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Well, maybe not a hundred. But on the first weekend of every December, over sixty bands and solo artists from all across the nation get into character and lead a jolly, drunken worship service in the King’s honor.
There’s enough leather, gold, rhinestones, and hair gel crammed into Lithuanian Hall to call the Night of 100 ELVISes the perfect post-Halloween coping mechanism. Every facet of the King’s career walks the earth in a venue appropriately balanced between class and kitsch, where Elvis’s visage is projected onto a high, embellished dome enveloping a prom-y dancefloor, where fichus trees still stand against the red curtains onstage.
In here, you’ll find the obligatory handful of vendors selling their obligatory t-shirts, beer, and light-up whirligigs. Fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches are on the house, though, and your $55 ticket (that went to the Johns Hopkin’s Children’s Center) covers NOT ONLY your chance to see a genuine Elvis ice sculpture, but yes, admittance to an open bar.
After that, you’re free to sit, stand, or dance through rapid-fire sets of live tributes that average about three songs each and feature everything from dancing Santas, glittery showgirls, an eight year old in leather belting out “Blue Suede Shoes,” or death-defying daredevil stunts. And this is for two nights, from 6pm till 2am! By the end of it, you’ll be so full of Elvis’s legacy that you’ll leave the building looking the way he did in 1974.
At first, I found it a bit surprising that one of the biggest Elvis worship fests in the country would be hosted here, and not Graceland, Vegas, or some other titanic glitz pit. But then I had to stop and remember: this is Baltimore, a city built on diners, antique meccas, pin-up-style burlesque, and good old fashioned white trash, and all of sudden, the idea of an over-the-top rockabilly resurrection fit Baltimore like a hot pink pompadour wig .
But even after all the whole velvet batshit parade is over, one comes out of it with a reinforced respect, or at the very least, reminder, of an icon who reached Virgin Mary heights of sanctity and kitsch mania in our culture. Granted, the sheen feels a bit more faded than usual these days, considering how Michael Jackson’s assumed all these qualities of meteoric success for the X & Y Generations (and not to mention, took Elvis’ idea of blending black and white and gave it a whole new meaning). But it’s worth remembering that the road Jackson (and the rest of the lesser Britneys, Hannahs, and Jonas’s) moonwalked down was paved by a King that needed no modifier.
Enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6A3vLlVa3I
Night of 100 ELVISes
December 4th and 5th
Lithuanian Hall
851-3 Hollins Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201-1003
www.nightof100elvises.com
Photos by Michael Porwoll and Heather Goad
Tags: costumes, cover, drunk, elvis, event, impersonators, party, presley, the king, tribute
Filed Under: Sights
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