El Vez, King of Hawaii, at the Showbox, Seattle, WA, Friday, May 8, 1998

This concert poster advertises El Vez (Robert Alan Lopez, b. 1960) performing with his Lovely Elvettes and the Memphis Mariachis, present Hallelujah: The Gospel Show. Instrumental Surf quintet King of Hawaii open this event at Seattle’s Showbox.  

Lopez became interested in punk rock in 1975 after seeing Iggy Pop perform on television and became aware of the connections between punk and queer politics with the PBS series An American Family. As a LGBTQIA+ teen, he was drawn to the Los Angeles punk scene due to its relative inclusiveness across gender, race, and identity. His punk band The Zeroes became a staple of the scene, playing with bands such as the Germs, the Plugz, the Avengers, X, and others. In the late 1980s, Lopez developed his El Vez persona, delivering a sexy homage to Elvis Presley (as well as David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Freddie Mercury, and others) across covers and original songs while incorporating his Latin-American heritage into his music.