August 6th, Bethlehem PA
By Michelle

I wasn't sure what kind of crowd to expect as we drove the two hours to Bethlehem Pennsylvania from New York City in the pouring rain. So I came prepared for anything; I made up a small sign the night before with the ROCKENROL logo, reading "How about a photo with YOUR FAVORITE FAN?". I packed my digital camera. I had on my red stockings (well, ok, socks). And I was wearing Nice Shoes.

I made sure I got to the right tent several hours early, in hopes of getting up close to catch the first pearls of musical genius that fell from their lips. While waiting in the throng before the stage, I spotted Oleg's flaming red hair and my family waved like maniacs. He waved and gave us one of his trademark thousand-watt smiles, but didn't stop walking. Later he passed our way again, and we flashed the sign I had made for the occasion. It worked. He stopped and posed, and waved Avi and Zhenya over to join in.

There were easily 300 people there waiting to see the Red Elvises; around 80 dancing in the grassy area before the stage, and at least 200 on folding chairs and standing outside the huge tent. The natives began to get restless when they didn't appear promptly. Chants of "Let's go!" and "Red! Red! Red!" started. (It looked to me like there was some sort of equipment trouble, which surfaced again later during the show.) The band finally appeared to tumultuous cheers, and launched right into "Girls Gonna Boogie Tonight", as if they were making that a promise to the audience. The girls--and guys--sure took them up on it. The crowd near the stage immediately became a hopping, writhing mass of bare limbs, bare bellies, and red clothing.

Next Red Lips, Red Eyes, Red Stockings was played, followed by (in no particular order) We Got the Groove, Gypsy Heart, Lovepipe, Wonderful Night, Rocketman, and others. Hearing Sad Cowboy Song live reminded me why I enjoy the Red Elvises so much; with a title that belies its rollicking fast tune, they can manage both utter ridiculousness and breathtaking sublimity at the same time. Just like my life!

Zhenya tore up the night air with his skillful fingering and charmed us all with his onstage antics; he commandeered a sip of beer from an audience member, mischievously lifted up the shirt of a MusikFest volunteer in an attempt at getting him to bellydance, and, near the end of the show, went over to Avi, and slowly began to peel his shirt off while he was still busy drumming. Avi drummed until the last possible second and, at a short pause, lifted his arms while the shirt went over his head drumsticks and all. He returned to drumming without missing a beat, while Zhenya threw Avi's shirt into the screaming crowd. Shortly thereafter, Zhenya's shirt also came off, and was similarly sacrificed.

Igor made the young girls scream with his high-energy rendition of Blue Moon, which involved much karate chopping, kicking, pelvis shaking, and general gettin' down. Shortly thereafter, Igor disappeared, and Oleg demonstrated the proper way to dance to Closet Disco Dancer ("finger goes up... finger goes down..."). Igor reappeared in a silver sequined '70s style suit (hairy chest and all) and everybody disco danced. I couldn't see much of Oleg from my side of the stage, but I could see some of his broad gestures and hear his piercing whistles. I could also see that the much-touted contrabass balalaika was missing; Oleg was playing a red-and-yellow guitar with a red star.

After the finale, Avi came out from behind the drums and tossed each of his drumsticks into the audience while everyone screamed. We made enough noise that the Elvii came back out for an encore, a short but rousing medley of Elvis tunes. We behaved ourselves this time and the audience started to disperse. Even though it was a short encore, I still managed to miss the only wheelchair-accessible shuttle bus back to the parking lot... but it was worth the extra three miles.

My personal highlight of the evening, however, was when Zhenya came over to the extreme left end of the stage right in front of me, locked his eyes with mine... and slowly and deliberately gyrated before me, swiveling his hips and tapping his feet before rocking away. (I'd describe the full effect better, but I'm trying for a PG-13 rating here...) Needless to say, I'll be back for the RiverFest in New Jersey, hoping for one of those shirts he'll be tossing!

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