From 1 June 2018: I dunno, watching 6 years of The Americans put me in an operational frame of mind…so I’ve been looking back at puzzling scenes and scenarios throughout my own life, trying to put the pieces together into recognizable shape…
Above: The Concertgebouw perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s fetching and popular Jazz Suite No 2 VI, Waltz II called in our house “The Spies’ Waltz” because that’s what it sounds like
For example, that strange meeting in Loring Park under the statue of 19th century Norwegian violinist Ole Bull—was that really Mr Ray getting debriefed by a State Department/CIA guy? He always struck me as a little too European for our little Midwest hidey-hole (Minneapolis) anyway, not to mention his Russian was really, yummily good. Almost everything I know about Russia and the Russian language I first learned from Mr Ray and no one else, not even Mamoulian or Anthony Burgess.
I took Russian from Mr Ray for two years (1967-69), during which time: 1) I graduated from junior to senior high; 2) Mister Grumble was drafted, sent overseas and got shot at by the Ruskies; then halfway in 3) there were the assassinations of Martin and Bobby; and then to top it all off, 4) Richard Nixon finally gets elected president. Some ride, huh? I got in on some of the weirdness of that era, this is just one little piece.
From 6 Romances by Pyotr Tchaikovsky: No.6 
"I'll Be Dead Before You Break My Heart" 