Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2012 17:37:58 GMT -5
Shawn Klush has been performing the music of Elvis Presley since before he was even allowed to buy his own beer.
His father was a DJ in the 1950s and '60s, and the young Klush grew up surrounded by music and performing came to him at an early age.
"I always sang. It was just something I always did. The first time I ever tried to do anything on stage was probably '84, '83 - something to that effect. By '88, I was out in the bars and stuff when I shouldn't have been. I was out there plugging at 15, 16 years old doing my show," Klush said with a southern drawl that sounds like it could have been lifted straight from Jailhouse Rock.
Klush is one of three performers who will be taking the stage with Elvis, Elvis, Elvis at the Conexus Arts Centre on Oct. 15. The show seeks to capture a piece of the magic that Presley himself brought to his performances, something that Klush admits is no easy feat.
"I'm going to say something that (Elvis) said, and it's true because I live it: 'The image is one thing, and the human being is another, and it's very difficult to live up to an image.' That's no lie."
As part of putting on a show they feel is worthy of the King, the performers in Elvis, Elvis, Elvis spare no effort to get the details right. The jumpsuits they wear on stage are made from the exact same material, imported from Milan, Italy, as the ones Elvis himself wore. They even got them made by the same people who sewed the originals. Their boots are the same. Their guitars are the same.
"I think that's what defines us - I think we're different in the way that we use the same things, in the same manner that (Elvis) did. I think people associate that with us, you dig? You know, they watch a video and go, 'That's the same damn jumpsuit,'" Klush said.
Klush's skills as a performer have not gone unnoticed, earning him the opportunity to work with several musicians who played with Elvis himself, including the Sweet Inspirations and the Imperials. He has been embraced by Graceland, Elvis's former home in Memphis, Tenn., and counts Joe Esposito and Jerry Shilling as friends.
Even after countless shows, Klush says performing is still the most satisfying thing he has ever done.
"You're standing there behind the curtain with the Sweet Inspirations, and you're on next, and your heart is pounding because they don't know what's coming next. You do," he said. "That hour I'm on stage, I'd give my left arm for it because there is no rush like it."
But aside from the joy he gets from being on stage, Klush says he feels a responsibility to help people connect with Elvis's music and memory.
"He was a critical individual who left way too early, and I think still needs to be heard," he said. "Like Picasso, like any of the greats, you don't really tell how great you are until you're gone, and it's terrible that it had to be that way. You're looking at a man who spanned 21 years, and did it all on just sheer charisma and what he had - natural raw talent. None of it was ever moulded or moulded for him. It was just there."
ELVIS, ELVIS, ELVIS
www.leaderpost.com/Klush+capture+magic+Elvis/7372260/story.html#ixzz2925hdzs6
His father was a DJ in the 1950s and '60s, and the young Klush grew up surrounded by music and performing came to him at an early age.
"I always sang. It was just something I always did. The first time I ever tried to do anything on stage was probably '84, '83 - something to that effect. By '88, I was out in the bars and stuff when I shouldn't have been. I was out there plugging at 15, 16 years old doing my show," Klush said with a southern drawl that sounds like it could have been lifted straight from Jailhouse Rock.
Klush is one of three performers who will be taking the stage with Elvis, Elvis, Elvis at the Conexus Arts Centre on Oct. 15. The show seeks to capture a piece of the magic that Presley himself brought to his performances, something that Klush admits is no easy feat.
"I'm going to say something that (Elvis) said, and it's true because I live it: 'The image is one thing, and the human being is another, and it's very difficult to live up to an image.' That's no lie."
As part of putting on a show they feel is worthy of the King, the performers in Elvis, Elvis, Elvis spare no effort to get the details right. The jumpsuits they wear on stage are made from the exact same material, imported from Milan, Italy, as the ones Elvis himself wore. They even got them made by the same people who sewed the originals. Their boots are the same. Their guitars are the same.
"I think that's what defines us - I think we're different in the way that we use the same things, in the same manner that (Elvis) did. I think people associate that with us, you dig? You know, they watch a video and go, 'That's the same damn jumpsuit,'" Klush said.
Klush's skills as a performer have not gone unnoticed, earning him the opportunity to work with several musicians who played with Elvis himself, including the Sweet Inspirations and the Imperials. He has been embraced by Graceland, Elvis's former home in Memphis, Tenn., and counts Joe Esposito and Jerry Shilling as friends.
Even after countless shows, Klush says performing is still the most satisfying thing he has ever done.
"You're standing there behind the curtain with the Sweet Inspirations, and you're on next, and your heart is pounding because they don't know what's coming next. You do," he said. "That hour I'm on stage, I'd give my left arm for it because there is no rush like it."
But aside from the joy he gets from being on stage, Klush says he feels a responsibility to help people connect with Elvis's music and memory.
"He was a critical individual who left way too early, and I think still needs to be heard," he said. "Like Picasso, like any of the greats, you don't really tell how great you are until you're gone, and it's terrible that it had to be that way. You're looking at a man who spanned 21 years, and did it all on just sheer charisma and what he had - natural raw talent. None of it was ever moulded or moulded for him. It was just there."
ELVIS, ELVIS, ELVIS
www.leaderpost.com/Klush+capture+magic+Elvis/7372260/story.html#ixzz2925hdzs6