He Don't Look Like Elvis is a rock and roll memoir from 1978, the year after Elvis left the building for good. It's the unflinching, tragicomic true tale of the author, a bass player, who took a chance and joined Bobby Love and the Love Machine, an Elvis impersonator band at the low end of the food chain. This is definitely not the pampered, plush, rock-star tour deluxe. No jets from city to city, no waiting limousines, no caviar in the dressing rooms. No dressing rooms. They play in dive bars, stay in low-rent motels in small towns, lug their own equipment and pray the pickup truck and trailer get them to the next gig in one piece.
The band members strive to maintain a straight face and an even keel in a traveling rock and roll fantasy circus. A fantasy fueled not only because Bobby and the band deliver some knockout performances but also because the fans can never get enough of the King - alive, dead or otherwise. Bobby isn't Elvis, but mob him anyway for scarves, autographs and kisses.
As the reality of playing in bars and living on the road sinks in - they'll never make Vegas, let alone Japan - the author realizes it's time for a change.