PORT ANGELES — The King will be in the building.
His songs and spirit, that is.
They will fill the big community hall this Saturday night as two Elvis Presley tribute artists come back for a concert and fundraiser for the city’s recreation programs.
“A Night with Elvis” will shake, burn and sneer its way into the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 W. Fourth St., at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets are $10 in advance and at the door.
Bret Wiggins and Dino Macris, singers who participate in Elvis tribute festivals across the Northwest, plan on unleashing their full fervor here.
Wiggins will start the first of his two sets with a “Trouble/Guitar Man” mash-up, then dive into his “Heartbreak Hotel-Hound Dog-All Shook Up” medley. “Love Me Tender” will find its way in, too. That first set has Wiggins wearing black leather a la the Elvis of 1968.
For his second set Saturday, the tribute artist will don what’s called the “chain jumpsuit” and dish out “Suspicious Minds,” “Polk Salad Annie,” “Blue Suede Shoes” and such.
A ‘physical show’
“It’s a real physical show,” promised Wiggins, who in his other life is an architect in Seattle. He’s also the son of former Port Angeles Mayor Glenn Wiggins and relishes the opportunity to come and entertain audiences here.
Macris, meantime, specializes in Elvis’ ballads: “My Way,” “You Don’t Have to Say I Love You,” “Kentucky Rain.”
Not that he skips the rock ‘n’ roll: “Johnny B. Goode” is on his list too.
A recently retired crew leader at the Boeing Co., Macris plans to compete in the Penticton Elvis Festival and the Canadian Bluemoon Elvis Festival, both in British Columbia this June.
Just last month, he and Wiggins also performed in the Seattle Elvis Invitationals at the Experience Music Project museum at Seattle Center. Wiggins was a returning champion, having won the competition in 2012.
Triumphant return
To Port Angeles, the two artists are making a triumphant comeback.
Their Jan. 7, 2012, concert here drew a standing-room-only crowd to the Vern Burton. The event raised $6,000 for Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County and the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society, reported organizer Mimi Wiggins, who is Bret Wiggins’ mother.
True to form, he plans on bestowing many long, flowing scarves on women in the audience.
Macris, too, believes in treating women well, with serenades and plenty of going “out in the field,” as he puts it.
Amber Mozingo of the city recreation department is looking forward to “A Night with Elvis,” and not only because it will raise money for the city’s after-school activities and summer day camps for children.
She recalls Wiggins’ set at a Christmas party here awhile back, when “he was fantastic. He had everybody on the edge of their seats.”
Tickets for “A Night,” as well as information about city recreation programs, are available at the recreation office at the Vern Burton center and by phoning 360-417-4550.
Elvis was born Jan. 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Miss., and died Aug. 16, 1977, in Memphis, Tenn. He recorded more than 750 songs, Wiggins noted.
“He lit the torch,” the tribute artist added. “We’re just trying to pass it along.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
