Moscow meets Berlin. I am on a short visit in Berlin. I brought Caviar and my favorite Vodka as a present for my friends and we had the usual dinner, which we have anytime I am in Berlin. After the dinner my friend Martin, a James Bond admirer, made Vodka Martinis and said the following:
Berlin meets Moscow.
Vodka Martini, shaken, not stirred. Made with Russian Dolgoruki Vodka from Moscow.
Here is how you do it and how 007 likes it.
Vodka Martini
This is a standard vodka martini.
4 measures vodka
1/2 measure vermouth
Shake until it’s ice cold (don’t stir it). Pour into a martini glass and garnish with lemon peel.
Private parties are rare in Moscow. It doesn’t seem to be a tradition to invite friends and strangers into your home and party with them, as it is a custom in New York or some other cities. I have been on many house parties in NYC. Made many myself and my friends and I pride ourselves to have thrown the first real good party 6 weeks after 9/11. Its just what people needed that time. Oh well, our loft on La Guardia was pretty destroyed after it. Sometimes we had 6 to 8 parties to choose from a night and if one was lame, we just bought another six pack and moved on to the next one. I have seen many beautiful lofts and apartments during this period and I also met many very nice people and made good business contacts on these house parties. At the end of my NY time, we actually only went to clubs and bars during the week and to house parties on the weekend, since we always had a few private parties to choose from.
DJ Vinylkin worked the turntables
As I said, it’s rare to find this kind of party here in Moscow. Sure, there is the occasional birthday, which is celebrated in a café or restaurant. There are pre-parties, where you meet in someone’s apartment for a few drinks before you go clubbing. There are also boring Expat cocktail parties (oh, well, I guess after writing this, I will never be invited to one again), where you can meet people and make business connections, but there are next to no cool house parties NYC style. Philipp and Martin make their legendary BBQ roof party in the summer. Simone does the occasional art event in her apartment, which usually turns into a big party. Zak and Jabagh throw a loft party now and then, but these are the only real highlights of the Moscow nightlife, I’d say, and unfortunately they don’t happen often enough.
Zak and Jabagh just got a new studio loft and they organized this nice little Thursday evening party together with their friends Nikl and Blanche. DJ Vinylkin worked the turntables and did a great job, although the guy felt miserable. He spent last week up on some Caucasus mountain and was near to being snow blind when he arrived back in Moscow that day. He came back early, just to spin here. Red Bull and Russkie Standard provided the free booze. I actually planned not to drink anything anymore, since I have been on a Small World meeting before, which was at Skylounge and they offered free drinks. I also didn’t eat much all day, so I was planning on getting myself a water, when I went to the bar, but the bartender greeted me with a Vodka Red Bull. How could I turn down my favorite drink?
This video was taken at 3 AM. Just before the party was over. Sorry. Should have filmed the crowd earlier, but I have been busy with making small talk.
The audience was a great mix. There was anything from the real estate broker and CEO to the designer and artist. It’s a pleasure to see this, especially since creative and business go different ways (not only in Moscow, but especially here). I think it was about three a clock when we were nicely drunk from good spirits and we moved on to Propaganda. They had the 10th anniversary of the Thursday night party and it was another MUST go on my schedule that night. Well done party. Thanks to anyone who made this happen (also the sponsors). We need more of this in Moscow!
How do you like the new site design? Some things still don’t work well, e.g. the photoalbum. I need some more tome for fixes, but soon everything will be smooth again.
Its a typical April. While March spoiled us with lots of sunny days and temperatures of up to 20 C, April brings back the snow. It has been a strange and wet Winter season and we are all tired of the snow. Hopefully it will pass soon and we’ll get these nice spring temperatures again. The trees are blooming and in some parts of the city you can even find flowers and tulips already.
I would have called Propaganda dead already. Especially since the formerly famous Thursday night went so bad recently. But, once again this club surprised me. Last week I met Zak and Ja Bagh, two New Yorkers who live here as long as I do. I wonder why we didn’t meet before. These New York cats organize a new party in Propaganda on Fridays. I have heard a lot about it from the get go and ever since I wanted to check the new rave on Propaganda Fridays.
When we arrived around midnight, there was an incredible long cue. Its rare to see this kind of lines in Moscow. Especially not at Propaganda. The crowd is a very young one. Its this new generation of wealthy upper and middle class Moscovites, in their early to mid twenties. Very fashionable and creative in a real (not a D & G) sense. This could be an outlook on the new Russia. The one that is ahead of us.
The party is said to be a new rave. God knows what that is, so I checked at Wikipedia:
New Rave (sometimes referred to as nu-rave)is a label applied to a style of music fusing elements of electronic, disco music and punk, which developed in the UK in 2006. It has similarities with US-led style dance-punk. Music publication NME is largely responsible for popularizing the term, which has connotations of the genre being a ‘new’ version of ‘rave’ as well as being a corruption of the term ‘new wave’.
Klaxons, Datarock and Shitdisco are generally accepted as the main exponents of the genre.
The aesthetics of the New Rave scene are largely similar to those of the original rave scene, being mostly centered around psychedelic visual effects. Glow sticks, neon and other lights are common, and followers of the scene often dress in bright colors.
Well, now we know it. At this point, I’d like to give some respect to the organizers of the event. Propka was full until the top. It was a very nice and friendly crowd (a little too friendly sometimes, you know na mean). Its seems forgotten, are the times, when even Propaganda was raided by the drug police with heavily armed officers. Back to Nu Rave. The music was good and Ja Bagh gave out florescent bracelets at the door, so everybody was glowing in the dark. For a moment I felt put back in time and on some Café Moscow Techno Party in Berlin, just that the music is a different one nowadays.
So what makes a good party? Here are my ingredients (or my checklist):
1. Handpick the crowd
2. Make a theme (special clothes etc.)
3. Have a good DJ, who makes the women dance.
4. Put some good looking guys behind the bar (so the girls hang out there).
You can find all of the above at this new party. It’s just a pity, that Propaganda doesn’t serve Red Bull anymore. Who can take more than 2 Vodka BURN? This red stuff is awful and its a real downturn to me. Can you believe it? They just don’t serve my favorite drink anymore. Oh well, probably a reason not to stay too long. Oh, and I forgot to tell you. While I was standing there with my friend Nikl, I heard myself saying: Oh God, I think I am too old for this. I am not sure, if I meant the crowd or it was just because I have been tired (and had no Red Bull!). But please never make me say this again. Its frustrating!
Two-Zero says: This is probably the BEST party in town. Go check it out as long as it is still fresh and juicy. But be aware of the long cue to get in and you may be turned down (yes, even in Propka), because you just don’t fit this cool crowd.
A-Film runs another film festival tonight, showing some selected Russian short films. Unfortunately the movies are ONLY in Russian, but it is worth checking it anyways.
The Festival starts at 8 PM at Doma Kino:
м. Белорусская, Васильевская улица д.13
Metro Beloruskaya, Vasilevskaja Ul. D.13
Here is the programm in Russian:
Сегодня в нашей программе:
1. «Любительское видео» Home video. 20 мин.
Режиссер: Сергей Грознов
То к чему может привести человека покупка видеокамеры.
2. «Шунья». Игровой фильм 10 мин.
Режиссер: Борис Кольнер
Это рассказ девушки, которую дорога привела в загадочное и мистическое место Танаис. Здесь, в краю времени, посреди древнегреческого города, ее прозвали «Шуньей»
3. «Фаэршоу». Клип. 2 мин.
Режиссер: Динар Бурнашов
Это небольшой сюжет про противостояния противоположностей. Черного и Белого. Красоты и Смерти. Движения и Покоя. Светлого и Темного. Огня и Воды. Передано с помощью искусств ФаерШоу.
4. «Я падаю в небо». Докум. фильм 24 мин.
Режиссер: Антон Дорин
Фильм-портрет об известной певице Ольге Кормухиной…
5. «Звуковое письмо». Игровой фильм 12 мин.
По возвращению со службы в армии молодой человек узнает о смерти своей матери, получив кассету с ее «завещанием». Из звукового письма он узнает о том, что мама завещала жить в мире с отцом, но мира не получается.
Мы будем рады приветствовать Вас в Белом Зале Дома Кино по адресу:
м. Белорусская, Васильевская улица д.13
April 19th, 2007 by 
Two-Zero 
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