Red Elvises at Rusty's Surf Ranch on the Santa Monica Pier
Santa Monica, CA
December 31, 2009
By Kayt
Auld Lang Syne… New Year’s Eve! What can you say about such a night? When I found out, on the same day, actually, that not one band I love but two were both playing in L.A. during the New Year’s holidays, I knew I should start making plans to go. Of course, I’m always up for Red Elvises on New Year’s Eve anywhere, but in addition to Red Elvises, Squirrel Nut Zippers were playing L.A. on January 1st (and San Diego on January 2nd), so it was a double treat if I could make it! For New Year's Eve this year, Southern California was the place to go! So I made plans, watched airfares like a hawk and continuously surfed the Internet for better hotel and car rental deals.
I flew into the Burbank airport (for once, cheaper than LAX!) on December 31st. It was really cool to be back in California again…the last time was April 2009, to see Red Elvises at Rusty’s and the Zippers in San Francisco. I’m not going to write about the Zippers’ shows here, but they were part of my weekend, and Igor is a big fan of theirs, so that’s why I mention them.
When I got to the Santa Monica Pier the police had it blocked and refused to let anyone drive onto the pier! Why? Nobody knows… So I went down the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and turned around, to try to park in the beach parking lot. No love there either, signs said that lot was “closed.” Wtf??! Now I was getting perturbed! I put “closed” in quotes for a reason… I finally figured out how to go on another little street, that takes you down to approach the beach parking lot from the other direction. Drove in there and the guy said I could park, for $6.00. So much for “closed.” So anyway, I parked near the ginormous Igor and Red Elvises van and walked over and up the steps to the pier. For the longest time hardly anyone was in Rusty’s… maybe about 20 people plus the band, Alex, Jamie, Igor’s son Nanduh, Adam’s brother Ken, and me. I chalk that up to the difficulty of parking and the inability to park on the pier.
We sat on the back patio and ate and drank, getting warmed up for the festivities ahead. The show started really late because the crowd took so long to build, but eventually, it seemed there were tons of people in the place. Sonia arrived and Hitomi was there too. I didn’t see any of the other “regulars” I’ve seen at Rusty’s many times before, but Sonia's mother came to the show with two friends so it was nice to meet them. The staff of Rusty’s decorated the place really nicely with balloons, streamers, “Happy New Year” tiaras and hats and noisemakers.
Since it was New Year’s Eve, I didn’t write down the songs for this show. They played TONS of great songs though, all the songs I’ve mentioned in the previous reviews in this fanzine issue and then some. Some I didn’t mention already that I know they played on New Year’s Eve were, “Don’t Crucify Me,” “Flaming Cheese” and “Million Miles…” And just after midnight, they played “My Love is Killing Me,” which meant I had to call Chris and leave a musical message at a little after 3 a.m. in Orlando. Oh well, Chris is not surprised when I do that, and I knew I could blame it on the beer and champagne!
Igor did a great job of keeping up with the time prior to midnight, West Coast time, and they stopped to count down and toast with champagne at midnight. “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Happy New Year!!!!!!” Woohoo!!! I looked around and most of the band members were carrying around huge bottles of champagne. We got glasses of champagne free from the bar. Every time I tried to toast with a band member, he or she would fill my glass! Which, of course, was not really a problem.
It was all amazing and we had a lot of fun. I didn’t get kissed (no one there I wanted to) and didn’t get drunk (didn’t really want to!) but did dance and toast and laugh with friends, not to mention all the great music that filled the place. If you ever have the chance to spend New Year’s Eve with Igor and Red Elvises, go for it… You won’t regret it. Happy 2010!
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