Sandler revealed the secret of Slava Zaitsev: “He covered the negligee with a picture”

The end of the 70s, the Integral group performed in Moscow. Bari Alibasov liked to joke that “on Sandler’s bald head, the Integral group entered Moscow” … It was just the very first grand show in Moscow that we worked at the CSKA Sports Palace. The entire Moscow beau monde came to the concert. All groups, all underground workers, speculators, members of the CPSU. It was a famous scandalous show, powerful. Of course, Slava Zaitsev was present among the spectators, who could not miss the “event” unheard of at that time.

He was shocked (in an enthusiastic sense) by our show, where we used three types of smoke, pyrotechnics, dry ice, creeping smoke, backlight smoke for the first time, and we made light for him from aviation lamps, which we took at the Saratov Aviation Plant, where we worked my dad. I flew on parachute lines over the hall in smoke and strobe lights, we played country, progressive and psychedelic rock.

A lot of musicians and spectators who were in the hall came to meet us backstage after the concert, including Slava. It was his first time at a rock concert of this level, and he was not alone. True, this was not the case in the USSR at that time. Slava was very impressed and immediately offered to make costumes for us. He made sketches, which I then, of course, used. Dad brought a silver rubberized fabric from the factory, and according to Slava’s sketch, we sewed an alien costume with wings on the back from this fabric. It was very cool. Especially in those days when all vocal and instrumental ensembles (the so-called VIA) went on stage in the same costumes, sang the same uplifting songs about the party and the Komsomol, slightly diluting them with extremely combed love lyrics within the decency of the Moral Code of the builder of communism (then spiritual bonds), and suddenly such a cosmos appears on the stage, all of itself explosive, cosmopolitan, completely un-Soviet bright and provocative.

Silver shiny jacket with wings designed by Slava, ballet leggings (my first wife was a ballerina) and size 42 women’s Finnish boots, which I covered with sequins. The style is “made in on the knee”, since there were no design shops, as well as just decent stores with some kind of sane clothes in the USSR. Slava gave me black leather motorcycle gloves for this costume, and the most expensive part of this finished rock look was Ray-Ban glasses, which at that time cost 120 rubles from “hucksters and speculators” (the highest standard of the average monthly salary of a Soviet worker). And I covered my head with foil from Alenka chocolates, and in the light of the spotlights it all shone so that the journalists wrote about the “alien” in the Integral group, who works on the keys, and lasers shine from his head. There were legends about this costume throughout the Union, and all this “madness” began with Slava’s sketches.

From this acquaintance after the concert, our friendship with Zaitsev began. And after Slava discovered the vast world of rock culture and sewed costumes for many rock musicians. Almost all respected groups – from “Time Machine” to “Autograph” – turned to him then. Therefore, when they say that Slava Zaitsev is known only for the fact that Alla Pugacheva invented the famous hoodie, which, in fact, became her “second skin”, then this is a big delusion. He worked a lot with the underground and rock bands…

Since then, our friendship has continued until the last tragic day when Slava passed away, and it is full of bright, outstanding, touching, and even funny memories … Somehow he gave me another costume for the New Year, and I wanted it somehow then thank. At the same time my Alabai were whelping. I say to Slava: “Let me give you a kitten.” He replied: “Great, I have just two Caucasian Shepherds, and I wanted a third dog.” He has a large estate with a territory outside the city, and he needed dogs for protection. I bring him a puppy, such a good kitten. My assistant named him Basmach, Slava didn’t even rename him, so he remained Basmach. Gorgeous, black, thoroughbred. We sat, drank tea, I said: “Slav, come on, show your Caucasian shepherd dogs.” He leads me to the kennel, and from there jumps out such a small dog, an obvious cur, tail hooked, ears hanging. I say: “Glory, but this is a mongrel!” He replied: “No, they told me that he was Caucasian.” Slava was so trusting, sincere, he always trusted people, believed in any stories that he was told – literally childishly, naively … A couple of years later I gave him another kitten, and Slava called me all the time “a relative on the dog line “.

Once Slava fell unsuccessfully, injured his back, ended up in the hospital. Burdenko. Dad and I immediately went to him, brought fruits, food, sat for a long time, talked. Slava was lying there in a luxurious two-room ward, and he had a habit, if, God forbid, he went to the hospital, he always equipped all the wards – he hung his paintings on the walls, it was very cozy and comfortable. And Slava never let guests go without a gift. When my dad and I got ready to leave, he got up, took the biggest picture off the wall and gave it to me. We took a picture with this picture, but it was difficult for him to put on his pants, so he stood up with me in his shorts, and we covered his negligee with this picture. This is what is pictured…

Slava came to almost all my birthdays, festivals, he was especially struck by the Led Zeppelin 50th Anniversary festival in 2018. He didn’t feel very well then, but nevertheless he came, he was very impressed, he said that I hooked him on rock music and that he loves and supports my projects very much.

We worked a lot together in the Foundation for the Support of Gifted Children and Youth, together with I. Kobzon, L. Dolina, I. Larionov, I. Butman. We planned to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this important project in mid-May, which in many ways became a serious brand thanks to Slava. He always treated the younger generation with great trepidation and was generally involved with interest in a variety of projects, if they inspired him and seemed interesting. When we held the Miss Jewish Star beauty contest at the Metropol in 2014, he himself selected the costumes from his collection, came himself, did the girls’ hair…

For several years now I have been working on a multi-volume edition of The People Who Changed Music. Slava read these books with great interest and even wrote an introduction to one of the volumes, talking there about the influence of the modeling business on rock culture and vice versa … A whole gallery of his gifts, pictures he painted, costumes sewn for me will always remind us of our friendship with him . And the memory of how Slava was an incredibly talented, sincere and kind person will never be erased.

Eternal Memory and rest in peace to a friend, brother, teacher!

From the memoirs of Slava Zaitsev:

Many years ago, in the late 70s, I could not imagine how much rock music would affect me. At the end of January 1979, the Moscow journalist Ella Fedoseyeva brought me from Moscow to Leningrad to attend an underground concert of the Integral rock band, which was thundering throughout the Soviet Union. But she was not allowed into the capital, because the very concept of “rock” was then banned … It was a cool, absolutely incredible concert that inspired me so much that, under its impression, I worked excitedly on sketches of costumes for Integral for several nights in a row … To this day, I exhibit these works at my exhibitions and am proud of them … One of the brightest musicians on the stage was Igor Sandler, who masterfully controlled the keys and made a magnificent show, not only enthralling the audience, but also raising the question – who allowed him to do this? Nobody! After all, if everything is done at the behest and with permission, there will never be any progress, in any of the areas of human existence …