Hunka Hunka Holiday Fun With El Vez

For the past two Christmases, El Vez spread his joy in Europe, wowing Scandinavian crowds with his pork-chop sideburns, his breakaway jumpsuits and his kitschy take on Elvis and traditional holiday songs.

“The Norwegians and Swedes think they invented Christmas,” says Chula Vista’s one-of-a-kind Elvis impersonator, “but they got really into the Mex-mas experience.”

During his European tour, El Vez hosted an hourlong Christmas special and opened for David Bowie in Denmark. His album “Merry MeX-mas”--which includes such songs as “Feliz Navidad,” “Santa Claus is Sometimes Brown” and “Mamacita Donde Esta Santa Claus?”--recently was ranked No. 3 on Norway’s all-time greatest Christmas records of the world.

But Sunday at the Troubadour, the King, er, El Rey, returns home. Armed with his backup singers, the Lovely Elvettes, and accompanied by the Memphis Mariachis, El Vez promises the show will be “a musical stocking stuffed with a kaleidoscope of styles.”

While his holiday tunes cover every musical genre from country-western to punk rock to Rolling Stone blues to flat-out funk, El Vez also injects wry social and political commentary into the show, emphasizing that all cultures aren’t represented at Christmas.

“Sure, Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ is nice, but it’s not the only kind. Other Christmases are just as valid,” explains El Vez. “When I was growing up, I didn’t have sled rides or chestnuts roasting on any open fire. Christmas to me has a wider, more open meaning.”

When El Vez lays his pompadoured head on his pillow Christmas Eve, he doesn’t have visions of sugarplums dancing in his head. Rather, he dreams of a “Brown Christmas”:

I’m dreaming of a Brown Christmas,

Just like the one in Mexico.

Where bunuelos glisten,

Posadas at the mission,

And yes, we don’t need no snow.

The Mex-mas show includes “Brown Christmas” as well as a spoken-word commentary on the lack of Latino characters in the Peanuts Christmas special. Backed by the Vince Guaraldi number “Christmastime Is Here,” El Vez asks, “Hey, Charlie, I’m brown. Por que no Latinos in your town?”

But ultimately, El Vez is simply about having a good time. And that means costume changes.

“I’ve gone a little Iggy Pop this season,” says El Vez. “Hip-hugging bell bottoms with Santa Claus trim. I’ve got seven different outfits.”

With all these different musical styles and attempts at cultural awareness, what en el mundo does the 10-year veteran of Elvis impersonation have in common with the original King?

“Elvis did a song called, ‘Why Can’t Every Day Be Like Christmas?’ and I like that feeling,” El Vez explains. “Elvis loved Christmas. It was his favorite time of the year. And it’s mine, too.”