Arkady's life has been occasionally compared to this wonderful movie -- "Moscow On The Hudson". Saxophone is the obvious reason why. But, not many people know that there is another parallel?

Arkady's first job in the USA, was Bloomingdales Department Store in New York City, as a dishwasher, and then stock room in men's clothes!

Recalls Arkady:

When I was interviewed for that dish washer job at Bloomingdales, I was asked what my career aspirations were.

"I want to be a musician!", was my answer!

"Do you like Jazz?", was the question that followed shortly, as the interviewer lady named Gloria Barker (?) realized that she was not gonna talk me into becoming a buyer for Bloomingdales, like another guy, named Vladimir, whom they already had working there.

"Of course, I love Jazz", I said. And so the lady asked me to name some names of the Jazz artist I liked. I don't know if she was testing me, or if she was just curious.

So I said that there were too many whome I liked, but, that if I had to name a few, it of course would have to include: Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, and many other names, which I started to list. Those were my Jazz heroes whose recordings, 2nd or 10th generation reel to reel cassette copy. Hey, with LP's sometimes cost an equivalent of a monthly salary, back in in the USSR, so we had to copy them, ... cause we didn't have iPods:):)!!! So, I inherited a bunch of cassettes from my brother Alex, trombonist, who came to New York a few years before me. And since I didn't have too many, I was listening to them over and over again, trying to mix it all up, jumping from Charlie Parker to Herbie Hancock, to Ray Charles, to Mahavishnu Orchestra, to Deep Purple, to Stevie Wonder, to Sonny Rollins..., and in betweeen we had to use either glue, or scotch tape, if we we were lucky to have one, to put those reel to real cassettes together, cause the tape often broke, and on bad days it would go inside the tape recorder, which would require taking it apart, and SLOWLY taking the tape out from the guts of the tape recorder!!!

That's what I started to tell that lady!

The lady asked me if I liked Gerry Mulligan.

Of course!!!, I said, and then I hummed her a melody from one of the few Gerry Mulligan cassettes that I listened to back in Kiev, Ukraine, my home town -- the song was "Making Whoopee"!

That was it! The lady smiled, and hired me on the spot, right there and then!!!! Minimum wage job, W2, $3.25 per hour, minus taxes, of course:)!!

The Bloomingdales gave me a few T-Shirts to wear as uniform. I was happy, because that part time job worked with my schedule, as I attended Mannes College of Music, that was also on East Side, on 74th street. I could walk to work!

The job didn't last too long, cause I ate too many Quiche Pies, drank a lot of carrot juice, and was practicing my English with the customers, who were too eager to hear me talk about USSR! So I got fired, and then re-hired to fold shirts, and arrange them by sizes and styles.

Hey, I had to start somewhere...

Maybe one day I'll do what everyone's been telling me  -- write a book! But then it would be too long! And who's gonna read it, unless I am a star, or kill someone famous:)!? Plus, who is gonna practice for me, and look for gigs?! Got a gig for me? Wanna buy my CD:)?!

But, if my dream comes true, and I get to travel the world, playing my original music, then I'd have plenty time to type on my Mac Laptop. I love doing that when I fly!!!

For now, I'll just say this:

There are so many fun true stories that could go into my book! I don't know if I'll call it "Moscow, or Kiev, On The Hudson -- The Real Story", or "Moscow, or Kiev, On The Hudson -- The Arkady Story"... We'll see...

But I'll tell you this: almost each of those stories is another case of "Can't Make It Up"!

One of the greatest privileges of my life was that I got to share many of my stories with one of my biggest heroes, the late saxophone GIANT - Michael Brecker, during his Big Fight!

What matters to me, more than anything these days, is to play my own music, and, if I do it well, then my stories will come through my music!!!!

That's all... Thanks for your time, and support! Please stay tuned!

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