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There’s nothing quite as cool as riding along to an out of town show in the Big Red Van
with the guys, so I considered it an honor as well as a pleasure to have been able to tag
along with them to the San Diego show on March 30th while I was in Southern California. At the
very least, it saved me the trouble and expense of driving down there in my rental car. But the
main benefit of riding with them was just that it was super cool and a lot of fun.
San Diego, for anyone totally unfamiliar with southern California, is a very nice town about two hours or so south of Los Angeles. There are tons of fun things to do there, including Sea World, a wildlife park, Pacific Beach, the Gaslight District |
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But before we got there we had to leave Venice, of course. Oleg had told me they had a rehearsal till 5:00pm and would leave for San Diego after 6:00, so naturally I was parked on the street near his place at 5:20. For this, I could be on time! I didn’t have long to wait; a few minutes later the van went past me before I even had a chance to get out of my rental car, and turned into the alley that leads to Oleg’s place. I hugged Sasha hello and hung out with some people outside while final preparations were under way. Soon it was time for the band and me, their humble and crazy assistant, to climb into the van... Igor got in the third seat so he could take a nap, the two Olegs were up front and Adam sat by me on the second seat. And off we went into the sunset...or actually, south...but the sun was in the process of setting in the west as it habitually does anyway. We then had to deal with the legendary L.A. traffic on the 405 freeway, since rush hour in L.A. lasts from approximately 3:00pm until around 7:00pm every weekday. Or rather, Oleg had to deal with it, and he did a fine job, driving carefully and punching the buttons on the radio in a continual search for music instead of DJ talk or commercials...avoiding the tons of jabber on the airwaves. We listened to classic rock, Spanish music, whatever struck Oleg’s fancy at the time...it was all good. The rest of us just rode along and took naps and talked a little. I was just grooving on the experience, happy as anyone who loves this band would be to be taking a two-hour road trip with them.
The van rides smoothly... When the traffic got on my nerves I decided to chill, so I laid my head on the back of my seat and took a little nap. When I woke up we were far enough out of L.A. that we were past most of the traffic and we were just gliding along. From past experience I figure we must have been going pretty fast (Oleg was driving, after all!) but it didn’t feel that fast in the van. That is one comfortable ride!
Little did we know that after a while we had someone following us... No, not the cops, it was Kat (band friend and April’s Fan of the Month!) and boyfriend/fellow band friend/maker of the fabulous Red Elvises jackets Jeff, who were driving back from Nevada when they spotted a distinctive big red van with yellow lettering. Timing is everything and Kat’s was certainly with her that night! But Oleg pulled off the road at San Clemente to get gas and food so they temporarily lost us. Because of the time and the intense traffic we all dined on gas-station nourishment in the van. Mine was a turkey and cheese croissant sandwich if you really want to know. Igor and Adam both had microwaved burgers and I didn’t see whatever food Oleg and Oleg-Schramm had. I was the last one back in the van so I had the job of shutting the door...and yes, I had to try three times before Igor finally stopped saying “You still didn’t shut it...” and it finally latched properly. I had a weird sense of “deja vu” on that, I’m sure it’s happened before at some point. So, if you’re a weakling like me and you ever ride in their van don’t be the last one to get in! Just a word to the wise there.... (heh heh). So anyway, then we were ready to roll again and back we went onto the freeway, where I think Kat soon found us again. Not like we were inconspicuous or anything, of course.
We got to the fine establishment of Tio Leo’s (and they are fine indeed, they booked Red Elvises!) around 9:00pm and started unloading the van. Kat, Jeff and I helped carry things in and Oleg helped procure a table for me to set up the merchandise. I had a great view from Oleg’s side of the stage, just had to be careful not to move right in front of the big speaker sitting there, especially not when Oleg let loose one of his traditional Oleg-style wild screams! Goodbye, eardrums! Just kidding...but you don’t want to get too close to those speakers when that happens. The guys set up onstage quickly and soon started playing. The crowd didn’t disappoint either, they were excited and ready to dance.
I started selling merchandise and drinking a Corona, and then remembered that I should write down the songs for this write up. I found my pen but couldn’t find the paper I’d managed to remember to bring along. It didn’t seem to be in any of my pockets (it was actually hiding in my jacket pocket but of course I couldn’t find it because that was way too obvious...heh heh) so I grabbed a napkin and scribbled the songs down on that. Miraculously that napkin made it all the way back across the country with me so here goes...the songs, in order for your imagining pleasure, direct from a Tio Leo’s napkin:
First set:
“200 Flying Girls,” “Telephone Call From Istanbul,” “Gypsy Heart,” “Love Rocket,” “Ticket to Japan,” “Strip Joint is Closed,” “Sad Cowboy Song,” “It’s a Wonderful Night (to Fall in Love),” Chris Isaak's song “Wicked Game” and “I Wanna See You Belly Dance.”
Second set:
“Lovepipe,” “Venice USA,” “Boogie on the Beach,” “Juliet,” “Hawaii,” “Memoirs of a Phuket Geisha” (although more often than not Igor introduces it these days as “Memoirs of a Hooker”), an ‘80s rock song sung in Russian that I didn’t think to get the name of even though it rocked, “Hungarian Dance #13,” “Johnny B Good” and then about four encores with Igor's question for the crowd, “Do you want to hear one more?” shouted out between each one. The crowd roared back "YES!" and “ONE MORE!” each time the question was answered, and of course Igor made them repeat their screams as if they weren’t loud enough, so it was clear that this crowd wanted to hear a LOT more! The band then played “Closet Disco Dancer,” “I’m Not That Kind of Guy,” “Rocket Man,” and, wait, let me turn my napkin around because it got so full I had to turn it and write in the other direction. Ahh, there we go, last encore, “My Love is Killing Me."
Kat and Jeff, far left |
 The Senior
Casanova dancing with the lady in the red pants |
The crowd went wild on each one. Kat and Jeff were enjoying the show and occasionally helping me with the merchandise table, right in front was a fun-loving senior dude dancing with as many of the young ladies as he could and a lot of other people danced and enjoyed and shouted for more too. It was a fantastic show, a great night.
But all great things must eventually come to an end, and equipment and merchandise must be packed up and put back in the van for the trip home. So once again, Kat, Jeff and I helped the guys carry stuff outside and then stood around talking until I got so cold I just wanted to get in the van to try to warm up a little.
The guys finished loading and climbed in. This time it was Oleg-Schramm lying down on the third seat back, Oleg driving with Adam riding shotgun and Igor sitting with me on the second seat. That soon turned into Igor taking a nap with his head on a pillow in my lap, since space was at a premium and I guess he was tired. I dozed off too on the two-hour ride back to L.A. We were a pretty quiet bunch on the way home, tired but satisfied with another terrific show. I was really happy to hang with them and to have been able to help sell merchandise at Tio Leo’s again. I had a blast, and thanks again, guys, for letting me be a passenger in the big red van!