THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 2, 1995 TAG: 9506020536
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MARK MOBLEY, MUSIC CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
The hard-core Elvises came early. They wore their homemade costumes and carried their homemade tapes. They wore big-lensed sunglasses, thick sideburns and teased-out hair.
They had practiced.
Thursday, Virginia Beach kicked off its ``Viva Elvis - Elvis is Everywhere'' weekend with an Elvis Karaoke competition at the 17th Street stage.
Elvis, you know who that is. Karaoke, that's a Japanese word which is not directly translatable but means something close to ``drunkenness makes shower singing acceptable to others.''
For three hours that seemed like many more, dozens of Presleymen - white and black, look-sorta-like and look-nothing-like, old and young and pre-teen - vied for hundreds of dollars in prizes.
A few contestants seemed not to grasp the enormity of the event. They simply signed up, walked up and sang ``Hound Dog'' or ``Jailhouse Rock'' on a lark and out of tune.
Which made them different from Van Hughes of Chesapeake. Hughes, a home-schooled 12-year-old former Hurrah Player, wore a blue jumpsuit crafted by his grandmother, Pat Hughes.
``It took me three weeks to make it,'' she said. ``I put every little stud on by hand. I really did.''
Hughes, who performs at children's shows and senior citizens homes, and has even had a much older woman throw him a room key while singing, lacked the requisite facial hair. So his grandmother glued some of his spare head hair onto sideburn-shaped cardboard.
``I don't wanna just be Elvis all my life,'' Hughes said, before singing ``Jailhouse Rock'' with generous hip-swinging. ``I wanna be, like, the superstar. I wanna be, like, myself.''
The second-youngest man-who-would-be-King was Chris Purtee, 23, of Virginia Beach, who won a similar competition two months ago in Norfolk. The Mobile native swore that his speaking voice was actually his own speaking voice. He also confessed that when he was in the Navy, his Master Chief called him Elvis and his friends felt that it was unfair for him to have poufed-up Presley hair while theirs was regulation length.
All it took was Purtee singing ``Are you . . . '' in ``Are You Lonesome Tonight?'' for the audience to swoon and clap.
Yet Purtee did not win and neither did Hughes. Similarly slighted was Robby Waldrop of Newport News, who put down his cigarettes and car keys, took the microphone and announced, ``I'm a cab driver from Newport News. I don't sound like Elvis, but I like to do a few Elvis songs.''
Waldrop also did not look like Elvis, as Elvis did not have long hair and purple stretch shorts and resemble a cross between David Crosby and an aerobics instructor. Waldrop screamed through the punkiest ``Hound Dog'' this side of the Sex Pistols.
After many repeat performances and about a hundred painful interpretations of ``I Can't Help Falling In Love With You,'' third place was given to chef Mike Hodge of Virginia Beach. Little Creek Amphibious Base policeman Ron Parker took second. Shipyard worker Sterling Riggs took first.
Riggs, 33, wore a red jumpsuit. He has been singing karaoke for four years, and doing Elvis for one. He has started working with a live band and wants to take his act on the road. For now, he will perform again Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 3:30 p.m. on the 24th St. Stage in Virginia Beach. ILLUSTRATION: Color Staff photo by Martin Smith-Rodden
Sterling Riggs of Chesapeake, the winner, strikes a pose during the
Elvis Karaoke Competition.
KEYWORDS: ELVIS PRESLEY by CNB