Dear Friends and Fans:

May already! Wow! 2005 is almost 1/2 over!

We spent a glorious week in Florida for Elvis Wayne's Elvis® Invasion! Kathy Hood and I flew down a few days early to stay with Marie White. The day after we arrived, we drove up to Ocala to visit my Mom. That lady is just amazing - she's 85 years old and going strong! Look for her picture in this month's collection.

After 2 days of wonderful sightseeing (we saw dolphins playing right off the shore!) and gorgeous weather, we all moved to the hotel for the contest. Elvis® and Donna did a great job and Friday night's karaoke party by the pool was relaxing and fun. We met several new talented ETA's and greeted old friends.

Saturday night and Sunday afternoon was the preliminaries and they were hard fought. Sunday finals resulted in :

1 - Dwight Icenhower

2 - Kavan

3 - Matt Joyce

4 - Scott Norton

5 - Joe Trites

6 - Garyelvis Britt

Thank you, Elvis and Donna, for a great weekend!

Friday, May 6th brought Elvis® Meets the Beatles. The Lexington House was packed! The show was the best ever! Of course, American English did their Beatles recreation with almost uncanny perfection. Irv and Dwight thrilled the audience with the 50's, movies, '68 Special and Las Vegas years. Anthony and the Change of Habit Showband were exciting and when Dwight recreated the '68 sit-down, the crowd went wild!

The show was a benefit for the Animal Welfare League and for the past 4 years, they have brought puppies and kittens for adoption. As many of you know, a year ago, I lost my beloved dog, Bawoofa - a collie-chow cross. Sara Derfler, our favorite "stage babe," kept after me to go and see the puppies - especially the one little girl dog. I finally gave in and walked over to the cages. That was it - she is 2 months old, a collie-chow cross. And, yes, she now lives at my house. Now that my other dog, Prissy, and I have gotten to know and love her, we call her Trouble. She is a dear little person, however, we have had to puppy-proof the house. She climbs into the dryer and carries my underclothes upstairs, removes books from the lower shelves of the bookcase, sleeps on Prissy's rug (a unpardonable sin), and loves everyone in sight.

Next week, we travel to South Bend, IN, for Irv Cass' 2nd Annual Elvis® Fest and ETA Contest. It's going to be a fun weekend with Dwight Icenhower's Birthday Bash on Friday night. Dwight is last year's winner and this year's special guest. We have a fantastic line-up of ETA's for the contest and the judges will have their work cut out for them. Hope to see you there!

Nance