For the last several years Russian-born singer-songwriter Marina V always
scheduled a stop in Springfield for a visit and a show right around the
Christmas holiday. During her 2007 yuletide stopover, the MacMurray College
graduate ended up in the hospital with emergency gallbladder removal surgery.
Everything turned out fine once the disgruntled organ was out of the picture,
but the experience left her “super paranoid about returning to Springfield during Christmas,” as she put it, and we were left with no Marina V sighting in all of 2008.
Fans of the talented performer, prepare to rejoice, for on April 13, the Monday
after Easter (what’s up with the popular Christian holiday thing?) Marina V, along with partner
Nick Baker, play at the Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation
(745 Woodside Rd, 217-585-9550,www.aluuc.org) at 7:30 p.m. Marina performs on piano and sings while Baker
accompanies on guitar and plays straight man. Besides the fact I am a fan of
Marina’s songs, one of the main reasons I write about her every year is the absolutely
fascinating things she manages to accomplish in her career. Ever since her
migration to Los Angeles circa 2004, the aspiring pop star keeps knocking out
amazing deeds, methodically working on her lifelong dream of making music a way
of life.
Last year marked the release of Modern Fairytale, a stunning collection of modern pop that is her most realized album to date.
In 2006 came Live at Soundmoves and in 2005 it was Simple Magic, with Russian Bootleg, a CD sung entirely in her native tongue tucked in there somewhere for good
measure. During her stay in LA, she’s worked with producer Jack Douglas, manager David Krebs and recorded in Graham
Nash’s home studio, plus traveled to play in the Czech Republic, England, Russia and
many areas of the U.S. Speaking of the good, old USA, Marina recently became an
American citizen and kept her Russian citizenship as well, making her quite
possibly the only singer-songwriter with dual citizenship to perform in the
area so far this year.
I asked her for a list of accomplishments since we last saw her in 2007 and,
besides the regular playing gigs out in sunny southern California and various
spots across the country (see them all at www.MarinaV.com), the self-described
workaholic performed at the world-famous Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, played
twice in Russia, once in Australia and opened for ’80s British pop star Howard Jones on the East and West Coasts.
Want more? Why not? She and Baker also managed a tour of France, performed at
the Russian Cultural Center (a part of the Russian Embassy) on Jan. 20 during
the Obama inaugural festivities, and she made a brief appearance playing piano
in a bar scene on the Fox network television show “Dollhouse.”Her song Sunshine Guaranteed is in the iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge, another song is in an upcoming Danny Lerner film and she co-wrote the theme
song for the documentary Fallen Idol: The Yuri Gagarin Conspiracy, narrated by actor Elliott Gould. The music video for her song Hope received a Hollywood Music Award nomination and she co-wrote a tune with
Emmy-winning songwriter Michele Vice-Maslin, who also produced Marina’s recording of the song.
And one more thing to add to the list: she’s recording a new album with a top LA producer named Guy Erez, whose credits
include the Gipsy Kings, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ryan Cabrera and, soon to be,
Marina V.
What else can I say? Marina is doing what it takes to make it in the music
business and seemingly keeps getting closer to the big time every year. And no
matter where it all ends, her journey is certainly an adventure. Lucky for us,
we get to watch.
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2009.
