Echo Lounge, Atlanta, GA
May 8, 2004
by Amy Osborne

The Osborne Sisters trek to Atlanta 5/8/04

At first, I was going to attempt the Atlanta trek solo. Amber had a biology final to study for and was worried that a Red Elvises road trip might distract her from her studies. Then, once Amber was onboard, I changed my mind. The Red Elvises aren't the only thing in my life! I am also a huge hockey fan and my hometown team (Tampa Bay Lightning) have made it to the third round of the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. My options are 1) go to a Lightning third round game or 2) drive for 8 hours to see the Red Elvises. Amber wasn't happy with my fence-sitting on the issue so she emailed Oleg about the situation. He replied to me "I think it's a great idea to go see hockey game, but not when Red Elvises are playing 500 miles away!" My decision was made. We're going to Atlanta!

The night before our adventure I had to work at my REAL job...so I didn't get home until about 1:00 a.m. By a little after 6 a.m. I was out the door and on my way to pick up Amber, who lives 45 minutes away from me. 4 1/2 hours of sleep and an 8 hour drive ahead of me....YIPPEE!! I should mention that Amber doesn't drive...AT ALL! I believe that she is the solitary American 18-year old who does not have a driver's license. Unbelievable but true. Therefore, the driving during the road trip was all up to me. Trust me, I cursed her non-driving many times before we got back home.

I got to her house a little after 7:00 a.m. It was so early, that her chihuahua, Spike, wouldn't even wake up to tell us "good-bye." We made sure we had all of our travel essentials and were on our way. Those essentials include: an I-Pod loaded with 1648 songs, purple bunny ears, a Burger King crown, and "Bear". (Bear is our official mascot and a distant relative of Mr. Bean's "Teddy" bear.) Nothing makes a road trip easier than stopping for gas in the middle of nowhere and wearing purple bunny ears while pumping. Awesome!

By 10:30 a.m. we were in Georgia...(as they say in Germany..."Ich habe ein leadfoot!") and at 2:00 p.m. we were in the greater Atlanta area. However, there were several misadventures, miscommunications, and basically moments of being totally lost before we reached our final destination of the Econo Lodge in Decatur at about 7:30 p.m. What the hell happened during those 5 hours is still a bit of a mystery to me. I do want to thank the guy at Earthquake Music for giving us really good directions and Jeff at Highland Inn for being supercool.

It's now 9:00 p.m. or so and we're ready to get some food. We ran into Oleg in the parking lot and he told us to wait and we'll all go eat together. Okay.... So our mission, that we chose to accept, was to "Follow" the Red Van of Death to the Echo Lounge and then we'll all go eat. Yeah.. uh...."following" the Red Elvises' van brings all new things to the definition of the word "following." These include, but are not limited to: pulling out in front of speeding cars, forcing your way through four lanes of traffic, watching the van get on the interstate while you're stuck in the aforementioned traffic because you're a little car and not a big RED van, multiple cell-phone calls which basically come down to "Where the fuck you are?", creating your own lanes, various u-turns in the middle of the road, breaking numerous minor traffic laws, going in circles ("Look kids...Big Ben...Parliament"), screaming every curse word you ever learned in various languages, and making some more up along the way. Shpadoinkle!

Once we found the Echo Lounge it became blaringly obvious that this was going to be a late night. Two bands were slated to play before the Elvises and at 9:45 no one had yet to be onstage. Oh well.....at least there's plenty of time to get food. Oleg, Igor, Craig, Sasha, Amber and I wandered about a block away to a pizza place. Roman opted to stay behind and have a liquid dinner. Somehow, at the pizza place, we got separated into two tables: the Russian one and the American one. I have no idea why we didn't just push the tables together but then again, sometimes logic doesn't reign supreme. Anyway, the pizza was good and I don't know the name of the place but it has a sign with a frog mariachi band on it.

By the time we got back to the Echo Lounge, about 11:00 p.m. or so, the first band was pretty much wrapping up their set. Amber and I went about setting up the merchandise table. This time... we came prepared with strong tape, bright paper for signs, rubber bands (so people can roll up their posters), and sharpies galore. No MacGuyvering necessary! The area set aside for band merchandising at the Echo is pretty cool and conveniently located near the door. However, there were two drawbacks: 1) You can't see the show from there and 2) the men's room is located directly across from the table. So you CAN see everything going on in there every time someone opens the door. Not exactly the show I drove 8 hours to see.

At 1:00 a.m. the Red Elvises finally hit the stage. I had reached a whole new level of delirium from lack of sleep at this point...so I'll try to relate as many details as I can remember. The opening song was "Love Pipe" and there was pretty good crowd participation for it. From talking to people at the merchandise table, I gathered that most in the crowd were current Red Elvises fans and SSS is extremely popular there. And even though the show started really late a decent size crowd stuck around for it. I just wish they got to actually SEE more. The lighting there totally sucked the high hard one. You could only see Igor if he stood directly in the center of the stage and didn't move. If he moved forward, to interact with the crowd, he was once again lost in the shadows. I have no idea why, but most of the stage was backlit so it was like watching crazy silhouettes perform. Even the bright and shiny glory that is Oleg's outfit could barely be seen in that nutty lighting. Luckily, Amber's camera has a flash which rivals the sun... so most of the close up pics did turn out. The sound was another issue. A few songs in...I think it's during "Gypsy Heart" where Roman has a flute section...the mike on the flute totally took over. Now, at the other shows, we could hear the flute but it blended with everything else and sounded good. In Atlanta, it was like we were suddenly at a Jethro Tull concert or something. After that the sound guy must have evened it out because I don't remember any other "Roman taking over the entire show" moments.

I wish I could remember more of the playlist but between sleep deprivation and running back and forth to the merchandise table it's all a little foggy. I do know that for encores they played Rocketman and Juliet (yea!). Regardless of the technical problems and late hour, the Red Elvises put on a high energy show filled with the typical hi-jinks and dance-a-longs. Afterwards, they were accommodating, as usual, to everyone who wanted autographs and to chat. Oh, and before I wrap up the show part....I want to add that at all of the 4 shows I've seen in the past few weeks .the crowd, for the most part, enjoyed the drum solo. I know I've read in a few places that not everyone is enthralled with it but it seems that the people who don't like it just use it as an opportunity to hit the bar or bathroom. Drum on!

By the time we got back to the Econo Lodge it was around 3:30 a.m. It had been almost 24 hours since I've had sleep but who the hell cares....sleep is for the weak! It's much more fun to hang out with Roman, Craig, and Sasha. We drank warm beer w/ice, watched Roman write on his shirt with a silver sharpie, and learned that Sasha should not be allowed to control the TV remote...ever! I don't know which movie has the extended scene of Michael Douglas in the shower...but I know that it's NOT a werewolf movie and I could have lived happily for my entire life without ever seeing it!(The movie in question is "Fatal Attraction." -ed) Yep, that's partying like a rock star.

The next morn...uh...hrmm...afternoon we "followed" the big red van to brunch. Remember, "following" is a subjective term in this case. For the record though, it is easier to "follow" Oleg's driving. I believe that Craig is certifiably mad when he gets behind the wheel. Either way, Oleg is still navigating so he is still partially to blame for all of it.

We ate at the *lovely* Grand Buffet located about 20-30 minutes west of Decatur. It was a buffet but I'm not so sure about the "grand" part. It consisted of an interesting selection of food including frog's legs (Igor had some of those)(SOME? I heard he ate ALL the frogs legs! -ed), various items with heads still attached, and a bizarre dessert that tasted like lemon scented floor polish. Yum! It was there, in the Grand Buffet parking lot, that we said good-bye to our favorite band. They were off to Tulsa and there was no way we were driving that far. (It's like 22 hours back to home from there and Amber had that biology final the next day.)

Amber and I would both like to thank them all (in no particular order)...Igor, Oleg, Craig, Roman, and Sasha for letting us tag along. We will see ya'll again in the fall.

Total miles: 1044.60 (I set the trip odometer)

Memories: Numerous and priceless

Next planned Red Elvises road trip: Greenville, SC in October 2004.

~Amy