3 August 2008
Mark Twain
United States of America

Dear Mark,

Well, here I am on the eve of my last week in Russia. It’s funny-it feels like I have been here an amazingly long time, and I find it strange to be going ‘home’. Of course, ‘home’ is going to be a new place: a new (old for me) city, new apartment, new surroundings, and a new teaching/director gig at Northeastern University. It’s interesting because when I left Boston, I really never wanted to return…circumstances (and opportunities) being what they were made going back a perfect situation both for professional and ‘quality of life’ reasons. I have been very keen on the idea of ‘quality of life’ these last couple of years: living in NYC and traveling around the former Soviet Union really gives one perspective on such things. There is a lot about NYC that I love…it’s also a stressed-out dump, especially for musicians and artists. The scene has collapsed to such an extent there that many of my friends are in a constant state of unease and worry. Let’s face it, the freelance music scene is bad everywhere in the US; NYC is one of the last holdouts, but costs of living and exponentially shrinking opportunities make it a very dark place for many. The scene in Boston isn’t great (actually downright miserable), either, but the ‘quality of life’ is much better (and healthier!). This is most especially true when you have a steady gig waiting for you and 20+ years of contacts who want you back.

And you know the ‘quality of life’ here…

But, since these letters are about my final experiences here, let’s talk about this past week.
I spent Monday, July 28 in the recording studio. I decided that it would be a good idea to ‘put in the can’ many of the solo pieces and film scores that I wrote this year. Since much of what I had done this year is electro-acoustic (or in other words, me with electronic accompaniment), it was easy enough for me to record my solo tracks over the pre-existing electronic ones.

It was fun. I may have scared the engineer a bit, though. I have worked with him a number of times this year already, both for live concerts and in the studio, including my project “Sfumato” with Galina Parfenova and my modern dance/multimedia work “APXE”. He had only heard a couple of the solo pieces before, and none of the film scores; his reaction was…interesting.
Margaret, bless her, the other day came up with a term to describe much of my music. She said that she had been trying to think of ways to explain it, but couldn’t quite put her finger on it…until now…

…she calls it ‘campy’…

Well, fine…that’s OK. You know, I’m all for great artistic thoughts that bring about even greater philosophical musings about the Creation and mankind’s place in the Universe…great, I love it! Beethoven could do that; I never claimed to be Beethoven, or even Ditters von Dittersdorf, for that matter. But, you know…give me the task of writing a blues based on the Pythagorean Theorem (“Paleo-Rock”), music about the aftermath of bedbug infestation (“Just Another Night On Plastic”), or music for a cartoon of a little girl riding a bicycle over severed heads (“The Carefree Princess”), and I have an unlimited well of inspiration…

‘Campy’…OK, we’ll see…they’ll all be released later this year…

Speaking of possible ‘camp’, the next day was to be the first of two final days of shooting for a new art documentary about Greece’s influence on St. Petersburg…I also happen to be the star…really, I wouldn’t lie…the whole thing started with footage of me playing flute in various and sundry places-both venues and outdoor locations-in both Greece and Russia. There was footage of me walking and improvising down the halls of the Hermitage, being followed by 30 photographers around Palace Square, and even in the ruins and archeological digs of Elevsina. We (the APXE Foundation) decided that it would be great to create a film around this. OK, lovely. The problem was finding a director/film maker who could put it all together-all of the older footage with new footage from their own shootings…

…the president of the organization found one, a young director with great ideals and ideas who would create us a masterpiece…

…ah, in the immortal words of the Caped Crusader, “wrong again, Boy Wonder”…

In typical Russian fashion, this person spoke of great thoughts but actually had no idea what they were doing, and admitted it! They (to keep it anonymous) had us (me and the crew) wandering around in the cold and rain for numerous hours until inspiration came upon them…it never did…in 8 hours we shot less than 20 minutes of footage of me walking from location to location, getting drenched. We boycotted the second day of shooting and shook things up with the production. Plans have changed, and I believe that we now have an experienced person editing all of the footage so that this thing will actually be done by next week (originally, it was scheduled to be done in March 2008, but that’s a whole different story…).

This, I think, is the one thing that bothers me the most about this culture. If someone has, for lack of a better phrase, ‘a great idea’, they consider themselves great and enlightened and above everyone else. They may not know any technical or historical truths to back it up, but since they had the idea, that makes them a great thinker or artist and one who must be heard and worshiped. This may be a byproduct of Soviet education, which states that there are great, inspired people, and there is everyone else. Great people can do anything, everyone else must accept their place in life (I’ve brought this up before). Being the militant (OK, not SO militant, but definitely boisterous) Individualist that I am, this, of course, sickens me.

You know, Mark, all I’m trying to do is inject a little Western Humanism into society here. Unfortunately, people here would rather stay with the old models and be trampled upon by those who are deemed their superiors…sick…and the ‘great thinkers’ think they are above society and that everyone else must bow to their whims…sicker…

Good thing we had friends over that evening. Our friend Lyova from Moscow came with his siblings, who are from Mexico, for a night. Great people. His brother is a chef so he and I (mostly him, as I was more than happy to hand over the kitchen reigns for an evening) whipped up a great meal and drowned our sorrows in 5 bottles of Romanian wine…bet you didn’t know that Romania had wine. How is it, you ask? Well, by the 3rd bottle, it really doesn’t matter…

We were invited to Mexico City. I’ve never been there; actually, I’ve never been to Mexico. It’s actually kind of sad that considering all of the time that I have spent in the American Southwest that I couldn’t manage to get my pathetic self across the border…maybe this time.

I also said ‘so long’ to my recording and performing partner Galina Parfenova. We started making plans for the release of “Sfumato”, our duo album; strongly considering releasing straight to I-tunes…why not? All my friends are doing it, plus, it’s supposedly more profitable in the long run. The problem is that I am from that generation who needs the ‘token’, needs to have something I can hold and say “look what I hath wrought”, or something like that. I like to sit in my office and look at my CDs and get excited when I see them in record store bins in different cities and different countries…of course, most people under 25 don’t even own CDs anymore…all on I-pod. To quote Paul Simon (who most 25-year-olds also don’t know) “who am I to blow against the wind?”.

Galina, by the way, brought these incredible confections, called “Bird’s Milk”…it took me a moment or two to realize that birds actually don’t produce milk…but the name refers to a light, milky glaze that covered an interestingly textured gelatin…kind of like ‘Chuckles’ on steroids.

We also took our final trip out of city. On Friday, we visited Pavlosk, which is a palace complex and estate that was given to Catherine the Great’s son Paul. This is a beautiful forest setting with gardens and small ponds. The architecture is all Neo-Classical, which, of course, made me happy. It is a wonderful contrast to all of the opulent 19th century palaces that cover St. Petersburg. Pavlosk was serene and beautiful. A perfect setting.

Well, we now have one week to go. Last night, as we were watching fireworks over the Neva River, we started talking about what we would miss (and also, what we have forgotten about in the US) when we leave. Food for thought. I’ll be getting back to you on this one; I want the week to think about it…

As always, your devoted traveler,

Demetrius

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This award is for Demetrius to participate as Composer-in-Residence and featured performer at the 2009 Omnibus Black Box Music and Vision Festival at the Ilkhom Theater in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The festival will feature Demetrius and the Omnibus Ensemble performing his music live to film.

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