Red Wave - An American in the Soviet Music Underground

A memoir by an American who almost single-handedly introduced Soviet rock to the free world, [...] Stingray, who wrote this memoir with her daughter, Madison, nicely captures her daring amid an atmosphere of liberation and fear, and she's a study in moxie and enthusiasm.
-Kirkus ReviewsAs one of the first American musicians to break through the Soviet scene, and one of the few women to be seen as an equal amongst Leningrad's pantheon of rock superstars, Stingray's perspective on the development of late Soviet rock is probably the single most important source for those who want a birds-eye view of late Soviet youth culture, and Stingray's stories are as entertaining as they are relevant and illuminating.
?Alexander Herbert, author of What About Tomorrow?: An Oral History of Russian Punk from the Soviet Era to Pussy RiotWild and vivid ? a rollicking memoir of romance and rock 'n' roll in an era of upheaval and transition. From Los Angeles to Leningrad and back again, Joanna's story is borne along by her infectious, headlong enthusiasm. It's quite a ride.
?Patrick Radden Keefe, creator of the Wind of Change podcast and author of Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern IrelandThe history of Russian rock music could have been very different without Joanna Stingray. Joanna was friends with rock musicians, recorded songs with them, shot their videos and brought them clothes and instruments from the West. Her video footage, capturing young icons of Russian rock like Viktor Tsoi, Sergei Kuryokhin, Timur Novikov and Boris Grebenshchikov, is rare evidence of the golden era of the Soviet underground.
?The Moscow TimesRed Wave is a warm and conversational autobiography about a lost world, peopled with courageous artists risking their freedom for the ideas of expression, art, and rock 'n' roll. [...] We root for her and her friends to overcome bureaucracy, oppression, isolation, deprivation, and the heavy footsteps of the KGB. [...] In a readable and personable way, Red Wave helps shine some light into this remarkable corner of rock history.
?Tim Sommer, GuernicaJoanna Stingray's appearance in St. Petersburg in the early 1980s must have been God's response to our unconscious prayers. Her naive bravery, curiosity and generosity created a kind of a lifeline for us rockers: she brought in things we needed to play our music, and took out not only our recordings but the very message of our existence. Had it not been for her and her Red Wave, it would have taken Aquarium many more years to have official records on Melodiya and Kino to start touring Europe. This fearless maiden broke through the siege that looked hopelessly unbreakable. She threw a life-saver into our waters and she changed everything. No matter how many times we thank her ? it's never enough.
?Boris Grebenshchikov (Aquarium), 2018

List of contents

Dedication

Introduction

Book One: 1984-1987

Interlude: Interview with Boris Grebenshchikov

Book Two: 1988-1996

Epilogue: 1996-2020

Acknowledgments

In Memoriam

Further Listening

About the author

Joanna Stingray is an author and musician from Los Angeles, California, who lived for many years in Russia. She became the first American producer of underground Russian rock n' roll when she released the double album Red Wave — 4 Underground Bands from the USSR — a compilation of music smuggled out of the USSR by Joanna in 1985. A frequent traveler in and out of Russia, Joanna was interrogated by the KGB and FBI (both thought she was a spy) and in 1987, she became an enemy of the State — her visa blocked to keep her from entering the Soviet Union to marry Kino guitarist Yuri Kasparyan. After months of intervention by the U.S. State Department, she returned to Russia, married Yuri and in the early '90s became a television host, a recording artist, and well known rock personality throughout Russia. She has published several books in Russia about her time in the music scene as well as much of her photo collection. Her video diaries and interviews of bands and their musicians is the only archive of this clandestine, bygone world.

"FREE TO ROCK," the 2017 documentary exposé directed by Jim Brown and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland, features interviews with Joanna Stingray, prominent American musicians who toured the Soviet Union, and several important Russian musicians. It reveals to the world the dismantling socio-political effect of "soft power," and discovers how American rock n' roll and the release of Red Wave during glasnost contributed to the ending of the Cold War.

Madison Stingray is the author of two books as well as songs, poems, and short stories, the common theme of all being a strong female narrative and an attempt at human solidarity. She graduated from Georgetown University magna cum laude and received her Master's degree in Archaeology from the University of Cambridge in England. Growing up, the Leningrad Underground Rock days were stories that became her fairytales, and her contribution to putting those adventures in print is to inspire others that extraordinary things can happen to anyone who fights for something.

Summary

A memoir by an American who almost single-handedly introduced Soviet rock to the free world, [...] Stingray, who wrote this memoir with her daughter, Madison, nicely captures her daring amid an atmosphere of liberation and fear, and she's a study in moxie and enthusiasm.
—Kirkus Reviews

As one of the first American musicians to break through the Soviet scene, and one of the few women to be seen as an equal amongst Leningrad’s pantheon of rock superstars, Stingray’s perspective on the development of late Soviet rock is probably the single most important source for those who want a birds-eye view of late Soviet youth culture, and Stingray’s stories are as entertaining as they are relevant and illuminating.
—Alexander Herbert, author of What About Tomorrow?: An Oral History of Russian Punk from the Soviet Era to Pussy Riot

Wild and vivid — a rollicking memoir of romance and rock ‘n’ roll in an era of upheaval and transition. From Los Angeles to Leningrad and back again, Joanna’s story is borne along by her infectious, headlong enthusiasm. It’s quite a ride.
—Patrick Radden Keefe, creator of the Wind of Change podcast and author of Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

The history of Russian rock music could have been very different without Joanna Stingray. Joanna was friends with rock musicians, recorded songs with them, shot their videos and brought them clothes and instruments from the West. Her video footage, capturing young icons of Russian rock like Viktor Tsoi, Sergei Kuryokhin, Timur Novikov and Boris Grebenshchikov, is rare evidence of the golden era of the Soviet underground.
—The Moscow Times

Red Wave is a warm and conversational autobiography about a lost world, peopled with courageous artists risking their freedom for the ideas of expression, art, and rock ‘n’ roll. [...] We root for her and her friends to overcome bureaucracy, oppression, isolation, deprivation, and the heavy footsteps of the KGB. [...] In a readable and personable way, Red Wave helps shine some light into this remarkable corner of rock history.
—Tim Sommer, Guernica
Joanna Stingray's appearance in St. Petersburg in the early 1980s must have been God's response to our unconscious prayers. Her naive bravery, curiosity and generosity created a kind of a lifeline for us rockers: she brought in things we needed to play our music, and took out not only our recordings but the very message of our existence. Had it not been for her and her Red Wave, it would have taken Aquarium many more years to have official records on Melodiya and Kino to start touring Europe. This fearless maiden broke through the siege that looked hopelessly unbreakable. She threw a life-saver into our waters and she changed everything. No matter how many times we thank her — it's never enough.
—Boris Grebenshchikov (Aquarium), 2018

Foreword

• North American and UK Print and Broadcast Campaign


• Targeted Regional Marketing Campaign


• Social Media Campaign


• Co-op Available


• ARCs and DRCs available through Edelweiss


• Targeted outreach to music press to reach multi-generational fan base


• Author tour: Southern California, Washington DC, London


• "Wind of Change" Spotify podcast special 45-minute episode on July 6 focuses on Joanna Stingray with interviews about her times in the Leningrad Rock Club and getting arrested by the KGB.


• CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Nathan Hodge to interview Joanna next time she is in Russia and will tie the English release of the book to its airing.


• The Moscow correspondent for The Guardian (UK), Marc Bennetts, will do an article when the English version comes out. He interviewed Joanna last year.


• Hollie McKay, Foreign Affairs Reporter for Fox News Digital did an online profile piece on Joanna last April and we will reach out for her to do a follow up piece when the English version is out.


• The Beverly Hills Weekly newspaper will do a big story on the book release with photos.


• Forthcoming CBC Radio q feature on Stingray timed with book release, which will be aired in Canada on CBC Radio 1 and in the U.S. on NPR and Sirius XM and internationally through PRI for a combined of 3 million listeners a week; the host is Tom Power.


• Wide academic outreach

Additional text

Red Wave is a warm and conversational autobiography detailing Stingray’s many rock ‘n’ roll adventures in the Soviet Union and Russia in the years before, during, and after glasnost. At one point she gets followed and interrogated by the KGB; at another, her plans to wed a legendary Soviet rocker get derailed by Cold War dynamics. Co-written with Stingray’s adult daughter, Madison, the book is a valuable document about a lost world, peopled with courageous artists risking their freedom for the ideas of expression, art, and rock ‘n’ roll. [...] An essential narrative of a fascinating and under-documented period in music and art. Stingray draws vivid, emotional, and chatty accounts of the extraordinary underground stars of the time—people like Boris Grebenshikov, Sergey Kuryokhin, Viktor Tsoi, Yuri Kasparyan, Aquarium, Kino, and the Pop Mechanics. [...] We root for her and her friends to overcome bureaucracy, oppression, isolation, deprivation, and the heavy footsteps of the KGB. [...] In a readable and personable way, Red Wave helps shine some light into this remarkable corner of rock history.
— Tim Sommer, Guernica

Product details

• Authors: Joanna Stingray, Madison Stingray
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 22.09.2020
• EAN: 9781733957922
• ISBN: 978-1-73395-792-2
• No. of pages: 416
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 230 mm x 35 mm
• Weight: 622 g
• Illustrations: Black and white photographs throughout, plus color photos printed on inside covers, schwarz-weiss Illustrationen
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Humanities, art, music > Music > General, dictionaries; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women, MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Rock, HISTORY / Russia & the Former Soviet Union