Life in the Bush of Borscht
Red Wave explores one American woman’s journey in the underground world of Soviet rock 'n' roll.
Image by Vladimir Pletenev via Flickr
It seems incredible, even for those of us who actually remember the time and can cite the liar’s muscle of memory: In the 1970s and ’80s, just a shadow of an eyelash ago, the Soviet Union was largely closed off to Western pop culture and consumer influence. We took this for granted, though we do recall seeing immigrants newly arrived from the USSR stumbling around ordinary grocery stores in tears, awed by the Disneyland of products and choice.
This era of isolation and restriction extended to pop and rock music, as well. While our world was exploding with MTV, the Ramones, and Madonna, rock ‘n’ roll music and style was
