Road Trip Recap: Old Timers And Moscow Madness

» Posted by Charles on Apr 11, 2010 in Last night's show... | 4 comments

This weekend’s road trip was an especially interesting one, for many reasons. I got to see some beautiful old (and new) cars, experience extreme sleep deprivation, and visited a city that had been considered the capital of “the evil empire” for most of my life. Here’s a recap of the 48 hour road trip that took me to Essen, Germany and Moscow, Russia.

Preparation for the coming adventure had begun a couple of weeks prior, when I received a call from my colleague and good friend Worthy Davis. He asked me if I could cover for him on a gig he was scheduled to do in Moscow. Normally I would immediately say yes to the chance to help out a colleague in a jam, but hearing the word “Moscow” admittedly gave me pause. As an American, one generally grows up with stereotypes of certain places and people; as an Army brat, those stereotypes are even stronger. When most Americans hear the words “Moscow” and “Russia” we immediately tend to think of communism, the Cold War, the arms race, and the enemy of everything America stands for. Since living in Europe, though, I’ve always been fascinated with going to the very country that my father has been trained to fight, so after thinking about it for about a few minutes, I agreed to do the job.

The first red flag went up as I was told that i had to send my passport to a travel agency to get my visa for Russia. I was always taught never to give my passport to anyone (US passports are hot commodities on the black market) but I gave my passport up after assurances from Worthy and the travel agent that I would get it back. After a week I got my passport back, stamped and ready. Once I got my tickets, I was ready to rock.

Day 1: Essen

I first took the train to Essen, a city in northwest Germany, where I was to perform at the Techno Classica, a convention for vintage and sports car enthusiasts. My client was the Volkswagen Autostadt, the exhibition hall and museum located at Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg. The gig itself was not so spectacular (though we only played 1 set when we scheduled to play 3, which was fantastic), but the cars were amazing. I was genuinely surprised just how many luxury brands Volkswagen now owns; Bugatti, Bentley, Lamborghini, Audi and now Porsche all belong to Volkswagen. My favorite car was the Veyron 16.4, currently the fastest production sports car in the world.

As is usually the case, it’s very difficult to make a room full of mostly men to dance without putting strippers on stage, but the evening was still OK; our client was happy, so I was happy.

Day 2: Moscow

After only 1 hour of sleep I went to the train station and caught the ICE to Cologne, where I boarded my flight to Moscow. The flight itself was relatively short (two and a half hours across two time zones), but comfortable, since the plane was half empty (no one in their right mind flies anywhere at six in the morning). On arrival in Moscow, I got a bit nervous at passport control, being an American in Russia for the first time. However, I got through the control surprisingly fast. My colleague and I were picked up and were driven to our hotel, apparently the largest hotel in Moscow, where almost all foreign dignitaries stay when the visit the city. The Presidents Hotel is the only hotel in Moscow with security checkpoints (like a prison), but a very nice hotel nonetheless. We then were taken to the venue for soundcheck, driven back to the hotel to relax before the show. We performed at a party for Natasha Ragozina, undefeated super-middleweight champion in women’s boxing, a very tall, very strong, very beautiful woman who could kick your ass if necessary. After a very chaotic but fun evening, it was off to the airport the next morning for the trip back home.

Here’s what I learned on my latest road trip :

1. McDonalds really is everywhere.

2.Russian women are (for the most part) really beautiful. And tall.

As I mentioned earlier, Americans grow up with many stereotypes about Russia and it’s people; specifically, our view of Russian women as being either huge (as in fat), pumped up on steroids, or otherwise unattractive. After this trip I can say that some of the most beautiful women I’ve seen to date are in Moscow. There’s a reason why many of today’s supermodels come from Russia.

3. Rich Russians are the kings of bling.

In the span of about 2 hours, I saw 4 stretch Hummers, a ridiculous number of black SUV’s and limousines with armed (sometimes police) escorts, champagne en masse, and more excess than I care to talk about. Russians are right up there with Americans in terms of unabashedly showing off their wealth. No wonder why Moscow is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive city in the world.

4. The air in Moscow is disgusting, but the streets are very clean.

I expected the air to be nasty; I got off of the plane and could literally taste the city (eww!). I was pleasantly surprised by how clean the streets were, however. Pretty amazing considering that Moscow’s population is over 10 million people.

5. Driving in Moscow is an exercise in courage. Walking even more so.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been more terrified of driving in any other city I’ve been to as I was in Moscow. Traffic signs? What traffic signs?!?

6. Yes, there ARE black Russians!

Chalk this observation up to another one of those stereotypical American views. I saw quite a few Russians of African descent, Africans speaking fluent Russian, as well as Asians and other “non-white” Russians. Russia is of course a huge country, so it shouldn’t have surprised me; it was just interesting to see.

7. America and Russia are not as different as most Americans and Russians may think.

Of course there are cultural differences, and it’s impossible to judge after only being in one city for one day, but it was obvious to see that Russians have many of the same hopes, dreams and problems as Americans do. We all send our kids to school, think about the future, are proud of who we are, and want the best for ourselves and our families.