Following Butch's story, I discovered that his vision of becoming an entertainer had begun at a much earlier age then I had known. When most little guys are out pushing Tonkas around, pictures can be seen of Butch sitting with his little bitty guitar perched on his lap, strumming a few cords! The heck with doing "typical" kid stuff!
It's also not often that we find in today's vast ETA world that the entertainer was doing this while Elvis was still gracing the stages of North America. Butch in fact started his impersonation three years prior to our great loss in August of '77. We can see now that obvious peer pressure wasn't about to get to Butch; he did what he loved and was respected accordingly.
I've included a little story here that Butch sent to me awhile back and I thought it really spoke volumes about the type of person he is. Although he would be the first to admit he isn't Elvis, and he humbly plays down his talents - he really just wants people to remember the good things about Elvis, including his love of family, country and god. Take an inside peek at this goal-driven man!
I don't care who you are, you just don't do (wrong to) individuals who are helping you, and Elvis (I know he probably wasn't in the right mind at that time) just needed a good ole butt spankin' like Mama gave him to get through that thick skull.
I know I owe a lot to Elvis because when I really got into impersonating him was during my teen years and when peer pressure was really strong, I kept focused on him. Believe it or not, from age 12 to 17, I saw him as the ideal image to follow (of course I didn't know the other side of him) and Elvis Presley actually kept my head straight during those years. The ironic thing about it is, when "Elvis: What Happened" came out, I would got to the stores that were selling it and get a tube of Crazy Glue and glue the pages together (I'm sorry Sonny, Red and Dave).
Now when anyone happens to ask "Why do you do what you do?", I simply tell them that story and in a way, pay him back for keeping my head straight :-)
