ElVez

Bio:

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Because Elvis has become an international institution that can communicate across national and cultural boundaries, it comes as no surprise that El Vez the self proclaimed "Mexican Elvis" has come along. El Vez, aka Robert Lopez, has been kicking around the L.A. underground music scene for nearly twenty years. He first appeared in the early L.A. punk band the Zeros and then played in Catholic Discipline (which also spawned lesbian folk singer Phranc). While his records are excellent documents of the El Vez phenomenon, the only way to get the full El Vez experience is to see his live shows, which feature his band the Spiders from Memphis and the lovely El Vettes, cleverly named Priscilita, Gladysita, Lisa Maria, and Que Linda Thompson. The best cultural reference points to help describe an El Vez show are the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, a Tom Jones Las Vegas gig, the LSD episode of Dragnet, and Elvis Presley's '68 comeback special. Listening to El Vez is akin to hearing the live-band equivalent of sampling. An audience on any given night can be treated to half a dozen costume changes and might hear bits and pieces of at least 200 songs, not all of them Elvis recordings. For instance, one of his medleys featured "You Ain't Nothing But a Chihuahua" and an instrumental version of the Beastie Boys' "Gratitude," mixed in with the lead guitar riff from Santana's "Black Magic Woman" laid underneath Rod Stewart's "Maggie May," which melded into "En el Barrio" (aka "In the Ghetto") and finished up with the mandolin line that concludes R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion."

Despite his use of humor, El Vez cannot be written off as a post-modern joke. His lyrics (many times rewrites of Elvis recordings or other popular songs) are very political and pro-Latino. Much like Rage Against the Machine, his songs are littered with references to the Zapatistas and other Mexican revolutionaries. Unlike the above-mentioned band, he does not beat the audience over the head with didactic polemics and testosterone-fueled monster chords. Instead, he relies on the obvious play on words ("Say It Loud, I'm Brown and I'm Proud" and "Misery Tren") and clever social satire (at the climax of "Immigration Time" sung to the tune of "Suspicious Minds" he shouts, "I've got my green card...I want my gold card!"). Based in East Los Angeles, he is involved in anti-gang programs and other community outreach programs a refreshing reminder that one doesn't have to lose his or her sense of humor to remain an activist.

Biography by Kembrew McLeod

SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL WITH THE MEXICAN ELVIS

Some Elvis fans do crazy things, like light candles on the anniversary of his death. Others do even crazier things, like drive to Graceland and stock up on Elvis shampoo, floater pens and and refrigerator magnets. But it is the rare and supremely loopy fan who actually becomes Elvis. In the realm of Elvis impersonators, El Vez, the Mexican Elvis, is king.

El Vez is a multiethnic, multicultural, multicostumed revolutionary who reinvents American rock from a socialist Hispanic perspective. "G.I. Ay, Ay! Blues" (Big Pop Records) is his latest manifesto, following "Graciasland" and "A Merry Mex-Mus." "Misery Tren" remakes "Mystery Train" via Pancho Villa, los zapatistas and an edict to "destroy los capitalistas." "Say It Loud! I'm Brown and I'm Proud!" filters James Brown through a California immigration nightmare. "I've worked all day with my hands and my feet / And all the time we're running from some governor named Pete." Throughout, a message of hope and unity rises to the fore. So love me tender, so love me long," sings El Vez. "Why can't we all just get along?" .. Nutty Los Angeleno: Seven years ago, El Vez was Robert Lopez, an averagely nutty Los Angeleno working at an art gallery. He decided to mount an all-Elvis show; by the end of it, he was plotting a trip to Memphis and scribbling Hispanic lyrics to beloved old chestnuts. Lopez was enchanted by the world of wanna-bes. "In Memphis there was a place called Bob's Bad Vapors," he says. "From 3 in the afternoon until 3 in the morning you could see an Elvis every 20 minutes." Today the El Vez show is an extravaganza with pompom-toting singers (Lisa Maria and Prescillita), a rainbow of sequins, camouflage bell-bottoms with gold lame flares, pro-tolerance patter and a band that moves from "La Cucaracha" to "Wipeout" at the drop of a sombrero. .. Lopez knows this is silly. But as a second-generation Mexican-American raised in Chula Vista, Calif., he has a right to be culturally confused. "In the '60s, my uncles had the continental slacks and slicked-back hair," he says. "They looked like Elvis in 'Fun in Acapulco.' I remember as a kid thinking, 'Elvis must be Latino, like us'." But Lopez was encouraged by his parents to assimulate. He lived in a white neighborhood and didn't hear Spanish until high school. "The whole trip to El Vez-ness was a search for identity," he says. "How brown can I be? What are my roots?" Lopez believes that beyond the kitsch factor, El Vez has potential to spread good will. He's tapped into an American ideal: that anyone can be Elvis, no matter which race, creed or jumpsuit size he is. "When you come to an El Vez show, you walk away proud to be a Mexican," he says. "Even when you're not." .. By Karen Schoemer

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Member Since:

March 05, 2006

Members:

ElVez on The Vibro Champs' Van Somewhere in Tejas. Circa: Fall of 1995. ..

Influences:

Sounds Like:

The EL Vez Discography

El Vez the Mexican Elvis 45 single Sympathy for the Record Industry SFTRI 111 Esta Bien Mamacita - En El Barrio

El Vez Calling 45 single SFTRI 160 Maria's the Name - Lordy Miss Lupe

Not Hispanic LP album Munster Records MR 024 Esta Bien Mamacita - En El Barrio (video mix) - Maria's the Name (of his latest flame)(re-mix) - Lordy Miss Lupe (slide mix) - Esta Bien (impersonators sing-along mix) - Samba para Elvis - Black Magic Woman - Never been to Spain

How Great Thou Art:Greatest Hits of El Vez CD album SFTRI 199 Esta Bien Mamacita - En El Barrio - Maria's the Name (of his latest flame) - Lordy Miss Lupe - Esta Bien (impersonators sing-along mix) - Samba para Elvis - Black Magic Woman Woman - Never been to Spain - How Great Thou Art

Fun in Espaol Spanish Language CD SFTRI 234-S Esta Bien Mamacita - En El Barrio - Mara's se llama (su nueva flama) - Seor Lupe - Esta Bien (otra vez) - Samba para Elvis - Nunca fui a Espaa - Mujer de Mgia Negra - Que Magnfico T Eres

El Vez with Blackbird 45 single SFTRI 315 Cinco de Mayo - Blackbird de Mayo

Graciasland CD album SFTRI 302 La Negra - Hurraches Azules - Aztlan - Chicanisma - Go Zapata Go! - It's now or never - Cinco de Mayo(w/Blackbird) - Gypsy Queen - Trouble - The Cuauhtemoc Walk - Cesar Chavez - Mexican Radio - Safe (Baby lets play Safe) - Immigration Time

10" Santa Picture Disc Erica Records Mamacita Donde Esta Santa Claus? (Disco Version)

Merry MeX-mas X-mas CD Sympathy for the Record Industry SFTRI 350 Feliz Navidad - Santa Claus is sometimes Brown - Mamacita donde esta Santa Claus? - Oranges for Christmas - Sleigh Ride - Christmas Wish - Poncho Claus - Christmas Time is here - Brown Christmas

Like a Hole in the Head El Vez face picture disc 4 tune EP, 10" SFTRI Go Zapatistas! - Andale Zapatistas! - The Cuauhtemoc Walk - Fever-live in Denmark

El Vez is Alive! Live at Roskilde-Denmark Munster Records LP+CD MR CD 081 Live! - La Cucaracha - Esta bien Mamacita - Chihuahua - This was the story of my life- Caliente Amor - Quetzalcoatal - Maria's the Name (of his latest flame) - Intro into East LA (Heroin) - En El Barrio - Trouble - Fever - Hurraches Azules - Dixie-intro - Immigration Time - 2001(a costume chnage) S, I'm a Lowrider - Wooly Bully

Special Spanish Tour 1996 El Vez The Mexican Elvis Munster Records MRCD 099 Saludos de El Vez - Never Been to Spain - Maria se llama - Chicanisma - Fever

Never been to Spain (Until Now!) compilation + unreleased Munster Records MR CD 101

GI Ay, Ay ! Blues Semaphore 51002 & Big Pop 0910-2 (extra track) Say it Loud! I'm Brown and I'm Proud! - Misery Tren - Frida's Life of Pain - Malinche - Soy un Pocho - Taking Care of Business - The Arm of Obregon - Mexican American Triology - JC Lowerider Superstar - Viva La Raza

TCB 5" single Sympathy for the Record Industry SFTRI 452 20th Century Boy - Taking Care of Business

A Lad from Spain? 10" EP Sympathy for the Record Industry SFTRI 452 20th Century Boy - Taking Care of Business - Chihuahua - S Slowrider - (Rock and Roll Suicide) If I can Dream - TCB Reprise

Son of A Lad From Spain? Sympathy for the Record Industry SFTRI 595 Taking Care of Business - Say It Loud! I'm Brown and I'm Proud - Chihuahua - 1-800-KING-MEX - Frida's Life of Pain - Arm of Obregon - La Malinche - (Baby Let's Play) Safe - S, I'm a Lowrider - Immigration Time Clinton PSA '93 - Say It Loud! I'm Brown and I'm Proud - Lady Stardust - Rock and Roll Suicide / If I Can Dream - TCB Reprise

Pure Aztec Gold El Groover - Say it Loud! I'm Brown and I'm proud (adult mix) Cesar Chavez - Cinco de Mayo - En el Barrio - Esta Bien Mamacita - It's Now or Never - Immigration Time - La Negra - Trouble - Rock and Roll Suicide / If I Can Dream - Soy un Pocho - Aztlan - Samba Pa Ti - Go Zapatistas! - La Malinche - Lady Stardust

NoElVezS Poptones MC5010CD Feliz Navidad - Santa Claus is Sometimes Brown - Sleigh Ride - Christmas Wish - Christmastime is Here - Mamacita Donde Esta? (kid voice version) - Oranges for Christmas - Brown Christmas - Feliz Navidad (live) - Mamacita Donde Esta Santa Claus? (disco track) - En El Barrio (video)

Feliz Navidad Feliz Navidad - Oral (I JSBX)

El Vez Live K'N'K Records Blue Xmas (live)

Boxing With God Sympathy for the Record Industry SFTRI 676 Oral - and the preacher said - Rubbernecking - Quetzalcoatal - Mexican Can - Can You Kali? - Mater Dolores - Mayan Saucers - La Vida Loca - Sor Juana de la Cruz - Ave Maria - Diego - Lilly of the Valley - Just Want to See His Face - Lust for Christ - If He Ever Comes Now - Walk a Mile in My Shoes

El Vez Iggy Tribute 45 Houston Party Records HPR-v033 Maria's The Name (No Fun) - Now I Wanna Be Santa Claus

Sno-Way Jos Graciasland Records Studio tracks - Little Drummer Boy - The Dreydel Song - La Piata - En El Barrio (at xmas time) - Cool Yule (featuring the Elvettes) - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday Live tracks - Blue Christmas - Lordy Miss Lupe/Little Latin - Lupe Lu - Now I Wanna be Santa Claus - Brown Christmas

Endless Revolution GI Ay, Ay ! Blues Service Re-issue Graciasland Records - GR002 Say it Loud! I'm Brown and I'm Proud! - Misery Tren - The Arm of Obregon - Power to the People - Cesar Chavez 96 - Frida's Life of Pain - Soy un Pocho - El Groover - Malinche - Taking Care of Business - Viva La Raza - Mexican American Triology - Whip - JC Lowrider Superstar - (Rock and Roll Suicide) If I Can Dream plus enhanced cd music: Caliente Amor (full length version) - Quetzalcoatal (version no.27) - Trying to Get to You - Andale Zapatistas! video: Say it Loud! I'm Brown and I'm Proud! - Go! Zapatistas Go! photos, liner notes and lyrics

Record Label:

SYMPATHY FOR THE RECORD INDUSTRY