Draft:Mikhail Loov

Mikhail Loov is a «simple man without any "vyebons"», in particular: a poet, translator, songwriter, enthusiast of feminism. Also known as M.S.Loov, Misha Loov.

Mikhail Loov is a «simple man without any "vyebons"», in particular: a poet, translator, and songwriter. Also known as M.S.Loov, Misha Loov, Михаил Лоов.

Biography

He was born on October 25, 1986, in the city of Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), in the princely family of Loovs, an old aristocratic dynasty.

He studied philosophy and art theory at the Royal College of Churchill (UK), graduated in 1998. He studied philology at the Royal College St. Lawrence (UK) and graduated as an external student in 1999. Graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Culture and Arts in the field of literary & library science, publishing buisness (2008). In parallel with his studies, he worked as a restaurant musician and a member of orchestras. He wrote cringe-worthy articles in the yellow press, pulp fiction under various pseudonyms.

In 2007-2009, he owned a little vinyl record store (located in St. Petersburg, on Rimskogo-Korsakova str. and Sadovaya str.).

He was the first and, to this day, the only translator of many underground, mystical, and occult books from the West in Russia. Among the books translated by Loov are works by authors such as: David Stuart Leslie, Robert Martin, Joseph L. Chadwick / John Creighton, and Gavin Greenlees; poems, magazine articles, and diaries by the magical realism artists Bridget Tichenor, Remedios Varo, and Dora Maar; autobiographies by the directors Larry Buchanan and Curtis Harrington; not the first translator of Anaïs Nin, the surrealist Alice Rahon, «The Witch of Kings Cross» Rosaleen Norton, Leonora Carrington, and Dragana Bukumirovic; translator and correspondent for the occult expert Neville Drewry. And many other authors.

In 2010, New York-based philologist, designer and artist Anna Lifshits made a documentary about Mikhail Loov «Otmuchen and ispet…» (quoted from a poem by a classic of literature, the founder of the St. Petersburg underground, Roald Mandelstam), and an experimental film «Evil spirits gathers again» (quoted from a poet and artist, sexual mystic Vladimir Kovenatsky).

He played himself in the film by Professor Lene Markusen of the Hamburg Higher School of Fine Arts about St. Petersburg arts (2015).

He won the «Zvezda magazine» award (May 2016). Winner of the «Intellectual Outsiders» Magazine Award (December 2017). Winner of the First international award «Georgievich Award. With Gratitude from Humanity!» (February 2020).

2018-2022 – methodologist at the home crisis center for women «Uzda Gimeneya» Fem-club (founders are pensioner Valery Georgievich Petrov and blockade survivor Zinaida Semenovna Bilitis).

In 2018, in St. Petersburg, he founded the «Eltdown Shards», Unlimited liability society (it was titled randomly, hastily, based on Lovecraft's stories) for a regular installation of commemorative miniature shards on houses where great cultural and countercultural figures of the city lived in the 1950s and 1970s (the first two plaques were installed in 2013 and 2015).

Since about the autumn of 2019, he has been living a reclusive lifestyle, rarely appearing in public.

At various times, he worked as a janitor, postman, courier, restaurant manager, music teacher, and teacher of Russian language and literature. Since 2012, he has never worked anywhere again, as he has not been accepted anywhere.

Since the early 2000s, he has recorded about a hundred albums, both solo and orchestral. Almost none of these albums have been officially published. The repertoire mainly includes street folklore from the 1910s to the 1980s, Odessa songs, Russian and American pop music from the 1900s to the 1970s, songs written by Loov, and instrumental music.

Mikhail Loov is the author of all the song lyrics in the «Fragmenti Nablyudeniy» ensemble (named after the film by Curtis Harrington), except for those mentioned separately. The band recorded about 20 albums at home, almost never appearing in public with full-fledged concerts.

He lives in Russia and Israel.

Discography

· 2006 – Mikhail Loov and «Chetire Brata and Lopata» («Four Brothers and Shovel») ensemble – «Cholera in Odessa» («Kismet Records» Co. New-York)

· 2024 – Mikhail Loov and «Leningradskiy Dixieland» («Leningrad Dixieland Jazz Band») – «On the Anniversary of Valery Georgievich» Concert at the Konstantin Stanislavsky State Palace of Theatre Arts («Mikhail Loov»)

· 2026 – Mikhail Loov and «Leningradskiy Dixieland» («Leningrad Dixieland Jazz Band») – «Svidanie v ponedelnik» / «Monday date» (St. Petersburg Recording Studio, «Melody» Firm)

External links

· Mikhail Loov Discography

· Loovs