Art News

27 September 1999

╔═╦════════════════════════════════════╦═╗
╠═╝                                    ╚═╣
║            A R T _ N E W S             ║
╠═╗                                    ╔═╣
╚═╩════════════════════════════════════╩═╝

Some events that took place over the course of this summer.

IRON MAIDEN

The legendary line-up of IRON MAIDEN has been recognized by the cable television network Chrysalis TV as "the most successful British heavy metal band of all time."

A long-known method of calculating success—summing up the chart positions held by an act's albums and singles in the British national charts—revealed that IRON MAIDEN scored 516 points in this competition, which is almost half the score of their closest competitors, the combined hit-list entry of the patriarchs BLACK SABBATH and Ozzy Osbourne solo. With four number-one hits on the national charts (the single "Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter" / "I'm A Mover", 1990, and the albums The Number Of The Beast, 1982, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, 1988, and Fear Of The Dark, 1992) and worldwide record sales of nearly 52 million copies, Steve and his boys had no equals. Overall, Chrysalis TV's Heavy Metal Top Ten looks as follows: Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Motörhead, Saxon, Judas Priest, and UFO.

The ninety-minute Chrysalis TV special dedicated to the history of Iron Maiden will feature not only documentary footage of their performances from 1977–1998, but also extensive interview fragments with the musicians and the band's permanent manager, Rod Smallwood. He will also recount his famous memory: "When The Number Of The Beast had already spent two weeks at the top of the British charts in 1982, we headed down to the Marquee club, and right there Steve confessed to me that the band didn't even have enough money for drinks at the bar! No surprise—the musicians were making 60 pounds a week, and we were pouring all our money into funding the tour."

Yanka Dyagileva: "Nobody knows how f#*@ing bad I feel..."

Eight years ago, on May 9, 1991, a 24-year-old girl, the Russian singer Yanka Dyagileva, passed away. She left behind songs and poems—not many, but enough to grasp the scale of the phenomenon and realize the irreparability of the loss. Many tried to classify the phenomenon of her appearance, thinking, and sound, to fit it into some sort of box even while Yanka was still alive. Some called her a revelation in the Russian rock of those years; to others, she seemed overwhelming and vague in her art; some made clumsy attempts to compare her to Bichevskaya, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Patti Smith. But Yanka is Yanka: she is unique, and nothing like her had ever existed anywhere.

What do we know about Yanka? Almost nothing: she lived, she sang... She didn't record a single vinyl album. Her voice remains on old cassettes with a tinny "saucepan" sound.

"I don't understand at all how people can give or take interviews. I might lie—I'll say one thing, and ten minutes later something completely different. And then everyone will read it... I am only real when I'm completely alone, or when I sing songs from the stage..."

Yana Stanislavovna Dyagileva was born in Novosibirsk on September 4, 1966. After school, at her mother's insistence, she entered the Novosibirsk Institute of Water Transport Engineers, but dropped out during her second year. Her passions back then were English poetry, guitar, and the songs of BG and Bichevskaya (note: in my opinion, all of this shows :). Her first known poems date back to 1985. Influences? Quite a bit was written about them: in her "academic" study, Marina Kudimova tries to tie Yanka's work to authors she likely never even heard of; Marina Timasheva stubbornly strives to draw parallels between Yanka's songs and Bashlachev. There is no documentary evidence that Yanka ever personally knew Bash—aside from a fleeting mention in a newspaper of Yanka's house on Yadrintsevskaya Street, where Sasha Bashlachev supposedly stayed and sang his songs, and Zaderiy's apocryphal tale about how he and Bash met two talented young girls, Yana and Lena, somewhere in Siberia.

On the other hand, Egor Letov's close involvement in Yanka's destiny is a well-established fact. Nick Rock'n'roll, the great nomad and friend of Dyagileva, even publicly blamed Egor for her death. That is unlikely: an artist as unique as Yanka could not have absorbed the ideas and worldview of even a leader like Letov so completely and literally. Disagreements over worldview positions and creative principles arose between them constantly, and they had parted ways for good long before the fatal day. It's just that now, in some people's view, Egor tries to present Yanka as a soldier who fell for His cause on His front line. It's hard to judge here...

Yet back in the summer and autumn of '87, they were hitchhiking across the country together, performing together, recording together. Well, not entirely together: on Egor's albums, Yanka is always in the background; he took from her whatever he needed—a touch of color, a nuance; he used a verse in "Totalitarianism," a song snippet in "Necrophilia," backing vocals; they co-wrote "In Every House" and sang the famous "Declasse Elements" together. In fact, Letov recorded Yanka's own albums entirely according to his own judgment. The result was something communal—ominous and sorrowful, in his understanding deeper and better than the original, but completely uncharacteristic of Dyagileva herself. She rebelled; Egor just shrugged—saying that at least it didn't turn out to be some woman's wailing, but tough punk, free of aestheticism and refinement, free of that pity for the world which he despised. On one hand, set against the rumbling backdrop of Letov, Yanka's singing, without losing its vulnerability, gained diversity, volume, and an even greater raw energy. On the other hand, what did punk have to do with it? Why did she try to be the bass player in "Grazhdanskaya Oborona," why did she convince herself that she was a punk singer? Letov probably gave her a lot, but he took away a lot, too...

Her lyrics mesmerize with their combination of epic scope—far beyond typical "women's poetry"—and piercing lyricism. Songs like "Special Reason," "From Too Much Wit," "Watch Out" are like a staircase climbing upward, with every phrase harder-hitting than the last. With bated breath, you wait for Yanka to run out of air and break down, but then an absurdly mocking line cuts in: "a banner isn't a bayonet, a goat in the cabbage patch"—and this pyramid doesn't collapse; instead, it drifts away into the unknown, and already "parallel to the path a black satellite flies"—and another turn, a new ascent. Nothing so willful and at the same time so harmoniously composed, born as if in a single breath, immediately and whole, had ever been heard before.

What did Yanka sing about? There is no overt protest in her songs. The roots of Yanka's work lie in folklore in the broadest sense of the word—from traditional to Soviet. Moreover, this folklore is not merely an artistic gimmick, but a way of thinking, a way of perceiving the world, a need to be at peace with it. Some pieces are hard to call simply "poems": "Held by the arms into the steppe, into the ears—faith, at the feet then flocks take flight. To the heart a kerchief, a stone 'round the neck, down the throat—a gulp, maybe they'll forgive..." The feeling is that this was not composed, but fell into place on its own, captivating not through individual quirky words, but through the magical significance of the whole.

Her first public performance took place at the first (and last) punk festival in Tyumen, as part of "Velikiye Oktyabri"—Egor's friends. It was then that they recorded "Declasse Elements" in a local makeshift studio on a "Saturn" tape recorder. Later, another hitchhiking trip threw Yanka and Egor into Leningrad—the first apartment gigs were already waiting for Letov, who was known through self-recorded bootlegs, and received Dyagileva as part of the package. Later, word of her spread to Moscow. Disillusioned Muscovites went to see Yanka as if stepping into the Renaissance, marveling at the intensity of her feelings, which they had largely lost in themselves. This sturdy Siberian girl with woven baubles on her wrists and a beaded headband over her disheveled red hair was idolized and adored; people saw in her a living Russian soul.

After 1988, Yanka's poems and songs became increasingly dark, somber, and...

concrete: lots of ledges, falling, high-rise buildings. "I still stand and watch how a multi-story flight buries itself in the snow..."

In early '91, she recorded four songs, dark and terrifying: "Feet Higher Off the Ground", "A Nickel on the Road", and "The Water Will Come". A joint spring tour was planned for Yanka with BG and "Kalinov Most" across the cities of the Golden Ring, but rumors were passed around by word of mouth: "She has terrible depression, came to Moscow, spent twenty-four hours lying in bed facing the wall, and left for home." People in Moscow grew worried. They called Novosibirsk, where the answer was: well, she gets like that, she left, she'll wander around and come back... Her body was found by fishermen in the Inya River—a tributary of the Ob. Why did she do it? "From great wit comes only the beggar's sack and jail, from a wild head—only ditches and moats, from a beautiful soul—only scabs and lice..."

(A few lyrics of Yanka Dyagileva's songs will be published in the "SONGS" section!)

Viktor Tsoi

Another tragedy fallen upon our heads. On August 15, 1992, at 10:15 AM, the Riga (I believe, ed.) militia precinct received a report of an accident not far from Jurmala: an Ikarus bus and a Moskvitch collided at full speed. The driver of the Moskvitch died on the spot. That driver was Viktor Tsoi.

Unfortunately, at the moment I lack all data regarding V. Tsoi's life. As soon as I get it back, it will be published.

Elvis Presley

On July 22, it marked 22 years since the day of the King of Rock and Roll's death. To date, Presley has 80 gold, 43 platinum, and 19 multi-platinum albums. He was a truck driver, possessed a somewhat sugary, pretty-boy look, died relatively young, and his body was repeatedly stolen by fans.

Presley had only one constant love—his mother, Gladys. His nickname was Elvis-the-Pelvis.

9 most interesting facts about Elvis Presley:

Presley's death caused a huge stir. Nobody believed the official version stating that the singer died of heart failure due to drug abuse. For a long time, rumors circulated that the cause was an overdosed explosive cocktail of alcohol and narcotics, or that the singer had committed suicide.
Presley's net worth after his death was estimated at $46 million. The main piece of real estate was the Graceland estate with an area of 5.6 hectares, valued at $4 million. The inheritance went to Lisa Marie, Presley's daughter. Today, his estate is valued at over $100 million.
Presley dedicated 19 years of his life to karate. He was a black belt holder.
In 1994, Elvis's daughter Lisa Marie married Michael Jackson. Prior to that, she was married to musician Danny Keough and had two children with him—Danielle and Benjamin. After 20 months, this marriage fell apart.
In 1973, a TV broadcast featuring Presley drew a billion people to their screens.
Before Presley's death, 500 million of his records were sold worldwide, and 7 years later, twice as many.
Presley adored his wife Priscilla.
Elvis starred in 33 motion pictures, including "Blue Hawaii".
For a long time, his grandmother lived together with Presley and Priscilla. She cooked food, did laundry, and cleaned, helping her miserable grandson who had an "utterly inept and dim-witted wife."

CHIZH

(excerpt from an interview)

If you take a close look, Sergey Chigrakov looks a lot like Björk. Judge for yourself. Both have tongue-twisting surnames that only the most advanced music lovers pronounce correctly, and which both disowned with equal ruthlessness: Björk, much to the delight of the elder Guðmundsdóttirs, permanently, and Chigrakov partially, self-shortening to Chizh. Furthermore, both are equally incapable of singing. Or they know how, but don't want to.

Commentary on the first question: our national Björk has a tattoo on his shoulder—a mug of foamy beer, surrounded by an enigmatic inscription in heraldic script: "Brakes were invented by cowards."

— Sergey, what is written on your arm? You're supposedly from Piter, but there they say "anchor", not "brake". And why did you decide that they invented shorts? [Translator's note: in Russian, "cowards" and "underpants/shorts" are near-homographs: trusy].
— I'm not from Piter, I just live there now; I was born in Dzerzhinsk. And it's a strange question: it's obvious we're talking about cowards, not underpants.
— Is your current status an answer to your childhood dreams, or something else?
— I had a different dream—I desperately wanted to be a driver. But I became a musician.
— Why not a driver?
— Somewhere in '66–'67, a band called "Golubye Gitary" [Blue Guitars] appeared. Or maybe not "blue", but "singing" [Poyushchie Gitary], I don't recall exactly. Today, that name has become a symbol of all that mess known in our country as vocal-instrumental ensembles [VIA], which served as a sort of substitute for real rock music. And I was a kid, I wanted to learn how to play guitar. First I went to music school, then college, conservatory... Believe it or not.
— Well, I don't believe it.
— The first and foremost for me was The Beatles. However, not on equal terms, but rather somewhere close by, those same "Golubye Gitary" coexisted. Back then, to me, they were associated with The Beatles simply because they were shown on the tube.
— Alright, let's write it down: "The first musical reference points for young Seryozha Chigrakov were the vocal-instrumental ensembles 'The Beatles' and 'Golubye Gitary'..."
— But all of that was more than serious.
— I was told that the musicians who now make up "Chizh & Co" were assembled under some crazy circumstances?
— How did I put them together? Through classified ads. Sent them everywhere, including magazines like Young Naturalist and Technology for the Youth. The ad went like this: "I am young, handsome, can play guitar. If you are the same, write." And the address. That's how we got together.
— Do you have enough explicit language in your songs?
— Really? Give me at least one example.
— "Russo Matroso" from the album Erogenous Zone.
— Ah, that wasn't me, Zakhar wrote that (referring to Kharkiv musician and Chigrakov's friend Zakhar May). Direct all questions to him. Otherwise, we are quite decent.
— Where do you record?
— At the former "Melodiya" in Moscow.
— The most decisive step in your life, an act you wouldn't have the strength and courage to repeat?
— I got married. Come what may, that is one action I will never repeat.

A R I Y A

(another excerpt from an interview)

Once, the Novosibirsk Opera Theatre invited Aria on tour. The musicians were puzzled: gilded chandeliers and velvet seats were the last thing suited to a rock band's image. They decided to clarify, called the opera theatre and asked: "Do you understand that we will be playing 'heavy' music?"
"Heavy?" the theatre staff pondered. "And how many people will take the stage?"
"As always—five," the bewildered artists replied.
"Is five really that heavy?" they chuckled in Novosibirsk. "Why, in one of our operas, seventy people dance on stage all at once—now that's heavy."

— Who actually came up with such a name, capable of confusing the uninitiated?

Kholstinin: Me. I picked up a dictionary of the Russian language and on the very first day jotted down the word "aria." But being a meticulous person, I read the dictionary all the way to the end and returned to "aria" — it's easy to remember, simple to chant, and convenient to write. There were a few other options, but before that, I played in the band "Alpha," and I liked short names starting with "A."

— Among fans, there are persistent rumors that one of you worked in a theater, and the name originally belonged to a band that was supposed to perform pop music, not metal. How was it really?

Kipelov: It all started in '85. There was no specific goal to put together a band. I was working in "Leysya, Pesnya" at the time. Viktor Vekshtein called me and offered a spot in a crew. I didn't know back then what kind of music it would be. I had no work ("Leysya, Pesnya" had conveniently fallen apart), so I agreed.

Kholstinin: I liked Vekshtein right away, and he liked me too. But Valera Kipelov wasn't an instant hit.

— Why?

Kipelov: Well, I showed up back then with short hair — "Leysya, Pesnya" didn't allow long hair. I was constantly dreaming of long hair and constantly getting haircuts.

Kholstinin: But he sang something by Nazareth for us in the restroom, we quickly found common ground, and Vekshtein became our manager. At first, he didn't like the music we decided to play; we spent half a year convincing him, but then he turned into an ardent supporter of heavy metal. The first lineup was: bass guitar — Alik Granovsky, I played guitar, Valera Kipelov — lead vocals, Aleksandr Lvov, who now plays in "Gorky Park," on drums, and Kirill Pokrovsky was the keyboardist. We recorded our first album, Mania Velichiya ("Megalomania"), and went on tour.

— Did the lineup change often?

Kipelov: Mostly, our drummers changed. The first four albums were recorded with different drummers. And starting from the fourth record, Aleksandr Manyakin joined us.

Terentyev: Manyakin is a walking accident; something is always happening to him. Either his car flips and he flies out through the sunroof, or lighting equipment falls on him; and just recently, he broke his arm right on the eve of a tour.

— Where did the theme for "Ulitsa Roz" ("Rose Street") come from?

Kholstinin: Charles Baudelaire. Baudelaire lived off the money of a fallen woman, who in that way helped him create his masterpieces. And another friend of mine fell in love with a prostitute; her name was Zhanna.

— How does the church view your music?

Kholstinin: Poorly. We've had calls many times; on tours in various cities, priests would come up or send letters offering to perform an exorcism ritual to cast out our demons. Kipelov usually talks to them — he's a believer, so he can speak their language. As for me, I'm an atheist.

— Are there any hidden pitfalls?

Kipelov: There are. For instance, fans covered my entire apartment entrance hall with profanities. Why did they imagine I would like that? On top of that, they spend the night there, set up 24-hour watches, and terrify the neighbors.

— Do you spend your vacations together as well?

Dubinin: Absolutely not. We get tired of each other; everyone has their own interests, etc. I go scuba diving.

Kipelov: And I love cooking, especially mushrooms.

— Which Western bands did you model your image on?

— Mostly: Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and later, artists who played 100% heavy metal — Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne...

— Were there any competitors in the former USSR?

— Back then, there weren't many bands playing heavy music. First "Chorny Kofe," and later some musicians from "Aria" branched off into "Master." We did joint concerts. Out in the provinces, many were disappointed when faced with a barrage of heavy music. The name "Aria" suggested classical music.

Michael Jackson

The Rehabilitation Period

The acknowledged King of Pop has been staying in Africa to recover his health after an injury sustained in late February — a fracture of his right wrist. Lately, Jackson has also decided to seriously develop his talent as a businessman. In his leisure time, the pop idol indulges in various water sports and activities.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

In the spring of 1997, Lucas re-released his Star Wars trilogy on the big screen, slightly touching up the special effects. The result exceeded all expectations. The 20th anniversary became one of the highest-grossing events of the year. That was when talk began that Lucas's next film would become an artistic, social, and cultural phenomenon, and people began awaiting it like the Second Coming of Christ. The premiere took place on May 23, 1999.

The Lead Actors:

1. The Subverter and the Heir

You could say that starring in the next installment is a family obligation for Ewan McGregor. His uncle, Denis Lawson, appeared in the first film — playing one of the Red Squadron pilots, Wedge Antilles.

Ewan McGregor was born on March 31, 1971, in the small Scottish town of Crieff, north of Edinburgh. By the age of 9, he realized he wanted to be an actor.

Young Ewan was constantly held up against his older brother, who was an honor student and an athlete. The situation was compounded by the fact that their father taught physics, and their mother was the principal of the very school the McGregor brothers attended.

Eventually, his mother asked Ewan to leave the school. He remains silent on whether her decision was purely familial or officially administrative; either way, at 16, Ewan found himself completely on his own. A week later, he was already working at a local theater, shifting stage sets. He spent six months as a stagehand, then was promoted to an extra. He enjoyed going on stage, but quickly realized that one couldn't get by on roguish swagger alone. Ewan began taking acting lessons. He studied for a year in Scotland, then headed to London and enrolled in the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

McGregor made his film debut with a single line in the film Being Human starring Robin Williams.

In 1996, in addition to Trainspotting, he starred in the adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Emma, Ole Bornedal's drama Nightwatch, the British film Brassed Off, and Peter Greenaway's esoteric experiment The Pillow Book.

In 1997, McGregor's career hit a bump: the screwball comedy A Life Less Ordinary fell far short of the success its creators had hoped for.

McGregor rushed to make a statement that he had no intention of moving to Hollywood.

However, that didn't stop him from accepting a role in the new Star Wars installment. Filming took place in the summer of 1997. Since then, he has managed to star in several more pictures.

2. The Galactic Princess

Princess Padmé is played by Natalie Portman, who (the princess) becomes Queen Amidala, the mother of Luke and Leia. A noticeable promotion in the ranks: until now, the young actress had only played the daughter of the US President (in the film Mars Attacks!).

The future princess was born on June 9, 1981, in Israel, where her parents had relocated from Moldavia. Soon, they moved to the USA, and today Natalie considers herself a 100% American.

Director Luc Besson (Léon) spent a long time persuading her parents to give consent for the filming (Natalie herself wanted to act), but her mother strictly supervised her daughter throughout the entire shooting period, never leaving her unattended for a single second.

The success of Léon brought Natalie numerous offers for leading roles. However, she preferred to pursue a normal education and only occasionally appeared in smaller roles. After all, how could one turn down Woody Allen in Everyone Says I Love You, Al Pacino in Heat, or the role of Jack Nicholson and Glenn Close's characters' daughter in the sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks!?

3. An Irish JEDI.

Until now, Liam Neeson's most famous roles were historical figures — Scottish rebel Rob Roy, Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, and German industrialist Oskar Schindler. He returns to the screen as Qui-Gon Jinn, a powerful Jedi from the heyday of the Galactic Republic.

In the '80s, the English stage shook from his temperament; in the '90s, Neeson was embraced on Broadway and in Hollywood. And the yellow press dedicated hundreds of pages to Liam's turbulent romances with Julia Roberts, Barbra Streisand, Brooke Shields, and Sinéad O'Connor.

Irishman Liam Neeson was born on June 7, 1952, in the Irish town of Ballymena. He grew up in a poor family — his father was a caretaker, his mother worked as a cook. In school, he was into boxing and theater, and after graduating, he decided to become an actor. In 1976, he was accepted into the prestigious Lyric Players Theater troupe in Belfast. In 1978, he moved to Dublin to join the Abbey Theater, where he mostly performed in Shakespearean plays.

For quite a long time, he languished in bit parts on TV series, and only in 1990 did he land his first leading role — in Sam Raimi's film Darkman. Soon after, Woody Allen cast him in Husbands and Wives, and Steven Spielberg invited him to audition for Schindler's List.

The following year, he starred in the movie Nell alongside his wife, English actress Natasha Richardson. 1995 brought the film Rob Roy, and in 1996 he played Michael Collins.

No sooner was he hailed as a national hero than he agreed to star in Lucas's Star Wars.

In 1999, several films featuring him were released: The Haunting, Gun Shy, and The Ambrose Chapel.

And a bit more about "S.W."

On the eve of the premiere, a massive campaign launched across all stores in America — the sale of toys, clothing, and other merchandise tied to the long-awaited premiere of George Lucas's Star Wars prequel. The preparations for this event resembled war preparations. The secrecy surrounding the upcoming sale exceeded all conceivable bounds. In most stores, these goods were kept in warehouses locked until the very last moment. Even the clerks didn't know what they would be offering to customers. The core line of promotional merchandise consists of eight characters from the film. Among them are 17-centimeter action figures depicting Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker (Luke's father, who would later become the villain Darth Vader), Queen Amidala, and a completely new character — the alien creature Jar Jar Binks. The figures range in price from $7 to $8, plus you have to shell out $20–$25 for an electronic gadget that makes the dolls talk; for Queen Amidala, you can also buy additional wardrobe items, the variety of which would make Barbie herself jealous. The American press believes that the current promotional campaign has become the most grandiose in the entire history of such events.

██████████████████████████████████████████
█                                        █
█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ █
█ ▒                                    ▒ █
█ ▒ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ▒ █
█ ▒ ░                                ░ ▒ █
█ ▒ ░             T H E   E N D      ░ ▒ █
█ ▒ ░                                ░ ▒ █
█ ▒ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ▒ █
█ ▒                                    ▒ █
█ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ █
█                                        █
██████████████████████████████████████████