Russian Samovar

The other day, David Rief, son of the late Susan Sontag, stopped by. Susan Sontag was one of the greatest writers in America. She received many awards in many countries for working tirelessly for the rights of the oppressed. She wrote many books and had a great influence on her time. David told me that he is working on opening Susan Sontag’s foundation. The aim of the foundation is to help writers, playwrights, and particularly poets. David asked me if they could hold the first meeting of the board of the foundation at Russian Samovar. Susan Sontag was a loyal friend for many years, I loved her and she in her turn treated me well and Russian Samovar was her favorite restaurant in the city. I said to David, “Yes of course” that I would do anything to keep Susan Sontag’s memory alive.

The day before yesterday Nick Ilyin, the head of development of the Guggenheim Museum came to the restaurant and brought 8 guests, among them was the director of the Guggenheim Museum, Thomas Kranz. The other guests included the son of the pianist Vladimir Felzman. The others were Mark Slobadianik, and Sergey Gordeyev. I had already gone home but when Nick, who is a good friend, called my house, I took a cab and soon joined them in the restaurant. We talked and we toasted and we joked and drank flavored vodkas. Some concert pianist from the group played the piano and we sang a lot of different Russian songs, mostly all familiar tunes from World War II and the early 50’s.

On Saturday Nick Ilyin is bringing a big party of thirty to the VIP room of the restaurant on the second floor. Yesterday the great Russian poet representing the Leningrad tradition, Alexander Kushner read his recent works at the Russian Samovar. A lot of poetry lovers came to the restaurant to hear him read and leaned against the big table on the second floor to listen to the wonderful poetry of Alexander Kushner. After the reading there was a reception and ten people, closest to the poet were conducted to the first floor and served Russian traditional dinner. Of course, it included herring, Vinegret, eggplant caviar, sauerkraut, half sour pickles, Salo, and Pelmeni. I joined them at the table and we talked about poetry, how he in particular writes his poetry. He explained that it always comes from a poetic idea that keeps growing and growing in his mind and when it is ripe he sits down and writes the poem. There were many toasts and many flavored vodkas were tasted. Our famous musicians Sergey Pobedinsky and Valerie Zhmud came to our table and played Joseph Brodsky’s favorite song, “The Thin Ashberry”. The evening was yes another great success