GREETINGS COMRADES: Three of the five members of Avtograf, the Soviet band now on its first U.S. tour, took time out for a weekend shopping spree in New York before doing interviews for MTV and "The Today Show." Their biggest question about the Big Apple: "How do you choose which restaurant to eat in?" As for Los Angeles, they loved the city and were overwhelmed by the sunshine, but they were less than impressed by L.A. radio. Bass player Leonid Gutkin says he taped several hours from three different L.A. hits outlets, "but they all sounded just the same." The U.S. in a word, according to Gutkin: "Friendly."
March 5, 1988
Billboard, Vol. 100, No. 10