ELVIS Fest in the Poconos

[megoapesnut]

My wife, brother and I are in the scenic Pocono mountains for this year's Elvis Fest. It would be an understatement to say that we are having a blast. We saw 20 tribute artists yesterday for the first round. Today they come back for the second round, highlighted tonight by a concert headlined by the greatest tribute artist in the universe, Shawn Klush. Some of these guys are really good, a few are ok, and a few are friggin awesome. Last night was a concert featuring four tribute artists of Elton John, Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger and Tom Jones. It was awesome. I can't describe how good these guys are.

The coolest part is about my brother. I originally bought a pass for my daughter but she found it she had a commitment so she couldn't come with. My brother was telling me about a documentary he had recently watched and really loved - Almost Elvis. It was filmed in 1999 and followed a tribute artist named Irv Cass around and to a contest that he won. I said to my brother, "you know Tammy and I are going to an Elvis Fest/contest this weekend, we have an extra pass". He looks at me and says "I'm in, will Irv be there.". I figured he wouldn't as that was a while ago and most of these guys are young. To make a long story longer, we show up here yesterday and, not only is Irv here, he is the emcee and the Tom Jones tribute artist. My brother is having a great time living the documentary he watched. He got to hang out with Irv and even got called out on stage today for buying Irv too many drinks at the after concert party! We are having a great time. I wish all of the Elvis fans here at the museum could be here enjoying this.

[supes]

Sounds like a great time! Wish I was there. One of my guests from Chick-fil-a has a friend that is in the contest. One of these days I will get around to going to one of these.

[megoapesnut]

I do not plan on missing one ever. You would not believe how much of a good time this is. You really have to get to one. What's the name of your guest's friend? A few of these guys are unbelievable. There are three that you can close your eyes and not know it wasn't Elvis. Even the ones who don't sound exactly like him are pretty good and several are very entertaining.

[kingdom warrior]

Damn I'd love to go to one of these.....bet it was a blast!!

[megoapesnut]

It was and still is. Last round is tomorrow. Words cannot describe the time we are having and I am not going to try. The Shawn Klush concert was freakin awesome. I had center table front row. Shawn was on stage ten feet from me. I got to chat with his manager for a bit after the show. Cool guy. I got to tell him how much we appreciate what he does for Shawn and how he brings the show to the fans. Got Shawn's new gospel CD and he signed it for me. Tomorrow is the final round as well as a gospel song contest. Next year's Fest can't come soon enough.

[rchatlin]

For all the Elvis fans, here's a short film I made back in college "The Elvis In Us"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=littp2zcomw&feature=youtu.be

r
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[Mikey]

That's darn good Rob ... I just felt like I watched a classic episode of 60 Minutes

[kingdom warrior]

Rob that's was Freeking Great! Awesome Job you did with that......

[supes]

I do not plan on missing one ever. You would not believe how much of a good time this is. You really have to get to one. What's the name of your guest's friend? A few of these guys are unbelievable. There are three that you can close your eyes and not know it wasn't Elvis. Even the ones who don't sound exactly like him are pretty good and several are very entertaining.

I am not 100% sure but I think his name is Jim Barone. Maybe next year I can bring the family.

[megoapesnut]

I am not 100% sure but I think his name is Jim Barone. Maybe next year I can bring the family.

He is one of the three that sound so much like ELVIS you wouldn't believe it! I picked Jim to win it all and, darn, he came in 2nd. Jim is incredible, I need to get to see one or more of his full shows. He sounds EXACTLY like Elvis. I was really pulling for him to win. Both my wife and I chose him on the fan favorite ballot.

[Cosmicman]

Shawn Klush is amazing. I'm good friends with Jesse Aron (one of the ETAs) that perform Elvis for a living. He does a lot of good work and gets to go on free boat cruises just because he is....well sorta Elvis. LOL
I tell ya, believe it or not I performed as Elvis for a tiny bit to fill in for a band when their "Elvis" broke his leg. I still have pictures from that and I don't know how people could live day in and day out being someone else. It takes a lot of patience and dedication to the part. Those boys aren't doing it for ****s and giggles. It's hard work and everyone watching is looking at you. You can either disgrace or do justice (when performing "as Elvis") and a lot of these fellas have done their homework real well.

[megoapesnut]

Jesse Aron was supposed to be in the competition, but had to back out. I wish I would have been able to see him perform. Yeah, Shawn is definitely the best in the world. I ran across this YouTube interview with him. Watch this and decide for yourself.

[megoapesnut]

It's hard work and everyone watching is looking at you.

You aren't kidding. I could tell some of those guys were putting their heart and soul into it.

[supes]

He is one of the three that sound so much like ELVIS you wouldn't believe it! I picked Jim to win it all and, darn, he came in 2nd. Jim is incredible, I need to get to see one or more of his full shows. He sounds EXACTLY like Elvis. I was really pulling for him to win. Both my wife and I chose him on the fan favorite ballot.

It turns out he is from the same town I grew up in, Westfield New Jersey. He is probably around 7 years younger than me so I didn't know him. Kinda cool though.

[Cosmicman]

I will be going over to Jesse's house tomorrow so I will make sure to mention somebody mentioned him on a Mego board.
Jesse is a big Spidey fan and has seen my Mego collection many times and gets excited when looking at all the characters.
He's more of a DC Direct figure guy with tons of Elvis memorabilia all over his house. He's a fun guy to be around. His gave me one of his extra blue color Moody Blue vinyls a few weeks ago because he's lightening up his load for when he moves to Green Bay. There is more work up there and it's closer to his Canadian born wife Tarie's home.