Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 17, 1993 TAG: 9308170427
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LEIGH ALLEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The most obvious one was the tall guy in the white sequined outfit, black wig and sunglasses. Everybody called him Elvis.
"I can sing like him. I can act like him," said the Troutville man, known to a few as Robert Wright, to many as Elvis. He strutted under the TV lights as the crowd asked for autographs and begged him to swirl his hips.
The other impersonator was almost impossible to pick out. That's because she wasn't impersonating Elvis. She was impersonating an Elvis fan.
It was the perfect disguise.
"I just come to see the people," the Roanoke woman said, obviously declining to give her name. "I come every year, so nobody knows I don't like Elvis."
The event that brought these two together, along with about 100 others, was the ceremony to honor the King on the 16th anniversary of his death. What better place to do it than the miniature Graceland in Epperly's front yard?
The mock-up of Presley's homestead, which has vaulted Epperly into the pages of supermarket tabloids, has made her more famous in Memphis than she is in Roanoke. As far as anyone knows, hers is the only mini-Graceland in the world.
But Epperly didn't do it for the attention, or for the money. She did it to honor the King in her own special way.
The Roanoke version of Graceland doesn't attract the thousands who flock to the real thing each August. It's not the size of the crowd, pilgrims say, but the emotion that counts.
Raymond Star stood by himself Monday night, quietly staring at the little Graceland while the rest of the crowd swirled around him.
He says he can't measure the impact Elvis has had on him. It's in everything he does. A professional gospel singer, Star gave up acting like Elvis on stage when he realized he had to create his own style. But his deep Southern voice and the curl of his upper lip when he smiles give him away.
"I've been an Elvis fan all my life," the Roanoke native said. "When I was about 2 years old I used to make a beeline to the radio to listen to him."
Star already has a cover shot for his album picked out: him standing in front of miniature Graceland with a guitar.
The Roanoke ceremony, like its counterpart in Memphis, Tenn., attracts everyone from the casual visitor to the serious fan.
Size is the only crucial difference.
In both cities, mourners light candles from the eternal flame near the Elvis' grave before circling the mansion in tribute to the King. It's just a shorter trip here. Some wail, sing and swoon from the emotion of it all.
There's always a theme song at each ceremony. In Roanoke this year, it was "I Feel Like I've Known You Forever," a fitting title for Epperly, who felt a strong bond to the King the first time she heard him sing. Her devotion is displayed in one of the largest private collections of Elvis memorabilia in the country.
"It defies explanation," she said, wiping a tear from her eye. "Words can't explain it. Only the music can begin to describe how I feel."
by CNB