Monday, August 17, 2009

AND A JOLLY GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL


The creme de la creme of Elvis impersonators from East Malaysia. From left: Wilfred Vincent aka Elvince, Eskandar Eyaw, Reynolds Gregory, El Sunny Tai, John Sia aka Shakin' John. 

The King of Rock and Roll left his legions of fans on August 16, 1977. Now 32 years later, his presence was still felt, at least in spirit and in song at the Elvis Celebration yesterday. I was there from 5.45pm to 12.30am. Thanks to extensive pre-event publicity in the local media, Ol' Skool Bistro, the venue for the event, was packed to overflowing capacity.


From left: Wilfred Vincent, Aziz Daud, Frankie Fong.
Seeing double, triple or more? Just can't get enough of Elvis!

A section of die-hard Elvis fans taking a trip down memory lane with Elvis' hits of the 60s and 70s.


Grooving and jiving to Elvis' ballads and movie soundtracks. 

Birthday boys Philip (72) and Joe Rozario (58).

I've never seen so many Elvis wannabes gathered in one single place. They came from all over Malaysia - from Kuching to Kuala Lumpur, from Penang to Johor Baru. From the oldest and 'paunchiest' to the youngest helluva hunk, from the professional to the amateur, every one of these Elvis clones sparkled and dazzled, not only with their impersonations of EP, but also from the giant rhinestones adorning their outfit.


Left: Alfred Ho with a medley of Elvis song requests. Right: Sunny of the VW Club of Malaysia launching the Elvis Fan Club

Left: Just gotta try Elvis' favourite snack - peanut butter banana sandwich. Right: Spotted in the audience - Mr & Mrs E. Presley of Malaysia. 
Peter Lee (left) with Wan Zahar on lead guitar working the crowd into a frenzy with their scorching rendition of "Little Sister".

No "Green Green Grass of Home" tonight from resident band Thomas (Tom Jones) Williams and the Small Stones.


Time for bistro owner, Calvin Guneratne (second from left), to thank the sponsors for making possible the Elvis Celebration.
Based on the huge turnout and the fun everyone had, expect more events like this at Ol' Skool.

3 comments:

CheaHSan said...

Hi Lily, Nice posting of the "Elvis the Pelvis" surely bringing back the good times. Few years back saw Peter Lee in action in Penang.

seniorsaloud said...

Hi, Cheah. I hear another event's in the pipeline. You must be there for this next one - guaranteed loads of fun strolling down memory lane.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the good coverage. However you missed the opening act by Elvis Alex Wong. This guy was dammn good that he got me up jumpin. I was waiting & waiting for him to sing again after the rest sang. Too bad he only sang a few songs and never came back. I only found out later that he left for another performance in a church