I remember one needs to be wild

I remember one time when I was a journalist at a community newspaper, one of the township

counselors in Wellesley Township was an Elvis impersonator. He had spent much of his life. I mean,

I think he had other jobs, but on the weekend, he was an Elvis impersonator. And by the way, I've actually just committed a big faux pa because they don't

like to be called Elvis impersonators. What's the official nomenclature? They're Elvis tribute artists,

because you see, nobody can impersonate the man. You know, he was, he was his own thing. They're

paying tribute. I've actually interviewed multiple

Elvis impersonators in my life. I was in the home of Gene DeNapoli once, which is a rare

privilege. I saw Gene Denoply's basement. He was showing me like the belt buckle that Elvis wore

in one of his movies. I believe he drove you home as well. He drove me home and Gene DeNaple,

like he had satellite radio and he had a radio station that was all Elvis music. Like he

literally lives the Elvis lifestyle. That's incredible. That's something I found out from interviewing

Elvis impersonators over the years. They truly love Elvis.

They listen to nothing but Elvis.

And also, they don't just love Elvis's music.

They want to convince you that he was a good man.

They're like, oh, and you'll hear people tell you that he ripped off black musicians.

No, Elvis gave a lot of work to black musicians in his band and this and this and this.

They go on.

Like, never once have I raised this criticism to them.

I'm not going to get into the thorny issues of race involving Elvis.

They bring it up.

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