Red Road (and Flying) Trip to California, Part 1
San Diego
July 13, 2007
By Kayt
“I’m gonna miss you guys so much!” I’d said to Igor and Oleg at lunch at Boston Market in Allentown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 17th, the last time I’d seen the band before going on this trip.
To which Igor had replied, “You’ll see us again. You’ll come to L.A.”
And he was right. He knows me too well by now, what can I say? I watched the airfares like a hawk for weeks, waiting and hoping for that magical dip in fares…that never came. Finally, after some thought and rather childish self-indulgence, I reached a decision to go ahead and book the trip anyway. The return flight I really wanted, a nonstop late redeye, more than doubled in price during this time so I took the next desirable one, which changed in Phoenix and was much lower priced although still not as low as I would’ve preferred. It was a redeye that left LAX at 6:50pm as opposed to the other redeye I’d wanted that left at 10:45pm. I would’ve probably gotten more sleep on the nonstop but was not paying upwards of $400 for it, so the other flight would have to do. I had a nonstop flight going to L.A., which arrived around 10:00am, so that was cool at least.
Everything went great with all my flights and amazingly all were pretty much on time, except the flight to L.A. took off and landed about half an hour late…that’s not bad for landing at LAX really. So there’s not much to tell or complain about there. I didn’t check luggage on the way there so was able to breeze right past Baggage Claim at LAX (what a great feeling!) and head out to wait for the shuttle to the car rental place, which came within five minutes of when I got out there! Things were going really great already, making me just a little nervous.
The weather was damn near perfect, blue skies and sunshine, not too hot. I got my rental car and got a free upgrade to a PT Cruiser! It was blue, not red, but I was thinking that if that was the only “fly” in the ointment I was still doing great, car color not being that big a deal to me really. On the way to have lunch with my friend I called Oleg and he said I could ride with the band to San Diego, just be at his place by 5:00pm, so that was way cool. This would be a Red Roadtrip with the band, the absolute best kind! So yeah, like, wow! It couldn’t get much better than this, could it?
Lunch was fun and then I took my friend home and went to check in at the hotel, which was nothing fancy but was right on Venice Beach. It used to be a youth hostel and my room had three twin beds in it, which was pretty funny. But, really, no matter how plain or even dumpy your hotel is, if it’s in a location where you can just go outside and put your toes in the sand by the Pacific Ocean it definitely doesn’t suck. Even if it’s raining that doesn’t suck. But it wasn’t raining, it was lovely out. By that time I only had a little over an hour to go before the time to meet at Oleg’s so I started getting ready right away.
My incredibly good luck continued… Once I got to Oleg’s I found a parking space on the street right away! In L.A….!! Venice, even, where legal parking isn’t always easy to find. And this one wasn’t blocks away, either, it was very close. And I was early, something I rarely am except for Red Elvises.
Not too long after I got there Adam showed up, quickly followed by Igor, Jamie (Igor’s roommate and band friend), Elena and Beth. And Oleg came downstairs and was running around somewhere. The usual suspects and I were ready to go! We climbed in the van and got our usual seats, more or less. It’s funny how quickly something can become a habit – from riding in the van with them from hotels to venues while on the road in the Carolinas and a little bit in Florida I seem to have acquired my habitual spot to sit, on the second seat, either sort of behind the driver’s seat or on the passenger seat side. Or sometimes, if no one is sitting next to me, somewhere in between. I like to see out the front window. That day I sat next to Elena, sort of behind and to one side of Igor. Beth likes to sit way in the back (as you can see in her photo later in this article). Igor rides shotgun when he isn’t napping, Oleg wanted to sleep across the third seat back and Adam was driving. Jamie stretched out on the fourth seat back, the one between Oleg and Beth.
We headed out of L.A. into the Friday afternoon traffic, legendary in L.A. It was so nice to not have to worry about driving to San Diego (thanks, again, guys!). As we turned a corner a guy standing on the sidewalk smiled and gave us a thumbs up sign or something similar, expressing his approval of the big red van and, I suppose, Red Elvises in general. Always nice for them to have the support of the populace. Later on, while on the 405 freeway, I noticed a guy in a vehicle next to us trying frantically to get Igor’s attention, so I told him and he put the window down to see what the guy wanted. A crazed fan? A dude asking directions to the beach? No, the other driver just helpfully informed Igor that they might get a ticket for being in the lane we were in; he said that since it was a big van we were supposed to be in the lane the trucks have to drive in. Who knew? So Adam changed lanes to avoid the cops who weren’t there and all was right with the world… or at least on the 405.
Eventually we got as far as Orange County, just south of L.A., and after another little while we exited and stopped in a parking lot (Home Depot? Office Depot? One of those Depot places…) to meet the t-shirt guy and pick up some merchandise. Yay, new merch! Most everyone got out; I waited in the van. We made one other stop somewhere along the way at a gas station for, well…gas, and munchies, but I’m not sure where that was. After we all got back in and were on our way, for a while all you could hear was crunch, crunch, crunch as Igor and I (and someone else? I can’t remember now) nibbled on our salty crunchy snack mixes. Elena listened to her Ipod and later started putting on makeup. Beth and Jamie talked, I think, as Adam drove on and Oleg went back to sleep.
My good friend Maya
My friend Maya from Tucson, along with her aunt from Phoenix, were in San Diego for the start of a family vacation and they were coming to the Tio Leo’s show, so when we got there I called to let her know we’d arrived. I was helping Jamie distribute t-shirts, girly tanks and work shirts from the boxes they came in into the merch suitcases, by size, when Maya and her aunt came walking around the side of Tio Leo’s toward us. I stopped yanking shirts out of boxes long enough to say hi and give Maya a hug. We had open boxes all over the place behind the van’s trailer and were working pretty fast, so I hardly had any time to talk right then, but once we went inside and Jamie and I got the table set up then Maya and I could catch up some. It was great to see her again and meet her aunt too. Maya and I had last seen each other in May when I went to Arizona to see Red Elvises (that story was in the July Red Pages issue).
Don't they look stunning?!
The band went into the small changing room and put on their stunning show clothes that you can see in the photos in this issue. People were excited to see them and the show was great, of course! The crowd was bigger than at past Tio Leo’s Red Elvises shows… I guess word has spread about how fantastic this band is, which doesn’t surprise me a bit. There were plenty of people there and they weren’t shy about dancing right in front of the stage, which is always a good time. I was quite surprised and pleased to see longtime fan and friend Willie Dixon there! I didn't even know he was going to be in Southern California during that time. It's too bad we didn't get very much of a chance to talk but I needed to get back to the merch table and then later was distracted once more by merch issues. But I really enjoyed seeing him again after so long. Also, the older gentleman who always dances with lots of girls was there again. I don't know his name but have seen him at Tio Leo's several times before. He cracks me up; he’s got great spirit and more energy than many people half his age. He also always has a great time seeing Red Elvises; you can just tell by watching him that he’s having the time of his life.
They started the show with “Drinking with Jesus,” a bold move. People loved it! Next was another new one, “Twist Like Uma Thurman,” followed by “Love Rocket,” “Ticket to Japan,” “Memoirs of a Hooker” (or Phuket Geisha, if you want to get all exact about it), “Sad Cowboy Song” and then they finished the first set with the ever popular “I Wanna See You Bellydance.”
During the break I sold merchandise and at some point talked Maya into taking my $5 bill over to the bar and trading it for a Corona with lime for me. I guess I could’ve done that myself but I was kinda tired from having been up since 4:30am and not sleeping that much on the plane. Not to mention I was a little busy selling merch. But I really really wanted something to drink and very much enjoyed my one beer I got that night, which was probably all I needed under the circumstances (being tired), even though I wasn’t driving. Not until we got back to Venice later on, anyway.
The second set began with “Gypsy Heart,” another crowd favorite, and then they played a really great old song, “My Darling Lorraine.” After that we heard “Winter Reggae,” another new one “Lara’s Wedding” (it ROCKS!), “Strip Joint is Closed,” “Closet Disco Dancer,” “Rocketman” and the last song, “Juliet.” I believe those last three were encores, as in “Do you want to hear one more? One more?! ONE MORE??!!!” Everyone wanted to hear one more, as they always do. But finally it was time for the show, like all good things, to end.
I sold some more merchandise and Jamie helped some throughout and at the end. It’s fun to sell and talk to people. Even when I’m tired. Even when they have a knack for wanting exactly what we don’t have. Even when they, like this one guy, buy some shirts and then come back twice to exchange them for different sizes. Yeah…it’s all good…so buy a bunch of stuff next time you go to a Red Elvises show! You know you’ll enjoy it all, and it’s a great souvenir of the show too – hear Your Favorite Band, wear Your Favorite Band. So the guys and girls were changing clothes, packing up gear, talking to people, signing autographs and so on. Once we’d sold everything we could, Jamie and I packed up the merchandise and got it out to the trailer. At the end of the night I climbed into the van and sat in my usual spot, again next to Elena, took a picture of Beth relaxing in the back seat with her feet up and waited for everyone else to get in for the trip back to Venice.
Once we were on the road I sort of curled up, as much as possible, and went to sleep for the two-hour trip. Fortunately I have the ability to sleep just about any time and any place so that was a good trip “home.” Everyone was pretty quiet… I don’t know if other people were sleeping or not. We pulled up at Oleg’s in what seemed like no time flat (Oleg was driving) and got out, moving around to make sure we were out of the way of the van and trailer while people were unloading and then when Oleg was parking them both.
While standing there in front of Oleg’s garage talking to Igor about merchandise my so-far good luck changed rather dramatically. No, the conversation went well enough, except that I needed a couple of items to fill orders with that they didn’t have, but it was what happened during the next fifteen or so minutes that was pretty darned embarrassing. No, my skirt didn’t blow up a la Marilyn Monroe (Jamie’s did, while at Tio Leo’s but she was standing in front of an electric fan at the time and it was on purpose…see her photos!). You wanna know? Okay, read on and I’ll tell you. Everything had gone so very well until then…
So I was standing there talking to Igor about merchandise and Oleg was parking the van. In the process of that he had to get out and move some of the gear out of the way, and most of it just happened to end up surrounding me where I was standing. So after a little while I was literally walled in by gear in black cases and I needed to step carefully between some of the pieces so I could leave. I’d already been hugged goodnight and all, but I was somehow still there even though I really needed some more sleep and wanted to go to my hotel by then. Funny how that happens… Looking around, I saw one small space where I could step…so I instinctively put my hand on the nearest large solid object to steady myself so I wouldn’t step on anything important or trip. And…
That nearest large solid object turned out to be Oleg-Schramm’s covered SUV. He was out of town, gone on a tour. He had also left his car alarm on. Yep, you guessed it… Suddenly we, and probably everyone around for many blocks, heard…
HONK! HONK! HONK! HONK! HONK! HONK! HONK! (with the usual slight pauses in between the honks).
Did I mention it was 3:00 in the morning?
Why, yes, it was! And Oleg-Schramm’s car happened to be parked pretty much under Oleg’s bedroom window, best I could figure, looking up. Igor looked at Oleg. I imagine he was probably thinking along the lines of “make it stop…?” Oleg looked at Igor and said something like (I’m slightly paraphrasing…), “Schramm is not home. He’s gone on tour. We can’t do anything about it.” They both looked at me. I was ready for the ground to open up and swallow me about then, oh my. So then I did pretty much the only thing I could do, since unfortunately I haven’t been blessed with the magical power of being able to turn off car alarms with my mind (although come to think of it, that would be a great magical power to have, wouldn’t it?)…I apologized, of course. Sincerely and deeply. And then I left. Rather quickly, I might add…
“Okaay, so, goodnight, guys, I’ll see you tomorrow, I’m going to go sleep now!” They looked at me like ‘Oh yeah, now you bail out…’ Hoping they would forgive me in time, or by the next day, I walked around the corner of the building and saw Adam, Jamie, Beth and Elena sitting on the various pieces of furniture outside Oleg’s apartment, so I was greeted by calls of “Is that your fault?” and “Did you do that?” I had to admit that, yes, I accidentally got too close to the car and touched it and caused all the impossible-to-stop noise. Car alarms do eventually stop on their own, don’t they? Before they run the battery down? I sure hope so!
I went to Ralph’s (grocery store, open all night) to get something for the slight headache that had come and gone all afternoon and night (I think the music actually helped it go away but I was afraid it might come back in what was left of the night), then went to the hotel and went to sleep.
To be Continued in Part 2…..
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