Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 9:12 a.m.
Jerry Fink's lounge column appears on Fridays. Reach him at 259-4058 or jerry@ lasvegassun.com.
Is there an Elvis in the house?
Fitzgeralds has put out a call for all would-be Elvis impersonators to compete for a place in the spotlight on the second-floor stage of the downtown hotel.
More than a dozen have performed their arm-slinging, hip-swinging, lip-curling best since the Elvis alert went out. Wednesday night fans can check out the final round of entries, starting at about 6 p.m.
The winner will receive $500 and an audition for a six-month contract with Fitzgeralds, where Michael Kennedy has been performing as Elvis for more than a year.
Hotel executives are vague about whether Kennedy will continue to be their main Elvis when his contract runs out at the end of the year.
"Michael has represented us very well," said William Noonan, vice president and general manager. "We just want to see what else is out there."
Noonan said Fitzgeralds is pumping up its entertainment offerings after hearing complaints that there was scant entertainment downtown.
"We are looking at increasing the number of (Elvis) shows," Noonan said, "And we are thinking of adding a late-night comedy or musical."
In the downstairs lounge is Michael Lee, from 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Thursdays-Mondays. Lee specializes in nostalgic tunes from the '50s-'70s.
Candidates who have competed for an Elvis spot so far have ranged from the sublime to it-oughta-be-a-crime.
Some are Elvis veterans, such as Craig Newell, Tim Welch, James Rombel and Pete Wilcox (who has been doing Elvis impressions for 20 years).
Newell's 8-year-old son, Sam, is also an Elvis imitator.
Other contestants have less experience.
Aaron Scott, 25, entertained for years around Florida before moving to Las Vegas in July and donning an Elvis suit for the first time.
Jason Adams, 27, did an Elvis act at birthday parties and private functions in the Houston area before deciding to give Vegas a shot three months ago.
"This started out as a Halloween costume five years ago," Adams said.
During the day, Adams repairs video games at casinos. At night he's a wedding chapel Elvis.
"I've done shows at the Little White Wedding Chapel and I'm working on a deal at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel," Adams said.
If he isn't chosen by Fitzgeralds, it won't cause him to throw in the scarf.
"I like being onstage in front of people," Adams said. "But whether it's in front of a crowd like this or marrying people, it doesn't matter. I'm just happy being Elvis."
Another contestant is from Robinsdale, Minn. "Two blocks from Minneapolis," Danny Yaklich said.
When Yaklich sings, his voice is a dead ringer for the Tupelo, Miss.,-born Elvis.
But when he speaks, he's pure Minnesota, for sure. The singsong accent of the North Woods country is unmistakable. If you haven't heard it, rent the movie "Fargo."
"To be honest with you, I discovered late in life I could do this," said the 40-something Yaklich, who began performing as Elvis at private functions in Minnesota about five years ago. "The honest truth is I used to be an avid bowler, and my wife would come with me and watch and she'd drink beer and I'd bowl.
"One night she went in the bar and saw this sign that said karaoke every Friday and Saturday night ... one thing led to another and here I am."
He spent several years working for a celebrity lookalike company in Minnesota.
"It kind of snowballed," Yaklich said. "Every show I did somebody said, 'You do this for a living, don't you?' and I said 'No, I just do it part-time,' and they said, 'Well, you ought to go somewhere and do something with this.'
"So my wife and I -- our kids are grown up -- we decided, let's move out to Vegas. I won a couple of trips out here doing Elvis in Minnesota, one at the Mall of America -- so we got to see Vegas and got to hear a few of the Elvises out here, and I thought, 'Why heck, I'm just as good as some of these guys.' "
So Yaklich quit the job he had held with a lumber company in Minnesota for 15 years and moved to Las Vegas in August.
"We decided we both liked the weather, we don't like the cold and the snow and the mosquitos and our kids are grown so we decided, what the heck," Yaklich said. "We don't have a house yet, we're still living in Budget Suites. What happened is our daughter and her fiance bought our house and he couldn't get the financing for all of it so he's waiting a few months till he can get a second mortgage. Then we're going to get our own place out here.
"We've seen nothing here to chase us back home. We love it here."
If Yaklich isn't one of the Elvis finalists, he's got a fall-back position.
"If this doesn't come about, I'm very interested in doing the lounge act thing because I sing all kinds of stuff -- not just Elvis -- mostly songs from the '50s and '60s, and some country. But I love Elvis the most."
Heck, don't we all?
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