Russian Rockabilly

I'm back in Moscow now for a day. I'm headed out on the trans - Siberian  tonight. I had a great time in  St. Petersburg. I ended up meeting a really cool guy named Vasily at a pub. I was going a little crazy having not really talked to anyone in a day or so. I bought the whole place a round of beers. There were only 4 people there so, no big deal. I did get their attention. I'll have to remember that one. So, this guy Vasily's a DJ and he took me to this really cool club later that night. It was in an old bomb shelter. There were all these narrow passageways that eventually led to pretty big room It was very dark, loud, hot and very crowded. My glasses fogged over. It was pretty intense and felt a little like I walked in on some den of vampires. I'm no kind of dancer but, the place was really interesting. It's always so great to meet a local because you're able to access things you'd never ever find. Just walking the streets with him was great because I got to see more weird areas of town. On Thursday after sleeping in a bit I found this sand sculpture contest on the beach of this old fortress. I got pictures of that stuff. I went back to Telegraph the pub where I met Vasily. I met a couple of funny guys there. One named Calvin. An Aussie. The other this older guy named Stan. Both these guys are basically here for the women. I've met guys like this before and while I too find the Russian ladies quite attractive. These guys are on a mission. Stan and ex record label exec. now lives here permanently. He's gotta be 60 and he's taking out these 25 year old girls. Calvin "just can't get enough of these russian birds" Insert aussie accent here...Last night I went for a walk by the Fontaka river before I had to catch a train. They're these embankment barges with makeshift bars on them. They usually have a grill set up and sell beer and hot dogs. Russians love to grill. This barge was a little run down but, I had a walk down. The people seemed to be having a good time. I liked the music they were playing. I start talking to the barmaid, tell her I'm from Texas and she gets real excited. She and all her friends are Really in to rockabilly music. They all are dressed kind of like greasers with slick back hair and blue jean jackets. Great guys and gals. I ran back to my room got my camera and portraits of a couple of them. They are in two different bands and ARE the rockabilly scene here. My favorite people I've met yet. We talked all about music. They love Carl Perkins, Link Wray, and Bill Haley. Some of you'll understand why that's so cool. They don't like Elvis at all. He was no Rebel Sergay says. By the looks of these guys you wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley of St. Petersburg. This guy Ilya had a mean looking scar across his face. Well, We were having such a great time I almost missed my train. I piled into the back of this old beat up Chevy Suburban and raced to the station. Me and 6-7 guys and girls. They took me all the way on board and made sure I found the right compartment. It was quite a scene me and these Greaser guys after many beers and a few vodka's stumbling around the train station. Some of my best times yet. I only wished I'd met them sooner. That's what's going on. I'm gonna go see superman in russian now.       dylan

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WHITE NIGHTS

a few observations, Russians don't smile a hell of a lot, they love ice cream, they aren't allowed to drink on the street anymore but do anyway. The architecture is either powerful, minimal and, scary - or it's like an explosion of color with brightly colored onion domes. The city design is very structured and sterile but, there are flowers everywhere. Lot's of huge flowerbeds. It doesn't seem to ever really get dark here. DId you see that movie White Nights with Baryshnikov and gregory hines? You get the idea. This has made it very hard for me to re-adjust my already screwed up sleeping pattern. It kind of gets dark around 10-11 p.m. I have been falling asleep around 4-5 a.m. and by 4-5 the suns back up. I'm in St. Petersburg now. Forgive my ramble I was on a train all night and am trying to stay up all day and get it together. Moscow was impressive to say the least. Walking around the Kremlin area, whoa, fear through city planning. My highlight for sure was my first nights dinner at Cafe Pushkin and my visit to the state museum Tetrykov gallery. It's filled with really interesting, yes interesting 17th. century Russian painting. Many of these guys had a really handle on the decisive moment idea of photography. The genre scenes are far from posed and static but feel lifted from photographs directly. I can't figure on how they painted these complex scenes from memory. I'm liking St Pete's more already. my hotel Sovetskaya is a lot more my speed. I spent a fortune at the Metropol. This place is very sparse complete with oddly positioned mauve couches, really bad fountains and, a general surplus of wasted space. The place is huge. I need a bigwheel. My room is kind of like a prison cell. The bed belongs in a LES tenement circa 1888. I love it. I do have a great big window that looks out over a canal. I walked a few miles today to the Hermitage. My St. Pete's guidebook has this to say. " there are museums, there are great museums and, there is the Hermitage. It's pretty amazing. Imagine if you delivered the Louvre a fatal dose of LSD, steroids, birthday cake and, Bernini. It's madness and, It never ends AND, it's filled with really old tourists following pom poms or the popular fresh red daisy. The whole place is a really rough around the edges. An army of  scruffy stray cats are poised to take over. It's surrounded by dozens of cats. They lazily guard the place occasionally a fight breaks out with a band of stray pigeons. I arrived early enough to race to the top floors and find myself virtually alone for a hour or so. It was very spooky up there. Many of the exhibits are incomplete, empty cases, unlit rooms. The place is very understaffed. I  actually saw a woman stroke a Van Gogh???? Crazy. Strange mix as well. They have a current show up of DeKooning late work. I'm still sorting this place out. The first few days of these trips is trying. One of the hardest things is definitely the language barrier. I really should have gotten a handle on the Cyrillic alphabet and stuck with those language tapes. It gets lonely in Russia with no one to talk to. I'm really looking forward to my time in Siberia and Lake Baikal. Oh, the trains are very nice. I had a great ride last night, even without sleep. And, for those of you wondering...the women are VERY attractive but, not very friendly so far. I will say this, I must have mastered my swagger. I've not been asked for my papers once and have been spoken to in Russian many times. Do I look Russian to you?             dylan

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