A Thanksgiving tradition that's all shook up
By Jesse Claeysjclaeys@siouxcityjournal.com | Posted: Friday, November 21, 2008
Elvis impersonator T.J. Speck lip-syncs to patrons of Bill's Bar in Sioux City in 2003. (Sioux City Journal photo by Jerry Mennenga)
It's not about turkey. It's not about Pilgrims or Indians.
It's about beer. And tradition. And Elvis Aaron Presley.
But like most memories made at dimly lit neighborhood bars, the specifics of this unique Thanksgiving event are a bit fuzzy.
"I'd say it started in the mid- to late-'70s," said Bill Brown, owner of Bill's Bar. "Tim was a huge Elvis fan, I mean huge. I even think he may have thought he was Elvis."
As the oral history goes, Tim Miller, son of a bar owner and an avid fan of The King, donned an Elvis costume one Halloween as ABBA was tearing up the charts and gave an impromptu lip-sync concert to those with bellies on a downtown Sioux City bar. It was a hit. Miller decided to perform his renditions of Elvis tunes regularly at his father's bar, at 2110 Court St.
By the time Brown purchased the establishment from the Miller family in 1987, Elvis Night -- always held the Wednesday before Thanksgiving -- had become a full-blown tradition.
"I'm not sure how to explain it," Brown said with a laugh, "but there's a good crowd for it, and people seem to come back year after year."
While it was Miller's lip-sync that put Elvis Night on the local holiday map and drew capacity crowds, the gold microphone has since been passed. Miller, who missed planting his blue suede shoes inside Bill's on only one Elvis Night in 25 or so years, gave his final performance in 2000.
"He wasn't feeling very well that year. A few days later he found out he'd actually had a mild heart attack while he was doing the show," Brown remembered. Miller retired and passed away a few years later.
Brown considered ending Elvis Night at that point, but it was a huge draw to his bar and was looked forward to by former Siouxlanders back for the holidays. The show, he determined, must go on.
The 2001 performance saw a young man take on the challenge of being a hunk, a hunk of entertainment but didn't prove to be popular.
"I think he thought he was Alice Cooper or something. He did a knee slide across the bar, looked like he was at a rock concert. He was young enough that he hadn't seen Elvis before and probably didn't understand what to do."
Back to the drawing board. Brown, faced with the task of finding an Elvis who didn't mind lip-syncing while standing on top of a bar the night before Thanksgiving, put the word out for help. In a stroke of luck a guy who found a bar to buy already bearing his name would expect, TJ Speck came to the rescue.
Speck's passing out of roses to women, his "Vegas Elvis" look, the way he draped his blue scarf around ladies won the crowd over. This year, the same night as always, he'll give 20-minute performances at 10 p.m. and midnight at Bill's Bar. The $2 cover charge collected goes to charity.
But the event has taken on a life of its own. Last year a patron showed up dressed as Elvis. Another showed up dressed as Frank Sinatra and convinced Brown to let him do one song as a crowd-warmer.
"That went over pretty good," Brown remembered, "so it looks like this year we're having Sinatra open for Elvis."
Yes, Elvis Night is not about turkey. It's definitely not about Pilgrims or Indians.
It's about beer. And tradition. And Elvis Aaron Presley. And sometimes, Frank Sinatra.
It's about meeting up with old friends, making others. It's about generations of Siouxlanders spending a silly night at a small bar. It's about not being cruel. It's about enjoying life's strange and simple pleasures.
It's about Thanksgiving.
It's about beer. And tradition. And Elvis Aaron Presley.
But like most memories made at dimly lit neighborhood bars, the specifics of this unique Thanksgiving event are a bit fuzzy.
"I'd say it started in the mid- to late-'70s," said Bill Brown, owner of Bill's Bar. "Tim was a huge Elvis fan, I mean huge. I even think he may have thought he was Elvis."
As the oral history goes, Tim Miller, son of a bar owner and an avid fan of The King, donned an Elvis costume one Halloween as ABBA was tearing up the charts and gave an impromptu lip-sync concert to those with bellies on a downtown Sioux City bar. It was a hit. Miller decided to perform his renditions of Elvis tunes regularly at his father's bar, at 2110 Court St.
By the time Brown purchased the establishment from the Miller family in 1987, Elvis Night -- always held the Wednesday before Thanksgiving -- had become a full-blown tradition.
"I'm not sure how to explain it," Brown said with a laugh, "but there's a good crowd for it, and people seem to come back year after year."
While it was Miller's lip-sync that put Elvis Night on the local holiday map and drew capacity crowds, the gold microphone has since been passed. Miller, who missed planting his blue suede shoes inside Bill's on only one Elvis Night in 25 or so years, gave his final performance in 2000.
"He wasn't feeling very well that year. A few days later he found out he'd actually had a mild heart attack while he was doing the show," Brown remembered. Miller retired and passed away a few years later.
Brown considered ending Elvis Night at that point, but it was a huge draw to his bar and was looked forward to by former Siouxlanders back for the holidays. The show, he determined, must go on.
The 2001 performance saw a young man take on the challenge of being a hunk, a hunk of entertainment but didn't prove to be popular.
"I think he thought he was Alice Cooper or something. He did a knee slide across the bar, looked like he was at a rock concert. He was young enough that he hadn't seen Elvis before and probably didn't understand what to do."
Back to the drawing board. Brown, faced with the task of finding an Elvis who didn't mind lip-syncing while standing on top of a bar the night before Thanksgiving, put the word out for help. In a stroke of luck a guy who found a bar to buy already bearing his name would expect, TJ Speck came to the rescue.
Speck's passing out of roses to women, his "Vegas Elvis" look, the way he draped his blue scarf around ladies won the crowd over. This year, the same night as always, he'll give 20-minute performances at 10 p.m. and midnight at Bill's Bar. The $2 cover charge collected goes to charity.
But the event has taken on a life of its own. Last year a patron showed up dressed as Elvis. Another showed up dressed as Frank Sinatra and convinced Brown to let him do one song as a crowd-warmer.
"That went over pretty good," Brown remembered, "so it looks like this year we're having Sinatra open for Elvis."
Yes, Elvis Night is not about turkey. It's definitely not about Pilgrims or Indians.
It's about beer. And tradition. And Elvis Aaron Presley. And sometimes, Frank Sinatra.
It's about meeting up with old friends, making others. It's about generations of Siouxlanders spending a silly night at a small bar. It's about not being cruel. It's about enjoying life's strange and simple pleasures.
It's about Thanksgiving.
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