|
Red Road Trip: Musikfest| Wow, my very first Musikfest! I was so excited to be going that it almost made moving across the country worth it...well... I still miss California, don’t get me wrong, but it was terrific to finally be able to go to Musikfest since I’d heard so much about it over the years. And now here I was only a scant nine-and-a-half hour drive from the festival that everyone told me was such a blast. Bethlehem, here I come! |  |
I’d planned to leave the house early, around 6:00am...but 6:00am became 7:30am because no matter how much I love Red Elvises I’m still not a morning person (although I definitely will leave earlier for the next festival, even if I have to go to bed extra-early)! So I finally set out, popped a Red Elvises CD in to listen to and drove out of the countryside to the first of the several freeways of my journey. Traffic was light until I ran into the first frenzy of road construction, still in North Carolina. I felt like I was back on the 405 in Los Angeles – it was a one-lane closure that backed up traffic for at least five miles and delayed my trip by about thirty or forty minutes while I tried not to freak out too badly. I spent the entire time alternating between wishing I’d thought to bring the “Surfing in Siberia” CD with me and wishing I’d left home an hour earlier. What is it they always say? “If wishes were horses then beggars would ride?” Well, if wishes were horses I could’ve ridden one up the shoulder of that highway! Except that it would’ve been one tired horse by the time we got to Bethlehem, so it’s better that I had a car.
Finally traffic was moving again and I sped along, trying to drive safely but fast, just like Oleg does. I’ve teased him about his driving before but really he is a great driver, make no mistake about that. I however am not really that great a driver, although I do try to keep the car in the lane and so on, so I tried to watch out for state troopers while enjoying the Red Elvises CDs I did bring along and of course listening to some other music from time to time as well. The rest of my road trip up there was rather uneventful so I’ll spare you the boring details...just freeway, trees, other cars and lots more signs about road work, all the rest of the way through North Carolina, Virginia, a bit of West Virginia, a small sliver of Maryland and, finally, on into Pennsylvania. It was a long way, about 580 miles, but worth it to see and hang out with my favorite band.
As I drove down PA state road 378, finally in Bethlehem, I was excited to see glimpses of the festival to my left. I drove over the bridge, then followed the part of the road that veered to the left and there was the hotel...where I had a room reservation for Sunday night only at that point. “Plan A” was to go in and get them to look in the computer and then just flat out beg for a room if they still said they were sold out like they’d said when I called from the road. I didn’t really have much of a “Plan B.” But as luck would have it I didn’t have to beg much because it turned out they did have at least one room left, a smoking room with the type of bed that folds up into the wall. A little unusual but of course I took it, hoping it wouldn’t smell too “smoky” (it didn’t, it was very nice). Bethlehem is a picturesque little town full of little quaint-looking (Pennsylvania Dutch type?? I know squat about architecture) houses and buildings. I liked it, what little I saw of it.
While I was checking in a guy in a Red Elvises t-shirt came over and started talking to me (I was also a walking advertisement for the band, wearing a red Red Elvises work shirt) and was somewhat surprised to find out that I was “Kayt from the fan club...from California.” (I'm famous now? That's sooo weird! But funny...to me, at least). His name was Charlie Pepper and he and his wife Kathy and their three sons were all staying at that hotel. They’re super nice people and it was a lot of fun to meet and hang out with them.
The illustrious Mr. Pepper, in the middle:
|
A little while after I got settled into my room the band arrived and greeted me with hugs all around. I’m happy to report that it was just as great to see them on the Eastern side of the country as it is in the West. I still could hardly believe we were all in Pennsylvania together and I was actually going to my first Musikfest. Oleg, Igor, Adam and I soon got in the rental van (or car, more like it...sort of like a cross between an SUV and a van, nowhere near as large as the Big Red Van but still a very adequate vehicle... Schramm rode with Lori, a local longtime friend of the band) and went right over to the Volksplatz stage, officially known as the Pennsylvania Lottery Volksplatz Stage, at the festival.
|
 |
Once inside the festival grounds one of the volunteers walked in front of the van to lead us to the performers’ parking area behind the stage. There was a fence going around from either side of the stage all around the back of the area, where there were changing tents for the musicians. After Oleg parked and they started to unload, I helped them get the merchandise out to the selling table, which, the first night, was just outside the fence and next to the stage. Igor helped me sort out the various shirts and get set up...he even helped me sell at first before he had to go do the soundcheck and change clothes, so some lucky fans got merchandise sold to them by an actual band member. A nice volunteer brought me a cold bottle of water which was much appreciated because it was hot there...Pennsylvania wasn’t spared the heat wave most of the rest of the country has been experiencing this summer, not at all. Igor got me a really good barbecue beef sandwich to eat, which was also much appreciated because I was really hungry by then.
The guys started their show right around 9pm with, I believe, “Love Pipe.” I couldn’t tell you if my life depended on it what else they played that night because I was so busy selling merchandise – people crowded around the table before, during and after the show, which was great because they were buying a lot and obviously enjoying the band and their music. One of the festival workers had offered me the help of her twin sons and their friend to help sell and they were great, really nice boys, very honest and hardworking. They also became instant Red Elvises fans! I sent two of them into the audience with my digital camera at some point to get some of the pictures you’ll see in the photo section because I couldn’t really see the stage very well and didn’t want to get too far from the table.
 |
 |
| My Saturday night view of the stage... | My noble helpers, the twins! |
They did a pretty good job on photography but an even better job of helping me sell; I don’t think I could’ve managed without them. That was the biggest crowd I’d ever sold to for any band ever; I loved seeing how large and enthusiastic the crowd was. I looked up several times to see a wave of hands in the air in response to something Igor or Oleg did or said onstage, and the crowd also expressed their enjoyment verbally with applause, cheering and happy audience participation. I don’t know if anyone formed a conga line during “Sad Cowboy Song” (yes, I remember they did that one) but as packed as things were in front of the stage that may have been a little difficult to maneuver. Oleg announced, each night actually, that there was merchandise being sold over by the stage by me... “Everybody say ‘Hi, Kayt!’”...and everyone did! I sure got my fill of attention there! I’m sure that helped with sales too, although many people found their way over there with no trouble even before his announcement.
The show that night lasted from 9:00pm to 10:45pm with one very short break. The Musikfest powers-that-be wouldn’t allow anyone up onstage except the band so no girls were up there for “Belly Dance” but other than that it was the usual kick ass, rocking good time show Red Elvises always perform. Everybody seemed to have a great time and many of them hung out afterwards to get autographs. I kept selling as long as people wanted to buy and as long as I could, and later started putting everything away. After the guys got done and packed up everything we went back to the hotel where Igor, still jet-lagged from traveling the world, went straight to bed. Adam did too but the rest of us stayed up for a while...I went to the hotel lounge (restaurant/bar) with the two Olegs (Our Favorite Bass Balalaika player and Oleg-Schramm, of course) and we had a drink or two, then hung out with the Peppers (just adults, not sons) for another little while, which was fun.
The next day, Sunday, I spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon wondering when our favorite rokenrollers would finally wake up. I woke up very early for some reason, threw on some acceptable clothing for going outside and trudged out to my car to get a couple of things...my little cooler with two bottles of water swimming in melted ice and my sugar-free wafer cookies that I felt I just had to have at 8:00 in the morning for some reason. Not that I ate them then, just wanted them in my room in case I got hungry. I put the bottles of water in the mini fridge that each room there had and went back to bed for another few hours. I think I finally officially got up around 11:00am. Continental breakfast was from 6:00-10:00...oh well. There were very few signs of life from any musicians I knew in that hotel, except for Oleg who I saw briefly walking down a hallway late-morning-ish (there were others I didn’t know staying there too, seen walking around with guitars hanging from their shoulders), until at least 2:00pm-ish when finally three of them came downstairs, leaving Oleg-Schramm sleeping for another hour.
We went back to the Volksplatz stage and were later joined by Oleg-Schramm. This time both Igor and Oleg helped me sort out the merchandise and then we left it under the watchful eye of the Musikfest volunteer staff while we wandered off to get something to eat for lunch. Igor and I ended up eating Polish sausage, potato pancakes, chicken fingers and fries (yum, festival food!) under the Volksplatz stage tent at tables just to the left of the stage, watching a Zydeco band play. We later found out they were from Connecticut. The lead singer told Igor, “Everyone thinks we’re from Louisiana but we’re not, we just picked it up.” They were quite good and it was cool music to eat by.
 |
 |
| Adam and Igor in search of food... | The lovely Volksplatz stage tent from afar. |
After lunch there was time for walking around and seeing a little more of the festival site so I headed off to see more of the place. I bought myself a Musikfest t-shirt and crossed a little bridge that spanned a very scenic creek. That lovely sight almost made the temperature a tiny bit more bearable...but not quite. Still it was nice...
 |
| Nature at the Fest! |
I walked on and passed another, smaller, stage, then came to a long row of vendor stalls. I looked at some hats in one of the stalls there...because of course it’s in my nature to go shopping wherever I am. When I came out of the hat stall I saw a familiar face and then another familiar face, Oleg-Schramm and Igor, walking along about thirty or so feet in front of me. So I caught up to them. Igor wanted to walk to the Americaplatz stage so we headed in that direction. The guys looked it up in the Musikfest directory and also asked people along the way where it was. Sometimes we'd see someone wearing a Red Elvises t-shirt. "Nice shirt!" Igor would say. "Yeah...hey!" or "All right!" was the usual sort of response, along with grins of recognition and comradely head nods of affirmation. Only one guy didn"t seem to realize who he was talking to... "You too!" was his casual reply - in what sounded like a Russian accent - as he walked past!
 |
| Where are we? Where are we going? |
Of course, the Americaplatz stage was up a hill. So we went up the hill...once up there Igor noticed that we weren’t hearing any music and a lot of people were walking toward us, away from that stage. Another quick consult of the directory showed no one was playing on the Americaplatz stage right then, not until 5:00pm and our guys had to be at the Volksplatz stage by then getting ready for their own show at 6:30pm. So we walked back down the hill and across the festival grounds back to the Volksplatz area, with Oleg-Schramm stopping a couple of times to take pictures.
The guys prepared for the show and I arranged the shirts by size and color for easy grabbing upon request. We had decided to put the table inside the fence this time and sell from in there, which worked very well. Igor and Oleg lifted the table over the fence themselves and Oleg hung some shirts up on hangers for a display...always nice to have big strong multitalented Russian men around when you need them!
 |
| Let's move this thing! |
I could also see a little more of the show from there and ran around to the side of the stage near the back once or twice to take a couple of pictures while also keeping an eye on the merchandise table. I had two of my helpers again from the night before and they were very helpful with keeping an eye on things too. Later another friend joined them so I had even more help. I managed to put my multitasking skills to work and actually wrote down most of the songs they played in between sales. I did miss one or two here and there because of several rushes on merchandise but basically they started with “Love Pipe,” moved on into “Boogie on the Beach,” then “Harriet,” “Ticket to Japan,” Strip Joint is Closed,” “Sad Cowboy Song,” “Rocketman” and ended the set with “I Wanna See You Belly Dance.” Somewhere in there, in either the first or second set, they played “Love Rocket” and most likely one or two others but I couldn’t tell you when. After their short break they played one or two songs I couldn’t write down as well as “This Music is Wasted (If We Don’t Dance),” “Winter Reggae,” “Closet Disco Dancer,” “Sex in Paradise” and “Juliet.” That’s most of them, anyway. Once again, the band sounded terrific and I’m sure made a lot of new fans in that enthusiastic audience.
That night some members of the audience were in a talkative mood while purchasing Red Elvises merchandise... One guy told me he especially liked seeing Oleg’s head roll around on the tour dates page of the website. Yikes. Okaaaay... Another guy asked me questions about the band, including, “How old is Igor?” “41,” I replied. “21?” he asked. Yeah, sure... It’s all good. My favorite questions were always “Which CD is this song [fill in currently-being-played song here] on?” I didn’t know there’d be a quiz! Next time I’d better memorize the track list on every CD! So embarrassing when I didn’t always get it right before having to pick up two or three CDs and look! What can I say? I can only keep so much info in my head... The other “frequently asked” type of question was: “What was their most recent one before ‘Lunatics and Poets?’” Oh yeah, “Rokenrol,” the one that’s out of print at the moment. One girl asked me “You know the song they did when they first came back from the break? What was that one?” – this was at least three or four songs into the second set and it’s not like I was able to constantly listen, unfortunately, due to concentrating on getting everyone their merchandise and making change and so on. “Uh...I don’t know,” I brilliantly replied (as I was thinking “You’ve gotta be kidding!”) as I picked up “Lunatics and Poets” to show her, “But this is their latest CD and it’s really great!” And I think she bought it, yay. I'm sure she wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed talking to the people, anyway, no matter what they had to say or what questions they asked. They were all pretty nice and I hope they're enjoying their purchases.
So I had a good time selling merchandise even though it was a lot of work servicing that big happy wave of Elvises-loving humanity. After the show the guys came out and signed autographs as I sorted everything out and put it away in suitcases, ready to go back in the van. Then it was time for beer and food. I didn’t know what I wanted to eat but Oleg-Schramm gave me an extra turkey leg he didn’t want so I ate that and drank a beer or two. The beer tent shut down before I could get as much beer as I wanted (10:30pm is just too early to shut down something as good as beer! But oh well...) but I was happy to get what I did anyway.
 |
| Ummm...beer tent! |
The last band of the night arrived, a Caribbean reggae group called Jambulay, and some of us watched some of their show while sort of dancing/grooving on the edges of the crowd of dancing people. Oleg came over there after a little while with Lori, who looked beautiful while happily six months pregnant, and I took pictures of them. I was very happy...good beer, good food...good music and good people to hang out with.
 |
 |
| Oleg poses with longtime band-friend, Lori. | Igor raises a glass. |
Afterwards the guys loaded everything up and we went back to the hotel again, this time with five of us in the rental van/SUV/car. It had bucket seats in the back as well as in the front, causing Adam to have to straddle the seats sitting partly on one seat and partly on the other so he, Oleg-Schramm and I could all fit in the back seats. Luckily it was a short but comfortable ride. Some of us stayed up for a little while and hung out, again with the Peppers. Igor had said we should meet downstairs at 2:00pm the next day, Monday, so the next day I checked out around noon and went to get some much-needed coffee. Not long after I came back, while I was sitting in the lobby drinking my huge coffee and reading the local paper, I saw Adam walk into the lobby and called to him. He came over and sat down and we talked for about an hour until shortly after 2:00pm when one by one the Russians each stepped out of an elevator and said “Good morning!” Hey, that is morning to a musician!
After transferring the merchandise in my car (I’m taking it back to Pennsylvania for the Johnstown festival) we drove across the street to Perkins, a great bakery restaurant where you can get breakfast at any time. And that’s what we had, breakfast, at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon, which seemed perfectly normal, especially since at least three of the five of us had just gotten up a short time before. It was delicious. We talked and ate and all too soon it was time to leave and head home. The band had a 6:00pm flight out of Philadelphia back to L.A. and Philly was about 68 miles from Bethlehem. All I had to do was get in my car and drive nine-and-a-half hours again back the way I’d come, but, like I said earlier, the experience was worth every mile. So we each paid for our food and went outside to hug and say our goodbyes... “See you in three weeks!” we said to each other. I wished them a good flight home. It was overcast and had been raining off and on all day, but at least it hadn’t rained on the festival while Our Favorite Band was playing. After the same long drive back the way I’d come, I got home around 1:20am, tired but happy.
It sure was a great weekend, my first Musikfest. I had soooo much fun! If you ever get the chance to go to this festival when Red Elvises are playing, don’t even think twice about it, just do it! They rocked the place, that’s for sure. And if you live anywhere near Johnstown, Pennsylvania or can get there for Labor Day Weekend, September 3rd and 4th, for the Johnstown FolkFest, be sure and catch them there. I’ll report on that festival in the next issue and I’m sure they’ll rock it too.
 |
| Doing what they love, making people happy. |