Red Elvises at Home, Part I
Rusty's Surf Ranch, September 29, 2000
By Kayt

Just having the guys home in Southern California was a treat in itself, and I'm sure they were ecstatic to see their homes once again. Home is, after all, a place for one's stuff…and can hold a lot more stuff than a certain large red van or an endless string of hotels on the road. The show at Rusty's Surf Ranch brought out the usual large and happy red-wearing crowd to see them play their home turf again. Under the impression at first that this would be the last Rusty's show before The Long And Well-Deserved Break, I was happy but must confess also a little sad. Not that I begrudge them their time off, not at all, it's just that…well, I'll miss seeing them, as we all will. But when I saw on the newest tour schedule postcard that a November 10th date at Rusty's was listed, I was all happy again. You'll read about that show in next month's issue.

I went to Rusty's on September 29th with my roommate Jan and my friend Alma, who had flown in from Chicago at my urging (as in, I wouldn't stop bugging her online until she booked her flight!) just for this weekend. Alma has seen the guys previously in L.A., Chicago, Berwyn (IL) and at Milwaukee's Summerfest 2 years in a row. Also thanks to the wonders of email, our friend Beverly decided to come up from San Diego with several of her friends for the show. As usual at Rusty's, there were also plenty of people that I've been seeing there and at other area shows for a long time now, as well as tons and tons of people that I don't know at all but if they love this band then they're okay by me! Whoever we were, we were a bunch of people all ready to party. Initially there was plenty of socializing, drinking, watching and dancing, and then other wild stuff transpired later in the night which involved someone walking through a screen door and someone else falling out of a car and unfortunately hitting her head on the pier (as far as I heard, she was okay, but I don't know her so can't say for sure). A typical night at Rusty's and then some! But flashing back to the beginning…

The show started suddenly with a crash of loud but welcome guitar chords, causing a comic moment when I think everyone at my table right behind the stage jumped upon being so abruptly startled. We were treated to two sets of the finest Red Elvises music on earth, the live kind, that is. Not that we don't love the CDs, of course, but as we all know, the appeal of seeing them play live is powerful and could generate enough energy to possibly power a small spaceship, if spaceships were powered by pier-shaking decibel levels and fun. They played mostly songs from the first three CDs, just one (I think) from Shake Your Pelvis and the two unreleased songs which are becoming very popular, "Who's Your Daddy" and "Space Cowboy." They also did a rousing "Blue Moon" to the usual accompanying girlish screams, and by the end of that Igor was nearly lying down across the front of the stage as cameras flashed right and left. Throughout the show, I moved around to take pictures from various angles, even though at Rusty's when the Red Elvises play, just about all the angles and other spaces are filled with bodies grooving to the Moscow beat. At one point I ended up on the very crowded far right (from the audience's point of view) side of the stage with Alma and Beverly, trying not to get beaned in the head by Oleg's big bass balalaika…sing, dance, duck…sing, dance, sip a drink, duck…dance, take a picture, duck…that was pretty much how that went and it was all good. The guys had plenty of energy and put on a kick-ass show…love and beer and rock 'n roll good-time vibes filled the room. During one song Igor lifted a surprised girl onto his shoulder, held her there and spun her around before setting her gently down at the end of the song. A little later, the view from behind the stage got even better when Zhenya turned around and yanked his shirt up for me for a photo op…too bad my camera was busy recording the previous digital shot and wasn't ready. But Oleg got into that spirit of things when he yanked his own shirt up on the other side of the stage, 'neath the chicken painted on the wall behind the stage. I missed it but my friend got a picture of this rare occurrence. And speaking of skin…

It was once said, "If you're robbing a bank and your pants suddenly fall down…it's okay to laugh, and let the hostages laugh too, because come on, life is funny." The same holds true if you're playing a rock 'n roll show and you have an adoring audience instead of hostages, but, unlike what happened at The Justice League's July show - sorry to tease you - no pants were dropped at Rusty's that night. The nearest thing to nudity happened later in the second set when Oleg carefully removed Avi's shirt during a drum solo. Avi, as always, never missed a beat. The girls in the crowd, as always, screamed a lot. With all the screams, laughter, fun, wiggling bodies and general other happiness, I don't even have to say again (but I will) how good it was to have the Red Elvises home!