Special solo performance of American music at US Embassy, Tashkent

Omnibus Blackbox Music and Vision Festival; performance of solo works with film; works by Denise Broadhurst (Not Waving, But Drowning), Natasha Bogojevich/Hurt McDermott (BAJALICA), William Susman/Steven Bilich (Native New Yorker), premier of orchestral version of Demetrius Spaneas/Justin Heim Elastic Stronghold by the Omnibus Ensemble, premier of the Demetrius Spaneas/Justin Heim film Define Intervention, and the premier of Demetrius Spaneas/Nicolay Leonuv In Celebration of Sunrise; Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Solo performance (with guests) presented by the APXE Festival/International Symposium of Contemporary Arts and Humanities at the Michael Chemyakin Foundation; includes premier of my Spoken Origins for saxophone and electronics; St. Petersburg, Russia; 7PM

18 February 2008
Mark Twain
United States of America

Dear Mark,

I apologize for the long span between letters; recent traveling has made writing progressively more difficult. I am now back in St. Petersburg for a few days before heading off to Central Asia. My hope is to write you again before I leave, for after that it will probably be a couple of weeks until I can write again.

I wanted to write about some cultural experiences that I had in Moscow. Actually, they are more than cultural experiences, more like cultural epiphanies.

The first occurred on a Saturday evening. We had just been walking through Red Square and decided to take a particular side street that was lined with small churches. Only one, St. George the Victorious, seemed open. We went inside. They were holding an evening vesper service and the lights were out; only candles lit the faces of the priests, 5 of them, holding service. It was beautiful, even more so when the lights came on (we stayed quite a while). I have to say that my ‘Organized Religious’ experience in the USA has always been somewhat…lacking. I was brought up (Greek) Orthodox Christian, the same as the Russians. Religious services back home seemed, well, overshadowed by politics and fashion to such an extent that I was disgusted from attending-no one was listening, no one seemed to care. Granted, I know that some do, but to be honest, they were few and far between. I felt worse after attending, so then, why bother? It seemed more important for the attendees to be seen rather then to be in Communion with the Church.

To see these people, after decades of religious oppression, once again being able to Celebrate the Divine Liturgy (as the Orthodox call Mass) out in the open with no fear of government persecution is an experience that I can’t really begin to explain. There they were-not just the very old, but younger generations whose families practiced in secret-not caring who was there or who ran the church or who was wearing what; just pure, simple, total devotion. I can only hope that this is something that I can bring back to the West, and hope even more so that I can make some understand it. I guess the people who want to listen, will-Free Will, which is our Gift-humanity’s gift that is constantly threatened by these oppressive regimes…but, as we have seen, the human spirit does eventually prevail.

Speaking of oppressive regimes, let’s talk about the Soviet Union some. The reason that I’m bringing this up is that I also experienced Russia’s ‘other religion’: Pushkin.

Now, to most Westerners, Pushkin is a name that is synonymous with Russian literature, even though none of us have actually read any of his works. I will be the first to admit this. Even if I did, it would be nothing but an English translation, and Pushkin’s genius is in his use of Russian, so I still wouldn’t get it…

Now, one of the main things that I had noticed here in Russia is the tremendous number of buildings, parks, museums, streets, railway stations, etc., named for Pushkin. It is as if you couldn’t go a couple of blocks before running into the “Pushkin Center for the Arts”, or “Pushkin Metro Station”, or “Pushkin Place”. I didn’t get it…why?

It has been told, or at least implied heavily, to me that during the Soviet regime, since God was outlawed, people turned, in a way, to Pushkin as the epitome of Russian art and culture and he became a sort of surrogate divinity. And like a divinity, he had (has) a following of cult worshipers that seems to be the vast majority of Russians.

So…I went to a special ceremony at the Pushkin Museum (which, it seems, is the only place that actually has something to do with Pushkin…but not really…see below) to celebrate the anniversary of his death. Now, Pushkin was born in Moscow, but lived mostly in St. Petersburg…BOTH claim him. This has led to problems. The Pushkin Museum in St. Petes actually has personal belongings and manuscripts. Moscow, not to be outdone, built their own modern museum-which, by the way, was BY FAR the most attractive modern building I’ve seen in all Russia-as a dedication to their idol. Now, they actually don’t have anything BY or OF Pushkin, but the faithful followers have made donations of items from their own family heirlooms that could possibly in some way relate to Pushkin and his times, such as: a china set from the early 1800s, or modern recordings of Pushkin’s favorite music, or antique furniture…you get the picture…

So…in this packed hall were people from all ages and walks of life. After a moment of silence at 2:45 (the supposed time of his death), the program began. There were overly dramatic readings of his verse (by saying ‘overly dramatic’ I’m not (and can’t, really) giving you the true picture of this Russian style of reading-I would say that listening to it is not unlike being whacked on the head repeatedly by a tennis racket, and even then you still wouldn’t get it-it must be experienced…), playing of his favorite music, and speeches by greats from a past generation. Wow…it was truly cultish…there were tears, really …the man died 170 years ago, but fresh flowers by the score were by his picture. THIS was a window into understanding Russians. At least they hold a literary figure thusly, and not an athlete in such esteem. Even at one of the major museums, the Tretakov, the portrait of Pushkin is bathed in a special spotlight, and there are flowers there, too.

Speaking of galleries and Russo-Soviet outlooks, we went to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (which has nothing to do with Pushkin…) to see the 19th Century to Contemporary exhibits. There was a room-not just a wall, mind you-but a whole room dedicated to that most brilliant and talented of American artists who truly understood life and idealism in 20th Century Russia and was considered among the greats in American art history: Rockwell Kent!

What’s that? Really? You have never heard of him?…’gasp’! Well, neither had I. Neither have most Americans, or anyone else, for that matter, so we’re not alone. Rockwell Kent painted what is known as Socialist Realism. What this means is that he portrayed ‘happy’ scenes of the simple life and people at work and enjoying the wonderfully fulfilling collective lifestyle that had been forced on them by their totalitarian regime…oh, sorry, went a little too far there. Anyways, his work was bought up by the Soviet government and displayed here, with captions telling about his vanguard leadership of the American arts…propaganda at it’s best. He wasn’t even taken seriously in the US…Hell, he was a rotten artist, downright miserable, but…he towed the party line, and that made him accepted…at least here…

…I just wish that in 1990 that they would’ve dumped this stuff and bought some Pollack…Rockwell Kent? What were they thinking? Geeze…

So, there is my Moscow story. It’s quite a place-great city, really. I could live there; I enjoy it and it has a lot to offer in so many ways that it leaves St. Petes in the dust. But…for now, St. Petes is home.

Until soon, as always, your devoted correspondent,

Demetrius

Open World Center; improvisational performance with vocalist Galina Parfenova and didjeredoo master Pyotr Nikoulin; Moscow, Russia

8 February 2008
Mark Twain
United States of America

Dear Mark,

So…I have been in Moscow now almost two weeks, and I believe that it is time to talk about this city, compare it to others, and even comment on the Russian way of life.

I have to preface this with a story about my trip to the post office…dear God…I can only imagine how things actually get done in this system, and even more importantly, the burning question: does anyone, including those behind the desks, actually know how it all works…

We went to the post office down the street from where we are staying to send some CDs to Greece and the US-simple, yes? Oh, no…we get to the post office and they tell us (after waiting in line) that their branch only deals with ‘in country’ mail (whether that means in Russia only or for Russians only is another question…) and that we must go to a special branch which is quite a walk away. Having no choice, we went on a mini-adventure across town. We reach the expected center, waited in line, and found out that they only ship books and that we must go to another building to ship CDs…OK…so we go to the other building, wait in the properly marked line, only to find out that this was a “Russia (or Russians…) only’ line and that we must go to another-the attendant was very rude and berated our ignorance, even though this was not marked (she claimed it was…but it wasn’t) and said that we should know better.

So…to the next line where we fill out two copies of customs forms only to find out that we have to put the forms INSIDE the package…BOTH copies…this makes one fear that every package is actually opened before it goes out for delivery, which wouldn’t actually surprise me.

So…a few hours later, the packages were mailed…see, efficiency at it’s best…well, probably efficient for Russians, but maybe not so for foreigners.

Which leads me to my discussion of the cities. Even though I have been complaining about Moscow, I actually rather like it and prefer it to St. Petersburg. I have had some great concerts here (much better than St. Pete in many, many ways) and the audiences have been far more appreciative. I also feel much more comfortable here as a foreigner than I do in St. Petes. There, everyone stares at you because you look different-St. Petersburg is really a big provincial village in a lot of ways; even though it’s close to Europe and a supposed cultural center, it has a much more closed society feel. Anything different or out of the ordinary is looked upon with suspicion. Let’s face it, I stick out. I have definite Southern European features, have longish hair and a trendy goatee and sport a long black trench coat and black beret. I will not be mistaken for a Russian in almost any setting.

St. Petes reminds me of Boston. It’s a conservative, provincial city. Granted, like Boston, it is really the cultural and intellectual capital of the country…but that doesn’t change the insular attitude. If something sticks out, it will be looked on with suspicion. Moscow, like NYC, is a large, international, and cosmopolitan center for both commerce and fashion. Like NYC, it doesn’t have the intellectual ‘weight’ that Boston or St. Pete have, but being an international city it is more open and accepting and used to foreigners. Like NYC, people here don’t care if you live or die, and I’m perfectly fine with that.

I’ve noticed this most in speaking English. Say anything in English (or anything not Russian) in St. Petes and suddenly you attract attention. Moscow…nope, nothing…almost everyone here that I have met speaks English (Russian business capital, remember) and speaking it in small or large groups is basically ignored.

This doesn’t mean that Moscow is an extremely safe city, it just means that they will go after you for other reasons than being a foreigner…

The other thing that I have to bring up here is the bizarre custom which I kindly refer to as the ‘Russian shoe fetish’…it’s an interesting dichotomy between the belief that anything on the ground, including shoes, are very dirty, yet everything is based on your shoe’s appearance. In homes, you are obliged to remove shoes-every house has pairs of slippers meant for guests-regardless if they fit or not, and for those of us with a US size 15 (50 in Europe), believe me, they don’t…this is the same in many buildings, except that they may also force you to wear little plastic baggies over your shoes (or stocking feet!), once again, regardless if they fit or not.

Now, every business and most buildings have automatic shoe polishers and buffers, so that you may make a great impression…or at least your shoes will while you’re wearing your unfitting slippers. I’ve seen people who are practically dressed in rags who will be concerned if they have a spot on their shoes that isn’t shiny. Also, people here first look at you, then start at your shoes, probably trying to discern your character by your make, model, and degree of shoe cleanliness.

Well, I will be here for the next week before I head back to St. Petes for a brief stay; then, off to Central Asia. I have to say that I feel very lucky to be going to Uzbekistan twice this year-I just received a new visa-many American scholars and political scientists that I have met have been denied access…and I’ve been accepted twice! I have to say that the Uzbek Embassy here in Moscow is just fantastic-on both occasions they have been absolutely gracious and have catered to my every need.

That’s all for now. More soon.

Yours always,

Demetrius

DOM, performance of solo works with film; works by Denise Broadhurst (Not Waving, But Drowning), Natasha Bogojevich/Hurt McDermott (BAJALICA), Christopher Kaufman (Music from Earth), William Susman/Steven Bilich (Native New Yorker, premier of solo version), and the world premier of Demetrius Spaneas/Justin Heim Elastic Stronghold (solo with electronics version); Moscow, Russia

American Center, solo performance lecture, sponsored by US State Department; a concert of American composers; works by Andrew List, Molly Thompson, Carol Alban, myself, and others; Moscow, Russia