Should We Ban Culture, Too?

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Onstage in St Petersburg during the White Nights Festival 2002

Do I think there should be a US / European ban on all things Russian Cultural during this horrific period?

NO!! Absolutely not!! 

Music, Cinema, Dance, Literature and Art build bridges to people, they don't bomb them.

I've played in both Moscow and Saint Petersburg at least six times. Originally with the Future Sound of London -- FSOL (with Garry Cobain and Baluji Shrivastav) for St. Petersburg's 200th Anniversary at the White Nights Festival (thank you Sasha Cheparukhin). I then returned to play several times solo, once at the Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF) in St. Petersburg (thank you Alexei Pliousnine), then returned once again accompanying The Golem silent film. I then returned and played with the expanded lineup of The Amorphous Androgynous (Future Sound of London). And the last time I was there was with GODS AND MONSTERS (Jerry Harrison, Ernie Brooks, Billy Ficca, and Jason Candler) for the Golden Mask Arts Festival.

I found Russian people to be among the best audiences I've ever played for, with a real warmth and big-hearted embrace of what I was doing musically. And I had a release in Russia of my Coming Clean album on the Exotica label (thank you Andrey Borisov), which you can read about -- if you can read Russian -- below, from Russian Rolling Stone.

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Don't get me wrong, I am horrified by what's happening in Ukraine, naturally. But I don't believe in cultural boycotts either.

"Die Gedanken sind frei" (Thoughts are free).

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