So last weekend I was in Moscow. Because I thankfully managed to avoid dying in a tragic train derailment on my way back, I can now share more photos with you than you will be interested in seeing!

St. George, patron saint of Moscow, slaying the dragon...on top of a gigantic stained glass globe, on top of a gigantic mall!

I got to go on this trip at last minute, thanks to someone from the American study abroad program dropping out. Also, it was free! Totally great.

We left on Thursday night on the train. Mostly everybody takes the train from Petersburg to Moscow. It leaves at like 11 or so and gets in at 6:30. If you are a student, this is the perfect interval to get really superdrunk and completely avoid sleeping, even though you get to sleep in a bed on a train, like you’re in some kind of old fashioned movie! Because I am not a student anymore, but am now an adult, beds are more of a novelty to me than alcohol is, so I didn’t party all night.

Which was a good thing! The trainladies wake you up at 5:45 or so to get ready to arrive. That is one early hour. We took the Famous Moscow Metro to our hostel, dropped our bags off, and to the great surprise to all the still-intoxicated students, went  straight to breakfast and a walking tour because on no planet can you check into a hotel at 7am.

Number one surprise of the walking tour: Moscow has hills. How long has it been since I’ve walked up a hill?  Nearly three months. Got none of those in Petersburg, got plenty of them in Moscow. Luckily, I still knew how!

Moscow is actually a really nice city for walking in. It grew, like most European cities, in concentric circles defined by the city walls. Now those walls are gone and have been replaced by boulevards with parks in the middle. There are dozens of churches hiding everywhere in the city center and in general they look quite different from Petersburg churches, which might as well be Catholic by the looks of them. We went into one of these churches to discover that they were actually having, you know, church in there, which was a sort of amazing thing to see. Thus ends my two-year quest to see an Orthodox service (sure it could have ended earlier–its not like I’ve ever lived anywhere far from an Orthodox church). Also: it was the first time I’ve ever seen an actual religious service.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the  Red Square and surrounding areas:

Marx Monument. Every red square's gotta have one.

The back of the Historical Museum (or some military building?) and a statue of a WW! (?) General, Zhukov (I think?)

Oh, hey, what's through that little archway?

Lenin's Mausoleum: Inside you can see Lenin's embalmed corpse, although it was a subject of debate whether any actual flesh remained. Apparently he looks very waxy.

I didn’t go into the Mausoleum. The hours are very limited, though I can’t figure out why. Don’t they want people to see him? Behind the Mausoleum there are many Soviet leaders interred in the Kremlin Wall, including Stalin, for whom that was a serious post-mortem ego-blow.

St. Basil's. Also didn't get to go in here due to weird hours.

They were building a gigantic New Year's Tree and ice skating rink that morning.

They’ve done this all over St. Petersburg too, in addition to putting up fancy lights on every streetlight and across all the major streets. According to Hardie, there’s a law that says the city must have finished New Year’s decorations by December 1st. It’s sort of surprising to me that they’d get on it so early, being as New Year’s isn’t for over a month still, but who am I to complain about the holiday spirit?

GUM - Gosudarstvennyi/Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin

The mini-GUM-like red roof below is part of the skating rink. GUM (pronounced G OOO M, not like gum) was the main department store in Moscow until the revoltuion, when it was nationalized and became known as the GUM which stood for State Department Store. As the GUM, all of its stores, in Soviet style, could only sell one thing pretty much, so there was like, a sheet music store and a science book store, but none of the glamorama of today (this according to Bryan). It was one of the few places you could actually buy things in the ’50s and beyond and had extremely long lines. Also, it briefly served as an office building and after Stalin’s wife Nadezhda committed suicide, it was used to display her body (ref Wikipedia).

Stuck in the GUM

It is the epitome of turn of the century opulence in architecture. After the fall of the USSR it was privatized again, as the Main Department Store, so conveniently it could still be called GUM!

Nearby there is another old department store called the TsUM, probably for Central (Tsentralnyi) Department Store (imaginative!). Bryan said he worked on their website years and years ago when they were just going online. Apparently, they mis-transliterated their own name and bought the domain www.cum.ru, perhaps thinking it would be more friendly for Western audience.

One more for good measure. New Years Tree completed! I also love that right across from Lenin's tomb there's a gigantic department store that's bigger than everything else on the square.

Also, I autocorrected all these pictures and iPhoto made it seem like the weather wasn’t as completely miserable as it was. It seems in these pictures like it was 3x sunnier than it actually was. It was fucking freezing! Of course in Petersburg that weekend there was a warm spell…

More on Moscow to come!

I have to say I love portraiture.  It is my favorite subject for drawing and also for photography.

Though I still don’t have the guts to take photos right in peoples faces, something I feel awkward doing.

These photos are portraits in Moscow during a 5 day visit on this study abroad program.  I took one day to explore Red Square for the second time in my life.  I made it a game to take photos of tourist taking photos.  Only a few worked out but here are some of those.

Stay tuned for more portraits.  This past weekend I was in Estonia, that is why I didn’t post for Sunday stills.  But I took one of my favorite portraits.   There is a funny story behind it too!

Anyway, enjoy these!

Minin and Pozharsky

Well, this is maybe another way to introduce Nizhny Novgorod, the place currently where I am to pursuing my final year of my medical degree to all of you. For your acknowledgement, Nizhny Novgorod is currently the fourth largest city in Russia.

I think Red Square in Moscow is the most inevitable tourist spot for every one of you when travelling to Russia, especially Kremlin and St.Basil’s Cathedral. And now what I need is ask you to pay extra attention to the monument that is situated before the entrance of the St.Basil’s Cathedral. Can you notice it?  Good!

What I going to tell you is about the story of them, Minin and Pozharsky…

And why it is related to Nizhny Novgorod!

17^th Century, Moscow was invaded by the Polish, Kuzma Minin, the merchant from Nizhny Novgorod together with Prince Dimitry Pozharsky became the national hero for his role in defending the country against the Polish invasion.

A native of Balakhna, Minin was a prosperous butcher (meat trader) in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. When the popular patriotic movement to organize volunteer corps in his native city was formed, the city merchants chose Minin, a trusted and respected member of the guild, to oversee the handling of the public funds donated by them to raise and equip the Second Volunteer Army (Второе народное ополчение).

The army led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky was credited for clearing the Moscow Kremlin from Polish-Lithuanian forces on November 1, 1612. Minin distinguished himself as a skilled commander and was made a nobleman and member of the Boyar Duma under the newly elected Tsar Michael Romanov. He died in 1616 and was interred in the Archangel Cathedral of Nizhny Novgorod. A central square of that city is named after him and Prince Pozharsky.

Originally, the statue stood in the centre of the square, with Pozharsky waving his hand towards Moscow Kremlin. The Communist authorities, for whom the monument was obstructing military parades, discussed plans for its demolition or moving it to some indoor museum. In 1936, the statue was moved closer to the cathedral where it remains up to the present.

On the first celebration of the Day of People’s Unity (November 4, 2005) a near exact copy of this monument by Zurab Tsereteli was erected in Nizhny Novgorod. The copy is only 5 cm shorter than the Moscow original.

And there will be another celebration of Day of People’s Unity this Wednesday (4.11.09), you know why I like this celebration? Because it’s public for all of us! hehe…..

Mrs. Dupont loves to travel.

She has seen the pyramids of Egypt, the Eiffel Tower, and Red Square, and many of the rest of humanity’s most magnificent creations. She even has the photos.

The photos languish in albums on the bottom shelf of a bookcase in the back of her closet, behind her two formal gowns that had not been worn in a dozen years. Mrs. Dupont admits that this was not the ideal place for display; to anyone who asks, she sighs and says how she wishes they could be positioned more prominently, but she just can’t find the space in her tiny, tiny house.

In reality, the photos are hidden because they are irrelevant.

Mrs. Dupont does not travel to see the world. She travels to convince herself that she is better than it. Upon her return from Moscow, for example, she proudly displayed a number of shoddy Russian nesting dolls purchased from street vendors. When she had a visitor, she would exaggerate the difficulty of pulling the dolls apart and breathlessly declare, “I only bought them to show how awful the craftsmanship is over there.” At the Pyramids of Giza she purchased nothing; she used the fact that the northern part of the country was called “Lower Egypt” to demonstrate its people’s backwardness. But she adores her porcelain Eiffel Tower replica with one leg missing, or at least relating a well-practiced story of how it broke in transit despite being wrapped in three layers of paper and cushioned by four layers of cloth. (In fact, she had snapped the leg off herself, upon opening her suitcase and realizing that without some defect the piece wouldn’t have a proper backstory.)

There are business travelers, and eco-tourists, and family vacationers, and honeymooners, and even parents who travel to adopt a baby girl, but Mrs. Dupont is none of those. Mrs. Dupont is a Superiority Tourist, and proud of it.

*****

More from The Clean Hippie Murders. This passage, obviously, focuses on Mrs. Dupont, semi-estranged mother to Heather, who is the intern to Jonas, who is the mayor, protagonist, and if not chief investigator of the eponymous murders, at least an interested kibitzer. Does that make everything clear? That’s okay; it doesn’t need to be yet.

Like Rebecca in Exile Issues, the Duponts are a lot of fun for me to write. I haven’t really started on the book in earnest, and it has only the vaguest framework of plotline, but four of the nine stories that I’m planning to work in include at least one of them.

Saturday 1^st August 2009

Today we meet Helen (whose real name is Elena, but we don’t find this out until our last meeting), a mutual Russian friend that we know through Andrey and Ksusha.

We spend the day enjoying a walking tour of Helen’s favourite areas of Moscow, we pass synagogues, churches, bridges and Stalin-buildings in a state of a mouth-gaping wonder. Moscowite architecture is unlike anything else in Europe, let alone Russia.

Having exhausted our legs, we enjoy some mid-afternoon crepes in the bustle of Arbat  street, before Helen leaves us for a photography workshop. We arrange to meet again in the next couple of days.

We head to Red Square – the cobbled public square situated on the doorstep of the Kremlin and St. Basils.  It is a place I have dreamt of visiting for many, many years, and the first few steps feel as if they are an accomplishment in themselves. We stand taking in the spectacle as it unfolds around us (and take lot of pictures).

Red Square  is as masculine as it beautiful, imposing and intricate at the same time. The bright colours of St. Basil’s contradict the red brick of the Kremlin in the most spectacular of manners. However, the materialistic drawl of the GUM shopping centre sits uncomfortably beside everything else, seemingly self-aware that what it holds is of so little worth in comparison.

So, this time last week I was in Moscow, having taken the overnight train from Petersburg.  That in itself was an adventure, but one that probably can stand to remain at the moment without further explanation.  Instead I’ll talk a little about what I did in Moscow, which considering the rather short duration of the visit was really quite a bit.  Immediately after disembarking our train and leaving the station we herded onto a tour bus and were shown various points of interest in the city.  Unfortunately I slept through most of this tour, but I do recall seeing some very gothic, soviet-style buildings through the foggy, rainy skyline.  I do remember very clearly our breakfast, which was at some buffet-style “cafe” called My-My (pronounced moo-moo) where I had the best jell-o fruit cup ever.  Or it seemed to be at the time.  I’m pretty sure this restaurant/cafe would be super popular in the states, fitting right in with the likes of Golden Corral.

After our meal we headed to our hotel.  Three stars of pure modern comfort.  And I also commend the place on its water pressure; it actually hurt my ears to turn the faucet on in the sink.

Thursday evening we saw the opera adaptation of Eugene Onegin, which definitely ranks up there with best shows I’ve seen in Russia (the other being Swan Lake, the only other show I have seen).  The set for this production was amazing, the singing was good, and I liked the ending.  Definitely worth the ticket provided to me by the Bates College Extra Funds for Random Study Abroad Programs (I’m almost 100% positive on the name).

Other highlights from Moscow include seeing Red Square, the Kremlin, Church of Christ the Savior, St Basil’s in Red Square, aaaaaaaaaaaand… Lenin.  Going inside his mausoleum felt like what I imagine going inside one of the Great Pyramids would be like.  There’s a guard at every turn, and when you finally get into the room it’s all dark except for the glass case with the man himself inside.  I suppose it’s a little strange, but I found the whole experience incredibly fascinating. And they do keep him looking impeccable.

I also saw countless amazing works of art at a gallery the actual name of which escapes me. Russian artists seriously knew what they were doing.  It makes all those other European artists just seem like infants with paintbrushes.  Just compare Vrubel to, like, anybody else.  No contest.

So, yeah, all in all Moscow’s a pretty swell city.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Black Dog Martini

6 parts light rum, 1 part dry vermouth, pitted black olive for garnish

Well, similar to last night, I dropped the ball on the garnish with this one.  I didn’t have any black olives on hand.  Usually I have a can of them hanging around in my pantry and fully expected to find them.  No.  Nary a black olive to be found.  I have four different kinds of GREEN olives in the fridge, though!  I threw in a standard pimento-stuffed green so it wouldn’t just look like I was drinking a glass of water out of a fancy glass.  A real shame not to make the drink legit, I do like black dogs (other than Dobermans and Rottweilers, which I guess is most of them, no?).  Well, Sue’s family used to have Shelly, the black lab who had a tendency to eat stray underwear that fell out of the laundry basket.  She was an interesting dog, a big ol’ ‘woof’ dog as I like to call them.  She could always be counted on to thump a happy tail against you when you came by to visit.  Shelly, this one’s for you.

Purely Gratiuitous Shot of Johnny Depp

Now I’m not a huge rum drinker.  Much as I love Captain Jack Sparrow and the quote, “But why is the rum gone?”, it’s just not my thing.  A little sweet and strong for my taste, unless it’s in a pina colada.  But I’ve given those up in my latter years once I realized how fattening they were.  But I did love them in my younger days; however, that was more to do with the tropical imagery they conveyed than with the rum.  I can remember a dorm party in my freshman year at UC Berkeley where they served alcohol in the dorms (yes!  I kid you not!  to underaged kids!) and we mixed up a batch of pina coladas with a blender we’d borrowed with Bacardi 151.  Oh my.  Not even sure I got through one of those.  Tasty, though.  I think I’ve had maybe one or two decent Mai Tais in my life but the rest always taste like a bucket of turpentine with orange juice thrown in – too harsh.  And rum and Coke?  Yuck.  Still not my style.

So I’m not expecting much from this.  I will admit I did sample a few different rums a couple years back at Rum Jungle in the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.  That was fun.  Admittedly, I liked the vodka sampler from Red Square much, more better!  But I have more of a palate for vodka than I do for rum.  We’re all built differently, I suppose.  So I mixed up my rum-based martini … which to me is a bastardization of the drink anyway.  But then again, to the martini purist, the only real martini is a gin-based one, so I’m hardly one to talk, given I only drink vodka ones when not trying to drink my way through a recipe book in 80 days (no, wait, it was 73 … less than that now)!  Added my green olive, although for the sake of color matching, I did contemplate a Milk Dud out of the bowl of Halloween candy I have sitting in wait for Saturday night, but that doesn’t seem right.  Does anyone out there actually EAT Milk Duds?  I remember tossing those out when I got them in my Halloween candy collection as a kid!

Okay, enough ranting.  Not my style on the first sip.  But by the end of the glass, a decent drink.  Nothing I’d rave about, but if I was down to only rum and vermouth in my liquor cabinet, I’d mix this up and have a go, and perhaps then I’d even have black olives.  Might be good with Mexican food, and usually a spare black olive can be found as a garnish there anyway.  I’ll have to remember that.  Not so good with a dinner consisting of a Reese’s peanut butter cup and a piece of garlic bread.  On the other hand, I went to the doctor today for a cortisone injection in one of my two bad knees, and between that and the lidocaine that preceeded it, I probably wouldn’t care what you served me for dinner.  I’m in an oddly happy mood.  Maybe because I’m looking forward to (hopefully) one of my knees not hurting me for the first time in months once the shot kicks in.  We shall see. In the mean time, Fido (my Black Dog) and I bid you a good night’s rest.

Happy mixing, Cathy

Godzilla Hostel, Moscow

A fifteen minute walk north of the Kremlin and Red Square is Godzilla Hostel, a multi-storey behemoth of a backpackers resort.

Having been cheated out of our reservation (and 10% deposit) at the scandalous Camelot Hostel, Godzillas’ took us in from the street and found us dorm beds for the duration of our six nights in the capital.

Spread over four storeys, the hostel is priced, like most of Moscow, at the top end of the scale (around £20 a night in a dorm), but with all the mod-cons that that such a price tag deserves. Wi-fi, washing facilities, more than one kitchen, a comfortable lounge and decent security, are some of the bonuses included (along with a manager, Scott, who will help you out and provide conversation).

The place seems to be a popular starting point for many people’s trips on the Trans-Siberian or Trans-Mongolian, and you’re more likely to find a junior CEO of a trendy company in the lounge doing the ‘whole Russia thing’, than a bearded, shabby, thread-bare traveller.

But then that’s the curse of hostels become increasingly kitsch and boutique. All over Europe, hostel owners are realizing they can market their lodgings as a quirky boutique hostel, offering as many private rooms as cheap dorm beds. The result? Budget conscious travellers are having an even tougher time affording to back-pack through Europe. But that’s a rant for another day…..

Tru Ruts + MediaRoots present Verbal Graffiti Tour 2009
featuring Junkyard Empire, Guante + e.g. bailey

Junkyard Empire, El Guante and e.g. bailey are teaming up for a tour in your area! This electric combination of up-and-coming artists merge the genres of jazz, hip-hop, spoken word, and indie rock, at the height of their craft.

You could also include folk music in that genre-gumbo, as these are three artists who place as much emphasis on lyrical content as they do on throwing a monster show. Junkyard Empire has been called, “A jazz version of Rage Against the Machine” by Political Affairs Magazine. CMJ said that “Guante could very well follow Atmosphere and P.O.S. in the long line of outstanding rappers to break from the Midwest.” Amiri Baraka says of e.g. bailey, “He makes language live!”

In an evening that will range from spoken word to hip hop, jazz to indie rock, audiences will not leave disappointed. There will be something for everyone. For the underground heads, Guante will grab your expectations of hip hop and shake them loose; he is also said to be on the verge of national exposure.

For the politically savvy music lover, Junkyard Empire’s blend of jazz and funk grooves mixed with socially-conscious rhymes are sure to move bodies and captivate minds. Spoken word extraordinaire, e.g. bailey, works as fluidly with musicians as he does with just a microphone, and his effortless ability to marry words with music pushes the spoken word envelope into a fresh musical realm.

This tour performance would be a great addition to your calendar. Their infectious energy and music will capture any crowd.

Thanks,

The Tru Ruts &
MediaRoots Teams

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TOUR INFO

The Verbal Graffiti Tour extends across the country, from the West Coast, to the East Coast, with stops in the Midwest. The dates of the tour cover the months of October, November, December and January (2010).

Current Touring Routes and Dates:

• 10/22 – The Kinetic Playground – Chicago, IL
9:00pm • 21+ • $7

The Kinetic Playground
1113 W. Lawrence
Chicago, Illinois 60640
(located just steps from the
CTA Red Line ‘Lawrence’ stop)

• 10/23 – The Reptile Palace – Oshkosh, WI
9:00pm • 21+ • $5

The Reptile Palace
141 High Ave.
Oshkosh, WI 54901

• 10/24 – Java 101 w/ Diagram of Truth – Dekalb, IL
8:00pm • All Ages • $6

Java 101
901 Lucinda Ave
DeKalb. IL 60115

• 11/19 – Doc’s – Sioux Center, IA
8:00pm • 21+ • $5

Doc’s
130 – 3rd St NW
Sioux Center, IA 51250

• 11/20 – The Industry – Iowa City, IA
9:00pm • 19+ • $7
presented by Natural Talent Music

The Industry
211 Iowa Avenue
Iowa City, IA 52240

• 12/05 – Red Square w/ Broadcast Live – Albany, NY
8:00pm • 21+ • $5

Red Square
388 Broadway
Albany, NY 12207

• 12/06 – Fat Baby – New York, NY
9:00pm • 21+ • $8

Fat Baby
112 Rivington
New York, NY 10002

Additional dates for November, December, and West Coast dates for January to be added. If you are interested in spotlighting the tour, interviews, or additional information, please contact press.truruts@gmail.com, or call 612-288-9491.

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JUNKYARD EMPIRE

Since the release of the self- produced Rise of the Wretched EP in 2008, there has been a steadily growing buzz around Junkyard  Empire.  This was no doubt helped by their historic performance at the Minnesota State Capital during the last day of the RNC protests in Saint Paul, where the police stormed their concert and created a stand-off with activists, part of which is featured the acclaimed documentary Terrorizing Dissent. In the past year, they have shared the stage with the legendary Boots Riley and the Coup, Rhymesayers artist Eyedea, Australian urban roots crew Blue King Brown, Rhymesayers artist Toki Wright, and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges.

Recently Junkyard Empire signed with indie start-up label MediaRoots. The label put JE in the studio with avant-garde producer, Brian Susko. During their time in pre-production and at the prized Winterland Studios, a relationship was made that caused the band to push the envelope in a way that they had never done before. It’s now easy to hear how the band’s collective influences in conscious hip-hop, acid jazz, R&B and indie rock all culminate to create a sound that is unique beyond all common recognition.

Rebellion Politik is not only the title of the latest EP due out in September, it’s the operating theory Junkyard Empire uses as a force for organization and political action; referred to in the title track from the EP as “the science of survival in a repressive environment.” And to prove it, the album is already garnering inquisitive reactions from the press that can be seen on blogs such as The Hype Machine, Elbo.ws, Perfect Porridge, Midwest Broadcast, URB Magazine’s next 1000 and  others.

www.MediaRootsMusic.com • www.myspace.com/JunkyardEmpire • www.Flickr.com/Photos/JunkyardEmpire

GUANTE

As an MC, Guante’s last album met high critical praise and catapulted him to the forefront of the next generation of Twin Cities’ vibrant hip hop scene; in the past year, he played Soundset ‘09 (alongside Atmosphere, the Pharcyde, Brother Ali and more), the anti-RNC festival ‘Ripple Effect’ (alongside Michael Franti, dead prez, Rage Against the Machine and more), along with many other high profile shows. As a slam poet, he’s been the Grand Poetry Slam Champion for three different cities in four years, and most recently became the 2009 National Slam Poetry Champion as part of the St. Paul Slam team.

He’s also a 2008 City Pages ‘Artist of the Year’, 2008 URB Magazine ‘Next 1000′ artist and multiple Independent Music Awards nominee. CMJ said: ‘Giving you something to think about while nodding your head to his nimble, casual flow, Guante could very well follow Atmosphere and P.O.S. in the long-line of outstanding rappers to break out from the Midwest.’ City Pages echoed these sentiments, saying ‘Whether writing of lost causes or zombie apocalypses, Guante demonstrates impeccable artistic control; in performance, he hsa the audience’s undivided attention.’

Aside from these artistic endeavors, Guante also found time to curate the massively successful ‘Hip Hop Against Homophobia’ series, contribute regularly to nationally-recognized music site Culture Bully, and lead writing/performance workshops in multiple Twin Cities area schools throught the MN Spoken Word Association.

www.truruts.com • www.myspace.com/ElGuante • www.ElGuante.net

E.G. BAILEY

Amiri Baraka says of E.G. Bailey’s work, “He makes language live!.”

Deemed a true innovator of the spoken word art form, his charismatic yet musical style dances words with sound in and out of synch with verbal play.

One of the most prolific voices and talents in the Twin Cities, Bailey’s work has taken him on travels through the U.S., England, South Africa, France, Serbia and more. A spoken word innovator, he has created spoken word work in film, theater, music and radio. Born in Saclapea, Liberia, and now based in the U.S., he is a founder of several foundational entitles in the local and national community including: MN Spoken Word Association, Tru Ruts Endeavors, the Urban Griots Spoken Word Awards, The Spoken Word and Hip Hop Institute at the University of MN titled ‘In Da Tradition.’

He has appeared in spoken word commercials including ‘Art Connects’, which premiered at the 2008 B.E.T. Hip Hop Awards, and was featured on the MTV, VH1, MTV Europe, CBS, NBC and other networks, in addition to being inducted into the Television Hall of Fame archived at the Modern Museum of Arts in New York.

E.G. Bailey is the winner of the Hughes Knight Diop Poetry Award and several of his poems have been published in Solid Ground; the millennial issue of Drumvoices Revue; and Warpland, a publication by the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for creative writing. He was a co-producer of Write On Radio, an award winning weekly literary radio program on KFAI Fresh Air Radio where he is currently an on air personality for the Tehuti Spoken Word show on Sunday nights.   As he moves effortless between radio, film, theater, and producing, his live performance is always a treat!

www.truruts.com • www.myspace.com/egbailey • www.egbailey.com

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TRU RUTS

“Tru Ruts is a record label of this generation. It strives to transcend the boundaries of music…”  – Rich Albertoni (Isthmus) on TRU RUTS

Tru Ruts Endeavors is a multi-disciplinary artistic enterprise encompassing a record label, theatre productions, a radio series, visual art exhibits and film productions. It has been a major innovator + trailblazer in the Twin Cities, often producing shows to sold out audiences and critical acclaim. Tru Ruts/Speakeasy Records is a premier record label based in the Twin Cities, with a roster of nine artists and has been called ‘a record label of this generation.’ It has released over 10 albums and EPs, including a number of singles, in addition to producing dynamic shows including KRS One’s sold out return to the Twin Cities in 2008, and a Slum Village show with a tribute to J Dilla, featuring nine of the most respected emcees in Minnesota including Slug, Muja Messiah, Maria Isa, Truthmaze and others. Tru Ruts’ roster also includes Truthmaze, Guante, Sha Cage, e.g. bailey, See More Perspective, Quilombolas and others.

“[Tru Ruts] has the star power and chemistry to fill a much larger forum.” – Jordan Selbo (City Pages) on TRU RUTS

MEDIAROOTS MUSIC

MediaRoots is a record label of the web 2.0 era. We are dedicated to bringing you the music and content you want and need. MediaRoots is a safe haven for independent thought, independent media, and independent music. MediaRoots seeks to foster an interactive environment that takes the fan’s input seriously. Here, the artists, companies, and fans contribute to the direction of the business itself as a community of like-minded music lovers, artists, and humanitarians.

MediaRoots is what the new music industry must be. MediaRoots is a place for contemporary ideas and new ways of doing business for the mutual benefit of all parties involved. Far from seeking to enrich ourselves, we the people of MediaRoots believe that a more sustainable business model—grounded in equality and respect—is more preferable to a system that has grown out of touch with its listeners and artists. We the people of MediaRoots view the current music industry as an outdated business and aspire to change it.

The goal of MediaRoots is to bring about real art that celebrates the musicality and beauty of the medium. Whatever unfolds is up to us. We’ve been unable to find this type of community on or offline, so we decided to start one ourselves. Join us, and together let’s set down MediaRoots.

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PRESS • VIDEOS • LINKS

Junkyard Empire Press
• Junkyard Empire write the soundtrack for Rebellion – http://tinyurl.com/naugcu
• Junkyard Empire chosen for URB Next 1000 – http://tinyurl.com/mrvx5x
• Junkyard Empire featured on Elbo.ws – http://tinyurl.com/loaru5

Guante Press
• El Guante, insightful and inciteful – http://tinyurl.com/n5fw82
• Guante chosen for URB Next 1000 – http://tinyurl.com/ryp3g5
• Brother Ali, El Guante, and Ellis Headline Street Festival Commemorating the 1934 Minneapolis Truckers Strikes – http://tinyurl.com/lp2fbb

E.G. Bailey Press
• Spoken Word takes root in MN – http://tinyurl.com/kouz6b
• Liberian-American Spoken Word Artist is Home at Last – http://tinyurl.com/c6lp9b
• The Daily MP3 – E.G. Bailey – America – http://tinyurl.com/n92gv4

Videos
• Junkyard Empire – http://tinyurl.com/nnwcyz
• Guante – http://tinyurl.com/p328up
• E.G. Bailey – http://tinyurl.com/nx3388

Tree Shurts will be back in the Red Square www.redsquarealbany.com building. We haven’t been back since the 4/20 Re-Launch Party. If you missed it don’t miss this one. We will are gonna have all the Colored Shurts for the very first time.

It ain’t a party without some DOPE music. DJ Playground www.djplayground.com(the official Tree Shurt DJ) will be the host spinning his usual flavors of the millenium. Performing First is Jermaine Wells and the Ill Funk Ensemble www.illfunk.com. They bring the funk on a nasty dunk. After them will be Nacirema www.naciremamusic.com They are a hip hop group with a band behind them. They have some really good original shit. The last performance is Odus Budd. www.myspace.com/odusbudd If the name doesn’t fit the party then I dont know anything. They will be jamming some reggae music.

We have a great lineup, some really exclusive tree shurts and Red Square has the drinks. The only other thing you have to do is Burn it Live and have a Perma Smile.

Os Chemical Wire são actualmente destaque do novíssimo Music Studio do Myspace.

Para breve está também o destaque do vídeo da canção Bees em Scuzz.tv.

Existe também uma nova review Glitzine.
Também está para breve uma review da revista inglesa Fireworks.

Entretanto está também disponível no myspace uma música inédita, Red Square, gravada algures durante o ano de 2007, remisturada agora, em 2009.

Esperamos que gostem.

Chemical Wire is silent but not dead.

DJ Trade

Red Square, Moscow, Russia

The primary destination for both superstar, and wannabie DJs of Russian nationality,  DJ Trade occupies two floors of prime retail space.  Less than a hundred metres from the cobbled imprint of Red Square, the store offers the unique chance to check out Lenin’s corpse and the latest house releases in the same afternoon.

Despite being shorter than 90% of the Russian population, I have to duck to get under the neon sign that precariously hangs  low above the door, beyond which lies the mediocre first floor, which sells nothing but trance compilations and midi-controller gadgets.

We follow a man carrying a record-bag up a set of white-washed stairs at the back of the shop, unsure as to whether we are  heading to a second floor or a stockroom. Thankfully on arrival at the top of the staircase we discover three rooms of musical goodies – jackpot!

We make a beeline for the end room, which,  filled with cardboard boxes of records, is an aladin’s den of vinyl, spanning everything from minimal techno to jackin’ house.

I grease my fingers and start flicking,  looking for a bargain or rarity that will make me part with the little cash I have on me. I scramble through the house section, which is comprised of a reassuring mixture of classics, new releases and the alway-promising white label press.

Steve Angello’s Gypsy pops up on 12″, featuring remixes from Laidback Luke. The track itself is fairly decent and was a Ibiza heavyweight in 2008,  but as much as I am fond of it, it always struck me as a bit of a poor man’s Heater. The Laidback Luke remix sounds like fun (his remixes nearly always are) and I’m half tempted to give it a spin and see if it’s worth its price tag.  However, the large Russian we followed up the stairs is using the decks behind us, flexing his muscles as he places the needle from A to B sides, unsurprisingly I can’t muster the courage to tell him he’s hogging the turntable.

Instead I turn to a different boxes of vinyl, hoping to find something else. Nothing stands out and the records are priced too highly to buy blind.

I prepare to leave, until out of the corner of my eye I spot my favourite ‘Dutch vocal hip-house trio’, LeLe.

LeLe’s classic track Breakfast on white vinyl, to be more precise. I take the record out of the sleeve, holding it up to the light, as if the musical goodness will be visible on inspection.  However, its price of 420 roubles  is more than I have on me, having bought lunch earlier (Moscow is an expensive city). Thankfully my partner, Maddi, intervenes, plucking the plastic from my sweaty palms, taking it to the till, purse in hand.

A few minutes later I find myself in possession of the first vinyl record since leaving home, a gleaming white 12″ masterpiece, containing a track so good it makes the base of your stomach tingle and the ends of your fingers go numb.

Of course, you might not like it.

Purchase:

Le Le – Breakfast 12″ – £8.24 [Tracklisting]

Total Purchases:

Club Azuli 1 – Mixed By Dave Piccioni – £0.48 [Tracklisting]

Club Azuli Part 2 – Mixed By Dave Piccioni – £0.79 [Tracklisting]

Chemical Brothers, The: Brothers Gonna Work It Out – £2.77 [Tracklisting]

Defected In The House – Mixed By Copyright – £0.79 [Tracklisting]

DJ Shadow – The New Collection – £2.38

Le Le – Breakfast 12″ – £8.24 [Tracklisting]

Samim: Flow – £1.98 [Tracklisting]

Total Spend: £17.43

Ronald Steven Federici has often been described as “a leading expert in the neuropsychological evaluation and treatment of children having multi-sensory neurodevelopmental impairments.”

He is best described as a “developmental neuropsychologist,” specializing in the treatment of “institutional autism” (which he also calls “post-traumatic autism,” or “post-institutional autistic syndrome”).

Dr. Federici is licensed by the Virginia Board, and is the holder of a Psy. D. degree.

Dr. Ronald Federici is the author of “Help for the Hopeless Child: A Guide for Families, With Special Discussion for Assessing and Treating the Post-Institutionalized Child” and is the founder of Neuropsychological and Family Practice Associates, in McLean, Virginia.

He has worked with adopted children from Russia, Romania, Ukraine and Belarus. He is also the father to seven adopted children of his own.

Federici is also an outspoken opponent of dangerous practices, such as those resulting in the death of Candace Newmaker. In addition, he has also sought to provide as much assistance as possible to children living in orphanages and other institutions with deplorable conditions.

More information about Dr. Federici and his work can be found at:

http://ronaldfederici.com/

http://ronaldfederici.wordpress.com (Ronald Federici blog)

http://ronfederici.wordpress.com (Ron Federici blog)

http://childrenintherapy.wordpress.com (Children in Therapy)

http://advocatesforchildrenintherapy.wordpress.com (Advocates for Children in Therapy)

http://angelinajolieadoptions.wordpress.com (Angelina Jolie’s adoptions; Dr. Federici is Angelina Jolie’s adoption consultant)

http://developmentsintherapy.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/dr-ronald-federici-advocate-for-children-in-therapy-act/

DJ Stavros mixin' it up

You could have gotten by just standing around, having a drink or two and hanging out. Salsa Night at Red Square was pretty casual this evening.

Then again DJ Stavros‘ continuous hard-grooving salsa mix and a hopping dance floor (many of them students at Salsalina dance studio) actually made it a lot easier to jump in and be part of the party.

All proceeds from the event’s $5 cover charge went to benefit the Radiator, Burlington’s community radio station. A happy occasion all the way around.

It’s Salsa Night on the back patio at Red Square. Don’t worry if your two-step is rusty (or non-existent), Salsalina will be there to give lessons and get us all up to speed, and then the real dancing starts at 8.

The event’s being presented by the Queen City Social Club ($5 cover) and all proceeds go to benefit The Radiator, Burlington’s community radio station. (Providing a welcome cash infusion for some much-needed studio improvements. Need visuals? Click here.)

Mid-September’s already upon us, your chances to cha-cha-cha outdoors are diminishing as fast as the late afternoon light these days. Do it while you can. See you there!

Thus sayeth the street cleaning lady to the boy ogling Kate and I as we walked down the sidewalk. Each day gets a little more exciting than the next around here. Today it was Sasha and 60-year-old men in speedos, tomorrow is up for grabs.

Yesterday we made a more official, less rushed trip to Red Square via Metro; my camera in tow unlike last time. So here to the left are the entry gates. As you can see, much goes on outside the entrance to the square–Homer Simpson waltzes around, monkeys dressed leather jackets hang out, and people attend prayer services amid all the chaos. The monkey thing is true; he was accompanied by three Russian guys dressed in similar (although larger) leather jackets. I’m not quite sure what was going on really. Anything goes in and around the Kremlin.

My favorite thing about Red Square has to be its sheer size, and that of the whole Kremlin actually. People bustle around, advertise for tours, and buy super inexpensive, delicious ice cream from vendors. I think a giant Drumstick-type cone cost me 20 roubles, a whopping $0.67. The whole spread of the place opens up the sky and, on a balmy day like we had yesterday, the sun makes these striking mid-afternoon shadows on all of the intricately crafted facades.

Another student in the program attempted to get a picture with a man in full 19th century Russian military costume outside of the history museum, to which he gruffly responded, “Picture not free.” Fortunately, all of mine were. But a lot of tourist-y places require you to pay a premium if you intend on using your camera.

A few girls and I, armed with scarves to wrap around our heads, visited this church of the Lady of Khazan during a prayer service. The Russian Orthodox churches invoke this feeling of nostalgia for something you’ve never even seen before; stepping through the door’s like stepping into a time machine. The frescoes of clearly outlined saints face you from every angle, children light small prayer candles, and babushkas sing the service’s traditional music (or push you out of the way when you stand in the path of the incense, as was the case for myself). I want to find an Orthodox church to attend regularly just so that I can soak in the antiquity of it all.

Check out that geometry! This steel-strutted ceiling is one of the three in the GUM, an acronym for one of the biggest, fanciest malls in Russia. The GUM is even more lovely from the outside, but the length of it becomes daunting when you try to fit it into a single photo. I’ll be trying again next time. But Louis Vuitton, Armani, and Calvin Klein can all be found in this complex, along with some more hip (and less expensive) boutiques. I’ll be going back to soon to spend a little well-earned cash, I think.

And, of course, there’s always good ol’ Saint Basil’s Cathedral, open for tourists but not for God. We didn’t do the tour yesterday, but we will be checking it out eventually. Right now, the bleachers for the military music festival impede the view of St. Basil’s from across the square, so the place will be far more spacious once the weekend passes. Seeing all of these landmarks at once throws you for a loop. I mean, I thought this place was the ice cream castle from Candyland when I was a kid. It is no more made out of ice cream than the moon is of cheese, but still I guess it’s okay.

Honestly, I’m just thrilled this city let’s me mosey around in it. Every district has its own delights, most of which I won’t have the time to see. The people prove endlessly interesting, too. I think I like them, although I won’t be joining the women’s high heeled cult anytime soon. Besides them smoking like chimneys, drinking in public, and having a generally disgruntled demeanor, they’re alright.

Is there a point to travel? Possibly, although traveling as a tourist has no true value. Nothing the tourist does is authentic. The sights, the people, the food, nothing is actually representative of the land he is visiting. These artifacts do not tell the tourist its history, they don’t give him a hint of what the culture of the people is, and even his interactions with the people don’t offer any insights into their values, dreams, or ideals. Instead everything the tourist sees is fake; the world in which the tourist enters is a themed environment and is only trying to seduce him into consuming without giving up any of its riches. The only honest interaction a tourist has with this new land is the most hollow of all interactions, consumption.

The tourist treks from one side of this new land to the other trying to take in its culture and discover some of the secrets. He does so by traveling from sight to sight, unfortunately, the tourist has already been to all these places. The media has brought them into his home; he has been to them through movies, television shows, magazines, and tour books. While at the sight the tourist sub-consciously realizes he has already been there. The man in Red Square has already seen the Kremlin, he has already been to the final resting place of Lenin, and taken in the glory of St Basil’s Cathedral. Not only has he already been there it was more real before, something about seeing it in person does not feel real for the tourist.

The tourist does two things to make his experience in Red Square real, first he buys souvenirs; he buys a St. Basil’s Cathedral key-chain, he buys a matroshka doll, a communist pin, and whatever else the market offers him. The tourist knows very little other than consumption and in hopes of making his hollow viewing of such beauty more meaningful he consumes. The tourist has traveled such a great distance and made such a great journey in order to see something new only to be confronted with the familiar. He is a modern day Don Quixote; he has imagined an adventure with extraordinary experiences when nothing but the benign exists at the other end of his journey.  Next he stands in front of Lenin’s Mausoleum and has his photo taken, in hopes to recreate the reality he has already seen in magazines. It is his hope that once the photo is developed and he can see himself and others can see him in front of the sight it will become real. Then his venture to the other side of the world would be worth it. Once it is documented, photographed, blogged, twittered, and broadcasted, it will finally be real.

The tourist’s travel to Red Square is hollow because Red Square isn’t actually in Russia. For the tourist the real Russia, the real Red Square is in the movies, the television shows, the magazines, and travel guides the tourist has already consumed. In these media representations Red Square looks more real than it actually is. The lens of the camera has been greased, the photo has been photoshoped and air brushed, and the colors are stronger and details more intricate than he can see with his own eyes. Only in the media can the tourist find his true Russia. When the tourist arrives to an environment like Red Square he sub-consciously understands this isn’t real. This is why he reverts back to the model of consuming goods and creating/consuming media. He makes it real with purchased artifacts and recreates the media model by standing in front St. Basil’s, hoping the experience will become real through consumption and documentation.

His experience becomes true when he shows the photos to an audience: friends, family, and anyone on the Internet that happens to stop by his Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Flicker, or blog. At this moment, when it is consumed by others, the experience in pseudo-reality (actually being there) becomes real. The tourist has now created a real experience and it is only real as others are consuming it, his memories are inauthentic, since the environment in which he actually saw is fake: the media is real.

Tourism is impotent travel. It simply doesn’t work and leaves the tourist feeling partially fulfilled (this partial fulfillment comes directly from consuming goods and when others make his experience real by consuming his media). If someone wants to truly experience travel to another land a traveler must not visit somewhere where the media has already created a reality, nor should he go to consume empty souvenirs or create media, but he should try to create authentic interactions between himself and the land of his travels.

To actually travel you must speak with the locals, you must eat with the locals, celebrate traditions with the locals, learn history from the locals, in other words you must live with the locals and at no point should the traveler purchase souvenirs or take photos. If the traveler can do these things he will truly experience another land. Instead of simply consuming the culture that has been marketed to the tourist through the media and trinkets. The traveler must break through this glossed over shell and venture to where life actually takes place.