"Elvis" to Kick off Fourth of July Weekend at Tewksbury Country Club

Elvis has entered the building—well, sort of.

On Friday July 1, Elvis impersonator Dana Z will enter the for a tribute concert. The event is being dubbed “Elvis Salutes America” because of the concert’s proximity to the 4th of July weekend.

Dana Z—which stands for Zagoreos—has been performing as an Elvis impersonator for almost 10 years. On his website, he credits himself as "only LIVE BAND Elvis show in town." Zagoreos is known as an ETA in the impersonator world, or an Elvis Tribute Artist. An ETA’s job is to simulate an Elvis concert as best as possible, said Zagoreos.

“Concert styles range from the 50's, 60's, and 70's,” he said. “(The) 70's being my main act ... because it’s more of an audience interest.”

Zagoreos said that he had been an Elvis fan since he saw Elvis’s ’68 Comeback Special and his Aloha concert, a 1973 performance that was broadcast worldwide via satellite. Zagoreos’s career, however, didn’t start until some 30 years later.

As he tells it, his first real performance came when he sang a few Elvis songs during a karaoke session in 2002. A friend who was married in Vegas then asked him to perform at her reception at a local function club.

“From there I decided to start doing Elvis shows,” he said. Though it took a year or so after that decision, he booked his first concert and hasn’t looked back.

“I've won awards and have been invited to perform at some Elvis world events,” he said, “but I don't think all that stuff matters to me.”

Zagoreos placed 5th in 2008 in the Greater Boston Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest and Festival and has been selected to the New England Elvis Festival taking place September 4 to 6 at the Radisson in Manchester, NH. This festival will include “twenty of the world's top Elvis Tribute Artists (ETAs) competing for over $3,500,” according to the event’s website. The winner will represent New England at the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest in Memphis.

If not for accolades and experiences such as this, what does matter to Zagoreos?

“I enjoy doing this,” he said.

Zagoreos is aware that Elvis is one of the most impersonated celebrities on the planet, but this fact simply adds to his experience as a tribute artist.

“I am honored that I am able to make people (as) happy as he did,” said Zagoreos of Elvis, “even if it’s for just an hour and a half.”

Zagoreos hopes that people that attend remember just a couple simple but vital things.

“Enjoy the show but most important have fun,” he said.

The show starts at 9 p.m., preceded by a dinner buffet at 8. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. For ticket information please call 781-718-3978 or 339-227-0989. Tickets are $35 per person.