December 9, 2009
'TIS ALWAYS THE SEASON:
El Vez, Los Straits spice a yule show (David R. Stampone, 12/07/09, The Inquirer)
Yes, Los Straitjackets of Nashville, the surf-rock quartet that famously performs in colorful Mexican lucha libre ("free fight") wrestling masks, played flawlessly. The musicians delivered souped-up, twanged-out standards off the two Noel-oriented albums of their 20-year career: 2002's 'Tis the Season for Los Straitjackets! and the new Yuletide Beat.And Robert "El Vez" Lopez, the savvy Mexican American Elvis impersonator - or cultural "translator," as he prefers - was in warm voice, flanked by his two "Lovely Elvettes," Priscilita and Lisa Maria. In a "MeX-Mas" spirit, he crooned modified yule faves and oddball offerings like Augie Rios' 1958 single "¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?" along with his Latinized Presley hit rewrites ("Blue Suede Shoes," for example, yields "Huaraches Azules").
Instead of being accompanied by his usual Memphis Mariachis, El Vez was ably backed by Los Straits for the night's single 90-minute set. The masked instrumentalists impressed with their seasonal treats ("Deck the Halls" with licks from "I Fought the Law," etc.) when El Vez and the gals left the stage for costume changes.
The gig's brightest star, however, was the ingenious pop-musicological feast of a song-splicing set-list created by El Vez. It was an unrelentingly clever mashup of old carols and anything from early rock to soul, glam, punk - even vintage hip-hop, when he and the Elvettes frantically worked cocaine-referencing quips from Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines (Don't Do It)" as Los Straits cruised through "Jingle Bell Rock."
You can check out an older Straitjackets Christmas Pageant on MySpace