and had opened for such famous performers as David Bowie, Carlos Santana, and the B-52's. Recent activity (2005–present) Musical and performance style Lopez cites a wide variety of musical influences including Elvis Presley, David Bowie, the San Diego rock band Rocket from the Crypt, and the Make-Up, a post-punk band from Washington, D.C. who mixed garage rock and gospel music. He considers his El Vez persona to be an "Elvis interpreter" and "cultural ambassador" rather than strictly an Elvis impersonator. He creates all the arrangements for his El Vez performances, which he describes as "all my musical history, and the little things that meant something to me, or the sounds that I like." Reviewing a 1995 performance, journalist Neil Strauss described the music as "a whirlwind of pop quotations, full of references to the music of David Bowie, José Feliciano, Patsy Cline, and the punk bands the Stooges and Public Image Ltd." In developing the look of El Vez, Lopez took Elvis-inspired jumpsuits made of tight-fitting polyester and lamé which show off his slender frame, and added Mexican cultural clichés such as sequined images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, extravagantly embroidered bolero jackets, sombreros with ball fringe, pointed-toe boots, and elements of mariachi costuming. His live shows involve multiple costume changes; early on, he would make his final costume change on stage, the Elvettes holding up a sheet with a throbbing strobe light behind it so the audience could see the shadow of his naked body as he changed. In addition to his costumes, he styled his hair in a pompadour and drew a pencil moustache on his lip using marker. When in character as El Vez, he speaks with a fake Spanish accent. Music critic Kembrew McLeod described El Vez's live performances as follows: While his records are excellent documents of the El Vez phenomenon, the only way to get the full El Vez experience is to see his live shows [...] Listening to El Vez is akin to hearing the live-band equivalent of sampling. An audience on any given night can be treated to half a dozen costume changes and might hear bits and pieces of at least 200 songs, not all of them Elvis recordings. For instance, one of his medleys featured "You Ain't Nothing But a Chihuahua" and an instrumental version of the Beastie Boys' "Gratitude", mixed in with the lead guitar riff from Santana's "Black