(Red) Elvis and Bruce

Due to the fact that I've been known to jinx myself and miss events that I blog about, I've decided to start with a concert tour that I stand to miss out on as I have to go visit my disant relative Kirgi Gokbudak in Konya Eregli, Turkey (an in-joke I'll try to let the rest of you in on) in mid-Jue.
But because of my visit to my fourth cousin's village dwelling, I am not likely to catch the Russian swing band Red Elvises as they invade NC on their tour of America. The Red Elvises have apparently been around since 1995, and I had first heard heard of them from songs they had in a strange movie called "Sanurai Six String," but I had completely forgotten about them. I saw on their CDs at a store in Roanoke, and then I saw in "Indy Weekly" that they were playing in Raleigh.
As it turns out, they are also playing in Charlotte (June 12, Visualite Theatre), and Winston-Salem (Ribfest, June 15) in addition to the Raleigh show on June 14 at Pour Music Hall. I settled for their 1999 CD "Better Than Sex," which was only $6 (it was used!) at that Roanoke record store. The Red Elvises are not based in Moscow, but rather Santa Monica, Ca.
Much closer to home, my friend Bruce Piephoff, folk singer and poet from Greensboro, will be performing in Andrews, NC, which is only five miles closer to the Lincoln Memorial from my home (which is also in NC)!
Bruce will be performing at the Andrews Street Festival there on June_ sure sounds like a great show. Fortunately for my gas budget, he will also be singing his songs like "I Remember Asheville" and "20 Miles to Baghdad" at the Grove Winery in Gibsonville, NC, on June 8 from 6-9 p.m. That date will be one busy day for music lovers in the Triad for The Charlie Poole bluegrass music fest will be going on in nearby Eden, NC, that same day!
Bruce travels to Durham for the Eno River Festival on July 8 (I imagine that same day former NC Sen. John Edwards who lives in nearby Chapel Hill might be in Durham, NH, trying to collect votes... and, I don't blame him for that!, but he'll miss Bruce) and Mr. Piephoff has a big show at Triad Stage, normally a theatre venue, on July 10. Perhaps, Bruce will sing "If I Were a Rich Man" from "Fiddler on the Roof" for that show!
For those of you from my home state of Virginia who can't afford to visit me much less see the Red Elvises or Bruce Piephoff  in NC due to the fact that a trip to your neighborhood Sheetz station now costs more than a Rolling Stones concert ticket, there is an interesting show at Sun Music Hall in Floyd, Va., on June 24 as the New Riders of the Purple Storm... a band from the '60s (wow!) will be performing up in that southwest Virginia hamlet.
Lastly, Kirgi Gokbudak is apparently some musician, dancer from Konya Eregli, Turkey. I actually don't know him, but he has to be related to me. I found him by accident on youtube. He seems to be a talented artist in his own right but with things being the way they are, he probably couldn't get a visa to play anywhere around here. I would link you to the youtube video, but I don't have those meager technological capabilities on this blog, and I think I'd have at least 16 more hits if I did. I asked my friend Blake Lipscomb for help on that matter, but we were too busy talking about movies today. He maintains that "Saw 3" is better than the first one. I beg to differ.........that is another in-joke, but I think everybody'll probably get that one!

Useful links:

http://www.redelvises.com
http://www.brucepiephoff.com
http://www.myspace.com/brucepiephoff

And, Kirgi Gokbudak's video is at http://www.youtube.com just type in the name Gokbudak in the search engine........he's the only 'one of us' that comes up.

There is probably info on "Saw 3" on the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com)..........if any of you actually see it, let me know how it is (not that I really would care!)