Save the eXile: Moscow’s old-fashioned Beast
B EAST founder, Vijai and the eXile go way way back, to the summer of 1997, and those gonzo days when whoring, smacking drugs, being obnoxious, slanderous, mean—and chasing slutty Russian dyevushki—seemed a literary pursuit. Hunter Thompson was still fresh in our minds, and the high-minded English daily, the Moscow Times, spurred vyked expat writers to reject the mainstream news feeds and go groping the belly of the Russian beast.
Having fallen out with eXile founder Mark Ames over girls and dirty underclothes (lol), the Moscow rag slandered me endlessly, printing club reviews under my name even when I had moved on to edit Russian Playboy in 1999. Given the country’s weak libel laws at the time, there was little that I could do. I just hoped that the loser, misogynistic writing that defined the rag would sink it eventually, and the magazine would go under, leaving sweaty, shy, frustrated Mark Ames without a job. Brave behind the computer screen, he’s actually shy in person, with an inferiority complex towards extroverted partyers. However, the eXile kept going and going … Until this week, that is.
Eleven years later, the eXile seems to be finally going bust. Hurrah. Moscow has moved on, to a more sophisticated nightlife scene, and a young generation that’s bored of endless talk about sluts and speed and hookers and dyevs and all the rest of the loserish 90s zeitgeist. Plus, Russia doesn’t want to be seen anymore as another country to be gleefully exploited by drugged-up Yanks.
However, we do feel a slight pang of regret that Moscow’s only alternative is out of vodka, and might have to go into exile. So, in a spirit of comraderie, with the old skool un-PC beast we also ask our readers to contribute to save the eXile. Click on the link above to donate.