Red Elvises at Rusty’s Surf Ranch, Santa Monica, CA
4/27/01
By Kayt
The circus came to town! No, wait, it was even better…it was another Red Elvises show at Rusty’s on the Santa Monica Pier! Inside the small but cool surfboard-lined restaurant/bar were many colorful circus-like elements, if you consider bright red clothing, plenty to look at and the balancing act of the wait staff carrying food and drinks through a large crowd. No ringmaster, unless you count Oleg when the show is about to begin, no high trapeze acts, even though sometimes I think the best way to get clear photos or video might be to attach oneself to the rafters, and no wild animals…well, except for the band members themselves and possibly some assorted audience members. But for color, excitement and that groovy breathless "what’s gonna happen next?" feeling, you can’t beat Rusty’s on a Red Elvises night.
At first, for some reason, there weren’t as many people in attendance as there usually are at Rusty’s for Our Favorite Band. There was a little more room to move around than usual and I was able to get a spot to stand on the end of the bench that runs along the side of the wall on what I always think of as "Oleg’s side" of the stage. From there I could not only get decent photos but look out over the crowd and see red clothing, mixed in amongst other colors, flashy neon green wristbands and happy faces of the growing crowd. The only odd thing was feeling like I was dancing on a table or something, at first, on display, but since there were three far more interesting people to look at onstage I soon let go of that thought and just had fun, taking pictures, drinking my beer, dancing a little and enjoying the show.
"Show us your beer!" shouted Oleg near the beginning, and beer was raised throughout the crowd as much screaming, whooping, whistling, applauding and other general approval ensued and the music started. It was a slightly shorter show than is usual at Rusty’s but a very tight one with fantastic sound and energy. Some of the songs they did from the two new CDs were, in no particular order: "Spacecowboy," "Who’s Your Daddy," "San Antone," "Sex in Paradise" and others. They also gave us our favorite older songs, (again, in no particular order): "Rocketman," "200 Flying Girls," "Telephone Call From Istanbul," "Scorchi Chornie," "I’m Not That Kind of Guy," "Red Lips, Red Eyes, Red Stockings," "Three Alley Cats, "My Darling Lorraine," "Susanna," "Lovepipe," "Blue Moon" and of course, "I Wanna See You Belly Dance." I’m sure there were other songs as well, but these are all I can remember at the moment. As they’ve done everywhere in 2001 so far, the three of them switched out on lead, bass and drums, and may I say they have adjusted beautifully to this way of playing and have definitely been practicing, because it all sounded pretty damn amazing no matter who was playing what. Oleg was wearing some cool pants with a purplish/bluish sheen to them, Igor was resplendent in a shiny silver suit and matching silver shirt and Zhenya looked cooler than cool in duds that could’ve been straight from San Antone…black & white swirly suede pants, "wife beater" shirt with another white shirt over it for the first set and part of the second, and a brown cowboy hat. Even though there actually was no red clothing onstage until the 2nd set when Igor changed into his gorgeous and outrageous shiny red suit, our boys all looked as hot as they sounded.
For a change from shouting in unison "One more song! One more song!" near the end of the show, some of the more boisterous people in the crowd came up with "Who’s Your Daddy, one more time! Who’s Your Daddy, one more time!" at top lung volume, prompting Oleg to shout back "Who’s YOUR Daddy?!" and then "Shut up! Shut up!" as everyone laughed. They did a final song and then said goodnight. Another successful show completed.
It seemed that everyone left happy, smiling and satisfied. A fantastic band, great music, dancing and beer being, in my opinion, better than the circus can offer. Even with cotton candy to eat while watching tigers jump through hoops (even though I love tigers), I just don’t think it can beat beer to drink while watching Igor toss a girl over his shoulder and land her safely on the stage at the end of the song, watching Zhenya drum like he’s always done it or having Oleg drive us into a frenzy with "Scorchi Chornie." Also unlike the circus, this fun doesn’t have to end so soon; there are more Red Elvises shows coming up in May at Rusty’s and also in Long Beach. So anyone living in the So Cal area or who can get here within the next couple of weeks, be sure to check out the Red Elvises tour dates and get to a show or three so you can join in and have some fun.
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