#60
7/08/2022

A Hunk,
A Hunk of Burnin’ Love

Last weekend I photographed
the Michigan Elvis Fest for NPR’s Picture Show.

It was my first successful pitch. My goal when starting up this newsletter was to do a photo essay for a national publication and now that has happened.

Thank you to the editors Emily Bogle and Vanessa LeRoy. Here are the pix and the words!

Forty-five years since his passing, The King can still draw a crowd.

Last weekend, thousands converged at the Wayne County Fairgrounds, in Belleville, Michigan, to celebrate the life and work of Elvis Presley.

Founded in 1999, The Michigan Elvis Fest is one of the largest Elvis tribute artist festivals in North America.

"This event is different from most Elvis Festivals in that it is not a contest," said Mary Decker, who has organized the event for more than 17 years. "These artists are all here to honor the life and spirit of Elvis through their performances.”

Contrary to popular belief, Elvis impersonators have existed since the mid-1950s, when Presley was just beginning his career.

To make their performances as close as possible to "the King of Rock and Roll," later generations of impersonators purchased rhinestone-covered jumpsuits from Presley's own costume designer, Nudie Cohn.

Presley, aware of his many impersonators, supposedly said that the comedian Andy Kauffman, who performed as Elvis on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show in 1977, was his favorite.

The festival was canceled two years in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making fans extra excited to see their favorite tribute artists back onstage.

Sandra Maciejewski flew to the event from Fruitland, Florida, to see Cote Doenath, who's career she has followed for 19 years and whose face she wore on her T-shirt.

Doenath, who performed as "Hawaiian Elvis" and "G.I. Elvis,” is also from Florida and won the Elvis World Title in Memphis, Tennessee in 2018.

Many Elvis tribute artists began cultivating their performances early in life. Bryson Vines, a six-foot-tall fourteen-year-old from Howell, Michigan is the youngest performer ever to have taken stage at the festival.

Vines began working on his act at the age of seven. As he prepared in his trailer he told how he got his start, "My mom got me hooked,” he said. “When I was seven she put on some dusty Elvis forty-fives, and I immediately wanted to be like him. I wanted to have his charm and charisma. Elvis was the best entertainer of all time, and I like to honor that."

With his deep baritone and in his pink blazer, Vines bore an uncanny resemblance to a teenage Elvis as he sang gospel songs and struck classic "King" poses, and the crowd of mostly seniors cheered and sang along.

Check out the story on NPR

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