Elvis IS Everywhere, Man!
by Jacquie Gilmour
 Collingwood,
Ontario, Canada has played host for the last six years to
something called Forever Elvis. A tiny ski resort town
of 16 000 people was very hospitable to a group of some 60
000 fans who showed up for the festival. This is an entire
weekend devoted to the life & music and particularly to the
fans of THE KING. It was a sight to behold. There were street
parties & tents set up. There was an amateur Elvis Competition.
There was a professional Elvis Competition. There was a fair
& a midway. There was a parade. I'm sure that somewhere in
the midst of it all, there was a vendor selling Fried Peanut
Butter & Bacon Sandwiches...sadly, I couldn't find them.
We arrived just in time to see the Professional
Competition. The talent ranged almost as much as the ages
of the competitors. It was really a span of Elvis' whole life.
The G.I. Outfit was up against the Black Leather Suit was
up against the Gold Shiny Suit was up against, yeah, the White
Jumpsuit. There were a whole lotta white jumpsuits! My personal
preference was for the young, cute Elvi (is that the correct
plural?) who sang the fast songs & attempted to move like
the King. There weren't quite enough of them in my opinion.
There were Elvis' from England, Australia, the United States
and beyond competing. Performers with names like Gino Monopoly
and Happy Johnson. They sang lots of the standards, although
I found it odd that 'My Way' was a favorite of many competitors,
since that song is technically Frankie's trademark. One confused
competitor who was billed as a Dean Martin/Frank Sinatra/Elvis
Tribute Artist kept lapsing between Ol' Blue Eyes & The King.
Some of the performers were quite phenomenal. And others who
may have lacked the talent really shone through because of
their undying devotion to everything Elvis.
My favorite performer was Steve Kabakos from
Milton, Ontario. He has the looks & the sound & the moves.
He performed a concert from 8:30 in the evening until nearly
1 am, and spanned Elvis' entire career. (There were 5 costume
changes.) About 500 fans circled the tent where he was on
stage, and he was treated like the King, himself. Little girls
ran to seek autographs between sets. Grown women rushed the
stage to present him with leis and bouquets of roses. Throughout
the town that day, people all around me kept asking each other
"Is Steve performing?" and "Where is Steve's concert tonight?"
He seems to be a legend in his own right at the festival.
There were vendors set up all over the place
selling the coolest stuff. They had things that would rank
wayyyyy up there on the 'tacky meter', which is exactly what
I like. They had buttons & pictures. They had ceramic busts
& statues. They had blankets & rugs. They had glasses & mugs.
They had leis & those big, gawdy, gold 70's sunglasses. They
even had 'stick-on' sideburns. I was disappointed to find
that nobody had the one piece of Elvis Memorabilia that I
really wanted...A picture of Elvis painted on Black Velvet.
I really want one of those. I think it will go perfectly next
to the Dancin' Elvis phone that graces my living room! I'm
hoping that next year there will be a vendor with the picture
that I want.
Yeah, I did say next year. Of course I wanna
go back! You should come too. Next year, I'm going to plan
in advance. I'm gettin' myself a micro-mini, I'm teasin' up
my hair, I'm linin' my eyes with kohl pencil, and I'm hittin'
the discount drugstore to find eyeshadow in the perfect shade
of "Blue Suede Sue". 'Cilla ain't gonna have nothin' on me!
Thank you. Thank you very much.
About the author, Jacquie Gilmour:
Call her "Jacquie of all trades". Maybe
one day, she'll master one, but until then this single, frustrated
novelist and NetWit' is having lots of fun!
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©2005
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