Elvis, Elvis Everywhere
By Christina Lee Knauss
If there are multiple Elvis Presleys in the room, does that mean you're surrounded by Elvii?
Whatever the correct plural form of the King of Rock 'N' Roll, Elvis was definitely everywhere at Legends in Concert in Surfside Beach on the night of July 25. The 2nd Annual Myrtle Beach Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist preliminary contest drew 13 Elvis tribute artists from South Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia, Texas and Maryland.
Texan Nathan Belt had audience members on their feet shortly after he hit the stage with a smoking version of "Burning Love," and that performance as well as his almost eerie resemblance to the King earned him first place in the contest. Belt won $1,000 and now goes on to perform in the Ultimate Elvis Tribute contest in Memphis in August.
Second place went to Vince King of Pearland, Tex., and third place went to Socastee resident Michael Sokolik.
During the first half of the contest, each man performed one song and then answered a series of beauty-contest style questions asked by Garth Brooks tribute artist Steve Fairchild, who frequently performs at Legends. After a 15-minute intermission, the judges pared the field down to three Elvises, who each then performed two songs before the winner was announced close to 11 p.m.
One of the evening's best segments came at the beginning of the second act, when all the men came onstage to perform "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" in groups of three and four. They left the stage and walked through the audience, the deep Elvis baritones blending into a Kingly chorus as they sang to individual audience members and fanned out up and down the aisles.
The men portrayed Elvis at different stages in his career. Sokolik performed as the young '50s-era Elvis who set female fans screaming with his gyrating hips and hits such as "Blue Suede Shoes," while others such as Jessie Arron of Maryland and Alvin Smith of Elm City, N.C. offered up variations of the older Presley during the stud-and-chain-laden suit days of Las Vegas and his late '70s concert tours.
The costumes were authentic down to the last stud, grommet and rhinestone, and many of the Vegas-era tribute artists sported Elvis-style jewelry such as horseshoe diamond rings and the King's signature "TCB" pendant, which stood for "Taking Care of Business."
A near-capacity crowd obviously loved the entire evening - people whooped and hollered for their favorite Elvis, gave some standing ovations, and several young girls and women came to the front to get a scarf and a kiss or hug during certain songs. The scarf hand-out is one of the classic Presley moves that every skilled tribute artist learns to incorporate into his performance. Other signature Elvis moves in evidence were the karate kick, deep one-foot knee bends, and humorous comments about "I hope this suit don't tear up, baby" during renditions of "Suspicious Minds."
The question-and-answer segment revealed the fact that Elvis tribute artists come from a wide range of backgrounds. Belt was a songwriter in Nashville before he decided to walk in the King's white-booted footsteps. Virginia's Chip Hanes is an exterminator when he's not performing. "Kelvis" Hupka is a Cleveland police officer when he's not crooning "Love Me Tender." Vince King was the lead singer of a rock band in an earlier life. Alvin Smith works as a biomedical equipment technician, keeping things like ventilators and defibrillators in good working order. In the process, he said, he's been able to offer a little Elvis to patients who are feeling down.
"Once at a hospital I was asked to come in and sing for a lady and it made her feel better - it can be therapeutic," he said. "None of us knows what talent we're given in life. I only got into Elvis seven years ago, and in the process I've gone from performing one song at birthday parties to being here onstage at Legends. The good Lord will put you in the right place in your life."
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