Today’s New York Times featured a Saturday Profile on DDT’s vocalist (and leader) Iurii Shevchuk titled “A Star Keeps Rocking in the Not-So-Free World“. The article gives a short summary of Shevchuck’s biography and primarily deals with his questioning of the current regime as well as the recent question-and-answer session with Vladimir Putin on May…Continue reading NY Times Saturday Profile features DDT’s Iurii Shevchuk
New pictures from the past couple of months
I finally finished going through the pictures I took during the last couple of months. First a couple of pictures from my Berlin visit last December: In May I went on a very short trip to one of my old “home” towns, Mannheim, as well as Frankfurt (where I met Yogi for dinner): Right after…Continue reading New pictures from the past couple of months
Article on Reggae, Ska and Ska-punk in St. Petersburg published on Norient
My article My reggery – Reggae, Ska and Ska-punk in St. Petersburg discussing ska, ska-punk and reggae in St. Petersburg was just published on Norient.com. 🙂
Good Bye, Leningrad
After the special issue of Popular Music and Society on post-soviet popular music was published I was contacted by the movie director and photographer Christine Bachmann who asked if I had heard of the movie “Good Bye, Leningrad” – which I had not. After some technical complications I finally got a review copy of the…Continue reading Good Bye, Leningrad
Aerostat on Russian popular music
Since May 22nd, 2005 Akvarium’s lead singer and front man Boris Grebenshchikov (BG) has hosted the weekly radio show Aerostat on Radio Rossii (these shows are also published and archived as podcasts at aerostat.rpod.ru). While quite broad (and primarily about Western popular music) BG at times also talks about Russian popular music. Besides discussing and…Continue reading Aerostat on Russian popular music
NY Times article on menu psychology
The New York Times just published a very interesting article on menu psychology – how menus are designed and layouted to entice costumers to spend money when dining: Restaurants Use Menu Psychology to Entice Diners
Top Ten Rosh Hashanah Pickup Lines
While not quite politically correct, still kind of funny: Top Ten Rosh Hashanah Pickup Lines. !שנה טובה ומתוקה
TOL: Rocka Rolla Women and Rocka Rolla Men
The online journal Transitions Online recently brought a very interesting article on popular music in socialist Bulgaria and what meaning Western bands had for Bulgaria’s inhabitants: Rocka Rolla Women and Rocka Rolla Men.
Keynote and audio files
While Apple’s presentation software Keynote is vastly superior to Powerpoint one of the main limitations of using Keynote (at least for me) has been the fact that the control for sounds embedded in the presentation is quite limited (e.g. if I want to pause or stop a song or interview excerpt during the presentation). The…Continue reading Keynote and audio files
The national anthem lyricist Sergei Mikhalkov (1913-2009)
Among the many links between the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia maybe the national anthem is the most symbolic one – here in the 1977 version sung by the Ukrainian group 5’Nizza live on RenTV shortly after midnight on January 1st, 2004: When Stalin in 1943 wished to replace the “The Internationale” which had until…Continue reading The national anthem lyricist Sergei Mikhalkov (1913-2009)
Popular Music and Society on Popular Music in the Post-Soviet Space
A happy summer announcement: The journal “Popular Music and Society” (32:3 2009) titled “Popular Music in the Post-Soviet Space: Trends, Movements, and Social Contexts” of which Yngvar Steinholt and I were guest editors is now out. Concluding about two years of editorial work (and a lot of really interesting submissions) the journal includes the following…Continue reading Popular Music and Society on Popular Music in the Post-Soviet Space
Blizhnee zarubezh’e – The Near Abroad
The “The Near Abroad” (Blizhnee zarubezh’e) is often used when referring to the former Soviet Republics from a Russian perspective and which Russia considers its sphere of influence. Looking for a definition of the term for my dissertation I came across this interesting article written by William Safire in 1994: ON LANGUAGE; The Near Abroad