Dear Friends:

I know - I'm way behind in getting this out - and I was so good with the last one.

When we left off, we were getting ready to travel to Manchester, NH, for the New England Elvis Festival. It was fabulous! This was an Invitational Competition and all of the competing artists received complimentary rooms. Manchester is a gorgeous town and the Radisson hotel was perfect for our needs.

Shawn Klush rocked the house with his "Aloha from New England" and the audience was huge. What a fabulous crowd for a first-time festival!

The hard-fought contest was exciting and right "to the wire." Winners were:

1st - Jim Barone
2nd - Jay Zanier
3rd - Robert Washington

Two weeks later, we traveled to LaCrosse, WI, for Ronny Craig's Elvis Explosion. As usual, Ronny put on a wonderful weekend. 30 contestants vied for the $10,000 prize package!

Dwight Icenhower and Michael Hoover shone as special guests opening and closing the show each night. We love this show because the late-night jam sessions are right in the hotel and tons of fun. The river cruise was packed and everyone enjoyed the beautiful scenery as ETA's entertained.

Saturday afternoon, the Great Pretenders took the stage. The audience whooped and screamed as the ETA's brought back fabulous memories of other great rock and roll artists.

Sunday afternoon, the 10 finalists, backed by the Change of Habit Tribute Band
showed their "stuff." What a collection of talent!!! Winners were:

1st - Irv Cass
2nd - Vic Trevino
3rd - Robert Washington
4th - Jesse Aron
5th - Ted Torres
6th - Todd Martin
7th - Brad Boice
8th - GaryElvis Britt
9th - Scott Wattles
10th - Tony Rocker

Irv's emotional acceptance of his win had most of us in tears. it was a truly great weekend.

The following week, we winged our way to Dewey Beach, DE, for Elvistival ! The Rusty Rudder is a wonderful host venue. Each of the contestants receive lodging and meals at their fabulous restaurant. The weather was beautiful and the crowd was huge and enthusiastic. With the sun or the moonlight reflecting off gorgeous Rehobeth Bay, the crowd roared as the ETA's sang their hearts out. Winners were:

Non-pro

1st - Jim Parsley
2nd - Ernest Hefferon
3rd - Daniel Barrella
4th - Joe Forrester
5th - Rob E

Professional

1st - Rick Lenzi
2nd - Kelly Hylton
3rd - Will Debley
4th - Jed Duvall
5th - Garyelvis Britt

Peoples' choice (Friday) Rick Lenzi
(Saturday) Jim Parsley

In October, we traveled to Branson. The contest was wonderful and we were pleased to have some old friends drop in to see us. Both Reggie Randolph and Dean Z spent time visiting with fans and performers alike. Dean Z even brought his lovely Mom to see us! While we were in Branson, we got to see Ronny's beautiful new condo. It has a gorgeous view of the golf course - too bad he doesn't play!

Winners in Branson were:

1st - Rick Lenzi
2nd - Jesse Aron
3rd - Jim Bishop
4th - Mark Gagnon

November brought us to our annual Christmas show. This year, we made the show a fundraiser for our local little league team. As we live in a rural area, the town does not support sports and the kids love their baseball! We changed the show to The Great Pretenders. We were pleased to have our largest crowd ever in the Sabre Room! What a fabulous show! Performers Jesse and Tarie Aron, Irv Cass, Mark Gagnon, Ted Torres, Nick Gutierrez, Jerome Marion, E-Rock and Rick Lenzi rocked the house! Elvis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Marilyn Monroe, Tom Jones, Ricky Nelson, and Buddy Holly joined together to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season. Several of the talented members of the Change of Habit added to the fun by singing traditional Christmas carols. We appreciate the beautiful voices of Trish, Cliff, Nick, and Joe. We even got Ronny to sing a Christmas song! The mothers from the ball club put together the most fabulous raffle prizes - bunches of them. It was a wonderful evening!

Hope everyone had a joyous holiday season and are having a exciting beginning to 2010!
 

Nance