The King lives — in Midwood.
A Brooklyn Elvis impersonator has turned his home into a mecca for the musical icon that rivals the King’s former home in Memphis.
“I got so much Elvis in my house, it’s like a mini-Graceland,” Carey Weiner said.
The Midwood man has every movie and album the King ever made, but more than that, Weiner has amassed an army of Elvis figurines and plastered his walls with Presley press clippings.
Weiner, 53, estimated that he has spent tens of thousands of dollars on the collection he began accumulating at 12 years old. He found some of his favorite pieces on pilgrimages to Elvis’s Tennessee home of Graceland, Weiner said.
“In Memphis, I was like a kid in a candy store,” he said.
Weiner has performed as Elvis in Brooklyn, Atlantic City, and as far away as Las Vegas, starting at the age of 9, he said. Recently, the tribute singer was featured in this paper’s pages after he performed at MCU Park’s Elvis night.
In many ways, Weiner’s collection is an heirloom. The oldest pieces were gathered by his mother Rosalyn at Presley’s concerts. One prized keepsake is a scarf the King gave her during his four-night stint at Madison Square Garden in 1972.
“His makeup rubbed off on the scarf. My mom said she wished his makeup rubbed off on her,” Weiner said.
For Weiner, Elvis is an enduring connection to the mother he lost to cancer about 20 years ago.
“She was a great mom, but when Elvis was in town, she was the ultimate groupie,” he said.
Weiner was once featured on the “Hoarding: Buried Alive” on The Learning Channel, and he admits the clutter can get out of hand, but said that is the price of fandom.
“I’ve known Elvis impersonators with maybe two CDs — well, then you’re not a fan,” he said.
