Mihai Bogdan Antonescu

Mihai-Bogdan Antonescu (born on July 1st 1965, Câmpina, Prahova County, Romania) is a Romanian journalist, political commentator, and music producer.

Journalist
Mihai Antonescu debuted on February 7th 1990 in the daily newspaper ‘Dreptatea’(The Justice), partisan of Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNŢ-CD), with an article about religion. He continued to publish anticommunist articles and materials with religious subject in the newspaper ‘Dreptatea’ and in the cultural periodic magazine ‘Renaşterea’ (The Resurrection).

In March he began to work at ‘Caţavencu’, weekly magazine of satire, pamphlet and political humour. He became Deputy Chief Editor in September and left the publication in January 1991.

Antonescu managed ‘Observator’ (The Observer) as Chief Editor, ‘Ceauşescul’ (The Ceauşescu) weekly satirical paper, ‚Foamea’ (The Hunger), and ‘Atac la persoană’ (Attack to Person) weekly tabloid as Deputy Chief Editor.

He published, edited or collaborated in/at: 'Strada’ (The Street), 'Phoenix’, 'Evenimentul Zilei’ (The Event of the Day), 'Lucifer’, 'România Mare’ (Greater Romania), 'Infractorul’ (The Lawbreaker), 'România Liberă’ (Free Romania), 'Veşti proaste’ (Bad News), 'Super rebus’, 'Orient’.

The Controversy of Anti-Semitism
In September 1998, as Deputy Chief Editor of the weekly tabloid „Atac la persoană”, Antonescu was indicted, prosecuted and convicted for a series of texts with anti-Semitic character published in 1997 and 1998 by the periodical.

The action began as a result of strong reactions of The Embassy of Israel in Bucharest and of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, reiterated by Cornel Nistorescu in an editorial in ‘Evenimentul zilei’. The letter of denunciation was signed by the Minister of Justice, Valeriu Stoica, and the indictment was signed by Mircea Criste, at the time General Attorney of the Republic. The indictment requested to the Prosecution Board the maximum charge, five years of imprisonment, plus an extra charge of two years for the extraordinary severity of the facts, and the interdiction to practice the profession of journalist, for the offence described and punished by Article 317 of the Romanian Penal Code, ‘nationalist chauvinistic propaganda’. Nobody else has ever been judged for this crime in Romania, neither before, nor after the Antonescu trial.

Mihai Antonescu was convicted by the Bucharest Court to a sentence of two years of conditionally suspended imprisonment, due to revision of the claim by the prosecutor of the session and to the relative gentleness of Judge Marin Cîrcel. The sentence remained definitive in January 2001, after the judgement of the highest appeal filed by Antonescu to the Romanian High Court of Cassation and Justice. That is when Antonescu made his exit of the press.

The photograph below was taken in court during the anti-Semitism trial of Mihai-Bogdan Antonescu in spring 1999.

The publication 'Atac la persoană’ continued to be released, and its manager and owner, the football manager Dumitru Dragomir, and the Chief Editor Dragoş Petre Dumitriu have been nominated on eligible places by Greater Romania Party to the elections for Parliament in 2004 and consequently became members of the Parliament on behalf of this political party. The weekly 'Atac la persoană’ has been subject to several transfers of property and still operates.

Antonescu never denied the anti-Semitic character of the texts that he signed, he refused to denounce the co-authors of the collective texts and based his defence on the fact that anti-Semitism is not described by the Romanian law, and that considering this attitude as nationalist-chauvinistic propaganda is inappropriate. Antonescu affirmed that, from the procedure point of view in his case, some press articles have been considered offence, piece of evidence and consequence at the same time.

Antonescu has also been convicted for the offences of calumny and insult (Art. 205 and 206 of the Romanian Penal Code) in 2002.

„Orient” Magazine
„Orient” was a magazine of Arab opinion and culture edited by Mihai Antonescu in his own name and distributed freely during 2001 and 2002.

The magazine released ten issues, and reached a number of 5200 copies at number 10.

Although it was not constituted as legal entity and was edited independently by a natural person, the magazine collaborated with the Romanian Public Television to two press journeys, the first one in Lebanon and Syria (2001) and the second one in Syria and Iraq (2002). The journeys have materialised into the television series produced by the Romanian Public Television – ‘Călător în Orient’ (Traveller to Orient)

The first of the two pictures below represents Mihai Antonescu in Rashidiya Camp, South Lebanon, and the second one represents, from left to right: Mihai Antonescu, Sandrino Gavriloaia - producer of cultural magazines at the Romanian Public Television, Maria Ţoghină (Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company), Marius Ţoghină, sound engineer with Radio Romania, Dan Sandovici, at the time Secretary of Romanian Embassy in Lebanon, at Hamra, Beirut. Both photographs were taken in 2001, in the first of the two press journeys.

Musical Producer
In 2007, Mihai Antonescu initiated the program „For the Record”, that aimed to help young Romanian musicians, authors and interprets of alternative music, and to ‘produce records whom nobody would have produced’.

In 2007, Mihai Antonescu established the recordings label “Roadrunner Music”. Roadrunner Music released, between summer 2007 and spring 2009, seven discs, out of which six albums and a compilation that contains songs of 14 bands, recorded at the “Next Dog” studio.

In 2009, Antonescu created a new label that was never registered in the National Registry of Recordings and never authorised by the Romanian Office of Copyright, named “Full Frontal Productions”.

This recordings house aimed to produce foreign bands, to bring artists from around the world to Romania and to export Romanian alternative music.

In order to promote these brands and, according to his own statements, ‘to manifest the frustration of the man who didn’t keep making music in his youth’, Antonescu formed a punk rock band, “Scout Astray”, with whom he had several concerts and recorded some dozens of songs.

Scout Astray
Scout Astray is a Romanian punk rock band founded in Bucharest in 2008, by Mihai Antonescu, the one who composed the music and the lyrics for all the songs of the group.

Without having a stable structure, Scout Astray enjoyed the performance of many young musicians of the alternative stage – Gigi Catrina (Terror Art, Hotel Fetish, Traum, Lucian Viziru Band), Jan Pasniciuc (AB4, Dekadens, Zebre), Mihai Andrei (Dekadens, Traum, Crize, Nociv), Dedi Grigoroiu (Nociv, Traum). A series of amateurs also appeared on the song recordings: the artistic photographers Dan Vezentan and Nicolae Chiriș, the designer Oana Marinică, the decorator Mihaela Vezentan, bankers, taxi drivers, visual artists.

Scout Astray had several public concerts. The song ‘Lassie Was a Boy’ is on the compilation ‘The Next Dog Desert Island Selection’ (Roadrunner Music 2009).

The picture represents Scout Astray in concert at Jukebox Club (Bucharest), opening for the French band Dead Valdez.

Television apparitions
Antonescu debuted in a live show produced by Jana Gheorghiu in summer 1992 at the Romanian Public Television, on channel TVR2.

He appeared in various shows, on various subjects, at the Romanian Public Television, PRO TV, Tele 7 ABC, Antena 1, Acasă, OTV, Naţional TV in different qualities – art collector (TVR Cultural, public television channel), expert in visual arts (TVR 2, public television channel), collector of replicas and miniatures (‚Poveştiri adevărate’ – True News Stories at Acasă TV, 'Teo’ at PRO TV), cats and dogs breeder (Acasă TV), specialist in Arab matters (OTV, Naţional TV), financial expert (TVR 1, public television channel), image counsellor for some notorious scams (Sabina Product) (Tele7 ABC, Pro TV), military expert (Naţional TV), and so on.

He was an associate producer of the TV series ‘Călător în Orient’ (Traveller to Orient), realised and broadcasted by the Romanian Public Television on the channels TVR2, TVR Cultural and TVR Internațional.

Starting from December 2011, he has been a guest of Dan Diaconescu (OTV) as a financial expert. He is the protagonist of many large audience shows, where he advises people with debts to banks how to manage their incapability of payment. He became popular as 'finance specialist’ and 'banking expert’, although he has not the adequate professional training and never worked in the Romanian banking system.

Bibliography:
1. Sandrino Gavriloaia, “Călătorii orientale” (Oriental Journeys), Artemis Publishing House, 2007, ISBN 973-566-158-6

2. Romanian Public Television archive: “Magazin social – Mânuitorii de averi” (Social magazine – Handlers of Fortunes) – Compartiment of Economic Shows, Department Social-Economic Shows, produced by Bogdan Șerban Iancu, January 1997.

3. Romanian Public Television archive, "TVR Cultural" channel: “Cafeneaua artelor – interviu cu Mihai Antonescu” (Art Cafe - interview with Mihai Antonescu), produced by Sandrino Gavriloaia, May 1997.

4. Romanian Public Television archive, "TVR Cultural" channel – “Remix”, November 30th 2008, produced by Doru Ionescu

5. Romanian Public Television archive, "TVR Cultural" channel – “Rock Forum”, November 16th 2008, produced by Doru Ionescu

6. Romanian Public Television archive, "TVR Cultural" channel – “Jurnal cultural” (Cultural Journal), May 2nd 2008

7. “Cotidianul”, January 18th 2010: “Rock alternativ din Marea Britanie și Franța produs în România” (Alternative rock of United Kingdom and France, produced in Romania)

8. “Cotidianul”, July 27th 2009 – “Conflict între organizatorii B’estfest și impresarul Dekadens” (Conflict between B’estfest organisers and Dekadens manager)

9. “Jurnalul Național”, January 20th 2010, “Rock alternativ din Marea Britanie si Franța” (Alternative rock of United Kingdom and France), by Cătălina Iancu

10. “Jurnalul Național”, March 6th 2009, “Astăzi în Silver Church / Oigăn ne propune ” (Today in Silver Church/ Oigăn proposes ), by Alex Revenco

11. “Ziua” newspaper, October 16th 1995, interview with Mihai Antonescu about the crash of Sabina Product.

12. “Ziua” newspaper, October 2th 1998: “Redactorul șef adjunct al revistei “Atac la persoană” a fost pus sub urmărire penală pentru incitare la ură împotriva evreilor” (Deputy Chief Editor of  prosecuted for encouraging hate against jews), by Răzvan Savaliuc.

13. „L’Express”, August, September 1990, “Voyage du Vendredi 13 en Roumanie”, Jaqueline Remy

14. “Cațavencu Internațional”, 2nd year, no. 14, Cassandra Publishing House, April 1991.

15. “Revista 22” (Magazine 22), March 22nd 2012, “Trei nopți cu Dan Diaconescu” (Three nights with Dan Diaconescu), by Dan Tapalagă (http://www.revista22.ro/trei-nopti-cu-dan-diaconescu-13924.html)

16. www.veengle.com:

“| SENZAȚIONAL! | DEZVĂLUIRI cu MIHAI ANTONESCU | 4.MAR.2012 © OTV | LIVE”

“| SENZAȚIONAL! | DEZVĂLUIRI cu MIHAI ANTONESCU | 21.MAR.2012 © OTV | LIVE”

“OTV - Mihai Antonescu [Sfaturi] Cum împiedici băncile românești să-și bată joc de tine” (OTV – Mihai Antonescu [Advices] How to prevent Romanian banks from mocking on you)

17. www.serkay.com: “| Senzațional! | Dezvăluirile Lui Mıhai Antonescu | 21.mar.2012 © Otv | L I V E”

18. ClickZoomBytes, 28.12.2011, “2011. Box set Rodion GA apare la o nouă casă de discuri” (2011. Box set Rodion GA to be released by a new recordings house) (http://czb.ro/articol/335/)

19. Crumbs Magazine, 27.04.2011, “Give me Five: interviu Traum”(interview with Traum) (www.crumbsmagazine.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/give-me-five-interviu-traum/)

20. vip.radiolynx.ro: “Compilație Roadrunner Music” (Roadrunner Music Compilation), March 12th 2009, by Viorel Grecu

21. vip.radiolynx.ro: “Antidotul din 28 februarie: Oigăn (Lansare Sex with Onions) + Dekadens (North American Tour)” (Antidot of February 28: Oigăn (Release of Sex with Onions) + Dekadens (North American Tour), February 26th 2009, by Viorel Grecu

22. vip.radiolynx.ro: „Oigăn lansează Sex with Onions” (Oigăn releases Sex with Onions), February 15th 2009, by Viorel Grecu

23. “24 Fun” (http://bucurești.24fun.ro), January 26th 2010, ”Premieră: Rock alternativ din Marea Britanie și Franța, produs în România” (Premiere: Alternative rock of United Kingdom and France, produced in Romania), by Victor Popescu

24. “Best Music – Vocea muzicii românești” (Best Music – The voice of Romanian music) – “Biografie Traum” (Traum biography)

25. “Best Music – Vocea muzicii românești” (Best Music – The voice of Romanian music) – “Dead Valdez în concert la București” (Dead Valdez concert in Bucharest)

26. www.thegig.ro, June 18th 2010; “Toulouse Lautrec, văduva BOB, Scout Astray și The Pixels la Ozonfest” (Toulouse Lautrec, văduva BOB, Scout Astray and The Pixels at Ozonfest)

27. www.thegig.ro, June 11th 2010: “Ozon Fest 2 în Jukebox cu The Pixels, Văduva Bob, Scout Astray și Toulouse Lautrec” (Ozon Fest 2 at Jukebox with The Pixels, Văduva Bob, Scout Astray and Toulouse Lautrec)

28. www.thegig.ro, January 3rd 2010: “Scout Astray – “Brit Tips Ditty”

29. www.thegig.ro, February 14th 2010, “Scout Astray în deschiderea concertului Dead Valdez” (Scout Astray opening for Dead Valdez)

30. www.metalhead.ro, February 11th 2010: “Dead Valdez în concert la București” (Dead Valdez concert in Bucharest)

31. http://2009.kinofest.com (Concerts)

32. www.radio-inspire.com: “Rock alternativ din UK, produs în România” (UK alternative rock, produced in Romania) (http://www.radio-inspire.com/artisti/la-viitor/39-radio-inspire/9248-rock-alternativ-din-uk--produs-in-romania)

33. www.radio-inspire.com: “Fetele rele din rockul românesc” (Bad girls in Romanian rock) (http://www.radio-inspire.com/muzica/dji-la-munca/63-radio-inspire/1917-fetele-rele-din-rockul-romanesc)

34. www.muzicisifaze.com: “Sex with Onions”, March 9th 2009, Mihai Plămădeală (http://www.muzicisifaze.com/trupa.php?alb=759)

35. www.sofresh.com: “Traum – I Once Knew a Man Who Ate a Tornado”, April 21st 2011 (http://www.sofresh.ro/2011/04/21/traum-i-once-knew-a-man-who-ate-a-tornado/)

External links:
www.poligraphia.ro

www.roadrunnermusic.ro

www.scoutastray.com