>>COSMO'S RUSSIAN DIARY - WEEK 3



DAY 15- Friday, October 11, 2002

OMSK SHOW - OMCК


I managed to sleep the night without falling out of bed, although I did wake up on the edge more than once. Still tired, I pulled myself into the shower and got ready for another gig day.

I went for breakfast, it was this horrible looking assortment of unknown food items, all sitting on plates, neither cold nor hot. All this was "guarded" by a very large and angry looking Russian woman. We'll call her Olga. The Russians have this thing for preparing food and then letting it sit for hours before eating it. Every time we sit down for a meal, ANYWHERE, the salads are already there, and have already started to crust over, or become dry around the edges. Even the top slice of bread is hard.

Valentin and Irina were there, I ordered coffee and managed to find something edible. Irina said it was an omelet, but not like any omelet I had ever seen. I snacked a bit, but it was just too awful to eat, so I had another coffee and we headed to the gig.

We arrived at this old and decrepit looking Soviet-style arena. It had this stench of an old, overused toilet. We went up a flight of stairs and into the arena, once again, absolutely freezing, as the ice was bare. There were even two soldiers playing foot hockey on the ice. The stage was made out of some sort of old wooden pallets, uneven and dangerous looking. They were putting these thick rubber mats over the pallets. They had the same wooden pallets over the ice immediately around the stage and were putting step units into place on either side. Unfortunately, these step units were too high for the stage, so they created a 6-inch step above the stage. In order to alleviate this problem, they were constructing ramps to go from the stage up to the top of the step unit. All they had to do was simply set the step units onto the ice and the top step would have been level with the stage, but for some reason, they were going through this long and drawn out procedure. The Russians got a man into space first!? Robbie was going out of his mind. Finally, he convinced them to get rid of the pallets on the ice, but they still put them on the rubber mats. At least the step wasn't as bad as before.

Now, the drum riser. Once again, we had our usual struggle with the drum riser. Francis took over and proceeded to get it right, which the Russians just can't seem to do.

We were taken to the Production Office, and it was like a different world there. It was the pressroom for the local hockey team, the Omsk Hawks. This place was Oz in the middle of a dump. We were very pleased to say the least. A place that we could actually take refuge from this disgusting cesspool of a venue. Unfortunately, the only bathroom was this indescribably disgusting, odoriferous literal hole in the ground that looked like it hadn't been clean since 1957. You can only imagine the stench that came out of this place. How do these people live like this?

Above the stage right side was this huge fabric hawk, obviously the team mascot. It must have had a wingspan of 80 feet. It was huge. We were sure that Rudolf would want to use it for the show, and probably take it with us. I decided against it.

Back in Production, they started bring food and drinks. And it kept coming. The bad thing was that it was all inedible, like Russian mueslix, cardboard bread and jam. The Coca-Cola Light was great, though.

We finally went for lunch in the cantina, the food, once again, was crap. Nobody could eat it. Pork steak with some sort of "sauce" to help hide the meat. Horrible. We were scrambling to get Peter something to eat, they found him some sort of boiled fish and rice, and while it wasn't very appetizing, he could at least eat it and maintain his health. We were hungry, but at least our lives didn't depend on eating. Not yet, anyway.

As usual we had the Queen of Rock contest, and then the band went on to play. It was actually a great show. The crowd was great. Lights, sound and the band were great. Once again, another lousy day followed by a great show.

Here we had soldiers as opposed to actual stagehands helping us load out. These guys were alright, considering they were soldiers. Over the years, we have always had soldiers help load in and load out, and generally, they don't have a clue what they're doing. I mean, they are soldiers, not stagehands. But these guys were good at doing what they were told, and seemed anxious to help out. These two soldiers kept coming up to Robbie and Peter asking something in Russian, and Robbie kept shooing them away. Finally, Irina appeared and Robbie asked her to ask them what they wanted- they were asking if they could help! Also, the soldiers couldn't get to the band, so they started asking us for autographs. We tried to explain to them that we were just technicians, but they still wanted autographs. So, we capitulated and started signing. Then the flood of them came, thrusting everything from ruble notes, to paper to their passports! They were just excited to get autographs even from the lowly road crew. Several of them wanted us to write their name, so I did it in both English and Russian letters, and they got a real kick out of the fact that I knew Russian letters. It pays to learn.

After load out, we headed back to the hotel. We had not yet had any dinner, hell, we hadn't had breakfast or lunch, either. They wanted us to go back to the same place we had gone the previous night, but no one wanted to go out that late, I mean it was already midnight. We decided we would eat at the hotel. We went in and sat, ordered some beers and waited. They said we could order off of the menu, but they brought us these salads which had obviously been sitting out for several hours. The band were originally supposed to eat here after the show, but decided to go elsewhere, now we knew why. Anyway, these were probably the salads they had made for them hours ago. They consisted of finely chopped meats, cheeses and vegetables; they obviously use all the leftovers of the day for this. Then they put a dollop of mayonnaise on top and then let it sit. Mmm, how appetizing. This was the only thing that came out of the kitchen. After some bitching to the local promoter by Robbie, we finally got some beers and started to order food. It was 1 AM by this time, I decided to give up and I went up to my room. I found out later that everybody finally got tired of waiting and went to their rooms, where room service finally brought them something to eat around 2 AM. I was happily on the Internet at this point, eating peanuts. Another wonderful culinary experience in Russia.




DAY 16- Saturday, October 12, 2002

FLY TO CHELYABINSK - ЧЕЛЯБИHСК


I slept like crap again, still holding onto this stupid cold. No matter, we were going to a flea market today! I showered and went down for breakfast- once again, the usual assortment of nondescript plates of food, guarded by Olga the Terrible. I had coffee, ventured to eat something, as I was starving by this point. I don't know what it was, and I only had a couple of bites. The sugar in the coffee would have to suffice.

Robbie, Peter, Irina and myself left for the flea market. It was near the airport, actually at the end of the runway, and this flea market was a veritable city! It was huge! We walked around for a couple of hours, I cannot begin to describe all the stuff they had.

It would have taken the better part of the day to visit every booth, every stand. Many of the stands were selling the same type items, such as leather jackets, clothes, hats, socks, toys, jeans, etc. I found a nice Russian winter cap. We than went to this area where they sold the Russian-style fur hats. I found one I like, and bought it. I remembered Francis wanted one as well, so I guessed his head size and picked up one for him. Click here to see my new hat!

We shopped and shopped, seeing all kinds of things, many of which we didn't have a clue what they were. There was one item that had two handles and a gasoline engine attatched to it, but we didn't have a clue what it was. No wheels. The seller was trying to show it to somebody, but he could never get it started. I guess we'll never know.

Then, somebody realized that we were with the Scorpions, and asked for an autograph. Again, we explained that we were only the technicians, but they didn't care. We started getting mobbed as the word spread to the people in the flea market. We had people who were selling CD's coming to us wanting to sign the CD sleeve, even though we didn't look like the photos. They didn't care, we were the Scorpions. Scorpion! Scorpion! One guy who owned a CD stand didn't have any Scorpions CD's, so he wanted me to sign just any old CD. I couldn't do that. I also work for AC/DC, so I asked him if he had any AC/DC CD's- he pulled out AC/DC Live- which was great, because there is a photo of my light show on the sleeve, so at least I was signing something I had done. It was weird signing all these autographs, but it made you feel good to make these people SO happy.

It finally got out of hand so we had to run away. Which was okay, I was shopped out. We went across this huge parking lot to this indoor mall, we made our way to have some coffee.

There was this furniture showroom in the mall that had some of the coolest furniture, well made and had this 60's design about it. They also had this cool kids "helicopter bed." We walked around the mall a bit, then made our way back to the hotel, stopping along the way to buy some postcards, but to no avail. I couldn't find any postcards in Omsk. We drove by this beautiful church that they just finished renovating. It's always nice to get out and see the city, how the people live, what they drive. This is my favorite thing about traveling, getting a chance to experience the local flavor. While it may not always be to my liking, this is where they live, and I absorb as much of the culture as I can. In the immortal words of Hans Christian Anderson, "To Travel is to Live."

We got back, packed up our stuff and left for the airport, after the usual interminable delay waiting at the hotel. It was a short drive to the airport, we had coffee and I found peanuts there! We went through security, got on the plane and we were off. The meal, although small, was great, as it was just good to eat something edible.

We landed in Chelyabinsk at about 5:30, we gained an hour coming here, now 10 hours ahead of EST.

Now, talk about pollution- as we landed, you could see all of the smokestacks, pumping out their industrial filth. Chelyabinsk, we were told, is known for it's industry. Industry of pollution, maybe.

We made our way through the terminal, only to wait again, as no one new what vehicles we were supposed to take to the hotel. The lack of organization on this tour is incredible.

We waited out front, while all these unknown people milled about. Soldiers, Mafioso-looking guys, as well as the usual contingent of KGB look-alikes. Finally, two vans arrived, we piled into them and made our way through Chelyabisnk to our hotel.

We arrived at the Hotel Victoria, and by God, it was a European-style, new hotel! We made our way up to our rooms, fantastic! Two room suites, brand new. I turned on the television, and started flicking through the channels- CNN! CNN! I was so ecstatic. CNN! And BBC World! I was doing cartwheels in my room. Well, not really- but I felt like it! I also found that the hotel had Internet access. We had died and gone to heaven. I never in my life thought I'd be so happy to see CNN. We had an hour before dinner, so I hooked up my computer and watched CNN. There was all kinds of bad news. This sniper in Washington, DC. Iraq, Israel. Suddenly, I wasn't so happy about CNN. What's that saying, "Ignorance is bliss?"

Finally, time for dinner arrived. I was so hungry, I could've eaten a horse. We were given these menus when we checked in, that had a few items for you to choose from. It was kind of odd. In any case, I went down to the restaurant and there were two tables set up for us. In the back, behind a screen, was a table for the band. Rudolf and James were there. Rudolf called me over and said to sit with him. He said to make sure all the crew come to their table, as he knew what had happened the two previous days with the lack of food. We were given menus and realized that our "room menus" were actually called the "9 Dollar Menu, " sort of a kids menu, if you will. I was livid. Now it all made sense. The band said that we could order anything off the menu, it was to be a band/crew dinner. Well, did we order. Caviar, steaks, shrimp, beer, vodka. It was great, especially since we had had so little food over the past couple of days. We all had a great time, just the band and the crew. No Russians, no interpreters, just us. Just our family.

I headed up to my room around 11 PM, watched CNN, logged on to the Internet and surfed for a while before going to bed. This had been a great day.




DAY 17- Sunday, October 13, 2002

SHOW IN CHELYABINSK - ЧЕЛЯБИHСК


I slept well for a change. I opened the shades, it had really snowed overnight, and was still snowing. I checked my emails, showered and went down for breakfast. They had a nice spread for breakfast as well. Nearly everybody came down this morning.

We left for the venue, it was dumping snow. We passed this building with a large communist symbol and the letters "CCCP" on the front. CCCP are the Russian letters for USSR. As I said, a lot remains the same here from the Cold War days.

The venue was this really old ballet theater, beautiful actually, the seats and the whole auditorium are was just incredible. Unfortunately, they had spent all the time and money on that, because the backstage area was old and falling apart. No matter, it was warm and acceptable. The drum riser looked okay, but upon further inspection, they had just tried to cover up the mess with black material. I mean, here we were in a proper theater, where they build risers for a living, yet they still couldn't get ours together, even though it is a simple one. Once again, it was pieced together using bits of old riser and wood. Francis did his magic once again, and made it work.

The film crew stuck a microphone and battery pack on me, the camera crew followed me around most of the day, with me trying to explain to them what I do on a show day. I do not profess to be an actor, but I gave it the old college try. I won't be expecting an Oscar nomination.

I was hoping to do my laundry today, but I was told there were no laundromats in Chelyabinsk. In any case, I had it sent back to the hotel, and while it wasn't cheap (a buck to do a pair of socks), I would at least have clean clothes.

We were told that the theater commissary was horrible, so we were told that we were going out to a proper restaurant. We just didn't want it to take forever, but they assured us we would be served quickly. They discussed how we would get there. Finally, they got us a van. We all jumped in and drove around to the other side of the building. We all joked, "we're here." We thought we were joking- we were there. A 2-minute walk. In any case, we went in, they had this nice spread on the table. We ordered and ate in a short amount of time. We were shocked, but happy. We walked back to the venue. It was still snowing, but the cold air was nice.

The band came in for sound check. Rudolf asked if they had any backdrops we could use. Ha ha. The band left, I worked on a plot for the Baltic shows. This was a strange show audience wise. First of all, we were in this beautiful Opera house, with these beautiful seats in the auditorium. Also, even thought the communists are gone, this is still somewhat of a police state. So, the security from the get go probably warned the concertgoers not to even think about damaging the seats. They were so petrified that they were even afraid to stand up. And when someone did, there was the Stasi telling them to sit. Rebel. You could tell the people really wanted to rock out, but did so while sitting in their seats. One overzealous fan actually got onto the stage, he was escorted out to the back and shot.

It was a good show, it is just hard on the band when the audience is so subdued, especially involuntarily. After load-out, some of the crew decided to go back to the hotel, the others wanted to go to the restaurant we ate in for lunch around the corner. We all ended up going back to the hotel. They didn't have enough vans, so Robbie and Peter stayed behind to wait for a ride. The rest of us crammed into a car and left. The ride to the hotel was treacherous to say the least. The roads were completely covered with ice. The driver sped along, and when he stepped on the brake, nothing would happen- we just slid. Fortunately, the drivers here must be used to these conditions, because he always managed to "slide" to each red light without going into the intersection. Well, until one light that turned red right before we got to the intersection- he slammed on the brakes- nothing- and we coasted into the intersection into oncoming traffic- but fortunately again- the other drivers must be used to this phenomena as well, as nobody hit us. After about 10 minutes of this hair-raising ride, we slid up to the front of the hotel and said goodbye to our driver, who we figured wouldn't survive the night. With a few extra gray hairs, I headed to the bar. I had a couple of beers with Matthias and Beate, and had a nice serving of black caviar and blinis. Excellent.

I headed up and worked on the computer, watched CNN and hit the sack by midnight.




DAY 18- Monday, October 14, 2002

FLY TO YAROSLAVL - ЯPOCЛABЛЬ


It was a gorgeous sunny morning, with crystal clear blue skies. The ground was covered with a couple of inches of snow, and the ice was melting on the streets. I slept okay, still not great, and I didn't feel that great either. I just can't seem to kick this cold.

I went down for breakfast, not a soul was in the restaurant, not Achim, not anybody. I suddenly remembered my laundry and went to the front desk to see if they know the status of it. He made a quick phone call and told me it would be at my room in 5 minutes. So, I went back up and in 5 minutes- voila! Clean and folded laundry. Only 45 bucks.

I went back down and there was Achim. We ate a great breakfast and chatted about the tour. He was planning on going shopping, I had planned to stay in my room, relax, write some postcards and work on the computer. I went back up and did just that. I showered, packed and went down at 2:25. And waited. Finally, we loaded up and headed for the airport.

There were several gift shops there, but not much interesting. At the entrance to the airport was this MiG-15 fighter on a pedestal. It was a memorial for those from Chelyabinsk killed in WWII. I went out to it, took some photos.

I walked back to the terminal building. Irina was speaking to a guy in a uniform. Turns out he was in the Russian Air Force and was a navigator in the Su-27. We spoke about the US Air Force, fighters; it was great. He was there to get autographs from the band. He asked for mine. I gave it to him.

We have a Merchandiser on tour with us. Her name is Ulia. We don't have that many items for sale, 2 different t-shirts and 2 bandannas. They don't sell a lot, but a few at each show. Ulia is our exchange office as well. She'll change our dollars into rubles at the going rate of 31.5 rubles to the dollar. She's great, and very funny. I exchanged money with her and paid Robbie back.

We headed to the security checkpoint. While I was in line, the Russian Air Force officer I was speaking with before came over and gave me a Air Force uniform patch. Really cool. I gave him some picks. Nice trade. I meet a lot of cool people around the world.

This was a 3-hour flight. I wrote postcards. We ate. Well, we were served a meal. They seem to have a thing with chicken here- you can never really tell the parts of the chicken that they serve you. I think that they have a chicken farm outside of Chernobyl where the chickens have nothing but a body and mouth. A leg with a beak.

We flew over what looked like absolutely nothing for what seemed like an eternity. Every so often you could see what looked like a small village down below. But no roads or cities. We were flying at 600 miles an hour, I couldn't imagine the time it would take to get from village to village on the ground. These people in these villages must be so out of touch. Probably no electricity, no plumbing. I would guess that much hadn't changed there in a century. They farm enough for their own people. Were these villages just lost in time? It was almost inconceivable to me. I am sure that there is nothing like this in America. I mean, I am sure there are people who live in the sticks, but not this far from the rest of the world. We have already flown over 10,000 miles since we have arrived into Russia, most of those miles over vast stretches of nothing. I wondered what it must be like in those villages...

We landed at about 5:30 PM. We gained two hours flying west, now only 8 hours later than EST. We were also on Moscow time.

This airport was tiny, there wasn't even a real terminal, just a hut. All the bands' cars were lined up on the taxiway. It was cold. We got into an old Soviet bus and started our long drive to the hotel. The sun was setting, it was a beautiful evening.

It was nearly an hour to the hotel. Why did they build the airports so far away from the city, especially when they were built so long ago?

As we neared the city center, we saw a sign up ahead- could it be? Yes, it was red and yellow- we got closer- yes, it was indeed the Golden Arches! Yes- there was a McDonald's here! The "American Embassy", as I like to call it! Hooray! Food! Yes, it is amazing to me as well that I can be so happy to see a McDonald's. But McDonald's is gourmet food compared to some of the crap we've been ingesting, when we ingest anything at all.

We arrived at the hotel. The look on everybody's faces said it all- here we were, with a full day off and it was one of the old, Communist-style hotels. I went to my room- terrible, old, dilapidated. What a disappointment. At least there was a McDonald's.

My toilet was a foot from the bathroom door, you couldn't sit on the seat without your feet hanging out. The room probably hadn't been renovated since the 50's.

Vladimir said that we were to go to dinner with the band- good food, good fun, lots of vodka. I guess he was trying to make up for the last few days.

We met at 8 PM in the lobby. The band was doing a press conference and would join us later. I think they just wanted us to finish before the band arrived.

We left for the restaurant, 5-minutes away. We went up a flight of stair and walked in. The salads were already there waiting for us. As usual. There were two smaller separate tables for the band. On those tables were large plates of seafood. On our tables were small plates of crap. Robbie asked why we didn't get any seafood? They said they would bring some. There were several bottles of beer on the tables- they were all warm. We drank them anyway. We read the menu. Well, the menu was read to us, as it was all in Russian. Everbody ordered "French Tomato soup." I ordered borscht with a dollop of sour cream. It had been a while since I have had my staple Russian food. We waited. The salads got crustier. They brought a plate of seafood, we all ate it. The soup arrived. We ate that. The band arrived. No, we didn't eat them. They sat at their tiny tables, there wasn't enough room for the entourage. And by this time, their salads were really crusty.

They ordered. Their food started coming. We waited for our main course. Finally, we got fed up, we could see that we were never going to get our food, as the band were having problems, and the attention of all the waiters went to them. Frustrated, Robbie and I left- for McDonald's. 2 Big Mac meals and a Fish Mac. 165 rubles. 5 bucks. We went back to the hotel and up to Robbie's room. We unwrapped our rare culinary find and savored every mouthful. Not a morsel was wasted. Two all beef patties, special sauce, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onion on a sesame seed bun. Yum! We were in heaven.

I headed back to our room, a happy belly in tow. There was no way in the world I was even going to try to get online, the phone was made in East Germany in the sixties. I did some work on the computer and went to bed around midnight.




DAY 19- Tuesday, October 15, 2002

DAY OFF IN YAROSLAVL - ЯPOCЛABЛЬ


Considering the state of the room, I actually slept like a rock. I am still suffering a bit from this cold. Dry throat, achey sinuses, but given a bit of time, my symptoms seem to disappear.

I worked on my computer for a while, and then went down to breakfast at 9:30. Robbie and Peter were there; I ordered fried eggs with ham and tomatoes- wonderful! I ordered coffee; they brought it in this miniature cauldron and poured it into my cup. I added sugar. Once I got to the bottom of the cup, I started to notice coffee grounds. Peter got to the bottom of his cup- a third of his cup was nothing but thick coffee grounds. Horrible! We were told that they were supposed to pour the coffee without the grounds, but obviously these waitresses needed more training. Yech!

After breakfast, we headed out to see Yaroslavl. This city is in something called "The Golden Ring," which incorporates numerous cities, all in a 150-mile radius of Moscow. The reason that there are so many cities in this "Golden Ring" is because 150 miles is about a days travel by horse. So, in the old days, when leaving Moscow, you would travel from morning to night, so all these cities started building up a days ride from Moscow. There are many cities across Russia that are 150 miles apart- a days ride!

Anyway, Yaroslavl is also known for it's churches- they have many churches, all in the Greek Orthodox style- just beautiful. We walked around and checked a few of them out- beautiful.

I went to a watch shop and bought a Russian Air Force Pilots watch. Andreas bought a couple of watches, as well. They have had watches like this for many years, different ones for the different services, such as Navy pilot, Submariner, Tank, Ship, bomber crew, you name it, they have a multitude of styles. It used to be you could get them for 10 bucks a piece, but they didn't last. They are better these days, or so I am told. They seem to be better quality. They are also mechanical, no batteries, because if you get stuck in Siberia on a mission, you won't be finding any batteries!

I went to the Post Office for stamps. And some more post cards. I get them while I can. I saw several Scorpions Concert Posters, and then one in Russian! Here it is. The Scorpions logo looks very strange in Russian.

I went back to the hotel for a bit, took a shower and then ventured back out, just walking aimlessly around the city, taking in the local flavor. Again, here was a city crumbling around the residents. While the churches were being renovated and rebuilt, they were just letting other buildings decay. I mean, while I understand the importance of the church, especially here in Russia, it seems wrong to let the people live in such unsafe and, in many cases, unsanitary conditions. Here is one building, and another, and here is a sidewalk, if you could call it that. And remember, these shots were taken in the city center, which you would think would be the first place they would start renovating!

I headed back to the hotel. We met at 6:30 to go check out the venue, we were back with the other lighting and sound company and I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay.

We were told that this was a brand new arena, "one of the top three or four in the world!" they said. They were awfully proud of their new arena. I would wait to make my judgment after I got there.

Well, while it may not be "one of the top three or four venues in the world," it was incredible! It was an American-style arena, beautiful and brand spanking new. We were in a dream. The drum riser was perfect. The stage was immaculate. We were surely dreaming. An arena like this- in Russia?

I was told that the "Queen of Rock" contest was using pyro, and would I be interested in pyro for my show? Are they kidding? For free? Of course, but it definitely has to be bigger than what they do for "Queen of Rock." They assured me it would be. Pyro- great!

There were still a few changes that needed to be made, namely a new monitor console platform. Also, the first row of seats was 30 feet from the front of the stage. The band would not be happy about that. Robbie spoke to the local promoter, but he said that the security chief would not change it. We'll see tomorrow when the band refuses to play. I mean, I understand security, but 30 feet from the stage? That's just ludicrous.

The sound gear was just coming in, and then the lighting gear followed. I spoke to the lighting crew chief to make sure that he remembered all the changes we had discussed. He assured me he had. We decided all was in good hands and left for the hotel.

We went straight to dinner, we ate in the hotel, which was smart after last nights' fiasco. We had steak and black caviar once again- it was great! No need for McDonald's tonight. After dinner, I headed up to my cell and wrote postcards and worked on the computer. It's nice to have time to work on this diary. I was in bed by 11:30.




DAY 20- Wednesday, October 16, 2002

SHOW IN YAROSLAVL - ЯPOCЛABЛЬ


I was up at 7:30. My throat was dry and my nose stuffy. Am I never going to get rid of this cold!? The rooms are so dry, and I am so used to humidity. I spied the kettle and got an idea- I would boil water and humidify my room. In an hour, I was a new man! Throat was fine, sinuses clear, I felt great! I hoped that the other hotels would have kettles as well. I wrote postcards, showered and headed downstairs. I usually go down early, but I sit and wait for everything to happen, and we end up leaving 20 minutes late. So, today, I figured I'd head down late, eat breakfast and not have to wait. Of course, I picked the day we left on time, so I had 5 minutes to eat. I can't win.

We arrived at the gig, the beautiful gig, and we knew things were to good to be true. Everything we had discussed the night before was all for naught. The Monitor riser was in the wrong place, the lighting dimmers were on the wrong side of the stage, the seats still had not been moved. We all actually felt better knowing that it was a normal, screwed-up day again. Amazingly though, the drum riser was okay. We had to wait for everything to be moved and/or changed. An hour later, we started load-in. I was very disappointed in the tiny lighting rig, especially for this huge venue. I would just have to do my best. At least we had Pyro.

We went to eat in the arena restaurant. More crap. They had this "chicken bouillon" that was more like hot water with rancid chicken fat. Horrible. I had country fried steak, or something like that. I longed for cabbage soup with a dollop of sour cream.

At a very slow pace, things progressed. I focused. I had to repatch my console again. They did get the Stardrop working, however, so that was a plus. The band came in for soundcheck, I explained the pyro to them, what is consisted of, where on stage it was located and when I was planning on shooting it. They were very happy.

Showtime. This was the most elaborate "Queen of Rock" we have had yet. It was like some Hollywood extravaganza. They had two MC's dressed to the nines, dance routines, video clips, set pieces and pyro. It was unbelievable to say the least. The "Queen of Rock Show" featuring special guest, the Scorpions. An hour later, the band hit the stage.

Now, as I have said before, no matter how bad your day goes, the end result is a show for the fans and everything usually turns out pretty good. Well, today was a really bad day, and the show was a complete one-eighty. It was brilliant! The fans, over 7000 screaming Russians, were incredible. The band played phenomenally well. The pyro looked great. There is a Russian band from the 80's called "Gorky Park." They became very good friends with the Scorpions over the years. The singer, Sasha, was here in town and went onstage and sang "Rock You Like a Hurricane" with the band. It was great. The crowd loved it.

After the show, the band were happy. Sasha was happy. We all drank vodka. I broke out another bottle of Bloody Mary mix and made a few for the crew. I also made one for Irina. It was a nice aftershow cocktail party.

We headed back to the hotel in the van. We were to drop our stuff off, and whoever wanted to go to McDonald's were to meet back in the van. I dropped my stuff off and jumped in the van. And waited. And waited. No driver. Me and a few of the others sat and waited. Finally, I got pissed off and headed up to my room. No dinner. Again. The usual crap from the promoter. I was hungry, but I wasn't going to walk to McDonald's in this snow. I went up and ate a candy bar. I tried to go online- no luck. I tried to call the states- no luck. I yanked the phone from the wall and threw it out the window. It landed in the parking lot. I was so pissed, I wanted to throw everything out the window. Fortunately, good sense took over and I didn't. So, wisely, I went to bed.




DAY 21- Thursday, October 17, 2002

FLY TO VOLGOGRAD - BOЛГOГPAД


I rolled out of bed at about 8 AM. I little bit of a hangover, but not too bad. You gotta love vodka for that.

I laid in bed for a bit, then opened the curtains. It was still snowing. I looked down in the parking lot and saw a guy with a broom in one hand and what looked like a phone in the other. Suddenly, I wished I'd removed the number on the phone before I tossed it.

I was really hungry now. I got dressed and headed downstairs at 8:45. One of the maids saw me and rushed to the desk. I looked and saw my phone sitting on the floor monitors' desk. Well, what was left of it. I got in the elevator quickly.

I was probably the first one down, the dining room was deserted. I ordered the usual eggs, he brought me ham, cheese and bread. Also orange juice, and believe it or not- coffee without any grounds! I ate and headed back up to my room. The phone was no longer there. I bought two large bottles of water from the floor monitor- one for now and one for the flight. I went back to my room and worked on the computer, and then packed, showered and took my suitcase down for baggage call at 1:30. Back upstairs, the floor monitor collared me and showed me a bill for my broken phone. She said in Russian something about replacing it, for 410 rubles. She was laughing, and I started laughing. I happily paid her. It was worth 13 bucks to toss that phone. I think she thought it was cool that a "rock star" had smashed a phone in her hotel. I didn't bother to tell her that I wasn't a rock star. But maybe I should've thrown more stuff out of the window.

We were supposed to leave at 2 PM. Then they said 2:30. Well there was no van at either time. Nor one at 3. Once again, we were sitting in the lobby, waiting. Waiting. Waiting. The bus had broken down, they said. It was stuck in traffic. The driver was lost. Welcome to "101 Excuses Why The Bus is Not Here to Pick Us Up." It is maddening, to say the least. Finally, our bus arrived and we were on our way after an hour and a half. We arrived at the airport and were told to hurry and get on the plane. Hurry? I don't think so. They can wait for a change.

We gathered all our belongings of the bus and went into the terminal. We went through security, and then went through another door to the outside and there in front of us- was the bus that we had just gotten off of! That's security? We could've just left our bombs on the bus, nobody checked that! What a joke.

We loaded up and took off for Volgograd. It was after 5. So much for the afternoon in Volgograd.

Volgograd used to be known as "Stalingrad" until Nikita Krushchev changed it back in 1961. It was known as Tsaritsyn until Stalin changed it. Quite the ego, that Josef Stalin. Anyway, there was a fierce battle fought here in 1943, this battle was actually considered the turning point of the war for Hitler- he lost here. The battle at Stalingrad was one of the most uncompromising engagements of the entire war. With both sides promoting a no retreat, no surrender policy, intense street fighting ensued- often descending into hand-to-hand bayonet contests - and parts of the city changed hands as many as three or four times a day. Over a million Russians were killed, and a million and a half German soldiers died. Another 300,000 were taken prisoners-of-war and, through forced labor, helped rebuild the after the was had ended. The city was completely destroyed, except for one building, which stands to this day. There are some who want to change the name back to Stalingrad. Not as a salute to Stalin, but in salute to the battle that was fought here. The place that fascism was crushed. Will it ever change again? Who knows, but for now, here we were in Volgograd, "The City on the Volga."

We arrived in the dark, once again, very eerie on the tarmac. We parked, and all got off the plane. The band left in their cars, we boarded our bus, we were driven a short distance, we got off and we were let out of a gate. We strolled to our waiting vans and left for the hotel. It was a 30-minute ride. We arrived at a great looking hotel- Hotel Volgograd. We checked into our rooms, very modern, nicely renovated, and the smallest bathroom I have ever seen. Smaller that Japan. No big deal, I don't live in the bathroom. But the toilet was so close to the wall that you have to sit sideways on it. And you can't turn around in the shower- if you do, you'll be sure to hit the faucet handle and either change the temperature to boiling or freezing. No fun there!

We met for dinner in the restaurant. Nothing seemed to be there, except for what looked like a convention of old war heroes. I mean these guys had enough medals on their chests to sink a battleship. I had a huge amount of respect for these guys, many of them were old enough to have fought in WWII.

We left there in search of dinner, and we were told that is was in the banquet room on the other side of the hotel. We made our way over there and there were several table set up for us. Of course, with the salads already out, except on one table, which we took. They brought us salads- fresh? Probably not, they just had them in them sitting out in the kitchen.

We were given menus and told we could order anything off of the menu. We all ordered steak. Robbie and I ordered black caviar. We just can't get enough of the stuff! We ordered beer, the staff couldn't do enough for us. We had a great time, we have learned by now to eat when given the chance. So we did.

After dinner, we had coffee and everybody started heading up to their rooms. It was early, I planned to head up and do some work. As I left, the waiter presented me with a bill- for 6000 rubles- 200 dollars! Irina said that they were charging us for the steaks, caviar and beers. And to make matters worse, they said we drank 30 beers! Hell, only 5 of us were drinking beer. They took the steaks off, and lowered the amount of beers. The bill as still over 100 bucks. I was livid. After a long argument, I gave in and just paid the bill. The guys would reimburse me later.

I went to my room, went online and caught up on emails, work and the diary. Once again, there was nothing on TV, not that I am a big TV watcher anyway. I went to bed at midnight.




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