How the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Still Making Australia Sing


PARKES, Australia – Elvis Presley from Japan bowed in silence. Then she swam into a rendition of “Burning Love,” which sounded straight from Memphis and definitely stretched the crotch of her blue jumpsuit.

Backstage, Elvis’ plural, at least at the biggest Elvis festival in the Southern Hemisphere, a few more “Elvi” scrutinize their recent song selections, sweating their options for a crowd that blurs the line between fans and impersonators. In the middle of Australia, thousands of Elvi, aged 5 to 85, wore more pompadour and leisure outfits than anyone could count.

“My God, there are so many people,” said Charles Stone, who was Elvis’ tour manager from 1971 to 1971. death in 1977stares at the scene, peeking at a gold chain from the outside of his T-shirt. “Look at this.”

Parkes, a small town five hours’ drive from Sydney, now shines once a year with Elvis sequins and rhinestones. The festival, which started with a few restaurant owners trying to bring it together, usually attracts around 25,000 people. talk a little less and some more action to Parkes.

That was in 1993. Nearly 30 years later, the festival has become a national treasure, showing how Australians tend to do many things: all in one, with self-deprecating humor and lots of alcohol.

This year’s event – after Covid forced a cancellation in 2021 – somehow felt more like Elvis than ever before. A certain weight mixed with the excitement of rock ‘n’ roll. From small bars with first-time singers, to golf courses and rugby courses with Elvis equipment, and of course main stages with the world’s best commemorative performers, there was a longing for the post-post. quarantine, post-pandemic release.

What is life even for, if not for the feeling of leaving, most shouted for music, dress up and let go, pull each other on stage and sing?

“It allows us to forget everything,” said Gina Vicar, 61, a small business owner from Melbourne, who came to the festival with a dozen of her friends. “Given what we’ve been through and what the world is going through right now, it’s great to see all this joy.”

When we met, he had yelled encouragingly at an Elvis (real name, Deon Symo) who explained that he was only 21 years old and was often from the city of Adelaide. he joked about and rarely celebrated.

He was wearing a white jumpsuit as he stood in front of a red curtain fastened with rubber bands in a sticky-floor bar, and the crowd was treating him like a Las Vegas superstar. In ten or two years, two women, her senior, danced in front, singing the words to each song.

“She has a wonderful voice,” said Miss Vicar. “She just needs trust.”

All over Parkes, Wednesday to Sunday Elvi has won the faithful Elvis.

Singer Toki Toyokazu from Sendai, Japan was a crowd favorite; He won the festival’s official competition in 2020, and his return seemed to mark a post-Covid milestone.

Another performer, wearing a gold jumpsuit with faux gems the size of Waffle House biscuits, seemed to pop up when the energy ticked off in “Bollywood Elvis.” His real name was Alfred Vaz. He moved to Australia from Mumbai in 1981 when he was manager of Air India and says he has been coming to Parkes since the festival started. This year she brought in her 24-year-old nephew, Callum Vincent, a music teacher from Perth, and she smiled when she understood it all.

“There’s only one Elvis,” said Mr. Vaz, 65, as the festival’s parade began on Saturday morning. “There are a lot of impersonators and a lot of competitors, but there is only one Elvis.”

Except for Parkes, an old mining town in a country where Elvis never actually played.

Moments earlier, the mayor and local Member of Parliament for the area were sitting in the back of a convertible wearing ’70s overalls with a wig and sunglasses. Ms. Vicar and her friends marched in the parade with Elvi’s entire fan.

A few of the Elvis outfits on their daddy trunks looked pretty rundown or were torn in unfortunate places. These were mostly rugby Elvi teaming up for an annual match Friday night between Elvis-inspired “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Ready Teddies.”

Officially a waterboy, 41-year-old Doug Moore – which meant pouring bags of wine down the throats of breathless actors – told me they were listed to build support by wearing the same Elvis outfit all weekend of the festival’s date.

Festival director and daughter of founders Bob and Anne Steel, Tiffany Steel, confirmed her instrumental roles. They helped the Parkes festival enter the Guinness World Records in 2007: 147 Elvi got together to sing “Love Me Tender.” beat the previous record 78th for “The biggest gathering of Elvis Presley impersonators”.

“When you’re from a town like this,” said Mr Moore, a project manager, as he mended a wig that came with a tight-fitting outfit, including a cape, “you just have to get into it.”

Americans seem a little less enthusiastic these days. Mr Stone, former concert manager of Elvis, said the growth in “Elvis culture” now mostly comes from outside of King’s homeland.

Crowned as the 2019 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Champion by Elvis Presley Enterprises, 24-year-old Taylor Rodriguez, an American from Lynchburg, Va., said that dressing in the United States is often seen as disrespecting Elvis’ legacy. While everything seems more serious in America, it is still the greater sin not to join in for a laugh in Australia.

“I don’t think there is a festival that can be compared to Parkes at Home,” Mr. Rodriguez said in an interview. “There it is, pure – pure fun. It’s just for the love of Elvis.”

Or maybe it’s the mix of expertise and friendly amateur watch that makes it special.

On Friday night, Mr. Rodriguez played songs from Elvis’ 1960s movies in a crowded house at Parkes Leagues Club. (Plate Parkes’ other claim to fame. He helped transmit images of the 1969 American moon landing to the world.)

The next night, after the parade, Mr. Rodriguez crafted an Elvis fantasy from the 1970s, with one historian’s attention to detail. She walked through the crowd and at one point threw silk scarves at her fans one by one, just as Mr. Stone and Elvis did with her on stage.

But when a young boy (aged 9) started playing as King, a young boy not much older than his age tried to grab someone, he spoiled his character. He bends over and wears a giant-collar suit that matches what Elvis is wearing. during a concert In 1973, a televised hijab from Honolulu pointed towards the boy, delivering a must-hear message for anyone considering the pandemic past and uncertain future: “Follow your dreams.”

Then he stood up, nodded to the group, and continued.



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