::: Moscow Blog :::

After a fire in a power plant and a following explosion last night Moscow suffers from an almost total power blackout today. This morning power total blacked out right in rush hour. It’s not as bad as in New York (Summer 2003 – I have been there and enjoyed the adventure), but it’s a pretty serious situation. Metro’s don’t run. People need to get evacuated from stuck metros (subways) and elevators. Traffic is a pure chaos. The electro busses are stuck as well and blocking the traffic. There is no back and forward on the roads. Traffic is jammed throughout the city. Already now Moscow sees a record of accidents since traffic lights are out of order. Cell phones don’t work. Internet-Providers are offline. Hospitals are operating on emergency power. All flights to local airports are cancelled at the time being, because the airports don’t have power. Even certain TV stations are off air, among those Russian MTV.

We are very fortunate to have power and even our Internet provider still provides service. I will keep you updated (if I can).

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Technorati Tags: EM, Ice, Moscow, Summer

Irgendwie hat die SPD kein Glück. Das letzte mal, als sie an der Macht war, wurden sie und der Kanzler per konstruktivem Misstrauensvotum auf die Oppositionsbank geschickt. Das war im Oktober 1982. Danach kam Kohl, die Wiedervereinigung und manche meinen der Anfang vom Ende. Die verfehlte Politik Helmut Kohls und der Union haben doch dazu geführt, dass wir jetzt in dem Schlamassel stecken. Zugegeben, die Talfahrt der Weltwirtschaft hat das begünstigt, aber andere Länder in Europa stehen trotzdem noch viel besser da. Erst wurde die Wiedervereinigung mit aller Kraft voran getrieben, dann kam der (T)Euro. Man wird das Gefühl nicht los, dass die Herren Politiker mehr bestrebt waren in die eigenen Taschen zu wirtschaften und in die Geschichtsbücher zu kommen, als das Land auf dem richtigen Kurs zu halten. Das Boot ist marode und leckt, es droht zu sinken. Eine soziale SPD wurde gewählt um es zu retten, aber trotz Pumpen mit aller Kraft bekommen die Sozialisten das Schiff nicht wieder flott. Verlassen die Ratten jetzt das sinkende Schiff?

Anscheinend ist unsere Geduld am Ende. Sogar in traditionellen SPD Ländern ist jetzt die Union an der Macht und der Kanzler zieht die Konsequenzen. Noch ist nicht klar, ob Gerhardt Schroeder nur sein Poker Face aufgesetzt hat oder wirklich entmutigt den Rückzug antritt.

Wird die Union es besser machen? Natürlich nicht. Der Sozialstaat wird noch weiter den Bach herunter gehen, die Wirtschaft noch beguenstigt, anstatt an ihre Pflichten gegenueber der Gesellschaft und Ihren Kunden erinnert zu werden. An dieser Stelle möchte ich auch daran erinnern, dass Frau Merkel uns damals mit aller Begeisterung in den Irak schicken wollte. Neben zwei toten GSG9 Beamten, hätten wir dann weit mehr Verluste zu beklagen. Bei Bundeswehr, BGS und allen zivilen Kräften die dort eingesetzt worden wären. Vielleicht würden wir dann um unsere toten Journalisten und BND Beamten trauern, zusammen mit unseren alten Freunden, den Italienern.

Nein, die Union bringt uns genauso wenig weiter wie die SPD. Auch die Grünen oder jede andere Partei wird nicht die Lösung finden. Auch die braune Fraktion hat außer heißer Luft nichts zu bieten. Deutschland muss sich neu organisieren. Von unten herauf, oder wie die Politiker so schön sagen: „von der Basis“. Das sind wir liebe Mitbürger. Außer Hitler Deutschland und Massenvernichtung haben wir, die Deutschen, in der Vergangenheit oft Großartiges geleistet. Wir haben den Karren oft genug aus dem Dreck gezogen und uns als Global Player und Europäer bewiesen. Wir schaffen das auch wieder, aber der einzelne muss eben mit anpacken, aufhören zu jammern und mal fest zu packen. Wir schaffen das. Und als erstes müssen wir uns überlegen, wie’s im Herbst nun mit unserer Regierung weiter geht. In so kurzer Zeit werden wir wohl keine Alternativen zusammen bekommen und eine Union an der Regierung und im Bundesrat kann schwere Patzer für die Zukunft unternehmen, die es vielleicht noch schwieriger machen die Lage unter Kontrolle zu bekommen.

Hm, auf welcher Seite steht der eigentlich, denkt der ein oder andere Leser. Links? Nein, ich bin nur Realist und denke beide haben nichts zu bieten. Alternativen gibt’s KEINE! Weder Kommunisten, noch Rechtes Gedankengut (die Systeme sind beide in der Vergangenheit gescheitert). Und jetzt? Was machen wir jetzt?

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I heard many stories of fraud and how people, especially tourists and expats being ripped off in Moscow. It starts with reports of corrupt militia (police) officers stopping you and making up a problem with your papers and it ended with a story about you finding a wallet of which $50 were missing.

But all of these were stories. Things I have read or heard, until last night. Irene, Susie, Richard and Gary are old friends from New York. They flew into Moscow and move on to a wedding in St.Petersburg today. I recommended the Hotel Rossia to them, because its fairly priced, the rooms are average, its clean and conveniently located just near Kremlin. At night we had a few beers and dinner, before I brought them back to Rossia. We wanted to have another drink and spontaneously visited the Hotel bar in Rossia. The guys had another round of beers, Sonia a Coke (she was driving) and the other two girls felt for some red wine. On the other tables we had plenty of company from other hotel guests, but I also saw plenty of really ugly and used whores waiting for some clients. I formerly knew Rossia for its tight controls. Security guys don’t let anybody enter the rooms, if they are not registered to the room. No matter, if girl or boy. But it seems the tight controls are not about the fear of terror or prostitutes robbing some guest in the room. Its actually sort of a protection of the local pimps business.

My best friend Irene. My NYC buddies in Moskva.

After an hour I ordered the bill and have been pretty surprised to find more than $110 on the handwritten bill. We called the waitress and asked about the two red wines, which were 1000 Rubels ($33) each and just called “vino� on the bill. The waitress leaves and I can see her standing at the bar, talking to her colleague and looking in the menu for some wine that fits the bill. She comes back with the menu and shows us some Spanish wine. Rioja you know? Well, if you know wine and you have ever had a Rioja you know that this wine has a particular spicy taste and what we had wasn’t Rioja.

It was obvious we were being ripped off. Richard got really pissed and started to yell at the girl. After 5 minutes of loud arguing I started to work on the waitress and said to her in a very calm way: “Look, obviously you tried pulling off some con her, but we are not the stupid kind of tourist that you usually have. I give you the opportunity to fix this problem right now or I will make a big scandal out of this and you’ll loose your job. If I were you, I’d take that bill and correct it. Right now!�

St. Basil one warm spring night.

But god cop, bad cop didn’t work. She didn’t go for it. One should expect, that they try and give up once it gets complicated, but no it got worse and worse. More waitresses came to our table and when we asked for the manager they told us there was none, they’d all be managers. When asking for their names, they started to cover their name tags. But still, all the time they were insisting that they didn’t cheat on us. The whole thing became a scandal already and I am sure it was entertaining for the other guests of the bar. We started working on the girls one after another, yelling at them from time to time. Richard left $40 on the table and we wanted to leave, but they started grabbing Irene’s bag and we almost got some fight going. Irene left her bag with Richard and the waitresses holding on to it. She left to get someone from the reception of the hotel, while I started to ask for the empty or open bottle of wine they had served us. Oh yes, of course I can see that. Its laying in the trash. And?, I ask? We will not look through the trash now, they answer. I will, I say. They agree and for a minute I am starting to think that we are the bad people and we may really have done a mistake and it all was a mis-understanding. While I go back to the bar and get the girl to show me the trashcan, the other waitresses are raving: “Look at these idiots. Stupid foreigners don’t want to pay their bill. Now he will look in the trash and we will call all the hotel to watch this trash searching bump.â€? No problem. I take an old beer bottle and steer through the trashcan. No wine bottle there, not even an empty cheap one. The girls start to get a bit of panic. Now I start yelling at them, because I really have enough of that stupidity at 2 AM in the morning. I am tired, want to end this and go home.

The Hotel Bar: Still laughing, but not for long. A glass of red wine, please.

I threaten the girls repeatedly to empty the trashcan on the floor. Of course its only a thread, but they seem to take me serious now, trying to hold on to the bin when I reach for it. Smile. I am still yelling, threatening them to make sure they will all loose their jobs. Irene turns up with the receptionist, which is trying to be a mediator. Not a real help or any success in sight: The waitresses call us thieves and threaten us with the police.

Richard: Getting upset?

Yes, right. That’s a good idea. Let’s call the police. I am not sure that is a good idea, after all we are foreigners and probably they know each other. I keep yelling and shortly later the Militia (police) has arrived. Sonia starts explaining the situation to the cops and since she is Russian and obviously not a prostitute, but from a good family, they listen carefully. You can see their brains working and trying to figure out what to do. The cops are very friendly with the waitressed and call them with cozy names. Obviously they know them very well.

After talking for a bit they tell them to let us go. The cops don’t know who we are, but its clear to them, that we are not just some stupid tourists and they don’t know about our connections and if we can mean trouble to them. They seem to be scared that wrong doing will backfire on them somehow. So they are super polite, smiling and trying to convince the waitresses to let us go. They even tell us, that this is not the first time it happens, but usually people give up. We didn’t.

After another 15 minutes we are leaving and we had paid $4. Not more. The cops offered us to file a law suit, but we let it go. It is 3 AM by now and we are all tired of this. In any case these law suits don’t bring anything than burocracy and nerve wrecking times at the police station, as we have seen with our broken car window (see “Broken Glass�).

Rioja for $33/glass or cheap wine from Moldavia?

My advice to you and what I have once again learned out if this. Be careful at all times, negotiate prices BEFORE you order (taxi, food, drinks), be clear and sincere with your order. Fight for your right!

I still can’t believe the girls pulled that through until the end. But, the more I think of it, it doesn’t seem to be a single try to con us, but an organized thing that they were probably told to do as often as they can, by someone above. As Rossia protects their local prostitutes, by not letting any other girl go up to a room (not even a girlfriend) with a guest, it seems to me, its all organized from above. Sort of a Mafia thing.

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Technorati Tags: EM, Ice, Moscow

Last Thursday. The grandfather of hip hop, father of Electro Funk Sound, one of the first Beat Breakers the man himself “Bam� Afrika Bambaataa came to Moscow. Apparently he stayed two days, of which he played one night in a half full Fabrique club. DJ Tactics organized us some VIP tickets and although being super tired these days, we went to see Afrika Bambaataa spinning his set in Moscow. Thanx Tactics.

Read here, what Rolling Stone Magazine has to day about the old man:

Musical visionary, DJ extraordinaire, and founder of the Zulu Nation, Afrika Bambaataa has done more for the culture and music of hip-hop than most could dream of. He grew up in the South Bronx, and began promoting and spinning at block parties in the 1970s. His first professional effort was producing Soul Sonic Force’s debut Zulu Nation Throwdown in 1980; two years later, they released the groundbreaking single “Planet Rock,” helping to pioneer the Electro-Funk movement with its freaky beats and incorporation of sounds from German synth band Kraftwerk.

Afrika Bambaataa in Moscow. Where is your smile man? Havin’ fun?

Bambaataa’s futuristic soundscapes took listeners by surprise, becoming a major influence in the development of not only hip-hop, but Techno and House music as well. Throughout his lengthy career, Bam has recorded with a diverse multitude of talented artists, including James Brown, Bill Laswell, Sly and Robbie, and Professor X. Still extremely active in the hip-hop community, he continues to record, tour and educate, maintaining his status as a living legend and forefather of the art. [Source: Rolling Stone Magazine]

Andrey “Crazy� Glushachenkov is one of the promoters bringing some world class DJ’s to Fabrique and Moscow throughout the past years. I met Andrey just after I arrived in Moscow on some art exhibition with a friend who went to school with him. Still didn’t figure out why they call him “Crazy�, but my friend told me its because he likes to get into fights and completely loses it sometimes. Well, he seemed to be a nice guy to me. He even came to one DJ gig of mine at Garage club, because they wanted to hire me for Thursdays at Fabrique, but that night I completely sucked and I messed everything up that could be messed up. While I was spinning in Garage that evening he approached my girl, which I find disrespectful, but that is a Russian regular. I mean disrespect.

Da man and his boyz.

Back to “Bam� the man from the South Bronx exploring Russia. He didn’t seem to have had a good day or he adjusted to the general Russian depressive mood. Just look at his face on the photos. His majesty didn’t really seem to have fun spinning for the CCCP hip hoppers. Those were hard to find anyways. The club was crowded by a young Infiniti R&B type audience, mixed with the occasional oldschooler and even some after worl business men (probably from the sponsor Barcadi). But Bam should have not mind, because he brought his own support. He brought 2 lower east side boys, who showed NYC style breakdancing and even grabbed the mic for some experimental impro.

“Bam” brought his own breakdancers.

The breakdance sessions were a bit too long. The club invited also some local breakerz, but it wasn’t really a battle, more of a dance together. Fabriques secret service like security made sure the breakdancers have enough room, while the rest of the crowd was forced to stand and watch. Five minutes, maybe 10 would have been enough, but the breakdancing ended up being as long and chewy as some old tasteless gum you forgot to spit out a long time ago. Sometimes I felt reminded of when I have been 14 years old, hanging out in the local youth club and trying to do some breakdance moves. I remember that I never made it to “windmill�, but I used to know some other cool moves, of which I have only the robot stuff left in my mind.

Sonia & Nikl

That is, what “Crazy� must have thought when he started breakdancing. Alex told me, that in the “old Soviet times� they used to hang out together. Their group used to be some of the first skateboarders and breakdancers. Yeah, even the first to play baseball in Russia.

Back to Bam and Fabrique. As I said before, the breakdancing was great, but it became a bit long at times. I have seen plenty of breakers in the recent years and I am always surprised how much this sport has developed since the 1980’s. How much professionalism has grown even in this sport. “Crazy� must have also had some youth memories, because suddenly he left his place in the DJ booth near “Bam� and he started to dance as well. I don’t know if I should feel mayor respect or just be sorry. I guess some of us have to accept that we got older and everything else has moved on. Well, I sucked with my spinning at Garage and after I have seen “Crazy� I am starting to feel better about myself again. Nevertheless I have respect that he went forward and actually did his dance in front of a 100 people audience and more important, some NYC and local professional dancers.

Andrey (white T-Shirt) giving his best in breakdancing. Respect.

One of the local breakerz stuck out because of his long blond beard and his “other� outfit. I am told that this guy is the local head of the hell’s angels and it all starts to make sense, because Alex had good connections to some guys he also knew from school and who now pretended to be the Russian Hell’s Angels. Well, respect for that Fella as well. Haven’t seen a Hell’s Angle breakdancing yet and I don’t want to know what “Bam� would have said or even better the guys Hell’s Angel buddies in the East Village headquater at East 3rd Street and Ave A. Probably just another Russian searching for his idendity, like so many.

Breakdancing Hell’s Angel. Respect again.

So Afrika Bambaataa didn’t give us a smile, but he has played many nice tracks. Some new tracks mixed with pretty reduced electro sounds and the occasional old school medley. The “usual suspects� were dancing like crazy. Nikl was bouncing over the dance floor like a gummy ball in some rhythmic way and he earned surprised, but respectful views from the rest of the crowd. Even the occasional Infinity chic checked them out.

“Bamâ€? didn’t get old as I expected, meaning I expected to hear some bad shit like when Grandmaster Flash plays live (don’t go there!). Afrika Bambaataa still feels a sense of what makes people dance and that not even for some local NYC clubs or house parties, but also for a completely different Russian crowed. I just hope he will find his smile again one day. Maybe when he gets back to JFK, his buddies giving him a ride back home, putting on some nice tunes and the lightening a blunt, while they’ll drive him to his South Bronx domicile. That of course is my personal projection. The man has been around for a while, spinning his first parties when I have been born in the beginning of the 70’s and so probably his granddaughter is coming to pick him up from the airport and drives him back home to the rest of the family where he will happily fall into his armchair and watch some TV, while waiting for family dinner.

The usual suspects observing the scene.

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Technorati Tags: EM, Ice, mood, Moscow

There are a few “strange� Russian things I haven’t been writing about, yet. The beer advertising marathon after 10 PM on TV for example or the spraying of silver-iodine into the clouds to make clear skies over Moscow, if there are special holidays. Or the annual turning off the warm water in spring time.

See, in Moscow most of the houses are still connected to central heating, which is provided by large power plants. In the winter your heating comes from there and all year long your hot water comes from there through long pipes. Once a year the hot water is turned off to do maintenance on the pipes. It’s usually 2-6 weeks, in some cases longer. Last year a part of the city was without hot water for 3 months because there was a dispute between the power company and the housing companies, when the fees are paid. The power companies wanted money upfront, housing wanted to pay at the end of the month. So the power company just turned off the hot water, until the housing companies paid.

Just yesterday I saw in the news that soon hot water will be turned off. My girlfriend told me not to worry. It won’t be us first, she said. I hope, I answered, because we only have 13 C at the time being and cold showers are not pleasant when it’s still so cold. Well, I just came from my first cold shower. I still hope it’s a problem within our house (which happens sometimes) and tomorrow morning I can take my usual hot shower, but it may as well be the start of a 6 week cold shower period. So expect more fresh comments of me from now on.

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Technorati Tags: EM, Moscow, Winter