There’s A Guy Sings Down The Bar Swears He’s Elvis

Oh no, we are but a week away from an anniversary. Normally I might set this as a quiz, but I can’t wait.

16 August 1977. Elvis. As a board.

First it was a celebration of 40 years ago, now it’s 30. I remember it well; an initial moment of shock and then a concern about what punk band was playing the Greyhound in Fulham and were we having a curry.

You might ask, why bring this up. Well, Elvis is deeply engrained into the local psyche, or at least into the local how-do-we-get-the-punters-through-the-door psyche. I don’t have a problem with bars drumming up business, nor with drumming it up with some dodgy doppelganger lip-curling his way through “Are You Lonesome Tonight”, nor indeed with the artists themselves earning some euros (not all of them are dodgy; indeed some are quite good, but that's not the point). What I do have a problem with is this Elvis thing, period. I wonder whether Elvis would have thought - back in Nashville in the ‘50s - that it would be pretty cool for some cabaret act in 2007 to be impersonating him in a hotel entertainment area or bar in Alcúdia or Pollensa. No, I don’t reckon he would have. Nor, I suspect, would he have thought this once he himself had become an average cabaret artist, nor when he was lying on his bed in Graceland taking his last barbiturates.

Doubtless that arch Elvis and Elvis-impersonator apologist - Lash, R. - will celebrate all this. ‘Fraid I won’t. I won’t repeat it, but if you want to look back at 3 October last year, you can read why.


Following the huge success of the Indian Palace restaurant review (3 August), Seamus returns in our new feature - CULLEN’S CULINARY CORNER. Today - GOLF CLUB ALCANADA:

“There were two of us for lunch and we thought we would try something nice. The golf club has a nice terrace and also an air-conditioned dining-room when it is too hot. It was a bit cloudy today but we ate inside anyway. There is also a 180-degree view of the bay of Alcúdia, from Alcúdia to Betlem.
 
“They have an a la carte menu which is quite expensive by Alcúdia standards and also a snack menu that looks of a very high standard and reasonably priced. They also have a menu del día (daily special menu). They have a very good chef as all our food was of a really high standard and well-presented.
 
“I had foie gras to start, which was excellent, and a home-made lasagne that was for sure home-made, as the pasta was 100% fresh and tasty. My girlfriend had a ricotta cheese mousse salad and goulash soup, both were excellent. We had a half bottle of wine, a rioja. The bill came to 74 euros, expensive for Alcúdia but worth it I think.
 
“This is a nice place to eat and the staff were very friendly and spoke in English to my girlfriend and in Spanish to me. I also noticed a group of Spanish grannies and they had menu del dia; it looked great - bacalao (cod) and a white wine sauce. It came very quickly as well.
 
“This is a very nice place to enjoy a nice lunch. Don’t go in a rush and enjoy it.”


QUIZ
Well done to all who got Carole King. Today’s title is based on whose hit record?

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