Timur PANKOV
ALMATY, Oct 21 (THE GLOBE)
On an otherwise ordinary day in 1960, a teenaged Mick Jagger made his way through a railway station in Dartford, England, with a few blues albums tucked under his arm. It�s impossible to say what was going through his head that day � was he in a hurry? had he considered stopping for a cup of tea? was he trying to make some girl? � but his timing was perfect. He walked at just the right pace, took just the right turns, made just the right decisions, and ran right into an old childhood acquaintance, Keith Richards, with whom he would quickly rekindle a friendship. A short four years later, the two stood at the center of the most controversial � and some would say greatest � rock and roll band in the world, the Rolling Stones.
In the meantime, Jagger and Richards would step off their London-bound trail and head to separate colleges � Mick to the London School of Economics, Keith to Sidcup Art College � but they traveled the music scene together. For a time, they played in a band called Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys. Later, at an Alexis Korner Blues Incorporated show, they met Brian Jones, a talented blond blues guitarist. Jones didn�t have a lot in common with the college boys: he had fathered two illegitimate children by the time he was sixteen, and he favored the more traditional blues of slide guitarist Elmore James. (In fact, Jones had begun performing solo under the moniker of Elmo Lewis because he thought it sounded more authentic.) But Jagger and Richards soon began jamming with Blues, Inc. � which later acquired a drummer named Charlie Watts � and eventually Jagger became a featured singer with the outfit.
The Stones� induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame came in early 1989, and Mick, Keith, Ron Wood, and Mick Taylor were on hand for the ceremony. Pete Townshend, in his induction speech, advised the Stones not to grow old gracefully. �It wouldn�t suit you,� he said. Not long afterward, Mick and Keith met in Barbados to see if they could still work together without killing one another. Within two months, they had twelve new tunes written, and the whole group assembled to work them into shape. Steel Wheels was completed in only five weeks, and it was a huge improvement over recent Stones efforts. �Mixed Emotions,� the album�s first single, was a hit, while ballads such as �Almost Hear You Sigh� and �Slippin� Away� recalled the days of �Wild Horses.� The group announced a world tour � sponsored by Anheuser Busch � that featured a stage set not to be believed. Smoke and fire combined with girders, funnels, catwalks, a giant inflatable �Honky Tonk Woman,� and Mick�s appearance from a hundred feet above the stage for �Sympathy for the Devil� were only a part of the Steel Wheels spectacle. The tour was a huge success, with the band eventually playing 115 shows to over six million people. Rolling Stone�s annual readers� and critics� polls selected the Stones as the Best Band and Artist of the Year, while Steel Wheels was chosen Best Tour. Not bad for a group of guys closing in on fifty.
The release of the live album Flash Point in 1991 was greeted with a collective yawn, and the group took a break to pursue other projects, coming together long enough to sign another lucrative record deal, this time with Virgin. By 1993, Wyman announced he wanted out, and Richards admitted that he did �everything but hold him at gunpoint� to get him to stay. By the summer of 1994, the Stones had another album and world tour ready to roll, and despite criticism that the album was just an excuse to hit the road, the Voodoo Lounge tour was another huge success. In many ways, the timing was perfect: the early nineties had seen a number of successful stadium tours by artists like Paul McCartney and U2. A resurgent Rolling Stones fit perfectly into concertgoers� plans.
In the last few years, the Stones have kept a lower profile. Jagger continues to pursue a film career, now as a producer; Richards is working on another solo album; and Charlie Watts, who has aged the most gracefully of all of the Stones, released an album with his jazz quintet featuring covers of songs by Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, and other legendary composers. The Stones have had a phenomenal run, and it seems as though they are destined to end up like the blues legends they�ve admired for so long � continuing to perform right into their twilight years.
ALMATY, Oct 18
(THE GLOBE)
Recently the number of owners of foreign cars has increased in Kazakhstan. These cars are either purchased through auto-centres or imported by individuals. The increased number of cars was the reason for establishment of many technical servicing station.
At present there are more than 500 small technical servicing centres in Almaty. However, quality of their services and post-servicing guarantees by some of them do not meet requirements of owners of foreign cars. According to the poll results, most of them prefer firm auto-centres.
The ceremonial opening of the ultra-modern car servicing centre �Toyota Centre Zhetisu� was held on last Monday (THE GLOBE #81(399)).
For the first time a Japanese company of this level decided to co-operate with the country and invested the expensive project in Almaty, despite no guarantees by the Kazakhstan party.
According to the chairman of the Board of the Japanese-Kazakhstan joint venture �Toyota Tsusho Butya�, the centre was built within a short period (from February to September 1999). The value of the construction was more than US$ 3 million. At this phase 100 working places have been created at �Toyota Centre Zhetisu�. According to the JV head, in future the number of working places will be increased. The new service station with the area of 1 hectare is located near the crossroad Tashkentskaya-Saina.
On the same day a representative of the leading company �Toyota� handed out a certificate, confirming the status of the service station, to the heads of �Toyota Centre Zhetisu�. This status, according to Mr. Toshiharu Fukushima, means the availability of proper equipment, as well as a specially trained team of technicians and mechanical engineers, mobility and optimal location of the premises, a high servicing level and Japanese management. Alongside with unique diagnostic and repair equipment, the station has a large spare parts warehouse.
Japanese and local businessmen announced their plans to realise their dream (establishment of their own car production) in Kazakhstan. The Japanese party supposed, the initial phase of this project might be production of spare parts and fittings, the second phase � cars assembling, and the third one � car production. Representatives of the company stated, to organise the car production the annual demand of the market should be 100 thousand of cars. However, the present demand in Kazakhstan is significantly lower, hence, any talks about a car produced in Kazakhstan are too earlier.
Japanese businessmen�s nearest plans are to establish the company�s filling station and the children�s auto-club.
October 22, 1958 West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
October 22, 1962 President Kennedy announced an air and naval blockade of Cuba, following the discovery of Soviet missile bases on the island.
October 22, 1978 negotiators for Egypt and Israel announced in Washington they had reached tentative agreement on the main points of a peace treaty.
October 22, 1981 the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization was decertified by the federal government for its strike the previous August.
October 23, 1915 25,000 women marched in New York City, demanding the right to vote.
October 23, 1942 during World War Two, Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in Egypt.
October 23, 1943 the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.
October 23, 1958 Boris Pasternak was named winner of the Nobel Prize in literature. (However, Soviet authorities pressured Pasternak into relinquishing the award.)
October 23, 1978 China and Japan exchanged treaty ratification documents in Tokyo, formally ending four decades of hostility.
October 24, 1901 Anna Edson Taylor, a 43-year-old widow, became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
October 24, 1971 the UN General Assembly voted to admit mainland China and expel Taiwan.
The Kosteyev State National Museum. Exhibition of S. Kalmykov, I. Itkind, and V. Eifert�s works, and Rudolf Nuriev�s painting.
From 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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