A small group of Elvis Presley Fan Club Sarawak (EPFCS) members gathered on last Jan 8 to mark what was supposed to be the 83rd birthday of the man who was and still is referred as ‘The King’. Held at a music joint in Petanak, the gathering paid loving tribute to the legendary rock and roll trailblazer who also rightfully earned the title of Rock N Roll king. Having performed in the place once in 2017, it has a good repertoire of EP songs, thanks to easy transfer from CDs and IT download.
Though absent due to work commitment in Melbourne Australia, the club chairman Ges Barundang, fondly known as Elges, was in ‘live’ communication with us on that evening, thanks to Skype. Besides the author, the other club members present were mostly the main EPFCS committee and life members. Among songs chosen as tributes to The King on his 83rd birthday included his pioneering tune of rock n roll ‘That’s Alright Mama’ which became the only song by deceased artiste to top the British chart for some weeks in 2016.
It was Elvis Presley’s first single release, after being recorded on July 5, 1954 and released two weeks later. Other favourite songs rendered by the likes of Eskander Eyaw (Sarawak 1966 EP title holder), Elaz AJ, Christy Duin Tanggi @ Elkriste, Adrian David Junior, this writer and a few others included ‘Tender Feelings’, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, ‘All Shook Up’, ‘She’s Not You’, ‘Little Sister’, ‘Love Me’, ‘Long Tall Sally’, ‘You Gave Me A Mountain’, ‘I Got Woman’, ‘Judy’, ‘Fool Such As I’, ‘Treat Me Right’, ‘Shake Rattle And Roll’ and many more.
It was certainly a night to remember; as if the rock n roll king was still alive. Born Elvis Aaron Presley on Jan 8, 1935 at a two-room home in Tupelo, Mississippi in USA, the king of rock n roll died of cardiac arrest – though his doctor confessed very much later that EP’s death was attributed to constipation – on August 16, 1977. Now his birthplace is a historic museum site in Tupelo. Elvis was regarded as the greatest singer and artiste of the 20th century by majority votes among the world’s leading magazines in December 1999.
His impersonators the world over amounted to roughly just about 2,500 on his death in 1977 but the latest estimate was about 2.2 million – phenomenal increase being thanks to his evergreen music plus additional ‘push’ by Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc.
(EPE) which is a corporate entity created by “The Elvis Presley Trust” to conduct business and manage its assets, including, which has been turned into a museum with an average paying visitors of 3,000 daily. EPE’s business extends far beyond the Graceland operation, however, and includes worldwide licensing of Elvis-related products and ventures. Our EPFCS club that received substantial contributions from various quarters has been very active in sharing the joy of Elvis music and songs with the fans and other community members in the country since 2014.
In 2017, we held various shows in the state as well as in Kuala Lumpur. In Kuching alone we held three memorable group performances at Kuching Waterfront at two locations namely the Waterfront Amphitheatre and on a stage behind the Grand Margherita Hotel.
Other venues included karaoke and pub lounges such as Shelter V2, Unique, Rehab (late Sapphire), Pitstop Bistro, Le Food Restaurant, Telang Usan Hotel, Kuching Park Hotel, Kuching Hilton, Riverside Majestic Hotel and a few others including performances by members at Benak Fest site in Sri Aman, Tun Jugah Hall in Kapit, Serian Civic Centre, Kampung Sorak Dayak in Serian as well as in Serian’s Kampung Taiee Community Hall. Since the club’s regist ration with e-ROS in 2014, it has received remarkable monetary contributions from ministers, a philanthropist and generous individuals. The one who started the ball rolling was Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom, an ardent EP enthusiast who was serving as a state minister in 2014.
He was also appointed as the club advisor whereas another ardent Elvis fan Tan Sri Abang Khalid Marzuki was named as club patron. For this year, our plans include performances in our favourite joints in the city as well as other shows elsewhere including Kuching Waterfront. Afterall our aim is to reachout to EP local and foreign fans, especially at the latter (Kuching Waterfront) if our previous shows there were anything to go by.
Now that this year is election year with GE14 to be called any time soon, we are likely to get invitations to perform for various ministerial and political functions, including in Serian and Bau. In fact Serian MP who is Human Resources Minister Dato Sri (Dr) Richard Riot Jaem has been trying to get a few of us to perform in Serian.
Riot and I became f r iends when we were both active in scouting in 1979 – he was a Regional Scout Commissioner in Sarikei whereas yours truly was Group Commissioner of Kumpulan Latihan Malaysia (KLM)-27 at Rajang Teachers College (now IPG Rajang) Bintangor then. This lasting friendship has certainly paid dividends as since 2010, he has been having stage shows with my goodself and other Elvises included. He needs a good show to attract voters for GE14.
Both Riot and his good friend Dato Jimmy Adit are ardent fans of the king. Jimmy is a registered life member of EPFCS. Also known as Eljim, Jimmy performed twice with us in the past. His favourite EP song is ‘Just Tell Her Jim Says Hello’.
He also favours ‘Marie Marie’ by Shaking Stevens, EP’s younger version. EPFCS i s al so having an online communication channel with other fans in Sarawak t h r o u g h f a c e b o o k u n d e r El v i sPre s l e yFanClubS’wa k whereby fans can register as members by paying a token membership fee. Further enquiries can be made online. Hitherto our online membership has hit the 3,000 mark.
This membership campaign is ongoing to go in line with our aim of having performances in the major urban centres in the state such as Serian, Sri Aman, Sibu, Kapit, Bintulu and Miri in the very near future. We also welcome requests by other centres or towns. With the right deal, our ‘King’s Men’ will hit it accordingly.
