Las Vegas Weekly

March 5, 2009 · 6 AM

Photo Gallery: Trent Carlini prepares to unveil Elvis show Elvolution

By Robin Leach

Trent Carlini as Elvis Presley.

Photo: Preferred Public Relations

Elvis has not left the building, thank you very much! In fact, the King is back on the Strip in the guise of entertainer Trent Carlini -- along with more than 20 of his greatest hits, eight separate stage acts with multiple costume changes and elaborate sets including Army jeeps and a Thalia Mary Lear Jet!

Trent, who won ABC’s The Next Best Thing, unveils Elvolution this Monday at the Steve Wyrick Theater in Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile and promises that Elvolution will highlight multiple years of Elvis’ legacy, including the 1968 comeback and the Vegas engagements of the 1970s.

In advance of the premiere, Trent, who has performed more than 6,500 shows, chatted with me one-on-one.

“Life is fabulous, and it is good to be the King,” he said.

Robin Leach: How on Earth does one get so enmeshed in the legacy of Presley that you want to duplicate him, imitate him and live his life? What is that fascination with the King?

Trent Carlini: The first fascination started as a teen doing rockabilly music. I was influenced in that era a lot with Elvis’ rockabilly music. I was very familiar with it. When I came from Italy to America, I was hired to do Legends in Concert here in Vegas back in 1990. I did that for six years. I got bored out of my mind. I wanted to shoot myself, commit suicide, overdose, and I ended up breaking away from that and starting the concept of Dream King.

I didn’t just want to be a caricature of Elvis or what people at the time were calling impersonators or what they are calling now ETAs (Elvis Tribute Artist). I wanted to create a show that, if at all possible, one person could do eight looks at his career from the beginning to the end; I thought that would be fantastic. So that is what I did for quite a few years.

I was very lucky to play in the places I played and make a name for myself. I won The Next Best Thing, but as far as imitating him, copying him, it became time to move on, and that is why this show is called Elvolution. The Elvolution is Trent Carlini. It is basically after 32 years of a man’s death, how could another human being copy another human being? It is not copying! It is taking his music … if you ask me what he ate for breakfast, I don’t even know. I only know about his music. I am really in love with his music and style, so that is what Elvolution is … it is 32 years after a man’s death, and it is still on the Strip and still in Las Vegas.

RL: Trent, why do you think he still has this lasting appeal to a new generation that didn’t even know him when he was alive?

TC: I mean just look at the guy. Do you see anybody else that looked like that? Sounded like that? I mean it was simple. The guy was the sexiest beast on Earth. Men wanted to be him; women wanted him. They wanted to be with him, love him and mother him. He was generous, maybe not the smartest businessman in the world, but probably the most generous person in the world. Here is a guy that made millions and said I don’t care, all I want is a million dollars in the bank.

RL: Do you think it is an advantage or disadvantage to you that Cirque du Soleil is opening its own Elvis spectacular across the street in CityCenter this December?

TC: I think it is ironic that with all of our travels and I have been here, there, I have played in quite a few places, but the timing now came head to head. I am at Planet Hollywood; they are across the street at CityCenter. I think it is crazy. Crazy in a good way. It is cool. I know them all. I have worked with them in past things, and I think our relationship has come to a very good point.

RL: Winning The Next Best Thing made you the best Elvis in the world. How will they compete with the best Elvis?

TC: See … I am Trent Carlini. I am the Elvolution. I am not the best Elvis; the best Elvis lies in Graceland and has a legacy of music and art that he has left to the world. That is the best Elvis.

Photo: Preferred Public Relations

Trent Carlini as Elvis Presley.

RL: You must have some pretty definite views, or outspoken views, on all of the poor impersonators. You are a showman doing a show of a man’s life; they are just the poor caricatures.

TC: It is very difficult to portray a man’s career musically, but at the same time maintain your own personality and sell it. This is what is the difference from other Elvis tribute artists and impersonators. There are great ones that still have lots to learn; they haven’t evolved yet to where they can be themselves. They are always hiding behind the sideburns, glasses and the jumpsuit and the look, which I have always suggested not to do. … Be yourself, do the music, sound like yourself, if people love you, they love you. If they don’t, then it is not your bag.

There are also a lot of people who are not entertainers, period. They are just jokes. It is obvious to everybody. In the ’90s, the Flying Elvises and the bowling Elvises and the this and that Elvis. I mean, come on, Elvis never jumped in a jumpsuit. It is silly. It doesn’t respect art. I am an artist, I am an entertainer, and I am a musician. I respect that. To me, it is like the people who repainted The Sistine Chapel. We would never see what Michelangelo painted up there because it would have been faded away unless they recolored it for the world to see. That is my philosophy.

RL: So your show will be far more real and true?

TC: Yes! It is insane, completely different than anything ever seen. It is not your typical band walking off stage and changing. That is the beauty of working with Steve Wyrick; there are endless capabilities on that stage. We have designed some really beautiful things for the audience to really enjoy the show and the music that I will portray. … There will definitely be eight different looks, and this is one of the first times that I am combining the early and late ’70s within the same time period.

RL: What is your favorite Elvis song? If you could pick one to take with you to a desert island, what would it be?

TC: Wow, that is a loaded question! “Follow That Dream.”

RL: Have you followed that dream?

TC: Here I am 18 years later, and I think I am going to end up being older than dirt in this town.

RL: What brought you to America from Italy?

TC: Originally, I was born in Chicago. At age 7, my parents moved back to Italy for family reasons. I grew up in Italy, but I am an all-American boy.

Photo: Preferred Public Relations

Trent Carlini as Elvis Presley.

RL: Did you always hanker after Vegas?

TC: Well, it is funny because whenever I say I am never going to go there, I am never going to do that … I always end up doing that. I remember when I had finished my school. I had a few hit records in Europe, I always said you know I want to go back to the U.S. I returned to America and I started this rockabilly group, and I toured the East Coast from the Midwest, Chicago down to Florida, and they were telling me you should go to Vegas, you should go to Vegas. And I was, like, I don’t want to go to Vegas, I don’t want to go there.

Honestly, I have always been dubbed as the Elvis guy, the rebel guy, the one who always does things his own way. And so a friend of mine videotaped me performing, and he sent it to Legends. A week later, we were all flying to see Siegfried & Roy, and when I came to Vegas, I kid you not, it was even more beautiful then when I was 7 and I went to Disney World. The sky was turning blue and purple … it was all lit up and that moment between dark and light, and everything was picture perfect.

We went in and saw Siegfried & Roy, and I had never seen anything like that. You come out of playing pubs and bars, and all of a sudden you see this. It was, like, wow … my dream was to take my show, and it has taken a while. … I may be too old when I get there, but it is escalating, it is getting there, it is going to that first vision I had of my show.

RL: So, Trent, if Elvis was in the audience on Monday night, what do you think he would say about Elvolution?

TC: I have no idea what he would say, but I would give him a big hug and a kiss and say thank you very much. Everyone has been supportive. It is going to be a beautiful thing. It is not going to be in competition with whatever the Cirque show creates at CityCenter. They are two different types of animals, two different types of fruits to enjoy, and God bless America, God bless Elvis, and it is a beautiful life.

RL: You won The Next Best Thing. Did that change your life?

TC: To be honest, I was coming out of a contract from the Sahara. In a year, I had performed 300 shows straight with maybe two weeks off. I was flying back and forth to L.A. to film, so I was pretty toasted. But I think, in a sense, it changed my life, and it is nice to be able to say that Trent Carlini is The Next Best Thing.

“I competed not only against Elvis impersonators but the talents of all sorts of different artists. The one thing that struck me the most about winning was not because I think I was the best, but because Elvis is the best. He has got it. They were his fans.”

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