Art Fein

There was a moment Friday night at the Lingerie that some of the more devotional-minded Elvis Presley fans might have considered blasphemous. It would have been bad enough for these apostles who only remember Elvis as the slim young rock idol of the '50s and '60s to see Gil T., the rotund bassist in Dave Alvin's band, walk on stage wearing a mock version of the flashy jump suits associated with Presley during the rock star's Las Vegas days. But then-- oh my God-- Gil T.

A press release for a media event at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena said, "While you dine you'll have the opportunity to hear the seven featured speakers from the World Congress on Liposuction Surgery." I can hear my stomach growling already. MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Some people eat too much. For numerous sea lion pups that washed ashore during El Nino, the problem was the opposite.

The annual Elvis Presley Birthday Bash, begun in the cozy Club Lingerie as an antidote to all the morose preoccupation with the singer's death, marked its 10th anniversary on Monday at the upscale, 1,000-capacity House of Blues. The event, in which a host of performers each takes a stab at a couple of Elvis songs, has by now assumed a life of its own--and a form as predictable as a blues progression.