Gas Truce – was it lose/lose, win/lose or win/win? (continued)

Gas truce – was it lose/lose, win/lose or win/win?

This is a road Ukraine should not even consider…

What is Mr. Nalivaichenko thinking?  First off, the Russian law (laying out penalties for insulting the president) is hardly democratic.  Secondly, where on earth does he get his information, according to which American citizens can be pubished for insulting the U.S. President, his Cabinet or even - as Nalivaichenko states - people who work in the White House?  Let’s face it:  American jails would be chock-full of Republican critics of Clinton and Democrat critics of Bush, at the very least, if this were true.

That Nalivaichenko is Acting Head of the SBU makes it even more disappointing.  Shouldn’t he have more accurate information, especially as it’s all in the public domain?

Read it and weep here.

UPDATE:  Maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh on Nalivaichenko’s knowledge of American traditions regarding freedom of speech.  After all, here’s an American who seems to have no clue herself (disregard spelling):

The Dixie Chicks told a London audience they were “ashamed to be from Texas because of President Bush.”  The defimation was a direct assault on all Americans and a cudos for the enemy. 

Lisa Richards – you are the weakest link.

C-Men at River Palace December 11th!

The C-Men are hitting “the Love Boat” (River Palace) for a rip-roaring show on December 11th, start time 10 pm.  Apart from the usual sweaty punk madness, we’ll be offering copies of our debut CD, provisionally entitled A Taste of C-Men.  Since admission to the gig is free, you can afford to buy two or three copies (Christmas is coming and your grandmother would love it!)

Bang! Pow! Zap!

http://www.pravda.com.ua/ru/news/2008/10/15/82473.htm

Его величество Виктор І

15.10.2008 20:34

Мабуть, саме таким уявляє себе гарант, працюючи і діючи як той уявний король. Він любить ходити в народ і вислуховувати його жалі, карати злого першого міністра, який ображає його народ і плете потаємні змови з сусіднім королівством.

Він любить усілякі церемонії і блискучі речі, історичні та псевдоісторичні артефакти, особливо ті, які можуть засвідчити його обраність, цінує улесливих міністрів і не терпить тих, хто говорить якісь малоприємні речі.

Все це можна стерпіти. Самі ж обрали.

Але є у Віктора Андрійовича ще одна питомо “королівська” риса – цілковита зневага до Закону. Він ще не наважується повторити за Людовіком IV “держава – це я”, але діє саме так.

Прогнівив “монарха” якийсь нещасний суд, який – лише подумати страшно – дозволив собі сперечатися з волею помазаника Божого – і все. Нема більше такого суду. Читач, який більш-менш уважно стежить за подіями в українській політиці, може самотужки скласти свій список дій президента, які йшли всупереч Закону.

Попередник Ющенка на престолі теж не особливо зважав на Закон, проте практично завжди намагався зберегти хоча б видимість правової держави. Для чинного президента такі дрібниці неважливі: для нього суттєвішим є видимість всевладдя, видимість власної, особистої величі і богообраності.

А Закон? Той, котрий один для всіх? Закон – ніщо. Люди штибу і масштабу Віктора Андрійовича ніколи законом не керувалися. Надто дрібно. Один для всіх закон – воля “монарха”.

За цю істинно “королівську” зневагу до закону країна платить цілковитою руйнацією системи правосуддя і деградацією всього державного механізму. Втім, все так і має бути: мудрий, могутній “король”, погані міністри, нечестиві судді. Все як у дитячих книжечках малого Віктора.

За іронією долі, монархічна система, яку бере за взірець Віктор Ющенко з ближніх земель існувала хіба що у Росії. У тій Росії, від якої так нібито прагне віддалити Україну президент. Це там царська воля не була обмежена нічим, а всі окрім самого монарха-батюшки – були його холопами.

У Віктора Андрійовича майже те саме: його “бояри” – люди з смітників, без роду-племені. Народні обранці з НУ-НС, які регулярно відвідують аудієнції у “монарха” знають про що мова.

Але Україна, як би заяложено це не звучало, – не Росія. Ми, за версією Віктора Андрійовича – Європа. А в Європі інша політична традиція. Дуже часто – забарвлена кров’ю монархів, які надто завзято переступали Закон.

 

Олег Базар, “Профіль”

 

 

Прийом з нагоди візиту шведського короля. Президент і перша леді вітають Карла XVI Густафа і королеву Сільвію. Катерина Михайлівна шепоче чоловікові:
– Вітю, зніми корону. Незручно якось, король – і той без корони…Віктор Андрійович справді живе і діє як монарх. Себто, як монарх в уяві хорунжівського хлопчика – всемогутній, предобрий і справедливий.

Great debate on Canadian identity

Listener\’s Choice – October 10th, 2008 – Canada: Nation or Notion?

Do give it a listen.

@Traktor, Asleep in the Park and The C-Men at Bochka Khmilna, Oct. 5th, 2008

Oct. 8th, 2008 | 11:12 am
mood: cheerful

Now that was fun.

We were very grateful to be asked to perform as special guests and what we knew would be a great show and we weren’t disappointed.

I got to Bochka at 7 am for soundcheck, finding myself the only C-Man there at that time.  Various bodies were scattered around, however, mostly of Australian extraction.  Marty and his ever-present winter hat seemed to be the most lively.  Max was right out of it with fatigue, barely clinging to the stair upon which she had perched herself.  Simon and Naomi were laid out on the bench seats, somehow managing to sleep while the preternaturally perky Sasha and Alyona of @Traktor went through their check.  Eventually, other C-People showed up, except for Mick, who lives (I think) in Minsk and is a prima donna

I was absolutely calm right up until we started, but then my right leg started shaking as though it were possessed by Elvis.  The others were their normal selves and seemed unaffected, especially the real “showmen” in the band, Mick and Ira.  At one point, Ira had some young fan licking her knee.  Mick was clearly enraged with envy and – no matter how much his thrust his extremities at the audience – no one took it upon him/herself to lick them.

We did our 11 songs and hied off the stage, to make way for Asleep in the Park.  Man, they were good.  I’m never really sure just how to categorise their music; I just know that I like it.  Really well-written tunes, with unforgettable hooks and played with an extraordinary amount of energy.  They really got people moving.  And they played both “Skeleton” (my favourite tune of theirs,) as well as “Jailbreak,” by AC/DC!  What more could I ask?

@Traktor is not a band suited for quiet reflection.  Sasha and Alyona really bang it out and the audience lapped it up.  They gained a huge fan immediately in the person of our Ira, who gushed enthusiastically about their performance.

All in all, although 50 UAH is a lot for many people, I truly believe they got their money’s worth.

P.S.  Irka has correctly pointed out that AITP did NOT play “Jailbreak,” but rather “TNT” by AC/DC/  This is a clear case of my believing what I wanted to believe.

Too tired to be jittery

Just a couple of hours before the Bochka gig…

Still tired.  Got up at 05:45 this morning, to have a cup of coffee before heading off to the incredibly early soundcheck.  I got to Bochka about five minutes early, in time to be way earlier than any other C-Man.

As I walked in, I had to pass on the stairs an obviously shattered Maxine, keyboards and vocals for Asleep in the Park.  They played a cracker in Sumy last night and drove straight to Bochka.  Marty, Asleep’s guitarist, was in better form, laughing, joking and even managing to dance to @Traktor’s soundcheck. Simon and Naomi – drums and bass, respectively, were passed out on the bench seats by the side of the room. As Sasha and Alyona thundered, they slept on, but as soon as the music stopped, Naomi stirred!

Ira stumbled in, then Dave.  Mick the Prima Donna, was comfortably asleep at home, more than likely under his Fantastic Four blanket and sporting his Bob the Builder pyjamas.

Ira, Dave and I got up, did 3 songs and went home.  I had promoised to take the kids to watch rugby today and then MacDonald’s.  Almost fell asleep why watching the matches, which is something of a commentary on the quality of the rugby played.

Just woke up after a short restorative nap and am getting all of one’s stuff together for the big gig.

Wish us luck.

Less biased gig review (i.e., NOT by me)

http://uamuzik.blogspot.com/2008/10/clockwork-punk-played-with-heart-and.html

Clockwork punk – played with heart and soul

What happens when you put together two men in their mid-forties, one of them Leeds, the other from Montreal (NDG actually), a girl from Kyiv, and a third guy who is just more than half a century old? I myself wasn’t too certain myself until Saturday September 27, when I went out to O’Brien’s Irish Pub in the centre of Ukraine’s capital city.

I had met three of the four before that Saturday, but until you have all the personalities in one place its a hard one to call, especially when the second Brit is the guy who helps keep everything running like punk clockwork.

They’re called the C-MEN. Don’t ask me why? But I will find out someday! [Blair, maybe you can elucidate us all?]

The band has branded themselves as Kyiv’s “oldest punk band” and this is quite clear that they are, just do the math.

The gig was a lot of fun and brought back memories. Songs like Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones but played with such energy that not many people could stay still, and their own rendition of ABBA’s Mama Mia… well that was something else!

While this isn’t Ukrainian music all the musicians played with a great deal of soul and simply showed that they love music and producing it. But besides, this most of those people in the audience seemed to be enjoying what they were hearing, and the mean age at the gig was probably about 36 years of age… a mix of ex-pats and locals.

You may wonder why I bring up the mean age at the gig. It’s quite simple, it stems from an interview I read of a friend of mine, Andriy Riffmaster Antonenko, in a local music trade publication MuzTorg.

When asked it was difficult to be a professional rock-guitarist in Ukraine, Riffmaster replied:

Here – is more than difficult. The reason – the need for rock music ends with teenagers. In the West concerts are attended by 40 and 50 year old’s, there, its part of the culture, and no one considers that heavy rock is the emission of aggression. Here, unfortunately, there is no mass consumption of rock music. Groups grow to their level and… they begin to bend over under the weight of their own mastery. Also here we don’t have any interested management, that is capable of bringing rock up to an appropriate commercial level, in the right understanding of this word. For producers – its straighter, and more important, to quickly make money by take the sweet voice of a young girl, or create some “drinking songs”. Slavic mentality is playing a nasty joke with rock music.

Well, it clearly hasn’t been playing any tricks on those of the younger crowd at the gig last Saturday night, nor they youngest member of the band Irina, who clearly has a great knowledge of music compared to most 19 year old’s I meet her. She can handle her bass guitar pretty well too.

If you are in Kyiv, this coming weekend, and want to hear Kyiv’s “oldest punk band”, head down to Bochka Khmilna located at 3 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho on Sunday night at 20:00…

Why such an early start? They will be opening for Australia’s Asleep in the Park and Kyiv’s very own @Traktor, a new project of Oleksandr Pipa’s, formerly of VV and Borsch. And there you will see: Mick Lake,David Michael Rothwell Lee, Irina Nalivaiko and Blair Sheridan.

Hugely biased gig review

While it would clearly be better for someone else to review the gig, no one seems to be rushing to do so.  I can only ascribe the negligence to some kind of global internet failure and not to apathy.

Where to begin?  I was a little disappointed in the turn-out, having been fairly confident that we would get somewhere around 150.  In the end, it was 120.  Ah, well, it’s a start.  And this gig truly was out start, as I’ve written elsewhere, inasmuch as we were the only band playing and it was not only Ira’s first gig with us, but her first gig ever.  More on that later.

Des (O’Brien’s manager, who was really positive and helpful on the night) was a little but scared when he saw the gear we had brought.  Two 200-watt guitar amps, a 300-watt bass amp and a full P.A. system.  He was under the impression that it might be a bit loud.  I reassured him that it wouldn’t be and was unknowingly lying through my teeth.  It was bloody loud!

Everyone changed into the gig togs, some showing considerably more imagination than others.  Mick wore his patriotic Leeds 6 shirt and his way-over-the-top (in a good way) leopard skin drape, as well as the ubiquitous leather porkpie hat.  Ira went glam-o-rama, in zebra skin pants, high heels and pink halter top (she is a show-off.)  Dave and I were the fashion zeroes, both of us wearing stuff like we wear daily.  Losers.

Started off with a roaring version of “Sonic Reducer.”  I thought it sounded really tight and was feeling pretty good about things.  Maksim the Sound Guy, though, was still working out the levels, meaning that my mike couldn’t be heard.  However, any of you who have ever heard me sing will know that this was no great loss.  Mick remembered all the words and Ira was well into her rock star posing, which later reached the true heights of hair-metal.

“The KKK Took My Baby Away” got a good round of applause when we played it for a sound check, and repeated its success when we played it for real.  It’s a great tune and – let’s face it – it’s hard to fuck up.  And we didn’t.

“White Riot” rocked too.  We only recently added it to the set and I’m glad we did.

“Bodies” was possibly the highlight of the night.  The beginning sounded meaty and I love playing this one.  By this time, Ira’s rather attractive friends were dancing away right in front of us.  Despite this raw display of female Ukrainian pulchritude, Mick and managed to stay “on message” and keep our minds on chords and lyrics, but it wasn’t easy.

I’m far too lazy to describe every song, so here’s a rough round-up:   Teenage Kicks, Human Fly, Blitzkrieg Bop, Brand New Cadillac, Peter Gunn and Rockaway Beach all turned out well (though I think our inclusion of Peter Gunn had a few people scratching their heads.)

I Fought the Law, Pretty Vacant, Mamma Mia and Sound of Silence were slightly ropey, with some muffed lyrics and a couple of other flubs, but nothing disastrous.  Some people I spoke to later really liked the idea of us doing Mamma Mia and Sound of Silence, though, so far from a total debacle.

Despite the fact that I unaccountably blew a riff in Baby Elephant Walk, it went over really well!  It’s such a weird song to play that I love it.  I vote for Eine Kleine Nachtmusik to be added!

Things were put back in complete order with Anarchy in the U.K., God Save the Queen (no protests from any monarchists present) and Sheena Is A Punk Rocker.  By this time, Mick and Ira were in full flow, with Mick having shed both drape and hat and looking imperious in his muscle shirt.  If he could now develop muscles, we’d be away.  Ira, meanwhile, was off on Planet Poison, doing Nigel Tuffnel-esque leanbacks and nearly somersaults in her quest to win the 1st International Rock Posing Competition.  With her high heel up on the monitor, I had a brief mental glimpse of Gene Simmons, but Ira’s a lot nicer to look at.

I was beginning to fear total hearing loss by this time.  It felt as though my head was imploding anytime I got to close to the P.A. columns, which sent me scurrying back to my place, only to realise that my monitor was also blasting at brain damage level.  Such are the dangers of rock ‘n’ roll.

I Wanna Be Your Dog always brings out the best in Mick and this time was no exception.  He nailed it and I could see some serious pogo-ing going on in the audience, despite my averting my eyes from the aforementioned front-row babes.

We ended with a raucous version of Louie Louie.  Is there anyone who doesn’t love that song?  I didn’t think so.

We trooped off very tired, cognizant of mistakes made and in need of improvement, but overall pretty damned happy. 

And, we found out that we’ve been asked to support Asleep in the Park and @Traktor at Bochka on October 5th, which pleases me no end.

See ya.