RUSSIA/UKRAINE JOURNEY 2002

August 23 - September 6

Its not often that an American singer-songwriter gets the chance to sing his songs face-to-face with people on the other side of the planet.  Usually such an opportunity is afforded only to performing artists whose popularity has spilled into international markets.  Yet in the same six-month span when Steve Ducey quit his day job for a full-time music career, moved from Washington DC to San Diego CA, and got married for the first time, he was also given the opportunity to share his own "spiritually awake" brand of music in several different cities inside the former Soviet Union. 

Steve traveled with a group of UCRS ministers and practitioners (one being his wife, Mary Kay) to participate in a two-week intensive of meetings, seminars, and workshops at several different Science of Mind (SOM) spiritual centers across Russia and the Ukraine.  Steve provided the music at the scheduled events (in addition to many unscheduled performances), showcasing his original material before some very interested Russian audiences.  Steve also brought a guitar specifically for this trip that would be donated to the final SOM center the group visited in the Ukraine.

Steve and Mary Kay joined the other American group members in Moscow on Sunday, August 25th.  Not yet acclimated to the eleven-hour time change from San Diego, the group then flew another one-thousand miles eastward on Monday to Izhevsk attending a five-day SOM conference at a retreat center located in the midst of a lush birch forest.

Each morning the SOM conference began with a prayer circle at 8:00 am, followed by 30 minutes of outdoor aerobic exercise, neither of which were ever attended by Steve.  Although he often slept past breakfast, Steve always made it to the auditorium by 10:00 am to meet the day's musical needs, despite whatever measure of distraction he encountered along the way.  Being an American with a guitar seemed to generate considerable interest among the younger Russians attending the conference, and Steve was often "persuaded" to give impromptu performances.

On stage in Izhevsk.

On stage with Natasha (one of our interpreters).

Steve and his wife Mary Kay (center) with new Russian friends.