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What are you doing in Russia? / From Jeff


This is Jeff. Jeff’s a friend.

He’s also a curious person who likes to walk around New York in his free time observing the world around him. When we get together we talk. We talk about the hard stuff, the easy stuff, the sad stuff, and the funny stuff. No topic isn’t a topic. Which means all topics are a topic for us to discuss.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from his VN but it ended up being about Russia. Not as straight up as you see it here <<what are you doing in Russia?>> but with added descriptions and little pokes at me and poignant observations of society at large. Simply put: basically calling me out on my bullshit and my ability to sidestep any question directly tossed at me.

I took this as a challenge (thank you — I needed this) to answer a question many of you have been asking: what are you doing in Russia and what’s it like? My answer below.


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What are you doing in Russia? - Jeff alyonka larionov + jeff gamble

Music clips used in this episode:

Fall In Love by Slum Village and Linden Tree by The Osipov Folk Orchestra.

Movie clips used in this episode:

Rocky.


About Jeff.

You can/should follow him on instagram @insta_gambler .

Listen to his mixed tapes “Badlands”.

Watch this video he filmed of me about absolutely nothing happening, and any other video we’ve ever filmed and/or created on YouTube.

Finally, the best advice he’s ever given me when stuck in life is to go outside, commence walk, and begin taking photos until you get something. Even if that something ain’t v good, as long as you’ve seen the city with different eyes, you’ve already won.


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About this podcast: I created this podcast because i needed to find a way to stay in touch with my friends, social media acquaintances, and life-coaching clients while i built a life for myself in Moscow, Russia. Yes, after 30 years in North America, I relocated back to the place that birthed me.

The concept here is simple: send in a three-minute voice note with anything on your mind.

A question. A thought. A song. A message. An observation. A complaint. Anything. It doesn’t even have to be three minutes. It can be a total of 10 seconds. There are no rules except that you relinquish control to your Voice Note once it’s been sent. After which, I dive into the depths of myself to come up with an adequate answer to whatever it is that you’ve said. Perhaps, this will evolve into a dialogue in which I’ll send back a question your way through my answer. Perhaps, i’ll ask you to never Voice Note me again (kidding).

The point is to challenge ourselves to be daring enough to record, bold enough to send something and to let it go, and patient enough to see where it ends up in the process of creation. Like you, each episode will vary. There are no guarantees except for the guarantee that you’ve put something out there.