INVERNESS, Fla. – Don’t call them impersonators. The men who do this will tell you that any schmo can impersonate. That “impersonator” is akin to “impostor.” That Elvis tribute artists are, well, artists.
On a rainy Wednesday afternoon, one such artist leaned against the brown, metal facade of the Citrus County Auditorium, at the edge of a fairgrounds in a rural town with no major highway connection, and reflected on how he got there. Bill Cherry was big and wore a Harley Davidson bandana. A tank top showed off arms more jacked than Elvis’ ever were, and his blue eyes were cloudier. He doesn’t do an Elvis voice offstage, but he’s got Elvis in his voice. He doesn’t give his age, but he remembers clearly the day Elvis died.
“The thing people get wrong,” he said, “is they think that we think we are Elvis.”
