Moncton-based Elvis impersonator to donate portion of his proceeds to Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Moncton

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By Cole Hobson
Times & Transcript Staff

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Moncton-based Elvis Presley impersonator Thane Dunn shaked, rattled and rolled his way to raise money for a good cause this weekend at his Saturday night concert at the Moncton Wesleyan Celebration Centre.

Dunn, who performed a blend of Elvis's legendary 1968 comeback special and his 1969 return to Las Vegas show, has made the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Moncton a partner with his recent efforts, in an attempt to raise money for the group which provides services to about 3,000 children in the area.

"It went really well, we had a great crowd and I think everybody had a ball," Dunn said. "I was very happy with it."

Dunn has promised to donate a portion of the concert proceeds to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Moncton. As a performer who has made a living out of his craft, Dunn said he's just happy he can help out.

"I'm not Elvis, I don't have his pocket book, I'm not a gazillionaire or anything like that, but it's nice to be able to give back to the community that gives to you and I seriously mean that," he said.

Leading up to the show, Dunn and Boys & Girls Clubs also partnered on a campaign where paper cutouts of Presley's Gibson J-200 jumbo guitar were on sale at various Metro retailers for $2, with all proceeds going to the clubs. The performer says he won't know until later this week what the total amount of money raised from the concert and fundraiser will be.

With huge video screens and other state-of-the-art technologies, Dunn says the Moncton Wesleyan Celebration Centre is unmatched in Atlantic Canada and there "wasn't a bad seat in the house" for Saturday's show.

The performer estimates there were over 1,500 fans in attendance and believes Elvis simply has a lasting appeal for all generations.

"He was a very charismatic individual, he was good to people and he just had this way where he was almost like a part of the family," Dunn said. "A lot of people who didn't attend the show would think it would be a totally older audience, but we had kids there last night, teenagers and people in their 20's and 30's."

Having gotten his start in the Elvis impersonation biz almost 10 years ago at a show at Harrison Trimble High School, Dunn says it's nights like Saturday which make it all worthwhile. "I got so many comments from people last night that were like 'we've seen Elvis shows all over the place and we've never seen anything like what we saw tonight. It was like we were there watching it at the time,'" he said. "That's what I've worked very hard on and worked so hard to create."