Red Elvises at the Blue Café

Long Beach, California
March 2, 2003
By Kayt

My roommate and I arrived at the Blue Café and the guys were unloading the van in front of the place, and after some greetings Vladimir handed me a box containing one of the infamous bubble machines, saying "You want to carry something for us? There's your ticket!" It wasn't heavy at all so I didn't mind. But hey, I didn't mind several years ago either when I offered to carry something at a show and Avi handed me the case containing his cymbals…just so you know, cymbals weigh a lot more than a bubble machine! Their thinness is deceiving. Anyway…the bubble making stuff was a clear liquid in a big plastic jug, which someone else carried in. I still had to get past the guy taking the money, so I laughingly offered up a version of the old groupie claim, "It's okay, we're with the band!" - true enough for my two minutes or so of extremely temporary pseudo-roadie status. But even with evidence in my arms the door guy questioned me, and Vladimir was at my side in an instant telling him it was okay. Hand stamping commenced. Once that was done we walked inside and I put the box down on the edge of the stage and looked around. The Blue Café always looks the same, only the people change. It looks like an old, shabby-cool (as opposed to the "shabby-chic" description favored by some interior decorators) well trodden blues watering hole, with plenty of tables and a good-sized dance floor. In other words, a fine place to see Our Favorite Band.

This show was in Long Beach, only about thirty minutes or so south of Santa Monica, but it was a Sunday night so most of the Rusty's regulars evidently couldn't make it, Monday morning being a workday for most of us. Alex and Scott (this month's Fan of the Month) were two of the handful of people there I knew aside from the band and Vladimir. The place never became packed but it wasn't long before the dance floor got used to good advantage. So we got a table and I went over to the bar and asked for a waitress to come over and take our food order, because while the food at the Blue Café is quite good, usually you could starve waiting for service there. If it's drinks you're after, you can just go over to the bar and order them, but food orders must be placed with wait staff at a table for some silly reason. But, pleasant surprise, it wasn't very long before our menus were delivered, and once we placed our order my salad and Jan's sandwich arrived without too much of a delay.

While all this was going on, the guys were setting up onstage, then one by one they wandered off to change into their new stage attire, the very stylish large-cat (tiger or leopard, depending on who you're looking at) print suits with tailcoats. I think I've mentioned before how much I love tailcoats, so I won't bore you with that again. But dy-amm, those suits look snazzy! And Schramm's top hat looks cool, another fashion statement I personally like. So since I didn't adequately photograph shoes at Rusty's, when the show started I was in front of the stage looking down as well as up, checking out what shoes were available that night for photo ops. And Schramm had on his black shoes. Oh no! At Rusty's during the first set he had worn these super cool red platform shoes:

They played a bunch of crowd favorites and you know which songs those are…to say I shouldn't have to tell you at this point is indicative of what good fans of Red Elvises I believe you all are who are reading this!

Okay, you got me…

I'll admit the above was a blatantly shameless attempt on my part at getting out of saying that once again I didn't write anything down and my über sharp memory is, well…not so über. But I'll try to mention some of the songs they played anyway, because they are all about the music and it still is, in my humble opinion, terrific and deliciously fun music! I'll admit I'm still getting used to the concept of not hearing any Zhenya songs aside from "Lovepipe," but with so many great Red Elvises songs by Igor and Oleg we could have fun until the end of time just hearing and dancing to all of them.

They played "Gypsy Heart" and "Sad Cowboy Song" with its quite different but still viable intro and "I Wanna See You Belly Dance" and plenty of other favorites, including the aforementioned "Lovepipe" and the second-time-ever-performed-in-English "Natasha Loves Reggae," which I absolutely love! I had learned another Russian word, "liubit" (spelled phonetically and possibly incorrectly, meaning "loves," as in "Natasha Loves Reggae") in order to sing along with one line of the chorus of that song, and now they're doing it in English! But it's great either way, I'm flexible. I love hearing them sing in both languages.

The first set seemed to go pretty quickly and soon it was time for "Belly Dance," which traditionally finishes up set numero uno. The intro started, punctuated by Adam's strong beat. Igor got that "must-find-women-to-dance-onstage" look in his eye, and soon many of us females on the dance floor were recruited for that purpose, so up onstage we went. From there on, throughout that song, all I can report is a thunderous and rocking good time, because when Igor invited me up I found not a lot of room to position myself with so many people up there. So I stayed at the very front of the stage dancing my ass off between Oleg and Igor. Schramm was right behind me and right in front of the drum kit, and a girl was next to him, so I just stayed put and concentrated on dancing in some semblance of being in sync with the music as well as on staying back enough from the front edge of the stage so as to keep from falling off. Would you believe I used to be shy? Hah. The other thing most people would be surprised to know about me is that I actually took dance lessons as a child, despite my near-total lack of coordination or sense of rhythm. I possibly got my not-so-secret-anymore love of being onstage from those annual recitals. And, by the way, imagining the audience in their underwear does not help vanquish stage fright. Not that I've actually tried that. No, really, I haven't. For you female readers, maybe imagining the band in their underwear would work better…heh. It's certainly more pleasant, no matter who is in the audience, right?! I mean if you just had to imagine someone in underwear. You know? But I digress… Anyway, if you're ever recruited to dance onstage, my best advice is to just go for it and enjoy it, because it rocks and the music sounds even louder and more dynamic from up there. Not to mention the bubbles won't get in your face half as badly if you're onstage.

During the break I mentioned to Schramm how I had neglected at Rusty's to photograph his red platform shoes before he changed into his black ones for the second set of that show, and he was sweet enough to volunteer to put on his red shoes just for me to take a picture of them! The shoes were in the van, so out the door we went to retrieve them, and then I took a couple of photos, including the one above. He even wore them for the second set, what a trooper! They're not the easiest shoes to wear, he says, and as high as they are, I can understand that; in the interest of no broken ankles, the black shoes really are fine. I also asked Oleg where the Big Red balalaika was, since it was nowhere to be seen (kinda hard to miss when it's there) and he was playing a "regular" bass that night.

He said Schramm had forgotten to bring "the stick" that supports it, and that he (Oleg) doesn't have the energy to hold it up for the entire time without the stick. Uh huh, blame it on the new guy! Hah. Oleg was over at our table at the time asking what we thought of the new lineup and sound. Soon Igor walked over and sat with us for a few minutes. I wished him a "happy early birthday" since in late March they'll be approximately 3,000 miles away from California (go see them, people of the Southeast, and report back to the Red Pages!). I managed to remember to get a Rokenrol CD for a Red Elvises fan-friend who lives in the frozen wilds of Canada, chatted with Alex and Scott and had a quick "Hi, how are you?" conversation with Adam over by the bar when I went to get a glass of cold water to wash down the one beer I'd had during the first set. And soon it was time for the second set.

We were treated to a bunch more great songs, including "Sex in Paradise" (which may actually have been played during the first set…sorry, but stupid bluebirds ate my memory like butterflies!). This is always such a fun song with the hand motions and irresistible sing-along appeal. Oleg sang "Suzanna" for the second time in a row (the first time I heard him sing it was at Rusty's in February) and we all screamed on cue, "Fuck that guy from MCI!" He also, either in the first set or the second, did "Scorchi Chorniye" and "Boogie on the Beach," both old favorites of mine.

My overall opinion is that the show as a whole sounded really good. Now keep in mind that I know absolutely nothing technical about music, never took a music theory class, am not at all picky about the size or capacity of my stereo's woofers or tweeters or whatever and I also sucked really badly at my one attempt to learn to play the guitar. Don't bother me with any "technical perfection" nitpicking, I am rocking and rolling along with the newly reinvented Elvii's efforts in providing us with quality music and entertainment. I know what I like, as the old saying goes. I believe we don't have to be serious or overthink things when enjoying a night out, we get Our Favorite Band "warts and all" and we get to just have fun, drink some beer or some other beverage and kick back, forgetting our problems for a couple of hours. Isn't that what this band is all about, after all, enjoying good music and having fun? They don't have to "prove" anything, at least not to me. Their music speaks for itself, past, present and future; not to overstate the obvious, but these guys have a ton of good songs. They played "Juliet," which I love for its sheer ballsiness, during set number two also. "Colors of Rainbow" was not played and I wish it had been; it is performed live way too rarely but kicks major ass when we are lucky enough to hear it live. I also really like "Night Butterfly," an as-yet-unrecorded (as far as I know) new-ish song of Igor's. I love the Elvii's new sound including power drums and keyboards, and most of the new songs, yes indeedy, more than the mind can possibly comprehend. I am eagerly looking forward to their next CD. While technical purists might argue that something ("fancy guitar parts" as I once heard it put, actually in reference to a non-Red Elvises song) has been lost, I think the majority of us whose favorite brand of rock 'n roll is "rokenrol" (i.e. fun to dance to and just generally providing a good time by way of groovy guitar, bass, keyboards, drums…as well as appropriately-placed accordion and some very welcome sax for Southern California), can still have an amazing amount of fun seeing, and hearing, Red Elvises. So relax, go to their shows when they play in or near your town and I think a good many of you will agree that we can still rock with the songs in the form we're now hearing them and roll with the changes.

Good times tonight, good times ahead!