LIVE FROM MOSCOW - Photos, Records, Review...

** THREE SETS OF PHOTOS TO ACCOMPANY THIS POST ARE HERE --http://www.flickr.com/photos/djsheep/setsHowdy,Reporting live from Moscow, Russia! This is an awesome city! Everyone can throw away their pre-conceptions about this country out the window - It's not always cold (some days its over 30 degrees celsius and I've mostly sported shorts), people are not miserable, there are no bears on the street, nor huge line-ups for bread and milk. The mafia is present, as is corruption, but it's rarely seen by the casual traveller (the same applies for most parts of the world). Moscow is a very modern and hip city and I've had some amazing experiences thus far.I came out here to DJ for the Australian Trade Commission who put on an event at the Swissotel Hotel called the "Australian Beach Party". A great Melbourne blues band called "72 Blues", a world-class Aussie chef and a bad DJ (myself) were flown in to provide the live entertainment for the corporate parties (Nissan, Hewlett Packard, Lufthansa, Citygroup, etc.) and public parties on the weekend. Now this was the illness, 5 star luxury hotel for 2 weeks, incredible meals, $$$$$ and other benefits, just lovely. The Swissotel is situated in the heart of Moscow -- they brought in tons of sand, a stage, a pool, a BBQ area, and built the beach out the front of the hotel at the car drop-off. For a conservative "5-star" Moscow hotel, it was considered a very risque venture! It's been great because Moscow people are really up to party and it has been one of the nicest DJ gigs at in a long time. Massive shout out to 72 Blues crew, Duffa (for the hookup), Boris, Swissotel Staff (Ged, Tamara, Diana, Swiss Cafe), Austrade and the rest of the people who have made this a memorable invasion...Records? Diggin? AMAZING. I've acquired about 100 records, over half of them new Russian discoveries (HARD AS FUCK, RAW AS FUCK OR WEIRD AS FUCK) and the other half records from Eastern Europe (Prague, Poland, Germany, Hungary, etc.). I found a *MASSIVE* record store out here after lots of tedious research, the store has 4 rooms full of records, the biggest store (aside from Amoeba in SF) that I've ever been to. It was dope because they had a separate listening room where I would spend hours on end just listening to records that were new to me. I'd pick up a pile, filter it out, then go out diggin' again. The staff were ultra-cool with it. I also met up with a few record dealers and an ex-music journalist who invited me to their houses, which reaped tons of gems and knocked notches off the Russian / Euro wants list (Melodia Ensemble anyone?). If anyone is traveling here, hit me up, I'll give you the lowdown on the spots, but I don't want to blow it up on the public forum, cuz it would be a record dealers eBay wet dream, and they would rape the crates dry for good (they have the remainder of the Melodia deadstock)...Now here's where crazy kicks in -- Every weekend in Moscow they have a "record swap-meet" at a local market. I rocked up and one of my new-found "dealer" friends, who runs the swap-meet, and had told dealers that an "Australian" was coming to buy records. As soon as I walked into the place, everyone was trying to drag me to their tables and sell me Russian records, pulling me left and right by the arms, which was all good (aside from the fact I left the Soundburger at the hotel and don't know jack-shit about Ruske records by covers). When I was at a table, other people were trying to talk to me, and the dealers would be fighting with each other in Russian as to which table I was to devote my attention to! I can't speak a word of Russian and they couldn't speak much English so it made things very awkward from the get-go. If I wasn't paying attention to every single record in the crate, the sellers got staunch and started getting pissed at me... they would stand there and made sure I looked at every single record in every single crate with full attention.The guys at the entrance table were pouring, as they called it, "REAL RUSSIAN VODKA" and I was taking half glass shots, the shit was raw and nasty like 151 and it was burning a hole in my gut, I was *FUCKED UP* after the first glass, and it just kept coming, I think I downed about 5 or 6, then it started getting messy. Either the drank was trippin' me out or these guys were trippin' out (which is more the case). They would come up to me and say things like "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING?", "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?", "DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW", "WHERE ARE YOU GOING NOW?", and just ICE GRILLING ME when I responded!!! It was running straight paranoia into my dome...After 20 minutes, an old guy cornered me and asked me what I do for a job, how much money I make, who I work for, etc. Luckily someone came and saved me after 5 minutes, cuz it was getting scary like a bad movie... The "president" of the record-club got really pissed off at him, and you could confirm at that point the dude was tryin' to set up some shady shit?!, and that caused some mayhem, whispers and talk from people all around the crates whilst I was talking to him. I remember someone walking up to me and saying "mafia" to me and pointing to him. It started getting too crazy for some records and I got the fuck outta there and didn't even trip on buying anything! They tried to make me stay by saying, "YOU DRINK VODKA, WE DO BUSINESS, THIS IS RUSSIA". I just left with the quickness when there was an opening, cuz this market was way out in nowhere and I didn't let anyone know my whereabouts. I was walking around the rest of the market just trippin' out for 30 minutes after that, tryin' to buy some bootleg DVDs and electronics but my mind wasn't right, I couldn't think straight and just headed to the hotel and crashed out at midday, I woke up hungover at 5pm, DJ'd, went back to bed and felt like shit the next morning... The "REAL" Russian Vodka is dat rill schitt...Clubs in Russia? Nutso, being inside the one I went to was like a surreal scene in a movie, 10,000 people in a gigantic warehouse with full on stage productions. There was absolutely no entry unless you knew someone, and lots of people waiting outside, there is *NO* cover charge because it's invite only, you have to call someone in power at the club to come get you in, thankfully the hotel was showing me out and had the hookup... I would have to say that Russia has some of the most beautiful women in the world, all the girls in the club looked like supermodels!I've been to the Red Square to see the Kremlin and St Basil's Cathedral, it's all breathtaking, I've seen eagles, monkeys, bears and a mini-pony all available to take photos with. I bought one of those dolls where you can put another doll inside, and then another doll inside that. The train system in Moscow is old school, the actual stations look like museums, very nice architecture and trimmings around the place... and, ummmm that's about it! All in all it has been a wonderful trip so-far, aside from one minor derailment! I will definitely be coming back here once I can get another gig, for the records and culture... it will be back to the reality of Edinburgh, Scotland on Sunday Oh, before I forget I went to see Pharoahe Monche at the Jazz Cafe in London en-route to Russia with my fellow Australian, Brad Strut (check his new album, it's HEAT) - it was one of the dopest shows I've ever seen. If he's coming to a town near you, check him out. Shout out to the London Massive - Plus One, Benni G, Viva Chiba (VV), James Lebens and Ian (VV).I have some records from Russia/Europe to trade, if you are interested hit me off... you know the drill...** THREE SETS OF PHOTOS TO ACCOMPANY THIS POST ARE HERE --http://www.flickr.com/photos/djsheep/setspeace.