Last week music fans of Kyiv were shaken up by an amazing piece of news delivered by the organizers of Chayka Open Air music festival. On Dec. 4 they announced that this summer’s Chayka festival will be headlined by incredible punk rock grandpa Iggy Pop.
It’s rumored that Iggy will play in Kyiv (the festival is taking place June 6-7) for a record fee of one million dollars. Music lovers got immediately caught in a dispute about who else the festival organizers could and should have brought for this much money. Still, it’s quite obvious that Pop will be the main musical attraction of the summer, let alone the festival itself.
Fifty more bands promised to participate in the event, including groups from Poland, Greece and Sweden. But none even come close to the fame of James Newel Osterberg, a.k.a. Iggy Pop.
When it comes to live concerts, Ukrainians are used to seeing aging rockers who discovered our country at the dusk of their careers as an additional source of income. But Iggy Pop is a slightly different case. Having become an idol once, he remains one till this day, and no matter what your attitude to him is, he cannot leave you indifferent.
In Ukraine, Iggy is not all that well-known. The majority of people, who are glued to their TV screens whenever the video of Ani Lorak or Vitaliy Kozlovskiy comes on, certainly have no idea who he is, even though most of them have actually seen him in “Cry Baby” with Johnny Depp – one of many movies Pop appeared in.
But surely the newly enlarged territory of Chayka will be packed full nevertheless. Iggy’s fans from Russia and Belarus are likely to attend and join the cheering crowd as well. That is, of course, if Iggy comes at all.
Ever since the Rolling Stones cancelled their Kyiv show, Ukrainian music fans, including myself, are skeptical whenever they see a big name on a poster in Kyiv. Still, festival tickets have already gone on sale with 20 percent festive discounts.
To me, Iggy Pop is one of those musicians who are much more interesting to watch live than to listen on record. “Lust for Life,” “Wanna Be Your Dog” and “In the Death Car” are the most moving songs of his that I know. And I will to make sure to make it to Chayka just too see him onstage. Pop is a symbol of an era, one of the founding fathers of punk rock, jumping on stage for 40 years now – just as “rude and nude” (the name of his best hits compilation released in 1996) as he ever was.
Sitting in a cafe opposite Tom Waits in the “Coffee and Cigarettes” movie by Jim Jarmusch, he seems to be barely managing to remain still and respond adequately to Waits’ composed manner. Even at 61, Iggy Pop is still full of energy, a wild child. And as wrecked as the situation in Ukraine now looks, we certainly need someone like him to shake us up.
http://www.kyivpost.com/guide/citylife/31834
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Subject: Iggy Really Is Worth A Million In....Dollars! 
Thu Dec 11, 2008 5:06 am
