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Review of MPA's Road trip to the Night of 100 Elvises
By Johnny Delrey
December 12, 1999
Here at the MPA Headquarters, we are always looking for an excuse to get out of the house to do something. Anything! Well, almost. But we really
are trying to get out, meet people, and have a good time. So when on a search of the Internet for "Rockabilly", Rose linked to the Rockabilly
Hall of Fame, and that linked to "The Night of 100 Elvises"(12/4), she knew she was on to something.
Now, every time we yell "road trip!", we don't expect a line of cars to fall in behind us. But some of us thought this might be a night of
good clean fun, and it got posted on the MPA calendar of events. We thought, how serious can these folks be. 100 Elvises. Why not, " a night
of Elvis", or a night of lots of Elvis. Well, it turns out this was a charity event to raise money for Johns Hopkins Hosp. in Baltimore, and
it is regarded as a Gala Event. I believe the 100 Elvises refers to the number of songs, not total of clones. They guarantee no song will be
duplicated! Let's go!
There were four stalwart fans of the king on the quest that day, and only one had the sense not to dress like a complete nutbag(Robin). We looked
like we were going to a night 100 Liberace's! The good news is there were other people there who made us blend right in to the wallpaper. This
was a fun event, with not all that many taking it real seriously.
The performers were a real cross section of local Baltimore area acts, doing 50's era and Elvis songs, and some full-bore Elvis Tribute acts.
Young Elvises, really old Elvises, a Black Elvis, some girl Elvises. They didn't miss much here. The Main stage was set up to process Elvises.
Each act got about three songs and moved on. Bang, bang, bang! If someone really sucked, they weren't there long.
Downstairs they had what seemed to be the Elvis Lounge. Mostly jump-suited crooners, warbling to an audience seated at little tables. Pretty
bad stuff, and way too warm. We stayed out of there most of the night. The third floor was the "Jungle Room". They started out showing Elvis
movies, and later featured several rockabilly bands. Most of these bands were local to Maryland and Virginia, and were real standouts. They had
the 50's style rock + billy that gave birth to what we all remember as real rock, and gave parents all over the world something to really worry about!
My only complaint all night was there was too much going on in too many places! And they kind of oversold the event, so it got really crowded
at times. For the most part, the people ebbed and flowed all night, so it might be crowded for a while, then thin out. Some of the audience
participants were more fun than the show. Dead Elvis got the night off so he could come down and mingle with the true fans, those trying to
keep the memory alive. He was the life of this party. tacky jumpsuit, wings and all!
It was a fun night of foolishness, and for a good cause besides. We are already planning for next years 7th "Night of 100 Elvises" The first
week in December, every year. They have a web site, at www.nightof100elvises.com. There is a CD available with 15 of the artists who performed,
and all the artists made them available for this event free. So if you want to hear some cool tunes and help out Johns Hopkins Hosp., check out
the web site. We had good time, we'll do it again.
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"Elvis is everywhere." Mojo Nixon
Night of 100 ELVISes produced by C2: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999,
1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994
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