Since Elvis’ death in 1977, Elvis trib­ute artists like Jake Slater have kept the mem­ory and spirit of him alive.

Jake Slater and the EAS Band from Chicago will be per­form­ing An Evening with Elvis at Big Rapids High School on Oct. 14.

“If any­one ever won­dered what an Elvis show was all about, this is one you don’t want to miss,” said Jennifer Thede, Ferris employee and co-founder of the Michigan Elvis Presley Fan Club (MEPFC).

The fan club was cre­ated by Jennifer and her hus­band Scott in January of 2009.

“As Elvis fans going to Elvis events, we felt there was a miss­ing piece, which was a cen­tral net­work of Elvis infor­ma­tion, espe­cially related to events in our state,” said Thede. “Our Web site, mielvis​.com, intends to be a place where Elvis fans can con­nect and find out information.”

Slater has been per­form­ing pro­fes­sion­ally for about two years. The MEPFC began work­ing with him for the Elvis Birthday Bash 2010.

“Jake has a great abil­ity to con­nect with the audi­ence.  His voice is very strong and he is able to per­form all the Elvis eras,” said Thede. “We pre­dict that in a few years it may be dif­fi­cult to even catch a show in Michigan.  He is a great over-all tal­ent, and he’ll likely be on the national Elvis trib­ute tours or cruises in the near future.”

The con­cert is being put on as a fundraiser for the Big Rapids High School band. The money raised will be put toward such things as instru­ments, equip­ment repairs, and uniforms.

“A lot of peo­ple are work­ing very hard to make this a great show, and we have a lot of stu­dent involve­ment and par­tic­i­pa­tion,” said Thede. “Attending this show is another way to sup­port the arts and the stu­dents in Big Rapids, many of whom end up attend­ing Ferris.”

An Evening with Elvis will take place on Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. at the Big Rapids High School Auditorium. Tickets can be pur­chased at show​clix​.com or by call­ing 888−718−4253. Ferris stu­dents with a valid ID get half off the orig­i­nal ticket price. For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact Jennifer Thede at 796‑4467 or jennifer@mielvis.com, or visit mielvis​.com

“We’d love to have Ferris stu­dents, per­haps espe­cially in the music-related pro­grams, attend to see this won­der­ful band - the EAS Band from Chicago. This band is the utmost respected band in the Elvis trib­ute world and tours all over the coun­try, in Memphis, and on the Elvis Cruises, so we are very for­tu­nate to have them stop in Big Rapids for a show,” said Thede. “Also, The Gate is invit­ing every­one to come enjoy their Thursday night spe­cials after the Elvis show.” n