AmPress immortalizes "Accidentially Elvis"

I forget how John Latham and I first crossed paths, but as I recall he was involved in Poor Pony and I saw some of his posts on poorpony.com.  Not long after, I invited him to come in and do a Hot Button Feedback on a topic related to one of his many civic passions.  (His specifically had to do with the subject of locked fire hydrants.)

One of the prerequisites for doing a Feedback, I told him, was that male presenters must wear a dress shirt, jacket and tie.  I do this so that everyone gets treated equally, and I don't have guys wandering in in overalls or worse.  Frankly, I don't care what they wear from the waist on down, since we only frame them waist-up.  That's one of the little secrets of TV news, btw.  I'll bet thousands of newscasts have been done by newscasters dressed up nice where it shows, and wearing cutoffs and flip flops behind the news set where it doesn't show.   (Weathercasters generally don't have that luxury.)

John told me he'd have to scrape something together and even volunteered to comb his hair, but warned me not to expect perfection.  He came in looking pretty much like he had pulled a Grrr-Animals suit out of the back of his closet, but it was good enough to get the job done.

"I've got an Elvis Suit I'd be happy to wear for you," he volunteered.  I declined, but acknowledged that indeed the "Old Elvis" look probably did do him justice more than the button-down confines of the Hot Button Feedback format.  John Latham is many things, as are we all, but it's clear the thing he likes best is impersonating Elvis Presley.

I like John Latham, and am grateful he calls Lake Charles home.  I consider him one of the antidotes for the mind-numbing Stepford Wife-like social conformity which seems to be particularly prevalent around these parts in election years.  Not that being an Elvis impersonator is all that original, but John really throws his heart and soul into it.

So let the amateurs dress up in costume this evening and maybe on Fat Tuesday.   For John, everyday is a good day for a costume, and when he's not in his whites and sequens, he's just counting the minutes till assumes his real personna.

The American Press' Karen E. Wink has put together an awesome slideshow with narration and music which is posted on americanpress.com today.  It's worth a view, and wanted to make sure you didn't miss it.  Here's a link.

Whether you are Elvis or Sarah Palin or Joe Biden or whomever as you make your candy-seeking rounds tonight, please be careful and have fun!  BTW, if you are a parent who has sent your young daughter out in some sort of trampy vampy costume, SHAME on you.

Happy Halloween and make sure to come out for 2008's PONYFEST, all this weekend at Central School!

FALL BACK Finally, remember daylight savings time ends this weekend (Saturday night).  You get an extra hour.  Do something meaningful with it.  WATCH THIS.  Then do something about it and pass it on.

rgds/jim

Comments

[blane bourgeois]

jim--- sorry i missed you at pony fest this year, but i'm sure you were able to keep up with the event through OUR local media coverage. many people put in thousands of volunteer man hours bringing lake charles a FIRST CLASS 3day festival with major acts from across the country. i can't believe an event like this does not warrant any news coverage at all! what the hell else was going on? i was able to catch the 10 o'clock news on sunday evening after watching several incredible national acts at the fest. the news did not have one local story, but i do know how the weather is in viet-nam and china! 'local first', 'kplc at your service'?????? sometimes it just takes looking in the mirror to see what is wrong with lake charles. it might be time for a 'hot button'. are you up for it!!!

[Jim Serra]

We had PP spokespeople on two shows in advance of PonyFest, Blaine, and are inviting them back to show pics & vid and talk about the Festival.

That said, you are absolutely correct that we should have had cameras there and something on Sunday night.

rgds/jim

[Daniel Hasha]

Amazing how people in our area are looking for something more to do with family without having to travel afar or have to dig deep in their pockets. Finally something happens and no one to really to tell them about it and what they were missing. I found Pony Fest brought something needed, I for one saw families spending time together laughing while they played on the make shift toys I had as a child. Swings tied in a tree, fathers and mothers pushing their young ones laughing and screaming with joy, "wonderful sound", but politics, death and destruction makes better news. Understandable the politics and the same hum drum is more important, someone is paying for it, two years of the same thing over and over. Thanks for listening

[blane bourgeois]

i'm gonna assume you will need our pics and video. it is amazing what you can get away with when you are the only game in town. a live shot on saturday showing great weather and great entertainment would have served the public more than if you would run a story after the fact. that is not how you promote contraband days!

come on jim, i thought we were all on the same page here!

[Houston Jones]

Blane brings up some valid points, but i certainly don't place all the blame for low attendance on KPLC. There is plenty of fault to go around. Operationally, we held a first class event in only our 2nd year and i don't believe anyone will dispute that claim. We must accept part of the blame, however, for our inability to get the word out to the public. We need to do a better job of that and hopefully next year we will have a real media professional on our volunteer staff. Radio, print and TV media need to be coordinated in an effort to reach the masses. It's not with a 7 a.m. or noon appearance on TV or on the radio that we're going to have a huge impact on our target audience. Nor will a single half-page article do the trick. It has to be a major marketing blitz. And the City has to be a REAL partner with us too! Fortunately for us, next year we will not have to compete with a Presidential campaign for media attention. And finally, to elaborate on Blane's "mirror" comment, anyone who ever complains about there not being anything fun to do in Lake Charles and who may have sat at home during this beautiful weekend does indeed need to do some soul searching and look in the mirror. I hate to sound negative about it but that is precisely the kind of lazy attitude we're trying to change in this town. Perhaps this can serve as a wake-up for all of us. I still believe that a concerted effort by media and community leaders, along with the enthusiastic Poor Pony staff, can make Pony Fest one of the top music and culture festivals in the state!

[John Latham]

Thank you for the kind words Jim.

Like the article says, this whole thing for me started off as an accident last year. It morphed into something much bigger. And Im grateful for it. And Karen Wink did do a superb job with the newspaper article as well as the online presentation. Ive seen her other work and it is all A+!!

I would like to say that I had a wonderful time as the host/emcee of the Downtown Du Lac pub crawl and Halloween party on Friday night. It was the first time I have ever been so involved with a function of this size here in Lake Charles. From going to planning meetings, to setting up the day of and everything in between, I must say it was very rewarding. Something of a sense of accomplishment seeing smiles on the thousands of faces all due to something I had a hand in creating. A lot of late nights and long hours were put into the festivity. And a good time was had by all. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to working with the Du Lac Merchants Group again in the future. I am glad and grateful for the things they do and am thankful that they thought of me and had enough faith and trust in me to let me loose on the downtown stage with a microphone in hand and be the face of their Halloween party. And by "they" I mean Amie, Blaine, Dave, Justin, Darrin, Mark and anyone else whose name escapes me right now. Truly a dedicated group with the heart and soul to get the job done.

Thank you. Thank you very much!

Sincerely,
John "Johnny New York" Latham