The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 156

JV4 He's putting a Mexican spin on the King Nightlife By Dan DeLuca INQUIRER STAFF WRITER I lvis looked like my uncles," says I I Robert Lopez, a.k.a. El Vez, re Concert Halls I -J calling his first memories of the King. "The black hair in a pompadour, the slacks. I didn't ftp kH in ELECTRIC FACTORY 421 7th St (between Callowhill Spring Garden Sts); 215-568-3222. Blur With That Dog.

$16. 8 p.m. Tue. TROCADERO 10th Arch Sts; 215-922-6888. Latin Playboys $8.

8 tonight. El Vez With After Dinner Mints. $10 advance; $1 1 .50 day of show. 7 p.m. Mon (all ages).

WATERFRONT ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE One Harbour Blvd. Camden; 215-336-2000 or 609-338-9000. Dave Matthews Band With Beia Fleck the Flecktones. Sold out. 7:30 p.m.

Sat. Ozzfest With Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Pantera, Type 0, Fear Factory, Machinehead, Powerman 5000, others. $38 $48; $32.50 lawn seating. 1 p.m. Sun.

George Winston McCarter Theatre Center for the Performing Arts, 91 University Place, Princeton; 609-683-8000 (TDD: 609-252-0915). 3 8 tonight-Sat. Elio Villafranca Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St; 215-925-9914. $12. 8 p.m.

Sat. Chris Smither With Catie Curtis. Upper Merion Township Building-Concerts Under the Stars Series, 175 Valley Forge Rd, King of Prussia; 610-265-1071. free seniors and ages under 16. 7 p.m.

Sun. Gladys Knight With Jeffrey Osborne. Bob Carpenter Center, University of Delaware, Rte 4 896, Newark; 302-984-2000. $32.50 $37.50. 7 p.m.

Sun. U2 With Fun Lovin' Criminals. Franklin Field, 34th St Civic Center Blvd; 215-336-2000. $52.50. 7:30 p.m.

Sun. Rain or shine. Clubs El Vez, the Mexican Elvis, will perform at the Trocadero on Monday. "The idea is to take apart something old and make it new," says El Vez Robert Lopez). songs or messages in the set.

It works on a couple of levels. That's what we're trying to do." Some tickets are still available for Sunday's show. Tom Moon think: 'He's white, I'm He was one of us." And the idea that Elvis is all things to all people has never been embodied in as deli-ciously subversive an entertainment concept as it is in the being of El Vez, the Mexican Elvis, who performs at the Trocadero on Monday. Lopez, 35, grew up an Anglicized Latino in Chula Vista, Calif. He didn't speak Spanish, and he watched Viva Las Vegas and Blue Hawaii on TV.

But after playing in the L.A. punk rock bands the Zeros and Catholic Discipline (the latter featured in Penelope Spheeris' 1981 movie Decline of Western Civilization), he traveled extensively in Mexico and wound up working as a curator at the folk-art La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles. In 1988, he put on an Elvis-themed show at the gallery, and, on a dare, decided to go to Memphis to perform outside of Graceland during "Weep Week," the annual observance of Elvis' death in August. He wrote some lyrics on the plane "I think it was 'Ain't nothing but a he recalls and wound up going over big. Since then, El Vez has never looked back.

After two albums and a Christmas EP, last year he released G.I. Ay, Ay! Blues on the Philadelphia Big Pop label. Supported by his band, the Memphis Maria-chis, and taking to heart Phil Ochs' words that "If there is any hope for a Revolution, it lies in Elvis Presley becoming Che Guevara," G.I is El Vez at his most political. Backed by the Memphis Mariachis, El Vez is a brilliantly amusing rock-and-roll recontextualizer. He nods to James Brown on the immigration saga "Say It Loud! I'm Brown And I'm Proud" love me tender, love me long, why can't we all just get and turns the Presley hit "Kentucky Rain" into a hilarious send-uptribute to the artist Frida Kahlo called "Frida's Life of Pain." Back in January, El Vez played the Silk City Lounge on the wildly entertaining Rock and Revolution Tour.

This time, he'll be focusing on the mariachi-rockabilly from his 1995 Gra-ciasland album. But never fear: There will be plenty of costume changes, and lovely El-vettes Lisa Maria and Priscillita will be in the building. Lopez, 35, who is Los Angeles-based but currently lives out of a suitcase soon I'll have a Graciasland of my own," he jokes), has big plans. He also performs with the punk-rock band Bob and as the Latino Jack Kerou-ac-meets-Henry Rollins spoken-word artist Raoul Raoul. He recently played an extended El Vez gig in Las Vegas to a crowd of blue-haired women, nose-ring punkers, and Mexican nationals, and is working on a "Siegfried Roy style" revue, And there will be an El Vez gospel tour in the fall.

His belief in the revolutionary Elvis grows out of genuine affection for Presley's music (though he has been known to El Vez-ify classics by Sly Stone, John Lennon, and Bachman Turner Overdrive). "He was the first gangsta rapper, the first glitter rocker and the first punk rocker," Lopez says of Presley. "In '56, he was totally revolutionary." El Vez's agenda, Lopez says, is "to be an Elvis terrorist" and Mexicanize American cultural concepts "by whatever means neces- sary." "Elvis impersonators are the court jesters of our culture," he says. "I make that even more over-the-top by first Mexicanizing it, and then putting some real information behind it. The idea is to take apart something old and make it new by putting the pieces back together in an interesting way." El Vez, with After Dinner Mints, at the Trocadero, 10th and Arch Streets, at 8 p.m.

Monday. Tickets: $10 advance; $11.50 day of show. Phone: 215-922-6888. U2, with Fun Lovin' Criminals, at Franklin Field 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $52.50. Phone: U2 Philadelphia Bistro Romano 120 Lombard St; 215-925- 8880. Fris, Mario Mira. Sats, Craig Satchel). Brasil's Restaurant 1 12 Chestnut St; 215- 413-1700.

Latin music. Fris. Mega Radio Station. Sats, Marcello Alves. Cafe Nola 603 3d St; 215-627-2590.

Jazz. Suns, Chad Gustafson. Chris' Cafe 1421 Sansom St; 215-568-3131. Jazz. Fris, Larry McKenna Quartet.

Sats, Jimmy Bruno Trio. Club 34 Columbus Blvd South St; 215-923-2500. Rock. Tonight, Jelly Roll. Sat, the Exceptions.

Cuvee Notredame 1701 Green St; 215-765-2777. Variety. Wed, Don Lee Van Winkle. Dave 4 Buster's Dockside Columbus Blvd, south of Callowhill St (Pier 19); 215-413-1951. Variety.

Tonight, Rhythm Bluefish. Sat, the Business. Dawson Street Pub 100 Dawson St; 215-482-5677. Blues. Tonight, Mark Furman Band.

Doc Watson's Pub 216 1 1th St; 215-922-3427. Variety. Tonight, September, She Became Grey. Sat, Ken, the Photon Band, Wicked Finger. Downey's Front South Sts; 215-625-9500.

Variety. Suns, Sonny Troy Trio. Finnigan's Wake 3rd Spring Garden Sts; 215-574-9240. Top 40 Irish. Tonight, Sean Fleming Band.

Sat, Shampoo. Five Spot 5 Bank St; 215-574-0070. Jazz. Tonight, the Big Push. Sat.

Ronnie James the Jez Hot Swing Club. Sun, City Rhythm Orchestra. Wed, Ronnie James the Jez Hot Swing Club. Thu, Caesar his Latin Playboys. Four Seasons Hotel Swann Lounge, One Logan Square; 215-963-1500.

Jazz. Fris, Rose Guardino and her trio, Sats, Tom Lawton Trio. Tues-Sats (afternoon). Jimmy Dellorefice. Suns (brunch), Bob Gold Trio.

The Irish Bards 2013 Walnut St: 215-569-9585. Irish sessions. Suns (5-9 p.m.), Hollis Payer, Kevin McGilliam, Roy Rogers. Jamaican Jerk Hut 1436 South St; 215-545-8644. Reggae and Caribbean.

Tonight-Sat, Carribbean Authentics. KatManDu Delaware Ave. between Callowhill Spring Garden St (Pier 25); 215-629-7400 or 215-629-1 101. Variety. Tonight, Lenny the Soul Senders, the Flying Mueller Bros.

Sat. Verdict, the Sensational Soul Cruisers. Sun, Innasense. See NIGHTLIFE on Page 16. And then there's Gothic roots indie-rock celebrity Will Oldham, who has just released yet another disturbingly spooky collection of faux traditional art songs under the Palace Music rubric, Lost Blues and Other Songs (Drag City), is Upstairs at Nicks on Saturday.

Delta 72 and Stinking Lizaveta play an all-ages show at the Pontiac on Saturday, with Quadra-jets. Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath headline the all-day metal party Ozzfest on Sunday at the Entertainment Centre in Camden, with Geezer Butler, Tony lommi, Pantera, Type 0 Negative, Fear Factory, Machinehead, Powerman 5000, Downset and others. Pipless Gladys Knight and Jeffrey Osborne sing at the Bob Carpenter Center in Delaware on Sunday. Blues singer-songwriter Chris Smither stomps his foot in the Stars Under the Stars concert series in King of Prussia on Sunday Brit-pop prince Damon Albarn leads Blur, whose self-titled fifth album is a mostly successful marriage of classic melodic pop and American indie-rock noise, to town on Tuesday for its second show of the spring, this time at the Electric Factory; That Dog opens. The Texas team of knockout-voiced, should-be country starlet Kelly Willis and husband Bruce Robison are at the Tin Angel on Tuesday.

D.D. For details, see the listings. Launched with a tongue-in-cheek media conference in a K-Mart store, U2's Popmart tour has been saddled with a fair number of returns, shows canceled for lack of ticket sales, and an album, Pop, that has underper-formed (it's at 29 on the Billboard chart this week). The numbers don't tell the whole story, however. This Irish four-piece, performing Sunday at the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field, has figured out something that has eluded just about everyone else in rock and roll: How to create rousing and meaningful music in vast, cold, impersonal stadiums.

"The Clash was the first concert that took me somewhere completely else," Bono said before the tour-opener in Las Vegas, recalling shows that influenced his thinking as a performer. "They were mixing a lot of Caribbean influences, real groove things. And then Bruce Springsteen he was the one who convinced us we could play an arena and it could be joyous. And then you look across the road to what's happening in black music, in hip-hop or something like P-Funk. They're proving you can have fun and funk next to songs about the grubbiness of living on the streets.

Nobody's saying those guys can't do serious 13 TttEt PrtltADaPfltA WltfulRfett Friday, June 6, 1997.