Nope, that's not Ari Hest you see…. that's the king himself, Elvis Presley! Well, he sure did look like Elvis, and if I believed in that stuff I would have been absolutely certain that the king was in fact alive. Ari's shows are always exciting and always wonderful, and this was certainly no exception. His Halloween show was played at CB's Gallery, right next door the famous CBGB's, and was part of the CMJ music festival in NYC. I guess Ari had a lot of important music people to impress at this show, and there's no doubt in my mind that he blew them all away. The venue was full and we were all ready for a good show. "Ronald Reagan" came out to introduce "a young man from Memphis, Tennessee" and, in true Halloween spirit, out came Ari in the whole getup. He didn't miss a thing- he had on the white vinyl jumpsuit, the scarf, and of course, the big sunglasses. He opened his set with a cover of "I Want to be Your Teddy Bear" and if I closed my eyes, I would have thought I was back in the '50s listening to Elvis himself.

The crowd was loving it. He then went into "Come Home," the title track of his previous release. He was looking a little uncomfortable, and at the conclusion of "Come Home" he admitted that the costume store only had mediums of the jumpsuit and in his own words, Ari is "an extra-large man." He quickly ran off stage and came back within minutes as the good old Ari that we all know and love.

He continued the rest of his set as follows: They're On To Me, Fascinate You, a new song called Prism, This Fight, Didn't Want to Say Goodbye, Aberdeen, Caught Up In Your Love, and finished off the set with a flawless cover of Fools Rush In. He did the whole set as a solo performance, and while Darrell Briscoe and the rest of the band were surely missed, it was nice to see Ari by himself again. The place was packed and eager to hear some great music. Noone was disappointed. Looking around during the set, it seemed that everyone was into Ari. They were all bopping their heads or just listening intently… and well, it's hard not to when there's such talent right up on stage in front of you.

The only drawback of Ari's set is that it was too short. I could have sat there forever listening to Ari play, and from the looks of the crowd, I wasn't alone. So check out www.arihest.com for more tour dates, and when he's in a town near you, drop everything and go see him. You won't be disappointed.

Thank you… thank you very much.