Riding with Elvis

Yesterday, I was driven to the Showboat Hotel by a genuine Elvis Impersonator. He's been performing for the past 17 years, not for the money, just to make people happy. At least that's what he told me three times. He used to have an Elvis tribute band that he would front, that is until the day when they were performing at a wedding and the base player and drummer got into a heated argument about how much they were getting paid. "Elvis" told them to knock it off because they weren't going to ruin this special day for these people.

The led me to the question, "so, you sing live?" He replied, "oh yeah, I don't believe in that lip singing stuff." Yes, you read that correctly.

He showed me the wallet size picture of himself that he carries around with him in his Elvis costume. And then told me that he's got a gig in two weeks at a real nice senior center that he played at last year and they asked him to come back. Those seniors are in for a treat.

Speaking of seniors I wondered to myself this morning if one day I would be one of the ladies I see here walking around a casino at 7am in the morning with their white hair nicely combed, and a cardigan sweater to ward off the chill of the airconditioned casino floor, searching for the nickel slot that's going to keep them entertained for the next several hours. I hope not.