The King, the Tyrant

The annual Elvis Invitationals began in 1990 on Elvis’s birthday, January 8, as “Night of the Living Elvis” in Eugene, Oregon. Soon after, its sideburns slithered into the Crocodile Cafe, where promotions manager Peter Verbrugge spun it into a homegrown hit: Its contestants didn’t replicate Elvis so much as riff on him, a fitting tribute to a music icon who has permeated the whole of American culture. There has been El Vez (the Latin Elvis), Chelvis (the Chinese Elvis), Elvis-­Schmelvis (the Jewish Elvis), Elvis Herselvis (the lesbian Elvis)—many of whom, according to co-organizer Marlow Harris, have performed at the Elvis Invitationals. “Everyone can take a piece of Elvis,” Harris says, “and enrich it with themselves. That’s what Elvis is all about.”

The estate of Elvis Presley (taken over four years ago by Robert F. X. Sillerman and his business CKX, Inc., a global entertainment conglomerate) doesn’t agree. Earlier this month, they sent a cease and desist letter prohibiting the Elvis Invitationals from using Elvis’s name or likeness:

Your use of the Elvis Property in connection with the Show has and will create the false impression that CKX/EPE has approved, endorsed, or sponsored the Show… Throughout its history, EPE has vigorously protected its intellectual property rights when it has believed there would be confusion in the marketplace between EPE’s and a third party’s goods and services… In an infringement suit, CKX/EPE would seek full equitable and legal remedies available to it under the law. Moreover, a finding of a willful violation of CKX/EPE’s rights could entitle CKX/EPE to treble damages and attorneys’ fees.

In other words: We own Elvis and we don’t want you small-time punks—who’ve been around doing your thing for 400 percent longer than we have—besmirching our brand.

“They’re just going after the mom-and-pop Elvis impersonators,” says Verbrugge. “I think we might have a good case, but we’re such a small-budget operation that we can’t afford litigation. We can’t even afford advertising. We have to capitulate a little to their demands.”

So the Elvis Invitationals is changing its name to the Seattle Invitationals, taking any mention or likeness of Elvis off its poster, and hoping people will know it’s a decade-plus Elvis-impersonation contest.

So whose brand, exactly—whose very existence?—is being threatened here? Asked for a comment, the Elvis estate replied, “The estate has no comment. The letter speaks for itself.”

(Oh, and confidential to the smarmy PR pro from EPE I talked to on the phone: It was cute of you to suggest that the Elvis Invitationals only got in touch with me in a cynical bid to drum up some publicity because nobody would ever cover their event. They’ve been covered for several years running in the Seattle Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Tacoma News Tribune, The Stranger, the Seattle Weekly—pretty much every publication within a 100-mile radius. You’re already working for the bad guys and the bullies, pal. Being an oily schmuck only makes it worse.)

The CKX/EPE empire might be smarting for entirely different reasons. Earlier this year, the company (which also owns Muhammad Ali’s image and a big chunk of American Idol) defaulted on loans to build a luxury golf resort in the Caribbean. Credit Suisse and Anguilla Equity Partners are seeking tens of millions of dollars related to the project. A $475 million Elvis-themed Las Vegas hotel also fell apart for FX Real Estate (owned by Sillerman, who also coproduced The Producers on Broadway). With all these colossal financial failures, CKX/EPE is worried about a little Elvis-impersonation contest that far predated its involvement in the Elvis game?

“We just like to have a fun contest where everybody is invited,” Verbrugge said.

I don’t even care about Elvis all that much, but since he was a performer who straddled the gap between prewar and postwar, between svelte and smooth and fat and freaky, I would guess that a fun contest where everybody is invited is what Elvis would’ve wanted.