Armenia - Inexplicable Երևան

OK, we want to apologize for that St. Kitts station. That was awful. Let's forget that ever happened and continue our journey around the world via radio waves and visit Armenia!

squeezed on in there in midst of the crazy.

Located in those politically boiling Caucuses, Armenia is a small nation of only a little over 3 million. They've got a HUGE and very vocal diaspora of about 8 million folks who've contributed a lot to modern culture. From color TV and the first cloned mammal to moon rovers and plastic surgery, including astrophysics, economics, x-rays, artificial intelligence, the Kardashians, chess masters, and so much more. There's so much that has come from the populace and descendants of such a tiny country!

 armenia's representatives to the world...

Armenia was the first nation to officially adopt Christianity as their state religion, decades before Constantine did his thing with the Roman empire and the conversion of the masses. The Romans did rule Armenia for a while there and were only one in a long string of other empires to do so. Other empires who held Armenia under their thumb: Assyria, Greece, Rome, Byzantine, Arabia, the Mongols, Persians, Ottomans, and most recently Russians.

 

armenians trading with mongols before things (inevitably) take a turn for the worse.

That diaspora we mentioned earlier is the result of encroachment by those empires. The two biggest diasporas were the most recent. The Armenians lost so much of their land to the Ottoman empire around WWI that the modern state ended up being about a sixth of its previous size. There was a nasty genocide of around a million people starting in 1915, before Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the modern state of Turkey.

yup, we've totally talked about this guy before, except we liked him the last time around.

The Armenian genocide was the first modern genocide and is the second most studied mass killing after the Holocaust. It's a major friction point between Armenia and Turkey. Turkey refuses to acknowledge that it occurred and gets pissed off when other nations officially recognize that it happened. The powerful Armenian diaspora lobbies the governments of the countries that they live in to recognize its occurrence. Boy does Turkey get PISSED when that happens. America is getting really, really close to acknowledging it, and Turkey is none too happy.

 get it? it's a mad turkey? ha ha.. hum. uhhhh, it's a pun.

That diaspora has a lot of sway and is integral to understanding modern Armenia. Unfortunately, we've got a lot of shit to do and can't dive into it much further. We hate that cop out, but it's true.

Briefly, we're in the capital and largest city in Armenia, Yerevan (Երևան). The city was founded in 782 BC and have been going strong for 3000 years. Sure puts American's oldest continuously inhabited city of St Augustine to shame; they're only 446 years old!

We sincerely hope you enjoy the tunes and make sure to try the apricots while you're there!

 

Radio Aurora

Get ready for some hardcore American and EuroPop - Listen Here!

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St. Kitts and Nevis - Where it is Decidedly Not Snowing

Firstly, we'd like to apologize for our recent absence... There was a snowpocalypse that pretty much owned the East Coast. Ellen was trapped under 8 inches of snow and 2 inches of ice and had to walk to the grocery (uphill both ways) to get her beer. But, the sledding has been prime!

sleddddddding!

So, back to business. What did y'all think of Lithuania? "Meh," says Pinky.

We've been thinking about what region we haven't visited in a while. Haven't been to Central or South America in a bit, but if we're planning for longevity, we've gotta stretch those out. We really need to knock out some of those island nations. Maybe we'll do a Caribbean week soon or something.

For today (blizzard of the decade, day 4) let's tune in to some island music! Wanna head to St. Kitts and Nevis? Pinky's parents like to vacation there and his mom just takes pictures of goats.

we can almost feel the tropical heat from here!

Native Americans have been hanging out on the islands for about 5,000 years. When Columbus pulled up in 1493, the Kalinago people (Carib) had been there for a few hundred years. The French and English made their way to the islands over the next couple hundred years. Unlike other islands, the indigenous population allowed the Europeans to settle there. Bad idea. They were massacred shortly afterwards. 

we don't blame those europeans for not wanting to leave

The Brits and French used the islands as the center of their Caribbean expansionist efforts. Even though the Spanish kicked them out for a minute, the British ended up taking full claim in the early 1700's. Though they're geographically super close (2 miles apart), St Kitts and Nevis were governed as two separate islands until the late 1800's. Then the British were all "This is dumb. Shack up with Anguilla." This colonial/territorial/governing arrangement lasted for a little under 100 years at which point Anguilla split off and became it's own British state (where it remains today). But St. Kitts and Nevis are still stuck together. 

i don't think you need a spyglass to see that guy's head...

Nevis claims they don't get the support they need from St. Kitts, and it seems that there's a good bit of resentment between the two. Maybe St. Kitts dumps on Nevis because they're jealous about Alexander Hamilton. He was born there around 1757 or so and ended up getting his face on the American $10 bill. We all know the federalism stuff and the duel story, so let's move on. 

just seeing his face makes us want to go buy crap at dollar general.

Nevis has tried to split off, but the referendum failed. They still are constitutionally allowed to succeed, after a few provisions are met. Will it happen? We dunno. Ok, so St. Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983 (the same year we were born) and became the youngest sovereign state in the Americas. Yay for our birth year buddies!

Ok, let's tune in and see what's happening down there. Enjoy!

ZIZ Radio LIVE Stream

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Note from the Snowed in Editors: Do yourself a favor and just listen to another station. It started out with some decent reggae this morning, but is just awful narcissistic club music right now. Check back later in the afternoon and enjoy something else for now. We'll be in Seychelles...

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Lithuania - If Only We'd Made it to Kaunas

OH SHIT! We totally overslept!! Looks like our post-holiday coma went a little longer than expected!

It's time to get on the plane and get ourselves back into the swing of things. Y'all wanna tune in to Lithuania? Let's go!

dark green dot, here we come!

Pinky and Kesi spent a brief time in Lithuania about a year ago. After a nervous moment at the border crossing, they were let through. Ever used a bus station bathroom lit by black-light? They did, and it was weird. At that same bus station, Kesi ate one of the grosser meals Pinky's ever seen and he's eaten some bizarre shit. Pinky got a sub-par chicken sandwich and Kesi was a little jealous. This bus stop also had the exact same picture of Monument Valley in Arizona covering every surface of the wall. Poster-sized, like 40 of them. That was weird.

It was night time and they thought the bus station would be closer to town, so they weren't able to walk around Vilnius. Bummer too, cause it's supposed to be the kind of place that's just up our alley and one of the weirdest countries on earth. For example, they have a statue of Frank Zappa that was unveiled with a military band and fireworks! It's outside a gynecology clinic. Zappa never visited the country and has absolutely zero connection to it. 

"stupidity is the basic building block of the universe." - frank zappa

When the Lithuanian basketball team unexpectedly beat Russia and won the bronze in the '92 Olympics, they wore tie-dye t-shirts donated by the Grateful Dead to the awards ceremony! 

1992 was the best year ever!

And, Pinky really wanted to see Grūtas Park, unofficially known as Stalin World, where some guy took all the old Soviet statues and set them up in a park. He re-created a lot of gulag scenes in it too. There's also the hill of crosses; a tiny hill that's covered with hundreds of thousands of crosses. Crosses upon crosses upon crosses. You should look it up. It's bizarre.

teeny tiny picture, but you catch our drift.

Lithuania is a VERY proud country. At one point, on the cusp of the Renaissance, they were the largest country in Europe as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They're fiercely proud of that fact, and though their borders today are much smaller, they'll defend them with their lives. They fought the Nazis and the Soviets when each invaded their country. Lithuanian casualties were among the highest in Europe, from a very tiny country. 353,000 people. America lost 418,500. Lithuania lost about 90% of their Jewish population, too. When the Soviets invaded in the Baltic Offensive of '44, taking it from the Germans and re-establishing the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, they fought a 12 year guerrilla war. When the USSR's demise began, Lithuania was the first nation to declare independence while all the other nations were waiting to see what would happen.

Today, we're camped out in Kaunas, which is neither the largest city or the capital! They have the most amazing coat of arms, though. It's a bull. With a cross growing out of it's head. And, a penis. We're smitten.

Hurry up and tune in! We just heard "Memory" from the Broadway show, Cats, sung in Lithuanian. It's going to be a great day! Hope you enjoy this little hot-headed nation!

Pukas Radio

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