Viva Las Guinness! Those who attended the second annual Relay For Life in Parma over the summer may have witnessed the world’s largest gathering of Elvis look-alikes singing “Viva Las Vegas” at the same time. Cancer survivors and supporters were entertained by more than 100 Elvis wannabes, including men, women, babies and even an Elvis-clad pug dog, who tried to top the “Guinness Book” record of 77 crooners simultaneously belting out The King’s famous song. American Cancer Society event organizer JT Aguila embraced the Vegas vibe, marrying his fiancée — a two-time cancer survivor — during the July 15 event. This year’s Relay for Life raised $150,000 aided by sales of Elvis wigs, T-shirts and glasses. Aguila is still awaiting word on whether his crew of Elvis look-alikes will make the next addition of the “Guinness Book of World Records.”
The City Club of Cleveland’s recent announcement that the 93-year-old “Citadel of Free Speech” had started podcasting its speaker series via its Web site, www.cityclub.org, was our proof that 2005’s addition to computer geek vernacular won’t go the way of the CueCat (look that one up on Google). Then we noticed another long-standing local institution, NewsChannel5, promoting podcasts of its news reports. For those still out of the loop, podcasts are audio broadcasts you can listen to on a computer or digital music player such as the iPod (that’s where they get the “pod” part). And with satellite radio poised to explode in 2006, it may officially be time for traditional radio broadcasters to start sweating.
