The image of Elvis provides an identity of strength, virility, and fun. As in the song, "Make the World Go Away," which Elvis sang so profoundly, the Impersonator can lose himself totally in the experience. Becoming Elvis means a temporary escape from the restrictions and dullness of normal life into an emotional state otherwise generally unavailable to him. He can lose his outer shell self in order to do and feel more intensely from the heart. Or conversely, as Greil Marcus notes more somberly in his book Dead Elvis, the Elvis performer can allow himself to fall to the depths of bad behavior. He embodies "...the scope of the liberation Elvis himself was unable to permit himself to portray. As a fake, the Elvis imitator can do anything: walk on stage drunk, fall over, talk dirty, fondle women in the audience, throw up. Everyone knows it isn't really happening, and so the dispensation, one's distance from one's own desires, is sealed."
The obsession with Elvis for the fans and the performers has an emotional, religious tone with a sacred need to preserve his name and image. Elvis was entirely emotional himself, and the fans in their devotion to him, link their emotions with his image. In some ways, Elvis embodies the ability to show feelings. As Elvis gave himself to the fans completely on stage, the fans' response to him was (and is) an openly emotional experience; they went wild for him and want to transfer it to the Impersonator. They want the memory of Elvis to live through this image on stage. The less he resemble s the real thing, the more they yearn.
Love for Elvis and all that he represents needs protection from misunderstanding and mockery (from outside or inside the Elvis world.) Because of this, some fans won't tolerate Impersonators at all. No one can live up to the experience of Elvis. No one can fully provide that emotional summit. No one can give the way Elvis did. The performers can only put their own hearts into it, knowing full well that it is only an imitation in tribute to the hero, unfortunately sometimes their performances are unsatisfactory cheap imitations made more of plastic than marble. The professional Impersonators especially understand the difference between themselves and Elvis. They realize how immense the task is to imitate his powerful performance. They see the dodgy area between cultism and entertainment. They see that Elvis fans are mostly sweet, lower middle class people who hunger for a hero. They see that Impersonation may be a questionable activity. Mostly they are leery of Elvis mockery and feel the need to "tastefully" represent Elvis. Many performers introduce their show with a qualification by saying something similar to: "We are all here to remember Elvis, not make fun of or try to be Elvis." Some performers refuse to be called Impersonators at all. Most prefer " Elvis Performer or Illusionist" and their shows are billed as "Tributes." Perhaps the word impersonator is confused with the idea of impostor. Having been referred to as an Elvis Impersonator, an English performer states in his show pamphlet, "....I pay tribute to Elvis, not impersonate him. .....if you put all the Elvis impersonators together in one show, they would in total be unable to match the magic and accomplishment of Elvis himself."
Most serious performers will not participate in events which they deem do not respect Elvis properly. For instance, the BBC was in Memphis last year making a documentary on Elvis food, for which they interviewed his cook and various other people. Much has been written and several cook books have been published with Elvis' favorite food including the famous grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich. However, in this television documentary, the ending was to include a "last supper " with 12 Impersonators at a table eating hamburgers, which is typical of tongue-in-cheek British humor. However, this did not go over very well with several performers. They refused to have anything to do with it as they felt it would be a disrespectful representation of Elvis. The performers who are serious Elvis fans tend to be critical of others who may be using Elvis in a superficial or humorous way.
This respect and love for Elvis seems to be something that grows with time and the more one listens to or performs his music. To be an ultimate fan is to experience Elvis in the most ultimate way; to become him at least temporarily, on stage. If "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," this may be an instance where imitation is the sincerest form of love. As the performers become serious about their shows through research and practice, they generally gain more insight, respect and awe of the man they are imitating. They literally "walk a mile in his shoes." One Impersonator said that he really didn't care much about Elvis, but then without hesitation, proceeded to say that Elvis was probably the greatest entertainer that ever lived. He had all of his music, books, and videos. He studied Elvis so that he could understand his power. He performed as Elvis because it was a positive experience and counteracted the negative side of his life. For someone who claimed not to be a "true fan," he seems to be intensely involved and motivated by Elvis. On the other hand, an imitator in England is so devoted in his devotion to Elvis, that he spent his life savings on renting the London Palladium for one night to perform an Elvis tribute evening.
As the Elvis experience penetrates deeper into the performers' experiences,
the act of impersonation becomes more authentically personal. For many, what
may start out as a superficial imitation of a stereotype, becomes a way of life.
This might not be called an official religion, but it is a very real and a very
religious experience. As a long time performer once said to me, "Being
and Elvis Impersonator is not something you start out to do. It finds you."(Rick
Marino) So, it is more of a calling from within that has been stirred by experiencing
Elvis.
Mirror mirror on the wall, whose the best Elvis of them all?
All of the Impersonators are a living manifestation of this huge cultural obsession with Elvis that has grown immensely and unexpectedly since his death in 1977. Performance competitions and tributes are held all over the world, with probably the most well-known and largest held annually in Memphis during the week of August 16, the day of Elvis' death, and to a lesser extent, in early January around his birthday. During these weeks, Memphis becomes a Mecca of sideburns and glittery tee shirts. Aside from the general variety of Elvis look-a-likes that wander Memphis then, there is the official Impersonator competition formerly held annually by Doc Franklin, a vet who cared for Elvis' animals. The competition is the last stop on a seemingly endless tour of Elvis events for the fans. This competition often launches careers in Elvis performing, and no one wins it twice. By participating in the event, the competitors cross over an imaginary line in their Elvisness. To get up on that stage, it is no longer good enough to just look or sound like Elvis. Their ability to entertain a crowd, romantically woo the women and wow the children, move their bodies with a wild sense of abandon, and emulate Elvis' voice and style while weaving the illusion into their own persona are all at stake. The crowd generally accepts the slightest resemblance to Elvis, if the competitor can get the room jumping. In fact, often the performers who have little actual resemblance to Elvis are the most popular. The Impersonator fans respond more to the energy of a performance and a great voice. It also helps if the performer directly engages with the audience and if he has sex appeal.
Although it is a performance competition, it is also like a club. Most of the Impersonators know each other. Sometimes they lend each other costumes, drink together, exchange stories, and always watch each other fiercely during the performances. Doc goes into gear, controls the crowd, gets nervous, makes money and generally enjoys the scene he has created. Impersonators and their fans flock from around the world to take part in this launching pad for Elvis talent. Impersonators have come to Memphis to compete from Israel, Australia, Canada, Austria, Switzerland and many other places around the world. They are generally accompanied by a family member or some support group. One summer, a Japanese Impersonator won the competition in front of a busload of his fan club who accompanied him to the USA for this event. Although die-hard Elvis fans are not necessarily Impersonator fans, and the competition is not on the "official" activities list sanctioned by Graceland, it is the one official competition that is recognized by Elvis performers everywhere. It is the contest to win, in order to be taken seriously in an Elvis career. Participating in the competition is often an important part of a personal Elvis dream; to go to Memphis, perform Elvis songs in front of his fans, and to become part of the scene. Whether they win the competition or not, the experience seems to give them a private boost which lasts forever in their hearts, no matter where it leads.
There are many reasons for this phenomenon and obsession with imitating Elvis. All famous rock or movie stars bring out feelings of admiration and idolization in everyone. Growing up with movies and music, who cannot remember imitating a star by copying their hair style? Or imitating the moves of a great dancer? Whose imaginary self image was not influenced by favorite stars in movies or advertising? Values, attitudes and style are formed by sources other than parents or school. Elvis himself was a unique combination of black and white racial and cultural influences. His image was gleaned from various sources such as Captain Marvel, Tony Curtis and Marlon Brando, and his singing was a combination of spiritual and rebellious sounds.
Imitating Elvis may be a zeitgeist of contemporary existence. We live in a time of confusion about religious and cultural values. Some people solve this by becoming very rigid or conservative in their belief systems, and gravitate to structured religions or lifestyles. Some elevate a hobby to a way of life. Others are confused or lost. Some surf the net for relationships or the meaning of life. Some people however, substitute a pop idol as someone to believe in, and follow him or her as if they were the contemporary Messiah by going to every concert, owning every tape and video, or append the style of clothing or mannerisms of their idol.
Elvis was the first of these big rock idols. He changed popular music and initiated the image of pop stars. Rock and roll became itself because Elvis didn't "sound like nobody." Elvis talked about how as a child he had many dreams and all of them came true in abundance. His dreams included singing, fame, women, cars, taking care of his parents and probably many private secrets that none of us can imagine. We do know that he lived out his dreams, exceeded his own expectations, for which we admire and love him, and provide the Impersonators with hope and motivation. The Impersonators need Elvis to inspire them to live out their dreams and fantasies.
Elvis is someone with whom many people relate very directly; he is not an abstract image in the way Jesus has become to many people. We know what Elvis looked like throughout his life, we all know stories about his behavior, his family, his home and we can still meet his friends. He is both a larger-than-life myth and simultaneously a real person in our hearts.
In this information age, we often find our idols through television and movies. The majority of our experiences and shared knowledge are not from one-to one encounters, but rather, through the filter of the media. Knowledge of ourselves is actually mediated; one is constantly comparing oneself to idealized images found in magazines, television and movies. The media teach us how to dress and behave probably as strongly as our primary experiences with parents, friends and lessons at school. Emulating images which are presented on TV or in movies is a phenomenon of this century.
Confusion between the real and perfect simulations of the real is no longer
just the fiction of Blade Runner. Make-believe is not limited only to the world
of entertainment but is present in our lives everywhere; from the food we eat
(for instance, imitation butter and egg substitutes) to news and information
programs which now include docudramas, simulated recreations, computer animations
of real events, and other variations of mixing fiction seamlessly into the description
of reality. We all know that computer manipulation can change or morph any photograph
to a new, and completely believable form, which may be a total lie. (My favorite
commercial application of this is the services that offer to erase a past spouse
from family photographs. It follows to reason that you can insert the new lover¹s
image to replace the old one.) Imitation is reality today.
The Elvis Impersonators are a living proof of this confusion between images
of fantasy and reality. In many ways they symbolize the crisis of identity felt
by many of us in a fragmented world. Unlike others searching for the materialistic,
more conventional middle class American dream, the Impersonators' dream provides
the illusion of fame and fortune for their "fifteen minutes" on stage as Elvis.
My photographs are of people being their fantasy: being their own version of
Elvis. The photographs show them as the mixture of their own self and the self
they would like to be; the Elvis inside them manifested outwardly , timelessly
in a photograph. They are not snapshots of themselves at family parties or on
vacation. They are not photographs of themselves commemorating an event, they
are like Hollywood publicity shots; smiling, in full costume, brightly lit,
in front of colored backgrounds. They appear as if they are already famous,
which in some circles, some of them are.
America is a culture where reality is reproduced perfectly and re-presented. For instance, Umberto Eco in his essay, Travels in Hyperreality, states he is "... in search of instances where the American imagination demands the real thing and, to attain it, must fabricate the absolute fake; where the boundaries between game and illusion are blurred..." He continues by referring to the reconstructions such as wax museums or specific places such as the Oval Office at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Texas which fulfill the need to exactly reproduce the original but without signs of deterioration. Many reconstructions are made mostly for their commercial value and ability to amaze and entertain. The fake must be better than the original. "The 'completely real' becomes identified with the 'completely fake.' Absolute unreality is offered as real presence." As he finds and observes places where illusion and reality are blurred almost everywhere in the American cultural landscape, we can look to specific places and instances to find examples.
Eco observes that the references to authenticity in America are visual; not historical as in European collections and museums. "Everything looks real, and therefore it is real; in any case the fact that it seems real is real and the thing is real even if, like Alice in Wonderland, it never existed." I would contend that authenticity is only marginally important; facsimiles and xerox copies are regularly accepted as documents. It is only when the original is perhaps more entertaining or a question of legality is at stake is the problem of authenticity brought to bear. Americans know the difference between the fake and the real, but are quite happy to conceptually accept a realistic double. At Disneyland, where the animals are fake and cute but the water and trees are real and the streets never have litter or dirt, the experience is simpler, cleaner and easier. The illusion creates a desire for a sentimental concept of reality. Similarly, the Elvis Impersonator can conjure up our fantasies about Elvis and create an inner desire for him based on the double's performance.
The concept of becoming an imitation of an image is intriguing. Fame blurred the difference between image and self early on with the introduction of Rudolph Valentino in 1920's silent movies. Clive James in his series on Fame in the 20th Century, says, "Off-screen, Valentino was obliged to keep up his performance as a great lover with magic powers of sexual attraction and infinite supplies of savoir faire. In real life he had been a male taxi driver and freelance lounge-lizard, but real life had been left far behind. ...Valentino was merely the most sensational example of a performer whose real-life personality became confused with an outlandish persona." In Valentino's situation, he had to emulate an image he had created of himself for the movies. Elvis also had this problem, and generally handled it with humor in public. In private, Elvis was imprisoned by his own fame. The Elvis Impersonators blur the boundaries between themselves and the image that Elvis created of himself, yet weave some of Elvis's extravagant personal behavior into their own persona.
The value system where discrimination between high and low is debatable is particular
to America. Americans seem to value something "almost as good" as something
"really good". For instance, a national decorating magazine devoted to middle
class, young home buyers runs a regular feature of comparing the decoration
of two apparently similar rooms. The first room is decorated with authentic
antiques and expensive materials. A corresponding, similar room is shown on
the facing page with conscious replication but at a considerably cheaper price.
Whether the furniture shown is reproduction, or just along the same lines, the
idea is that anyone can have a classy looking interior at a fraction of the
cost. The image of good taste does not rely on the authenticity of the original,
it merely needs a sense of "style" to be acceptable.
The freedom of the individual to do what he wants and become what he wants is
basic in American society. Individual freedom is determined by the ability to
construct and reconstruct the self. There are no traditional boundaries or rules
per se of behavior or dress codes in American society; new forms appear constantly
as fads and trends take over. As consumers of imagery, most Americans possess
various types of clothing for the various types of activities they perform,
but more importantly, for the various types of images in which they want to
present themselves.
Identity is based on image in the American value system compared, for instance, to Britain or other European countries where knowledge, language and class is the basis of one's identity. In America, one can reinvent the self quite easily and fluidly by making changes that are not seen as odd. In Britain, it is difficult to change your accent or place of birth, which are the external keys to identity. However, moving to a new location, changing jobs, new hairstyle or clothes, a different car etc. are quite normal activities in the American lifestyle and which often help to constitute self-image. Americans, as consumers, adopt codified imagery into their lives and personalities to form both public and private identities. Having a style is equal to being; it constitutes the sense of the self, in spite of the fact it may be based on a predictable dream which has been specifically marketed. Stuart Ewen explains in All Consuming Images, "The phenomenon of style, as marketed by the style industries, achieves its power through the association made between objects and action. This systematic association is a continuous function of advertising; purchasable objects are invested with the connotation of subjectivity. ...As a surrogate for action we are invoked to consume the symbols of action. ..." Therefore style is recognized as an indication of (a purchasable) identity. What one wears, buy or owns is a substitute for being or doing.
The Elvis Impersonators as stand ins for Elvis are rich icons of American culture and identity. The Impersonators crave the fame that comes so easy as Elvis and yet is so unavailable as themselves. They transform themselves into an identifiable image of fame, quite like Madonna who adapts imagery as she needs it. Their individual identities are almost invisible, but transformed into an image of Elvis, they are always acknowledged by the media, giving them fame no matter who they are underneath the jumpsuit. As Elvis, and as Elvis Impersonators, they are, therefore, famous. They are news. As themselves, they are just like everybody else. They are a phenomenon of a 20th Century, where one can become anyone else by consuming all of the necessary associated imagery, and then become famous for it.
As for the Impersonators themselves, their presence begs large questions about cultural and personal identification as well as knowing ourselves in this century. Who are they? Do we crave them either humorously or seriously? Are the Impersonators the simulacra of themselves or of Elvis? More importantly, what is their real experience, or ours as we watch them?
