POP MUSIC REVIEW : ‘Mexican Elvis’ Is Mainly Hype

The most interesting thing about El Vez’s appearance at the Casbah was that his bassist, Darin Scheff, is the son of Jerry Scheff, who played bass in the real Elvis Presley’s band.

Other than that, the self-proclaimed “Mexican Elvis,” in his 40-minute set at the Middletown club Friday, showed himself to be far more hype than substance.

Sure, it’s a good idea: a Mexican Elvis impersonator who interprets Presley classics with a decided Latino twist. And when Robert Lopez first unveiled his alter ego in August, 1988, outside Graceland, Presley’s former home in Memphis, on the eve of the 11th anniversary of Presley’s death, his impromptu performance propelled him into the national spotlight.

Before long, Lopez, a Los Angeles gallery owner and former San Diegan, was getting rave write-ups in publications like Rolling Stone and Details, and appearing on television’s “Hunter” and “2 Hip 4 TV.”

But, from his San Diego performance, it’s difficult to see what all the hoopla is about. More than two years after El Vez’s debut, the novelty has worn off, and all that’s left is a guy who’s been telling the same joke so long that it just isn’t funny anymore.

Instead of making good on his earlier promise to put together a backup band of mariachi and salsa musicians and apply Latin arrangements to the old Presley hits, Lopez simply hired a six-piece rock band and ran down the hit parade much like any other Elvis impersonator.

The Latino touch was nothing more than a cosmetic afterthought. There were a few lyrical changes--”Heartbreak Hotel” became “Aztec Hotel,” “In the Ghetto” became “In the Barrio,” and in the chorus to “Hound Dog,” he sang, “You ain’t nothing but a Chihuahua.” There were a few verses in each song sung in Spanish. And there were periodic shouts of Arriba, Arriba!, as if that would do the trick.

It didn’t. Instead of showing the audience what might have happened had the former truck driver from Tupelo, Miss., taken a wrong turn and ended up in Ciudad Juarez rather than Memphis, Lopez came across as a poor man’s Elvis who just happens to know a little Spanish.

Saving the evening from being a total disappointment were two compelling opening sets by a pair of talented San Diego bands, the Bedbreakers and the Hoods.

The Bedbreakers played an impressive collection of rhythm- and-bluesy rock originals, but it was the Hoods who really stole the show.

Consisting of former members of the Trebels and the Tell-Tale Hearts, two of San Diego’s finest garage-rock bands of the 1980s, the Hoods play delightfully crude, primitive rhythm-and-blues straight out of Britain’s early 1960s Mod scene.

Their cover of the old Willie John classic, “You Hurt Me,” was a real soul scorcher; Xavier Anaya, in particular, deserves high marks for his weepy guitar solo, which heightened the passion and pain of the lyrics.

“Mystery,” an original, was as raucous and soulful as anything by the Animals or the Yardbirds. Singer Jay Wiseman, in fact, not only sounds a lot like the Animals’ Eric Burdon, he even looks like him.

The Hoods closed their all-too-brief set with a vibrant interpretation of another old blues tune, Muddy Waters’ “I Got My Mojo Working.” It’s a pity El Vez wasn’t around to see it. He might have been too embarrassed to go on.