The Timezone ProjectThe Timezone Project was created by Jon Humboldt Gates and brought to fruition through his explorations, lead-ership and diplomacy over a period of ten years, from 1982-1992. The Timezone Project was a ground-breaking collaboration between musicians in Moscow, Russia and Humboldt County California that occurred before and during the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Soviet Union. The project culminated in a record release and series of U.S. concerts in 1992.

Gates, who’d studied Russian language at Humboldt State University, traveled extensively in Soviet Russia and Ukraine, starting in 1984. During numerous solo travels to the USSR, he privately met musicians along the way, forged ties at concerts and on the streets and ultimately organized a cadre of Russian players who formed the Russian half of the Timezone Project. The U.S. musicians in the project were comprised of Gates’ hometown con-nections in Humboldt County – 300 miles north of San Francisco - where he’d played in bands for years and his family had been there since the 1880’s.

Prior to Moscow, the Timezone Project was initially begun in Kiev, Ukraine. Gates had met a blind musician and his

wife at a bus stop in that city in 1984. He had a band and Gates played with them on several occasions, introduc-ing the Timezone Project in 1987. Though the parties and music created memorable times, after four trips to Kiev it became increasingly clear that the Kiev recordings lacked professionalism and vision. The Timezone Project was on the edge of failure.

In early 1990, in a last ditch effort to make Timezone happen, Gates packed his demo tapes and song sheets and headed back to Russia to try to find a Moscow musician - Kostya Baranov. They’d met on an earlier trip while Gates was in Moscow. Gates vaguely knew where his apartment was located. He hadn’t heard from Kostaya and Baranov didn’t know Gates was coming to Russia.

The trip started out with great misfortune. Upon arriving at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport from Finland, Soviet border police found a mistake in Gates’ entry visa, barred his entry and forced him to fly back to Helsinki. He was the only person on that return flight. He was depressed. Gates wandered around Helsinki over the weekend, wait-ing for the consulate to open Monday and felt enormous self doubt creeping in about the whole Timezone Project idea. It was seeming more and more like a hollow pipe dream. After straightening out his visa papers and sleeping in a soccer stadium to save money, Gates boarded a train in Helsinki, bound for Moscow. His mind was in a swirl from jet lag, consulate exchanges and the mounting sense of futility of ever finding Baranov in Moscow, let alone recording a music project in Russia.

Then, the thunder clap of destiny hit. Gates stood in the train corridor face to face with a musician carrying guitars. It was Baranov. They shouted and jumped around. Baranov dropped his guitars as they met in a bear hug. They had identical train tickets from Helsinki to Moscow. For the same cabin. Baranov’s Moscow band, including four of the musicians who would eventually play for Timezone, was returning from a Swedish concert tour. It was a sign, they all agreed. From that moment aboard the Helsinki-Moscow train, the Timezone recording sessions began amidst a remarkable celebration of fate.

Gates carried recordings on reel to reel tape multiple times in and out of the Soviet Union, each time adding parts to the songs. All songs were co-written by Gates with Russian and American musicians and recorded in both Russian and American studios; Mamonov Recording and MDM Recording in Moscow and Humboldt Records in Trinidad, California. The album is titled “Lost Nations” and was mixed at Russian Hill recoding in San Francisco, California.

During the Timezone recording sessions in Moscow in August 1991, President Gorbachev was arrested by a So-viet military junta. Thousands of Moscow citizens flooded Freedom Square in protest. Yeltsin stood on a tank. The Timezone recording sessions were halted. Everyone went to the streets and the barricades. After an initial clash near Freedom Square, the military backed off and Gorbachev was released. The Timezone sessions resumed. Gates wrote the song “Barikada” from the events he witnessed that night at Freedom Square.

On December 3, 1992, The Timezone Project performed live for three nights at Humboldt State University’s Van-Duzer Theater in Arcata, California. It took a substantial amount of diplomacy and money from multiple sources to bring seven musicians from Moscow to Humboldt County California for a month of rehearsals. HSU’s Center Art’s program provided invaluable support to make the event happen, along with a grant for international travel costs from the Soros Foundation. The nightly rehearsals provided undeniable evidence that there truly is a universal lan-guage of music. Most the Russians spoke no English and most the Americans spoke no Russian. Yet composition and arrangement decisions in rehearsals were not compromised and were exchanged freely. The joy of connection onstage was proof positive.

In 2005, videotapes of the HSU VanDuzer Theater Timezone Concerts were edited down by Robby Jarvis of Humboldt Records who was in-tegral to the entire Timezone Project. That recording was released as a limited edition DVD by Moonstone Publishing in September 2005.

In 2015 Bill Laswell released on his MOD Technologies label six of the songs from Timezone’s Lost Nations album that he reconstructed and translated into extended compositions.

1. Kolomenskaya(Gates/Baranov)

This instrumental was inspired by many visits to Kolomenska-ya, a 16th century monastary and Tzarist estate that stands in Moscow on a hill overlooking the Moscow River. I found this place to be an area of solitude as I often visited there and strolled in the forests or along the waterway. At Kolomenska-ya, one could sit in the grass and in a single glance see Moscow’s skyline, river boats, some small farms, and the bell towers of the Church of Ascension.

2. Red Planet(Gates/Hough)

In San FranciscoWhen the sun goes downTwo loversBound together Sparks and diamondsIn the nightThey look to the western sky Beyond the towersOf the Golden Gate Heart guided Dream survivors Moving towardA distant light

Bound in imagination They travel beyondBeyond their fearsBeyond their limitations They believe in the futureAnd the power of co-creation Taking a giant stepJourney to the red planetTaking a giant step Journey to the red planet

While over in MoscowIt’s just before dawnLena and children Looking out a windowFrom an apartmentNear Pushkin SquareA lost starOn the horizon A vision of hope In her eyesShe’s a woman For the future She’s a creator Of life

Bound in imagination She travels beyondBeyond her fearsBeyond her limitations She believes in the futureAnd the power of co-creation Taking a giant stepJourney to the red planet

SkyriderSurrounded by the night Moving fasterThan the speed of sound Following a distant light

SkyriderJourney into the unknown Crossing an oceanFloating in spaceThousands of miles from home

SkyriderNo political boundaries Looking down on the planet Only earth, clouds, and the seas

3. Black Sea(Gates/Hough)

From out of the darkness Under the stars and sky She walks over dark water The MoonSilver in her eyes

ZemchuezheenaPearl on the Black Sea(Chernaya Morya) Zemchuezheena,Pearl On the Black Sea (Chernaya Morya)

Life was failing all around her White pillars crumbling into sand Reaching over burning waters She holds the pearl in her hand

Zemchuezheena,Pearl On the Black Sea (Chernaya Morya) Zemchuezheena,Pearl On the Black Sea (Chernaya Morya)

Heart beating she awakens Ancient drumsIn the desert singCan’t live in this world A world without love Ne-zhivu, biez lyouboi Can’t live in this world A world without love

4. Siberian Crossing(Gates/Starostin/Hotin)

The rhythm track for this song evolved from the meditative clack of railroad wheels over the thousands and thousands of rail joints across Siberia and Russia. I rode the train for eight days, 24 hours a day, listening to that sound. The vocals for Siberian Crossing were a spontaneous creation. Sergei Sta-rostin arrived in the Moscow recording studio after a month in the Siberian countryside. His vocal is a combination of tradi-

tional influence, mixed with his own impressions of homeland and the vast expanse of Siberia. Later, in California, Joyce Hough added her vocal at the end of the song, improvising with the names of the great Siberian rivers like the Lena, Ang-ara, Yenesei, and Ussuri.

5. Tadzhik Thunder(Gates/Timezone East)

The imagery for this song grew from the tension of Western and Middle Eastern cultures during the Gulf War. We were recording in Moscow shortly after that event, and a very interesting drum-mer, Zhavad,” from the Soviet Republic of Tadzhikistan, joined the Timezone Project. This recording was taken from a live jam session with Zhavad on drums. We titled this piece, Tadzhik Thunder. in recognition of his Middle Eastern heritage.

6. Lost Nation(Gates/Hough/Baranov)

Waukon Atillisa Where’s Osceola? Waukonsa Okoboji And the RiversWyaconda?I’m tuning the world On my car radio Traveling backcountry Iowa RoadsHighway mapLying on the seat Place names like Tama and Powesheik Next sign saysLost Nation ahead And I’m thinking PotsherdsAnd Arrowheads

IOWA - WaupetonDriving through Lost Nation IOWA - WaupetonDriving through Lost Nation

Thought I heardThe voice of Osceola A vanished cry Centuries oldBut it was just a Radio evangelist His civilization Falling in the abyssAnother sign he says Lost Nation ahead And I’m thinking PotsherdsAnd arrowheads

Waukon OskaloosaWhere’s Osceola? Waubaunsee - Early Day Thunder at Decorah

7. You Don’t Know...(Gates/Hough)

Old man, clear blue eyes Reflecting his lifeHe was raised in a company townWhere he got married and settled down30 years, working in the mill Raising a family in the house he builtBut the mill closed, his wife passed awayHis daughters live in another stateSo he went to the cityTook a room on an avenue

Now he moves to the urban beatSitting alone, walking the streetHe sees TVAs the World TurnsWeek after week

A hurried voice on a very thin lineSays I’d love to see you when I have timeThe old man says, I understandIt’s a modern world,You’ve got to move fastHe switches to another stationA prisoner of isolationHe laughs when he talks, and tells me whenHis neighbors used to be his best friendsBut that was a long time ago Now he’s got remote controlYou don’t know what you’re losingYou don’t know what you’re losingYou don’t know...

There’s an old woman, a world apartWith six white geese, a wounded heartWe met on a country road 300 miles out of Moscow She was sitting on a bench Under a chestnut treeSelling apples and tending her geeseWe talked about life in the countrysideSurrounded by farmlands and blue skyBut there was a haunted look etched in her faceAs she took me to her garden gate

She lives in a Russian town Where she’s seen warAnd blood on the groundShe lost her husband, and both sonsNear Kalinin in ‘41

Fear on her face, she doesn’t understandA president’s joke about bombing her landShe gave me flowers, held my handSaid we must live in peace my friendI couldn’t hold back the tears insideFeeling the pain in this woman’s lifeShe said, please tell your friendsWe don’t want to fight again

8. To Answer!(Gates/Zhuravlev)

Lyrics: V. Mayakovsky - 1917

It roars and it rattles, the war’s big drumDemanding life to be spitted on iron,Slave after slaveFrom all countries come To handle the steel their fellows die on.What for?

The earth trembles, Unclothed, Unfed;Man splashes in the bloody bath like a zany.Only that somebody SomewhereShould getHis pocketful of Albania.

Human packs grapple with blood thirsty yells,Slash after slash the earth’s hide flay,JustFor somebody’s shipsTo pass the Dardanelles FreeOf Pay

SoonThe earthWon’t have a rib left whole, They’ll tear out her soul, too, Maul-ing and maiming her For the only purpose that somebody shouldHaul inA netful of Mesopotamia. In the name of what, RoughshodBoots through the cities crash?Who’s in the sky of battle? Liberty?God? Cash? You,Whose life is their sacrifice, When will you rise,Upright and mighty,And fling your query right in their face:WHY AREWE FIGHTING?

10. Rodina(Gates/Starostin)

This song is about the place we all come from: the earth. Sergei Starostin’s vocal is based on a traditional Russian folk song. The background voices are spoken in Chinese, Rus-sian, and the Hindi dialect from India, The Russian and Indian phrases were originally spoken by cosmonauts who traveled into space and looked back at the earth, and later reflected on their cosmic visions of rodina - the motherland.

“My mental boundaries expanded when I viewed the earth against a black and uninviting vacuum, yet my country’s rich traditions had conditioned me to look beyond manmade boundaries and prejudices. One does not have to undertake a space flight to come by this feeling.’

Rakesh Sharma – India Spoken by: Shalini Krishnamachari

Night, and we had crossed the Atlantic. We came upon Eu-rope. Below were a multitude of silver sparks. They formed a glorious glittering carpet. Finally, a shimmering star with radi-ating highways appeared against a background of this carpet; I had seen Moscow.’

Alexsandr Laveykin – Russia Spoken by: Sergei Kalachev

10. Barikada(Gates/Hough/Hotin)

I stood in the rain and the smokeShaking from cold fear Loudspeakers echoed reports Strikes in the Baltics and SiberiaIt was dangerous in the city that nightAround Freedom SquareWar machines, curfew on the streetsDefiant crowds shouting, Hurrah!Pouring from the metro stationBarikadnaya

Gunshots, ringing out150,00 stood for human rights It was blood against steelThe iron wheelAn echo from the Tiananmen Wenceslas Square, Bucharest Berlin to Vilnius

But I hadn’t come to lay down my lifeFor a political systemCouldn’t trust the wordsOr the situationBut I felt the hope, slipping awayIn every voice, and every face Fear risingSo I went to the barricades

Lyoudi, Na Barikadax, Na BarikadaxLyoudi, Na Barikadax, Lyoudi, Na Barikadax, Na Barikadax

Jon Humboldt Gates – Electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string and solo guitars, thun-der drum, voices

TIMEZONE EAST –Konstantine Baranova – Electric and acoustic guitars, percus-sion, voicesPavel Hotin – KeyboardsSergei Starostin – Lead vocals, panpipes, ruzhoakIger Zhavade-Zade – Drums, percussionSergei Kalachev – Bass, percussion, voicesVladimir Missarzhevki – Artistic collaborator, voicesDmitri Kononenko – DrumsIger Zhuravlev – Solo guitar, percussion, voicesInna Zhelaniya – Backing vocalsVolodya Kruglov – Solo guitar

TIMEZONE WEST –Joyce Hough – Lead vocals, backing vocals, rhythm guitarRobby Jarvis – Keyboards, drumsSteve Berman – Balalaika, folk percussionBrooks Otis – Pedal steel guitarGary Davidson – BassFrancis Vanek – Soprano saxophonePaul Demark – PercussionRichter Replogle – Keyboards