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Hello once again and welcome to the March 2005 Edition of Cortney's Corner. Spring is quickly approaching, which means warm weather and of course more Elvis/ETA events! Continue reading as I take you back to the CSRA Elvis Impersonator Contest in Augusta, GA.
The weekend was full of jet black hair, sideburns, rhinestoned jumpsuits, sport coats, scarves, and more! Everyone gathered together at VFW Post 3200 for the 8th Annual CSRA contest hosted by Danny Haywood and his wife Pat. There were a total of I believe 28 contestants, 5 Youth Entertainers, and little Jacie Ward who pleased the crowd with some country tunes. :)
Friday began the prelim rounds for the contest. The contestants were from near and far and were all ready to give their best shot at walking away with the prize. We saw 15 or 16 Friday night. It lasted until nearly 1:30am so I didn't see the very last performer of the night, but I'm sure he brought forth his best! I only saw two guys perform that night that I really know personally. A lot of the guys were new to me, and I enjoyed meeting everyone. Those two that I knew were Terry Price and Jason Sikes. Terry traveled to this contest from Texas, and Friday night he was on top of his game in the Black Butterfly suit, and gave the best performance I have ever seen him do! Jason Sikes performed the 68 Comeback era of Elvis, complete with black leather outfit and started out sitting in a chair like Elvis did. Great performance! I think EVERYONE did wonderful at doing their portrayal of the man we all love so well. They were all contenders! There was also a guest appareance by Michael Hoover, 1988 Winner of Images Of The King in Memphis.
Saturday afternoon's prelim round was awesome as well. After a performance by the band Ghost Radio from atlanta, the rest of the lineup had their chance to show the judges what they could do to recreate the image of Elvis Presley. Saturday afternoon brought performances of more of the guys that I know well, including Damon Hendrix, Matthew Spalding, Todd C Martin and a special guest apparenace by Jesse Aron, last year's winner. Damon set the bar for what everyone would have to do to win the contest. He had immense energy on stage and performed very well! Todd also put on a fantastic performance, he's always a crowd favorite and it seemed to be no different this time around. Matthew was one of the only guys to portray 50s Elvis and he did it well! Jesse Aron gave a knock out performance TWICE which showed just why he was last years winner.
The youth performers were: Charlie Cole IV, Sean Sharp, Alex Swindle, Josh Rooks and little Demi Downing. They all performed WONDERFULLY! It's so nice to see the children helping to keep Elvis alive and well. They are the future of the Elvis Tribute Business!
The contest was fun and we were able to meet and get to know a lot of new people. It's always great attending the ETA events because they get to be like family reunions! Danny did a good job once again putting it all together. I hear there are some changes in order for next year which I'm sure will make things even better!
When all was said and done the top 7 ETAs were: 1st- Jason Sikes, 2nd- Damon Hendrix, 3rd- Stephen Freeman, 4th- Todd C. Martin, 5th- Rick Wade, 6th- Terry Price and 7th- Randy Deal. Congrats to all 7 for their accomplishments!
The other contestants including the other finalists were: Lonnie Langley, Charlie Cole, Danny Sterling, Elvis J, Jimmy Horne, Clovis King, Rick Smith, Randy Stephens, Phil Urban, Jesse Wade, Matthew Spalding, Mark Gagnon, Ted McMullen, J.B. Moore, Michael Ratcliffe, Alvin Smith, Danny Crouse, Russ Kelly and Michael Viljac. There was at least one other who was't in the program book and please forgive me I didn't get his name down. I do know he was from Long Island, NY. A message to him: If you happen to read this, please contact me at Elvis6240@aol.com and let me know your name so I can get it included here. Or if Danny Haywood can let me know his name and anyone else I may have missed, please let me know!
All the contestants deserve kudos for entering and showing what they could do! Congrats again to all the winners and to Danny for a well put together contest. www.csraelvisimpersonatorcontest.com
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