Religious fury

This Easter Sunday, Rev. Tony Hughes, backed by his band Jesus Presley, will make a pilgrimage to Dante’s Easter Celebration. Though there will be far more liquor at this celebration than most of its religious counterparts, Hughes and company are nonetheless in the business of providing purification, bringing to you salvation from mediocre and generic concerts that offer nothing but the despair of struggling disillusioned musicians.

“When you think of two most important pop icons in history, it’s Jesus and Elvis,” says Hughes. “We don’t do evil music, or religious music, but I have been told that people have a religious experience at the show.”

Rev. Tony is quite the jack-of-all-trades. He’s a local musician, entertainer, ordained minister and founder of the Miss White Trash Pageant. Currently, he is toying with the idea of forming a new organization, Man Scouts of America.

“It’s kind of like the boy scouts, except we don’t go camping and there is drinking involved,” says Hughes. “We would earn merit badges.”

For 13 years Hughes has headed up Jesus Presley, Portland’s foremost “show” band. Emphasizing their live performance, Jesus Presley inundates its audience with an ear full of trumpets, drums, guitar, bass and back-up singers, as well as all the amusing shenanigans the band can fit on stage.

“It goes back to when you would go see a band and they would play a wide variety of music,” says Hughes. “I think it’s important that musicians remember that it’s about entertaining … I think every now and then it’s OK to watch wrestling and cartoons. It doesn’t always have to be serious.”

For the Easter show at Dante’s, Hughes has such activities planned as a marshmallow Peeps eating contest and an Easter egg toss in which he will give away an Easter basket filled with a variety of meats, including Spam and bacon. After all, as Hughes puts it, “everyone loves bacon!”

“It’s just kind of fun to go out and do a little more than show up and play shows,” says Hughes. “We don’t play all that often, but we make sure that when we do, everybody has a really fun time.”

Jesus Presley certainly offers a range of music to ensure said good time. They sport original tunes such as “Do Me,” and “Late Night Booty Call,” but are also able to pull off their own renditions of familiar songs culled from the charts. In Jesus Presley’s hands The Doors’ “Light My Fire” becomes a spacey acoustic melody, while Britney Spears’ “Oops, I Did it Again,” becomes a smooth cocktail lounge groove that even I can’t resist.

If you can break away from your family’s Easter dinner, or are away from home this Easter Sunday, then make the journey to Dante’s. Rev. Tony will make sure your Easter will be one to remember.