The bald facts of being Elvis
"I AM the only bald, Welsh-speaking, Elvis impersonator who doesn't sing Elvis songs in the world" says Gareth Benney, otherwise known as Elvis Preseli.
It is a bit too much of a sales pitch to fit on the posters, and even the biggest circus barker in showbiz, Col Tom Parker, might have struggled to market him, but Gareth is a popular chap in the clubs of South Wales as well as in Germany.
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Having said that, the organisers of the annual Porthcawl Elvis festival just can't help believing he is poking fun at their idol.
He explains: "They threw us out of the festival because I used to take a George Foreman grill on stage with me, which I called The Presizzler, and I would cook up burgers, because Elvis loved burgers.
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"They thought I was going too far.
"I love Elvis. I always have. But they thought I was making fun of him. I was actually making fun of Elvis Impersonators."
What with the improbable nylon wigs and the paunches-in-jumpsuits, Presley impersonators in general are an open goal, it has to be said.
But the fact that Geraint doesn't cover any Elvis songs may have got the fans all shook up too.
"I always used to sing Elvis songs, and every time I was at the karaoke I would do Suspicious Minds, but my friends got sick of it.
"So now we do all kinds of other material — Gnarls Barkley, Outkast, Radiohead, Scissor Sisters — but we do them in the style of Elvis."
Geraint, from Aberdare, gets around the dubious wig problem too, by not wearing one.
"I have the outfits — the jumpsuit from the Vegas years, the leather one from the Comeback Special. But I don't wear a wig. And am completely bald.
"I do put the sideburns on though."
A keen practical joker and known for his on-stage jollity with the band, I can't help thinking Elvis would get the joke.
But the ban from the festival seems to be a lifetime one.
"I am barred for life, yes," says Geraint.
I would suggest he starts up a fringe festival, but Elvis would never have been seen dead in a fringe.
You can, however, catch Elvis Preseli and the Undertakers at Pontardawe Arts Centre on Friday, March 22, on a Speakeasy Cabaret Club bill.
The night gets going at 7.30pm with comic Dan Mitchell, burlesque act Lilly Laudanum, jazz band Eclipse and others on the bill.
The organisers have put in place a designated driver scheme too, whereby the non-drinking driver in any group of 4 attendees will get into the show for free.
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