POP MUSIC REVIEW : Getting Messy for the King

There’s something about the oddly unmythological myth of Elvis Presley that lets tribute-payers get away with something less than giving it their absolute best shot--perhaps the humanizing fact that Presley spent so much of his own career studiously avoiding his own potential.

In any case, as singer Juke Logan said after the four-hour Fourth Annual Elvis Birthday Benefit Bash, held Tuesday at the Palomino, “Tonight we got messy for the King”--messy being warm, informal, under-rehearsed and occasionally electric.

The fire that co-founder James Intveld lent to the previous three Elvis bashes was missed. Emceeing and bandleading in his stead with agreeable amiability was Ronnie Mack, in front of a revolving-door band that at various points included luminaries John Jorgenson of the Desert Rose Band, D.J. Bonebrake of X and Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats. With 60 songs said to have been learned in six hours of rehearsal, and two dozen singers encompassing both amateurs and legends, it was markedly uneven and mostly fun, in true Elvis spirit.

It took about an hour for the packed house to get all shook up over something, which finally came in the form of a consecutive trio of low-key rockabilly outfits--Russell Scott, Big Sandy & the Fly-Rite Trio, and veteran Ray Campi--that recreated the seminal Sun Sessions sound with varying degrees of slavish accuracy.

Later highlights included Brian Setzer (“I Got Stung”), King Cotton (“Crawfish”) and, for the crowd, “Cheers” actor Woody Harrelson, doing the one real Elvis imitation of the night on “Jailhouse Rock.” Harrelson’s affectation aside, only two performers captured Elvis’ aggressive physicality in some way: Jimmie Wood (“Bossa Nova Baby,” the best number of the night) and Mojo Nixon (preferable doing Elvis to doing himself).