Behold the Many Moods of Elvis

If Elvis hadn’t existed, surely we’d have been forced to invent him. That theory never rang truer than at the 17th annual Elvis Birthday Bash, held Sunday at House of Blues in West Hollywood, just two days shy of what would have been the King’s 67th birthday.

The infinite malleability of Elvis the man, the musician and the pop-culture icon sustained a nearly five-hour show with dozens of performers who, by turns, paid reverent, ironic, cynical, heartfelt, joking or just plain impenetrable tribute to Presley’s music and public image.

Anyone not familiar with Presley’s culture-changing synthesis of American roots music undoubtedly would have been perplexed trying to pinpoint a unifying factor as various acts emphasized the multiple facets of his music. Country, blues, R&B;, pop, bluegrass, Hollywood hokum--all except the gospel music closest to his heart--got ample air time.

In some respects, the annual tribute turns into a “top this!” challenge to each succeeding talent roster. The King’s Order of El Mysah came up with the best visual gimmick--everyone in the band wore leopard-print fezzes and black turtlenecks--during respectable whacks at “Blue Hawaii” and “Rock-A-Hula Baby” (whose composer, Ben Wiseman, took a quick bow).

Clearly, 30 years from now, no one’s going to have half this much fun saluting U2.

On the other hand, Rosie Flores, Billy Swan, Evie Sands, Big Sandy & His-Fly-Rite Boys, Russell Scott & the Red Hots, the Sprague Brothers and Kevin Banford & the Bakersfield Boys stayed mostly sincere in each of their two- or three-song sets.

Event stalwart and co-founder James Intveld offered possibly the most obscure song choice of the night in “Is It So Strange,” a Faron Young number Presley recorded in 1957.

Most musicians favored ‘50s Elvis, which most aficionados consider his most inspired period. Still, the capacity crowd got a generous sprinkling of such kitschy film songs as “Spinout,” “Stop, Look and Listen” and, of course, “Viva Las Vegas.” Flores offered one of the few ‘70s Elvis numbers with an openly emotional performance of “Always on My Mind,” the Willie Nelson song Presley recorded in 1972.

Other than a handful of renditions of his Sun Records-era scorcher “Baby Let’s Play House,” there was impressively little repetition, despite the number of participants. The artistic returns, and the crowd, began to diminish markedly after about the third hour. The end came two hours after that with a pair of Elvis impersonators whose tacky outfits didn’t obscure their genuine affection for the show’s honoree.

Such a night.