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A date with Elvis

Singer Elvis Presley is pictured in this undated publicity photograph which is autographed. PHOTO: REUTERS

What are the odds of Elvis showing up at a party marking his own death -- in Taipei? Stranger things have happened. In August of 1997 he starred "via video" in a concert at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee commemorating the 20th anniversary of his passing. The event broke the Coliseum's all-time box office sales record. More routinely, tabloids the world over have reported sightings of the King everywhere from Moscow to Madrid. The fact that none of these reports came from Taiwan only increases the liklihood that someone will eventually bump into him buying red bean cakes at Wellcome.

Do the math. If there's, say, a one-in-a-million chance of Elvis being seen in Taiwan today, and there are 23 million people in Taiwan, then Elvis will be seen on the island 23 times today.

Odds are you'll catch him at Carnegies tonight, where several of his fans will be dressed as their idol, awaiting his arrival. Foremost among them will be Mark Goding, who approached the Carnegie's management about doing something special to honor the King.

"I asked if I could come dressed as Elvis and they said `yeah,' Goding explains. "I asked if it'd be okay if a lot of people came dressed as Elvis and they said `sure.' Then I asked if we could prop up an Elvis cut-out, light candles and offer him buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken and the like. They seemed to be okay with that, too."

As you might expect, Nudie suits and pompador wigs are hard to come by in Taipei. For his part, Goding plans to make his own by gluing sequins to his clothes and fur to his motorcycle helmet. Just seeing that might be worth standing in line outside Carnegies.

While there are no drink specials planned for the occasion, as Goding points out, if you're dressed like Elvis someone will likely buy you a beer. Of course, the odds of the real Elvis actually appearing are probably much greater than one-in-a-million. Even if he were still alive he'd be 67 years old and might feel out of place at Carnegies.

What am I saying? He'd fit right in.
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