In the days when heavy metal would be blaring through the stereo, psychedelic lights flashing intermittently and the stench of pot would sit hazily in the smoke drifting across the room... one could find Butch far away from it all, instead finding him in front of his bedroom mirror taking on a stance that was a recognizable position most commonly known to the older generation.
Tossing his hair back and forth so that it lay haphazardly across his forehead in mimic of his music idol, Butch
would practice repeatedly a vast variety of common Elvis Presley tunes, soon taking on a position that would see him on a lifetime career course.Taking on a tremendous weight of becoming his idol, Butch
took his role seriously while his friends and peers were watching from the sidelines of a more traditional role, one of typical teenage trouble.This young man was able to keep his wits and future about him as he tried to follow in the Kings footsteps, eventually finding his way back stage to meet the man he spent hours impersonating.
Butch
takes us on an incredible journey that weaves its tale from the beginning til the end...
September 8, 1976, was the last time I saw and
met Elvis Presley alive. Twenty-seven years ago, a friend and I went to the Pine Bluff Convention Center to see Elvis perform his last of two concerts in Pine Bluff.
Earlier in July 1976, I was driving down the
street when the local disc jockey came on and said "Guess who is coming
to Pine Bluff?" and played "Hurt." Yes, that Fury I was driving almost
went off the road cause I could not believe the individual I had been
impersonating for over three years was actually coming to Arkansas. I
immediately called and got my reservations for the show. One month
later, in a letter postmarked August 13, 1976, I received my two tickets on
Main Floor, Row M, Seat 6, which put me at a great view of the stage.
Earlier that year I had won my very first contest lipsyncing to Elvis' records: Polk Salad Annie and Let It Be Me. My mother had taken a few shots of me and later that week I had one of the shots blown up into an 8x10. I mailed the photo to 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard hoping maybe it would get to Elvis. The weeks went by and suddenly one day I
