Friday, September 10, 2010

Mikhail Youzhny’s U.S. Open Secret?

Roman and Youzhny

How was it that 12^th-seeded Russian tennis start Mikhail Youzhny was able to get the better of “marathon man” Stanislas Wawrinka and surge into the semi-finals of the U.S. Open yesterday (see article here)? It may be that he had the necessary reserves of strength and agility because he eats his kasha—at the Samovar! “It is terrific kasha,” I thought I heard Youzhny commenting to the media. “But that was just getting into semi-finals. I want more.”

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Not just a reading--it's a MULTIPLE book launch! TONIGHT!

This just in, folks: everything you need to know about tonight's reading at the Sammy, complete with varying font shapes and sizes, a healthy helping of bold, and more white space than you can shake a stick at:

Tuesday, September 7, at 7 PM

Russian Samovar Arts Club

Please join poets

ANDREY GRITSMAN

CARMEN FIRAN

RICHARD MILAZZO

ADRIAN SANGEORZAN

for the launch of their recent books & poetry readings

LIVE LANDSCAPE (Cervena Barva Press)

and GREATEST HITS (Pudding House Press) by Andrey Gritsman

ROCK AND DEW by Carmen Firan

Translations into English by Adam J. Sorkin, Andrei Codrescu, Isaiah Sheffer

(Sheep Meadow Press, 2010)

EASTERN SHADOWS

Translations into Romanian by Adrian Sangeorzan;

(bilingual edition English- Romanian, Scrisul Romanesc Press, 2010)

and KEATS DYING IN YOUR ARMS

(Editions Passage St.-Hubert, Brussels) by Richard Milazzo

THE ANATOMY OF THE MOON by Adrian Sangeorzan

Translations into English by Razvan Hotaranu;

bilingual edition English- Romanian, Scrisul Romanesc Press, 2010

Russian Samovar

Arts Club, Second Floor

256 W 52nd STREET, by 8 Ave., NEW YORK, NY 10019, 212-7570168

Andrey Gritsman – Russian-American poet and essayist, he has been living in the US since 1981. Author of several collections of poetry in English and in his native Russian.

He edits poetry magazine INTERPOEZIA and runs reading series at Cornelia Street Café in New York City.

Carmen Firan – born in Romania, she has been living in New York since 2000. She has published twenty books including poetry, novels, essays, and short stories. Among her most recent books are Words and Flesh, novellas and essays, Talisman Publishers, 2009 and Rock and Dew, selected poems, Sheep Meadow Press, 2010.

Richard Milazzo – poet, essayist, art critic & curator, editor and publisher, he is the author of many books, including two major monographs ( Saint Clair Cemin, Brent Sikkema Editions and The Paintings of Ross Bleckner, Editions Alain Noirhomme) and volumes of poetry : Small China Moon, Keats Dying in Your Arms, and The Fishmonger’s Door. He lives and works in New York City.

Adrian Sangeorzan - is the author of several books of poetry, fiction, and memoirs, including the poetry books Tattoos on Marble and Over the Lifeline (Spuyten Duyvil Press) and the most recent Vitali, a novel, and The Anatomy of the Moon, 2010. He is a Romanian born living in New York since 1990.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Samovar Set to Simmer in September!

The Russian Samovar, after its annual week-long fall cleaning, is all burnished and shiny and ready to receive you. The post-Labor Day re-opening (Tuesday, September 7) features...that’s right, a poetry reading! This one is in English and Russian, and if I knew who was reading I would tell you. Anyway, it is sure to be festive, and wouldn’t you like to be the first to set foot on the freshly polished dance floor?

What is a/the Samovar?

The samovar is the golden, glowing heart and soul of the Russian family. Or: literally self-boiler, the samo-var is an appliance that keeps water just at the boil, providing the means for an endless supply of the hot tea that accompanies any gathering around a table in a Russian home. Click here for a really nice website that can tell you lots more about what a samovar is and how to make tea with one.

The Russian Samovar (website here) can similarly be defined in very different ways. It is the glowing heart and soul of the Russian/world cultural scene, located in New York City’s theater district. It is the glowing heart and soul of one of its three founders, Roman Kaplan (the other two are Joseph Brodsky and Mikhail Baryshnikov). If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to inhabit the being of a survivor of the Siege of Leningrad whose devotion to poetry, art and all things beautiful and satisfying is beyond measure, you can now find out by spending your evening at the Russian Samovar, Roman's work-in-progress of life-creation (жизнетворчество). Moreover, Roman and his wife Larissa consider the Samovar an extension of their living room, where every guest is welcome and treated like a favored friend. Prosaically speaking, it is a restaurant that serves tasty and elegant Russian food with a European flair, and home-made flavored vodkas by the glass or carafe (try the cranberry first, I swear it is the elixir of life).

Unprosaically speaking, the Russian Samovar is more like an ongoing event, anchored in place on 52^nd Street west of Broadway. It is a multi-faceted gem, the description of which is the purpose of this blog. It is a space through which pass luminaries of art and culture. It is where exiled Russian poet Joseph Brodsky argued with Susan Sontag about the nature of Communism until she changed her mind. (Look for Brodsky’s niche in the back corner of the Samovar, marked prominently by his photo.) Anything can happen at the Samovar! Early on any evening, it is one of the only restaurants in New York City where you can carry on a conversation without shouting. There might be a poetry reading or book party upstairs in the “Cigar Room” or the “Petersburg Room.” Later, it could happen (and in fact has) that a Russian baritone, in nyc to sing with the Met, suddenly sings from where he sits, joining the pianist who is playing a popular dark, sad song about being on the road alone under the stars. Or, it can be a kind of bacchanal. You never know, but you can always hope.

Who am I?

Well you might ask. I was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, where I survived the 1964 Earthquake, during which I was too young to experiment with gravity like my brothers did (click here to see an animation of this, I’m the one with pigtails) and instead hung onto the leg of my father’s desk and cried. That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing since, aside from raising my own two children, writing and translating (my favorites: a neat discovery about the opera scene in War and Peace; and a book of translations of Anatoly Naiman’s poetry, done with F. D. Reeve), and teaching literature and Russian at Columbia University while writing a dissertation on poetry in the Soviet era. I used to play the viola. I’ve lived in New York City for a while now, and there are two special places within the beast where I always feel welcome and at home. One of them is the Samovar.

Disclaimer and copyright info: I am not affiliated with the Samovar in any way except by inclination, and am not being compensated for writing this blog in any way, unless you count the rivers of vodka I always have to decline because I’m driving home. However, I do hope to frequently feature Roman Kaplan in his own words and also let you know about upcoming events at the Sammy, because I believe you deserve access to this unique phenomenon as it lives.

All blog text copyright Margo Shohl Rosen. All photos property of Roman Kaplan unless otherwise specified, all used by permission. Blog banner by Peter Dunlap-Shohl.

Invitation