DAY THIRTY - Tuesday April 24
A hydro-electric dam in the middle of the city! Also a memorial to the founding and naming of the city - both as Sverdlosk (Soviet name) and Yekaterinburg (pre-Soviet AND current name)
A stone commemorating the founding of the city.
And a video about that...
This is the TV tower on which they halted construction because they discovered water in the foundation and it started leaning. It was supposed to be the pride of Yekaterinburg. Now it's the eyesore.
Some nice, Peace graffiti on the way to the mall.
Town Hall - a great old Soviet-era building
Lenin - a great big Soviet-era statue.
A pedestrian mall, like so many in America.
Bronze sculptures every so often, commemorating old-world trades.
Grisha found a friend:
And... a Burger King... like so many in America!
Inside the Burger King. Looks familiar...
Street musicians:
That large curved window was the mall of our destination.
The aliens have landed! And they have brought laptops!
MAC, Body Shop... I know we're not in Kansas any more - but there wasn't much Russia to be found in this mall either.
The circus building - but they are out of town till June.
Grisha and Misha on a trolley.
Grisha and Misha on a trolley that ended up going the wrong way so we had to walk anyway!
Aforementioned trolley...
One of many golden-domed churches here.
Day off. I worked on Nathaniel's yearbook ad in morning and then walked to a mall with Gregg. It was, well, like a mall. It was a nice, long walk with lots of stores... that you'd find... in... America. Nike, Puma, Reebock, MAC, Body Shop, Bennetton, etc, etc, etc. Here are some photos:
And a video about that...
Grisha found a friend:
Inside the Burger King. Looks familiar... Street musicians:
Grisha and Misha on a trolley.
In the evening, at our theatre, they had the 7th Annual Emerald Festival of Music - an international festival organized around the resident band, Izumrud (it means Emerald), of the theatre. We have heard them rehearse and they were part of that press conference of a few weeks ago. Absolutely incredible musicians - coolest people - fastest pluckers I've ever seen - on balalaika, mandolins, dombras, vibes, drums, accordion - whatever. There were Native American and South American bands, Izumrud, a Russian/French lady. Here is Izumrud opening the concert. Watch the whole video because they are so incredible!!!
The next video is one I got from the press folks - as in I didn't see this with my own two eyes - but it is an example of how completely amazing the Izumrud players are. You MUST watch till the end.
Following Izumrud, they had a trio of Native American players from Arizona, a band from South America (the NON-South American woman - the blonde, happens to be the daughter of the blonde lady from Izumrud!), and a Russian/French woman who was from Ekaterinburg but now living in France. As we were sitting in our box seats, we heard ENGLISH!!! being spoken behind us - and it wasn't US speaking it! It had been a long time. It was the wife of the Native American Flute player (his name is R. Carlos Nakai - and is Grammy nominated) and their Russian manager - they are on a short tour here. I'm not sure why the sound drops out a couple of times in the video below:
Something funny happened during the intermission. We came back and they had gathered some set pieces from different shows to dress up the joint. Some planets hanging, some light posts, a couple of cars and the backdrop - which was a Broadway theme - but with most of the images related to "Kiss of the Spider Woman." Kander's and Ebb's names, the logo of the show, the number of Tony nominations, the names of Chita Rivera, Brent Carver and Anthony Crivello. Here's are a couple of pictures. It made me laugh.
The next video is one I got from the press folks - as in I didn't see this with my own two eyes - but it is an example of how completely amazing the Izumrud players are. You MUST watch till the end.
Following Izumrud, they had a trio of Native American players from Arizona, a band from South America (the NON-South American woman - the blonde, happens to be the daughter of the blonde lady from Izumrud!), and a Russian/French woman who was from Ekaterinburg but now living in France. As we were sitting in our box seats, we heard ENGLISH!!! being spoken behind us - and it wasn't US speaking it! It had been a long time. It was the wife of the Native American Flute player (his name is R. Carlos Nakai - and is Grammy nominated) and their Russian manager - they are on a short tour here. I'm not sure why the sound drops out a couple of times in the video below:
Something funny happened during the intermission. We came back and they had gathered some set pieces from different shows to dress up the joint. Some planets hanging, some light posts, a couple of cars and the backdrop - which was a Broadway theme - but with most of the images related to "Kiss of the Spider Woman." Kander's and Ebb's names, the logo of the show, the number of Tony nominations, the names of Chita Rivera, Brent Carver and Anthony Crivello. Here's are a couple of pictures. It made me laugh.
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