It's been a while since I've posted and an interesting couple of months. Around this time of year, I get the itch to take a trip to Armenia. That looks like more of a reality in the month of March during my Spring Break from grad school. I still work during the day, so I'll have to take off a week or so. There are plenty of things to check out in Hayastan. First, there are my parents in Gyumri who are doing the Armenian Volunteer Corp. Secondly, it will be nice to see some friends and get a chance to meet new people. Then, of course, there is the music stuff which is getting interesting of late. Plus, how can I miss a visit to the famous Lena Majarian to see how the hell she passed out in the bathroom of a plane. Meeting Rhoda Manouk, who is volunteering with the Hover Choir project will be cool. Tamar Haytayan's update on life in Armenia will be interesting. We'll see what Gor is up to and so on.

After a good six weeks of rest away from the rigors of school, work, and music label stuff, I am ready to get back into school, work, and music label stuff. Boston is hosting a concert series of Aram Khatchaturian's works here at Jordan Hall with the first concert starting today. I may go. The CD projects are going smoothly with Bambir- Quake ready to be released in a month of so. Arsineh has been working hard on that booklet for a few weeks now. After that, we've got Gor's "Godfather Tom" or Lav Eli's debut album up on the board. So, no shortage of music in this corner. The good news here is that I've gotten permission to buy the licenses to various songs for a compilation album called "Armenia Underground" I have put togehter. Some of the performers will include Arto Tuncboyaciyan and the Armenia Navy Band, Gor Mkhitarian, Nor Dar, Bambir, The Armenian Jazz Band with Armen Martirosyan, Lilit Pipoyan, Irina Malkhasian, Lav Eli, Hover Chamber Choir of Armenia, Cascade and a few others. The goal is to put out a general "Armenia" album for the non-Armenian and Armenian market that is a decent cross section of underappreciated or unheard music that best represents Armenia in the last few years. This way, music enthusiasts can stumble across new artists all in one disc. As Arto Tuncboyaciyan has coined the term for the genre of music I am going after and presenting, it's called "Avant Garde Folk".

I am currently looking for a way to get very good contemporary Armenian films here to Boston for a small Armenian film festival. Does anyone have experience in this arena, and if so, can you privately email me? Thanks.