Mikhailov, Nikolai Dmitrievich

Born March 28, 1953 in Leningrad . “He was an October student , a pioneer and a Komsomol member . It did not work out with the CPSU ” ^[1] .

Together with his family he moved to Estonia and lived in Kohtla-Järve , from where he returned to Leningrad after graduating from school, having entered the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute in 1970 ^{[2] [1]} .

Always interested in music ^[2] , therefore, simultaneously entered the music school. Rimsky-Korsakov class flute ^[1] . He made his debut on stage with the group "Rainbow", which played dances in Krasnoye Selo and its environs ^[2] . The path of the musician wrote about his path: “The musical path is traditional - school, army and student VIA” ^[1] .

For two years he was in charge of the musical part of the student theater of the Polytechnic Institute ^[1] and even played individual roles there ^[2] .

In the spring of 1978, the theater needed a whole electric composition to stage the play “ The Word of Igor’s Regiment ”, for which the musicians of the Orion group were involved. After six months of collaboration, the theater and the group went their separate ways, but the name “Orion” was banned by that time, so at the beginning of 1979 a new group, which included Mikhailov as a saxophonist and flutist ^[3] , was called “ Picnic ” . A little later, at the suggestion of Mikhailov, his fellow practitioner at the music school, flutist Yuri Danilov joined the Picnic. “Picnic” was then based in the club of the village of Gorelovo , where Mikhailov's then-wife worked ^[2] .

Together with Mikhailov, “Picnic” joined the Leningrad Rock Club organized in early 1981 ^[2] . On March 7, the Picnic group opened the very first concert of the Rock Club on the stage of LMDST. Soon he leaves the group ^[3] . After that he planned to join the Tech.Help group, but the group breaks up ^[4]

In September of the same year, Mikhailov, who was ready to make tactical compromises and had nothing to do with the underground show business, was elected to the second council of the Rock Club, and in 1982 ^{[1] was} elected chairman (president) ^[2] .

Having become an administrator, Mikhailov threw music, although occasionally performed on the club stage with his own songs, but found himself in the colloquial genre, regularly anticipating group performances with his witty speeches ^[2] .

As Andrei Burlaka noted: “in the first half of the 80s, when the party nomenclature was desperately struggling with any manifestations of dissent, including the passion for youth of rock music, the ability to smooth out conflicts, find compromises, conduct conversations in high offices and generally maneuver between the Soviet hammer power and an anvil of rock and roll freestyle was invaluable - therefore, Mikhailov was elected president of the club several more times in a row, although in 1986 he nearly lost his post when young groups dissatisfied with prosperous club protectionism and vkusovschina, tried to take power into their own hands. " ^[2]

With the development of perestroika, Mikhailov was mainly engaged in establishing contacts with state institutions, representatives of Western show business and mass media. He also became the manager of the " Games " group, with whom he went on tour in the USSR and Europe. But the onset of perestroika gave a negative result for the rock club. Thus, in the second half of the 1980s, the main “stars” of the rock club, “ Kino ” and “ Alisa ” moved to Moscow and, moreover, rock musicians increasingly preferred large concert venues to the rock club ^[2] , which as state control weakened, it was increasingly losing its original unique status as the only place in Leningrad where it was possible to legally perform and listen to rock music.

In the fall of 1988, Nikolai Mikhailov actually closed the Rock Club as an association of independent musicians, creating the youth music center “Leningrad Rock Club” under the roof of LMDST, which in the eyes of the general public became the successor of the former rock club ^[2] .

Listening and admission of new members to the Rock Club continued; in addition, Mikhailov organized several European-sponsored groups on tour in Europe, however, as Andrei Burlaka notes, “in general, his influence on the musical life of new Petersburg was insignificant . ”

By the end of the 1990s, despite the efforts of Mikhailov, all activity in the courtyard of the historical mansion on 13 Rubinstein, came to naught ^[2] .

In the fall of 2000, he organized the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Rock Club at the Yubileiny Sports Palace, although the festival program included mainly artists of the 1990s with little relation to this date ^[2] .

January 18, 2008 in the premises of the Palace of Culture named after Tsyurupy on Obvodnoy, participated in a meeting discussing the possibility of a revival of the Leningrad Rock Club ^[5] .

April 9, 2008 in the bar "Oxygen" took part in the first after a long break press conference of the Leningrad Rock Club ^[6] .