<p>I am strong man, and I am Russian, he said. So I can do this.
That was what one member of the touring Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra had to say about their bus tour - a kind of “march Slav” in literal terms, as described in the New York Times. Unfortunately, this says something about the realities of life for some as a musician these days…sobering!
here’s the link: [Moscow</a> State Radio Symphony - On the Bus or on the Stage - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/arts/music/04symphony.html?scp=1&sq=moscow&st=cse]Moscow”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/arts/music/04symphony.html?scp=1&sq=moscow&st=cse)
here’s an excerpt:
On their nine-week tour, these Muscovites are slogging to Ashland, Ky.; Quincy, Ill.; and Zanesville, Ohio, often riding buses for up to seven hours, moving from highway to budget hotel to concert hall, and then all over again the next morning. They have a day off every two weeks, on average.</p>
<p>The pay? About $40 a concert in most cases, the musicians said. Per diems? Zero, making breakfast included the sweetest of words. The bus drivers often stop at malls to let them shop for food at a Wal-Mart. Many of them double up in hotel rooms.</p>
<p>Musicians are human beings too, and they should be treated like humans, one disgusted musician wrote in an e-mail message. Like most of the orchestra members who were contacted, this one spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing being blacklisted from future jobs.</p>