1. El Vez was first on his block to have platform shoes.
24 Facts About El Vez
1. 2.
El Vez's family was highly political, including an uncle who was in the militant Chicano group the Brown Berets.
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El Vez's grandparents were born in Mexico, and he frequently traveled there as a youth, visiting its museums and Mesoamerican pyramids, experiences which would influence his later musical work.
4.
El Vez would become more conscious and appreciative of his Mexican heritage later in life, but did not learn any Spanish until he took a few classes while attending Chula Vista High School.
5.
El Vez became interested in rock music, reading Creem and Rock Scene magazines, but could only imagine what the bands sounded like.
6.
El Vez became a fan of the art of Gary Panter, the writings of Claude Bessy in Slash magazine and Craig Lee in LA Weekly, and performance artists such as the Kipper Kids and Johanna Went, and idolized Tomata du Plenty and his band the Screamers.
7.
El Vez supported himself with a job at a nearby Pizza Hut.
8.
El Vez appeared with the group in the documentary film The Decline of Western Civilization, and his recordings with them appear on the film's soundtrack album and on their posthumous compilation album Underground Babylon.
9.
El Vez was unimpressed with the impersonator's performance and felt that he could do better.
10.
El Vez used the marketing skills he had developed promoting artists and shows for the gallery to promote his new act.
11.
El Vez's recorded debut came in 1991 with the 7-inch EP The Mexican Elvis.
12.
The compilation album How Great Thou Art: The Greatest Hits of El Vez followed in 1994, combining the tracks from the three prior EPs with a version of "Samba Para Ti" featuring keyboardist Paul Morris of Rainbow and a recording of "How Great Thou Art"; the album's title and cover art were an homage to Elvis' 1967 album How Great Thou Art.
13.
The idea of El Vez is you can do that, and you don't have to be a white man.
14.
El Vez is the idea of the melting pot, and everyone's welcome.
15.
Blues, it found El Vez diversifying his musical palette even further and getting even more political with his lyrics.
16.
In early 2001 a documentary film about El Vez was released; directed by Marjorie Chodorov and titled El Rey de Rock 'n' Roll, it traced the evolution of his act through concert footage, excerpts from television appearances, and interviews with friends, fans, and Latino academics.
17.
That November, El Vez released the gospel music-influenced studio album Boxing with God through Sympathy for the Record Industry, and in 2002 started his own label, Graciasland Records, through which he released a third Christmas album, Sno-Way Jose.
18.
El Vez considers his El Vez persona to be an "Elvis interpreter" and "cultural ambassador" rather than strictly an Elvis impersonator.
19.
In developing the look of El Vez, Lopez took Elvis-inspired jumpsuits made of tight-fitting polyester and lame which show off his slender frame, and added Mexican cultural cliches such as sequined images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, extravagantly embroidered bolero jackets, sombreros with ball fringe, pointed-toe boots, and elements of mariachi costuming.
20.
When in character as El Vez, he speaks with a fake Spanish accent.
21.
El Vez's lyrics are very political and pro-Latino.
22.
El Vez is known as the "Thin Brown Duke", or "The Mexican Elvis".
23.
El Vez was once a contestant on the game show To Tell the Truth and starred in Wes Hurley's cult comedy musical Waxie Moon in Fallen Jewel.
24.
El Vez was a contestant on The Weakest Link during an episode featuring Elvis impersonators.