All good things...

As the tail-end of my New Mexico trip approaches, a couple things become very clear. The first is that being alone in hotel rooms isn't my cup of tea for any extended period of time. Also, the prospect of meeting an Armenian community was just not going to happen. The latter was my fault in the sense that I wasn't relentless in pursuing the small, but, growing community. On old Route 66 on what is now Central Ave near University of New Mexico, there is the obligatory Armenian rug merchant called Knadjian Rugs. Also, while in a used bookshop in Nob Hill, a bookseller tells me about a "colony of Armenians" that owned a swath of land in Albuquerque going back to the end of World War 2. He threw out some Armenian names but couldn't give me any more details. Oddly enough, on the second day of my New Mexico trip while at the Hyatt downtown, my friend Kev and I ran into a Hayastansi Armenian working the concierge desk. She was in her late 20's, a graduate of the Sorbonne in France, and married to an Armenian American/Italian who taught at one of the Universities in New Mexico. When I asked her what she thought of New Mexico, she answered both me and Kev in a rather funny was stating "Well, from Paris to Albuquerque, it's a bit of a difference". However, she went on to say what I have been hearing from a few others that there was a small, but growing communinty of about 150 Armenians in ALBQ.

Growing a little weary of the hotel scene, I decided to ring up Paul and Susan over at the Old Church Road Bed and Breakfast and let them know I was going to spend my last day at their place. At $100 for the night and going solo, I figured this would be a fitting end to my New Mexico trip. I arranged to meet them at their place at 5pm where they promptly told me that they were going to take me out to dinner at a Corrales, NM hot spot called Indigo Crow. Paul used to work for JP Morgan and made tons of money in his 20's and 30's. Now in his mid 40's, he and his wife purchased a two acre lot with a 5000 sq. ft. home and converted much of it into a bed and breakfast. www.oldchurchroadbandb.com for more info on their place. Highly recommended. Dinner was fantastic with a chile stew cooked up and some local New Mexico wine. After dinner, I retired for the evening and reflected on the New Mexico adventure 2006. New Mexico pretty much had me in her grasp and if Natacha was there with me, I would never have left. Growing up in Chicago and Boston, winters are just not my thing anymore and I/we need a change of pace in life now.

Back in Boston, the YerazArt project continues to be an option for me. I have been going back and forth for about 6 months with the founders/sponsors of the organization on whether to accept the Executive Director job. Taking it would mean a serious committment to promote and develop young Armenian musicians between the ages of 8-18 by giving them a global stage to work from. My decision comes this week and I am still on the fence with it. There is a clear line between Armenian volunteerism and doing a professional job for pay within an Armenian circle. My experience has been that if a client pays for a job, they get a firm focus and better end result. A volunteer effort becomes a hit or miss proposition. Having volunteered for many Armenian things in the past, I am getting to the point where if someone wants/needs a job done right, I have no problem charging them as I would any non-Armenian client. That way expectations are raised on all ends. This is why I salute those Armenian volunteers who do great work in our community for no pay. Sometimes volunteers can be taken advantage of, but, they keep their principals and goals clear and just work toward it. I no longer can be so generous with my time anymore. I just have to be honest. My own personal opinion is that Armenian projects should have a clear business approach in order to complete the objectives put forth. Many times Armenians in the Diaspora feel if you "charge money" for Armenian things, it is shameful. I totally disagree. If there are Armenians who do a job right, they ought to be kept in business to do more good work. Any good Armenian venture has a solid business model, and that is a fact.

Kevork Imirzian gave me a call yesterday and informed me that Iakovos Kolanian's new Agustin Barrios CD is now ready and we are going to start production. As Pomegranate tries a new model of presenting non-Armenian music done by an Armenian artist, the gamble is on. Can we make it in the mainstream classical world by not relying on the Armenian hook. I don't know, but, we sure are not going to settle for failure. Stepan Partamian left me a message stating that his duduk BADARAK CD was now finished and he has a promo copy for me.

Back to Boston, back to the grind, back to being a Diasporan.