"Seisky" - The Nickname

Valery was fascinated about finding out everything he could about America. One day, a documentary caught his attention and also spawned a nickname that has stuck with him throughout his life. It was a Soviet propaganda film about Moscow's famous "Moiseev Dance Company" first performance at Madisdon Square Garden in New York City. The highlight for Valery was a backstage guest appearance of Harry Belafonte after their final dance performance. He was singing "When The Saints Go Marching In".

Valery was mesmerized! The experience was so FANTASTIC that he spent the whole day at the theatre watching just to see and hear him singing this song. For the next five days, he skipped school and instead hid out in the movie theatre watching this film over and over again trying to remember the words, chords and Harry Belafonte’s singing style.

He would run home, grab his guitar and practice until he could play and sing that song absolutley the same as Mr. Belafonte. Finally, Valery was confident that he had his new song and sound down pat. The time had come to show off!

So, on a Saturday night, he grabbed his guitar and headed out to the central park near his home where a lot of young people would hang out.

When he started to play, the crowd got bigger. He played several songs, but they all wanted to hear was "When The Saints Go Marching In" over and over again.

From that moment on, his friends would drag him to the park to play that song. Because they didn’t speak English, they couldn’t say the name right. They shortened it to "Ohwhendusei" (Oh when the Saints). They started to nickname Valery, "Ohwhenduseisky". Later, they shortened the name even more, to "Seisky".

So, Valery got stuck with it, until he left USSR. Thanks Harry !