The mad dash from the hotel to the airport was insane. The amount of luggage - MY GOD THE LUGGAGE!!! The 4 musicians and all their instruments, Mark and all his gear, 3 of us and all our equipment - not to mention what minimal personal articles we managed to squeeze into the bags. Thank goodness Vlad only had two little pieces of luggage or that van would have straight exploded. By the time we got to the small domestic airport nearby we were all slightly delirious. We were met there by Carmen Rizzo and his assistant Loren who were no less disoriented having both just gotten off planes at the nearby international airport from the first leg of their travels. We checked our bags (nothing overweight - a sweet surprise and a pat on my own back for the excellent packing :) and then grabbed some beer and food at the lounge.
"Eternal" - the collaboration between Huun Huur Tu and Carmen Rizzo - was done without them ever meeting each other. Carmen took the acoustic set they recorded in San Francisco and mixed and layered it to create the album. At the airport, all the artists finally met face to face and talked shop over beers. The incendiary cultural and musical exchange begins.
Mark, Carmen, (the ever-present Joe with camera), Vlad, Sayan, and Loren.
The plane ride was uneventful as most of us passed out from exhaustion.
He snuck this on board in his pants pocket. classy, no?
Aerial view of Moscow lights.
There was more pushing and shoving Russian-style as we collected our baggage in THE SMALLEST BAGGAGE AREA EVER at the tiny Perm airport - seriously, the area was about the size of my bedroom with a sea of passengers and their shit squeezed into it, and fighting to squeeze out of it through ONE doorway where the guard was checking EVERY SINGLE baggage tag. Totally awesome at 5 o'clock in the morning (3 o'clock Moscow time - Russia has something like 11 time zones). To make matters even more awesome, the van that comes to pick us up is smaller than the one we took from the hotel earlier and now we have 2 extra people and sets of luggage. We are literally packed into the van like sardines - the driver filled the back with as much shit as he could, we got into the van, then the rest of our shit was shoved into the remaining space, and there STILL wasn't enough room. Vlad ended up riding in the other car with the Vladimir from the Perm Arts council that came to greet us at the airport (apparently Vladimir is one popular name here in Russia). All the time this was happening, the van was blocking traffic and none of the cars behind us could get around. There was shouting and arm waving - and I thought for sure we were about to witness fisticuffs. Good thing Sayan and Radik (from HHT) were there to hustle and get things in the van, otherwise there really might have been more than words tossed about.
Have I mentioned that I LOVE Huun Huur Tu? They're the talent for God's sake, and they had to deal with all the luggage.
Alexei and Radik from HHT. I am now a full-on groupie.
On the ride into downtown Perm and our hotel, we saw a billboard with the poster for the "Eternal" show. Hooping and hollering, we all tried to take pictures but everything came out blurry. It did give us all a much needed jolt of adrenaline, though :) The Perm hotel is decidedly more hotel-like than the one in Moscow, but turns out every amenity is a la carte. Guess I won't be needing my bathing suit after all :( We all decided to hit the free breakfast buffet before napping.
delicious.
I do a quick check of equipment, prep the camera gear for rehearsals, and finally crash in bed @ 10:30am. 3 hours later I'm back on my feet and heading off to the first Huun Huur Tu-Carmen Rizzo rehearsal...hope I'm still alive by the end of the day.
2 comments:
I was getting antsy for an update... so it is great to read the latest! Celeste, I'm really interested in what you are feeling about the ethnic dynamics of the shoot. The three of you present quite an interesting physical picture... and two of you look like you belong IN HHT! Any vibes from that? Any Russians want to play the "What are you?" game?
Omnibozo
I'm WAY behind, I know! There is wifi here at the hotel but it is super slow. And as anticipated, the hours of shooting per day has steadily increased from day to day - poor Joe has that camera GLUED to his hand :) Thank God for him! (and thank YOU :)
As for the ethnic dynamics...both Joe and Chad mentioned on the first few day of shooting that when they catch me on camera they realized I kind of fit in with HHT (no complaints here) - but as for other Russians - they are more interested in why we are pointing cameras at people then our ethnic make up. I think because the country is so close to China (and the Caucus mountains) that no one really takes exceptional notice of how HHT, me, or Joe look. In Moscow we asked about any racial prejudices and Vlad told us to be prepared for possible uncomfortable situations, but as of yet nothing (unless you count the drunk guy by the river last night who was trying to ask me where I'm from - but I'm pretty sure he was trying to pick me up :)
Thanks for subscribing and commenting Mr. LaRue!
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