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Red Road Trip: Johnstown FolkFest |
Red Elvises were playing in Pennsylvania again and I was ready to go there again! Johnstown
this time, a small town in the mountains of western Pennsylvania, not quite as far from home
as Bethlehem. I mapped out my route and then mapped it out once or twice more just to be sure
(it’s always fun when Mapquest and Yahoo Maps don’t agree, whee), tried to decide what to pack
and bought a bargain (only $5.00!) red cowboy hat at Wal-Mart. Because of course a Red Road
Trip is a good excuse to go shopping beforehand. Then the phone rang. |
| It was Charlie Pepper, of the West Virginia Peppers I’d met at Musikfest (and this month's Fan of the Month, check it out!), and he and his sweet family was offering for me to spend Friday night at their house on my way to Johnstown! They live about six hours from me but it would certainly break up the drive nicely, so I took him on his kind offer. |  |
Friday morning around 11:00am found me putting everything in the car that I hadn’t put in the night before and making sure I didn’t forget anything... Red Elvises’ merchandise they’d sent home with me from Musikfest, my stuff, including girly stuff like blow dryer, flatiron and makeup, maps, directions, etc. I ended up leaving the driveway around 11:45am. This road trip was a little easier than the last one in that I didn’t encounter any real traffic-stalling road construction. The main worry was about gas – the cost and availability over Labor Day weekend – but it went well and I only had to pay $3.09 a gallon on the way to Charles Town, West Virginia.
This time I took all my Red Elvises CDs and Limpopo CDs, planning to play them all, in order, starting with Limpopo, on the drive up there. I would continue on the way back if necessary. So I set out listening to some “crazy Russian folk and roll” which was very entertaining for a Red Road Trip. As each CD neared the last track I fished around in my bag or my CD case, wherever the next CD was, never taking my eyes off the road, for the next one. As you might imagine, it takes a long time to play all the CDs Igor and Oleg and company have made!
I got to the Peppers’ home around 6:30pm, I think, just in time for dinner, which was delicious! We talked and got reacquainted while Charlie showed me their collection of framed autographed Red Elvises posters on many walls in several different rooms of their house. They also have some Grateful Dead pictures up as Charlie and Kathy were Deadheads before they were Red-heads!
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Their home was lovely and I enjoyed seeing everything very much. We went outside, where Charlie was grilling, and he showed me the door he had painted as a tribute to Red Elvises. He wanted to take a picture of me standing in front of it, so this was the result:
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The whole time we were hanging out and touring their house, the oldest Pepper son, Jeremiah, was rehearsing with his rock band, Bland. They sounded anything but “bland,” they were good, really rocking out. I especially enjoyed their cover of the B52s’ “Rock Lobster” but liked their own music quite a lot too, which is now recorded on a CD called "Vanity Wastebasket." In their band photo, Jeremiah is the second from the left, looking down. Hopefully they will go far in the future.
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The next morning I left the Peppers’ around 11:00am for the 2-3 hour drive on to Johnstown. The nearest gas station was charging $3.47 a gallon then but I had to fill up. Luckily my car didn’t need a lot of gas at that price. The rest of the drive was easy and quite scenic, actually. It’s always nice to see parts of America I haven’t ever seen before. The day before I had driven from North Carolina through Virginia and into western West Virginia; that day the road took me on into a bit of Maryland and then into Pennsylvania, woohoo!
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Johnstown is a charming little town in the western Pennsylvania mountains, and getting to it is just about as charming...the road winds through the mountains and the scenery is amazing, even though it’s best to keep one’s eyes on the road and not look too much at the breathtaking vistas on the left. It reminded me a little of the drive through Topanga Canyon in the Los Angeles area, only Pennsylvania seemed to have a lot more trees and the road wasn’t quite as close to the edge of the canyon (a good thing, that). I got more and more excited as I got closer to Johnstown. The “Rokenrol” CD finished playing as I drove down the street toward the hotel so I decided to start my drive home on Monday with “Lunatics and Poets.” During the drives on Friday and Saturday I listened to a lot of great music.
I got checked in and went up to my room to settle in, then freshened up and went back down to the lobby, where I met some of the festival volunteer drivers whose job it was to pick up the bands at the airport and shuttle them back and forth to the festival. I asked them if they were picking up Red Elvises and they said their friend was and they were wondering where he and they were at that point. Since the guys were scheduled to play that night at 6:30pm and would need some of the merchandise I had with me (not to mention I could use a ride over to the festival too since there was no parking there, it was all of the remote-parking-and-shuttle variety which would have made taking ALL the merchandise over there that way extremely difficult if not impossible for one person), I was wondering how it was going to work time-wise too. It was, I think, a little after 3:00pm by that time and the airport was in Pittsburgh. The drivers said it would take 1-2 hours to get to Johnstown from there with the traffic. So I called Oleg to see where and how they were and found out they were just leaving the airport then. Oleg said they’d swing by the hotel and get me and, of course, the merchandise I had (they also brought more with them). The drivers I was talking to were relieved that their friend had found the band and they were all on their way. Logistics solved, we all settled back to wait. I was very excited, needless to say, to see the guys again even though I had just seen them in Bethlehem a few weeks before. You can take the girl out of California but apparently the “spoiled” factor is here to stay.
The shuttle van finally pulled up and Oleg got out and came into the lobby where we hugged hello and he introduced himself to the volunteer drivers sitting there. I went outside to say hi to the other guys but only Igor was standing outside the van, so we hugged hello and then I greeted Schramm and Adam while we were in the process of getting an additional van and getting the merchandise out of my car so we could all go to the festival. As we were driven over there, our driver, like everyone else in Johnstown, proved very knowledgeable about the famous Johnstown Flood of 1889. He told us all about it and pointed out the bridge where the debris had collected and backed up so long ago, and about the huge fire that had caused. That flood and fire were huge and nearly devastated the town. It was quite interesting and we learned a lot, especially when other residents told us about it too. Everyone in Johnstown was super nice, it’s really a great little town. If you like Pennsylvania and ever consider retiring in a mountain town, I’d recommend Johnstown because everyone is so nice and they have that cool music festival there each year.
We reached the site of the Dodge stage and unloaded musical equipment and merchandise from the two shuttle vans. Because that stage was sponsored by Dodge, there were two very large inflatable vehicles next to it, fun for the kids to run into and play around. I guess I only took a picture of one of them...the other one was a car, almost as big as the truck.
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There was an artist performing onstage when we got there so I had to wait until he finished playing and then selling his own merchandise before I could start setting up Red Elvises' merchandise. When he was finished playing they started their own set up and soundcheck.
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I busied myself taking a few pictures and talking to various people. Soon I was able to start unpacking boxes and figuring out where the different sizes and colors of shirts were and putting some CDs out on the table. Some people starting coming over right away to check out the merchandise. Igor got me some change. Charlie and Kathy Pepper, along with their friend Tom, had come to town for that night’s show but they weren’t at the Dodge stage yet, they were watching Wanda Jackson play at the other stage. They did come over to the Dodge stage a little later though and graciously helped me with the merchandise.
The guys began the show and I tried to write down the songs, take a few pictures and sell all at the same time. Of course I had to give priority to the selling, so Kathy Pepper offered to take some pictures for me with my camera (thanks again, Kathy!!). She did a great job as you can see in the Photos section, most of those are ones she took with my camera. And I didn’t manage to write down all the songs, but this will give you an idea...: “Lovepipe,” “Telephone Call From Istanbul,” “Ticket to Japan,” “Memoirs of a Phuket Geisha” (while Oleg was changing strings – when done he joined in), “Gypsy Heart,” another song or two I was too busy selling to write down, “Love Rocket,” “Sad Cowboy Song,” “Closet Disco Dancer” and they finished the first set with the traditional “I Wanna See You Belly Dance.” Unlike Musikfest, in Johnstown they allowed some girls to get up there and dance so that added some belly dancing excitement to the show.
They took a short break and then got back up there to thrill and delight the people some more. The second set contained “Boogie on the Beach,” “Jerry’s Got a Squeezebox,” “Rocketman,” the special treat of “Blue Moon, ” “Sex in Paradise” and I’m sure many others that I was just too busy to even hear properly, much less write down. The crowd absolutely loved them!
I had a pretty good view of the show, by the way, over to one side but not obscured by equipment like at Musikfest. After it was over and we all packed everything up, a festival volunteer walked us the block or so to the Flood Museum where other volunteers had generously set up food and drink – even beer! – for the performers. What I liked was that you didn’t actually have to be a performer to go in and eat; it seemed if you were with or knew a performer you could go too. As I said before, everyone in Johnstown is really really nice! The food was upstairs, where they had tables and chairs set up for dining and other tables end to end with delicious hot food...beef with gravy, mashed potatoes, vegetables and even dessert! There was beer in the corner in a cooler, “IC” brand beer that I hadn’t heard of before but that came in a really cool aluminum sort of bottle with a smooth rim. We all agreed that it was a very cool bottle, and it tasted good too! I sat at a table with Igor, both Olegs and Adam, and then Charlie, Kathy and Tom joined us. We had a nice time eating, drinking and talking and after that we went downstairs and got a private after-hours tour! This first picture below is of a long wall of simulated debris they have in the Flood Museum – the guy telling us about it said to imagine it several stories high and coming at you in the water! That had to be terrifying. They also had a diorama showing the geography of the town and progression of the floodwaters and other exhibits, including old photos of the destruction, all set at different heights that you could look through viewfinders to see. I couldn’t see the highest ones but Adam had no trouble with those!
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So we looked around the museum for a little while and then went back to the hotel in the shuttle vans. Oleg checked the band into the hotel and then I helped them get everything upstairs to their rooms. They had a lot of stuff!
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Igor was tired and wanted to sleep but some of us were ready to stay up later and hang out so the two Olegs and I walked over to the Holiday Inn where the Peppers were staying. Oleg-Schramm wanted to go back to the festival so we didn’t see him for a while...RokenrOleg and I went to a bar to meet Charlie, Kathy and Tom there for some drinks. Oh, those tequila shots...from there the evening gets a little hazy...I remember we all went up to the Peppers’ hotel room and Oleg and Tom played acoustic guitars together, which was very cool...suffice to say we all had a lot of fun.
The next day I tried to sleep late without much luck and ended up dozing off and on most of the day. My room was next to the stairwell the maids used for going up and down in the process of cleaning the rooms, and they didn’t mind banging the doors regularly throughout the morning. It was a long day with no one stirring until the evening. I called Oleg around 3:00pm and it went like this:
Oleg (semi-sleepy voice): “Hello?”
Me: “I didn’t wake you up, did I?” (I have a knack for doing that to him...)
Oleg: “It’s okay... Wassup?”
Me: “Oh nothing, I just wondered what you guys might want to do today...”
Oleg (after a slight pause): “I’m going to sleep some more.”
Me: “Okay, I’ll see you later!”
So we each said “bye” and I walked over to McDonald’s on the corner across from our hotel to get a salad for lunch. I like Wendy’s salads better but McDonald’s was right there and I didn’t know my way around Johnstown at all, of course. I brought it back to my room to eat and saw some of the volunteer shuttle drivers in the lobby. As I was getting into the elevator I heard a girl say over one of the driver’s radios, “Red Elvises is the best band I ever heard!” That was nice to hear!
After my late lunch I dozed some more and may have actually slept a little. Then Oleg called me at 6:00pm and said we were going to the festival in thirty minutes. Yay, signs of life! Their show that night wasn’t until 9:00pm but going then would give plenty of time to set up and get something to eat. So at 6:30 we all went down and got shuttled over there, again hearing the story of the Johnstown Flood of 1889 as we went past the bridge where the debris gathered and started the fire. The good people of Johnstown are just so darned nice that you just can’t tell them you’ve heard the story before but I don’t think any of us really minded. It was a very pleasantly educational weekend.
Once at the Dodge stage we unloaded stuff and then sort of scattered in search of food. I bought some festival scrip and used it to purchase a lovely crabcake sandwich while at the booth next to that one Igor got a polish sausage platter to rival the one he had at Musikfest along with a crabcake sandwich. That crabcake was delicious! I sure would love to have another one now! We sat on the side of the audience area at the front to eat and watched the guy who was playing onstage. He was pretty good, it was good music to eat to. Igor got us a couple of beers from backstage and all was good with the world. Crabcake and beer...an unbeatable combination. A Red Elvises fan guy came over and asked Igor if they’d play “Venice USA” that night and Igor said they would.
Soon it was time to set up the merchandise so I went over to the table, determined to get it set up better and in a more organized fashion than the previous night. The Peppers had had to go home and weren’t there to help me so I knew I’d be on my own. Not a problem, but a little organization goes a long way when trying to find the right sizes of t-shirts and so on in a hurry. Igor came over to the table after soundcheck and talked to some of the people already coming up to look at the merchandise. He got me some change so I was ready to do my selling thing. Soon the tent had filled up with people, no doubt many bringing their friends back for the repeat performance after seeing how great the guys were the night before, and the show began.
The Sunday night show was even better than the one on Saturday night, if that can be imagined! They were really on fire...well, not literally, of course, not like 1889, but they were rocking! That night’s first set was: “Lovepipe,” “Venice USA,” “Boogie on the Beach,” “Harriet,” “Love Rocket,” “Ticket to Japan,” “Strip Joint is Closed,” “Sad Cowboy Song,” “Closet Disco Dancer” and “Belly Dance.” I think I got all the songs written down but wouldn’t swear to it.
During the break some fans at the merchandise table had a laugh when they found out I had asked Igor to get me some change... “You sent the lead singer for change?” was the incredulous question. Well, yes...who better to trust with the band’s money than someone in the band? Plus, Igor’s usually the one who gives me the change when I sell merch for them. I still laugh now thinking of that...it seemed so normal to me. Actually, I think the very helpful and trustworthy (everyone in Johnstown, in addition to being nice, seems unusually trustworthy too!) stage manager helped with that because the guys had to get back up there pretty quickly...at festivals bands have allotted times to play so breaks can’t be as long as at bars or clubs.
Time for the second set! It included: “200 Flying Girls,” “Telephone Call From Istanbul,” “Gypsy Heart,” “Winter Reggae,” “Juliet” with the guys singing the word “funk” instead of the wildly popular “Where the fuck are you?” – and every time they sang “funk” there were small whoops of giggling, evidently from those who’d heard the song before! At festivals there are children, older people, some with virgin ears maybe...but anyway, that cracked me up. Then, the very special treat of Chris Isaak’s song “Wicked Game,” at the beginning of which I got so excited that I nearly spaced out on a very pleasant and patient customer standing there...but she understood and we had a laugh about it while she bought something, so we were both happy. I think the last encore was the fun audience participation song “Sex in Paradise.” Again, I’m sure there were some other songs but no time in which to write them down. But you get the idea, I’m sure.
This time, because the festival closed at 11:00pm, when they finished and the sales dwindled down we all packed up our various stuff to get ready to go back to the hotel. We still had some time to stand around behind the stage and talk to the Stage Manager, a very nice lady. Oleg gathered up some leftover beers to take back to the hotel, even though I think he ended up giving them away to some young party-animal guys on our floor. When we got back to the hotel we loaded all the merchandise into my car so I could take it with me and they wouldn’t have to fly it back to L.A. It was 12:30am by the time we got back up to our rooms and the guys set up wake up calls for 4:30am – they had a crazy early flight back to L.A. which left the Pittsburgh airport at 7:00am so the shuttle driver was coming at 5:10. Yes, A.M.! When have you ever known a rock ‘n roll musician who was up at that hour unless he hadn’t gone to bed yet? Yikes!
I got up at 4:30am too to say goodbye and see them off. They all came downstairs and headed for the coffeepot, already brewing for that morning’s continental breakfast which didn’t start till 6:00am I think. Adam wanted milk for his cereal and the desk lady was nice enough to bring some out for him. There’s that Johnstown niceness in action again; I don’t think I’ve ever been in a nicer small town! So, armed with caffeine, they all got themselves and their stuff into the shuttle and as we hugged goodbye all around I wished them well. Then I went back up to my room and slept till about 10:00am before getting up, finishing packing, getting ice for my cooler and checking out of the hotel.
As I started my drive out of Johnstown, “Lunatics and Poets” playing in my car’s CD player, I couldn’t help smiling at all the fun times we’d had there over the weekend. Our Favorite Band was the talk of the festival! Everybody had loved them and had been talking about them, they were the buzz all over town so it’s very likely that they’ll be invited back again sometime. I wouldn’t mind going back there again sometime too, it was so much fun, such a nice town, not a bad drive there and back, especially thanks (again) to the Peppers, and Red Elvises sounded amazing and were much loved there.
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