What a birthday

Russian stars, including Igor Krutoi, Dmitry Dibrov, Leonid Yarmolnik, Boris Moiseyev and Andrei Apollonnov-Grigoriev recently found themselves presenting the Rose Water awards. The Rose Water in question was Tatar pop star Alsou (this is the meaning of her name in Tatar) and the event was her 18th birthday. Alsou shot to fame after taking second place at the last year's Eurovision song contest.

Alsou's father Ralif Safin took the Best Papa award, beating competition from the likes of the Pope ("Papa Rimsky" in Russian). Singer Lolita Milyavskaya sang a version of Alsou's hit "Zimny son" about how wonderful a papa Safin is. The Best Mama prize went to Alsou's mother, Rosa.

Flamboyant gay singer Boris Moiseyev did a cover of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You," in honor of the nomination for Childhood Idol. Candidates for Best Brother included Marat and Safin, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.

Alsou herself has collected plenty of awards over the last year. That's why the event's organizers included a Prize for the Best Prize, the nominees for which were Swedish King Gustav, Prince Albert of Monaco and President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev. This was accompanied by a joke performance of the Olsen Brothers song that defeated Alsou in the Eurovision contest. The Olsen Brothers' roles were assumed by the composer and author of Alsou's songs, Vadim Baykov and Alexander Shevchenko.

Prizes also went to journalist Otar Kushinashvili, who has never written a word about Alsou, and the singer presented her own prize for Best Producer to her producer Valery Belotserkovsky. He performed a parody of Zemfira's song "Khochesh" and organized the whole event.

Almost the end for Konets Filma singer

Popular Estonian group Konets Filma, now based in Moscow, almost lost their lead singer Yevgeny Feklistov recently, according to information agency Kushnir Production.

Feklistov and his friends were trying out the fairground rides in a St. Petersburg park and decided to get their thrills on the roller coaster. Feklistov made the mistake of taking his sports bag with him on the ride. Just when the carriages reached top speed, the bag slid out from under the metal barrier, he grabbed after it and began sliding out.

The fairground workers saw someone dangling from the carriage 100 meters above them and tried to stop the ride. But this turned out to be impossible to do and the workers had to wait for the carriages to slow down of their own accord. The only reason Feklistov didn't fall was that he had become tangled in the bag's straps, which were in turn caught on the edge of the carriage.

When the carriages had slowed to a crawl and reached a much lower height, the straps broke and Feklistov fell, bruising his back. Before he could even get to his feet, three fans ran up, not asking how he felt but clamoring for autographs. Lucky Feklistov said that if anyone sees a man with a blue back at the beach, that's him.

A birthday album

Singer Diana Gurtskaya, who was born blind, presented songs from her new album at her birthday celebration on July 2, at Metelitsa. A large number of friends came to celebrate, including singers Katya Lel, Natasha Korolyova, Murat Nasyrov and Shura.

By the end of the evening there wasn't much room left on the stage because of the number of bouquets of flowers and soft toys. Guests agreed that Shura, who arrived in transparent black silk pants and surrounded by crowds of his friends and lovers, made the biggest impression. Before joining the others, Shura – who was late – first instructed the administrator on how to make a beautiful bouquet of red roses.

The most original gift came from journalist Otar Kushanashvili, who presented Gurtskaya with a black puppy, saying he'd chosen it himself at the market in Mitino. Celebrations ended with the appearance of a cake. Gurtskaya blew out the candles with Kushanashvili and her brother and dancers.

"I don't like it when people feel sorry for me," Gurtskaya said, "but when I feel people's smiles around me and such a lot of warmth, I feel very grateful."