tag:www.theronhatch.com,2007:/blog/russia//2 2006-11-16T00:09:20Z Movable Type 3.33 tag:72.34.42.5,2006:/~hatchweb/blog/russia//2.12 2006-07-02T02:12:07Z 2006-11-16T00:09:20Z

These are just a few pictures of some folks I met, both Russian and American, while on the trip. You'll notice a few things that were not people, but I still became acquainted with during my stay. Alexie - classical...

Theron Alexie - classical guitarist friend of Adam. I brought some strings over from the states and got to hear him play. He is awesome. Arsen - plays piano, accordian, and now bass Sergey and Arsen - brothers who i did some bass lessons with. spoke pretty good english. this was the day i thought the liver was a burger and ate it. i found out later what it really was. This is Dema's bass player and I was embarrased to keep asking his name. I don't know what it is. I did spend some time playing with them. Bob and Phyliss - friends from the Nashville area that I met after arriving in Russia. great folks. This is the staple of every meal. Not even sure the proper spelling. Look it up. Brad - he put the whole concert thing together bring together all of the musicians. great guy with a big heart. Camp - Musical director and leader of our Volgograd team. The Coker family - these guys are great. Adam made it a really special time for us there. Dema (short for Demetri) - great guitarist and preacher. doesn't speak a lick of English. But we communicated throught the music. Greg is Andy's brother and is one of the instrumental team leaders. The two on the left were our interpreters. Lena and Lyudmila. The speak very good English fortunately. We couldn't have made it without them. I had a great time with Andy. He is from up in NC somewhere. He, Greg, Nick and I spent a lot of time together. Nick and I spent every playing minute together. He is a great drummer. We had a great time. Vitaly turned out to be my brother. Well, not exactly. We just hit it off really well and ended up hanging out a lot. We will be lifelong friends. Nikolai pastors a small church on the outskirts of Volgograd. He doesn't speak much english either, but has a heart of gold. Polina (left) and Judy were two of my favorite gals. Judy and I traveled together from Nashville. Polina was from Russia. Richie Kingsmore - I've been playing his music for years and finally got to meet him. Not only that, but at the final concert he had arranged a jazz piece that I was able to play on in a quartet of bass, drums, piano, and flute. It was a highlight for me. I captured a picture of life in Moscow. In this case its the subway, what they call the Metro. We didn't get into too much trouble. But whenever there was anything exciting going on, you could find us there. We spent all week with these guys. They were great driving us all over the place. I was able to eat dinner (supper) at Vitaly's flat on the last night. he prepared a traditional meal and this is what it looked like. After our concert on the downtown Volgograd square, this group of high school age kids stopped by to try out the bass.]]> tag:72.34.42.5,2006:/~hatchweb/blog/russia//2.11 2006-07-02T01:41:43Z 2006-11-16T00:09:20Z

Dress rehearsal at the International House of Music in Moscow. The Concert in Moscow at the International House of Music. The was a bringing together of all of the teams. The group totalled about 300. This is from outside...

Theron Dress rehearsal at the International House of Music in Moscow. The Concert in Moscow at the International House of Music. The was a bringing together of all of the teams. The group totalled about 300. This is from outside the IHOM complex. It is a beautiful facility. This was our final concert of the trip. The IHOM facility seats about 1800. We sold about 1700 tickets and it appeared that as many showed up. The neat thing was that the words to the songs we played were displayed in Russian on the big screens. The following is a view from my seat in the rhythm section. ]]> tag:72.34.42.5,2006:/~hatchweb/blog/russia//2.10 2006-06-26T11:30:05Z 2006-11-16T00:09:20Z

i made it back safely on Friday and spent the weekend in Atlanta with family. haven't had internet access since last wednesday. i'll have a few new Flickr slideshows shortly. lots of pictures to share. all in all, it was...

Theron i made it back safely on Friday and spent the weekend in Atlanta with family. haven't had internet access since last wednesday. i'll have a few new Flickr slideshows shortly. lots of pictures to share. all in all, it was a fantastic trip. i made many new friends. thanks for your prayers and support. more to follow... tag:72.34.42.5,2006:/~hatchweb/blog/russia//2.9 2006-06-19T20:11:30Z 2006-11-16T00:09:20Z

We played a major concert in the downtown area of Volgograd. This is a bustling section of the city frequented by youth and young married people. no pictures this time. we turned our flash cards in where we'll get a...

Theron We played a major concert in the downtown area of Volgograd. This is a bustling section of the city frequented by youth and young married people. no pictures this time. we turned our flash cards in where we'll get a full CD back with everyone's pictures on it. more to follow tomorrow with pics. we had about 500 people stop and listen to our concert. they all clapped and were very appreciative. afterwards kids and adults stopped by to ask us questions. we have several great interpreters who help us with translations. much excitement. all for now. tomorrow (Tuesday) is a free day and we will do some sightseeing and shopping. Wednesday we leave for moscow where we rehearse and then do the big concert on Thursday night. peace... tag:72.34.42.5,2006:/~hatchweb/blog/russia//2.8 2006-06-17T18:27:50Z 2006-11-16T00:09:20Z

This is the first place we visited just outside of Volgograd. We played at this tent and taught some of the neighborhood kids. They were running and playing out in the area. This was the last day of school...

Theron This is the first place we visited just outside of Volgograd. We played at this tent and taught some of the neighborhood kids. They were running and playing out in the area. This was the last day of school so it was a fun day. We had a fantastic dinner at a church pastored by Nikolai. My other friend Vitaly was helping us with English translation. This all happened Friday. See some more of the pictures HERE.]]> tag:72.34.42.5,2006:/~hatchweb/blog/russia//2.7 2006-06-15T19:04:39Z 2006-11-16T00:09:20Z

We landed safely in Moscow today at 9:30 Moscow time. it was a 10 hour flight which took us up the east coast, through nova scotia, across iceland, through finland, and then into Moscow. Since we were so far north,...

Theron sunset over goose bay, canada me and camp at the moscow airport a little slice of americana church just outside moscow ariport the team after gathering luggage at Volgograd airport Tomorrow we are off to do a a visit to a school where we'll teach lessons. Then we'll perform at a concert later in the day. The 9 hour time change is tough to get used to, but one good night sleep will be good.]]> tag:72.34.42.5,2006:/~hatchweb/blog/russia//2.6 2006-06-14T02:35:10Z 2006-11-16T00:09:20Z

We depart Atlanta Wednesday afternoon. Thursday AM we land at Moscow and switch planes for the next stop in Volgograd. It's about 500 miles from Moscow. We'll spend the next 7 days in Volgograd. Volgograd was a key city in...

Theron Volgograd. Volgograd was a key city in the defense of Russia against Hitler and the Nazi invasion. Here is a map of Russia showing Volgograd. And a map of the city itself. This is The Motherland Calls statue]]> tag:72.34.42.5,2006:/~hatchweb/blog/russia//2.5 2006-06-13T22:20:09Z 2006-11-16T00:09:20Z

This is my first big overseas trip. Packing lightly for musicians, especially those with amps and other gear, is challenging when you have to bring it yourself. My friend Adam Nitti is letting me borrow his ATA flight case custom...

Theron First you start with the bass which is packed in a soft case gig bag... Then you get the one half of the flight case on one end... And the other half at the other end... Then you insert the gig bag into the long end... Put the cover on and fasten the latches... It has roller blade wheels which makes me very happy. Tomorrow is the big day. Leaving Franklin, TN at 7am and driving to Atlanta. Direct 10 hr Delta flight in the afternoon. Land in Moscow then head to Volgograd later in the day Thursday.]]> tag:72.34.42.5,2006:/~hatchweb/blog/russia//2.4 2006-06-12T01:51:08Z 2006-11-16T00:09:20Z

There has been a flurry of activity over the weekend as I've been preparing for my trip to Moscow and then Volgograd. I'll be traveling with a musical entourage of approximately 300 orchestra and choir members from across the US....

Theron There has been a flurry of activity over the weekend as I've been preparing for my trip to Moscow and then Volgograd. I'll be traveling with a musical entourage of approximately 300 orchestra and choir members from across the US. The weather is supposed to be nice, but just in case we run into a Russian winter, I spent some time in Colorado recently and caught this picture in the mountains. I thought it would be good to get around some snow before heading over. This was at nearly 12,500 feet.