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TVER, RUSSIA:

1. Being interviewed by MTV Tver. I'd just played that Soviet red piano behind us solo for the press.

2. First night out at a restaurant, we were bought vodka. Drinking vodka became a daily ritual. L-R: Dave Ambrosio, Frank Colon, me, and Aaron Johnston.

3. Onstage in Tver, announcing songs with my brand-new Russian.

4. Onstage in Tver.

5. Standing room audience of Tver!

6. Rock star!

7. The AK4 with Masha, who took care of us working at US Embassy Moscow.

8. Aaron with our Tver translator.

9. Stereo Olgas.

10. Dave and I were the only people who made the tour. This is a river in Tver. Most Russian cities are built at the confluence of two rivers.

11. Me and Dave in front of a statue of Lenin: "Got you under our fingers!"

12. This memorial memorialized the first European to discover India - it was this Russian guy, but it didn't really count because he never made it back to tell the folks at home.

13. After the concert, we were plied with vodka before getting on the night train. (3-step animation; please be patient.)

14. Frank and Aaron enjoying tea on the night train to Nizhny.





NIZHNY NOVGOROD, RUSSIA:

1. Standing in front of a banner that reads: "Quartet AK-4". It's a little redundant, but it seemed difficult to convince Russians that the name made sense, since there were four of us, and my initials are AK.

2. AK4 in front of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin.

3. A Communist Party rally right outside our hotel.

4. Apparently, this guy was the first to fly over the North Pole, but he never made it back home either.

5. Hanging with our American embassy guy and our Russian girl.

6. Aaron Johnston playing with his food.

7. Aaron after a good night's sleep decides he needs some more on the scary plane to Ekaterinburg.

8. Next to Aaron, we have Dave, even though he had a good night's sleep the last night, he just has to catch a few more on the plane.









EKATERINBURG, RUSSIA:

1. Losing our minds on no sleep at the press conference, with an embassy person whose name I can't remember right now.

2. Don't you love how our names are written all in Russian?

3. My rig: acoustic and electric.

4. Onstage in Ekaterinburg.

5. The AK3 with more Russian embassy staff.

6. The band with Olga, one of our Russian assistants, backstage.

7. The class and teachers.

8. The rockin' sax section.

9. I'm teaching swing phrasing by being a moron.

10. I'm making a student solo, even though he'd never soloed before. I'm such a jerk.

11. My translator in the background is trying to figure out how to translate "eighth note" into Russian. We asked a music teacher, and he got insulted, thinking I was testing him.

12. We finally got a girl up! This was the start of a difficult time trying to make sure we were always also teaching women.

13. Who knows what I'm trying to impart here, but whatever it is, I mean business!

14. The rock star student bass player. He was a great player, AND his collar was up.

15. Cute student saxophonist, with a tired piano player in the background.

16. Another cute student saxophonist, with the same tired piano player in the background.

17. A nice picture of Aaron watching the teaching going on.

18. The Gulag Memorial outside of Ekaterinburg.

19. The AK3 conquers Europe and Asia! (Frank slept in.)

20. Look, I'm in Europe! Now I'm in Asia! Now I'm back in Europe! (Yes, we really did that.)

21. The Europe/Asia border marker.

22. The first grave at one of the mafia cemeteries around Ekaterinburg. Ironically, the man had himself etched in marble holding his Mercedes car keys only months before he was gunned down. I'm holding my keys, mimicking him and his Chrysler keys.

23. Mafia guy and his three bodyguards.

24. They missed the mafia guy, but they got his girl.

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