1IN PRAISE OF COPYINGCopying, originality, invention, innovation and the King of Rock ‘n' Roll
WELCOME TO ELVISLAND
Few events on the planet capture our mixed-up and confused feelings about copying better than the annual Elvies festival, held each October in an unprepossessing purpose-built holiday resort outside the seaside town of Porthcawl in wet and windy south Wales. The Elvies is the world's largest such gathering devoted to His Presleyness (it has a daily attendance only slightly lower than the much cooler and well-funded Burning Man Festival). Over the course of one autumnal weekend, out where the brown-grey waves of the Bristol Channel meet the post-industrial landscape of the Welsh coast, more than 100 acts strut their stuff – shake their hips and curl their lips – and present their impersonations of the one and only – The King.
In 2012 the Elvies achieved something particularly special: it witnessed the largest ever recorded gathering of Elvis impersonators doing their snake-hipped best, rather rowdily singing along to ‘Hound Dog' (smashing the record held by a Nike US sales conference some two years previously).
Elvies organizer Peter Phillips noted, ‘We had all sorts of different Elvises aged from three to 80 and from the UK, Ireland, Germany, Malta and even Brazil. They were wearing all manner of Elvis costumes from gold lamé jackets, to leather jump suits and ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month, and much more.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
