Here comes the King again

Stephen Kabakos is a sight to behold. Dressed in a tight black T-shirt and lihjt blue jeans, the 36-year-old seems unaffected by the nerve-wracking heat outside. The exaggerated sideburns and gelled-back hair add credence to his line of work���Kabakos is an 'Elvis tribute artiste', a job he has been doing for the past 12 years with elan.
Born in a Canadian village whose population was less than the number of people Indian Railways employs, Kabakos grew up listening to his mother's Elvis records."My earliest recollection of Elvis goes back to when I was two years old, and I have been listening to him ever since," he says matter-of-factly.
Life changed when he performed at an Elvis festival in Collingwood in Canada in 1996. "I had been impersonating Elvis since my school days and this was my chance to prove myself," he says. He performed some of the King's chartbusters from the 1950s, making himself up in the Elvis style of that era���slick hair, hillbilly character, et al. He didn't win the competition though, and had to be satisfied with the first runner-up prize. But further victories were in store���the Grand Champion at the 2001 Images of the King World Competition in Memphis, for instance, where he beat 120 contestants from different nationalities to win the award.
That win catapulted Kabakos' career to another level. His mother was overjoyed, his father didn't approve of his career but that did not stop Kabakos from doing what he wanted. Not surprising, then, that he has been consistently performing all over the USA and Canada besides making trips to Hong Kong and India. On this tour, he's performed in eight Indian cities so far and wrapped up with a performance in Mumbai on Saturday. "I didn't have much time for travel but I did the touristy thing and visited the Taj Mahal," he smiles. "I hope I can do a camel ride and elephant ride when I come next."
Kabakos is generous in his praise for the country, but India does not exactly appreciate tributes to legends as easily as the West does. India's best-known authority on Elvis, Gary Lawyer, says he has seen many impersonators. "Some are good and some are bad. I don't want to criticise anybody but this is just a commercial thing to do. Ultimately, it's just a form of entertainment," he emphasises.
Kabakos says the most special thing about his 90-minute shows, which are an electric mix of sonorous singing and pelvis-thumping, is that he stays true to the King's style. Thus, he has divided his shows into different decades of Elvis' life and goes through three costume changes during his show which spans the era from the 1950s to the '70s. "In the '50s Elvis didn't know what was happening to him and by the '70s his rebellious attitude screamed, 'I am ready to take on the world'. I try to capture this metamorphosis in my shows," he says, serious for the first time in the conversation. He is also fine if somebody calls him an impersonator rather than a tribute artiste. "Basically I am impersonating Elvis but yes, the word does carry a negative vibe," he admits.
Kabakos says he has been studying Elvis all his life. "Especially the last 12 years, I've been trying to study footage, character and just the kind of person Elvis really was. I try to pick up his nuances and study him just the way an actor would study his character," he says when asked about the type of schooling he underwent to mediate Elvis.
It shows in his delightful costumes, overdone make-up and the boundless energy of his shows. "I try to stay true to the era I perform. My attention to detail and authenticity is unstinting," he says. From the hillbilly '50s to the lyrical '60s to the rebellious '70s, Kabakos changes his vocal nuances from soft to sonorous, and the intensity of his movements keep growing till the Pelvis show gets in-your-face. He admits it's not an easy job. "It is necessary to keep yourself in shape and be healthy in this profession. The demands are rigorous," he says, flexing his broad shoulders. He is also thankful that his face looks close to Elvis' after the make-up has done its work. "A Brad Pitt doing a Elvis Presley tribute is not possible. So resembling the King does make life a little easier," he says.
Last year, this reporter had done a story which concluded that Elvis was popular only because old men patronise him. Kabakos is horrified on hearing this, and explains why his profession is in no danger of being wiped out. "The magic and mysticism of Elvis, his untimely death, his eternal youth and the fact that Elvis is passed from generation to generation will prove you are wrong (here, he takes a theatrical pause and emphasises not without a little annoyance), young man."
Kabakos has learnt a lot from his fellow tribute artistes in the US and Canada���they even refer to themselves as 'All The King's Men'. Some of them have even acted in Hollywood movies based on Elvis. Kabakos himself is quite open to the idea. "Why just Hollywood? If one of your producers wants me to do a cameo in his movie, I would jump at it," and adds, "though I don't like the movies of the '80s which make fun of Elvis. But smart movies like 3000
Miles To Graceland starring Kevin Costner and Courtney Cox, where a gang of ex-cons rob a casino during an Elvis convention week, are interesting." Interestingly, Kabakos firmly believes that the only low point of Elvis' life was when he was typecast as a hero and sang some terrible songs. "Even he'd be thinking to himself, 'what am I doing singing Old MacDonald Had A Farm!'," he remarks.
Popular TV host Johnny Carson had once remarked, "If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead." To which Kabakos ripostes, "I don't think Elvis would have minded seeing his impersonators. He himself said it was cool to do whatever you are doing as long as you don't lose sight of who you are." It is then that you see that beyond the Rockerbilly sports coat, baggy pants, slick hair, pink shirt and black jacket with pink stripes, Kabakos has also inherited some of Elvis' arrogance and rebellious spirit. He tries to play it down by saying, "I am not yet perfect." But that everyone knows.
priyanko.sarkar@timesgroup.com