Red Elvises (Minus One) at Rusty's Surf Ranch
Santa Monica, CA -- July 21, 2000
By Kayt

Last month I wrote about a night at Rusty's without "I Wanna See You Belly Dance," but I never expected to be writing about a Red Elvises show without all four Elvises onstage, which is, of course, much more important than any song they play or don't play. But on July 21st we at Rusty's Surf Ranch had a rare, and hopefully unique, Close Encounter of the Missing Red Elvises Member Kind. The reason for this was unclear at first…could it be space alien abduction? Soap opera-type amnesia? An unavoidable conflict with Oleg's true secret identity as a red-caped superhero? Or simply the call of the wild of another nice country…

"We seem to be missing an Elvis," I said, stating the obvious, since the warm red glow from a certain person's distinctive hair was nowhere in sight. At first, in denial, we thought he must be around somewhere, as guitars were tuned and sound levels were set. Then finally the show began, and for the first time, as far as I know, our favorite band played as a threesome, with Igor on bass and no rhythm guitar, due to Oleg's mysterious and unavoidably extended trip out of the country. Igor read us a funny message from the stage saying Oleg was "in Russia…fighting the revolution…" and would try to make it back by the break. Okaaay…but it proved to be a bit too long of a flight for that after all. It was a wild and crazy night, to be sure. Quite a shock for what I figured out later was my 40th Red Elvises show!

Although Oleg was definitely missed personally, musically and in "I Wanna See You Belly Dance" when he usually says "Shake it baby!" and no one said it, the show was still really good. Different…as in hearing Igor sing lead on "Sad Cowboy Song"and in there not being quite as full a sound on some of the songs, and visually odd… as in looking at the spot where Oleg always stands and not seeing him or the big red balalaika up there, but still quite an enjoyable show. Igor had a lot of fun with the bass…"something a little different," he said during the break. All in all, the three guys outdid themselves entertaining us and the crowd was extremely responsive as always.

A special guest, George, joined them onstage, playing Zhenya's guitar, for his song, "Summer Session," that he wrote in 1964 when he had his own surf band. "We call it 'George's Song!'" Igor announced, and they obviously love it very much, as did the audience. With Zhenya playing Igor's guitar and Igor on the bass, they rocked the house with that very cool song.

There were many songs of course, and as usual I didn't write them down…I can only multi-task so much…dancing, photographing, drinking beer…I only have two hands and my usual teflon memory (not much sticks to it!)…so…the songs mentioned above, the "Shake Your Pelvis" songs except for "Colors of Rainbow" but including the sweetly romantic "Girl From Malibu," older favorites "Lovepipe," "Stewardess in Red," "Voodoo Doll," "Gypsy Heart" and…a lot of others. Near the end a guest drummer helped out so Avi could excite us with his rousing "Play That Funky Music White Boy," which got everybody jumping and singing along. And for an encore they did an oldie we don't always get to hear enough, "Surfing In Siberia," and girls were drafted from the crowd to help dance onstage, including a pretty, physically-challenged girl who Igor lifted wheelchair and all onto the stage to join her friends. It was quite a jiggling and happy crowd up there.

With all the singing and playing and dancing and screams and laughter and fun we all had a very good time. Next time though, the natural order of the universe should be restored with all four Elvises reunited and onstage. Telephone calls from Istanbul, or Thailand, or Russia, rocketship rides into deep space or any other missions to save the world will all just have to wait! I smiled while typing that…seriously though, each member of the band adds a special and unique flavor, and the band is a gorgeous mixture of all four guys and wouldn't be the same without Igor, Zhenya, Avi and Oleg. We are happy and grateful to have all four.