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The T-shirt sports an alien figure, clad in cape and sideburns. Underneath reads the title, "Elvisians From Another Planet." The man's hair has more than a tinge of blue.

An Elvis mousepad and screen-saver are just the beginning. In one corner stands a small shrine, its centerpiece a framed picture of Elvis as the King of Kings complete with sacred heart.

Corbis Elvis Himselvis

"Let me play you something," the man intones, as an eerie eastern drone bursts forth from his DAT machine. "Heartbreak Hotel" segues into "Teddy Bear," sung in an accent that is, if not classically Greek, at least B-movie Balkan.

Blaine Reininger is the "official" Elvisian Ambassador to Athens, Greece.

Reininger was appointed to this illustrious post in 1999 by Beverly Thames, founder of Elvisians from Another Planet (EAP). Her group, a spinoff of the Elvis Fan Club of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, believes the King's popularity is so great that it extends to outer space.

And that presents a problem for aliens who may some day land on Earth in search of the some information on the subject.

"Elvisian Ambassadors are needed globally because where the alien Elvis fans will land on [this] planet is difficult to predict," says Thames. "Although we do know that they will be making their way [toward] Graceland soon after they arrive."

C. Kenyon Silvey Elvisian Ambassador Blaine Reininger: His Elvis painting seems to be glowing with a holy light

It seems Blaine's T-shirt was printed "so that the little alien Elvis impersonators can readily identify us as friends." Her efforts to populate the world with Elvisian ambassadors is still in its infancy: So far Reininger is only the second.

Born in Pueblo, Colorado, in 1952, Reininger says his first inkling of Elvis' supernatural charisma came at the ("Love Me") tender age of 5, when his mother took him to see Jailhouse Rock. "I had to be dragged out of there afterward," says the ambassador, "I didn't understand it was a film. I thought Elvis was behind the screen and I wanted to go back there and meet him."

After an initial record purchase of "Don't Be Cruel," Elvis' influence on Reininger was sublimated, and he turned toward studying classical violin and Buddhist and Sufi teachings and the co-founding of the San Francisco art-rock band Tuxedomoon.

C. Kenyon Silvey The extremely coveted ambassador certificate

A series of events landed Blaine in Athens in 1998, and adjusting to the Greek way was difficult. "I was feeling very isolated," he admits, "I couldn't speak the language and was living way out in the sticks, so I ended up spending a lot of time on the computer."

Elvis suddenly re-appeared as a figure of inspiration and solace. Connecting to the Internet, the first links Reininger sought out were those of the King. It wasn't very long before a friend from Hamburg referred him to the EAP site, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

Reininger had just begun rehearsals for avant-garde director Mikhail Marmarinos' play Agamemnon, in which he portrayed the title character in a fashion that would turn out to be not unlike that of the "Vegas" Elvis.

"I sent (Thames) a photo of myself in my make-up, blue hair and white jumpsuit," says Reininger. "And that seemed to do the trick."

C. Kenyon Silvey The Internet was what led Reininger to reconnect with the King

Beverly agrees. "Blaine is the closest thing (to) My Favorite Martian I could find. Also, blue is a significant color in Elvisian culture." And in late 1999, Reininger was crowned "Elvisian Ambassador" to Greece.

So Reininger now enjoys the benefit of knowing he is now spreading Elvisian culture as he pursues his own creative endeavors. Agamemnon was a local success and was picked up for a second run in Caracas, Venezuela, where Spanish translations from Greek and English were projected on a wall. However, Blaine's stage moves apparently needed no translation.

How could the King not approve?