A friend who works as a journalist for the “Armenakob” television station called this morning, and after talking business began telling her opinion about the new ruling from the Culture Minister banning lip synching at concerts in Yerevan’s state-owned halls. “The funniest thing,” she said, “is the way the best known stars, who lip synch 90% of the time they are on stage, are rushing to say how good the new ruling is, how important it is that singers perform live, and the like. One of them, already quite highly paid, stated she would have to start charging more for her concerts, as now she’d be paying musicians whom she didn’t have to pay before, etc. She then went on to say, in a self-assured manner, that ‘people like to be deceived anyway,’ when talking about the concerts where lip synching rules.

“Amusing,” the journalist continued, “that these same singers lip synch at wedding receptions, with the going price ranging from $1,000-$3,000 per song, and they feel no remorse there. And they have the nerve to put themselves on some sort of pedestal, saying that those that pirate their CDs are criminals, when all they do is push a button, open their mouths, and collect their money. Not to mention the fact that they don’t pay taxes. Let them start to pay taxes for the money they make singing at concerts, and watch them cry.

“Another pop star held a press conference, and said that singing live is better, as she was always afraid that while lip synching the power would go out, or there would be some technical problem, and it would become apparent she wasn’t singing live. Another singer, who genuinely approves of the new ruling, complained about singers literally recording letter by letter, saying there was no way these singers could perform live, and they would slowly drop out of sight.

“But there is a negative side,” she said, laughing. “Did you see the concert for Women’s Day on March 8, with the Aram Merangulian Ensemble of Folk Instruments? Rouben Matevosyan, who directs the ensemble, for some reason invited only pop stars to sing, and they all sang live. It was a disaster. All of Yerevan was talking about it. Only Rouben and Arman Hovhannisyan sang well. Did you see how the singers suffered singing live? It would have been better for everybody if they hadn’t sung live. What a sad state of affairs.”

Baruyr Hayrikyan, known for his anti-Russia leanings, announced on television that government statistics have around 1,000 Armenians a year being murdered in Russia. A day after his declaration, news arrived that two Armenians were gunned down outside their house in St. Petersburg, cut down by machine-gun fire. “Every day 3-4 body bags show up at Zvartnots,” a neighbor said. “This is rarely admitted here. My mother said she was visiting a cousin in Moscow who lives in a high-rise apartment building, when one day she heard noise outside in the hallway. Afraid to go outside, she later learned that a Moscow-born Armenian had been beaten and kicked to death by a group of Russian thugs right outside his apartment, in full view of the man’s young son. And this,” our neighbor continued, “after her nephew was found in a river somewhere near St. Petersburg a year or so ago. And believe me, he wasn’t going swimming.”

A store owner in the city center told us that the tax people wanted to shut down a certain store (apparently someone with connections wanted to take over the store) and had tried everything, but couldn’t find any reason to shut him down, as he was doing everything legally, giving receipts to all customers, etc. All else failing, they had his power shut off, after which he couldn’t print the receipts, without electricity, so they shut him down for not giving receipts for purchases customers had made.

In stores in Armenia, each receipt for an item purchased has a number that is a potential prize winner, cash prizes of 5,000 dram on up, so many people are asking for, even demanding, a receipt, yet store clerks aren’t giving receipts unless the customer requests one. That way, if the store doesn’t issue a receipt, they don’t have to pay taxes on items sold. Of course, if a customer isn’t familiar to them, they give a receipt, worried that the customer might be a representative from a tax agency sent there to check up on them.

Related, word on the streets has it that when certain favored businessmen give goods to a store for sale, that by law they have to report how much the price is (how much the store owner pays the businessman for the item, before he then marks it up for selling), but that they turn in a sum of, say, 100 dram, even though the store owner gave the businessman 500 dram. In this way, the “favored businessmen” have to pay little taxes, while the store owner has to pick up the tab. The basic tax collector knows this, but, knows better than reporting the practice.

The latest joke going around Yerevan tells the reactions of Putin, Obama, and Serge Sargsyan when learning that the world will come to an end in a year.

“The bad news is the world is coming to an end in a year,” Putin tells the Russians. “But the good news is, we have a full year to drink vodka.”

On hearing the news, Obama tells the Americans “The bad news is, the world is coming to an end in a year. The good news is, we still have a year where we can work together, and try to make peace in the world.”

In Armenia, Sargsyan announces that the news is all good: “This means I will be president until the end of time,” he joyfully declares.

A friend with close ties to Echmiadzin told that Archbishop Nerses Bozabalian, nearly beaten to death by robbers, is now showing improvement, and will likely recover from the beating. “Most don’t know that Bishop Bozabalian was elected Catholicos, but the voting was falsified,” he said. “They say he was a unifier, and had plans to unite the various factions, political and otherwise, of the church. For some reason, this didn’t go over well, and he was denied becoming Catholicos.”

Today, without exaggeration, everybody in Yerevan was talking about the sudden dollar/dram exchange rate change. “Interestingly,” the accountant said, “they waited until the March 1 rally had passed. Then, today, until just before the Central Bank’s mid-day break, they changed the rate from 308 to nearly 400 dram per dollar. People with connections were told what was going to happen, and they went to the exchange shops where owners were forced to sell dollars for 308 dram. Then they changed the exchange rate, and went back and bought dram, making a killing. But the bad thing is that stores began marking prices up, sometimes by 20%, on basic, everyday items, butter, oil, flour, that sort of thing, which makes life almost impossible for the average person. Natural gas and gasoline are next, then other items will follow. You should have seen the look on people’s faces today. Everybody was in shock.”

“The struggle is good,” the intellectual said. “And it’s important. I only wish the leaders of the opposition were different people. I’m waiting for someone I can believe in. But I hope the turnout at the rally is big, so the president and his men understand, and see with their own eyes, that people are dissatisfied, and want change.”

As I walked up Mashtots, and saw that people were standing all the way down to Nairi Cinema, I knew the turnout was a large one. Making my way up to where the street turns and becomes Koryun (Srjanayin), I saw a group of about 100 university age students marching along the street, holding flags high and shouting “Ankakh Hayastan,” before winding their way through the crowd and up the stone steps towards the Matenadaran. As opposed to the rallies of several months ago, making one’s way to the top steps was difficult. The crowd seemed to be at least 50,000, as people were spread all over the surrounding hillsides and along the steps leading towards the top where Levon Ter Petrosyan and his people gathered.

Before introducing Ter Petrosyan, the speaker read the names of those who died on March 1 of last year, and then asked for a minute of silence. He then introduced Ter Petrosyan as “the president of Armenia.” The crowd, many holding banners and flags, began shouting “Levon, nakhagah…” The former president began by telling of Human Rights Watch’s recent declaration about the illegality and lack of justice of the government involving the trials and imprisonment of many involved in last year’s protests. I remembered one of my own reasons for coming to the rally, besides to remember those who died last year, that being the words of a higher up in the ruling party: “Why have a rally…all they should do is have a memorial evening of sorts…there’s no reason to hold a rally, all is well in Armenia.”

Having another engagement (a memorial for architect Armen Hakhnazaryan, a noted patriot who did much for the study and research of Armenian historical monuments, and who died recently), I had to leave the rally early, barely making my way down Mashtots, as men and women, old and young, continued to make their way up the hill towards the Matenadaran.