“What a night!” was the overall consensus of the people attending the Elvis concert at the Forest Grove Community Hall in Forest recently.
Randy “Elvis” Friskie and his daughter, Cassandra Friskie, definitely left their mark, wowing everyone from beginning to end.
The evening started off with Cassandra singing the Patsy Cline song, “She’s Got You,” right through to Shania Twain’s “I Feel like A Woman.” She is an incredibly talented performer, has a wonderful voice and made every song sound like the original – Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minnelli, Cher or the ladies of country.
Randy won the audience over in various outfits, belting out song after song and all while performing his dance moves – hip swinging and all. He convinced everyone of his aptitude to sound like the late Elvis Presley, up close and personal.
Both performers fully engaged and interacted with their audience. While “Marilyn Monroe” sang “Happy Birthday” to Bob Recknagel who celebrated his 70th birthday that night, “Elvis” joked and teased between songs. He also offered toys to whoever was brave enough to venture up to collect them before walking through the aisles shaking hands.
After the intermission, both Randy and Cassandra invited everybody to come up and dance, which was readily followed through by a number of people. Randy subsequently appeared with his guitar to play and sing mainly Beatles songs, which was very well received.
It was a fun evening and the 75 attendees clapped heartily, laughed even louder and danced the night away right to the end at well gone midnight.
Doris E Rufli is the Forest Grove correspondent.