bishkek jazz festival

on saturday night we went with some friends to the 1st annual bishkek jazz festival. the festival was being held at the russian philharmonic theater in downtown. the area of downtown off of chui avenue continues to amazing us. there architecture is like nothing you will find in the states. wide boulevards... tree lined streets... monuments and fountains everywhere (even if they they are never turned on... they are still nice). big, huge buildings. street vendors. families walking around. being in that area of town makes us appreciate how nice bishkek really is.

neither one of us had been inside of the philharmonic and weren't sure of what to expect. it was so, so nice! as nice as any venue in houston's theater district (which is an amazing place if you have never been). the show was packed and feature some really good music. classic american standards and jazz tunes. so funny to hear the singers and band leaders speaking in russian to the crowd and then break out singing "i get a kick out of you" and "route 66" in perfect, ella fitzgerald englis two of the bands we saw were from germany. a glenn miller type big band with a crazy, fat (fat albert fat) old drummer guy who stole the show. and then a really weird... i mean really weird german foursome with a lead singer who thought he was bjork. no kidding! the audience was torn between laughing at him and giving him a standing ovation.

afterwards we went to 'the navigator' with chris and christine. pricey by central asian standards ($10 an entree) but really good.

we are both so happy we went. go bishkek!