BILL CHERRY'S GREATEST DALLAS PARK CITIES REAL ESTATE BLOG: MY ECCENTRIC FRIENDS -- ELVIS PRESLEY AND WILLIE NELSON (Sort of)

 <<Buzzy Hart as Elvis Presley

I swear to you, I attract eccentric people.  Maybe it's because I personally carry the Pulitzer Prize for Personal Eccentricities.

That's my friend Buzzy Hart up there in that picture.  We went to high school together.  Buzzy was always involved in one rock 'n roll band or another, even though in real adult life he was a butcher in Chicago.

Nevertheless, throughout the years, he never stopped playing and singing with one rock ‘n roll band or another. And somewhere in there, he decided he'd become an Elvis impersonator. Even though Buzzy was a blond, with a black Elvis wig and a fancy, spangly jump suit, if you saw him, it wasn't hard to think he just might be Elvis.

And his getup came with built-in inspiration, since he actually uses a guitar Elvis gave him back in 1956 when the two of them first met.  Buzzy became known as the best Elvis impersonator in the world, and he has made hundreds of appearances as Elvis in Las Vegas, New York, Chicago...the world.

Recently, Buzzy recorded a CD called "My Golden Memories of Elvis." Songs like "That's all Right, Mama," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Heartbreak Hotel," and "It's Now or Never" are included. He sent me a copy, and I'll swear it's like listening to the real Elvis.

Buzzy now lives in East Texas. He and his wife Katheryn are active in little theater. But Buzzy takes his Elvis show on the road. He'll be playing our 50th high school reunion in a month or so.

 <<Roy Hammock as Willie Nelson

Now if that isn't bad enough....I've got an Elvis impersonator for a friend, I've also got a Willie Nelson impersonator as a friend, and we went to high school together, too.

Roy Hammock was an enormously successful life insurance salesman and executive, but then he just decided Willie Nelson was having more fun.  So he got him a Willie Get Up, grew that straggly beard, practiced until he could sing like him, and he became Willie.  Oh, yeah, he retired from the life insurance business.

You'd likely never know the difference if you saw Roy and heard his impersonation of old Willie.

Roy lives in Las Vegas where he performs most of the time...actually doing it for a living  Every now and then he takes his show on the road.  He and former Bill Clinton girlfriend, Gennifer Flowers, are big buds.  He wouldn't tell me if she is attracted to him as Roy or Willie.